Chapter 81 Love and Hate Entanglement Love and hate in this world are just like this, full of unexpected twists and turns…
Inside the secret chamber of Chengqian Palace, candlelight flickered, casting yellowish shadows on the old or faded portraits of women.
A woman dressed in a plain palace dress squatted on the ground, hugging her knees and sobbing uncontrollably. The man in front of her knelt on one knee and gently pulled her into his arms, his eyes filled with heartache and helplessness.
He lowered his head and kissed her hair, his voice low and husky, "Gu Xi, forgive me," his lips touched the tears at the corner of her eyes, his eyes filled with guilt, "I just don't know how to love you so that you can love me in return."
Upon hearing this, Gu Xi cried even more uncontrollably. It turned out that their fate had already begun eleven or twelve years ago, but she had forgotten him.
She was only eight years old that year. She didn't go to see him again because she was sick. She stayed in Medicine King Valley for a long time before returning to the Gu family. She didn't remember whether she went to see him again. Her health was very poor in those years. Her most vivid memory was lying in bed taking all kinds of medicine. She couldn't remember much else. Her memories of him gradually became blurred.
She vaguely remembered that they hadn't spent much time together, and she didn't know that she had left such a deep mark on his heart.
Now she finally knows, but it's all too late.
Fate always seemed to enjoy playing tricks on her. Just when she was determined to let go, it came back to tell her that he actually loved her deeply.
But that passionate heart had long since withered, just like her, and could never come back to life.
Gu Xi gripped his clothes tightly, her tears soaking his garments, a testament to their impending end.
Xiao Heng looked at Gu Xi, who was crying her eyes out in his arms, got up, bent down and picked her up, wrapped her tightly in a thick cloak, and walked back to Weiyang Palace step by step through the snow.
Along the way, the biting north wind blew, but the woman in his arms was like the warmest winter sun, soothing his heart.
Upon arriving at the Weiyang Palace's sleeping quarters, he gently placed her, who was already asleep, on the bed. His fingers traced the outline of her slightly swollen eyes, his gaze filled with tender emotions.
*
When Gu Xi woke up, it was already the next day. Xiao Heng was not there; he must have gone to court.
After having breakfast, she took Zhuyin to Consort Xu's palace.
Consort Xu held Gu Xi's hand and said apologetically, "Xi, about what happened to A-Che last time... I apologize to you on behalf of that child."
Gu Xi quickly said, "Aunt Xu, please don't say that. Brother Che has always loved me like an older brother. I don't blame him."
Consort Xu smiled with relief. She had watched the two children grow up, and even if they couldn't be husband and wife, she didn't want them to turn against each other.
Consort Xu suddenly remembered something and said seriously, "You are now the Empress, you can no longer act like a child." She looked quite stern.
Gu Xi was extremely embarrassed upon hearing this, her ears turning bright red instantly. She knew she must be referring to the events of the coronation ceremony. She had deliberately provoked Xiao Heng, hoping to make him dislike her. Now, thinking back, she realized how inappropriate it had been; she shouldn't have acted out on such an important occasion.
She had never done anything so impolite before, not even to the point that a kind elder like Aunt Xu couldn't stand it. Gu Xi was so embarrassed that she couldn't say a word, her hands tightly gripping her sleeves.
Seeing this, Consort Xu quickly changed the subject to ease her embarrassment, "Xiao Xi, is there something you need from me today?"
Gu Xi composed herself and got straight to the point, "Aunt Xu, I have something I want to ask you today... it's about the Emperor."
"Are you asking about his relationship with the Empress Dowager?"
“Hmm,” Gu Xi lowered her eyes, “Do you know why the Empress Dowager hates him so much?”
Although she couldn't remember many things, she still remembered that he was badly injured when she first met him. Although he didn't say it, she guessed that the injuries were probably related to the Empress Dowager.
Consort Xu shook her head. "I don't know much about this either. When the Emperor was born, I had just become pregnant with A-Che. At that time, I heard that the late Emperor and the Empress Dowager did not like the newborn prince. Later, after the Ninth Prince was born, the Empress Dowager sent him to Chengqian Palace. The late Emperor knew about it but did not say anything."
Consort Xu continued, "He wasn't having a good time in Chengqian Palace. A-Che told me about this." Having lived in the imperial palace for a long time, she didn't know much about what was happening in the palace.
“Once, when A-Che passed by Chengqian Palace, he saw someone bullying him, so he taught those servants a lesson for him. Later, I heard that they often stole his food, so I secretly had someone send him some food from time to time.” The Qin family was powerful, and she was powerless to do anything more than that.
"Perhaps that's why the emperor was relatively lenient towards A-Che after he ascended the throne."
Gu Xi lowered her eyes. What Consort Xu said was exactly the same as what Zhao Fuquan had said before. He really had a hard life since childhood.
She suddenly understood him. Because he had never received love, he didn't know what it was like to love someone or to be loved. So even though she tried her best to love him, he didn't believe in her love.
It now seems that only by finding the Empress Dowager can we find out the reason and untie the knot in Xiao Heng's heart.
Gu Xi exchanged a few more pleasantries with Consort Xu, then left with Zhu Yin.
Standing in front of the Cining Palace gate, looking at the heavily guarded palace, she recalled the last time she came here, before leaving the palace, and felt as if she had been in another world.
Ah Heng, this may be the last thing I can do for you.
Unsurprisingly, Gu Xi was stopped as soon as she tried to go in.
The head guard said, "Your Majesty, His Majesty has ordered that no one is allowed to enter, especially Your Majesty."
Gu Xiqing cleared her throat and said, "I came here by imperial decree, and he has given me permission to enter."
The guard hesitated, "This..."
"What? You don't believe me? Are you implying that I'm forging an imperial edict?" Gu Xi swallowed hard after speaking; she was indeed forging an imperial edict.
The guard immediately clasped his hands in a fist salute, his expression tense, "This humble servant dares not!"
"If you're not at ease, you can go and report to the Emperor now. I'll take responsibility for anything that happens!" Seeing that he was still hesitant, Gu Xi said coldly, "Are you going to disobey the imperial decree by not letting me in?!"
"This humble servant dares not!" He gestured for the people behind him to step aside, "Let Her Majesty the Empress in."
Gu Xi breathed a sigh of relief and stepped into the main hall of Cining Palace with Zhu Yin.
Inside the hall, the Empress Dowager sat on a rosewood chair with her eyes closed, her fingers twirling a string of Buddhist prayer beads.
Standing beside her was Granny Liu, and a guard stood guard every two steps.
The Empress Dowager looked as radiant as ever, seemingly unaffected by the two failed attempts to force the emperor to abdicate, and appeared poised to make a comeback at any moment.
Hearing the noise, she opened her eyes after a while. When she saw that it was Gu Xi, her eyes immediately turned venomous, and she said sharply, "You dare to come! I'll kill you!"
The Empress Dowager suddenly stood up and was about to go to Gu Xi when her guards stopped her, leaving her stranded.
Gu Xi subconsciously took two steps back, composed herself, and said, "Your Majesty, I know you want to kill me." Her brother had already told her in his letter about the entanglement between the Empress Dowager and the Su family. "You don't need to do it yourself, because I'm already a dying man." She paused, "I came here today to ask you, why do you hate the Emperor so much?"
The Empress Dowager glared at her with resentment, "Why should I tell you?"
Gu Xi lowered her eyes, "Please consider this as fulfilling a wish of a dying person like me."
The Empress Dowager sneered, "I can tell you, but you must kill that rebellious son for me!"
Gu Xi pursed her lips and looked at the Empress Dowager for a long time, but she showed no intention of giving in. She knew that if the Empress Dowager did not want to talk, no matter how she tried to persuade her, it would be useless.
Just as she was about to leave, Granny Liu suddenly called out to her, "Your Majesty, let me tell you."
The Empress Dowager turned sharply to look at her and said fiercely, "Even you have betrayed me!"
Looking at the Empress Dowager who was being held captive by the guards, Liu Mama shook her head. "This servant will never betray Your Majesty, but after all these years, it's time for you to let go."
She turned to Gu Xi and began to recount the story: "It all started twenty-seven years ago..."
Xiao Heng's birth marked the beginning of all her hatred.
Empress Dowager's given name was Qin Jianyue. She was the eldest daughter of the Qin family, who was pampered and loved by all. Before entering the palace, she had a childhood sweetheart, a young master from a noble family. Qin Jianyue had long harbored feelings for him. This man was Gu Xi's master.
However, women from aristocratic families have never been able to make their own decisions about marriage. For the sake of the family's rise and fall, she was forced to enter the palace, severing this relationship.
Nevertheless, she did not resent her family, but she still felt pain in her heart because she could not be with the person she loved.
Fortunately, after entering the palace, she met a woman who shared the same interests and they quickly became sworn sisters. With her companionship, she soon overcame her heartbreak and accepted her fate. This woman was the later Consort Lan, named Lan Yi.
In the treacherous palace, the two supported each other like true sisters. Once, Qin Jianyue fell ill and was misdiagnosed with smallpox. Everyone avoided her, but Lan Yi stayed by her side every day, taking care of her even more diligently than Liu Mama. From then on, Qin Jianyue became more and more dependent on Lan Yi.
Later, Qin Jianyue was made empress by relying on the power of the Qin family, and Lan Yi was also promoted to concubine Lan because of her outstanding appearance and talent. However, their relationship was not affected by this, but instead became better and better. They were so close that even the emperor's favor could not compare to a word of concern from the other. Their sisterly affection became a legend in the palace.
However, this happy time did not last long. A year after entering the palace, Consort Lan became pregnant with the emperor's child. Soon after, Qin Jianyue also became pregnant. This should have been a happy event, but the Qin family told her that the late emperor had a mistress outside the palace, and that woman was also pregnant. The late emperor loved that woman very much. If that woman gave birth to a son, he would depose Qin Jianyue and make that woman empress and her child crown prince.
The Qin family would never allow such a thing to happen, so they won over the ministers in the court. After the Empress gave birth to a prince, they immediately supported him as the Crown Prince to secure his position. The Empress's position would then be secured as well. Qin Jianyue had to give birth to a prince before that woman.
Although the Imperial Medical Academy had concluded that both Qin Jianyue and Lan Yi's unborn children were princes, the Qin family dared not take the risk. Therefore, they framed Consort Lan for possessing aphrodisiacs. The late emperor, preoccupied with that woman, didn't investigate and simply demoted her to a palace maid, ordering her child to be raised by the Empress after birth. This way, if anything happened to Qin Jianyue's unborn child, the Qin family could easily switch the baby and kill Lan Yi, and no one would know the truth.
Qin Jianyue quickly guessed that the Qin family was behind it. On the day Lan Yi was about to give birth, she received the news and rushed to Lan Yi's residence despite being heavily pregnant. Lan Yi had indeed given birth to a prince, and just as the Qin family was preparing to take the child away and kill Lan Yi, Qin Jianyue arrived.
"Don't kill her!" Qin Jianyue hurriedly stopped her, "It's not too late to make a decision after my child is born!"
No sooner had she finished speaking than Qin Jianyue's emotions overwhelmed her and she was rushed back to Kunning Palace, where she experienced fetal movement.
Not long after, Qin Jianyue also gave birth to a prince. Just when she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that Lan Yi could escape this calamity, she found that the child neither cried nor made a sound, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible. He was clearly stillborn.
"Stillborn?" Gu Xi frowned upon hearing this. How could it be stillborn?
"Your Majesty, please listen to what I have to say," said Granny Liu.
Upon seeing this, the Qin family rushed to Lan Yi's place without saying a word. Qin Jianyue had not yet had time to grieve for her stillborn child when she chased after her. But when she arrived, Lan Yi had already been killed. She witnessed her dying in front of her.
"No!" Qin Jianyue cried out in anguish, her heart filled with hatred for the woman the late emperor loved. If it weren't for her, none of this would have happened.
Despite her weakened state after childbirth, she used all her strength to find the woman's hiding place, where her husband was by her side. The woman was extremely beautiful, so beautiful that even women would be captivated by her, but Qin Jianyue only felt boundless hatred for her. She had someone use the pretext of the Empress Dowager's serious illness to send the late emperor away, and then personally killed the woman.
Granny Liu explained, "Later, the Empress Dowager must have realized that it was the Empress Dowager who did this, and covered it up for her. The late emperor always thought that the Empress Dowager had killed the woman... He only learned the truth before his death, but that's another story."
This was Qin Jianyue's first time killing someone. She was trembling with fear, but the hatred in her heart overwhelmed everything.
She tried to calm herself down and returned to Lan Yi's residence. She picked up the baby who was quietly in his swaddling clothes and vowed to take good care of him and preserve Lan Yi's last bloodline.
When she returned to Kunning Palace with Lanyi's child in her arms, she discovered that the previously silent child had come back to life and was crying loudly inside the room!
The cries echoed throughout Kunning Palace. Qin Jianyue froze on the spot, and when she came to her senses, she was nearly driven mad. She couldn't understand how a child who was supposed to be dead could suddenly come back to life. Lan Yi didn't have to die, and she didn't have to kill anyone. Qin Jianyue was utterly devastated.
At that moment, Granny Liu quickly reminded her, "Your Majesty, if the Qin family finds out that both children are still alive..." She hesitated, then added, "You need to make a decision quickly."
Qin Jianyue made a decisive decision, "Quick! Send him out of the palace! Find a good family to adopt him!"
Granny Liu entrusted Lan Yi's child to a trusted palace servant to take out of the palace, but an accident occurred. The servant and the child died together, and Qin Jianyue ultimately failed to preserve Lan Yi's last bloodline.
On the day Xiao Heng was born, Qin Jianyue lost her best friend, her husband, and her very humanity, and lived in resentment ever since.
On this very day, the late emperor lost his beloved woman and their unborn child. Whenever he saw Xiao Heng, he would be reminded of the pain of that day.
Gu Xi asked with a pained expression, "So, Your Majesty, you vent all your resentment on the Emperor?"
The Empress Dowager said with a face full of resentment, "He should have died long ago! If he had died earlier, Lanyi's child would not have died!"
"He shouldn't have lived when he should have, and he shouldn't have died when he should have!"
"A man like him deserves to die!"
Gu Xi's eyes reddened, her face full of disapproval: "What does all this have to do with him? He's completely innocent..."
The Empress Dowager sneered, "Innocent? Who in this palace isn't innocent? Who is truly innocent? I don't believe you haven't taken a few lives, and that rebellious son is even more so... Since he was born into the imperial family, he can't be considered innocent!"
Gu Xi was shocked. She suddenly remembered Cai Lian and the people from Black Stone Village who had died because of her. Even though she had never intended to harm anyone, some people still lost their lives because of her.
She stood there for a long time, unable to calm down.
Even knowing all this, I still can't understand how a mother could harbor such deep hatred for her own child.
As Gu Xiyu turned to leave, the Empress Dowager suddenly called out to her, her eyes filled with malice, "What is your relationship with that woman!"
Gu Xi lowered her eyes, "She is my aunt... Empress Dowager, she was forced, she didn't love the late emperor..." The person my aunt loved was my master.
The woman the late emperor loved was her aunt, her mother's younger sister. After her aunt's death, the late emperor concealed her identity to protect her family, so no one knew she was from the Su family. Her brother's letter mentioned that she looked very much like her aunt, which is why they had feared her being discovered for so many years. Everyone believed that the Empress Dowager had killed her aunt, including her master. Her parents only later discovered that the Empress Dowager was the one who killed her, which is why they sided with Xiao Heng to bring down the Empress Dowager and protect her.
The Empress Dowager snorted coldly, seemingly not believing her explanation, and Gu Xi showed no intention of explaining further.
When Gu Xixing reached the palace gate, she paused and tilted her head slightly, saying, "Your Majesty, that child is not dead; he is still alive and well."
It turns out that the Empress Dowager did not intend to kill Consort Lan and her son, but rather wanted to save them. However, Bai Xingzhi came for revenge. Love and hate in this world are just like this, full of twists and turns, and difficult to unravel.
It turns out that long ago, her fate was intertwined with that of Xiao Heng and Bai Xingzhi.
The Empress Dowager was shocked upon hearing this and asked incredulously, "What did you say? Explain yourself to me!" Before she could get an answer, she asked urgently, "How is that child doing now?"
Gu Xi looked out of the hall and felt that the winter sun was much more dazzling than usual, making her eyes sting.
She slowly began to speak: "You are compassionate to others, yet you are so cruel to him alone."
“He did nothing wrong, his mistake was becoming your child.”
Perhaps out of guilt towards Consort Lan, perhaps out of resentment towards fate, or perhaps out of hatred for the late emperor, she hated Xiao Heng while also hating herself. But none of this could justify her harming Xiao Heng.
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Author's Note: All the plot holes have been filled! [Applause][Applause][Applause]
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