Chapter 146 Such Mourning: When someone knocked on the gates of Yongshou Palace...
The knocking on the gates of Yongshou Palace occurred in the early morning, around four o'clock. Cheng Qianyue was still half asleep at this time, and was vaguely awakened by Ruodie from inside the room. But when she heard that it was Suxin, the head maid of Jingren Palace, her mind immediately cleared. She hurriedly put on her clothes, buttoning them as she walked out.
At this moment, Su Xin knelt in the hall. Upon hearing footsteps, she kowtowed and said, "Your Highness, the Empress... has passed away..."
Cheng Qianyue paused, her hand still on her button, and said in disbelief, "How could this be?" Didn't they say yesterday that the Empress had eaten some pastries and met with the First Princess? She was so happy when she found out, and even instructed the Imperial Household Department to send several potted plants to Jingren Palace today. Only one night has passed! Only one night! How could the Empress be gone?
Su Xin was speechless, her head bowed, tears streaming down her face, her body trembling.
Cheng Qianyue quickly dressed and headed to Jingren Palace. Many people were already kneeling inside and outside the hall, all weeping bitterly. Stepping into the hall, at the doorway to the inner room, Cheng Qianyue suddenly stopped, unable to move forward. For some reason, she felt her whole body stiffen, as if a tiny electric current was spreading from her brain throughout her body, plunging her into a state of numbness.
She dared not go in to look at the empress on the bed; she did not want to see a young, lifeless corpse!
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside, and soon the eldest princess rushed in, not even bothering with formalities, and went straight into the inner room. A moment later, a thud was heard, "Empress Mother?...Mother, open your eyes and look at your daughter...Mother..."
Hearing the heart-wrenching cries, Cheng Qianyue suddenly felt unsteady on her feet. Ruodie quickly steadied her, saying worriedly, "Master?"
Cheng Qianyue let out a heavy sigh. "Go fetch pen and ink!" Once the items arrived, she immediately began writing a letter. Recalling the Empress's words when she first entered Jingren Palace, she wrote them down verbatim. At the end, she wrote: "The Empress has passed away. Please allow Your Majesty to return as soon as possible." After finishing, she immediately summoned Lin Quan'an and said, "Have someone deliver this to Changchun Garden. Be quick!"
Lin Quan'an walked over quickly with his head down, took the letter with both hands, and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, this servant obeys."
Cheng Qianyue had just relaxed for a moment when she heard a cry of alarm from the inner room. She rushed in and found that the eldest princess had fainted from crying! She still didn't dare to glance at the bed and said, "Help the eldest princess to the side hall first, and the rest of you go and summon the imperial physician!"
In the afternoon, the imperial carriage finally returned. Upon hearing this news, Cheng Qianyue's anxious heart finally calmed down. She hurried to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to invite Yinreng to Jingren Palace. Inside Jingren Palace, Yinreng methodically began issuing orders regarding the Empress's small and large burials, how to set up the mourning hall, and so on, giving instructions one by one. After finishing these, he went to a side hall to visit the eldest princess.
The eldest princess fainted from crying in the morning, and even after waking up, she couldn't stop weeping. When she saw Yinreng enter, her lips moved a few times but she couldn't utter a sound.
Yinreng sat beside her and said in a heavy tone, "Wulinzhu, don't worry, your father will give you the posthumous honors bestowed upon your mother. She was most worried about you when she was alive, so don't cry and ruin your health so that your mother's soul will be disturbed."
Cheng Qianyue beckoned to the side, took the calming soup and fed it to Wulinzhu spoonful by spoonful. After she had drunk most of the soup, she said softly, "Good child, you have been crying all day. Can you rest first? Leave the things outside to your father and me." As she spoke, she asked someone to help her to the bed in the inner room to rest.
Ulinzhu was extremely unwilling, but seeing her father nod at her, she had no choice but to stagger to the inner room and be forced onto the bed. She remembered her mother's instructions from yesterday, telling her that no matter what happened in the future, she must obey her father. Ulinzhu closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks and onto the pillow.
Empress Dowager... I've been very good... Can you come back?
Yinreng sat on the kang (heated brick bed) with an inscrutable expression. Cheng Qianyue sat beside him, feeling a pang of sympathy, remaining silent. After a long while, he finally whispered, "I shouldn't have argued with the Empress."
Cheng Qianyue didn't reply. What was the point of saying anything now? The Empress was gone and could no longer hear her.
A year later, another funeral was held in the Forbidden City. In the past, the Empress would take the lead in handling funerals, but now it was the Empress's funeral, so many things fell on Cheng Qianyue's shoulders alone. However, she did not complain at all and strived to handle every matter well and properly.
As for the reason, she felt extremely guilty towards the Empress. She thought that if she had noticed the Empress's abnormality earlier and returned from Changchun Garden sooner, perhaps the Empress could have come to terms with it under her care, and perhaps the Empress would not have died.
But there's no going back in this world, and time can't be turned back. So all she could do was ensure the Empress's funeral was grand and dignified—the Empress had always valued dignity in life, and she should maintain that in death. She knelt on the prayer mat before the Empress's coffin, performing three kneelings and nine kowtows. In her heart, she silently prayed: "Your Majesty, please rest in peace. I will take good care of the eldest princess for you."
In June, the Emperor decided on the Empress's posthumous title as Xiaode. Shortly after the Empress's coffin left the Forbidden City, he also promoted the Empress's maternal family, posthumously granting the Empress's father the title of First-Class Duke, and the title of Duke to the Empress's eldest brother, Fuda Li. The original Earl title held by the Shi family was inherited by the Empress's second brother, Qingde, and the Empress's third brother, who had originally served as a guard in the palace, was now sent to serve as an official outside the palace.
Cheng Qianyue understood that this was Yinreng fulfilling his promise, bestowing posthumous honors upon the Empress. She wondered if the Empress would be pleased to know this. She probably would. However, Cheng Qianyue felt extremely unhappy, even nauseous. Why? Because she felt the Shi family was utterly unworthy!
She knew the Empress's family all too well. Back when the Empress was still the Crown Princess, did the Shi family ever visit her except for major holidays and birthdays? No! But after Yinreng ascended the throne, they suddenly remembered that their family had produced an Empress, and they started sending invitations and gifts regularly.
People like them are not worthy of being part of the Empress's family, much less worthy of holding high positions after the Empress's death!
Cheng Qianyue took a deep breath, deciding to ignore the disgusting things outside, and said to Ruodie, "Go to the side hall and invite the eldest and second princesses over for lunch."
One hundred days after the Empress's death, she ordered the side hall of Yongshou Palace to be cleaned up and arranged for the eldest princess to move there. This was because she noticed the eldest princess's poor health and couldn't bear to leave her alone in the back. After the eldest princess moved to the east side hall, Moyaqi also moved back from the back and now lives opposite the eldest princess in the west side hall.
After a while, Wulinzhu and Moyaqi arrived. At the dinner table, Cheng Qianyue and Moyaqi both served food to Wulinzhu. Cheng Qianyue, in particular, specially asked someone to place the medicinal meal prepared by the imperial physician in front of Wulinzhu.
Wulinzhu had originally said she would observe mourning and eat vegetarian food, but she and Yinreng stopped her. The child's body was not strong to begin with, and eating vegetarian food for a hundred days was already hard enough. If she were to strictly observe mourning for three years, wouldn't that take half her life? However, although Wulinzhu agreed verbally, she didn't actually touch any meat with her chopsticks. She would only eat when Cheng Qianyue and Moyaqi put food in her bowl and she couldn't refuse.
Cheng Qianyue personally served a bowl of yam and pork rib soup and asked her, "Recently, the Northeast has presented us with a lot of wild game. Does Wulinzhu like to eat wild game? How about I have someone make pheasant soup for her tomorrow?"
Wulinzhu said, "I will follow Mother Cheng's arrangements."
Cheng Qianyue couldn't help but sigh inwardly. The eldest princess was far too rigid. She could correct her behavior where it needed to be, but there was no need for her to be so rigid in everyday matters; otherwise, life would be too tiring. Yinreng shared the same thought. When she mentioned wanting to move the eldest princess to Yongshou Palace, he immediately agreed, remarking to her that he hoped Wulinzhu could gradually become more comfortable and independent before her marriage.
However, these things cannot be accomplished overnight; let's take it one step at a time.
Cheng Qianyue said, "Then let's do it my way tomorrow. If you don't like the taste, we can change it."
Wulinzhu was already used to the lack of constant bowing and thanks at Yongshou Palace, so she nodded obediently. However, she was troubled by the pork rib soup in front of her, as there were only five or six pieces of pork ribs, and not much yam or soup. She tentatively glanced at Moyaqi.
Moyaqi had been watching her sister's expression since early morning. When she saw that Wulinzhu looked troubled, she said, "Big sister, could you give me two pieces of ribs? I'm too lazy to pick them up."
Wulinzhu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, saying okay. Moyaqi smiled slightly at her, ate the ribs that had been picked up from her plate in a few bites, and then scooped a large piece of steamed yellow croaker into Wulinzhu's bowl with a soup spoon, saying, "Sister, eat this."
Ulinzhu: ......
After lunch, the group sat together to digest. Cheng Qianyue and Wulinzhu were tidying up the silk threads for embroidering handkerchiefs, while Moyaqi played with pebbles at a table nearby. The pebbles were actually five small beanbags, each about the size of a thumb. Because it was too hot to go outside, Moyaqi often played this kind of game in the palace that didn't make her sweat much.
While winding the silk thread, Cheng Qianyue said to Wulinzhu, "Wulinzhu, go and play too. I'll have someone else take care of these things."
Wulinzhu looked at Moyaqi and smiled slowly, but shook her head and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to play well with tossing and catching."
Cheng Qianyue didn't force her to do it immediately, but said, "If you have time after you finish these things, play a few rounds with Moyaqi. If you win, Mother will give you a prize." She slowly stopped and thought of an old story. She said to Wulinzhu, "Seeing Moyaqi playing over there reminds me of when I first entered Xian'an Palace and started kicking the sandbag."
Looking back now, it feels like a lifetime ago.
"You were so small back then, you didn't even reach my waist," Cheng Qianyue said with a smile. "Do you remember?"
Wulinzhu thought about it carefully, and it seemed so. At that time, Xian'an Palace was extremely quiet, and there was only lively activity in the East Side Hall in the backyard, but gradually the activity in the East Side Hall also disappeared.
Cheng Qianyue continued, "I even brought you sandbags, but I never saw you come out to play." Not long after, she went to serve Yinreng and stopped paying attention to the backyard.
Really? Ulinzhu was surprised. She remembered that she had never received any sandbags when she was a child.
Seeing her dazed expression, Cheng Qianyue asked, "What's wrong? Is it because it's been too long and you can't remember?"
Wulinzhu suddenly came to her senses, lowered her eyes, and replied, "I was young then, and I don't remember many things clearly." But a few doubts remained in her heart. After finishing tidying the silk threads, she excused herself and returned to the side hall. Inside the side hall, the wet nurse had already prepared calming tea.
In the past month or two, Wulinzhu dismissed most of the people around her, partly because of the Empress's dying wish, and partly because she had moved to Yongshou Palace and no longer needed so many people.
Wulinzhu stared at the wet nurse for a long time before finally asking, "Does the wet nurse remember me when I was little?"
The Empress has passed away, and not long ago the Eldest Princess sent some people away. Now the wet nurse dotes on the Eldest Princess to no end. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "What has the Eldest Princess remembered?"
Wulinzhu said, slowly and deliberately, "Sandbag, the sandbag that Mother Cheng once sent over." The wet nurse was stunned when she heard this, and then, under Wulinzhu's gaze, she knelt down tremblingly.
Seeing her like this, Wulinzhu understood everything. She was startled and, after a long while, bit her lip and asked, "What have you been hiding from me all these years?"
The wet nurse stammered, unable to speak. What could she say? That she had initially kept it from the eldest princess because of the Empress's orders, or that she had also taken advantage of the situation to her advantage? So she couldn't utter a single word.
Ulinzhu's body swayed precariously.
At this moment, the Empress's dying words echoed in her ears: "Wulinzhu, it is your mother who has wronged you. Your mother has been manipulated by those around her before, and I am afraid that you will be deceived like your mother. So Wulinzhu, listen to your father and the Consort. Release those around you who should be released, understand?"
Wulinzhu looked at her wet nurse with extreme disappointment. She hadn't let her leave because she couldn't bear to part with her, but she hadn't expected that the wet nurse was also one of those who had deceived her. After a long while, she clenched her fists and closed her eyes: "Wet nurse, you'll leave the palace starting tomorrow."
The wet nurse was startled.
Wulinzhu said, "I will tell Mother Cheng that you are getting old and want to leave the palace to retire." Just like Granny Shuang who served Mother Cheng, she would leave the palace with money and the good reputation of having served her mistress. That way, outsiders wouldn't look down on them. This was also because she was being exceptionally lenient with her, considering how many years her wet nurse had taken care of her.
The wet nurse wanted to plead for herself, but seeing the princess's unusually resolute expression, she became somewhat afraid and finally kowtowed, saying, "This old servant thanks the princess for her grace."
After the wet nurse left, Wulinzhu covered her face with her hands and could no longer hold back her soft sobs.
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