The emperor led the way, with the imperial carriage in the middle, and guards lined up in two rows to protect him, while the sounds of string and wind instruments resounded throughout the palace.
The emperor sat on his imperial carriage, with two teams of palace maids behind him carrying phoenix coronet and embroidered robes. They set off from Xiankun Palace in a grand procession toward Suning Palace.
Along the way, eunuchs and palace maids knelt on both sides, their hearts filled with tension: His Majesty was going to Suning Palace to welcome the Empress, so did that mean the Empress was alright? Was the Prince of Qinyang's residence safe?
The sounds of string and wind instruments faintly drifted into many palaces.
In Xiankun Palace, the dejected Empress Dowager suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze flashing with hatred. She felt that the worst thing she had ever done in her life was to let Yue Huangyin enter the palace and corrupt the Emperor. Otherwise, why would the Emperor have defied her? How could she have ended up like this?
Thinking of Jun Zhe, she froze, a strange emotion welling up inside her.
Was she truly heartless towards Jun Zhe? Ever since she left the Cold Palace and learned that she had damaged her health and could no longer conceive, Jun Zhe had become her only hope in the palace.
Upon learning that Jun Zhe was not her biological child, but rather the son of the late Empress, she felt a mixture of sadness and pride, a conflict that threatened to tear her apart.
She relentlessly suppressed the late empress, causing her to turn against the late emperor and die in depression. What was it all for? Ultimately, it was all for the sake of the emperor's exile.
However, when she personally protected Jun Zhe and helped him ascend to the throne, with no rivals, no sisters, and no one to suppress him, the seed of resentment in her heart sprouted wildly.
After all, she had personally escorted her enemy's son to the throne, while her own child lay in the cold underground, long since turned to dust. It was that lingering resentment that changed her, making her anxious, insecure, and tyrannical.
The late empress is dead, but her son is still alive. She uses all her resentment and anger to control the emperor.
Does she really not love Jun Zhe at all? Jun Zhe is the hope she has fought for half her life. How could she not love Jun Zhe at all? It's just that she is unwilling to accept it!
The Empress Dowager burst into tears. This was the second time she had been sent to the Cold Palace. She never expected that the second time would be when the child she had raised personally banished her to the Cold Palace.
Her gaze fell upon the mandarin duck incense burner on the table, and she suddenly remembered Consort Hui from back then.
She and Consort Hui were both the late emperor's attendants, teaching him about matters of love and sex. There were four attendants in total, but His Majesty only kept the two of them. Because of this bond, the two supported each other in the harem and never thought of harming each other. They were people who could entrust their backs to each other. That's why she asked the late emperor to let Consort Hui take care of her child. She had planned everything, but she never expected that such a mess would happen.
On the day she discovered the child wasn't hers, Consort Hui wept bitterly, saying she had betrayed their past sisterly bond, but it was all too late; the child's life was gone forever.
A few days later, Consort Hui deliberately offended the late emperor and was confined to the palace. That night, she drank a cup of poison and committed suicide.
Before her death, she left a letter of repentance, saying that she was sorry to the late emperor and begged the late emperor to take care of her, who was also born into the same family, in consideration of the fact that she had once served as His Majesty's wardrobe attendant!
Who is Siyi? She was the late emperor's first woman.
The late emperor was a sentimental and nostalgic person, and it was because of this that she was able to remain in the palace. With Consort Hui leaving a letter after her death, she had an extra layer of protection in the palace, which enabled her to rise step by step in the years that followed.
(oqu123=Old Qu Novel Network)
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