Chapter 56 What Kind of Behavior! This is hardly an imperial visit; it's clearly...
Just as Zhou Ling was declaring his ownership of Fangru in the most direct way in his study in Qingyi Garden, the Empress Dowager, far away in the city, was also turning the Buddhist prayer beads between her fingers more and more quickly.
On the surface, she appeared to be devoutly praying for the Prince before the Buddha, but in reality, she had just finished a secret meeting.
On the day of the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, the imperial physician Zheng Yu risked his life to report a secret: the prince was not His Majesty's bloodline, but rather an infant whom His Majesty had taken from a death row cell to quell public opinion about "homosexuality." This revelation was like a poisonous thorn in her heart.
Her departure from the palace was ostensibly to pray for blessings, but in reality, it was to conduct a secret investigation.
Just now, she secretly summoned several relevant officials from the Ministry of Justice.
But the result left her feeling utterly devastated.
The officials were all ashen-faced, their words evasive, yet their statements were remarkably consistent: they all said that Zheng Yu was an unscrupulous man and that his words were not to be trusted.
But when asked about Zheng Yu's whereabouts, the undisguised fear in their eyes said it all. Everyone was convinced that Zheng Yu, who dared to leak the secret, had already been expelled from the family by His Majesty, and was either imprisoned or had become a wronged ghost.
"Your Majesty," the trusted nanny whispered in the Empress Dowager's ear, "these people are all terrified of the Emperor. Who dares to tell the truth? If we force them, we might alert them."
The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and took a deep breath: "Are we just going to let this muddled account be attributed to the royal bloodline?"
The old woman spoke in an even lower voice, suggesting, "If the obvious path is blocked, perhaps we could borrow the power of the Xuanmen? Master Wenyin of Hanshan Temple outside the city is known for his accurate predictions of fate and karmic connections. Why not invite him here to determine the prince's bloodline? If the master says it is true, then it is; if he says it is not..."
This proposal is absurdly desperate, yet it seems to be the only way forward at the moment.
The Empress Dowager paused in her hand, which was twirling Buddhist prayer beads: "Go and invite them."
“I have already sent someone to check, but the master is still traveling and will not return for another three days.” The old woman spoke quickly. “Moreover, this matter is confidential. Now that Consort Shen is living in Qingyi Garden, the Emperor must have many spies around. It is definitely not a place to discuss this matter. Why don’t we hold back for now and come here in three days under the pretext of praying for blessings to secretly meet the master here, so as to avoid the Emperor’s eyes and ears.”
The Empress Dowager remained silent for a moment, gazing out at the deep night, as if she could see through the distance and witness everything that had just happened in Qingyi Garden.
She finally nodded wearily: "As you say."
The next morning, the Empress Dowager's entourage returned to Qingyi Garden in the light mist.
The scenery inside the garden remains the same, with the eaves catching the morning light and the flowers and trees adorned with dew, seemingly no different from usual.
However, an invisible, viscous sense of oppression permeated the air, causing even the palace servants moving about to hold their breath and tread very lightly.
The Empress Dowager sat in the main hall, her hands holding prayer beads, her face serene and calm.
Before long, a palace maid whispered that Consort Shen had asked for leave and was unable to come to massage the prince as usual.
"I understand." The Empress Dowager's tone was calm, but the sandalwood bead between her fingers was slightly warm from being twirled.
How could she not know?
What kind of turbulent waves were stirred up in this seemingly peaceful garden on the night they left for Guanyin Pavilion?
The emperor, her nominal son, was so indifferent, tormenting Shen Fangru to the point that she couldn't even get up for her morning and evening greetings!
Absurd! He's completely blinded by lust!
However, what made her feel even more depressed and angry were the next two days.
Zhou Ling went even further, continuing to arrive at Qingyi Garden every night without fail, and no longer bothering to arrange for the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Concubine to "avoid suspicion."
He entered Shen Fangru's courtyard in this way, which was only separated from the palace of his mother and his concubines by a wall.
On the first night, the noise was already impossible to ignore.
At first, it was a suppressed, broken sob, as if the mouth was blocked, and only desperate cries could escape from the throat.
Then came the man's deep, indistinct voice, not a tender whisper, but rather a wild beast's intimidation and possessive declaration before devouring its prey, which pierced the eardrums through the palace walls and the night.
The Empress Dowager lay on the phoenix couch and suddenly gripped the brocade quilt tightly.
That sound...
She had lived half her life and experienced two dynasties, and she had never heard such a sound... such an undisguised, almost savage sound.
This is hardly an imperial visit, it's clearly...
The second night was even worse.
Perhaps knowing that the walls were listening, the suppressed sobs turned into intermittent, tearful pleas, the words blurred, yet they sounded all the more pitiful and helpless.
Immediately following was the dull thud of wooden furniture being violently struck, and the piercing sound of porcelain shattering on the ground.
Interspersed among them were Zhou Ling's increasingly clear voices, imbued with a certain ferocity and fanaticism:
"Look at me! See clearly who wants you!"
"That sound...that's more like it!"
The obsession and madness in those words chilled the Empress Dowager to the bone.
She sat up abruptly, her chest heaving, and pointed in the direction the sound came from, saying in a trembling voice to her trusted nanny on night duty, "Listen to this! Listen to this! What kind of behavior is this! What kind of behavior is this!"
In another palace room, Consort Zhi was so angry that she trembled all over and smashed the teacup in her hand on the ground.
Those cries, belonging to another woman and forcibly taken, and the emperor's irrational, possessive growls, were like poisoned needles, piercing her heart. Humiliation, jealousy, and resentment almost devoured her.
She bit down hard on the handkerchief to keep from screaming.
In the stillness of the night, when all was quiet, the commotion from that side, like a silent declaration or a form of torture, pounded clearly and continuously on the hearts of the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Concubine, keeping them tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
The Empress Dowager lay in the darkness, her eyes open until dawn.
The sense of absurdity and dissatisfaction with the emperor's actions had transformed into real fear and anger.
This is no longer a simple favor; it goes beyond obsessive plunder. It's almost like... being possessed, being bewitched!
When did her son become like this... this strange, madman who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals and even abandon the most basic dignity and propriety!
On the morning of the third day, before the dew had dried, Qingyi Garden was still shrouded in tranquility.
Just as the Empress Dowager was about to instruct the palace servants to pack their belongings and set off again for Guanyin Pavilion, a suppressed commotion arose outside the hall, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.
The next moment, a figure appeared at the palace gate against the faint morning light.
It is Shen Fangru.
In just three days, she had become emaciated. Her lotus-colored palace dress hung loosely on her body, making her look even thinner and more delicate, as if she would be blown away by the wind at any moment.
His face was an almost sickly pale, bloodless color, with only two heavy, bruised shadows under his eyes indicating the torment he had endured for days.
She staggered, her slender fingers gripping the cold door frame tightly to barely support her swaying body. Then, as if using her last bit of strength, she broke free from the palace servants who tried to help her and staggered to her knees on the cold, hard gold brick floor.
The dull thud of the knee hitting the ground sent a chill down one's spine.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager..."
She burst into tears as soon as she opened her mouth.
Her voice was terribly hoarse, carrying a sense of despair and grief on the verge of collapse, completely different from her former calm and gentle demeanor.
"Please... Your Majesty, have mercy on me... Take me away from here..."
She raised her tear-streaked face, tears streaming down her sharply defined jawline like broken beads. "Even if it means spending the rest of my life in a nunnery, or being forced into the inner palace to toil day and night... as long as... as long as I can leave this Qingyi Garden for just one night... so that I can... catch my breath... I... simply cannot bear it any longer..."
She seemed to unconsciously tilt her head back slightly, a simple movement that triggered some kind of hidden pain, causing her slender neck to flinch.
In that instant when she looked up, several deep, ambiguous red marks, and even faint purplish-blue pinch marks, on the skin that the high collar of her dress could not completely cover, were shockingly exposed to the Empress Dowager's sharp gaze.
Those were not marks left by ordinary lovemaking; they were clearly marks of repeated, irresistible, and brutal treatment, the brand left by a beast on its prey, declaring absolute possession.
When the Empress Dowager saw her miserable state, where her bones and spirit were almost crushed, her heart sank as if struck by a heavy hammer!
That last bit of indulgence, born out of consideration for the royal family's dignity and helplessness towards his son, vanished completely in the face of this living, bloody "evidence," turning into a heavy sense of shock, anger, and chill.
We can't let this go on any longer!
This is not imperial favor, it is clearly a debt to be repaid with a life!
The emperor's behavior was no longer simply a matter of indulging in women!
If he continues to act recklessly like this, Shen Fangru's life will be in danger, and the emperor himself will be branded as a tyrant who disregards human ethics!
The Empress Dowager took a deep breath, suppressing the surging anger in her chest, and a resolute look flashed in her phoenix eyes.
She turned her head to look at her trusted nanny who stood with her hands at her sides, her voice calm yet carrying immense power: "Convey my decree, Consort Shen is being taken away by me to accompany me to the Guanyin Pavilion to pray for blessings."
She paused briefly, giving an order but also using the public's opinion to give a sharp rebuke to her increasingly erratic son: "If the emperor asks again tonight, tell him exactly what I said: This is my will! Let him think it over carefully. Do I, as his mother, really have to personally teach him the principles of impartiality and upright conduct?"
These words were an extremely harsh rebuke and warning.
After saying that, the Empress Dowager leaned slightly forward, as if it were a rare occurrence, and raised her hand to signal Fangru to get up: "Get up, go back and pack your things, then come with me to the Guanyin Pavilion to calm your mind and recuperate for a few days."
Fangru trembled violently, as if a drowning person had finally grabbed a piece of driftwood. She pressed her forehead heavily against the cold ground, choking back sobs, almost unable to speak coherently: "Your Majesty... I thank you for saving my life..."
Thus, the Empress Dowager's imperial carriage not only carried the resentful Consort Zhi and the ignorant Prince Cheng, but also Shen Fangru, who was like a frightened bird, only hoping to temporarily escape this nightmare.
The magnificent carriage, adorned with phoenix patterns, slowly drove out of the imposing yet oppressive vermilion palace gates of Qingyi Garden, leaving behind the ornate cage that had held countless fears and humiliations for her.
Fangru leaned weakly against the slightly swaying carriage wall, her eyes tightly closed, her long, curled eyelashes trembling like butterfly wings.
Only now, feeling the rhythmic jolts of the moving vehicle, did she dare to let the tightly taut, almost snapping string of her heart relax even a little.
Although the road ahead remains shrouded in mist and uncertain, at least for this brief moment, she was finally able to steal a moment's respite from the endless, suffocating plunder and control.
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