Chapter 429 The Ceremony is Completed
The eighty-year-old woman living in Hengyang Palace should now be called the Empress Dowager. I wonder what she thought when she heard the news of Emperor Huijing's death.
Jiang Fenghua carried the tiger-head doll, hoping only to fulfill the late emperor's last wish, so that he would have no more worries in this world and could rest in peace.
On this day, when they were only a few days away from Hengyang, Jiang Fenghua took advantage of a rest stop to find Xie Shang.
He was surrounded by a mountain of memorials to the emperor. When he saw Jiang Fenghua arrive, he said, "Ruan Ruan."
"Your Majesty has worked hard." Jiang Fenghua glanced at the memorial.
Xie Shang said, "They are all delivered daily from Shengjing City by express horse. I cannot fail to process them promptly."
"Your Majesty, I have a favor to ask of you."
Xie Shang put down the memorial, pulled her to sit beside him, and adjusted her cloak. "Is it about going to Hengyang Palace to invite the Empress Dowager?"
"Your Majesty is truly wise; I haven't said anything yet."
“These past few days, you’ve been sighing every time you mention Hengyang Palace. I know you want to invite the Empress Dowager to the Imperial Mausoleum to see Father Emperor one last time,” he said in a deep voice. “I sent a letter when Father Emperor passed away, and also sent the imperial edict conferring the title of Empress Dowager upon my grandmother, but I didn’t receive a reply. The official who delivered the edict said that my grandmother did not want to meet, so I guessed that she wouldn’t come. After all these years, if she wanted to return to Shengjing, she would have done so long ago.”
Jiang Fenghua took out the tiger-head doll from her arms. "Your Majesty, please look. This was given to me by my father before his death. He hoped that I would give it to the Empress Dowager."
Xie Shang frowned slightly. "I've never seen this before. Is this a toy my father had when he was a child?"
"I think so! I suspect that this was sewn by the Empress Dowager herself, which is why Father treasured it all his life. He must have really wanted to reconnect with the Empress Dowager, and he probably regrets severing ties with her back then."
Xie Shang pondered for a moment, "Alright, I'll send someone to invite her again. If she doesn't come, there's nothing I can do." After all, the matter of his father and grandmother severing ties back then was so embarrassing.
Afterwards, Jiang Fenghua was told that the Empress Dowager still refused to see her.
She had no choice but to feel regret. The late emperor's funeral was imminent, and with civil and military officials, imperial relatives, and a huge funeral procession, it was impossible to stop and wait for the Empress Dowager to appear.
Xie Shang couldn't possibly issue an imperial decree to force her to come.
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Meanwhile, in the Zhu family's carriage, Zhu Yiyi, dressed in mourning clothes and with her hair styled like a maid, mingled into the funeral procession.
Shengjing City is hundreds of miles away from Hengyang Palace, so it's normal for Imperial Censor Zhu to have maids to take care of him. The Zhu family even sent a carriage to accompany him, so Zhu Yiyi naturally wouldn't get off and walk.
She hadn't expected that the Empress and Zhu Zhenzhen would ride in the same carriage to the Hengyang Palace Imperial Mausoleum. Since Zhu Zhenzhen had also left the palace, it would be wonderful if something unexpected happened to her on the way.
Since that day, she had entered the palace several times under the pretense of delivering clothes and food to her father. Each time, she was able to see the emperor through her father, but the emperor seemed not to see her at all.
She knew the Emperor must have seen her, but he hadn't summoned her because of the national mourning period.
Now that the funeral procession has left Shengjing, how can she create an opportunity to spend time with the Emperor?
I wonder if the Empress and Zhu Zhenzhen will try to sabotage things.
In fact, during the ten days from Shengjing to the Hengyang Imperial Mausoleum, Zhu Yiyi did not have a chance to see the Emperor, because the Emperor would be with the Empress whenever he stopped to rest.
The funeral procession traveled along the official road, which was guarded by soldiers. Every post station was well-prepared, and not a single stranger was seen. Therefore, she had no chance to deal with Zhu Zhenzhen.
When Imperial Censor Zhu saw his second daughter beside the Empress, he was somewhat surprised. The funeral rites for the late Emperor could not be performed in the slightest, so he warned his eldest daughter not to go to the Emperor's side for the time being, but to wait until after the ceremony to make further plans.
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The Hengyang Palace Imperial Mausoleum had already been completed, and officials had been sent here to make preparations. The auspicious day for the burial of the late emperor's remains was the second day of the twelfth lunar month. The whole scene was solemn and dignified, with the emperor and empress leading the Xie family descendants and civil and military officials to respectfully send the imperial body to rest in peace.
The monks of Huguo Temple, dressed in their robes and carrying ritual instruments, continuously played music and chanted sutras. Only after all the sacrificial rites and rituals were completed did they formally send the late emperor's coffin into the imperial mausoleum. Then, a series of ceremonies to express gratitude for the emperor's benevolence were to be held. By the time the sealing ceremony was completed, it was already afternoon.
Next, a memorial ceremony will be held to invite the late emperor's memorial tablet. After the tablet is placed, the emperor and empress will kneel and kowtow three times. The emperor will then personally place the tablet on the altar, offer incense and scriptures. The late emperor's children and grandchildren will also wait for the emperor and empress to finish the incense offering ceremony before they also step forward to offer incense and kowtow, and begin to offer copied scriptures and other materials to show their respect and filial piety to the late emperor.
After the ceremony, the late emperor's memorial tablet will be escorted back to the capital and placed in the Xie Clan Ancestral Hall, thus completing the entire funeral procession.
Granny Wang served the Empress closely, with Lianye supporting her from the side. Apart from the kneeling ceremony being a bit strenuous, the other etiquettes were not too difficult for the pregnant woman.
Xie Shang had already sent someone to Hengyang Palace to inquire after the Empress Dowager's well-being, but she did not appear until the ceremony was completed.
She wondered to herself: What deep-seated hatred could exist between a biological mother and son that even death could not resolve?
So she decided to go to Hengyang Palace herself. She asked Xie Shang to come with her, but Xie Shang declined, saying he still had matters to attend to.
She thought: This stingy man, isn't it just that your father's mother didn't attend your father's funeral? Is that really something to be angry about?
Xie Shang also sent guards to protect her safety, and of course, she also had her own people secretly following and protecting her all the way.
When her carriage stopped at the gate of Hengyang Palace, she thought the palace gate was quite magnificent and there were soldiers guarding it. She wondered if the late emperor was trying to imprison the Empress Dowager.
Although Hengyang Palace was not as large as the palace in Shengjing, it was not small either.
Lianye took the token and stepped forward, saying, "A nobleman from Shengjing City requests an audience with the Empress Dowager. Please go and inform him."
The guards were the Empress Dowager's men. They were startled when they saw the token, and one of them quickly went inside.
Jiang Fenghua was holding a gold medal given to her by Emperor Huijing. The master in the medal should have known about the late emperor's death long ago.
A moment later, a woman of about seventeen or eighteen years old came out. She was dressed in a black outfit and had striking features. She was accompanied by several guards.
The woman glanced at the carriage. "Who goes there?"
Lianye said, "My master requests to see the Empress Dowager. Please make an exception."
"The Empress Dowager is not receiving guests. Please leave," the woman said, stopping them.
Jiang Fenghua then emerged from the carriage. The guards quickly brought her a stool, and Granny Wang and Lianye supported her on either side. She was dressed in a plain white mourning dress, clearly having just come from the late emperor's funeral.
Once she had stopped, he said in a deep voice, "We are here to request an audience with the Empress Dowager on the orders of the late Emperor..."
The woman gave Jiang Fenghua a deep look. "No matter who comes, the Empress Dowager will not receive guests."
Jiang Fenghua said coldly, "You didn't even go to inform her, how do you know she's not receiving guests? Or is it because you've placed the Empress Dowager under house arrest that we can't see her? The Emperor's army is all at the Imperial Mausoleum. Anyone who dares to harm the Empress Dowager, I can guarantee that the entire Hengyang Palace will be buried with her. Are you really not going to let us see the Empress Dowager?"
Xie Minmin was stunned, then said, "It's not that I don't want you to come in, but my grandmother doesn't want to see anyone. She hasn't spoken for over a month."
Jiang Fenghua pondered to herself, "She hasn't spoken for over a month. Could it be that the Empress Dowager only stopped receiving guests after she learned of Emperor Huijing's death?"
The girl in front of me is calling the Empress Dowager Grandmother. Could she also be a member of the Xie family?
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