Chapter 134 A Heartbreaking Sigh

Yi Xiu looked at the unusually lavish meal laid out before her, her expression unmoved. She gave a weak chuckle, not even glancing at Hui Chun, whose face had turned ashen beside her. "All your scheming has backfired. I accept my defeat. Where is the Emperor's decree? Show it to me."

Zhu Xi looked at the woman in front of her, who was almost insane. Her appearance had long lost its former dignity and radiance. She couldn't even use the most ordinary hair oil in the Buddhist hall. Her loose hair, which she couldn't tie up, was scattered on her forehead. The shadows on her face only made her look even thinner. She had always followed the Empress Dowager and had naturally seen what Yi Xiu looked like before she entered the Prince's Mansion.

It can only be said that everyone was stunningly beautiful in their youth. I remember when the Empress Dowager was still the late Emperor's Consort De, she summoned the second daughter of the Ulanara family to the palace for the first time to select a consort for Prince Yong. Just one glance was enough to tell that she was neat and tidy. Although she was a concubine's daughter and not favored by the mistress, she was impeccable in her manners and knew exactly how to behave.

Zhu Xi still remembers that when Consort De first took a liking to the eldest daughter of the Ulanara family, she was outstanding in appearance and of a suitable status, and would have been the wife of a prince upon entering the mansion. However, Lady Jue Luo looked down on the then Fourth Prince and refused to agree to the marriage, saying that her eldest daughter was engaged to a young general. That's why Yi Xiu was brought into the mansion instead, only as a secondary wife.

Decades ago, Yixiu was considered quiet and refined, and she was also very good at managing household chores. She was even recognized by Emperor Kangxi.

Seeing such a gentle woman fall to this state, Zhu Xi didn't know whether to lament the changing times or the ruthless nature of the palace.

“You are no longer the Emperor’s wife, no longer the Empress of this Great Qing Dynasty. The Emperor’s meaning is… the life and death of a commoner is not subject to imperial decree.” Zhu Xi lowered her eyes and spoke with a lot of emotion in her tone. She bent down and picked up a bowl to serve her a bowl of soup and placed it in front of her. “This soup was specially ordered by the Empress Dowager. You usually stew old duck soup, but the Empress Dowager remembers that you liked this red date and snow frog soup when you were young.”

Zhu Xi stopped holding the soup in front of Yi Xiu. She remained motionless in the same position as before. The aroma of the soup, along with the steam, wafted towards her. Perhaps it really stung her eyes, because she blinked hard twice and lowered her eyes to hide her reddened eyes.

"The Emperor has deposed the Empress. Although I am no longer the Empress, I am still the Emperor's wife. If you want me dead, go and ask for the Emperor's decree." Her words were absurd and unreasonable, but they were also her last stand. The fact that Zhu Xi was standing here now naturally indicated her aunt's attitude.

Her aunt stopped helping her.

Seeing her like this, Zhu Xi shook his head and sighed softly. He didn't mention the imperial edict and instead said, "Just a few moments ago, Consort Cao was given a death sentence. The head of the Imperial Household Department and the envoy of the Imperial Observatory have been imprisoned and are waiting to be beheaded along with their entire families. Even Zhang Mi, the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, has been dismissed and is under investigation. The Emperor knows almost everything you've done, and you have no connections left to rely on."

"It's not that the Empress Dowager didn't want to save you, it's just that you really went too far." She had served the Empress Dowager for many years, and as she got older, her body couldn't keep up. Seeing that Yixiu was still unmoved by reason, she helplessly put down the soup bowl, stood up, and took a step to the right, revealing the only window in the Buddhist hall that she had been blocking.

The light suddenly shone in, making it hard to ignore. Yixiu couldn't help but turn her head to look, and saw an elderly figure vaguely visible behind the small window—it was the Empress Dowager.

She sat motionless, staring blankly at the window, her expression so complex that even Zhu Xi, who was used to seeing all sorts of things, couldn't bear to look anymore.

"Yixiu, go." The voice was old and frail, sounding like it was barely uttered after exhaustion. Sending her niece away personally must have been a difficult experience for the elderly Empress Dowager.

"I will instruct your father to place your mother's memorial tablet in the ancestral hall of the Ulanara clan, so that it may receive offerings from future generations year after year."

The Emperor could use the Fourteenth Prince to blackmail her, so naturally she would follow suit and use Yixiu's lifeline to control her.

"Qingying has entered the palace. You, as her aunt, haven't met her yet, have you? I will make her the future Crown Princess and Empress of the Qing Dynasty. Honghui has been gone for so many years without even a posthumous title. When the time comes, we will choose one of their children to be adopted by Honghui. In the future, the lineage of Honghui's family will not be broken, and no one will forget this child."

When Yixiu heard the Empress Dowager mention her mother, her expression changed from stiff to normal. Upon hearing Honghui's name, she felt a shiver and numbness that she couldn't explain. Tears welled up in her eyes from staring for so long, and she couldn't utter a word even after her throat bobbed for a long time.

The Empress Dowager naturally knew what she had cared about most all these years. After saying these words, she fell silent and did not say another word, as if she was certain that she would die.

And indeed, things turned out exactly as she had predicted.

Since she was imprisoned in this tiny, dark Buddhist hall, she has been hysterical, silent, crazy, smashed things, and made a scene. Now, in the face of life and death, all her superfluous emotions seem to have vanished like clouds. Things have come to this point, and words have been spoken to this point. She has nothing left to expect, and nothing left to argue about.

Silently, she picked up the now-cold soup in front of her, the oil on the surface gradually solidifying. She chuckled softly, closed her eyes, held it and took a careful sniff of the aroma before bringing it to her lips and drinking it all in one gulp.

After making the emperor's favorite old duck soup for so many years, I finally got to drink the snow frog soup that I loved most as a child.

"Your Majesty, Consort Ulanara, is of noble birth and outstanding talent. You are gentle and wise, virtuous and exemplary. You possess all six virtues and have long been known for your virtuous conduct. You have promoted the four teachings in the palace and are worthy of being the mother of the nation. By the benevolent decree of the Empress Dowager, with this imperial edict and seal, you are hereby established as Empress. Respectfully."

Honghui, Mother is here...