When Li Momo was beaten to death, she couldn't close her eyes. She thought that at most she would be expelled from the Fourth Prince's mansion and returned to the Ulanara family.
When Li Momo was being beaten, Chunliu and the Fujin knelt before the Fourth Prince in the room to beg for mercy, but no matter what the Fujin said, the Fourth Prince was like a block of ice, clenching his teeth and refusing to budge.
"My lord, Li Momo has been with me for over twenty years. Please send her back to her family. I am willing to stay in the main courtyard and leave everything to Da Momo," the Fujin said, bowing deeply. This was, in fact, the first time she had ever performed such a grand ceremony with the Fourth Prince.
The Fourth Prince coldly observed the two people at his feet, unmoved by his wife's words. He knew that Li Momo was merely a figurehead; he simply didn't believe that the wife had no connection to those matters. However, if he truly punished the wife, things would be difficult to predict with his father, the Emperor. After all, she hadn't caused any major wrongdoing. His father would only assume it was a power struggle among the women of the inner palace.
Seeing that the Fourth Prince still showed no sign of loosening his grip, the Fujin became anxious. Hearing the dull thuds of the wooden planks falling outside, she knew that if she didn't stop him, even a god couldn't save Li Momo.
"Your Highness should understand that what Li Momo did was an act of insubordination. She was just a bondservant; to have her beaten to death for poisoning her master is already a lenient punishment. I want everyone in the courtyard to know what the consequences of such an act are. Go back, Your Highness, and be confined to your quarters for three months, facing the wall in repentance. Copy the Mind-Calming Mantra one hundred times and burn it before the Bodhisattva," the Fourth Prince said, then left his mistress and servants and walked towards the side room.
The sound of the wooden board outside was taking Li Momo's life one by one, while the Fujin could only sit on the ground, powerless to do anything.
"My lady, what should we do? If this continues, I'm afraid Li Momo won't be able to be saved," Chunliu said anxiously.
"I've tried my best to plead, but Fourth Prince won't budge. I'm at my wit's end," the Fujin said impatiently. Just now, she suddenly realized that perhaps she shouldn't plead for Li Momo, because in Fourth Prince's eyes, she had always been a person who valued rules and laws very much. This time, Li Momo's crime was already unforgivable by law, so what right did she have to plead for her?
Chunliu was stunned by the Fujin's reprimand and didn't know what to do. But everything Li Momo had done was for the Fujin.
Chunliu saw this very clearly and understood it perfectly.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Li Momo has been executed." The executioner outside walked to the window and said to the person inside.
Chunliu was so frightened that she lay on the ground and cried. Fujin sat blankly on the ground, feeling extremely sad, but unable to cry.
After returning to the main courtyard, the princess consort locked herself in the study to practice calligraphy, forbidding anyone from entering.
Chunliu was truly frightened and ran into the house to sit alone and weep.
Xiahe, Qiuchan, Dongmei, and the others were all shocked when they heard the news and surrounded Chunliu to ask questions. The four of them and Li Momo had all come with the Fujin as part of her dowry, and now that Li Momo had ended up like this, they were all heartbroken.
"How could the Fujin allow the master to beat Li Momo to death?" Xia He was closest to Li Momo, and seeing Li Momo beaten to death, she was in so much pain that she could hardly breathe. However, she did not dare to ask the Fujin, so she pulled Chunliu to ask.
"Yes, wasn't it said that at most Momo would be released? How did the Fujin plead for her?" Qiu Chan was also very sad. The girls had all been trained by Li Momo since childhood, and their feelings for each other were extraordinary.
“We begged, but Master just wouldn’t budge. Master just kept kneeling there, and then he simply stopped seeing us altogether,” Chunliu said, tears streaming down her face.
“But, since she came in, the Fujin hasn’t shed a single tear,” Dongmei said softly.
Her words intensified the sadness in everyone's hearts, and they all silently shed tears for Li Momo.
Meanwhile, the Fujin locked herself in her study and began to write, pouring all her inner turmoil and distress into each stroke of her brush.
Lingxiu stood at the door, peeking inside cautiously. After a moment's thought, she seemed to have made up her mind, then pushed the door open and went inside.
"Get out! Didn't I give the order that no one is allowed to come in?" The princess scolded without even raising her head when she heard footsteps.
“This servant has entered without permission, and I beg Your Highness to punish me. However, this servant cannot bear to see my mistress so heartbroken without offering comfort. I suppose Li Momo’s spirit in heaven would not wish for my mistress to suffer so much because of her.” Lingxiu quickly knelt down and said with her head bowed.
"How do you know she wouldn't want me to be sad?" the Fujin asked, moved, even forgetting to use the honorific title.
“Everyone says that when Li Momo died, her eyes were not closed. She was worried that the Princess Consort would be too heartbroken, so she refused to close her eyes. If the Princess Consort is truly too distressed by Li Momo's death, I'm afraid she won't be at peace in heaven either. Please punish this servant, Princess Consort,” Lingxiu said boldly.
"How do you know that she isn't resentful that I, her wife, couldn't save her and that's why she refuses to close her eyes?" The wife's gaze was gloomy.
"No, Li Momo has always treated the Fujin (principal wife) like her own daughter. How could she bear to blame the Fujin? Besides, the Fujin has already tried her best to plead for Li Momo. It's just that the master has been misled by that person in the South Courtyard and refuses to forgive Li Momo. Fujin, no matter how heartbroken you are, you cannot bring Li Momo back to life. It would only please those who do not wish well for the Fujin. I dare to ask the Fujin to give Li Momo a proper burial to show the bond between mistress and servant. Let people know that the Fujin is benevolent, and that even though Li Momo committed such an treasonous act, the Fujin remains benevolent and has felt guilty and heartbroken for what Li Momo did for a long time," Lingxiu said. Since Li Momo was already gone, saying a few more words on her behalf would not only please the Fujin but also improve her own standing in the Fujin's eyes.
Sure enough, the Princess Consort stared at Lingxiu for a long time, as if she had finally come to a conclusion. She threw down the brush in her hand and said, "Let's go see Li Momo one last time. I, the Princess Consort, want to pray for her personally."
After Li Momo was beaten to death, her body was placed in the courtyard in the northwest, which was used to imprison offending servants.
When the Fujin (princess) came in, supporting Lingxiu's hand, the old gatekeeper, seeing that it was the Fujin, didn't say much and bowed to let the mistress and servant enter.
Li Momo's body had already been placed in a thin coffin, which was also at the Fourth Prince's special permission for his wife not to throw her body into the mass grave.
"Momo, go in peace. Xiayu promises you, she will avenge you and make them pay an even greater price for your death," the Fujin said quietly.
“Momo, the Fujin herself has come to pray for you, hoping that you will be reincarnated soon and meet the Fujin again in the next life,” Lingxiu said.
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