Chapter 27 Right and Wrong
Before the execution, Liu Xi went to the Cold Palace to see Wang Shi.
Judging from the state of Wang Shi's confession and being dragged away in Mingzheng Hall, it would be difficult for Liu Xi to get any information about the Consort that she was curious about from Wang Shi.
But she still wanted to try; when a person is about to die, their state of mind always changes.
Liu Xi stopped pretending to be a good girl. She wore a navy blue gown, a kingfisher feather headdress, and her makeup was done by herself, all to make herself look more like her mother.
The eunuch led Liu Xi to the entrance of the Cold Palace where Wang was imprisoned. Seeing Zhi Xiang's signal, they all quickly withdrew.
The door creaked open, revealing a dark room with only a little light filtering in from the doorway.
Instead of lying in bed, Wang slumped against the edge of the bed on the cold floor. She was dressed in thin clothes and was so cold that she was somewhat delirious.
Hearing a sound from the doorway, Wang numbly turned her head, her eyes momentarily dazed when they met Liu Xi's face.
"……elder sister?"
As Liu Xi approached, Wang Shi narrowed her eyes slightly, then sighed self-deprecatingly.
"So it's the Fourth Princess."
"What did He Miaoling promise you that made you so willing to take the blame for her crimes?"
Liu Xi tried her best to make her words sound less like a cold interrogation.
Even so, Wang still did not change her mind.
"The Imperial Concubine didn't promise me anything. I was just telling the truth in front of His Majesty."
Zhi Xiang brought over a chair, and Liu Xi sat down opposite Wang Shi. Her figure blocked half of the light from the doorway, and under the shadow, Wang Shi couldn't see her expression.
"She is no longer a concubine."
"I am no longer a Zhaoyi (a high-ranking concubine)."
As she spoke, Lady Wang suddenly laughed twice, "Actually, I was not originally worthy of sitting in the position of Zhaoyi."
“My father was just an imperial censor before. It wasn’t until His Majesty made me a concubine that he managed to get a minor official position as a sixth-rank official.”
“In this harem, I have no family to rely on, no stunning beauty, and no clever ways to please His Majesty. Princess, how do you think I have managed to survive until today?”
Liu Xi didn't reply, but just looked at her calmly.
"When I first entered the palace, I was assigned to live in Guangling Palace, under the same roof as Sister Jiang."
"Those were such good days. My sister helped me gain favor and paved the way for me. Without my sister, I might never have been able to rise to the position of Jieyu."
Wang covered her face with her hands and sobbed softly for a long time before continuing.
Finally, Liu Xi broke the silence.
"She treated you so well, yet you chose to betray her."
"My older sister taught me this!"
Wang loosened her grip, revealing a face contorted in pain. She roared as if that could ease her guilt.
"She taught me how to protect myself! She told me personally that in this palace, there are winners and losers, but no right or wrong! To protect myself, it's not unreasonable to do ten or a hundred things that harm others for my own benefit!"
"The Imperial Concubine wields absolute power in the harem, while the Jiang family's influence in the court is as insignificant as an ant in the eyes of the He family."
"Yes, my sister's advantage lies in her heavenly beauty, but how long can she maintain her charm by relying on her looks?"
"Having His Majesty's favor wasn't enough for her; she insisted on having children. After giving birth to a princess, she wanted to have a prince as well. How could the Imperial Concubine possibly tolerate her!"
“Princess, blame your mother for being too stupid. I did nothing wrong. To survive in this harem, I only did what I was supposed to do.”
Strangely, Liu Xi didn't get angry or show much emotion when she heard this.
She simply repeated Wang's words silently in her mind.
There are winners and losers, but no right or wrong.
"All along, you have been the one taking the initiative to carry out the surgery on behalf of the Imperial Concubine. No wonder you said you weren't taking the blame for anyone."
"Yes, the Imperial Concubine is clean, but we bear the sins."
Liu Xi raised her eyelids slightly, "We, besides you, were also Xu Jieyu and Xiao Xiuyuan who plotted against my mother back then?"
Wang wiped away her tears with her fingers and chuckled softly a few times.
"Princess, the Jiang family was killed by Tianxiang."
"But wasn't that so-called demonic calamity just a scheme you and He Miaoling set up to kill my mother?"
Wang suddenly crawled forward a few steps. She looked up and stared at Liu Xi for a long time with an expression that Liu Xi couldn't understand. The shadow covered half of Wang's face, with only her right eye exposed to the light.
Then, she suddenly burst into laughter.
Liu Xi's thoughts were disrupted by Wang's sudden reaction. She didn't understand what Wang meant by laughing. Was she trying to deny Liu Xi's words, or did she think Liu Xi's judgment was ridiculous?
"Am I wrong? Just like how the Imperial Concubine tried to expel me from the palace by pretending to be acting on divine will, she was just using the same old trick to make me follow in my mother's footsteps."
Wang's smile faded, and she slumped down at Liu Xi's feet.
"What makes you think I would tell you the whole truth, Princess?"
"I thought that you actually hated He Miaoling."
The sun outside was obscured by a dark cloud, and the only light that could shine into the house was gone.
"Your Highness is wrong. I don't hate anyone. Every path I've taken was one I chose myself."
A eunuch from the courtyard outside came in to announce, "Princess, it's time for the execution."
As Liu Xi stood up, Wang suddenly called out to her loudly.
"It is my fault for blaming Your Highness with the stigma of being a demon."
Following the sound, Liu Xi, who had already turned to leave, turned back and met Wang Shi's eyes.
“But what truly trapped and killed your mother was not man-made disaster. What I did for the Imperial Concubine was merely going with the flow.”
After saying this, the eunuchs ran into the room and dragged Wang out.
Liu Xi stood alone, her brows furrowed.
When Lady Wang was executed, the Empress Dowager demanded that everyone in the palace witness the execution, and even Consort He, who was under house arrest, was briefly released.
But Liu Xi didn't go. After leaving the Cold Palace, she sent Zhi Xiang away and walked alone along the palace path for a long time.
She needed a quiet place to calm down and think things through. Among the last few words Wang left for herself, there must have been a secret she didn't want to say openly, but was unwilling to keep quiet about.
Liu Xi was not very old when her mother passed away. Many years have passed, and with the extra ten years she lived in her previous life, she now only remembers some scattered fragments.
At that time, her mother was imprisoned in the Cold Palace. Liu Xi secretly brought some snacks to visit her, but before she could exchange a few intimate words with her mother, the Imperial Concubine arrived.
Little Liu Xi hid in the cupboard, listening to the Imperial Concubine mocking her mother's tragic end in a harsh voice.
Finally, she strangled her mother with a rope, making her death appear as a suicide.
If all of this is merely what Wang calls "going with the flow," then what is the real truth?
Heavenly signs, man-made disaster—Liu Xi clenched her fist and slammed it hard against the tree trunk beside her.
"I have never believed in the idea of demonic calamity; it's all an excuse and a lie."
"It must have been He Miaoling who made Wang say that, just to mislead my judgment and make me give up on opposing her."
The next second, Liu Xi suddenly lost her strength and slowly sat down against the tree trunk.
Reborn, she always believed that everything she did was to torment Liu Yan, and that she was only retaliating to prevent herself from being at Miao Ling's mercy.
But in her subconscious, her mother's death was always an insurmountable obstacle in her heart.
She hated her past life when she had to feign obsequiousness to the imperial concubine in order to put Liu Yan on the throne, and she also hated Liu Yan in this life who was willing to recognize a thief as his mother in order to climb the social ladder.
Liu Xi suddenly realized that only by finding out the truth about her mother's murder could she possibly forgive her past self.
Having figured this out, Liu Xi finally felt relieved. She leaned her head against the tree trunk and reached out to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky.
The snowflakes falling on my palm felt icy cold, like the tears of the dead.
Three months have passed in the blink of an eye, and the garden that was once covered in snow has been revitalized, with spring in full bloom everywhere.
As always, Liu Xi sat in the pavilion in the courtyard of Yi Huai Ge, enjoying tea, while Zhi Xiang brought out some snacks and placed them on the table.
"Princess, the confinement of that person from Xingyun Pavilion has been lifted."
"Liu Yan should be happy now. He was so worried during the days that He Chongyuan didn't show up."
Liu Xi turned a page of the book in her hand and continued reading undisturbed.
Liu Yan wasn't too stupid; he knew that even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Although Consort He's status was no longer what it used to be, the power that the Dingyuan General's Mansion held in the previous dynasty remained unchanged.
Originally, the presence of just one second prince in the palace was enough to make Liu Yan wary and on guard, but now there's also A Yu, who is favored by the Empress Dowager. It would be strange if Liu Yan wasn't anxious.
"By the way, now that the snow disaster in Ningbei has subsided, has General Huo sent word to His Majesty informing him who will be sent with relief supplies to aid the victims?"
"This servant almost forgot, this is a superstition that Xiazi specially brought this morning."
Zhi Xiang took out an envelope from her body and handed it to Liu Xi.
"I heard that the Minister of Revenue originally petitioned His Majesty, saying that Yinzhou is not only the closest to Ningbei, but also has ample granaries, so it would be perfectly acceptable to directly transfer disaster relief grain from Yinzhou to Ningbei."
"But General Dingyuan said that Yinzhou is backed by the frontier, and its stored grain is for the army to use in times of turmoil on the frontier, so it cannot be moved easily."
"Therefore, His Majesty has decided to send disaster relief grain from the capital to Ningbei, with the Fifth Prince personally leading the expedition."
"Liu Yan?"
Liu Xi interrupted Zhi Xiang and asked carefully.
"It is said that the Fifth Prince volunteered himself in court, hoping that His Majesty could give him a chance to show himself, and His Majesty agreed."
Liu Xi shook her head mockingly, “Disaster relief is a major event, and it involves the storage of grain in granaries in various prefectures and counties. The intricacies behind this are so complex that even the Minister of Revenue himself is not clear about them. I know that Liu Yan is eager to make a name for himself, but there is no need to be so blind and hasty.”
"His Majesty allowed the Fifth Prince to lead the team, but also ordered the commander of General Dingyuan's side to accompany him. Perhaps the Fifth Prince thought that with the help of the He family, he wouldn't suffer any major losses, which is why he dared to accept this task."
Zhixiang's guess was accurate, but her mind was as simple as Liu Yan's.
Liu Xi beckoned to Zhi Xiang with her finger, signaling the little girl to bring her face closer.
"Your little brain works fast, but it's a pity you're too naive and too easily deceived by appearances."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
