Chapter 81 Argument: Someone Speaks Without Thinking
The courtyard of Yu Yue Palace was quieter than usual.
Only two or three servants were sweeping and cleaning cautiously.
The sound of something breaking came from inside the palace, startling the palace servants.
As soon as Zhao Liangxu entered Yu Yue Palace, she thought Fang Shi or someone else would stop her, but she found that there were only a few timid and trembling palace maids in the entire courtyard. Fang Shi was standing outside the door, nervously listening to the movements inside the room.
They couldn't care about themselves.
Fang Shi didn't notice Zhao Liangxu until she walked over.
She called out Fangshi's name, which made Fangshi tremble. Fangshi turned around and saw that it was Zhao Liangxu.
Zhao Liangxu saw that Fang Shi was very anxious. Fang Shi had even abandoned her somewhat proud and dignified aunt demeanor and was pleading with Zhao Liangxu with red eyes.
"Princess Zhao, please come inside and persuade His Highness to calm down and beg him to forgive the Empress."
Zhao Liangxu was puzzled by these words.
Anhe came here to find Li Ying, so why is she getting angry in the Empress Dowager's palace? She sounds furious, which frightens even Fangshi, the person who serves the Empress Dowager.
"You'd better tell me what happened. Otherwise, I've just barged in without knowing the cause and effect. What if Eunuch An turns his anger on me and chops me up?"
Fang Shi was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. She said, "How could that be? You are the Emperor's person, he..." Fang Shi suddenly choked up. She was really not sure if An He would take his anger out on Zhao Liangxu in his anger.
Everyone in the palace knew about Anhe's relationship with Zhao Liangxu, but they all assumed that Zhao Liangxu was the one who was trapped.
Even so, she was still the person most familiar with Anhe... Fang Shi gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and pleaded, briefly recounting what had happened in the palace: "Your Majesty only mentioned some things about His Majesty, but she got angry and said a few more words... The Emperor was listening attentively to what had happened in the past, but Your Majesty's expression also seemed off, so Your Majesty directly kicked me out."
She was alarmed by even a few words from Zhou Mingxi. Zhou Mingxi kept picking up on past events to make insinuations and fabricate stories. As Zhou Mingxi's personal maid, she naturally knew about these things.
She was clinging to Zhou Mingxi, and Fang Shi really couldn't be sure if An He had been provoked and gone so far as to kill Zhou Mingxi.
If the Empress Dowager dies, the palace maids around her will not live long either.
Zhao Liangxu's arrival at this moment turned out to be her only savior.
Seeing Zhao Liangxu deep in thought, Fang Shi assumed she was unwilling and simply announced directly into the palace: "Your Majesty, Princess Zhao has arrived."
The somewhat noisy sounds inside the hall suddenly disappeared, and there was silence for a long while.
When Zhao Liangxu saw Fang Shi's unilateral action, she was at a loss for words.
She stared at Fang Shi until Li Ying's voice came out: "Let her in."
Zhao Liangxu smiled faintly at Fang Shi, as if she held a grudge, which made Fang Shi dare not look up at her.
Zhao Liangxu walked into the hall, passing through the half-draped soft curtain, thinking to herself.
He didn't hear Anhe's voice. What's his expression now?
She entered the inner hall and saw An He standing not far from Zhou Mingxi with a gloomy face. Li Ying sat nervously next to Zhou Mingxi, first making eye contact with Zhao Liangxu and looking at Zhao Liangxu for help.
There were still some porcelain shards scattered on the floor of the hall, obviously someone had just smashed a porcelain cup on the ground.
Zhao Liangxu heard this crisp sound as soon as she entered the palace courtyard.
"What are you doing here?" Anhe asked.
"I've only come to find Eunuch An."
Zhou Mingxi's face was mocking, and the sarcasm at the corner of her mouth made her originally beautiful face look somewhat ferocious. The small mole on the side of her mouth did not add to her charm, but rather added a touch of malice.
"I thought someone like Eunuch An would never be interested in women, but it seems people really can change."
"What does Your Majesty mean by this?" Anhe's voice was cold and sinister.
"That's exactly what Eunuch An understands; I don't need to explain it further."
Zhou Mingxi's eyes were filled with anger. The Empress Dowager, who used to pretend to be calm, looked quite genuine, but now she had no mood to pretend.
An He's expression was very unpleasant. He had some reservations about Zhao Liangxu's presence, but he still continued to speak to Zhou Mingxi: "Your Majesty, have you thought about His Majesty now that you've made such a scene? You haven't fulfilled your responsibility of educating the princes. As His Majesty's close attendant, I naturally have the right to serve His Majesty closely in his daily life, speech, and studies. But Your Majesty, you're putting on airs now, as if you're so right."
Fang Fang's words were vague, and Zhao Liangxu only understood the gist of it. Now, after hearing An He's sharp accusations, she understands even more clearly what had happened earlier.
The atmosphere was tense and ready to fight.
Anhe stood straight to the side, holding a whisk, and spoke sarcastically while looking down at Zhou Mingxi.
Zhou Mingxi, dressed in a gray-blue robe, leaned against the couch, her lips tightly pursed into a line, her chest rising and falling noticeably, and the jewels on her head swaying with her rapid breathing.
“Does Eunuch An not understand what I mean? Although my son has not yet come of age, he is no longer so young. It is one thing that Eunuch An did not attend court today, but the servants around him were all arranged by Eunuch An, and I, the Empress Dowager, have no way of knowing anything about them. So let’s put all that aside for now. But why have you not allowed that little girl to see my son for so many days in a row?”
"Does an emperor have to be so restricted in his interactions with someone his own age?"
Li Ying explained from the side, "Mother, it wasn't Eunuch An's intention, it was my..."
He wasn't wrong; he really didn't want to see the daughter Zhou Feng had sent to the palace.
"Stop talking! He's been by your side for so long, and you've been coaxed into caring for him a lot. But I'm your mother, and you're lying to me!"
Zhou Mingxi glared angrily at An He, refusing to listen to Li Ying's explanation.
“Anhe, you act like a loyal servant all day long, but you make my son fear you. My son is the emperor, and I am the empress dowager. Do I have the treatment of an empress dowager? You not only restrict my son, but you also confine me, the empress dowager, to this small Yu Yue Palace. You even want to remove my servants?”
Zhao Liangxu suddenly understood why there were only a few palace servants left in Yu Yue Palace. It turned out that they had all been ordered by An He to be transferred away from here, which made Zhao Liangxu feel very lonely as soon as she entered.
Anhe scoffed, "So it turns out that Your Majesty used all sorts of emotional appeals and reasoning to go through all this trouble, showing concern for His Majesty's friendships and feeling sorry that His Majesty was frightened by me, all to bring up your own treatment. I thought that after you became Empress Dowager, you had changed your mindset by eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist scriptures, but it turns out you are still as impatient as before."
"How have we restricted you, Empress Dowager? As His Majesty's birth mother, you enjoy unparalleled honor in the palace. It's just that you insist on beating and scolding the servants in the palace. If you were careful and didn't let us find out, that would be fine. But you've been blatantly doing it all the time."
Anhe flicked his whisk, kicked away the porcelain shards, and looked at Zhou Mingxi, whose face was filled with shock and anger: "It looks like a servant has offended the Empress Dowager, but in reality, the Empress Dowager couldn't vent her anger on us, so she took it out on the little eunuchs like us. Now she's even learned to use the word 'hypocrisy'."
An He said coldly, "The Empress Dowager is already sitting in this seat. Wouldn't it be better for her to be served by the servants and quietly worship Buddha?"
Zhou Mingxi was speechless after being refuted by An He. Li Ying had a terrible life back then because after Zhou Mingxi fell out of favor, he couldn't be bothered to pay attention to his useless son. The late emperor had so many princes, he didn't need his one.
She ignored Li Ying's life, leaving it entirely to the servants to take care of her, and from the beginning there was no mother-son affection between them.
Now that Anhe had seen through her intentions, she was naturally filled with shame and indignation.
Even though she was an empress dowager with little real power, and she didn't seek to rule from behind the curtain, Anhe was watching her even when she punished servants in the palace, which further restricted her.
Unable to gain anything from the argument, Zhou Mingxi turned his anger towards Zhao Liangxu.
She pointed at Zhao Liangxu and said, "And what about her? I never expected that you and His Majesty would trust her so much. Given her foreign identity, I'm afraid she might have secretly drugged you so that you would treat her leniently?"
Li Ying was unable to get a word in edgewise during the argument, but when she heard Zhou Mingxi's question, she still managed to say a few words of explanation: "Mother, Zhao Liangxu did not have any bad intentions."
Zhou Mingxi was surprised, but put on a gentle face and said to Li Ying, "My Ying'er, you are really pitiful."
Since Li Ying became emperor, she had often adopted this gentle demeanor, which always made Li Ying feel close to her. After all, he had always longed for his mother's care. However, Zhou Mingxi's sudden loving gaze at Li Ying in such a tense situation made Li Ying feel somewhat timid.
Seeing that Li Ying did not approach him and call him "Mother" as usual, Zhou Mingxi's cheeks twitched slightly, and then he suddenly laughed and said to An He, "I just don't know if Eunuch An is really treating this person well. What can a eunuch like you use to keep a woman?"
She seemed to speak without thinking, her words sharp and hurtful, as if they were carefully crafted before being uttered.
Anhe was already in a state of turmoil, and if Zhou Mingxi went mad, he wouldn't care about anything else and would say hurtful things. That mocking remark just now, which specifically named someone, hit Anhe's long-held fears and thoughts.
What could a eunuch like him possibly offer Zhao Liangxu?
Anhe knew that if Zhou Mingxi continued talking, she might say something else nasty, so she didn't bother arguing with her anymore.
"It seems that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is delirious due to her illness. She has mouth ulcers and cannot speak properly. We will send someone to treat Her Majesty the Empress Dowager properly."
Anhe threatened, then called to Li Ying, "Your Majesty, you should let the Empress Dowager recuperate in the palace. You have other more important matters to attend to."
Anhe walked out of Yuyue Palace, ignoring the noises of tables and chairs being overturned and objects being knocked over that Zhou Mingxi had made inside the palace, and said to Li Ying, "Your Majesty should visit the Empress Dowager less often. Mother and son have long been estranged, why come here to be humiliated? Your Majesty should know this."
Normally, Anhe would at least bow slightly and gently persuade Li Ying in her ear. Although the words he spoke were always firm, it was at least in other people's eyes that Anhe was taking good care of Li Ying.
Now that he's angry at Yu Yue Palace, he just stands aside absentmindedly staring at the whisk, his gaze lofty and aloof.
Anhe then said to Zhao Liangxu, "What are you doing here? You weren't of much use in the palace just now. Did you come here specifically to listen to this commotion?" He asked Zhao Liangxu in a calm voice.
He always felt apprehensive when facing Zhao Liangxu. Just now, Zhou Mingxi pointed out his concerns, and now he was even more at a loss as to how to face Zhao Liangxu.
He could only speak to Zhao Liangxu in a tone that sounded sarcastic and insincere, as if to prove that he didn't seem to care about what Zhou Mingxi said.
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