“I know Nanny is a clever person.” Qin Yining secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Nanny Sun hadn’t been willing to cooperate, she truly wouldn’t have known what to do.
“Good. Nanny Sun, please go arrange lodging for the Empress’s people first. If they ask about the Empress, tell them that the Empress is in closed retreat with an enlightened nun in the meditation room of the Guanyin Hall’s side hall, praying for blessings. She must complete eighteen days before emerging from retreat, and during this time no one is allowed to disturb her. If she’s disturbed, all previous efforts might be wasted, which would be detrimental to prayers for the nation’s people.”
Nanny Sun nodded and asked hesitantly, “Princess, this suspension bridge doesn’t look like it can be repaired in eighteen days either. Why not say the retreat will last a few more days?”
Qin Yining shook her head. “The Empress Dowager’s birthday is approaching. Today is already the second day of the seventh month, and we must also account for the journey from Huichuan to the capital. Delaying eighteen days is already the limit. If we delay too long and interfere with Her Majesty’s return to the capital to celebrate the Empress Dowager’s birthday, wouldn’t that arouse suspicion?”
Nanny Sun suddenly understood. “The Princess thinks things through thoroughly. Please rest assured, this servant will go persuade them to stay put.”
“Then I’ll trouble you, Nanny.” Qin Yining sincerely bowed.
Nanny Sun didn’t dare accept such courtesy and quickly stepped aside, performing a deep bow. “The Princess is doing good deeds and saving this servant’s life. This servant is also doing this for herself, so I cannot accept the Princess’s bow.”
“This female benefactor is also doing this for the monks in the temple.” Abbot Xuanyun sighed. “This humble monk thanks the female benefactor on behalf of all the monks in the temple for her righteousness.”
Nanny Sun quickly pressed her palms together in return. Acting purely for selfish reasons made her despise herself, but thinking that this could also save many people from punishment gave her confidence. Even if the Empress still came to harm in the end, she could go down to accompany the Empress then—at least she would have done her best for the innocent monks on the mountain.
Nanny Sun quickly walked toward the mountain gate.
Qin Yining then instructed Abbot Xuanyun to keep all the monks in the temple under control, then discussed with Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi before finally deciding to bring experienced craftsmen up from the foot of the mountain to repair the bridge.
Three days passed this way, and the Elite Tiger Guards indeed quietly carried several experienced craftsmen up from the mountain base. With the Elite Tiger Guards present, there was sufficient manpower, and if they really set to work it wouldn’t be too difficult—the only obstacle was the thick fog before them. Without the fog lifting, the project was truly challenging.
Meanwhile, the guards around the Empress also began showing signs of restlessness after these three days.
They took turns standing guard outside the main Guanyin Hall daily. Since the meditation room was inside the main Guanyin Hall and monks entered and exited the hall daily, the guards couldn’t stand directly outside Her Majesty’s door. Without seeing her in person, they could only observe that someone was eating the vegetarian meals the young monks delivered daily, and when night fell, they could see the Empress’s shadow reflected on the latticed windows of the brightly lit meditation room.
But this couldn’t put their minds at ease at all.
In the early morning, a young monk came again to deliver the meal.
The lead guard named He Bin was about to let him pass when a hand reached out from beside him.
“Wait.”
He Bin turned around and saw the speaker was Xing Baoshan, who had considerable prestige among the guards.
Xing Baoshan had not accompanied them up the mountain initially on the Empress’s orders, but had come later with the other guards and palace servants.
He Bin’s expression tightened.
He had escorted the Empress up the mountain that day with Nanny Sun, never expecting such a thing to happen. Now he had no choice but to place his hopes in Princess Zhongshun.
He absolutely had to keep this matter concealed.
“Baoshan, what are you doing?”
Xing Baoshan smiled. “Brother He, we brothers haven’t seen the Empress for several days. Why don’t we take advantage of this young master delivering the meal to pay our respects to Her Majesty? That way we can both feel at ease.”
The young monk was the one responsible for delivering meals to the Empress daily, so he naturally knew there was no longer an Empress inside, but rather someone the Princess had found to impersonate her. He felt very guilty but didn’t dare show any abnormality, so he just kept his head down without making a sound.
He Bin said, “What you say makes sense, but Her Majesty instructed that the closed retreat for blessings is important, and if interrupted it might lead to failure. Her Majesty’s prayers in Huichuan County were quite effective. Now many places in Great Zhou are still experiencing floods—if we ruin Her Majesty’s important work because of us, I’m afraid we couldn’t bear the consequences.”
Upon hearing this, Xing Baoshan indeed hesitated somewhat.
He Bin continued, “We’ve been guarding on the mountain all along, and Prince Zhongshun’s family members are all here too. The mountain should be safe. Moreover, we watch this place closely every day—we’re aware of every fly and mosquito that passes by. Her Majesty has been staying in the hall continuously, so she must be fine. We shouldn’t rashly disturb her, should we?”
The young monk secretly breathed a sigh of relief and was about to carry the food box toward the meditation room in the main hall.
Xing Baoshan pondered for a moment, then brought the several brothers who had come up the mountain later and followed, saying as he walked, “Brother He speaks reasonably, but if we just look at Her Majesty once and kowtow before leaving, it should be harmless.”
He Bin’s heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly strode after them, wanting to stop them but worried about exposing himself.
Xing Baoshan led his brothers at a quick pace, catching up to the young monk delivering the meal in two steps.
The young monk’s heart was pounding, and he nearly dropped the food box in his hands from panic.
Nanny Sun was standing in front of the meditation room door in the side hall. Seeing the young monk approaching with a long string of followers behind him, her heart tightened.
However, having spent time in the palace, she could remain calm in crisis. Nanny Sun assumed the bearing of the Empress’s most trusted nanny, asking expressionlessly, “Why have you come?”
Xing Baoshan and several guards respectfully bowed. “Greetings, Nanny Sun. We are concerned about Her Majesty and wish to pay our respects.”
Nanny Sun raised her chin high, looking down at everyone before her. She took the food box from the young monk’s hands and said indifferently, “Her Majesty has instructed that closed retreat and cultivation to pray for the people is a great matter intimately connected to the lives of all the people under heaven. No one may disturb her. Your loyalty is commendable, and this servant will convey it on your behalf.”
Nanny Sun turned to enter the door.
Xing Baoshan’s expression became stern. He stepped forward, passing Nanny Sun, and called out loudly, “Your Majesty the Empress, your subject Xing Baoshan requests an audience!”
Nanny Sun’s face changed dramatically. She said anxiously in a low voice, “Guard Xing, please don’t be impulsive. If you disturb Her Majesty’s prayers, can you bear the responsibility?”
Seeing Nanny Sun’s color change and her extreme anxiety, Xing Baoshan couldn’t help but become suspicious. He said in a low voice, “If something happens to Her Majesty, I equally cannot bear the responsibility! Not just me—everyone on Juhuan Mountain cannot bear it! Nanny Sun following imperial orders is proper, but as I carry out my duties, it can hardly be considered a great offense.” With that, he strode forward to push open the door.
Cold sweat poured down Nanny Sun’s back. She didn’t dare expose herself, yet feared that if people broke in and discovered the Empress wasn’t there, in her desperation she spread her arms to block the door, sternly rebuking, “This servant follows the Empress and must strictly obey Her Majesty’s instructions. Her Majesty prays for the people with a quiet heart devoted to Buddha, and has clearly stated that no one may disturb her. Yet you insist on breaking in to disturb Her Majesty—what are your intentions? Don’t you fear affecting the prayers and causing Great Zhou’s heavy rains to continue without cease?”
Such a big accusation made Xing Baoshan’s anger flare up.
“What is Nanny Sun doing! We are also thinking of Her Majesty’s safety. We’ll just kowtow to Her Majesty, and once we’ve confirmed Her Majesty’s safety we’ll leave. Why is Nanny Sun so nervous? Don’t tell me you’ve harmed the Empress!”
“You!” Nanny Sun glared, trying to hide her guilt.
At this moment, Qin Yining hurried to the courtyard entrance with Ji Yun, Jingzhe, and two others.
She was worried there might be trouble here, so she had specifically arranged for Jingzhe, Xiao Xue, and the other four to take turns secretly monitoring. Just now Xiao Xue had hurriedly reported that the Empress’s guards had come to force their way in, so she had rushed over.
“What’s happening here?” Qin Yining took several deep breaths to adjust her emotions, then walked leisurely into the courtyard with a relaxed posture, showing no trace of her previous anxiety.
Seeing Qin Yining arrive, both Nanny Sun and the young monk felt relieved.
He Bin quietly moved his hand away from the sword at his waist.
Xing Baoshan and the others turned around. Seeing Qin Yining wearing a light blue fitted jacket and walking slowly with the support of her maid and accompanied by guards, they had to temporarily halt their actions and turn to bow.
“Greetings, Princess.”
“You may rise. This is a place for quiet Buddhist cultivation. Your shouting like this is rather inappropriate, isn’t it?”
Xing Baoshan said with little respect, “The Princess speaks incorrectly. We are charged with protecting Her Majesty, so we must be responsible for the Empress’s safety. The Empress is in closed retreat chanting Buddha’s name—can’t her jade countenance be shown even once? Or is someone here plotting something, perhaps keeping Her Majesty under surveillance?”
As Xing Baoshan spoke, his eyes circled around Qin Yining several times.
The reason he was so anxious to see the Empress’s condition was precisely because they hadn’t seen Prince Zhongshun at all during their days on the mountain. Everything about Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple seemed strange, with such heavy fog over the back mountain and those monks urgently repairing the suspension bridge. The Prince and Princess came out to play under the banner of conjugal affection, yet the Prince had left the Princess in the temple while he went off to enjoy himself. The Empress was chanting with some nun and wouldn’t even show her face.
With so many things happening at once, how could these guards not be suspicious?
Qin Yining walked up to Xing Baoshan, her expression completely darkening.
“This guard had better use his brain when speaking. People must take responsibility for their words.” Qin Yining stood with her hands clasped before the hall door, looking coldly at Xing Baoshan’s defiant eyes:
“Though you didn’t speak explicitly, I understand the attacking intent in your words. His Majesty trusts my husband, arranging for him to oversee the imperial tomb construction—what great favor is this? Could it be that His Majesty’s harmonious relationship with my husband as sovereign and subject doesn’t seem that way in your eyes? Your concern for the Empress’s safety shows loyal devotion and is understandable, but your wild accusations that disturb people’s hearts and interrupt Her Majesty’s prayers for the people—that is a great mistake.”
Xing Baoshan sneered, “So the Princess truly refuses to let me see the Empress?”
“Put away your speculation. Whether you see the Empress depends on Her Majesty’s instructions—it has nothing to do with me. I merely know that Her Majesty wishes to cultivate in peace and cannot bear to see you disturb her, so I came to offer a few words of persuasion. If you won’t listen, so be it—don’t make wild accusations.”
“The Princess is really quite…”
“Enough!”
Just then, a rebuke filled with anger came from inside the hall. The voice was somewhat hoarse, but through the hall door one could hear that it was the Empress’s voice.
Xing Baoshan’s expression changed dramatically, and he fell to his knees with a thud. “Your subject Xing Baoshan pays respects to Your Majesty.”