At the Long Pavilion in the Evening
After a moment of utter shock, Shangguan Yuqi asked, her face pale, "Then where is my aunt's body?"
Lord Liyang glanced at A Qiu almost imperceptibly, as if pondering whether to answer. After a moment, he said, "In short, it's not here. You've seen it with your own eyes."
Shangguan Yuqi braced herself with her sword to avoid collapsing to the ground. Her face drained of color as she said, "Back then, all I knew from the palace was that my aunt had died of illness. But I hadn't seen her for almost half a year before that. Although she had been confined to her chambers since childhood and her body wasn't as strong as those of us who practice martial arts, I had never seen her sick. How could she just die of illness like that?"
She moved closer to the coffin, examining the empress's wedding dress inside, her expression still one of disbelief: "She died of illness, yet she was given a grand burial. My thirteenth uncle was in charge of the arrangements for her interment. Why, why..."
Ah Qiu knew what she wanted to say, but couldn't: why even the body hadn't been found.
Her thirteenth great-uncle, the former Grand Secretary Shangguan Jin, must have known about this from the beginning, but he never mentioned it to her, the current head of the Shangguan family.
Shangguan Yuqi was always aloof and composed, but at this moment, she suddenly raised the "Ice Bamboo" in her hand, which was as bright as water and surging with sword energy, and slashed it down heavily on the empty coffin.
After sparks flew, the empty coffin was split in two, and she herself collapsed heavily to the ground, looking utterly dejected and completely devoid of any energy.
Seeing her so distraught, even Xiao Chang'an, who was usually carefree and talkative, became serious.
A-Qiu wanted to say something, but felt that saying anything would be superfluous.
Shangguan Yuqi suddenly stood up and bowed solemnly to Lord Liyang, saying, "Senior, although I do not know who you are, I know that you must be familiar with the past events of the previous dynasty. Could you please tell me how my aunt passed away? Also, did she really have a child, and where is that child now?"
She couldn't complete the bow, because Lord Liyang immediately caught her with his sleeve from a distance, preventing her from touching the ground.
Lord Liyang softened his tone and said, "Although I caught a glimpse of what happened back then, I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, because it was always a taboo subject in the palace. Even if I were to tell you now, it might not be the truth, and it might even distort the facts, so it's best not to say anything. Besides, I don't know much about it."
He said, "However, I guessed that Empress Shangguan was buried in her official clothes. Because, I suppose you have all been to Qiwu Palace, do you remember the fire damage in the side hall?"
A Qiu and Shangguan Yuqi did indeed sneak into Qiwu several times. Apart from the main hall, which showed signs of later repairs and renovations to store the thousands of books and documents, the side hall, despite its long history and exposure to wind and rain, still had traces of fire on its doors and windows, and the wind could blow in and make it completely visible.
Aqiu realized what was happening and said, "You mean, Empress Shangguan didn't die of illness, but ultimately, she committed suicide by self-immolation in... Qiwu Palace?"
Upon hearing this, Shangguan Yuqi trembled violently, her face turning deathly pale.
She had many doubts about Yanxiu's cause of death, and because she did not even get to see Yanxiu one last time, she regretted it throughout her life. Her most trusted uncle, the thirteenth uncle Shangguan Jin, never uttered a single word to her until his death.
But for Shangguan Jin, the silence itself spoke volumes. If Yanxiu had truly died of illness as the imperial edict stated, Shangguan Jin wouldn't have remained completely silent about him to no one in the family. Shangguan Yuqi clearly remembered that during the time his thirteenth uncle presided over Yanxiu's burial ceremony, his temples had sprouted countless silver strands—a number he hadn't even displayed when he led the crossing of the Yangtze River.
The fact that there was no trace of Yanxiu's body in the coffin, but that there were signs of fire in Qiwu Palace, only suggests that Aqiu's guess was most likely correct.
There was no body because it had long been burned in the fire, so the thirteenth uncle could only take her wedding clothes and accessories to put in the tomb.
A sharp, agonizing pain shot through my heart.
What exactly happened to Yanxiu that led her to self-immolate, or was she burned in Qiwu Palace by someone else? She was no ordinary beauty or concubine, but the most prestigious empress in the history of the Great Huan Dynasty. Behind her was the Shangguan family, the most powerful clan in Jiangzuo, a family with a century-long history of integrity. Even if she committed a heinous crime, even the emperor would have to think twice before trying to touch her.
Lord Liyang said calmly, "Since there is no painting in the coffin, let's go and look elsewhere."
For some reason, although he was cold and rarely smiled, A-Qiu understood that he was saying this to help Shangguan Yuqi get out of her heartache and to divert everyone's attention elsewhere.
Shangguan Yuqi, however, did not appreciate the gesture. Leaning on her sword, she stood up and said, "I'm going to find Chu Yuanyi and get to the bottom of this. She was the head of Qiwu Palace back then, so she must know the whole story of how the Qiwu Palace caught fire and how my aunt perished in it."
At this moment, her condition was very different from before. Her once clear and bright eyes were bloodshot, and she looked lost and disoriented, as if she could not concentrate.
Looking at her current state, A Qiu thought that if she were to make a move now, she wouldn't be able to defeat Xiao Chang'an, let alone the half-mad Chu Yuanyi.
She was quick-witted and stepped forward to grab Shangguan Yuqi, saying, "After we get out, I'll go with you to find Aunt Yuanyi. For now, you should wait here until we find the scroll. There are countless forks in the road underground, and you might get lost if you go out alone."
Shangguan Yuqi brushed her hand away and said in a hoarse voice, "When I first learned that Uncle Xie might have been involved in my aunt's death, I found it hard to believe. And the fact that my aunt had a child before she died was something I knew nothing about. It seems that she hadn't seen me for about a year before she passed away because she was pregnant and didn't want me to know. But right now, this empty coffin is clearly in front of me, and I..."
She couldn't speak clearly. Although she wanted to leave, most of her weight was pressing down on A Qiu.
After a moment, she said sadly, "I initially thought her death was shrouded in mystery, but I guessed it was probably due to being out of favor, causing her to fall ill from depression. The palace was fiercely competitive at the time, but what powerful beauty would dare to oppose an empress who had been out of favor for so long, practically living in seclusion in the cold palace? The reason I persisted in pursuing this matter was mostly out of pity for her lonely and early death. I always thought, if she hadn't entered the palace to become empress, she…"
Even if she were to die at home, she would likely spend her days reading and playing chess under the moonlight, brewing tea by the stove under the snow, and engaging in refined conversations with her uncles, cousins, and others, influencing everyone in the Shangguan family with her noble and gentle nature, mentoring and educating the younger generation, and forging a new generation of spirit and character for the Shangguan family for centuries to come.
These matters were also family secrets of the Shangguan family, and in principle, they should not have been heard by Xiao Chang'an, a member of the Northern Dynasty's Xiao clan who was unsure of friend from foe. However, at this moment, Shangguan Yuqi was so emotional that she spoke them out without any restraint.
Xiao Chang'an, contrary to his usual behavior, did not mock him, but said in a deep voice: "For those of us from noble families, the greater the fame, the greater the responsibility. Since the previous generation's Miss Shangguan was so talented and famous that she captivated the Jiangzuo region, she should have known that she would inevitably become empress."
A Qiu couldn't help but retort, "Xiao Xiao, you were already known as Gan Luo in the Northern Dynasty at the age of twelve. You could say that you showed your talent early and became famous for a time. Didn't you ever worry that you would be unable to control your own destiny in the future?"
Xiao Chang'an flashed a bright smile, revealing a set of white teeth. "I'm a man, how can I be like a woman? No princess would insist on taking me into the palace." This was a joke, but what followed was the truth. He said self-deprecatingly, "But if I hadn't shown my talent early on, I would have been buried among my cousins, with no one valuing or supporting me. I'm afraid I'd still be working as a clerk for some uncle, running errands and doing odd jobs, being bossed around and looked down upon by others in the family. I probably wouldn't have made it even by the time I'm thirty."
Shangguan Yuqi looked at him blankly, then gave a wry smile and said, "Who says it isn't so?"
She continued, “My birth mother was a woman from an unknown brothel in Jianzhang. She threatened to kill herself in exchange for my father accepting me into the Shangguan family. My father did accept me, but men don’t care about household chores. I was just one of his wives and children from a young age. If my aunt hadn’t picked me out early on and brought me to her side to learn to read and write and study various classic texts, the Miss Shangguan you see today would probably not be me.”
A Qiu vaguely remembered that Shangguan Yuqi had mentioned to her that the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family was not determined by birth order, but by status. Only the most outstanding daughter of each generation could become the eldest daughter, and thus the head of the family. Shangguan Yuqi's ability to become the first among her peers was inseparable from the appreciation and cultivation she received from her aunt, Shangguan Yanxiu. Therefore, she had a very deep and extraordinary affection for this aunt.
But what she never expected was that Shangguan Yuqi, the elegant and refined swordswoman from the first aristocratic family of the Southern Dynasty, and the respected eldest daughter of the Jianzhang aristocracy, was actually the heir of a lowly courtesan.
Seeing A Qiu's blank expression, Shangguan Yuqi smiled wryly and said, "Are you surprised? Or can't you accept me like this?"
She laughed self-deprecatingly, “My father is frivolous and fickle—but that’s not entirely his fault. Most scions of aristocratic families are like that. The men of the Shangguan family are all known for their literary talent, elegance, and romantic nature. My thirteenth uncle is an exception; he’s taciturn and never gets close to women, but he was born into a poor and self-disciplined family of tomb keepers. It’s just that my mother suffered. She spent half her life wandering and selling her body for money. When she met the young master of the Shangguan family, she thought she could climb the social ladder, but she didn’t know the vast difference between a noble family and a poor family. Moreover, she came from a brothel; the Shangguan family would never allow a woman like that to enter their home.”
A Qiu could easily imagine that even the most powerful aristocratic family in the Southern Dynasty would only take concubines from respectable families, and would never tolerate women from brothels or disreputable backgrounds. Unfortunately, Shangguan Yuqi's mother, a naive courtesan, probably thought that meeting the handsome and wealthy Shangguan Yuqi had secured her future.
Therefore, she risked ten months of pregnancy to give birth to Shangguan Yuqi, hoping that the man's tenderness and the bloodline of the Shangguan family would give her a place in this century-old mansion.
She couldn't help but ask, "If the Shangguan family didn't agree to your mother entering the family, how were you accepted by them?"
It seems that the Shangguan family not only accepted her but also went to great lengths to conceal her true origins. Therefore, when people mention Shangguan Yuqi, they only say that she is the niece of Empress Xining, the grand-nephew of the former Grand Chancellor, and the first person in the Southern Dynasty who could aspire to become a sword immortal. No one mentions her father, and even less so who her birth mother was.
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