Chapter 471 The Empress Dowager Passes Away
The Empress Dowager and King Wu hugged each other and cried bitterly.
Afterwards, the Empress Dowager called her two grandsons and two great-grandsons who had been away from the palace for half a year to her side and gave them some instructions.
Xiaoxiao and Xiongxiong snuggled up to the Great Empress Dowager and told her in detail what they had seen and heard along the way.
The Empress Dowager listened very attentively, and a hint of longing appeared in her old eyes.
She entered the palace at the age of sixteen and is now eighty-three.
Sixty-seven years have passed in this deep palace.
She had never seen with her own eyes what the outside world looked like.
She touched the heads of her two great-grandchildren lovingly, and called several other great-grandchildren to come over.
As usual, she stuffed sweet pastries into the children's hands and watched them eat them in small bites with a smile on her face.
Miaomiao was eating the most happily. His little mouth was stuffed full and his eyes were rolling around like a greedy little squirrel.
The Empress Dowager held her in her arms, calling her her darling, her heart full of love and affection.
However, the spirit that had been holding on for most of the day was finally exhausted.
For more than a month, King Wu and the Queen Mother stayed by the Grand Empress Dowager's side almost every step of the way, serving her medicine.
Yan Shixu and Wen Li'er also brought their children to the Cining Palace every day to spend a few hours with the old man.
The other princes, grandsons, and granddaughters-in-law also brought their children to her lap to show their filial piety.
The married princesses also rushed back to the capital with their husbands and children.
In the Cining Palace, the past month and a half was a mixture of the joy of having children and grandchildren around and the sadness of the impending eternal farewell.
However, all efforts ultimately failed to retain this experienced old man.
The Empress Dowager passed away suddenly in late autumn.
The pomegranate tree in the courtyard has branches laden with ripe fruits.
Suddenly, there were cries of grief everywhere in the Cining Palace.
The Empress Dowager's withered hand gently stroked King Wu's rough and weather-beaten cheek for the last time with infinite nostalgia and tenderness, and finally slid down powerlessly.
The glimmer of light that supported her last bit of strength quietly went out.
Those eyes that had seen the world, were wise and kind, closed forever.
Only at the corner of his lips was a faint smile that seemed relieved and almost peaceful.
It was as if she had finally unloaded all her burdens and ran towards the old partner who she said she could "slack off" with.
“Mother——!!!”
A heart-wrenching wail burst out from King Wu's throat, shaking the palace so much that it seemed as if even the palace was trembling.
He hugged his mother's already cold body tightly in his arms, as if he wanted to warm her up again with his body temperature.
His head was buried deep in the lifeless neck and shoulders, and his broad shoulders shook violently.
Decades of love and the pain of separation at this moment turned into hot tears, flowing violently.
This iron-blooded general Wang, who once stood firm in a sea of blood and corpses and made his enemies tremble in fear, is now as fragile as a child who has lost his support.
He hugged his mother, whom he had lost and found again but lost forever, and cried bitterly.
"Royal Grandmother..."
Yan Shixu's knees softened and he knelt heavily in front of the couch, his forehead resting heavily on the cold gold brick.
The imperial majesty that he had maintained for several months suddenly collapsed, and the immense grief made him burst into tears.
The harbor that had given him warmth and shelter in his childhood eventually disappeared completely.
The Queen Mother staggered and fell to the side of the couch, tightly grasping the Grand Empress Dowager's hanging hand.
The coldness of the palm was like ten thousand years of ice, freezing her heart in an instant.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Only big tears rolled down silently, hitting the quilt and leaving dark wet marks.
Aunt...is really gone.
Wen Li'er covered her mouth, her vision blurred by tears.
With her heavy belly, she walked to Yan Shixu with difficulty and knelt down, gently stroking his back, which was tense from suppressing grief.
The children Xiaoxiao, Tiantian, Miaomiao, Zhaozhao and Mumu had already burst into tears. They were supported by palace servants and knelt behind their father, the emperor and the queen, their little shoulders twitching.
The great-grandmother...the old lady who always smiled and gave them cakes and candies and watched them play, is really gone.
All the princes, female relatives and palace maids in the hall fell to the ground and cried bitterly.
Inside the Cining Palace, cries of grief shook the heavens and the atmosphere was filled with gloom and sorrow.
…
The coffin of the Empress Dowager was placed in the main hall of the Cining Palace.
Members of the royal family, clan members, nobles, civil and military officials all took turns to keep vigil and cry according to the rules.
King Wu stayed beside the coffin almost all the time.
His tall figure seemed to have become much more hunched overnight, and the white hair on his temples increased in large patches in just a few days.
He knelt silently, without saying a word, like the most loyal guard, guarding his mother's final rest.
Occasionally, he would reach out and gently stroke the cold coffin, his eyes filled with deep sorrow and confusion.
It seemed as if it was not until this moment that he truly realized that the "home" that always silently watched over him in the capital no matter how far he went or how high he flew had disappeared forever.
Yan Shixu managed to take charge of the overall situation.
He was dressed in coarse linen mourning clothes, looked haggard, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he still arranged the complicated funeral ceremonies in an orderly manner.
Only when facing the coffin alone in the dead of night, or when returning to the Purple Palace and taking off the disguise, the deep-buried fragility and overdrawn fatigue will quietly reveal themselves.
Wen Li'er always felt uneasy.
The Queen Mother is in a very bad condition.
Ever since the Empress Dowager passed away, she felt as if her backbone had been taken away, and she quickly withered away.
She spent most of her time sitting in the corner of the mourning hall, staring blankly at the coffin or at the grief-stricken King Wu.
There was no expression on her face, and her tears seemed to have dried up long ago, leaving only a numbness and silence that penetrated deep into her bones.
This dead silence made Wen Li'er feel uneasy for no reason.
She told Yan Shixu about her concerns.
Yan Shixu immediately ordered the palace servants to take good care of the empress dowager at all times to prevent any accidents.
On the day of the ceremony, the streets of the capital were deserted.
The royal funeral procession stretched for miles, with white banners like a forest and mournful music playing.
The paper money flying all over the sky was like an untimely heavy snow in winter, covering the red walls and green tiles as well as the bluestones of the long streets.
Yan Shixu was dressed in heavy mourning clothes, holding a soul-guiding banner, and walking in front with a solemn expression.
Behind him was King Wu, who was also in deep mourning.
He personally carried the coffin, with the huge coffin weighing on his broad shoulders. He took every step extremely slowly and steadily, as if he wanted to make the journey to his mother's other world as smooth as possible.
After that, there were the Queen Mother, the Empress, the Princes and Princesses, the Imperial Princes, the Civil and Military Officials...
The long team moved slowly forward in the cold wind of late autumn, solemn and sad.
The people along the way spontaneously knelt by the roadside, their cries shaking the sky, bidding farewell to the empress dowager who had served three dynasties and was highly respected.
The entire capital city was immersed in deep sorrow; even the sky was low and gray, so depressing that it was hard to breathe.
When the coffin was finally placed in the underground palace of the imperial mausoleum that had been built long ago, the heavy stone door slowly closed amid countless grieving gazes, completely isolating the two worlds.
The old man who symbolized the highest honor of the Dayan royal family finally returned to eternal silence.
…
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