Chapter 123 The Empress Dowager Passes Away
On their first night away from the capital, the caravan stopped at a post station fifty miles from the city.
Although the conditions were not as good as those in the Prince's mansion, this was a long-awaited peaceful night for Shen Jin and Jiang Mianmian, free from official documents and intrigue.
However, this tranquility was broken in the dead of night by the sound of rapid hoofbeats.
"Report—!"
"An urgent report from the palace! Presented to the Prince of Xiaoyao for his personal address!"
The lights in the post station instantly came on.
Shen Jin, wearing an outer robe, pushed open the door. Jiang Mianmian rubbed her eyes, wrapped in a blanket, and followed behind him, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart once again.
[Something happened in the palace again in the middle of the night?]
Could it be that the young emperor can't manage state affairs and is crying and begging us to go back?
The newcomer was the young emperor's personal eunuch, who was covered in dust and had red, swollen eyes. Upon seeing Chen Jin, he knelt down and held up a sealed brocade box and a letter sealed with white wax.
"Your Highness... The Empress Dowager... has passed away."
"boom--"
Although he had expected it, Shen Jin's hand still paused slightly upon hearing the news.
Empress Dowager.
The woman who fought him in the court for ten years, who wished he were dead, the woman who was willing to betray her country and even try to kill her own son for power...
He just died like that?
"When did this happen?" Chen Jin's voice was calm and composed.
"Your Highness, it happened one hour after you left the city."
The eunuch choked up as he said, "Her Majesty the Empress Dowager stood on the city wall, watching your procession depart for a long time. After returning home... she dismissed everyone and drank... arsenic."
Suicide.
Jiang Mianmian sighed.
【Too. 】
[Such a proud person, utterly defeated, and now confined to a cold palace for life, watching the person she hated most leave in glory... For her, this must have been worse than death.]
It's better that he's dead. With him dead... the last remaining threat to this massive undertaking is gone.
Shen Jin accepted the brocade box and the letter.
"This is what the Empress Dowager specifically instructed His Majesty before her death to be given to the Prince." The eunuch kowtowed. "The Empress Dowager said... this is what she owes the Prince."
Shen Jin returned to the room and sat under the lamp.
Jiang Mianmian sat opposite him, quietly keeping him company.
The envelope was opened, revealing only a thin sheet of paper inside. The handwriting was messy, clearly hastily written on the verge of death.
"Calm and cautious: "
I have lost. I have lost completely.
In this life, I fought and struggled for that position my whole life. I harmed others and was harmed by others. In the end, it was all for naught.
I hate you. I hate that you stole the limelight from my son, and I hate that you controlled the court.
But I hate myself even more. I hate myself for being blind and believing that vile maid Lin Wan'er; I hate myself for being ruthless and almost ruining my son's empire.
Today, standing atop the city wall, watching the people cheer for you, watching my son's reluctance to part with you, I suddenly realize that this great empire, without you, would have perished long ago.
You protected the prince, and you also protected the world.
I have no face to see the late Emperor, let alone my ancestors.
Inside this brocade box is a will left to me by the late emperor. I've kept it hidden for ten years, intending to use it to kill you, but now... it's useless.
Burn it.
Consider this... my last act of kindness.
Do not dwell on it, do not hate it.
—Su Shi's last words.
After reading the letter, Shen Jin remained silent for a long time.
He opened the brocade box.
Sure enough, there was a bright yellow imperial edict inside.
That was left by the late emperor before his death. It reads: "If the regent has any disloyal intentions, the empress dowager may take this edict and order the troops of the realm to come to the aid of the emperor and execute the rebellious minister."
This was the Empress Dowager's last trump card, and also the "legal basis" for her long-standing desire to put Shen Jin to death.
As long as this imperial edict remains, a sword will forever hang over Shen Jin's head.
But now, she personally handed the sword to him.
Shen Jin stared at the imperial edict, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
There was relief, there was sorrow, and there was also... a trace of indescribable ease.
"Smack."
Shen Jin threw the letter and the will together into the brazier in front of him.
The flames instantly engulfed the bright yellow silk and white paper. The flickering firelight reflected on his cold, stern face, burning all the past grievances and grudges to ashes.
"it's over."
He said in a low, cautious voice.
Jiang Mianmian looked at the secret that had turned to ashes in the brazier, reached out and grasped Shen Jin's cold fingers.
Yes, it's over.
[When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out. No matter how many evils she committed in her life, at this moment, she has finally let go of herself, and she has let you go too.]
【Shen Jin, from this day forward, you are truly free.】
"Your Highness," Jiang Mianmian asked softly, "Are you going back... to see her off?"
Shen Jin looked at the pitch-black night outside the window and shook his head.
"No need."
"His Majesty has grown up and will handle the affairs of state."
"If I were to return, it would only disturb the peace of the mourning hall. Besides..."
He turned his head, looked at Jiang Mianmian, and his eyes regained their warmth:
"She doesn't want to see me either."
"Perhaps the best ending is for us to forget each other in the vast world."
Shen Jin stood up, walked to the window, and bowed respectfully towards the direction of the capital.
This is a farewell gift, a goodbye gift.
Farewell to the Empress Dowager, farewell to the court, farewell to the regent who once danced on the edge of a knife.
"Let's go to sleep."
Shen Jin closed the window, keeping the cold wind out. "We have to travel tomorrow. Didn't you say... you wanted to go to Jiangnan to eat crabs?"
Jiang Mianmian watched his relieved figure as a smile appeared on her lips.
【Yes, let's eat crab.】
[I also want to eat osmanthus cake, candied lotus root, and eat my way around the world!]
The lights at the post station went out very early that night.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the capital's imperial palace, the death knell tolled.
The woman who struggled in the vortex of power her whole life finally found peace in death, a peace she had never known in life.
The grudges have been settled, and the matter has been resolved.
For Shen Jin and Jiang Mianmian, the last page of this major feud has finally been turned over.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com