"What happened?" Lu Xiaoyun asked.
Chunfang knelt down with a thud, choking back sobs and barely able to utter a complete sentence: "Your Highness, the Empress... the Empress feels extremely guilty. She said it's because of her that Miss Lu wants a divorce from you. The Empress..."
What does this have to do with Consort Duan? Even without her, she would still leave Prince An's residence once their bodies were switched back.
"How long were you kneeling?"
Five hours.
Lu Xiaoyun gasped. Five hours would ruin the knees of even a strong young man, let alone someone like Consort Duan.
No wonder there was such a large bloodstain there.
"The Empress's knees were already bad, and whenever the weather changed, her knees would ache terribly."
"After Your Highness gave birth to you, Your Highness, the Emperor rarely visited her. The palace was desolate, and time was hard to pass. Your Highness spent a lot of time in the small Buddhist hall every day."
Lu Xiaoyun knew that there was a small Buddhist hall in Yuqing Palace; she had heard Zhu Yu mention it a few days ago.
They all thought that Consort Duan was just using it to pass the time, but they didn't expect that she would regard it as a place to find solace.
Perhaps that place was more than just a place where Consort Duan could find solace.
In that ruthless place, she had to do some extreme things in order to dispel the emperor's suspicions.
"The Empress often knelt before the Buddha to copy Buddhist scriptures, sometimes for an entire day. Over time, this caused problems with her knees."
Inside the room, Lu Yuyan had finished bandaging the wound on Consort Duan's forehead and had also finished acupuncture on her knee.
Fine beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. Consort Duan had been kneeling for far too long. After half a cup of tea, she would need to have another acupuncture treatment.
Lu Yuyan had just finished disinfecting the needles and was about to begin acupuncture when a pair of pale, thin hands stopped him.
"Your Highness, you're awake? I've given you acupuncture. Can you feel the warmth in your knees?"
Consort Duan nodded slightly, but her hand remained on her knee, stopping Lu Yuyan from continuing the acupuncture.
Lu Yuyan looked up in confusion: "Your Highness, your knee injury is serious. I need to perform acupuncture again immediately to open up the meridians and improve blood circulation. Otherwise, I'm afraid your legs will..."
Consort Duan shook her head, her voice pale and weak: "Mr. Lu, thank you, thank you for lessening my sins. But it's alright, you can leave now, I'm fine."
"Your Majesty!" Lu Yuyan exclaimed anxiously.
Consort Duan smiled slightly: "I know what I'm doing. Just let me do this. I'll use my legs to ease my conscience a little. Ah Yan, I'll call you Ah Yan just like Yu'er does. Do you mind?"
Lu Yuyan shook his head: "The Empress calls me Ayan, which means she doesn't consider me an outsider."
Tears streamed down Consort Duan's face. She turned her head, stared at the curtain, and swallowed back her tears: "I lived a carefree life for the first twenty years of my life, but the last twenty years were filled with unbearable suffering, and I also made many mistakes."
“I often kneel before Buddha to repent, thinking that as long as I ignore Yu’er and treat the palace servants harshly, I can ensure Yu’er’s safety for life. But I was wrong, I was wrong, Ayan.”
"I shouldn't have done that."
“What did Xiaoyun do wrong? What did Fengyan do wrong? How could I torment them like this… It was you, Ayan, who lessened my sins.”
“That board was so thick. When it hit Feng Yan and Xiao Yun on the back, I was so scared that I broke out in a cold sweat. I prayed to God to let Yu’er come back quickly. I didn’t dare to tell the palace servants to stop. That Li Huaiying, she is the emperor’s person. If she passes the message to the emperor, Yu’er and everyone in the Prince An’s mansion will not survive.”
"But, but I was wrong, I was wrong, I shouldn't have used such an extreme method..."
“Your Highness, Miss Lu has never complained about you. Commander Feng, he is the Prince’s commander, so he will not complain about you either.”
Consort Duan grabbed Lu Yuyan's hand tightly: "I know, I know they don't resent me, they don't hate me. But, Yuyan, I can't just let it go because they don't resent or hate me. I can't keep these legs. I'll just consider it God's punishment for me."
The white sleeve of the undergarment slipped down from the wrist, revealing a large section of crisscrossing scratches on the arm, all caused by sharp weapons.
Lu Yuyan was startled and immediately rolled up her sleeves, revealing shocking scars that looked like two huge, menacing centipedes crawling all over Consort Duan's arms.
Lu Yuyan then examined Consort Duan's two legs. From her calves to her thighs, they were covered in wounds, almost all inflicted by sharp weapons.
Judging from the condition of the wounds, they were all caused by Consort Duan injuring herself.
Just now, to avoid suspicion, he only cut the blood-stained pants with scissors at the knees and didn't roll up her pant legs. Now, looking at it this way, it turns out...
"Your Majesty, what... what's wrong with you..."
Consort Duan didn't take it to heart: "If the body aches, the heart doesn't."
"Please don't hurt yourself anymore."
Consort Duan smiled faintly: "Ayan, grant me this one and only request: please don't treat my legs, okay?"
Lu Yuyan silently straightened Consort Duan's trouser legs and sleeves, and after a long while, he slowly nodded.
He knew that if he didn't agree, Consort Duan would only do something even more extreme.
She might even give up her life.
The door opened, and Lu Yuyan came out.
Lu Xiaoyun hurriedly stepped forward, looking anxiously into Lu Yuyan's eyes: "Ayan..."
Lu Yuyan said to Chunfang, "Please trouble you, Aunt, to change the Imperial Concubine into a clean set of clothes."
Chunfang quickly wiped away her tears, bowed to him, and hurried inside.
Lu Xiaoyun looked at the closed door and asked, "How is she? Her legs..."
Lu Yuyan shook his head: "You knelt for too long, and on sharp stone slabs, you bled so much, your knees are ruined. If you want to stand up again..."
It won't work.
Consort Duan spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
"Why has no one come to inform me!" Lu Xiaoyun's gaze swept over everyone, her expression cold and sharp.
All the servants in Yunmei Garden knelt down in unison, and no one uttered a single word of begging for mercy.
The cold wind swirled, causing the hexagonal lanterns hanging under the eaves to sway from side to side, and the shadows on the ground to move accordingly.
"Yu, Yu'er..." Consort Duan called out from inside the room with a dry voice.
Lu Xiaoyun rushed in and grabbed Consort Duan's hand, which was raised in mid-air: "Mother..."
"Don't blame them. It was me. I forbade them to inform you. I am the Imperial Concubine, and they dare not disobey my orders."
Just like last time when she ordered Feng Yan and Xiao Yun to be punished, it was all on her orders.
"Mother, how could you... how could you do this? Your legs..."
Consort Duan smiled and had Lu Xiaoyun help her sit up. She gave Lu Yuyan a deep look, grateful that he hadn't told Yu'er about her refusal to treat her leg and her injuries.
Lu Xiaoyun quickly placed a pillow under her back.
“I heard everything, don’t be sad. These legs used to hurt terribly whenever the weather changed, but it’s good that they’re numb now, so I don’t feel the pain.”
Lu Yuyan: "..."
Chunfang cried uncontrollably.
Consort Duan patted her hand to comfort her.
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