Hearing this news, Cui Xun slowly raised his eyes. Lu Huai was momentarily startled, then, after some hesitation, he waved for men to put shackles on Cui Xun. But before sending him to the Daming Palace, Lu Huai couldn’t help but add one last piece of advice: “This is your last chance. Life or death depends on this meeting. I, Lu Huai, have said all I can.”
But Cui Xun merely lowered his long lashes and remained silent, allowing the Dali Temple guards to lock cold iron shackles on him and escort him to the Daming Palace.
In Penglai Hall, the Empress Dowager quietly observed the jade-like young man kneeling behind the pearl curtain. Compared to when she had last seen him, he seemed even thinner, with a deep gloom between his brows. His hands and feet were in heavy chains. She recalled how, when he had recently mentioned resigning his position, he had said he wanted to go to Yangzhou, to Wu Commandery. He had said there was a woman by his side whose heart was like crystal and whose person was like the bright moon. At that time, his eyes had sparkled with vitality, his lustrous gaze full of indescribable tenderness, filled with hope for their future life together. But now, his black eyes were like a dead pool of water, as if he had completely lost his desire to live.
Such a change alarmed even the Empress Dowager. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Cui Xun. Composing herself, she softened her voice and asked, “Wangshu, why did you steal the Buddha’s cranial relic?”
Lu Huai had told him that life or death depended on this meeting, but Cui Xun seemed to have completely ignored Lu Huai’s advice. Like a shell that had lost its soul, he remained deathly silent, not answering the Empress Dowager’s question. The Empress Dowager patiently asked again: “Wangshu, why did you steal the Buddha’s cranial relic?”
Still no answer. The Empress Dowager felt a touch of anger. She pressed her lips together, closed her eyes, and tightened her grip on the grape-patterned bird-decorated openwork gold incense pouch in her hand. Then she slowly opened her eyes and said, “If you won’t speak, it’s not that I have no means to deal with you. But those methods—I don’t want to use them on you. These days, the abbot of Famen Temple comes to the palace daily, begging me for justice. And those court officials, scholars, and commoners—who among them isn’t filled with righteous indignation toward you? That you can kneel here in Penglai Hall, whole and intact, do you know how much effort I have expended on your behalf!”
Under the Empress Dowager’s mix of kindness and authority, Cui Xun finally looked up and spoke coldly: “Thank you, Your Highness, but I will not return the Buddha’s cranial relic to Famen Temple.”
Though he said he was grateful, there wasn’t the slightest hint of gratitude in his tone. Even more audaciously, he refused to return the Buddha’s cranial relic. Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager was both shocked and angered: “You! Cui Xun! Have you eaten a bear’s heart and a leopard’s gall? Do you truly wish to die?”
Cui Xun remained silent. After a moment, he finally said: “I know I deserve death for stealing the Buddha’s cranial relic, but before I die, there is one matter I wish to present to Your Highness.”
The Empress Dowager thought he had suddenly come to his senses and was about to reveal the whereabouts of the Buddha’s cranial relic. So she suppressed her anger and said, “Speak!”
Cui Xun’s long, raven-feather-like lashes lowered. He suddenly performed a solemn kowtow, then raised his head. A faint trace of hope flashed through his otherwise deathly still eyes. He said, “Your Highness just asked why I stole the Buddha’s cranial relic. I cannot fully explain the reasons, but I can tell Your Highness that this matter arose because of one person.”
“Who?”
“Consort Hui.”
“Consort Hui?” The Empress Dowager was stunned.
Cui Xun nodded: “Consort Hui left the palace, ostensibly to enter a Daoist temple for cultivation, but in reality, it was a deception. Seven days ago, I was unfortunately captured by Consort Hui and nearly died at her hands.”
Consort Hui? Captured by Consort Hui? Nearly died at Consort Hui’s hands?
Initially, while in the palace, Consort Hui had been constantly monitored by the Empress Dowager’s spies. But after she was expelled from the palace by Emperor Longxing, the Empress Dowager, to ease relations with the Emperor, and fearing his discovery and displeasure, she did not continue to monitor her. She had assumed that a Hu woman like Consort Hui, isolated and powerless, could not stir up much trouble in Chang’an. But she had underestimated this Hu woman.
The Empress Dowager felt a trace of regret for letting Consort Hui go unchecked. She couldn’t help but ask Cui Xun: “Why would Consort Hui capture you?”
Cui Xun replied word by word: “Because Consort Hui does not want me to appear alive in Chang’an again.”
He paused: “As for why Consort Hui doesn’t want me to appear alive in Chang’an, the root cause is related to the Heavenly Guard case.”
At the mention of the Heavenly Guard, the Empress Dowager was taken aback. Cui Xun continued: “Someone fears me. They fear I will discover hidden truths about the Heavenly Guard case, so they instructed Consort Hui to imprison me, intending to silence me forever…”
Before he could finish, the Empress Dowager suddenly gritted her teeth and said: “Silence!”
She knew full well whom Cui Xun was referring to, but Cui Xun refused to be silenced. Instead, he challenged her: “Why won’t Your Highness let me continue? Aren’t you curious about who instructed Consort Hui to imprison me? Who doesn’t want me to uncover the hidden truth about the Heavenly Guard’s destruction? Or perhaps Your Highness already knows the answer?”
The Empress Dowager flew into a rage: “Silence! I command you to be silent!”
Cui Xun persisted: “If Your Highness is unwilling to speak this answer, I will speak it for Your Highness! In the Great Zhou, who can command Consort Hui? Who doesn’t want me to survive? Who fears my investigation into the Heavenly Guard case? Who still roams free and unharmed?”
He squeezed out words through clenched teeth: “It is none other than Your Highness’s son, the current Emperor!”
The Empress Dowager stood up abruptly, sweeping aside the pearl curtain, her enraged face revealed before Cui Xun: “Cui Xun! Such audacity!”
Cui Xun gradually calmed down: “When I came to Penglai Hall today, I never expected to leave alive.”
The Empress Dowager looked at his pale, thin face. She clutched the openwork gold incense pouch in her hand so tightly that her nails dug into her palm. Her chest heaved several times as she suppressed her anger and slowly said: “Cui Xun, you doubt His Majesty based only on a few words from a Hu woman? How do you know she isn’t trying to sow discord? The Heavenly Guard case is closed. The matter is settled. Do not stir up trouble again. I will pretend I never heard what you said today.”
Cui Xun raised his head: “What if I am not relying solely on the Hu woman’s words? What if I have solid evidence? Would Your Highness then reopen the investigation into the Heavenly Guard case?”
The Empress Dowager was stunned.
Cui Xun gazed at that face so similar to Li Ying’s. In his black eyes, specks of hope glimmered like faint light in boundless darkness. The Empress Dowager strangely found herself unable to meet his gaze. She looked away and reluctantly said, “I’ve said, the Heavenly Guard case is closed.”
In Penglai Hall, a deathly silence descended.
That faint light finally disappeared completely.
Cui Xun’s eyes darkened, as desolate as dead ashes. He let out a soft laugh, a laugh filled with resentment and despair. It was unclear whether he was laughing at his own naivety, or at human nature, or at the ways of the world.
Before coming, he had anticipated this outcome, but he had still harbored a glimmer of hope. He had hoped that this female ruler, whom he had always respected, would bring justice to the 50,000 who had died unjustly. Now that hope was shattered, and he was deeply disappointed. He murmured: “So it is indeed this way.”
The Empress Dowager turned back almost awkwardly: “What did you say?”
Cui Xun’s hands and feet were in heavy chains. He knelt on the blackwood floor, but his body was as straight as bamboo. He curved his lips in mockery: “I said, Your Highness indeed loves her son deeply.”
The Empress Dowager detected the sarcasm in his tone. She was both angry and furious: “You…”
“Your Highness had one son and one daughter. Now only His Majesty remains. His Majesty is Your Highness’s only child, who has been by your knee for twenty-three years. As a mother, Your Highness naturally wants to protect your only remaining child. So even if there is evidence, you would not agree to reopen the investigation into the Heavenly Guard case.” Cui Xun laughed lightly: “Throughout history, rulers have always claimed to treat their subjects as their children. But who would truly love someone else’s child as their own? Who would harm their child for the sake of someone else’s? Just because someone is called ‘His Majesty’ does that truly make them a sage? In this world, there are no true sages.”
His words were treasonous. The Empress Dowager was dumbfounded. After the shock came endless fury. The Empress Dowager wanted to rebuke him, but for a moment, she didn’t know how. Wasn’t what Cui Xun said true, word for word? Wasn’t she ignoring the suspicions raised by Cui Xun to protect her child, insisting that the Heavenly Guard case be closed?
And as Cui Xun said, she had only one son and one daughter. Bright Moon Pearl was dead, so Bodhisattva Treasure was her only child. How could she bear to harm her child?
This was her selfishness, moreover, a mother’s selfishness.
The Empress Dowager gritted her teeth in silence. After a long while, she finally said to Cui Xun: “Fine! Even if, as you say, His Majesty was involved in this matter, His Majesty has already lost his power and is like a puppet. For an emperor, isn’t this punishment enough?”
Her words almost sounded like a concession, but Cui Xun responded firmly: “It is not enough!”
The Empress Dowager was stunned. After a moment, she asked angrily: “Then what do you want?”
“Loss of power is not enough! A life for a life, blood for blood—only that is sufficient!”
Another deathly silence fell over Penglai Hall.
After the silence, the Empress Dowager finally spoke slowly: “You want Bodhisattva Treasure to die? You’re dreaming!”
She declared: “As long as I live, no one can harm my child!”
Cui Xun was escorted back to the Dali Temple prison. The reinvestigation of the Heavenly Guard case had ended before it even began. He wasn’t surprised by this outcome.
The Empress Dowager was certainly decisive and a wise ruler, but she was also a mother who had lost a child. For Li Ying, she had carried her for ten months, nourished her with her flesh and blood, only to lose her suddenly. Only those who have been mothers can understand her endless pain. She would do everything in her power to protect her remaining child.
However, the fact that the Empress Dowager hadn’t killed Cui Xun on the spot did surprise him.
He still remembered how furious the Empress Dowager had been after he uttered the eight words “a life for a life, blood for blood.” In her thunderous rage, the Empress Dowager had declared that as long as she lived, no one could harm her child. But he had responded: “As long as I live, I will make the murderer pay with his life!”
The Empress Dowager, in her fury, had summoned the Imperial Guards to beat him to death on the spot. But after one blow to his back, one to his leg, and several more strikes, the Empress Dowager had suddenly called for a halt.
She looked at Cui Xun, who was lying on the blackwood floor with cold sweat from the pain, clutching the grape-patterned bird-decorated openwork gold incense pouch in her palm. She gritted her teeth and said: “I truly want to kill you, but… I promised… I cannot kill you! If you continue to be obstinate, then no one can save you!”