Chapter 104 Green...
Another year of cold autumn has arrived, with the west wind blowing and the setting sun casting its last rays, and the paulownia leaves rustling in the wind.
The western palace of the imperial city has been desolate for many years due to the lack of inhabitants. There is a magnificent palace called "Zhaoyang Palace" in the palace, but the palace is desolate and has no vitality as "Zhaoyang" should have.
Even the palace plaques are covered in wormholes due to years of neglect, and the three characters are no longer recognizable without close inspection.
Even within this palace, there still resides a mistress of noble birth who is insane and deranged. Because she had offended the current emperor in the past, she has been imprisoned in the palace, and the palace servants all avoid her.
The palace servants nearby whispered that the person in the palace had been possessed by an evil spirit. Every night at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), a white-clad female ghost would wander around Zhaoyang Palace carrying a ghost lantern, and anyone caught by her would die a horrible death.
The newly arrived palace maid, Shuying, scoffed at this. Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, she leaped to her feet, hands on her hips, her clear voice tinkling like silver bells:
“My mother said that the ghosts in the palace are all pitiful people, and there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
I'll go check it out tonight.
That very night, under the cover of the crowd, he escaped the strict inspection by the female officials, took a sheep horn lantern, and followed the wall all the way to Zhaoyang Palace.
The lock on the small door at the back of the hall was broken, so she tiptoed in, carefully closed the door, and walked along the winding corridor toward the front hall.
There was hardly anyone around, and all I could hear was the sharp sound of the wind; it was indeed much colder and more terrifying than outside the palace.
The sound of footsteps all around her made her heart pound. She stopped at the corner and peered out.
This one glance was enough to frighten her so much that her face turned deathly pale and her legs went weak.
Dressed in white, adorned with white flowers, and carrying a white lantern, she descended the stone steps covered with fallen paulownia leaves like a ghost, muttering incoherently as if calling out to someone.
Shuying panicked for only a moment, then calmed herself down, pricked up her ears and listened carefully, barely managing to make out two words.
"Your Highness."
"Moth".
The old palace servants said that this woman was Lady Sun, the principal wife of the first crown prince during the Xuan Ning era. Presumably, the "Your Highness" she spoke of was the legendary, exceptionally handsome, kind, and wise Crown Prince Zhaohuai.
Shuying thought to herself: I knew there were no ghosts. They were clearly people, pitiful people.
Her heart softened instantly. She leaned against the wall and walked out, tentatively calling out softly, "Crown Princess?"
The slender white figure swayed and actually turned around.
As the fireflies shone in the moonlight, they were truly stunned by the face she saw: her lifeless eyes were deeply sunken, her cheekbones protruded, wrinkles covered the corners of her eyes and face, and her chin was thin and pointed. Yet she had drawn her eyebrows, applied lipstick, and powdered her face, her makeup both tragic and vibrant, like a box of rouge that had fallen into a snowy wonderland.
Looking further down, I suddenly noticed that she wasn't wearing shoes, and her old socks were a bit dirty, making me feel cold just looking at them.
Dewdrops gather on the jade steps, soaking through silk stockings as the night deepens.
Upon seeing her, the woman, for the first time ever, spoke, her voice hoarse and dry: "Who are you?"
Shuying was somewhat at a loss, and said blankly, "My name is Shuying, and I am..."
"Shuying?!" The woman almost screamed.
Startled, Shuying retreated repeatedly, about to flee, when suddenly the creaking sound of a door opening came from behind the screen wall.
Shuying inwardly cried out in alarm, and in her haste, she dropped the lamp and hid behind the palace.
She dared not make a sound, but secretly peeked through the gaps between the leaves.
The person who entered seemed to be a man, yet not quite. He possessed an air of unparalleled nobility, draped in a silver-white crane-feather cloak, and walked from the shadows into the moonlight. The door behind him creaked shut again, but Shuying could vaguely see some bright lights.
"Why won't my sister-in-law serve me when I ask someone to do so?"
This sound was of indistinguishable between male and female.
The woman had rushed out the door when the noise started, and now she was leaning against the screen wall, stroking the cracked stone wall painted with a strong, cold pine tree. The Ten Thousand Valleys Pine Wind was now riddled with holes.
"Fei'er is back. I'll carry a lantern to greet him. Be careful not to fall in the dark..."
The woman seemed not to hear her and continued to ramble on: "The wind is so strong outside, his forehead is burning hot! I held him in my arms, and he kept saying, 'The medicine is too bitter, the medicine is too bitter'..."
The other person remained silent for a long time before calling out, "Sister-in-law."
The woman struggled to her feet and stumbled toward him, stammering, "Your Highness, Your Highness, open your eyes and look at Rou'er. You haven't seen Fei'er yet, you haven't seen our Fei'er!"
The fireflies in the darkness belatedly realized that the person approaching was His Majesty.
Empress Zhenxi was an object of worship for almost all women in the Great Qi Dynasty.
However, before entering the palace, Shuying overheard her elders gossiping in private, saying that this empress was cold-hearted, ruthless, and cruel. She had driven her elder sister-in-law insane, harmed her young nephew, forced her adoptive mother to her death, and executed ministers. They even said that she was suspected of regicide and that the throne was obtained by her by any means necessary.
Shuying couldn't help but shiver, her palms sweating, her heart filled with anxiety as she pondered how to escape first.
The woman was clearly unconscious, yet she kept repeating, "Your Highness, Your Highness..."
She must be mistaking the empress in front of her for her husband.
Shuying's heart began to pound for no reason. She clutched the hem of her dress, watching the sounds coming from the courtyard. She saw the Empress bend down to help her up, saying, "It's late, let's go back."
The woman shook her head, her slender hand pointing in Shuying's direction: "Shuying is back! It must be Fei'er after school. She brought Fei'er back with her, right?"
Two pairs of eyes shot over, and Shu Ying, who was hiding in the shadows, suddenly felt a tightness in her chest. Her legs went weak, and she bumped into the wall, almost falling over.
The subtle sound aroused the Empress's suspicion. Her eyes turned cold, and she stepped up the stairs, approaching step by step.
Shuying grew increasingly nervous, biting her lip tightly, too afraid to move, her feet rooted to the spot, cold sweat pouring down her back.
The pair of jade boots stopped five paces away. Before Shuying could even feel relieved, she heard a voice:
"come out."
A sudden gust of wind blew, scattering stray hairs from Shuying's forehead. By sheer bad luck, one of the hairs got into her eye, stinging painfully. She wanted to reach out and brush it away, but dared not move at all, almost bursting into tears.
"If I summon the guards, they will be charged with treason and executed without exception."
Shuying practically crawled out, and in her extreme panic, she managed to give a clear account of what had happened.
The Empress only gasped in surprise when Shuying uttered her name, and then asked, "You sympathize with her?"
Shu Ying felt a jolt of fear and quickly shook her head in denial.
The Empress remained silent. Before leaving, she said to Shuying, "Help her inside. If she doesn't resist, you can serve her from now on. If she needs anything, ask the eunuch Sun Shan."
Sun Shan and Shu Ying had heard of each other.
For young palace maids like them, who had only recently entered the palace, it was a name that resonated far and wide. She nodded in agreement, still completely bewildered.
.
Shuying served Madam Sun for several years. For a long time, Madam Sun didn't know anyone and couldn't get close to anyone, but when Shuying was by her side, she was completely unguarded.
Before her death, Madam Sun suddenly regained her senses for a few days, and even the imperial physicians could not diagnose the cause. However, her body deteriorated rapidly, perhaps realizing that her time was coming to an end, she was eager to do something.
But there are no relatives around.
She pushed Shuying away, saying, "Just say I've gone crazy, that I beat and scold you all day long. Shuying, go somewhere else. Staying here will only hold you back."
"No, Your Highness is Shuying's mistress."
Coughing and crying, Madam Sun said, "You can't be like her, you can't be like her... There's no place for your Xiao Jiu in this palace, you have to leave. Good child, listen to me, you have to leave the palace, don't stay with me..."
Shuying had never heard of her past, and she refused to say a word. Shuying listened in a daze, only shaking her head.
Winter is coming.
The sycamore leaves outside the window have all fallen, and fine snowflakes are slowly falling.
The two leaned against the window, quietly gazing at the last remaining beauty of this small hall. Shuying gently embraced Sun Shi, as if soothing a child to sleep.
"Swinging on the swing, swinging on the swing, the swing swings past the spring boudoir, the swing swings past the autumn pond, I miss you but see no snow in the world, my tearful eyes and sorrowful heart have already broken..."
A tear silently slid down Sun's cheek as she softly asked, "Why are you also named Shuying?"
also?
Shuying seemed to be hearing this from her for the first time, but she didn't press for details. From Sun's previous words, she could vaguely guess that the other "Shuying" must also be someone she was very close to.
So Shuying said, "I will take care of you in her place."
"Oh... Don't worry, I'm fine," Madam Sun smiled weakly, greedily enjoying the rare embrace. "I'm going to see His Highness soon, and Fei'er too... What if they don't recognize me now that I've aged so much?"
"It's alright, Your Highness is their closest relative." Shuying slowly got up and went to get the hand warmer from the table.
Behind her, Sun murmured softly, "If there is an afterlife, I will definitely recognize you as my goddaughters, so that..."
There was silence.
Shuying turned her head and saw Madam Sun leaning against the couch with her head tilted to the side, her eyelids already closed, and a thin, bony hand sticking out from under the blanket. It seemed that fine snow was drifting in from outside the window, landing on her graying temples.
But she was all alone now.
.
Many years later, Shuying learned about some things concerning Crown Prince Zhaohuai and his wife during the Xuan Ning era, but there were still many unknown details that might be buried forever in the heavy snow of those years after their passing.
As for the other firefly, whom I've never met...
Occasionally, on a whim, she would explore information about herself. The half-sister of Xu Zhen, a Grand Secretary of the court, a palace maid in Zhaoyang Palace, a concubine of the Crown Prince... an astonishing background, and a short life of less than twenty years.
As for death, she dared not say much, only feeling a sense of sorrow.
By then, she was already a lady-in-waiting to the emperor. Through countless trials, she shed her naivety and childishness, but retained her courage and decisiveness, becoming a capable strategist for the empress.
She served the emperor closely and had frequent contact with court officials. Serving the emperor was like walking on thin ice; she had to do good deeds while maintaining a proper sense of propriety, a delicate balance that was difficult to strike, so she was cautious in everything she did.
Having spent more time with the Empress, Shu Ying had come to understand her better and discovered that she wasn't as cold-hearted as she seemed; she simply often had to consider the bigger picture and was powerless to act on her own. However, the rumors circulating in private were probably not entirely unfounded, leaving Shu Ying feeling conflicted.
It seemed that one day, Shuying went to the cabinet to deliver an imperial edict.
The officials in the pavilion were discussing something, and one could vaguely hear a sentence: "...This Sun Xuan is the brother of Crown Prince Zhaohuai's wife, Sun Xianrou. Is it inappropriate to employ him..."
Oh, Shuying knew her name before. She just didn't expect it to be brought up again under these circumstances.
Who will remember her now?
That poor woman who often murmured, "Even if we meet again, we would not recognize each other, for my face is covered in dust and my temples are like frost."
Author's note: I'm just posting a side story for now. It's not finished yet. I'll continue writing it after I've revised it!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
