Chapter 26 Meeting the Queen Mother
It's getting late and the dew is heavy, and everything is quiet.
The lights in the Purple Palace were already on.
The third watch bell struck, and when Yun Zhao stepped into the palace gate, Cao Suzhu was tying the last jade belt for Xiao Jin with a smug look on her face, and glanced at him provocatively.
She paused and stood quietly in the shadows.
"Standing around like a door god?" Xiao Jin's cold voice pierced through, carrying with it the lingering anger of last night. "Come in!"
"Yes." Yun Zhao lowered his head and walked in, ignoring Cao Suzhu's triumphant gesture.
"Ms. Yun," Xiao Jin said sarcastically, his eyes as cold as ice, "this sleepiness is a precious habit you've cultivated."
Yun Zhao raised her eyes, neither humble nor arrogant, "I have come here according to palace regulations. Your Majesty has risen exceptionally early today."
[Debating politics before dawn? Angered and irritated?]
"Get out here and kneel! Don't get up until I say so!" Xiao Jin clenched his fists. His worries about the Dali Temple's re-investigation and the court officials' opposition were pierced by this "inner voice," and his anger intensified. This woman... knew too much!
"As you command." Yun Zhao's expression remained calm, even nodding slightly. "Your servant...wish Your Majesty a smooth court session this morning."
[Rehabilitation? Just wait and see how those old foxes bite you!]
She turned around and walked steadily towards the cold gold bricks outside the hall.
The biting cold and pain instantly spread from her knees. She just adjusted her center of gravity slightly and straightened her back like a pine tree.
Cao Suzhu came walking over, looking very proud. Her voice was sharp: "Oh, even the pearl of the capital is used to kneeling on these cold, hard tiles? Can the noble knees of the Duke's Mansion withstand it?"
Yun Zhao wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said calmly, "I thought you were clever, but it seems... you're nothing special. Serving the Emperor once makes you think you're superior? Whatever you're thinking, I'd definitely keep my tail between my legs right now."
"Why are you pretending to be so noble?" Cao Suzhu was humiliated and angry. "Concubine Wu, the Empress Dowager, and the ladies of the other palaces will all be watching you! Just wait for your body to be torn to pieces!"
Yun Zhao sighed softly, a sigh tinged with a hint of cold pity. "We're both caged birds, who's nobler? I may be stupid, but not as stupid as you. If I die, I'll know for sure. But you'll probably die in a state of confusion."
"You curse me?!" Cao Suzhu was enraged by the compassion and suddenly reached out to push!
Yun Zhao's body swayed slightly, but he knelt steadily and raised his eyes. A sharp, cold light suddenly flashed in those eyes that had experienced the vicissitudes of life and death. Every word he spoke was crystal clear: "Cao Suzhu, I have a good memory. You are finished."
That look didn't seem like he was looking at a person, but rather at a pile of bones.
Cao Suzhu felt an inexplicable chill in her heart, and forced a cold smile: "Humph! It's you who's kneeling here! You're so stubborn..."
"Yun Zhao!" A majestic and cold voice sounded like thunder.
A nanny with a solemn face and hawk-like eyes stood at the bottom of the stairs. She was the Empress Dowager's confidant, Nanny Gui.
Cao Suzhu's eyes lit up, and she quickly complained, "Mammy! She is being punished by His Majesty to kneel, and she can't..."
"How dare you!" Nanny Gui scolded harshly, her eyes piercing Cao Suzhu like knives. "How dare you interfere?! Yun Zhao, the Empress Dowager has decreed an immediate audience! You've kept Her Majesty waiting, watch your back!"
"Yes," Yun Zhao replied, supporting himself with his hands, enduring the piercing numbness and dizziness as he slowly rose to his feet. His body swayed slightly from the pain, but his back remained rigid. Without even glancing at Cao Suzhu, he followed Madam Gui with steady steps. Cao Suzhu remained standing, her stomping smack angrily, shattering the morning light.
Ci'an Palace:
The towering gates of Ci'an Palace were tightly closed, blocking out the last ray of sunlight from the outside world.
Inside the hall, the thick smell of sandalwood almost stagnated, and several eternally burning lamps danced in the corners, casting the shadow of Empress Dowager Zhou sitting high on the phoenix chair on the cold floor tiles, huge and oppressive.
As Yun Zhao stepped over the threshold, a pungent fragrance and a chilling chill hit him in the face.
She calmly took a deep breath, suppressed the sharp pain in her knees, lowered her head, and knelt deeply in accordance with etiquette, her forehead touching the ground: "Your servant Yun Zhao pays homage to the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager be blessed with good health."
Dead silence.
Only the "tick...tick..." sound of the slowly twisting Buddhist beads echoed in the empty hall, like a death-prompting drumbeat.
After a long time, the twisting sound stopped.
Queen Mother Zhou slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was like a poisoned silver needle, piercing through the heart with a chilling coldness. Her voice was low, but every word fell like an icicle: "Yun Zhao. Your marriage to the Prince of Qin was personally arranged by the late Emperor. If so, why would you willingly lower yourself to become a palace maid? Where do you place the late Emperor's will? Where do you place the Prince's dignity?!"
The pressure is as strong as a mountain, straightforward and murderous!
This is not only an accusation, but also a heart-breaking one!
Yun Zhao's heart sneered. Here she comes! This old witch is really using the engagement as a pretext to test her position, even wanting to nail her to the pillar of shame for "disrespecting the late emperor and defiling the prince"!
She crouched lower, her forehead pressed against the cold tile floor, her voice as calm as a still well. "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, understands this. I am terrified, knowing full well my lowly status. Now serving before the Emperor, performing menial tasks and doing menial things, I am truly a body of filth. His Highness the Prince of Qin is a descendant of the royal family, his reputation as pure as the bright moon in the sky. How dare I, with my filthy body, sully His Highness's good name, let alone dishonor the late Emperor's grace in granting me marriage?"
She paused, her voice filled with resolute humility as she spoke clearly, "I, your humble servant, dare to beg you, Her Majesty, to have mercy on me, even at the cost of my life, and grant you an imperial decree to dissolve my engagement with His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin! This will preserve the dignity of the royal family and comfort the spirit of the late Emperor!"
"Break off the engagement?!" Empress Dowager Zhou's voice suddenly rose, and with thunderous rage, she slammed the Buddhist beads heavily on the rosewood table, making a loud "bang" sound, shaking the candlelight in the hall!
"The late emperor's words are golden. How can you retreat just like that? Yun Zhao, you're so bold! Are you planning to disobey his orders, or are you trying to put me in an unjust position?!"
Not retreating is a mistake, it's disobeying the order; retreating is also a crime, it's a slap in the face of the royal family! This is clearly a dead end!
Yun Zhao prostrated herself on the ground, her posture so humble that she was in the dust, her voice trembling with just the right amount of obedience: "I am extremely stupid and deserve to die! Please make it clear, Your Majesty! I... I will obey Your Majesty's orders only and will never have any second thoughts! Your Majesty orders me to... I will not refuse even if it means death!" She respectfully and fatally threw back the right to choose, along with the hot potato.
The hall fell into a suffocating silence.
The strong sandalwood scent seemed to solidify.
Nanny Gui stood beside the empress dowager like a sculpture, her eyes as sharp as a hawk, staring intently at the slender but straight back on the ground.
suddenly--
The icy anger on Empress Dowager Zhou's face faded like the tide, revealing a kind and gentle smile. Even her voice became soft and gentle, carrying the care and concern of an elder:
"Alas... you child... get up quickly, the ground is cold. I have watched you grow up. You are talented in both literature and martial arts, and your temperament is very calm and steady... just like your mother in her youth. You suddenly entered the palace and suffered all these hardships and grievances..."
She stretched out her hand and waved in Yun Zhao's direction, her tone as gentle as if coaxing a lost lamb:
"...You must be in great pain, right? Come, stop kneeling and come to me. Let me take a good look at you. Let's...have a private conversation behind closed doors."
That smile, those words, were even more chilling than the thunderous rage just now. The soft knife had already been delivered.
Yun Zhao fell to the ground, his fingertips digging deeply into his palms.
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