The Empress Dowager passed away
Within a few days, stories about Empress Dowager Wei's experiences in the Jin Kingdom appeared in storybooks, were printed into books, and were distributed in the streets and alleys of Lin'an City.
Old Wang, who sells pancakes, came to the stall early in the morning and saw a brand new book left there by some customer. He bent down and picked up the book. There were big words "Northern Hunting Tears and Blood Record" printed on it.
He opened the book and paled at the mere mention of "laundry." The embroiderers at the neighboring stalls passed around a leaflet depicting a sheep cart, their needlework baskets toppled over. It depicted Empress Dowager Wei, dressed in foreign attire, pouring wine for a Jin general.
"What a sin!" the old scholar roared, beating his chest and stamping his feet, but secretly stuffed a book of stories into his sleeve, "You have insulted the mother of the country, and your entire clan should be killed!"
"So that's how it is..." A man who looked like a scholar slammed the table in Zui Xiang Lou and said, "No wonder they wanted to kill the real princess. They wanted to silence her!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down!" His companion hurriedly pulled him back. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"
The book was soon delivered to the palace.
"Investigate!" Zhao Gou's roar startled the birds that nestled in the eaves. "Burn all the evil books within three days!"
When the Imperial City Bureau's cavalry came out in full force, Liang Hongyu was shooting arrows in the backyard of Han's mansion, and the sharp sounds of arrows breaking through the air continued.
Although the government quickly banned the book, it was too late. Public opinion had spread like wildfire. More and more people began to doubt the royal family's account and began to question the truth behind Roufu's death.
The author of the book remains a mystery. Some say it was written by Roufu's former maid, others by an official who escaped from the Jin Dynasty, and even some say it was written by Liang Hongyu herself.
"Madam, this is too risky." Qiu Feng looked anxiously at the sound of galloping horses outside the wall. "The Imperial City Bureau has already arrested more than a dozen booksellers..."
With a swish, another arrow pierced the bull's eye. Liang Hongyu's hand on the bow was as steady as a rock. "I don't think they can find anything on me."
The flickering candlelight in Fengyi Hall illuminated Empress Dowager Wei's pale face. She clutched the unfinished copy of "The Northern Hunting Record of Tears and Blood," her fingers turning pale from the pressure she applied, severely deforming the book.
"This is not true, it's not true..." she murmured, her voice trembling like a falling autumn leaf.
Zhao Gou stood beside her in silence. He had finished reading the book, and the humiliation brought by the content burned him deeply. He wanted to tear the Jin people who bullied the empress dowager into pieces. He even regretted why he killed Yue Fei. If Yue Fei had not been killed, Yue Fei's "straight to Huanglong" might have been realized, but Yue Fei had been wiped out, Han Shizhong had surrendered his military power, the peace agreement had been reached, and everything was irreversible.
"Mother, I have already recalled all the books I sold and executed the author." Zhao Gou's voice was dry. "The people will no longer discuss this matter. I have already issued an order that anyone found in private possession of this book will be killed without mercy."
Empress Dowager Wei suddenly looked up, her eyes bloodshot. "Execution? Who did you execute? This book wasn't written by just one person!" She practically screamed, "Can't you see? This was premeditated! Someone wants to destroy us, mother and son, and the Zhao royal family!"
Zhao Gou was stunned. He hadn't really thought about the problem. In his rage, he only arrested a few booksellers and the most common storytellers.
"Mother, please take a rest first. I will definitely get to the bottom of this matter." Zhao Gou raised his eyes and said to Yang who was beside the empress dowager, "Take good care of the empress dowager." Then he left the palace.
A few days later, Empress Dowager Wei suddenly had blurred vision. Zhao Gou invited all the imperial doctors in the palace to treat the empress dowager. The doctors said that the empress dowager was worried too much recently and often cried, which hurt her eyes.
After the imperial doctors treated the empress dowager for several days, not only did her condition not improve, but her vision became increasingly blurred until she became blind.
Zhao Gou angrily cursed: "You are a bunch of trash, get out of here!"
Upon hearing this, the imperial doctors all retreated from Fengyi Palace in fear.
Eunuch Rong beside him suddenly said, "This old servant knows a Taoist master outside the city. Why not let him come and show it to the Queen Mother?"
Zhao Gou nodded and said, "Go ahead and do it."
A few days later, Eunuch Rong invited a Taoist priest from Shu who was good at wind-diagnosis to treat the empress dowager. The Taoist priest was dressed in a green robe, had a thin figure, and his face was hidden in the shadows and could not be seen clearly.
Zhao Gou summoned him to ask how to treat her. The Taoist's voice was as calm as an ancient well, "The Queen Mother's illness cannot be cured by ordinary medicine. The eyes are the windows to the heart. If there is a cloud in the heart, the eyes will be covered with dust."
He took out a golden needle as thin as an ox hair from his sleeve and burned it lightly over the candle flame, but was in no hurry to perform the spell.
Zhao Gou frowned: "What do you mean, Taoist priest?"
The Taoist priest did not answer, but turned to Empress Dowager Wei and asked, "Would Your Majesty be willing to face your true heart?"
Empress Dowager Wei's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her lips were pressed into a pale line. The hall was so quiet that one could hear the crackling of the candlelight.
Suddenly, the Taoist's golden needle, like lightning, pierced the acupuncture point around the Empress Dowager's left eye with pinpoint accuracy. The movement was so swift it was blinding. Empress Dowager Wei groaned softly, feeling no pain, only a cool sensation rising from the depths of her eyes.
The Taoist twisted his fingers lightly and chanted softly: "Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth, all false thoughts and obsessions return to nothingness."
Strangely enough, as he finished speaking, the film on the empress dowager's left eye slowly fell away, revealing a clear eye. She blinked, looked around in disbelief, and suddenly burst into tears: "I see..."
Zhao Gou was overjoyed: "Master, you are truly a god! Please heal my right eye as soon as possible!"
The Taoist priest put away the golden needle, shook his head and said, "One eye is enough for the Queen Mother to see things, so use the other eye to atone for the sins you committed in your lifetime."
The hall suddenly fell silent. Empress Dowager Wei's smile froze, and fear flashed in her single eye.
"What do you mean, Taoist priest?" Zhao Gou's face darkened.
The Taoist bowed deeply to the ground: "Heaven's way is clear. Forcing perfection will only bring disaster."
After hearing this, Zhao Gou asked no more questions and ordered the eunuchs to reward the Taoist priest generously. However, the Taoist priest refused to accept anything and left.
Since that day, Empress Dowager Wei's temperament changed drastically.
She was sometimes irritable and easily angered, sometimes anxious and restless. Late at night, she would always say she heard someone crying in her ear. Even more strangely, her blind right eye would often bleed for no apparent reason, and the imperial doctors could not find the cause.
Zhao Gou sent people to search for the Taoist priest everywhere, but there was no trace of him.
At the same time, a new story began to circulate in Lin'an City: it was said that Empress Dowager Wei lost an eye as punishment by heaven because of her serious sins. This was God's way of wanting her to remember her sins forever.
The rumor spread like wildfire, becoming more and more widespread, even reaching the inner palace.
When Empress Dowager Wei heard this, she completely collapsed. She smashed all the mirrors in the palace and forbade anyone to mention her eyes.
One night, Zhao Gou went to visit his mother and saw her sitting alone in the dark, muttering to herself:
"She's back...Roufu is back...She's looking at me..."
Zhao Gou was horrified, but he forced himself to remain calm: "My mother, you worry too much. Roufu is no longer with us."
Queen Mother Wei suddenly grabbed his hand, her one eye filled with madness: "No! She is not dead! That eye...that eye is hers! She is looking at me with that eye!"
In Han's house, Liang Hongyu received a secret report and a sneer appeared on her lips.
Qiu Feng whispered, "Madam, that Taoist priest is indeed very skilled. The Queen Mother is already half crazy."
Liang Hongyu looked out the window at the bright moon and said, "There's no such thing as magic in this world. It's just exploiting the evil in people's hearts."
It turned out that the Taoist priest was an old subordinate of Han Shizhong in disguise. The so-called golden needle eye treatment was merely a temporary cataract removal using a special potion, supplemented by psychological suggestion. The bleeding from the Empress Dowager's right eye was caused by a trace amount of medicine secretly added to her food.
"But Madam, is it true that the Queen Mother's right eye can no longer be cured?"
Liang Hongyu's eyes were penetrating. "Physical eye problems can be cured, but psychological ones are more difficult. Empress Dowager Wei has something to hide. Even if Hua Tuo were to be reborn, he wouldn't be able to cure her eyes."
Deep in the palace, Empress Dowager Wei was trembling as she stroked her blind right eye in front of a secretly hidden bronze mirror.
Suddenly, in the darkness, she seemed to see another face appear in the mirror. It was the young face of Princess Roufu, smiling at her.
Empress Dowager Wei screamed and threw the bronze mirror to the ground. Countless eyes were staring at her coldly in the broken mirror.
In the autumn of the 29th year of Shaoxing, the red osmanthus in Fengyi Palace bloomed exceptionally beautifully. However, the days when Empress Dowager Wei had clear eyes and a peaceful mind did not last long. Her health deteriorated day by day. After she became blind, she held a string of Buddhist beads all day long, muttering scriptures.
That string of Buddhist beads was left by Master Huijue. Made of sandalwood, each bead was intricately engraved with the mantra for rebirth. The beads had been polished to a glossy shine, as if carrying too many unspeakable secrets.
By early September, Empress Dowager Wei had been unable to eat or drink anything. That night, she suddenly had a brief moment of lucidity. She sat up on her own, her one eye gleaming brightly in the darkness.
"Gou'er," she rarely called Zhao Gou by his childhood nickname, "bring me my mirror and dressing table."
Zhao Gou was surprised and ordered someone to fetch the gilded mirror box with phoenix pattern that the Empress Dowager had used in her early years. Empress Dowager Wei opened the box with trembling hands and took out a faded gold hairpin, which was the one she had personally pinned on Roufu when she came of age.
"Bury this...with me." Her breath was weak, but a strange light flashed in her single eye. "Tell her...that her mother is sorry for her..."
Zhao Gou stood there in a daze, not yet understanding the deeper meaning of these words, when he suddenly saw the Buddhist beads in the empress dowager's hand break with a sound, and the sandalwood beads rolled all over the ground with a crackling sound, causing a hollow echo in the silent hall.
Empress Dowager Wei's hand drooped limply, and the golden hairpin fell to the ground with a jingling sound. Her single eye remained open, staring into the void, as if gazing at a figure no one could see.
The next day, the funeral bell rang, announcing the death of Empress Dowager Wei.
The Queen Mother's funeral was held as scheduled, but the legend of her blood and tears became an unspeakable secret in the palace forever.
However, the folk stories about the Queen Mother in the Jin Dynasty have become more vivid with the passage of time.
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