Chapter 40

Chapter 40: A Roll Downward On the day Shaoyin was married, Aunt returned to the Xue family home. Her aunt had once said that she wanted to see Shaoyin become empress with her own eyes. Shaoyin had therefore asked Xiao Heng whether, on the day they were married, he could grant her aunt a single day of freedom. Xiao Heng had not given her an answer at the time, but on their wedding day, he sent people to escort her aunt—who had been confined for five years—out of the palace and back to the Xue family home. The Noble Consort Dowager came to the Xue family home with her. She had also come by His Majesty’s command. As a senior member of the imperial family, she had been ordered to guide the future empress of Daqi through the many wedding rites. Shaoyin had lost her mother at a very young age. If her aunt had not been a criminal and “lost her mind,” then the many rituals involved in sending Shaoyin into marriage should have been entrusted to her. Since her aunt could not perform them, whether in terms of status or seniority, the choice could only fall upon the Noble Consort Dowager, the highest-ranking among the dowagers. Thus, while Shaoyin was somewhat surprised to see her aunt, she was not surprised when the Noble Consort Dowager arrived. With the Noble Consort Dowager present, along with numerous female officials and palace attendants, her aunt—“insane” in the eyes of outsiders—could not say or do anything despite having returned to the Xue family home. She merely sat to one side while the maids coaxed her to drink tea and eat sweets. In Shaoyin’s memories, when her aunt had still been empress of Daqi, she and the Noble Consort had seemed to have a good relationship in public. They would often drink tea, admire flowers, and chat and laugh together. But in private, Shaoyin—still a child at the time—had once overheard her aunt mocking the Noble Consort, saying that she was wildly ambitious and false inside and out. Now, when her aunt accidentally spilled tea on her hand, the Noble Consort Dowager immediately drew a handkerchief from her sleeve, bent down before her aunt, and personally wiped the moisture from her hand. It was as though her aunt were still empress, and the Noble Consort Dowager were still the gentle and respectful Noble Consort Shen of years past. The Noble Consort Dowager’s expression was filled with boundless emotion. She said she had never expected that, in this life, she would still have the chance to meet Shaoyin’s aunt again. Seeing the gray at her aunt’s temples made her feel heartbroken, and she could never have imagined that Empress Xue of the past would one day become like this. As she spoke, she seemed about to shed tears, but the Noble Consort Dowager quickly held them back and smiled. “Today is her joyous occasion. How could I, the person here to teach her the wedding rites, be the first to lose propriety?” She personally did Shaoyin’s hair and makeup, refusing to let anyone else take her place. As she combed Shaoyin’s hair, arranged it into a bun, inserted her hairpins, and drew her brows, she also explained the many details of the wedding rites, asking Shaoyin to remember them carefully. While the Noble Consort Dowager spoke and worked, her aunt sat to one side like a child, amusing herself by playing with some of the ornaments that would soon be fastened to her. A faint smile hung at the corners of her lips. After refusing Xiao Yu in the palace that day, Shaoyin had not seen him again. She had made up her mind not to become entangled with Xiao Yu any further, but she still could not help worrying about him. After thinking it over again and again, she finally asked the Noble Consort Dowager, “How has Prince Chu been lately?” “He is fine.” The Noble Consort Dowager seemed to understand her concern and said with a smile, “I told you before—he is no longer a child. He can withstand this. Once today has passed, I think his fixation will truly disappear.” Hearing her say this, Shaoyin did not ask any further. Like a puppet, she allowed the Noble Consort Dowager and the female officials to arrange her hair and makeup and dress her in her wedding robes. Surrounded by everyone, she walked toward a path that had long since been laid out for her. It seemed to be a path she had chosen, and yet it also seemed to be one onto which fate had pushed her. After countless grand and cumbersome ceremonies, Shaoyin finally arrived at Chengtian Terrace in the palace at the appointed auspicious hour. Step by step, she walked toward Xiao Heng at the highest point. She bowed beneath the steps and formally accepted the investiture rites for the empress. Then she ascended the steps and took her seat beside Xiao Heng. From that highest place, she watched as the imperial relatives, court officials, and consorts of the Imperial Harem all lowered their heads and knelt, performing the audience rite for the emperor and empress before her and Xiao Heng. After issuing the command for them to rise, Shaoyin and Xiao Heng bestowed wine and a banquet upon the guests at Chengtian Terrace. It seemed that everything had finally been settled. All her hesitation and confusion had been fixed in place by the fact that she was now married to Xiao Heng. She ought to settle her heart, yet at such a moment, her mind drifted helplessly. In a daze, she looked at the smiling faces around the banquet. Her aunt was smiling foolishly. The Noble Consort Dowager wore a gentle, proper smile. Consort Shu Jiang Ningyan also had a smile on her face, but that smile seemed like a flimsy wisp of smoke, scattering at the first touch of wind. And then there was Xiao Yu. He sat quietly at the banquet, gazing at her. Though his heart was surely filled with sorrow, he seemed to have accepted reality. Because he believed this was the choice she had made sincerely, he could only respect her and offer her his blessing. That was the choice Xiao Yu, whose heart was as clear as glass, would make. Shaoyin avoided Xiao Yu’s gaze. She thought she should look at Xiao Heng beside her instead—the man with whom she would spend both day and night from now on, while also calculating against him day and night. But she could not bring herself to turn her head. Perhaps she had looked at him for too long the night before. She did not want to look again at the brightness and joy between his brows. Today, in his presence, she had kept her eyes lowered the entire time. From accepting her investiture to sitting beside him, she had not truly looked at Xiao Heng even once. When she had been a young girl dreaming of love, she had imagined countless times what it would be like to marry Crown Prince Cousin. How could she have known that when this day truly arrived in her life, it would be like this? There was no overwhelming joy, no tears of happiness. There was only silence, only confusion, and deep in her heart… it seemed there was a profound despair. Shaoyin took hold of her wine cup and was about to drink when she suddenly heard a commotion below. The Noble Consort Dowager had abruptly risen and was staggering into the middle of the banquet. One hand clutched the clothing over her heart. It seemed as though she had choked on something she had eaten, or perhaps had suffered a sudden illness. Xiao Yu hurriedly left his seat and rushed to his Mother Consort’s side. He reached out to support her and anxiously asked what had happened, then implored the emperor and empress to summon the Imperial Physicians and have them come quickly to examine her. The Noble Consort Dowager clutched her chest, seemingly in too much pain to speak. Her usually gentle expression twisted into something ferocious. Like a trapped beast, her gaze swept suspiciously and resentfully over many people at the banquet. In the midst of despair and confusion, her eyes suddenly fell upon Empress Xue, who was sitting in the corner of the banquet and smiling foolishly. Shaoyin was also filled with alarm and confusion. She ordered the palace attendants to summon the Imperial Physicians at once. But as soon as she gave the order, she saw the Noble Consort Dowager turn toward her aunt with an expression of pain and hatred. For some reason, a terrible premonition suddenly rose in Shaoyin’s heart at that moment. Before she could think any further, the Noble Consort Dowager seemed to have understood something and, consumed by hatred, lunged toward her aunt. Xiao Yu intercepted her in time. “Aunt!” As Shaoyin hurried down the steps, she suddenly heard another anguished cry beside her: “Your Majesty!” The voice seemed to have come from Consort Shu Jiang Ningyan. From the moment the Noble Consort Dowager had suddenly fallen ill, Jiang Ningyan’s expression had changed amid the crowd. After countless thoughts raced through her mind, she finally realized that she might have been nothing more than a pawn the Noble Consort Dowager had used. “Your Majesty!” she cried anxiously when she saw His Majesty take up his wine cup. “Your Majesty, you cannot drink it! It may be poisoned!” Startled by this sudden warning, Shaoyin turned around. Xiao Heng had not drunk the wine. He had merely been holding the cup. Under the shocked gazes of everyone present, he calmly poured the wine onto the ground. The liquid hit the floor and hissed, releasing poisonous fumes. As immense shock and silence descended over Chengtian Terrace, there was suddenly the sound of something heavy crashing to the ground, accompanied by Xiao Yu’s urgent cry: “Mother Consort!” When Xiao Yu had seen his Mother Consort suddenly fall ill and appear to be in serious condition, he had only wanted to support her while waiting for the Imperial Physicians to arrive as quickly as possible. But as her condition grew worse, she had suddenly begun struggling desperately to throw herself at Deposed Empress Xue as though she had gone mad. Naturally, Xiao Yu, frantic with worry, could only try to stop her, utterly bewildered. With his strength, he should not have been unable to hold her back. Yet the more his Mother Consort saw Empress Xue sitting there, smiling and playing, the more enraged she became. In the end, no one knew where she found the strength. Like a flame about to burn out that suddenly burst forth with its final blaze of light and heat, she tore herself free of his support and lunged desperately toward Empress Xue. As though they had a blood feud, she gripped Empress Xue tightly by the throat. His normally graceful and dignified Mother Consort seemed to have become an entirely different person. No matter how Xiao Yu or the other palace attendants pulled at her, they could not pry her loose. She continued strangling Empress Xue with the madness of a vine determined to choke its victim to death. Because she was a criminal, Empress Xue had been seated at the very end of the banquet, near the long flight of steps. Under the Noble Consort Dowager’s crazed assault, the two of them ultimately tumbled down together. The long staircase of Chengtian Terrace seemed like an endless road of death, rolling downward without end. By the time Xiao Yu hurried down to the foot of Chengtian Terrace, and by the time Shaoyin finally reached her aunt, the two most honored women of the late emperor’s reign were both lying in pools of blood at the end of the steps. The two women who had hated each other to the death now lay pressed against each other in the blood. The grand and magnificent imperial wedding was ultimately shrouded in the shadow of a conspiracy. His Majesty was suspected of having been poisoned by someone who had tampered with his wine. The Noble Consort Dowager had died, and it seemed she had not been killed by the fall. The seven orifices of her corpse were bleeding, suggesting that she had already been poisoned before her death. As for Deposed Empress Xue, though she had not lost her breath on the spot, her injuries from the fall were extremely severe, and blood continued pouring from her head. She remained unconscious, and whether she could survive was still unknown. On the wedding night of the emperor and empress, the empress did not remain in the bridal chamber at Zichen Palace. Instead, she stayed in Chongqing Palace beside her aunt. His Majesty did not come. He merely sent several boxes, some containing evidence and witness statements, and others containing physical evidence. The palace attendants sent by His Majesty asked Her Majesty the Empress to examine them at her leisure. Xue Jingrong awoke from her coma on the night of the following day. When she opened her eyes and gradually regained consciousness, she saw that there was no one else in the hall. Only her niece, Shaoyin, sat quietly beside the couch, keeping watch over her. “…That wretched Shen is dead, isn’t she?” Though every part of her body was racked with pain, when Xue Jingrong uttered the words in a lowered voice, they were still filled with immense hatred. When she saw her niece give a slight nod, a smile appeared at the corners of Xue Jingrong’s lips. She exhaled in satisfaction. “That wretched woman deserved to die. She opposed me for so many years, and now… now she even wanted to harm my Ayin and ruin our plans. She brought this upon herself…” Xue Jingrong raised a hand and stroked her niece’s cheek. “Don’t be afraid. With your aunt protecting you, no one can harm you…” As she spoke, suspicion and alarm gradually returned to her gaze. She had noticed that her niece was dressed ordinarily and was not wearing the empress’s formal robes. “…Ayin, did something happen?” Xue Jingrong asked in shock and alarm. She even began to sit up, completely forgetting that she was seriously injured. Shaoyin gazed at her aunt. Ever since Shaoyin could remember, her aunt had cherished her in every way. Her aunt had spoiled and doted on her like a mother. When Shaoyin was to be married off to Shuobei, her aunt had been heartbroken and wept bitterly. So many memories were filled with her aunt’s protection and love. And yet… and yet…