Having just woken up, Zhen'er was naturally full of energy. After having dinner, she took a few palace maids and eunuchs for a stroll in the Imperial Garden, citing the need to digest her food.
The night was deep and quiet. Only the chirping of crickets could be heard in the distance, and occasionally a small insect would fly over the treetops and make a squeaking sound, which made people feel a little at ease.
Zhen'er walked slowly ahead when she suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the bushes.
Zhen'er immediately became alert. She gave a wink to the two palace maids beside her, and the two maids immediately went forward to check the situation.
He returned a moment later and reported, "Your Majesty, it seems there is someone there."
Zhen'er frowned upon hearing this and casually asked, "Are you sure?"
The palace maid thought for a moment and said, "I don't think I'm mistaken."
Upon hearing this, Zhen'er looked more closely and indeed the grass was quite dense.
Just then, a gust of wind blew, ruffling the grass and revealing a festering, slender leg...
Upon seeing this, Zhen'er's pupils contracted, and she instinctively sensed something was wrong. She immediately called over a few eunuchs who were skilled in martial arts, and together they ran in that direction.
The eunuch moved quickly, reaching the woman in just a few steps. As soon as he parted the bushes, he saw a woman lying there, her face covered in wounds.
The woman seemed to be on her last breath, but a smile lingered on her lips.
In the dim light of the lanterns, her cheeks were deathly pale, her lips were dry and chapped, her skin was covered with wounds, and her whole body reeked of a foul stench.
Zhen'er immediately recognized that the woman had late-stage syphilis, which was known as venereal disease in the Qing Dynasty.
She wanted to help, but was powerless to do so, and the disease was highly contagious, so she only dared to watch from about half a meter away.
Upon seeing Zhen'er arrive, the woman smiled even more brightly, but the laughter was so startling that it sent chills down one's spine.
"Who are you, and why are you laughing so arrogantly?" Zhen'er asked, frowning.
"You don't need to know who I am." The woman stopped laughing and said, "Old Buddha Dong, now you need to go and choose the next emperor to sit in the position of Grand Empress Dowager."
Before Zhen'er could reply, Xiao Anzi spoke first: "What kind of monster is this, daring to spout nonsense here and curse the Emperor like this? Aren't you afraid of having your entire family wiped out?"
"Heh, nine generations?" The woman scoffed, "I'm not afraid, because my family is long dead, so what's this talk of nine generations?"
“You…” Xiao Anzi’s face turned red with anger.
Zhen'er remained relatively calm and said, "She's just a woman with a tragic fate, and besides, she won't live much longer, so let her speak!"
She saw despair in the woman's eyes and couldn't bear to blame her further.
Seeing Zhen'er stop him, Xiao Anzi could only obediently step aside and dare not say another word.
"Ha..." The woman continued to laugh, her laughter desolate and sorrowful. "Yes, I am unfortunate, but aren't all my suffering caused by you heartless, arrogant people?"
Zhen'er listened silently, not refuting the woman's words because they made sense. Seeing that the woman had stopped speaking, she slowly asked, "But has the Emperor treated you like this?"
Although she had never met the Tongzhi Emperor, she knew from history books that he was an emperor who accomplished little.
Unexpectedly, the woman found this remark laughable, and she scoffed, "That stupid and foolish Zai Chun (Tongzhi) thought he could make me like this? Little did he know that this was all a scheme I had set up."
Since the die was cast, the woman was no longer afraid of anything.
"Did you have physical intimacy with the Emperor?" Zhen'er suddenly realized this. She knew that Tongzhi died of syphilis, and she originally thought it was caused by his frequent stays in brothels. She never expected that the real source was in the palace.
"It's more than just physical intimacy; we've already consummated our marriage." The woman's smile grew increasingly sinister.
"You did this on purpose, didn't you!" Zhen'er asked seriously.
"Yes, I did it on purpose!" The woman's face began to contort into a hideous grimace. "Why? Has His Majesty wronged you in any way?"
"He's done so many terrible things. As the ruler of a country, he disregarded the greater good and the people, only caring about his own pleasure. He was only eighteen years old, yet he had already slept with hundreds of women. What's worse, besides the concubines with official ranks, he would drown every woman he slept with in a pond." The woman's eyes reddened slightly as she spoke. "How can such an emperor rule the world? I'm not reconciled! I must kill him and rid the people of this scourge!"
A flame of hatred flickered in the woman's eyes.
Zhen'er was taken aback upon hearing this, and then asked, "Among these dead people, were there any of your relatives?"
Even ants try to survive; how could someone go to such madness if they hadn't lost their dearest loved ones?
At this point, the woman's eyes lost their hatred, replaced by a look of sorrow. She nodded and said, "That's right, one of them is my sister, but she's only twelve years old. How could he be so cruel to her!"
After speaking, he coughed violently, clutching his chest with both hands, his face contorted in pain, as if he were enduring immense torment.
"Have you ever considered that while the Emperor might favor them, he might not be the one to kill them?" Zhen'er pointed out. If the Tongzhi Emperor truly had this predilection, the women in the brothels outside the palace would also die.
She felt it must have been Empress Dowager Cixi who did it, because only Empress Dowager Cixi would be so ruthless.
But the woman disagreed, saying, "I've thought about it, and it does prove that those women weren't murdered by him."
"Then why are you still..." Zhen'er asked in confusion.
"But what difference does it make if he killed her?" The woman, perhaps feeling unwell, shifted her position and continued, "Knowing that the Empress Dowager Cixi forbade any other woman besides the Empress to conceive his child, he still couldn't control his heart and would casually seduce others. When the Empress Dowager Cixi found out, he hid like a turtle, claiming that others had seduced him. Seeing the woman he had been intimate with lying in front of him, he didn't feel sad at all."
Upon hearing this, Zhen'er couldn't help but sigh. This emperor truly had no sense of responsibility whatsoever.
"Right, Empress Dowager, do you also think he deserves to die?" the woman asked coldly.
It was indeed a death sentence, but with so many people around, Zhen'er didn't dare to answer too directly. She simply said, "But is it worth risking your life like this? Isn't there any other way out?"
Everyone avoided the woman like the plague, naturally not daring to get too close. When Zhen'er spoke these words, she spoke very softly, so that only the woman could hear her.
“I am of lowly status, and I have no other choice but to take this method. It is the only feasible way to not only take the life of that tyrannical emperor, but also take half of the Empress Dowager’s life.”
These words made Zhen'er feel somewhat disgusted.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
