Chapter 284: The Ghost-Suppressing Talisman
The queen summoned the concubines and they came one after another.
Just like before, Concubine Chen was always the one who arrived late.
When she came, her face was decorated with delicate and bright makeup, and she was wearing a bright red cloak with a phoenix pattern, which brought out her inherent pride. Compared with the first queen who was dressed plainly, she seemed to be the legitimate empress.
Red and phoenix patterns were not allowed to be used by imperial concubines.
But she was about to become an imperial concubine, and no one dared to comment when she wore these things.
Seeing how aggressive she was, Concubine Ying whispered to Song Zhao,
"The Queen probably wanted to see her laugh, but she didn't expect to become the laughing stock. The position of Imperial Concubine is so noble, I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before the Empress changes her master."
Song Zhao smiled without saying anything and just watched quietly.
After everyone was seated, the Queen smiled and said:
"I will be returning to the palace tomorrow. I will be at Suzhou Dover Temple. Like the Queen Mother, I am devoted to worshipping Buddha. I copied some Buddhist scriptures by hand and thought of giving them to you before I leave."
As he spoke, he raised his eyebrows and winked at Shuang Ruo.
Shuang Ruo immediately took out a stack of scriptures from the back room and asked the palace maids to distribute them.
Because of Concubine Chen's noble status, the scriptures given to her were presented to her by Shuangruo personally.
After receiving the scriptures, the crowd flipped through them and thanked the Master in unison:
"Thank you very much, Queen."
Only Concubine Chen let Liu Yue take the scriptures, but she didn't even bother to look at them.
Afterwards, the Queen chatted with the concubines for a few more words and then said:
"Let's go today. When you return to the palace tomorrow, I will be waiting for you to tell me about the interesting things during your southern tour."
When all the concubines asked to leave, the queen said:
"My Lady, please stay for a moment. I have something to tell you."
Concubine Chen glanced at her but said nothing and sat still in her seat.
After everyone had left, she said to the Queen:
"Why? Do you want to see me laugh? I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm in a bad mood because of the misfortune in my mother's family, but it's not your turn to laugh at me, a bitch who is disliked by the emperor."
She spoke disrespectfully, but the queen was not angry, instead she smiled lightly.
"It's better to be disliked by the Emperor than to be used by him without knowing it. What do you think, Concubine?"
Concubine Chen stared at her and asked impatiently, "What do you want to say?"
The queen pointed at the Buddhist scripture in Liu Yue's hand and said calmly:
"That Buddhist scripture is the mantra for rebirth that I copied myself, hoping that your father and brother can ascend to heaven soon. Can you take a look?"
"No need." Concubine Chen stood up suddenly and said with disgust, "I appreciate the Queen's kindness. But people have dirty minds, and how clean can the copied Buddhist scriptures be? Liuyue, put down the Buddhist scriptures, and let's go."
"Wait a minute." The Queen stopped her, "This Buddhist scripture contains not only my thoughts, but also the thoughts of the Emperor. Are you sure you don't want to take a look?"
Concubine Chen was slightly puzzled and stopped to look back at the stack of scriptures.
Liu Yue presented it to Concubine Chen for her to read.
The first few pages were all normal Amitabha Sutras, but as she flipped through the pages, Concubine Chen found a piece of yellow paper from the Buddhist scriptures.
The yellow paper was full of wrinkles and had traces of being burned, and it looked quite old.
She took a quick glance and saw that it was a funeral oration.
And she recognized the handwriting on it as Xiao Jingheng's.
Only then did he examine it carefully and found that it was a memorial written by Xiao Jingheng to the late emperor:
'Aiwei:
On the seventh day of the eighth month in the fifty-fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the year was Kuichou, and it was the beginning of autumn. The son, along with the princes, ministers, and the court officials, offered sacrifices before the spirit of the Chengtian Gongmin Daye Emperor and said in sorrow:
The great emperor died young at the age of fifty. He worked hard for the country and the court, and his influence will last forever. In the past, he obeyed the will of heaven and became the emperor one after another, ruling the world on behalf of heaven...
I follow my father's will, treat military officials with respect, and respect the Ning family. I am forced to take Ning's daughter Wanshuang as my concubine. Ning is a demon, and Ning's daughter is like a talisman to suppress ghosts. Although I don't like it, it can indeed consolidate the country's security. I only hope that the underworld will wake up and be at peace in the afterlife. Help the great prosperity of the world and extend the blessings forever......
Alas, how sad it is. I hope you will enjoy it.'
[Single paragraph translation: My son respects his father's last wish, and values military officials over civil officials. All the civil and military officials in the court respect the Ning family, and he is forced to take Ning Wanshuang, the only daughter of the Ning family, as his concubine. He listens to his father's advice. The Ning family is a demonic family, and the little ghosts are troublesome and harmful to the country. If the Ning family girl enters the harem, it will be like a talisman to suppress the ghosts, which can suppress the Ning family. Although my son does not like the Ning family girl, but if he lets her enter the palace as a hostage, the Ning family will not dare to act rashly. My son has obeyed his father's arrangements. If my father knows, he can rest in peace. 】
The eulogy was very long, and there were many words in it that Concubine Chen did not recognize. Some parts were incomplete due to being burned by fire.
But the part of the memorial that mentioned the Ning family and her was concise and well preserved.
Concubine Chen could read every word clearly and understood their meaning.
Her eyes were fixed on the four words "ghost-suppressing talisman".
It was clearly a hot summer day, but she felt as if a chilly air was sweeping towards her from time to time, wrapping her tightly and almost suffocating her.
She couldn't stop trembling all over, and was stunned for a moment. She couldn't believe that this was written by Xiao Jingheng himself, and she couldn't believe that the affection between them over the years actually started with a sentence of "Suppressing Ghost Talisman"...
It turns out that all the love she received was Xiao Jingheng's bargaining chip to balance her father and brother?
She doesn't believe it!
I don’t want to believe it, and I dare not believe it!
Concubine Chen shook her head absentmindedly, and suddenly went mad, tearing up the sacrificial text, and sending up confetti all over the sky.
"I don't believe it! The Emperor won't treat me like this!"
She pointed at the queen and roared out of control, "It's you! You bitch can't stand the emperor and me being so close, so you imitated the emperor's handwriting and deliberately tried to sow discord between me and the emperor!"
The queen looked at her calmly and said with a gentle smile:
"This sacrificial text was written by the Emperor himself when the late Emperor passed away. It should have been burned with all the other sacrificial texts for the late Emperor, but later the Emperor fainted from grief and exhaustion. When I was in charge of the funeral, I discovered that a corner of this sacrificial text thrown into the incinerator was caught by the iron cracks in the incinerator wall and was not completely burned. Thinking that the late Emperor might not accept this sacrificial text, I have kept it until now."
"You are lying!" Concubine Chen did not believe a word the Queen said. She raised her voice and shouted:
"Impossible! This is definitely not written by the emperor! When I first met the emperor, he said that he only loved me. The emperor would not lie to me, he would not!"
"Oh? Really?" The Queen sneered, and then said in a steady voice:
"In the past, you thought that it was me who caused you to lose your child. That's right, I wanted to harm you. I didn't want you to give birth to an heir before me.
Even if you fell because of your weak bones, you were already six months pregnant and the fetus was stable, so you only had abdominal pain but no bleeding. Why did you miscarry not long after the imperial physician came to treat you after you drank the pregnancy-stabilizing medicine?
That bowl of medicine you drank back then was actually a medicine to keep the baby stable or to induce miscarriage, and you never had any doubts about it?"
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