Under the dim yellow lamplight, Director Xie’s face was as pale as paper. Having been startled by Empress Lu, even her body was trembling. She retreated two steps, then two more steps. Careless, she tripped on the steps and fell backwards onto the ground, so terrified she didn’t know what to do.
She had followed Empress Lu for many years already, staying by her side since before Empress Lu was even married, from being her head maid all the way to becoming the director in charge of Her Majesty the Empress’s palace now.
She originally hadn’t wanted to act against Empress Lu. She had never wanted to act against Empress Lu. She buried her face in her hands, stunned for an instant, then covered her face and wept, crying so hard even her shoulders shook.
Empress Lu looked at her with a complex gaze, her expression no better than Director Xie’s. “What are you crying about?” she asked, coughing a few times. Her face flushed bright red, actually adding a few traces of ruddiness to her paper-pale complexion. “What do you have to cry about? Crying because I didn’t die? I truly never expected… truly never expected…”
That Director Xie wanted to poison her to death—for Empress Lu, this blow was second only to the pain brought by Prince Gong’s words when he broke with her and laid everything bare. She sat dazedly on the bed, covering her head and waiting for that bout of dizziness to pass. Looking at Director Xie who had buried her face in her palms and from beginning to end hadn’t raised her head again, she laughed bitterly. Her tone held neither激愤 nor hatred as she asked lightly, “How did you come to work for him? How could you think to kill me?”
From when they depended on each other for survival starting in the prince’s manor, continuing to depend on each other and support one another after arriving at this palace—so many years, she had changed many people around her, but Director Xie had never left. She really couldn’t imagine that such a person would actually think to kill her.
Director Xie said nothing. The announcement that had sounded earlier rang out once more outside. Song Chuyi stepped in following this announcement. She first glanced at Crown Princess Lu, then moved her gaze to Empress Lu, finally looking at the motionless Director Xie.
Director Xie still didn’t move, as if she were a statue. Only when she heard Song Chuyi enter did she open her bloodshot eyes to stare at her unblinkingly. She knew this absolutely couldn’t be unrelated to Song Chuyi. In fact, from the moment Empress Lu opened her eyes, she knew this must certainly be Song Chuyi’s handiwork. Besides her, who else had this capability?
Song Chuyi’s gaze collided with hers. She even curved her lips to smile at her before following Crown Princess Lu’s invitation to sit on the edge of Empress Lu’s bed, asking softly, “Imperial Grandmother, are you all right?”
Only then did Empress Lu return to her senses. No longer looking at Director Xie on the ground, she shook her head at Song Chuyi. Her head still throbbed faintly with pain. “I’m fine. Fortunately you had Imperial Physician Yan feed me the antidote in advance. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to see with my own eyes exactly who in my palace had such capability to act against me.”
“Director Xie.” Song Chuyi called out to her, her voice the same as when Empress Lu had called her just now—composed and even faintly tinged with warmth. “Just now I left the palace for a trip. Do you know where I went?”
Director Xie seemed to understand something. When she came to her senses, her already deathly pale face looked even worse, simply like an evil ghost fished out of hell, her appearance terrifying. Song Chuyi knew she was the insider—how did she know? How could she arrange all this in advance and even feed Empress Lu an antidote to awaken her?
She only felt her head had become a confused mess. No matter how she thought, she couldn’t figure it out.
But one thing was crystal clear—something must have gone wrong on that side. When first caught red-handed by Empress Lu and the Crown Princess earlier, she hadn’t been this panicked and distraught. Struggling several times before she could stand up, her knees went soft and with a thud she fell solidly to her knees, kowtowing to Empress Lu, the Crown Princess, and Song Chuyi. One kowtow after another rang out loudly. Before long, her forehead had already turned purple and blue, vaguely seeming to seep blood.
These many years serving as the number one person before Empress Lu, she had never been in such a wretched state. But at this moment she couldn’t care about face or dignity anymore. A breath of air caught in her chest, stuffy until even breathing hurt, yet she still struggled to speak to Empress Lu. “Your Majesty… I know I’m not human, but the two young highnesses—they are your blood grandsons!”
Empress Lu didn’t know if it was from anger or illness, but her head and back had already begun sweating. The stifling sweat soaking her back made her temper suddenly multiply several times. She stretched out her finger to point at Director Xie, her voice trembling, her tone finally carrying anger. “You speak truly! You are not human… Qingmiao, if you had even a shred of humanity, how could you do such a thing?!”
Director Xie buried her head on the ground, not daring to raise it, feeling utterly exhausted and dizzy. “The Prince is someone I watched grow up… Have you forgotten that the young highness is also my grand-nephew?”
The consort Xie Shi who gave birth to Zhou Weiyang was the daughter of Director Xie’s older brother. Empress Lu had nearly forgotten this connection. Back then, it was she herself who, wanting to give Director Xie something to rely on, had vigorously promoted her natal family members.
But in the end, this was the repayment she received. She truly felt somewhat disheartened and cold. Pulling at the corner of her mouth, she waved her hand. “No need to say more. You’ve stayed by my side so many years—don’t you know what kind of person I am?”
Director Xie froze, raised her head to look at Empress Lu, then unconsciously avoided Empress Lu’s eyes again.
“How I’ve treated those two—others may not know, but can’t you tell? When have I ever had the thought of moving a single finger against them?” Empress Lu sneered, but her gaze became pressing and aggressive. “So don’t make yourself sound as if you had no choice but to poison me to death for their sake. You and I both know—keeping me alive is what keeps those two safe. Besides me, this soft-hearted grandmother with soft ears, who else would wholeheartedly protect them? You and he knew this point too well, which is exactly why you wanted to take them away, then kill me.”
Only at this moment did Song Chuyi dare truly believe what Crown Princess Lu had said before—Empress Lu was not a muddled person. She was just unwilling and soft-hearted about many things.
Empress Lu’s fingers moved slightly as she closed her eyes wearily. “Master and servant for one lifetime—no need for other words. You know we were prepared. The people are now in our hands.”
Speaking thus, she opened her eyes to look at Director Xie collapsed on the ground. “Now perhaps I truly am unwilling to protect them anymore. You’d best be honest and tell everything you know. Or… I might still be able to leave you an intact corpse.”