Emperor Kangxi returned only to give the Empress a few instructions before leaving again in a hurry. The atmosphere in the front hall of Cining Palace was extremely strange, and even the Empress Dowager couldn't help but glance at Consort Qi several times.
Would the emperor choose to listen to Consort Qi because of the life-saving grace?
Or was there something she didn't know? She wondered, glancing at the Empress beside her.
Empress Niohuru had no intention of explaining.
She was busy organizing the palace servants to move to the more spacious area in front of the Qianqing Palace, where they set up tents and prepared food and medicine. The Empress Dowager didn't think too much about it for the time being and also began to instruct the palace servants to help.
Just as the busy period came to an end, the palace servants who had been going to the various palaces returned.
The earthquake was so severe that even the Cining Palace suffered heavy losses, let alone the other palaces. Only the Chuxiu Palace, which had just been renovated, was unharmed. Most of the other palaces collapsed, while others were missing side rooms or annexes. Countless concubines, maids, and eunuchs were crushed to death.
The palace servants wore solemn expressions, and the series of bad news brought tears to the eyes of the concubines. Empress Niohuru was saddened for a moment, but she rallied again and ordered the concubines to register various lists, determined to tally the losses in the palace as quickly as possible.
Wan Anran was in charge of compiling the list of the deceased.
Hai Tao read it aloud in a trembling voice, while Wan Anran silently registered each name confirmed as deceased, planning to deliver any belongings she could find to his family later.
Although most of these names were completely unfamiliar, and most of them were names Wan Anran was hearing for the first time, the more she wrote, the more her hands trembled, and the more her nose stung with tears.
Hai Tao suddenly burst into sobs.
Just as Wan Anran was about to look up and ask a question, a familiar name rang in her ears. Wan Anran stared blankly at Consort Xuan, only to see that her face was also blank.
Consort Xuan's lips trembled slightly.
Finally, unable to hold back, he and Consort Qi embraced and wept bitterly.
The Empress sighed, "This is..."
Hai Tao wiped her eyes and replied in a trembling voice, "This is Tana, who serves Consort Xuan..."
Consort Xuan wiped her eyes.
Unable to hide her sorrow and pain, she choked out as she replied, "Originally... originally this girl could have gone back to the grasslands this year."
Tana had a bad temper and often spoke ill of Consort Qi and others. But since he had grown up with her since childhood, Consort Xuan didn't want her to have a bad ending, so she wrote to her family early on to arrange a suitable marriage for her. In two months, she should return to the Great Grassland.
The square was silent.
Soft sobs then rose from all around. Even though they knew the palace rules explicitly forbade palace servants from crying, no one could hold back and secretly wiped away their tears.
Who hasn't lost a friend?
Who wouldn't worry about their family outside the palace? The palace servants' eyes were filled with fear and awe, while the concubines' eyes reddened as they lowered their heads, longing for their families far away and praying that this disaster would pass quickly.
Wan Anran embraced Consort Xuan.
Her eyes were red-rimmed; all the past grievances vanished in that moment, leaving only nostalgia.
I've cried and shed tears.
After regaining their senses, everyone continued to quietly do what they were doing.
Wan Anran stared blankly into the distance.
She held Consort Xuan's hand and sighed softly, "Please, please don't do what Consort Wuya said..."
But things didn't go as planned.
The earthquakes lasted for three full days, on July 28, July 29, and July 30.
From city walls to palaces, from government offices to ordinary residences, seven or eight out of ten collapsed. Many civil and military officials and their wives perished, and the number of ordinary people who died was impossible to record.
Even though Emperor Kangxi initially prepared a series of resources under the pretext of the war in Taiwan, they have now been completely used up, leaving people secretly regretting that they could have prepared more or earlier.
Wan Anran wept uncontrollably.
While regretting that she hadn't written down the natural disaster when she was studying, she couldn't help but feel angry at Wuya's selfishness.
Since she knew the earthquake would last for three days, why... why didn't she reveal a single word about it? Wan Anran couldn't understand, and Kangxi couldn't understand it either.
The Empress Dowager and the Empress were also shocked.
The Empress Dowager felt that Uya was spreading heresy and should be executed immediately, while Emperor Kangxi felt that Uya might have something else she hadn't said and planned to interrogate her properly.
The Empress alone remained silent for a long time.
Finally, her eyes reddened slightly, and she said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, I want to ask if Lady Wuya knew about this beforehand? Why, why, why didn't she say it? If she wanted the Emperor's favor, predicting the earthquake... wouldn't it have been better? Why... why... why..."
Is he seeking the emperor's life-saving grace?
The Empress could not utter the remaining words, but her sorrow and even pain silenced the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
yes……
No one could understand what Uya was thinking.
After a long while, Kangxi stood up.
He said softly, "Go and ask her. I know why she did this."
Uya was initially confined to a side room in the Cining Palace, and later moved to the Shenxing Division of the Imperial Household Department. The rats, cockroaches, and wailing sounds that roamed everywhere had already driven her to a mental breakdown. Instead of being worried or afraid, she was unusually excited when she was escorted out.
Especially when she saw the Emperor, tears streamed down her face, her expression filled with sorrow: "Your Majesty, I have finally waited for you!"
Uya knelt down on the ground.
Her gaze swept over the simply dressed Empress, as if she could see herself replacing her in the future. Unfortunately, before her reverie could end, Kangxi asked a question: "Uya, you knew from the beginning that there would be an earthquake."
"Yes, I understand—"
"Then why didn't you speak?" Kangxi interrupted Wuya, his voice as cold as ice. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was filled with barely concealed anger: "Do you know how many people died in this earthquake? Why did you know but never mention it? Did you do this just to... save me from the earthquake?"
Uya's face turned pale instantly.
She shook her head frantically: "No, Your Majesty, this concubine has never thought that way, it's just, it's just..."
But why?
Uya's expression froze, tears welling in her eyes, and she opened her eyes in a daze.
Why?
Isn't this a novel? What do these dead people have to do with her? Shouldn't she just follow the plot? That's the most correct thing to do.
Uya hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
She couldn't utter a single word for a long time.
The Emperor's anger was like a volcano about to erupt, his eyes flashing with lightning. Even a small suspicion, a tiny guess from Consort Qi, told him that she was disregarding her own position and future.
And what about you?
There was a clear possibility of saving the people, yet they chose to give up? They lost the watermelon but picked up a sesame seed? Kangxi scoffed, his initial intention to ask questions vanishing completely. He turned to leave.
Is the Emperor leaving soon?
Uya suddenly came to her senses. She glanced fearfully at the filthy prison cell behind her, quickly crawled a few steps, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, this concubine has something else she wishes to report to Your Majesty."
The emperor gave her a cold look.
Kangxi harbored a burning anger, but considering that Lady Uya had actually reached the age of fifty, he had no choice but to suppress his temper: "Speak—"
"This humble servant wishes to speak with Your Majesty in private for a few minutes."
"Enough." Did she want to speak to me alone? Kangxi immediately interrupted Wuya, his heart quickly becoming wary.
They are still unsure of the origins of this Uya clan.
Did she possess precognitive abilities, or was she some kind of sorceress or possessor of curses? Could she bewitch him and lead him to make an even more terrifying decision? Kangxi simply couldn't believe someone who had no compassion whatsoever for her family and the common people.
He had originally hoped to get some information out of her, but upon hearing this, he quickly changed his mind: "Since you don't want to talk, I don't need to listen anymore. Guards!"
"Your Majesty—Your Majesty—" The color drained from Wuya's face, and her original confidence vanished by more than half. She looked at the cold and ruthless emperor in disbelief, her face full of helplessness.
Kangxi's eyes were icy cold, filled with suspicion and apprehension, like sharp blades cutting into one's body, making even breathing painful.
Most importantly, one cannot find their own existence in those merciless eyes.
Uya suddenly woke up.
The person high above is the emperor; he is not the male protagonist she read about in the book who would cherish her, love her, and make her infatuated.
He was the emperor of this era.
He held the power of life and death in his hands, while she... might become one of those people lying lifeless, collapsed in a pile of hay in a filthy prison cell...
Uya's legs trembled and her teeth chattered.
In an instant, all her previous attachment vanished, replaced by fear as she retreated, crying out, "No...no...no..."
The eunuchs from the Censorate strode forward.
They held long whips, their cold and ruthless gazes fixed on Uya's face.
The eunuchs of the Imperial Prison were no pushovers.
Uya had also heard about this mysterious Department of Punishment from the palace maids. Most of the palace people who went in went in upright and came out horizontally. It was considered good if they could keep their lives.
And now...
Were they all targeting me? The whips they held were covered in dense barbs; one could imagine that a single lash would tear my skin apart. In this world without anti-inflammatory drugs, I'd probably be tortured to death within two days.
If Uya had previously harbored any thoughts of regaining favor, she was now terrified and no longer had the courage to hide anything. Uya burst into tears, spilling out everything she had to say.
Kangxi's face grew increasingly gloomy.
She was furious when Uya said that the Crown Prince would be deposed twice, and that even her own son, the Fourth Prince Yinzhen, would inherit the throne.
Kangxi lifted his leg and delivered a kick to the heart.
Empress Niohuru was also extremely shocked. She tightly gripped the emperor's arm and said, "Your Majesty, even if the birth order is changed, the fourth prince should clearly be Yinzhuo, and Yinzhen should be the fifth prince."
The Empress Dowager recovered from her shock.
She refused to listen to Uya's ramblings any longer and instead signaled to the eunuchs of the Imperial Prison to drag her back.
Emperor Kangxi suppressed his anger.
He stared coldly at Uya and asked one last question: "Has the earthquake ended?"
Uya's eyes were glazed over.
After a long while, she nodded, but the entire cell shook violently in the next instant.
Another earthquake struck.
This was a resounding slap in the face for Uya.
This time, no matter how much she cried, she couldn't stop the emperor from leaving. Liang Jiugong, who was at the back, gave a wink, and after the group left, the palace servants from the Shenxing Division also stepped forward.
They didn't use whips, but simply wrapped a thick hemp rope around Uya's neck. Uya's eyes widened, and she kicked her legs a few times, the faint sounds of struggle echoing in the cell, before falling silent.
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