The Golden Hairpin Old Alliance
Actually, this isn't entirely her fault. Throughout history, those who were made empresses, unless they were ordered to commit suicide, generally lived out their lives in the palace; there was no other possible outcome. Even if they were ordered to commit suicide or banished to the cold palace, they still died within the palace walls.
In short, once you enter the imperial family, it's like entering a deep sea; you can never leave the palace in this lifetime. Even after death, you will be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Imperial Mausoleum as a member of the royal family, and your name will be forever recorded in the genealogy.
She was confident that as long as Zhao Lingying was alive, no matter how licentious the emperor was, he would never allow Yanxiu to be deposed or banished to the cold palace. Therefore, her only goal was to ensure that Yanxiu's days in the palace were as peaceful and carefree as possible. From this perspective, although the arrival of this child was not Yanxiu's wish, it was absolutely necessary.
Therefore, when Yanxiu calmly told her that he planned to escape from the palace, she was extremely shocked. Her eloquence, which would later become famous throughout the Dayan court, was so sharp that she couldn't utter a single word at that moment.
She wanted to stop her, but felt a thousand pounds in her throat and couldn't say a word.
At this moment, she suddenly woke up as if from a dream, realizing that she may have made the biggest mistake of her life, a completely self-righteous and foolish move.
She overlooked one thing: Yanxiu was never someone who would be manipulated by others. In the past, Yanxiu was mostly indifferent and tolerant, seemingly unconcerned about anything, which led to her misunderstanding.
Escaping from the palace was an unimaginable act of rebellion and audacity, even for a palace maid like her who went unnoticed.
She truly never imagined that Yanxiu, born into a prestigious and wealthy family, would have such a brave and adventurous side.
The next thought was naturally: Why did Yanxiu suddenly have this idea?
If she was tired of the decadent and chaotic life in the imperial harem, hadn't she already lived there for many years?
Didn't she know this before she married into the family?
As the niece of Shangguan Jin, the Grand Secretary of the Great Huan Dynasty, and a renowned talented woman, Yanxiu couldn't possibly be unaware of what kind of person the emperor was and what the palace was like.
Since she knew all this, yet still agreed to marry into the empress's palace, it meant she had accepted her fate.
But why would things take such a dramatic turn at this time?
As a daughter of the Zhao family, she knew that such an act of secretly escaping from the palace was unprecedented, and even a lady from a prestigious family would never even consider it.
Moreover, Yanxiu is by no means the kind of person who makes decisions on a whim or haphazardly.
But she was unable to ask any of these questions.
Because Yanxiu's expression was indifferent, he didn't seem to want to explain to her.
But with her quick reflexes, she immediately understood.
This was to avoid implicating her.
The fact that Yanxiu informed her of her decision already showed that she considered her a close friend. Otherwise, as the Empress, why would she need to explain her actions to a mere maidservant in the Imperial Household Department?
She swallowed a thousand words, and finally asked only, "When do you plan to leave?"
Yanxiu's expression finally changed. She lowered her head, her gaze filled with tenderness, sweeping over her lower abdomen, and replied, "After giving birth to this child."
He added, "This child is ultimately a descendant of the Sima family; I have no right to take him away."
These words struck her like thunder; her mind went blank, and her head felt as if it were about to split open.
She went to great lengths, even at the cost of hurting Yanxiu, to obtain this child, only to find that it was a burden and a hindrance to Yanxiu's departure.
Yanxiu's gaze lingered on her face, and suddenly became serious.
"Promise me one thing."
"Please take good care of this child for me. If possible, please treat her as your own daughter."
She was startled at first, then immediately lowered her gaze guiltily.
She wondered if Yanxiu had noticed anything amiss with her intentional or unintentional, go-with-the-flow schemes. Although Yanxiu was simple and quiet, she was also intelligent. However, in any case, her intention was never to harm or burden Yanxiu.
She said in a hoarse voice, "I am of lowly status, I..."
The child in Yanxiu's womb is the only legitimate son of the Great Huan Dynasty. Whether it is the crown prince or a princess, their status is worlds apart from hers.
Yanxiu said gently, "I won't misjudge you. In fact, if I hadn't held you back, with your talent and ambition, if you didn't want to be subordinate to others, no one in this palace could rival you. Rising to the top would be a simple matter for you."
And it was during this sentence that she suddenly burst into tears.
What she wanted to say was, Yanxiu, do you know that if I had never met you, I would not have had the slightest motivation to climb to the top?
Even if I reach the summit, my mother will never return. She is, besides you, the only person in the world who truly loved me. The rest are driven by self-interest, or driven by personal gain. The bustling crowds are no exception. The Jianzhang Palace is nothing more than an enlarged version of the Governor's Mansion, a place of fawning on the powerful and opportunistic maneuvering. She had long since grown weary of such social dynamics and did not want to be used as a pawn by anyone.
All my plans and strategies are for you.
She heard herself finally ask the question in a trembling voice.
"What could make you abandon your child... and our friendship?"
Yanxiu finally met her gaze and calmly replied, "I have fallen in love with someone and want to be with him."
Her heart trembled as if struck by lightning once again.
Without saying another word, she already understood the seriousness of the situation.
For noblewomen, the consequences of divorce or running away to their parents' home were far less severe than those of eloping. After all, even for women from ordinary families, being caught eloping meant execution and would bring shame and disgrace upon their entire family.
Yanxiu's defiant actions not only caused the royal family to lose face, but also made her family lose face among the powerful clans of the Southern Dynasty. Even if the Grand Chancellor Shangguan Jin was tolerant and enlightened and did not reprimand her, he would never support her.
If this succeeds, she will go from being the revered and respected Empress Da Huan to a laughingstock that everyone in the Southern Dynasty can mock. She is taking a huge risk, placing herself in a position of betrayal and utter ruin.
She heard her own weak voice say, "Yanxiu, this is something you can't turn back from once you leave. You are too famous; if you make even the slightest mistake, you won't be able to silence the gossip. In the future, even though the Southern Dynasty is vast, you will have nowhere to stay. Where will you go in the future, and how will you face yourself?"
Regardless of whether this risky venture will succeed, even if it does, it means that Yanxiu will lose all the foundation upon which she has built her life up in the first half of her life. Her power and reputation, her family and clan will all be lost overnight. Without the protection of these things, how will she spend the rest of her life?
Is the man who was fortunate enough to be chosen by Yanxiu capable of shouldering her future?
This was the first time she had addressed Yanxiu by her given name instead of "Your Majesty".
Yanxiu looked at her and simply smiled.
That smile held gratitude.
Unexpectedly, Yanxiu only answered with four words: "I don't know."
The answer left her speechless, her mouth agape.
Yanxiu said easily, "Because we don't know, the future holds infinite possibilities, right? I've never tried stepping outside the walls of this courtyard in my life, but now, even though I have nothing, I suddenly have the courage to venture into the world. Shouldn't you be happy for me?"
She waved to stop Zhao Lingying from asking any more questions, and smiled, "Don't ask me who he is, because he has never promised me anything. And I didn't make this decision entirely for him."
Yanxiu let out a deep breath and said, "I just saw him and suddenly realized that there is another possibility in life, worth trying with all my might. Whether it is love or life, it should be like this. We should not draw lines in the sand and confine ourselves, right?"
Zhao Lingying prided herself on her prestigious family background and her reputation as a talented woman in her hometown, claiming that her knowledge far surpassed that of her peers. However, at this moment, she was truly astonished by Yanxiu's magnanimity.
Only a person with extremely strong willpower and insight can truly disregard the opinions of others and the world, do as they please, and soar freely.
In reality, very few people can break free from the barriers and constraints of their background, truly abandon their former comfort zone, and yearn for the unknown world.
Even Zhao Lingying, who traveled thousands of miles from Wushan and Yueshui to the capital of the Southern Dynasty, was merely jumping from one familiar circle to another, without fundamentally changing her way of life where she depended on others and the entire power structure.
Zhao Lingying turned her gaze to Yanxiu's lower abdomen again and said with difficulty, "But the child will be born without a mother, how difficult will it be for him..."
She had never forgotten the bullying she suffered at the hands of her father's concubines and her own siblings during her childhood. All of that happened after her mother passed away. From then on, the Governor's Mansion was no longer home for her, but a battlefield where she would hone her skills. If she was knocked down, she would have to find a way to get back up on her own.
Yanxiu chuckled and said, "If the only legitimate son or daughter of the Great Huan, or the princes and princesses of the Sima family, are already considered to have suffered a great loss by losing only their mother, then the children of other commoners, fishermen, and peasant women in the world probably wouldn't be able to survive."
Her words, though a joke, brought a smile to Zhao Lingying's face, who had been preoccupied with her own thoughts.
Thinking about it this way, perhaps I really wasn't so bad off. With my natural good looks and talent, as well as my skills, and the privileged background of the Eastern Wu Governor's Mansion, I already had a position that many people could only envy.
But in her next sentence, she regained her composure.
"But if I stay by her side, then her future, the scenery she sees in her life, will probably be no different from mine."
Yanxiu continued, "If one day I find my own path, and she grows tired of being a child of the Sima family, I will come back and take her away. Until then, Lingying, you must take good care of her for me."
According to the imperial physicians, Yanxiu's due date was estimated to be after the beginning of autumn. But only she knew that it would be the moment she and Yanxiu parted ways.
When Yanxiu was feeling heavy, he would often lean on her while basking in the sun in the courtyard.
She asked Yanxiu in a low voice, "Have you thought it through? How will you leave?"
Yanxiu whispered, "At that time, everyone in Qiwu Palace must be busy with this child's affairs, so Aunt Chu will not have time to pay attention to me. I can change into ordinary palace servant's clothes and leave the palace with the Empress's token of Qiwu Palace. Anyway, there aren't many people in the palace who recognize me."
She then asked, "Is there anyone outside to meet you?"
She was referring, of course, to Yanxiu's beloved.
Yanxiu gave a nonchalant smile and replied, "I'll go to Yan Ge Terrace and take a look. If he's interested, he'll be there. If not, then so be it."
She felt somewhat relieved. Yanxiu wasn't blindly infatuated with that man; she seemed to still have some rationality and clarity.
After much deliberation, she finally mustered her courage, reached into her clothes, pulled out a heavy, warm gold hairpin, and quickly placed it in Yanxiu's hand.
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