Chapter 135 Chapter 135 "I hope we can let each other go, and...
Wu Dao hasn't come back for a long time.
It was rare for her to be free from the guidance, and she felt a little uncomfortable when no one was watching her suddenly.
Unfortunately, since he was in the Forbidden City, he had to miss such a good opportunity to escape.
She lay on the chaise longue, fanning herself with boredom.
Summer had arrived. Luojing was scorching hot, the Forbidden City oppressive, and within the red walls, it was almost scorching. In the grass beneath the window, a swarm of noisy crickets buzzed. A faint summer breeze carried the heat from the courtyard into the house, making me drowsy.
Yuanxiang ran towards her silently, and seeing that she closed her eyes and rested, she turned and walked away.
"What's the matter?" She held the edge of the fan against her cheek.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Gu sent a note..."
She frowned and suddenly opened her eyes.
"Mr. Gu?"
"yes."
She rolled her eyes and without saying anything, reached out and took the folded piece of paper.
He held it in his hand but didn't open it immediately: "Go down."
Yuanxiang nodded in response and turned to leave.
Nan Qiongshuang rested her elbows on the couch, fanning herself with a round fan and looking towards the door.
Yuanxiang, holding up the hem of her skirt, walked around the gilded standing screen with the peony and parrot, respectfully and silently, and her figure disappeared.
She twisted the note, rolling it meaningfully between her fingers.
When did her people start to contact Gu Huaijin's people? How did Gu Huaijin get the message to Yuanxiang?
This is the Forbidden City, and he hasn't even returned to Luojing yet.
Since their return, Yuanxiang and Qinglian had their memories of Wuliang Mountain erased by Wangyou. She didn't want them to realize she had lost their memories, so she simply told them that they had been kidnapped after boarding the ship and had fainted. Upon waking, they were rescued by Gu Huaijin, who had rescued them for a few days on Wuliang Mountain before returning to the palace with her.
Because the amnesia had to be concealed from them, she didn't want to ask them directly about the strange things happening to them.
Maybe, it was him who did something to them.
Perhaps, he said something that he had not discussed with her.
When she thought of him, her heart became confused. She rubbed her temples and opened the note.
"Gu will return to the capital in three days and invite Your Majesty to take a boat ride on the sea pond in the palace."
Elegant, upright, and noble regular script. Below that, another line of slightly abrupt characters was added:
"I have many doubts and need to ask the Queen."
She felt a sour and weightless feeling in her stomach and closed the note tiredly.
Ask her what to ask.
What else does she have to explain?
Wu Dao has not returned yet. He has been delayed in Wuliang Mountain for so long. It is likely that he has been interrogated by Gu Huaijin.
He would definitely reveal the inside story of the gate to rebirth only at the end. Before that, what he revealed must be her inside story.
How she had maliciously planned to meet him, how she had maliciously hurt herself in order to go up the mountain, how she had maliciously cried, laughed, and cared for him with malicious intent, she was afraid that he would tell her everything he knew.
Even, she would probably tell him everything about the means and tricks she used to complete the other three tasks.
When he finishes listening, he will understand with horror what a vicious woman his partner is.
With a broken-jar smile, she tore the note into pieces bit by bit, until they were as hard as cotton wool, and poured them into the half-melted ice.
That's how it is, what else is there to ask?
There was nothing to ask, and she had nothing to defend.
She had been tired of acting in front of him for the past five years. Now, even if he was horrified and afraid, she would just be like that, not making excuses, not acting anymore.
This is her true appearance, like it or not.
But I hope that after he knows everything, he will not bear a grudge and ruin her plans.
She got off the couch and walked to the table. She languidly took a brush, dipped it in ink, cut off a piece of calligraphy, and wrote stroke by stroke:
"I am already tired of explaining all the past matters, so there is no need to ask more.
Years of grievances, a mixture of truth and falsehood, each has its own difficulties.
I hope we can let each other go and help each other.”
Let each other go and complete each other.
I spent so many ridiculous days on the Four Symbols Tower, hating others and myself, but also forgiving with tears, and in the end, it all came back to these eight words.
She had gotten carried away. Because he still had feelings for her, he had deceived himself into letting go of what happened back then, and she had also thought that she could really let it go.
In reality, it's not that simple. Initially, the relationship was formed due to conspiracy, and any subsequent sincerity is just like building blocks on a cloud of smoke. Not only is it unstable, it will also fall apart.
There was already an unbreakable knot between them.
The sooner you break it off, the sooner you will be liberated.
She lowered her eyes and looked at the note she had written.
Written this way, the intention to cut off all ties should be obvious.
She folded the note in the same way, "Yuanxiang."
Yuanxiang walked in respectfully as usual, took the note, put it in her sleeve, and whispered:
"Your Majesty, the Regent has summoned you for a chat."
There was a slight chill in the Daming Palace.
Li Xuanbai was known for his extravagant lifestyle. As summer approached, he was the one who requested the most ice from the Imperial Household Department. Upon entering the palace, he saw twelve copper vats decorated with auspicious four-legged beasts, each filled to the brim with ice. Even on a sunny, midsummer day, the air was so cool it felt like rain.
Li Xuanbai sat cross-legged in front of a low table with memorials piled up in a mess on it.
"What do you want me to do?" She gathered her skirt and sat down on the other side of the low table.
He raised his eyes from the yellow memorials. The sunlight shone on the memorials, making his face yellow as well. There was a hint of golden reflection in his eyes. He smiled:
"It's been so long since you came back to the palace, and you didn't think of coming to see me?"
She smiled strangely, poured herself a cup of tea, and teased him:
"Missed me?"
He answered swiftly, "Of course." He then flipped through the manuscript and asked, "He forced you to stay in the mountains for over ten days. If I hadn't been concerned about the situation, I wouldn't have let him do such a brazen thing. Over ten days, how was it?"
Are you okay?
She held the teacup to her lips with an ambiguous smile on her face, looking at the exotic flowers and plants in the courtyard, without saying a word for a while.
What does "Are you okay?" mean?
He didn't die.
But in the first few days, I cried out all the tears that I had been holding back in my heart for a lifetime.
Later, my throat became dry again.
Even now, she looked like a decent person, wearing a long gauze dress with gold embroidery and a hair full of pearl and jade hairpins, but in fact, her skin was still covered with dense kiss marks left by him.
Somehow, when she thought of the red marks all over her body, and of Li Xuanbai looking at her with interest across the desk with only a thin layer of clothes between them, her mind buzzed.
It was as if someone was looking into my clothes.
Without anyone noticing, she pulled her collar to hide the kiss marks on her neck.
"Luckily. He actually brought me back here specifically to settle the score." She sighed. "That Qilin Grass thing is all bullshit. I told you he recognized me, but you didn't believe me."
"He recognized you, but he didn't touch you." Li Xuanbai poured himself tea from the purple clay teapot. After hearing this, he raised his face and glared at her, the tea overflowing. "He tricked you up the mountain, and then brought you down again intact?"
She covered her face and sighed again, "Of course...it's not that simple. I was tortured as well."
"Torture? Did he hurt you?"
"He..." She was unable to speak, "He's not injured. But it's almost the same as if he was injured."
"Are you okay?"
"All in all, it's okay." She didn't want to continue. "Don't ask anymore."
Li Xuanbai stopped talking.
There were many things she couldn't talk about. Her secrets, like his unspoken political schemes, were their unwritten agreement.
"So, now that we're down the mountain, how are you doing?" He picked a green grape from the fruit bowl. In the sunlight, the grape's texture shone like jade beads. "Are you parting ways, or are you sworn enemies? Or are you reconciled, or are you rekindling your grudges?"
His eyes were like a cat seeing a mouse, full of interest but pretending to be indifferent, and he squeezed a grape between his lips as if nothing had happened.
...Now, whenever she sees a grape being squeezed to remove its skin and slipping into someone's lips, her face would blush and her heart would beat faster.
She pinched the teacup and said lightly, "It's over."
"it's over?"
"It's completely over," she said. "The love and hate from the past are wiped out. The two of them have nothing to do with each other anymore."
She tilted her head, looking distracted.
Li Xuanbai knew there was something wrong when he saw that expression.
It might be easy for her to write off the name of Gu, but because of her, the sect of Gu was destroyed. Would he be willing to write off the name of Gu so easily?
If he is willing, then there must be something that cannot be cancelled.
He smiled unhappily, thinking to himself, "What a spineless thing!"
"That's best. You know he's always been a narrow-minded person. Now that your relationship is over, it's best if you're both willing to let go. Otherwise, in this Forbidden City, I wouldn't say anything if you occasionally borrowed his help. But he definitely wouldn't accept any benefits from me. If the old feelings still linger, you'll have to choose one of them."
He glanced at her with a meaningful smile: "Do you think so or not?"
Nan Qiong Shuang smiled suddenly and lowered her eyes.
After knowing each other for many years, Li Xuanbai already knew what words could move her.
She said, "How about you? How has Luojing been doing recently? I heard that you and the Emperor had a big fight."
Li Xuanbai sneered, "What are you talking about, you crazy idiot? Do you know his crazy mother?"
"Concubine Chang?" She pondered carefully, slowly placing a lychee in her mouth. "I've wanted to ask for a long time, if she's the Emperor's biological mother, why is she still a concubine?"
"His mother," he said with disdain and contempt, bending one knee and hugging it, "Changda's sister, she's never done anything good. My mother was poisoned to death by her. Later, when the conspiracy was exposed, she was banished by the late emperor to Jingsixuan, where she has lived until today. She still wants to be the empress dowager?"
He smiled and threw the lychee kernel in his hand onto the porcelain plate with a clang. "It would be a mercy of mine to spare her life."
"That wicked woman, that madman, wants me to release her from Jingsi Pavilion." He crossed his shoulders and sneered, his index finger pointing angrily. "If I release her, what will happen next? Will she be crowned Empress Dowager and sent to the Cining Palace? It's simply unbelievable. He's been bringing this up to me over and over again lately. Do you think he's crazy to be stupid, or is he extremely stupid to be crazy?"
She frowned, picking up a grape between her fingers and peeling it bit by bit. "The Emperor has been emperor for two years. How can he be so unwilling to be suddenly torn down from his position by the two of you? Even though he has given up his power, he still holds high. But he is afraid of you two, so he spends his time in the Garden of Laughter."
"He's always been like this. Even though he's lost his power, his appetite remains. He doesn't even consider how many teeth he has left." He smiled, and the sunlight streaming in through the carved window made his small pigeon-blood red earrings glitter. "I want to let Chang Chuxiu go? No way. For every day I stay in Daming Palace, she has to stay in Jingsi Pavilion. Even if she dies, she has to die there."
As long as Emperor Jiaqing was alive, she didn't care much about other things. She shook her head gently, "What about General Chang Da? He publicly demanded a title, causing a huge uproar. What happened in the end?"
"I was given the title of king, but no iron certificate." He grabbed the teacup and took a sip. "No fiefdom, so it can't be inherited. I gave a little more rice as an allowance."
"'A little'? 'A little', he's willing to do that?"
"So what if he refuses? For hundreds of years, there has been no precedent for a prince of a different surname to be king. What else does he want?"
"Then he..."
"He agreed." Li Xuanbai sneered and spread his hands. "Don't worry about whether he's happy or not, or whether he's unhappy or not, he agreed. If he's not happy, then from now on, I can only use spears and arrows to make him happy. No matter how much you ask for, there will be no more."
She held the teacup to her lips, lowered her eyes and thought slowly, without saying a word for a while.
The situation of two tigers on one mountain is already as precarious as eggs on a pile of eggs. The slightest carelessness will lead to a turbulent storm.
Is it really okay for her to come to Daming Palace to talk to him as usual?
Gu Huaijin had warned her long ago not to have any contact with Li Xuanbai. Now, once she had sent that note, they were done for. If Gu Huaijin bore a grudge against her and went to Emperor Jiaqing to accuse her of close ties with the Prince Regent, she would be in big trouble.
Besides, there were many people in the palace, and the fact that she frequently came to the Daming Palace might one day reach the ears of Emperor Jiaqing.
She twirled the jade bead beneath her ear and said thoughtfully, "I have a feeling that trouble is brewing again. I'd rather not come here again. Even if everyone in the palace is wary of you, it's always dangerous for us to meet."
"What are you afraid of? You broke up with that Gu guy, so are you going to break up with me too?"
She couldn't make up her mind and didn't answer.
"Xie Deyin, your 'Xie' comes from the Qinghe Xie clan." He tapped his folding fan on the edge of the table. "My mother is also from the Qinghe Xie clan. If we're to talk about relationship, you're still my cousin. Not to mention the two of us. One was sent out of the capital at a young age to train in Tianshan, while the other was lost as a child and only found by her family many years later. We're blood relatives with similar experiences. Being in the same palace, it's natural for us to sympathize with each other. Even if someone gossips behind our backs, so what? I'm sitting here. How dare that madman blame you?"
She lowered her head and thought for a long time.
After a while, he sighed, "Forget it, forget it." The most powerful lord in the palace didn't even have someone who could suppress him. It was far more worthwhile to rely on him than to push him away.
She stood up and adjusted the hem of her skirt. "Even if we're cousins, Deyin can't stay here with the Regent for long. Today we're just here to reminisce about the past. Deyin will take her leave first. However," she took two steps forward, suddenly turned back and looked at him, "Deyin still has something to ask of you."
Li Xuanbai gnawed on the tribute pear and blinked suspiciously: "What?"
She asked, "Cousin, can you allow me to leave the palace occasionally?"
"Leaving the palace?" He lowered his eyelashes and thought for a moment, then sneered meaningfully, "Oh, so busy?"
She didn't hide it from him. After experiencing the disaster at Tianshan, Li Xuanbai knew what she was going to do in the Forbidden City even with his eyes closed. He smiled and said, "Yes."
"It's not impossible. But don't tell those maids who are always nagging about palace rules."
He gnawed the pear like a rat. "In a while, Wu Shun, who's beside me, will deliver the token to you. But remember, this must not be known to anyone else. You can do whatever you want outside the palace, but don't hang around outside under the title of imperial concubine. I can't do anything about it. Also," he pointed at her, his fox eyes narrowing wantonly, "I've given you the token. From now on, when I call you, you must come. If anything goes wrong, I'll take care of it, okay?"
After hearing this, she smiled slowly and bowed gently, "I understand, Deyin. From now on, I will be at your disposal, cousin."
When I came out of the Daming Palace, it was already the afternoon.
In the evening, the heat gradually dissipated, and the sun finally moved slowly to the west, blocked by the high red walls and dense branches and leaves. It did not burn people, but the afterglow was still dazzling.
The Imperial Garden was deserted, silent except for the chirping of birds and the buzzing of cicadas. Beyond the winding corridors lay a vast expanse of blossoms. The setting sun filtered through the shadows of the trees and the corridors, illuminating the flowers and plants with patches of golden light.
Nan Qiong Shuang walked silently in the corridor, looking at the flowers as she walked, and Yuan Xiang followed her silently.
At this hour, I strolled in the Imperial Garden because I had nothing to do.
As she expected, she fell from favor.
After returning from Wuliang Mountain, as soon as she entered the palace, she felt that the palace maids treated her differently than before.
Xiao Shunzi, who used to be at the emperor's beckoning, is nowhere to be seen.
Half of the servants in her Handan Palace were gone, and the window frames were covered with dust.
During the hot summer, the ice that was supposed to be allocated by the Imperial Household Department was delayed in arriving. Yuanxiang went to the Imperial Household Department to inquire and found out that most of her share had been intercepted by the Jingren Palace on some pretext, and no one even said hello to her.
Jingren Palace was the residence of Concubine Sheng.
Palace servants said that after she left that day, Concubine Sheng regained favor at a banquet with a palm dance. In the ten days since she left, Emperor Jiaqing and Concubine Sheng were deeply in love and affectionate, sticking together every day, even eating lunch, with each other feeding the other.
In the harem, they had originally been the most powerful. When one side fell, they would immediately switch sides, which was common practice among the people in the palace.
She rested her hands on the wooden railing of the corridor, thinking deeply as she walked.
As I was walking, I suddenly heard a cheerful woman's laughter in the corridor in front. The imperial garden was quiet, so the laughter was particularly eye-catching.
She followed the winding corridor and turned a corner. The afterglow was so bright that it made her squint for a moment. She blocked the sun in front of her with her hand and could see the figure among the flowers clearly.
As soon as he saw it clearly, he sneered.
What a narrow road for enemies to meet.
Mao Linyan was chasing butterflies among the flowers with two or three maids. She was wearing a light red long dress with hundreds of gold butterflies woven on it, and she was dancing gracefully. In the sunlight, the gold flakes on the dress sparkled and tinkled.
She stood in the shadow of the corridor and watched quietly.
Mao Linyan was Chang Da's adopted sister. Legend has it that she was accidentally taken away by a midwife at birth and raised in General Chang's mansion for fifteen years. It wasn't until she was sixteen that it was discovered she wasn't the general's biological daughter. Afterward, she changed her surname to Mao.
Despite this, she was raised in the Chang family for fifteen years after all, and they had a long-term relationship. Later, she was still adopted as an adopted daughter by the Chang family. Later, with the help of Chang Da's influence, she entered the palace to serve Emperor Jiaqing.
Nan Qiongshuang leaned against the porch pillar, looking at the lively and cheerful red shadow among the flowers, smiling deeply.
Mao Linyan danced a few steps among the flowers, then looked up at the half-length corridor under the sunlight. Seeing no one, she twisted her body, found the right angle, and danced again.
Nan Qiong Shuang hid in the shadows, and the more she looked, the more she wanted to laugh.
This road was the only way to get back to the Purple Palace from Xiaoleyuan. Every day, when Emperor Jiaqing got tired of playing cards and wanted to return to the Purple Palace, he would inevitably pass by this section of the corridor in the Imperial Garden.
Who are you jumping around like that for?
Not to mention wearing clothes covered with gold flakes and jumping into the spots of afterglow.
Nan Qiongshuang had grown tired of these eye-catching little tricks ten years ago. She could see through them at a glance, and the more she watched, the more interesting they became.
Mao Linyan fluttered among the flowers for a long time, but didn't catch a single butterfly. The rouge on her face melted a little, and she was covered in sweat. She stood up panting and looked at the half-length corridor under the sun.
This time, he finally noticed the person in the half-corridor under the shade of the tree.
I felt creepy when she stared at me.
Under the shade of the tree, a person with a leisurely smile slowly bowed and spoke first: "Your servant pays homage to the Imperial Concubine."
"It's you?" Mao Linyan looked her up and down, and saw that she still had the peach blossom hairpin on her head, which she had denounced as obscene and seductive. She suddenly remembered the scene when she knelt in the rain outside the Zichen Palace for a long time, and Nan Qiongshuang entered the palace to serve her in front of her with ease. She was immediately furious.
She gritted her teeth and forced it down.
Nan Qiong Shuang just smiled gently.
Mao Linyan gathered her skirt from the flowers and stepped out, twisting her handkerchief shyly, not daring to look up. "Sister, you look much worse since returning from Wuliang Mountain."
Nan Qiong Shuang was also familiar with the act of being weak. She raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Sister entered the palace earlier than me and has served the Emperor longer. Calling you sister is really embarrassing. Please stop addressing me like that."
"Sister, your face is so pale. Are you not used to the food or the living conditions on Wuliang Mountain? Or are you worried about the Emperor?" She held her hand. "If the Emperor is in good health, then there is no need to worry. The Emperor is with me every day. I see him with my own eyes all day long. He looks very well. Sister, you should just take care of yourself."
The smile on Nan Qiong Shuang's face deepened.
"I do want to be concerned. But those servants in the Imperial Household Department are incompetent. They refused to give me the ice that was supposed to be in Handan Palace. How can I sleep peacefully in this hot summer?"
"Sister, calm down and you'll feel cooler." Mao Linyan held her hand and shook it. "There are seven copper vats in Jingren Palace, piled high with ice, but how can it be enough? God says it's hot, but who can decide that? If the emperor didn't play cards every night and ask me to serve him, keeping me awake, I would suffer from insomnia too."
She laughed and said, "It's all thanks to my sister, the Imperial Concubine, for handling things properly. I wonder if my sister helped the Emperor play cards. How did the Emperor win or lose?"
Mao Linyan smiled awkwardly, her lips stuck to her teeth, and she stopped talking.
The Jiaqing Emperor had previously favored Nan Qiongshuang because she was exceptionally skilled at memorizing and playing cards, and even at cheating. With her around, the Jiaqing Emperor's winnings were natural, and even when he was about to lose, there was always a chance to turn things around.
She smiled and whispered softly into her ear, stroking her fluffy hair:
"...Sister. Today is the fifteenth day of the lunar year. The Emperor is worshipping Buddha and not playing cards."
"Sister, wearing a gorgeous long dress, fluttering butterflies in the sunlight, is naturally charming and innocent. It's a pity that Boya still has a hard time meeting Zhong Ziqi, so I'm afraid he can only admire his beauty alone."
After she finished speaking, she suddenly pulled away, turned around and walked away.
Just as he was about to step onto the stone steps of the corridor, the person behind him chuckled.
"I don't know as much about the Emperor's card games as I do. Two days later, the Emperor's fortune was still favorable, so he specially summoned my brother to the palace to enjoy the fun. Naturally, I had to accompany him. I don't know about this, but does my sister know about it?"
Nan Qiongshuang stood in front of the corridor, smiling slightly, without saying a word.
Mao Linyan strolled around her slowly, "I think you're too weak to understand. The Emperor has always loved you, so from now on, I'll do everything I can. Not to mention serving you in bed or attending to your illness, even this dress of yours—" She plucked up a little of her gold-embroidered sleeve, "—was made for you based on the style I liked last year. The Emperor, that's the way he sees things. If he hadn't seen me wearing something beautiful last year, he wouldn't have thought of making you the same dress."
"As for my shoes." She lifted the hem of her skirt. In the sunlight, the shoes, embroidered with gold, shimmered like her skirt. Embroidered on the uppers were a pair of emerald butterflies, their antennae sewn with two pairs of jade beads. "The Emperor gave them to me a while ago. They're tribute from western Sichuan, made of Shu brocade, which is worth a hundred gold coins and is in short supply. The Emperor said that I was beautiful and charming, and that the butterflies complemented me beautifully, so he gave them to me."
"I've mentioned this to the Emperor before, saying that my younger sister traveled all the way to Wuliang Mountain to retrieve medicine for him. Shouldn't such a precious item be left to her? However, the Emperor simply said that my younger sister was quiet and shy, and wouldn't be a good match for Butterfly. This is truly strange. My younger sister has a lovely personality, so how could she be described as quiet? I'm afraid the Emperor misremembered it and thought it was someone else."
After saying this, she picked up her handkerchief, covered her lips and smiled, "Don't mind it, sister. The emperor has a childish temper and always makes mistakes. I'm glad I remember you. I know the emperor doesn't care about you and you're lonely. In a few days," she held her hand, her eyes full of smug provocation, "the emperor has promised to make me a butterfly hairpin inlaid with oriental pearls. When the time comes, I'll wear it and come to you to cheer me up."
After listening to her words, Nan Qiongshuang was so bored that she didn't know what to say.
In fact, she did not want the exclusive favor of Emperor Jiaqing, but only wanted half of his heart and half of his love.
However, Mao Linyan always regarded her as a thorn in her side, as if she was indispensable to her and she was indispensable to me.
She smiled dully and was about to reply lazily when she heard a voice behind her: "Yan'er."
When she turned around, she saw a man in a bright yellow dragon robe standing in the half-corridor under the sunlight, extending his hand towards her.
"Your Majesty!" Mao Linyan was surprised and delighted.
She stood under the shade of the tree, feeling the biting cold and the humiliation seeping into her bones.
Today is the fifteenth, and he's out playing cards too?!
Even though he clearly saw her, it seemed as if there was only Mao Linyan in his eyes, and he looked at her as if she were a dead object.
This is the heart of an emperor.
Mao Linyan immediately let go of her, jumped into his arms excitedly, put her arms around Emperor Jiaqing's neck, and hugged him so hard that he bent his waist.
Emperor Jiaqing didn't even look at her.
The one who glanced at her was Mao Linyan.
That look was insolent, disdainful, perverse, and complacent.
What that meant was—"See for yourself who the Emperor chooses?"
She stood there, almost trembling with anger, and did not move for a long time.
If she doesn't make this man kneel down at her feet again, Nan Qiongshuang's twelve years of hard work will be in vain.
In the distance, a figure in black robes quietly watched all this. Suddenly, it disappeared into the shadows of the trees, and was no longer seen.
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