Chapter 33 A Beautiful Dream: To Live in the Same Bed, To Die in the Same Grave

The news of Emperor Qianyuan's appointment of an empress had already spread throughout the entire capital of the Great Chu Dynasty by yesterday. Many noble families and officials, upon hearing the news, made a move under the guise of visiting the Xie family, hoping to get closer to the new empress in advance.

Everyone knows that the current emperor is a man of integrity. Even when Emperor Qian Yuan was still a prince, he had no one by his side. Later, when he was on military campaigns, he could not even see a woman.

Several years after Emperor Qianyuan returned to the capital and was made crown prince, he became very popular. Some powerful families wanted to choose him as their leader and tried to build relationships through marriage. Some officials even tried to curry favor with him, but none of them succeeded.

He was completely averse to women, and the people accompanying him were always guards and eunuchs. He never even allowed anyone to serve him personally, and he was extremely cautious.

Even after ascending the throne, Emperor Qianyuan maintained his old habits. Not only was his harem empty, but there was not a single rumor of any romantic affairs, as if he were keeping himself pure for someone who did not exist.

Now, with Xie's widow Wen Miao being made empress, the delicate balance between the emperor, the harem, and the court has been shattered. Even with the emperor's immense power, some still harbor unsettled ambitions.

If there can be an empress, why can't there be concubines and consorts?

Since it's inappropriate to bring up the emperor's side, why not start with the empress? After all, as the mother of the nation, if she doesn't advise the emperor to bestow his favor equally, wouldn't that be tantamount to monopolizing his affections and lacking virtue and wisdom? How could she be innocent in such a situation?

Within the imperial city, many were preoccupied with the matter of establishing an empress. The news of Wen Miao's illness was kept secret, and the emperor did not want any troublesome people to disturb her. Therefore, Xie Jingxuan rejected all the visiting cards.

Among them were a few who were exceptionally enthusiastic and persistent, to the point of sending messages almost every day.

Xie Jingxuan was so annoyed that he simply brought up the emperor's decree, saying that the emperor wanted the empress to rest and recuperate properly before the grand ceremony and prepare for the investiture ceremony, which put an end to the thoughts of some people.

For now, things seem to have temporarily returned to calm, but some are still secretly watching, hoping to get a bigger share of the spoils from this suddenly opened harem.

They didn't believe that a widow whose husband had died could truly be the emperor's favorite for a lifetime!

...

Today was a day off. A short while after Wen Miao got up in the morning, Xie Jingxuan and Xie Mengjun came to Qinyuan to visit her.

"How is Miaoniang feeling now?" Xie Jingxuan sat in the chair, his face concerned, but deep in his eyes was a hint of melancholy and guilt.

Wen Miao: "It's much better now."

"Auntie, you scared me yesterday."

Xie Mengjun pouted, her eyes still a little red, and looked over from the edge of the bed with a look of trepidation and caution on her face.

"Your aunt is alright." Wen Miao smiled gently, raised her arm and waved, "Mengjun, come here, let your aunt see you."

The little girl, who had already cried her eyes out last night, bit her lip and took small steps closer.

She grabbed Wen Miao's arm, first sniffing it like a cub, then, as if confirming something, she threw herself into Wen Miao's arms and burst into tears again.

"Auntie, oh oh auntie..."

For Xie Mengjun, her cousin is like a mother, a sister, an aunt... She can make up for her lack of security and is her most beautiful fantasy about all female elders.

Xie Jingxuan looked helpless, and Wen Miao was also at a loss for words. She gently patted the little girl's back to comfort her and say that she was fine.

Xie Jingxuan said, "Miaoniang has just recovered from her illness, Mengjun, please don't disturb your aunt's rest."

After Xie Mengjun calmed down and sat down next to Wen Miao, Xie Jingxuan said, "The Imperial Observatory has already calculated the auspicious date for the wedding, which is the fifth day of the ninth month. It is the first time for the Emperor and Empress to get married, so they must be well prepared. His Majesty attaches great importance to this matter, so it will take longer."

The nearly two-month gap in between was the biggest concession Emperor Qianyuan could make.

Deep down, he wasn't sure whether Wen Miao's fever was due to her lost memories, the resentment and unwillingness hidden in her heart, or some lingering feelings for her "deceased husband"...

In short, Emperor Qian Yuan was unwilling to think too deeply. As long as Wen Miao nodded, then the Empress of Great Chu could only be named after Wen Miao.

This is something he has been looking forward to for more than a decade.

After listening to her maternal grandfather's words, Wen Miao nodded and said, "I understand." The group sat together and chatted about everyday things. Xie Mengjun was worried about whether Wen Miao would be able to visit her aunt often after she entered the palace and became the Empress of Great Chu.

Wen Miao smiled, gently pinched Xie Mengjun's chubby cheeks, and whispered, "You definitely can."

After Xie Jingxuan and Xie Mengjun left, Wen Miao sat for a while longer before welcoming another person who had come to visit her that day.

It was Li Qing, Wen Miao's good friend.

"I had a guess on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. I was waiting for the 'explanation' you promised me, but I didn't expect the news to spread all over the streets and alleys yesterday afternoon. Everyone said that the emperor was going to establish an empress. I asked out of curiosity and found out that the person was you, Miao Niang."

Li Qing sat sideways on the embroidered stool, her eyebrows and eyes clear and aloof. Her gaze towards Wen Miao showed surprise and disbelief, but not the estrangement and eagerness that came with her changed status.

Wen Miao felt a slight sense of relief.

She said, "I originally wanted to find an opportunity to tell you when I received the imperial decree yesterday, but I didn't expect that I would suddenly fall ill..."

Li Qing frowned: "Are you feeling alright? You look extremely pale."

She paused, then leaned closer, her eyes filled with worry and concern. "This wedding, it was truly your own choice, wasn't it?"

Clearly, the Dragon Boat Festival left a deep impression on Li Qing, so whenever the matter was mentioned, the answer that would subconsciously come to her mind was that Miao Niang was bullied by the current emperor who relied on his imperial power.

"It was my own choice."

Wen Miao was both amused and exasperated. She said, "This illness is only related to my previous amnesia. His Majesty also sent the imperial physician to examine me, and there is nothing wrong."

"Then your memories..."

“Let nature take its course.” Wen Miao paused, then suddenly lifted her eyelids and looked at Li Qing with her starry eyes. “Qingniang, you’ve read a lot of books. I have a question I’d like to ask you.”

As far as Wen Miao knew, Li Qing's scholarship was no less than that of the men who participated in the imperial examinations. He had a broad knowledge of policy questions, poetry, essays, and other subjects, and was quite proficient in them. He also had excellent handwriting, with strong strokes that concealed his brilliance. It was just a pity that he lacked a way to advance in his career.

Li Qing said earnestly, "Tell me, and I will tell you everything I know without reservation."

Wen Miao asked, "Do you know what a Christmas tree is?"

Li Qing paused for a moment, a blank expression flashing across her face.

Wen Miao thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you know of any places where people have the custom of wearing a light white veil and asking the woman if she is willing when they get married?"

Li Qing was bewildered; for a moment, she found it hard to imagine such a scene.

Putting aside the fact that she was dressed in a white veil, the question was about the woman's willingness to marry... How could that be? Since ancient times, marriages have always been arranged by parents and matchmakers. When did it become a matter of asking the woman for her own opinion?

Wen Miao asked again, "Have you ever seen those tall, pointed buildings in books, with a very slender shape, and windows... windows that seem to be inlaid with colorful glass?"

Li Qing went through all the roof types she knew in her mind, but none of them matched what Wen Miao had said.

For a moment, the two looked at each other, both completely bewildered.

After a moment, Wen Miao and Li Qing simultaneously covered their lips and laughed out loud, their eyes crinkling with laughter. The former's pale face was flushed with a slight blush, while the latter's cold and aloof features were softened.

Li Qing: "What you've said is all novel and unheard of to me. I used to think that my knowledge was good enough to participate in the imperial examinations, but now I'm not so sure."

"These things weren't tested in the imperial examinations."

Li Qing said seriously, "Miao Niang, you're asking these questions because you want to..."

A look of bewilderment flashed across Wen Miao's face. "These are fragments I've remembered, perhaps related to my past memories, but I'm also afraid they're just figments of my imagination during nightmares."

However, she searched through the entire "Natural History" book but could not find any record of such strange events, as if everything she thought of was fiction.

Logically speaking, these strange and unusual items should be well-documented in the palace's library. Seeking help from the emperor might have provided answers more quickly.

For some reason, Wen Miao instinctively excluded Emperor Qian Yuan from this matter. So by the time she realized it, she had already concealed the fact that she had remembered those fragmented details from him.

Even Wen Miao didn't know why she did this, but she trusted her intuition for the time being... Perhaps when she regained her memories, she could tell Emperor Qian Yuan about this as a "surprise"?

...I just don't know whether it's a pleasant surprise or a shock.

Li Qing patted Wen Miao's arm, his expression full of reassurance.

"Perhaps I haven't read enough books. Give me some time, and I'll go back and search and ask around. Maybe I'll find some clues... There are so many books in the world; there must be an answer to your question."

After a pause, Li Qing smiled and said, "As for you, just focus on your wedding—the future Empress?"

Wen Miao smiled and said, "There's still plenty of time, enough to prepare."

Moreover, someone else had already taken care of everything.

For example, Emperor Qianyuan, who lived deep within the palace.

Separated from the streets of the imperial city, the Xie family's Qin Garden was a place of peace and tranquility, but the palace was a place where people were busy with their own affairs.

As the mother of the nation, the scale and details of the preparations for the empress's marriage were naturally grand and complicated, almost like a large-scale military operation.

Inside the palace, Emperor Qianyuan had long since finished dealing with the memorials at hand. At this moment, he was not reviewing official business, but rather the procedures for the investiture, the establishment of an empress, and the wedding ceremony, as well as a list of the dowry items.

It was written by the emperor himself more than ten years ago.

It was a thick stack of books, with exquisite details revealed by the powerful and graceful brushstrokes. Among them were rare and precious treasures that Emperor Qianyuan had acquired after becoming emperor, as well as spoils of war that he had collected during his campaigns when he was still a prince.

Jewelry, silk, furniture, utensils, medicinal herbs, books...

Several years ago, when the court officials first proposed to expand the harem, Emperor Qianyuan, who had secured his throne, looked at the prosperous and peaceful capital and the memorial in his hand describing the stability of various parts of the Great Chu. He had a wild idea of ​​marrying a goddess and thus began to prepare this dowry for the empress.

He was like a greedy dragon, collecting all sorts of rare and precious things, waiting for the day he would meet the goddess of his dreams so that he could offer her everything he had.

Even though the dream disappeared for several years, and even when he was shocked to see the goddess marry someone else in his dream, Emperor Qian Yuan never stopped making these preparations. He accumulated them year by year until now, as if he had calculated that one day he would be able to stand by the goddess's side and become her husband.

Before meeting Wen Miao during the winter hunt, Emperor Qian Yuan thought that if he never had the chance to give these things away before his death, then they would be buried with him in the imperial mausoleum.

He would leave a space in his own tomb, erect an extra memorial tablet for the emperor and empress to be buried together, pretend that he had an extremely beloved "empress" named Wen Miao, order historians to write several volumes about the emperor and empress's loving daily life, and seal the entire tomb with mercury so that future generations would not be able to see it at all.

But the deep affection between him and the "Empress" will surely be passed down through the ages in history books, becoming a beautiful story told by people from generation to generation.

When the Great Chu is replaced by the new dynasty, and when time is long enough, the false will become true, and the true will become eternal. In that turbulent river of history, the names Wen Miao and Ji Huan will be intertwined for eternity, ingrained in their very bones, and inseparable.

When future generations learn about the first year of the reign of Emperor Qian of the Great Chu Dynasty, they will only say that the emperor and empress were deeply in love, like a pair of phoenixes singing in harmony, sharing the same bed in life and the same grave in death.

This is a beautiful dream that Emperor Qianyuan wove for himself after his death.

But now, that dream has come true ahead of schedule.

After filling the last page of the Empress's dowry book with his brush, Emperor Qianyuan put down his pen and ink, waved his hand to refuse Xu Sheng's request to follow him, and instead went out into the inner palace alone.

The prosperity has faded, leaving only desolation.

The brick-red palace walls stretched to their end, where the cold-faced emperor stopped in front of the cold palace where he had grown up in his childhood.

Its exterior was serene and cold, while the palace grounds were spotless.

Emperor Qian Yuan pushed open the door and walked inside. His narrow eyes narrowed slightly, and at the end of his vision, he saw the pure white gauze dress that was hanging perfectly on the wall.

Even after enduring frost and snow for months, it remained soft and lovely, with fluffy white gauze and a wide train, adorned with tiny, bright gemstones and pearls, shining brilliantly in the dark chamber of the cold palace, extremely beautiful.

Emperor Qianyuan gazed at the scene in silence for a long time.

As dusk settled, Emperor Qianyuan turned and left, closing the door behind him as if sealing away a secret that should not exist in the Great Chu or in this world.

That was about the past of the Empress of Great Chu.

...

A month or so passed in the blink of an eye—

On the fifth day of the ninth month of the eleventh year of the Qianyuan era, it is an auspicious day for weddings, prayers, sacrifices, and construction. Blessings will come from the south, the weather will be fine and sunny, auspicious clouds and bright colors will fill the sky, and the auspicious atmosphere will be overwhelming. It is the day of the grand wedding of the emperor and empress, and the whole world will celebrate.

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Author's Note: So His Majesty is really creepy and obsessive. If he hadn't met Miaomiao in this life, he would have fabricated the existence of an "Empress," making future generations believe he had an Empress named Wen Miao. He would have wanted to become a loving emperor and empress remembered in history, making something that didn't exist exist [please].

It tastes delicious too.