Princess Escapes
A white banner hung low in front of the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, the accumulated snow had been trampled into gray-black mud, and the two stone lions seemed to have lost their bones and muscles, draped in mourning cloths, shivering in the biting cold wind.
The plaque "House of the Duke of Dingguo" hanging on the lintel is dazzlingly red and oppressive against the plain white background.
The clatter of horse hooves shattered the deathly silence. Several black-armored imperial guards, flanked by a palanquin, stopped at the steps. The eunuch announcing the decree, his black boots treading through the snow, unfurled a bright yellow scroll, his shrill voice piercing the mournful silence: "Emperor Guangqi decrees: General Pan Wei, a man of unwavering loyalty and unyielding in the face of adversity, died for his country, his loyalty and heroism renowned! He is posthumously awarded the title of Grand Tutor, the posthumous title of Wuyi, and his place in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. His son, Pan Hao..."
Pan Hao, dressed in coarse linen and heavy mourning clothes, knelt in front of the coffin with his forehead resting on the ground. His father's body, which had not yet been buried, stopped behind him. There was a thin coffin with a plain curtain. On the altar was only a flickering lamp, illuminating the tablet with the ink still wet, which read "The Spirit Tablet of Mr. Pan Huiwei".
"However, as a palace guard, Pan Hao cannot escape the guilt of negligence! In recognition of his father's meritorious service, I grant him the right to inherit the title of Duke of Dingguo and to take away his rank of Grand General. He must observe mourning in seclusion within the palace for three years, allowing him to reflect on his mistakes. He will be reinstated upon completion of this period. I decree this."
"Your Majesty, Pan Hao..." His throat rolled, and he swallowed the bloody mouthful that surged up, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"
The imperial edict was stuffed into his hands, feeling cold and heavy. The black-armored guards retreated, leaving only a condescending glance of pity from the eunuch who announced the edict.
From that moment on, the glory and power of the Pan family became a thing of the past, and the general's seal, which symbolized my father's life of military service, was completely stripped away.
The only sound in the mourning hall was the crackling of the burning wick. Pan Hao was still kneeling with his back straight. He slowly unfolded the bright yellow scroll, and every word pierced his eyes and penetrated his heart.
"The crime of negligence..."
Why were the palace gates left open? Why did he trust the visitor so easily? Why didn't he see it was a trap? The scene of his father being surrounded and killed amidst the blazing flames of the night of the coup...
And there are Ning Lingyi's eyes that see through everything.
He suddenly drew the sword from his waist. Die, die once and for all! No shame in living!
He had let down his father, the Pan family, and the soldiers who trusted him! There was no one more incompetent than him in this world.
You are not fit to be a son, nor a minister!
The cold touch of the sword blade against his neck made his skin tremble. He tilted his head slightly and his eyes fell on the black armor beside the altar. It was his father's old armor. Every deep scratch on the armor was a symbol of the Pan family's loyalty from generation to generation.
When it comes to his generation, he just wants to commit suicide, haha.
The sword never cut through. He couldn't die. The name "Wu Yi" his father had earned with his life, the Pan family's banner, couldn't fall in his hands.
Even if he only had an empty title left, even if he was imprisoned in this tomb of the living dead for three years, he had to bear it. He had to lead the Pan family back and win back the reputation of the Pan family, instead of going underground to see his father in silence.
"Dad..." He dropped his sword and staggered to the thin coffin, pressing his forehead against the cold coffin. His shoulders twitched violently and he knelt there for a whole night.
The next day, when he looked up again, the face reflected in the clear water in the copper basin on the altar had a layer of frost on the forehead and temples. Overnight, the youthful spirit had gone down the drain.
"I will stay at home and observe mourning for my father for three years."
The heavy door slammed shut behind him, blocking out all outside prying eyes. The Duke Dingguo Mansion, along with its young owner, fell silent in the capital from then on.
The Piaoshuang Palace was filled with warm fragrance and bright candlelight.
The new emperor's younger sister, the newly appointed eldest princess.
Ning Lingli leaned lazily on the soft couch covered with luxurious brocade, and the red gold armor knocked against the jade ruyi beside him from time to time, making a crisp sound.
She slowly said to the trusted palace maid standing by:
"Mingzhu, Zhaoyang..." She recited the two names slowly, as if savoring a delicacy. "One had her engagement broken off, becoming an abandoned woman; the other immediately fled to Beishuo, becoming a homeless dog. Oh, it's truly God's mercy to send them into my hands."
Her eyes gleamed with undisguised excitement. "There's still a long way to go in this deep palace. Why rush? Tell them I have plenty of time and means. Tell them to wait, wait patiently! I will settle accounts with them one by one, carefully and thoroughly, for everything they owe me."
She chuckled softly, "In the days to come, I will teach them what it means to truly live a life worse than death. This wonderful show has only just begun."
Her words were like honey dipped in poison, spreading a suffocating chill throughout the luxurious palace.
*
Inside the Xue Han Palace, the charcoal basin was burning brightly, but the warmth could not dispel the pervasive cold. Concubine Yu leaned against the window, looking at the dead branches in the palace that were bent by the snow. The furnishings in the palace were still luxurious, but there was a sense of desolation everywhere.
"Yier," she said, her voice weary and with a barely perceptible plea, "the Beishuo delegation is still in the capital. Once there, you'll be the Khan's consort. No matter how powerful the new emperor is, he won't be able to reach the grassland royal court."
"This deep palace is a prison that eats people. Mother only hopes you can escape."
Ning Lingyi raised her eyes to look at her mother, her gaze cold and sharp, like the unmelted ice and snow outside the palace: "Depending on a man's power?"
"Mother, haven't you seen clearly enough in this half of your life? Haven't you tasted enough bitterness? You were noble for a while, but then you lived a lifetime of dependence and fear. Is your today the tomorrow your daughter wants?"
This statement was extremely treasonous, and Concubine Yu remained silent.
"We are women in the deep palace. What else can we do except rely on others? This is our fate, our fate to be born in this world!"
"Life?" Ning Lingyi stood up suddenly, and overturned the pen washer on the table with her sleeve, spilling clean water all over the floor.
"Hasn't that drama in the Purple Palace been enough? From the deposed crown prince to the new emperor, they're fighting for their lives! Why should we just accept our fate? Are women in the deep palace destined to be fish on the chopping block, unworthy of even the thought of leaving this cage?"
"Leave? Where else can we go? The world is so vast, it belongs to the king. Where is there any place for us to stay?"
Concubine Yu pleaded even more: "Yier, don't do anything stupid! You can't win..."
"Empress! Help! Save us, mother and son!"
Concubine Jing rushed in with her two children, her hair disheveled. The two children clung to their mother's side, like two frightened baby birds, not even daring to cry loudly, but just staring at the people in the hall with wide eyes in fear.
"thump!"
Jingpin pulled the two children to their knees, "Your Highness, please have mercy on me and my son. The new emperor won't tolerate us any more! Today's lunch... is poisoned!"
She spoke incoherently and her body shook like a leaf in the autumn wind.
Concubine Yu took a step back in shock, looking at the desperate mother and her two children, and then looking at her own daughter whose future was also uncertain, she felt only sadness.
She smiled miserably, a smile uglier than crying: "Sister Jingpin, you think too highly of me. In the past, perhaps I could have said a few words to His Majesty. But now?"
She said, "With the new emperor ascending the throne, we, the old people of the previous dynasty, are nothing more than annoying dust and despised concubines. Who would care about the life or death of a concubine? And who would listen to a concubine's plea?"
"Are we, mother and child, doomed to die?" The last glimmer of light in Concubine Jing's eyes completely extinguished. She collapsed to the ground, hugging her two children. "My children, they are still so young..."
Ning Lingyi looked at her younger brother and sister. Concubine Jing had never had any extravagant hopes. These two children were raised to be extremely innocent and never understood any big principles, let alone competing with the new emperor. But there was no room for them? How guilty must the new emperor be, afraid that the world would be taken away from him.
She walked over silently, squatted down, and gently took the cold little Lingyao into her arms, then reached out and touched Yanhe's cold little face.
There was only pure fear in the child's eyes, reflecting her own equally pale face.
Ning Lingyi raised her head, her eyes swept over the desperate Jingpin and her grieving mother. An idea, like a spark in the snow, ignited in her eyes, growing brighter and brighter.
"I want to take them away from here." She spoke, instantly suppressing all the cries of grief.
"What?" Concubine Yu and Concubine Jing looked up at the same time.
"I say, leave here, run away." Ning Lingyi stood up, holding little Lingyao firmly in her arms.
"Mother, you ask me where I can go? The world is so vast, there is always a glimmer of hope. It is better than waiting here to be slaughtered!"
"Yier, you're crazy! How are you going to escape with them? Where are you going to escape to?"
Ning Lingyi's gaze penetrated the tightly closed palace door and looked towards the south: "Mingzhou."
The night was as dark as ink, engulfing the towering imperial palace into a blurry and hideous shadow. The cold wind blew up fine snow particles, scraping across the cheeks like a knife.
Near an abandoned corner gate at the rear of Xuehan Hall, the accumulated snow had been carefully cleared, revealing the damp, cold blue bricks. Ning Lingyi had changed into a modest dark blue coarse cotton dress, her long hair tightly tied in a cloth towel. She held Ning Yan and Ning Lingyao's hands tightly, both wrapped in thick cotton cloaks.
Concubine Yu and Concubine Jing stood in the shadow inside the door, their faces pale, but they did not stop her in the end. They just stuffed a heavy bag into Ning Lingyi's hand, which contained her years of savings.
"Take care, Yier..." Thousands of words were reduced to just this one sentence.
"Take care, mother." Ning Lingyi looked at her mother deeply. The look in her eyes was complicated and indescribable, with determination, reluctance, and the firmness of breaking out of the cocoon.
Without further hesitation, she flung open the creaking corner door.
The biting cold wind carrying snow particles rushed in instantly. She took a deep breath of the cold air, raised her foot, and resolutely stepped out of the palace gate that had imprisoned her for more than ten years.
"Let's go!" She pulled the two children and her figure disappeared into the thick inky darkness of the palace corridor. The other followers followed closely behind, and the group was like a frightened bird.
This path leading to the abandoned garden in the most remote corner of the palace is a secret known to few people in the palace. After years of abandonment, the snow has become deeper. Every step made in the deep snow makes a creaking sound, which is particularly clear in the silent night.
Yan He and Ling Yao's faces turned blue from the cold, but they gritted their teeth and said nothing, holding Ning Lingyi's hand tightly.
Turning a corner, a dilapidated wall covered with withered vines, the shabby gate of the abandoned garden loomed in sight. Just crossing that desolate garden and over a low wall would lead to the outermost service area of the palace, a step closer to freedom.
"Mingzhu, wait! Wait for me!"
A very low female voice came from the shadow of the palace behind him.
Ning Lingyi shuddered, protecting Yan He behind her, while her other hand quietly reached for the dagger hidden at her waist.
In the shadows, a slender figure also wearing a coarse cotton skirt stumbled out, panting, with disheveled hair and mud on her face. It was Princess Zhaoyang!
"Zhaoyang?" Ning Lingyi's tense nerves relaxed slightly, and then she asked again, "Why are you..."
"Take me away!" Zhao Yang rushed forward and grabbed Ning Lingyi's arm. His fingertips were cold and trembling violently, with despair and pleading in his eyes. "My brother, the Crown Prince, is dead! My father and mother are imprisoned in the cold palace, and my marriage has been canceled. There is no place for me in this deep palace!"
Tears mixed with snow water streamed down her face. "I know you want to leave! Take me with you, please! I can endure any hardship!"
The cold wind blew snow foam onto everyone's faces.
Ning Lingyi looked into Zhaoyang's eyes, as if she saw herself in Xuehan Palace a moment ago.
She was silent for a moment. "This road is a life-or-death one. Once you leave this palace, you will no longer be a member of a royal family. The road ahead is long and arduous. You may face hardships, hunger and cold, or even death by sword and axe. You may not even have the freedom you desire."
Upon hearing this, Zhaoyang revealed a smile that was uglier than crying. She looked around at the outline of the palace behind her and said in a voice so light it sounded like a sigh, "A narrow escape from death?"
"Staying here is a true death sentence, a living hell where even your soul is being ground to pieces bit by bit! Is there any place in this world more painful than this cage made of gold and jade?"
The wind and snow became more severe.
Ning Lingyi looked at her deeply, and without saying anything more, she simply shook her cold hand firmly: "Follow me, be careful, and don't make any noise!"
The group of people, like a few insignificant fallen leaves on a snowy night, trudged through the abandoned garden covered with deep snow, climbed over the low wall that symbolized the final isolation, and the huge shadow of the palace was finally left behind them little by little.
The capital city was sleeping in the dead silence of the winter night, with only the monotonous sound of the night watchman's clappers echoing in the distant alleys. They avoided the main roads and only chose to walk through the darkest and narrowest alleys.
The sound of patrolling soldiers' footsteps, the night watchmen's clappers, the barking of wild dogs...
Every time, their hearts would rise to their throats, and they would hold their breath and cling to the cold wall until the danger was gone.
I had close calls several times, and each time it felt like I was walking on the edge of hell.
When the sky finally turned gray like a fish belly, they finally arrived at a gathering place in the outer city of the capital waiting for the city gates to open.
Many farmers pushing wheelbarrows, peddlers carrying loads on their shoulders, and refugees with their families have gathered here. The air is filled with the mixed smell of dust, animal excrement and food, and it is noisy and full of the smell of fireworks.
They blended into the crowd quietly and were inconspicuous.
The soldier guarding the city gate yawned as he checked the people in front of him as a matter of routine. He glanced lazily at the women wearing coarse cloth, covered in dust, and carrying children, without lingering for long.
When the huge city gate slowly opened a crack with the teeth-grinding sound of a winch, Ning Lingyi turned around for the last time to take a look at the imperial palace in the dim morning light.
No nostalgia.
She held her sister-in-law's cold little hand tightly and whispered to Zhaoyang, "Let's go."
Following the surging crowd, they stepped out of the door that imprisoned their entire past.
Behind him is the cage of power struggle.
Ahead is a future shrouded in morning mist.
The biting wind, carrying the scent of dust and weeds, blew in my face, freezing me to the bone.
Freedom? Maybe.
What awaits them, a way to survive, or another cage without sunlight?
No one knew, but they took this step anyway.
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