Chapter 322

Chapter 322 Upon hearing these words, the Empress finally seemed to stir, and reminded in a calm tone: "Mother Empress, Bright and Pure Consort is respectful to her superiors and kind to her subordinates—she is known throughout the palace as a person of great virtue. When the Emperor originally felt that her moral character was exemplary and wished to make her Consort De, it was she herself who repeatedly declined, so the Emperor instead bestowed upon her the title of Consort Shu, and later specially granted her the honorific 'Bright' to signify her radiant and luminous character." The Empress's words were a reminder to the Empress Dowager. Xie Run's virtue and her title had both been personally endorsed by the Emperor. For the Empress Dowager to casually compare her to Noble Consort Chen was to imply that the Emperor had no discernment in judging people. At the same time, she was using the Emperor to warn the Empress Dowager to be more guarded in her speech. Moreover, the Retired Emperor was still alive. For the Empress Dowager to openly disparage Noble Consort Chen—was that not also a criticism of the Retired Emperor's choices? The Emperor was a junior; if the Empress Dowager disapproved of someone in his harem, that was one thing. But how dare she disparage the Retired Emperor's decision?! But the Empress Dowager paid no heed to these words, saying only: "No wonder Consort Jing just said you favor Bright and Pure Consort. I see she was absolutely right." The Empress Dowager's approach to dealing with the Empress was simple: you speak, I listen, and I simply refuse to be reasonable. No matter how skillful the Empress's tactics, dealing with the Empress Dowager always left her choking on blood. The Empress Dowager continued: "If she is truly virtuous, then why hasn't she brought the Fifth Prince to show me?" "Enough!" The Empress Dowager suddenly raised her voice: "Mama Liu!" Mama Liu stepped forward with her head bowed: "This servant is here." The Empress Dowager: "Take some people to Zhaohua Palace right now and bring the Fifth Prince here for me to see. I simply wish to see my imperial grandson—who would dare to stop you?!" Mama Liu's heart was bitter, and she could not help but counsel: "Empress Dowager, we have already entered the dog days of summer. The heat outside is intense, and the Fifth Prince is still young. Traveling all the way from Zhaohua Palace to Cining Palace, he might easily suffer from heatstroke." Xie Run had not expected the Empress Dowager to be so overbearing, sending people to her palace to take the child without a second word. She said it was to bring the child over, but once the child arrived, no one would be able to take him back. She could not help but clench her hands, then, thinking of the arrangements she had made before coming, quietly relaxed them again. Mama Liu did not want to do such an thankless task, but no sooner had she offered her advice than the Empress Dowager pointed at her nose and scolded: "Whose servant do you think you are?!" "Even my instructions you try to dodge and delay—have you also been bought off by some wretch?" "Go now! If you cannot bring the Fifth Prince back, you can go serve in the Yeting from now on!" The Empress Dowager was a person who valued face greatly. Being refused by a servant in front of the entire Six Palaces infuriated her so much that she wished she could beat Mama Liu to death on the spot. Unfortunately, the Emperor's harem was not the Retired Emperor's harem, and there were many restrictions. If she killed a servant, the Emperor would surely have something to say, and might even find an excuse to send her off to accompany the Retired Emperor. She also resented that the loyal Mama Wu was unwell today and could not attend to her. Otherwise, she would not have had to rely on this useless Mama Liu. When Mama Liu heard the Empress Dowager threaten to send her to the Yeting, she almost wished she could go right now, just to escape the torment of being caught between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. The Emperor clearly did not want the Empress Dowager to interfere in the affairs of the Six Palaces, yet she refused to give up, causing trouble in every way. Now, egged on by Mama Wu, she had even set her sights on the Fifth Prince. Not to mention that the Fifth Prince was one of only two healthy sons the Emperor had—his birth mother, Bright and Pure Consort, was deeply favored by the Emperor. How could she possibly afford to offend her? Last night, when Mama Wu had suddenly been dragged away, Mama Liu had already sensed something was wrong—it seemed the Emperor had learned of something and taken action. Afterward, she and the other servants around the Empress Dowager had fabricated a lie, saying that Mama Wu had fallen suddenly ill and was resting in bed, unable to attend to her duties. To this very moment, the Empress Dowager still did not know that something had happened to Mama Wu. Now the Empress Dowager had issued another foolish order, actually planning to forcibly take the Fifth Prince and raise him by her side. Mama Liu was filled with inner conflict, but she could only go, however unwillingly. On the way to Zhaohua Palace, she was trembling with fear and anxiety. She presented the Empress Dowager's token, saying she wished to bring the Fifth Prince to Cining Palace for a visit, and was welcomed inside by the people of Zhaohua Palace. But once she entered Zhaohua Palace and saw the Emperor holding the Fifth Prince, she was so startled that she fell to her knees, confessing everything. Inside Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager was still voicing her grievances. These grievances were not only directed at Xie Run, but even more so at the Empress. Xie Run held no real power, so the Empress Dowager could at most look upon her with displeasure. But toward the Empress, she truly disliked everything about her. The Empress had not been seated long before she said she felt unwell and wished to take her leave. The Empress Dowager said with sarcasm: "Why don't you go directly to court and find the Emperor? Tell him I've been making things difficult for you again, keeping you here for too long during your respects, causing your health to suffer once more?" The Empress: "How would I dare? Even if I felt unwell, I would have to endure it in your presence, lest I displease you further." The Empress Dowager, utterly self-righteous and deaf to the sarcasm in the Empress's words, replied: "It's not as if you've only just started displeasing me. Anyway, you have the Emperor backing you, so you might as well be even more brazen." The Empress's chest churned with rage. The Empress Dowager, full of fighting spirit, saw that the Empress had fallen silent, and shifted her gaze to Xie Run. Seeing that Xie Run was not dressed particularly ostentatiously, the Empress Dowager said, "Bright and Pure Consort is, after all, the Emperor's most beloved consort. Dressed so plainly, one might think you don't take me seriously, deliberately wearing something so unceremonious—or perhaps that the Emperor has neglected the women of the harem, unwilling to part with even a decent piece of jewelry." Xie Run lowered her head, eyes slightly cast down, looking utterly docile and obedient. "The Empress Dowager is right." The Empress Dowager had been waiting for her to talk back so she could scold her further, but Xie Run's single sentence cut her off. In that moment, a belly full of words was trapped inside her—unable to come out, yet impossible to swallow back down. Unwilling to let it go, the Empress Dowager found another fault: "I hear the Bright and Pure Consort has an elder sister who is a female physician?" Xie Run paused, then said softly, "The Empress Dowager is correct." Whether it was a divine physician or a female physician mattered little to the Empress Dowager—she was simply looking for trouble. Xie Run decided to just let things rot and deal with her half-heartedly. The Empress Dowager continued, "Bright and Pure Consort, you are, after all, someone the Emperor dotes on. What kind of business is it for your own elder sister to be a lowly female physician? If others were to find out, it would damage the Emperor's reputation as well." Xie Run remained quiet and docile. "This concubine would not dare to imitate Noble Consort Chen, using the Emperor's favor to seek benefits for her family." This neither-soft-nor-hard remark managed to choke the Empress Dowager up. The Empress Dowager had just been criticizing Xie Run for being like Noble Consort Chen—arrogant and overbearing—but now hearing Xie Run speak with a look of 'fear and trepidation,' she felt as though she was being subtly mocked. During her years as Noble Consort, the Empress Dowager had more than once used her favor and her children to seek benefits for her maternal family. On this point, she wouldn't even dare to criticize Noble Consort Chen. Had it not been for Prince Su's rebellion, which implicated the Empress Dowager's maternal family and led to their extermination, the Emperor's harem would likely have been stuffed full of women from her maternal clan. Noble Lady Xian would never have caught the Empress Dowager's eye either. Struck at her guilty spot, the Empress Dowager slammed the table and roared, "Bright and Pure Consort, you are insolent!" Xie Run seemed to react half a beat late, slowly sinking into a bow. "This concubine is bewildered. I beg the Empress Dowager for guidance." The Empress Dowager pointed at Xie Run with righteous indignation. "Were you just mocking me for having once sought power and position for my family?!" In that instant, Xie Run suddenly understood exactly what kind of life the Empress had been living all these years. Xie Run was about to respond when a steady male voice rang out from within Cining Palace: "Mother should know that the harem must not interfere in politics. And now you are encouraging my consort to seek benefits for her family—could it be that Mother cannot bear to see your son living well?!" The Emperor's questioning was piercing, every word landing clearly in the Empress Dowager's ears. The Empress Dowager still harbored some fear toward the Emperor. She rose to her feet. "Emperor, why have you come?" The consorts and concubines in Cining Palace all stood and bowed to the Emperor in greeting. The Emperor didn't even glance at them. He stepped forward, helping the Empress up with one hand and Xie Run with the other. But his expression was hardly pleasant, and no one dared to make a sound at this moment. The Emperor said, "I had intended to dine at Zhaohua Palace, but I saw that the Bright and Pure Consort had not returned for a long time. I assumed she had been kept here by Mother." The Empress Dowager instinctively lodged her complaint: "Emperor, you've come just in time." "I have something to say to you as well! This Bright and Pure Consort—she bullies lower-ranked consorts and shows no respect toward me. You shouldn't dote on her so much that she becomes utterly lawless!" The Emperor said coldly, "I recall that in the years when Mother was favored, she once slapped three Ladies of Handsome Fairness in succession at the Imperial Garden and made them kneel for three full hours." "I would also like to ask Mother—does that count as being utterly lawless?" The Empress Dowager hadn't expected the Emperor to dredge up old affairs to shame her, and she was immediately furious. "Is the Emperor questioning me?!" "How would your son dare? I am merely puzzled." The Emperor smiled. "If Mother says it is, then your son naturally would not dare to argue, and I will have the Bright and Pure Consort reflect on her mistakes properly. If not, then I shall go ask Imperial Father—what does he think of it?" Even when the Empress Dowager had been at the height of her favor back then, she had still received a few reprimands from the Retired Emperor for overstepping in her punishments. Unable to win the argument, the Empress Dowager clutched her chest and collapsed back into her chair, feigning distress: "Emperor, you've grown so capable now—for the sake of a mere consort, you would dig up old accounts against me?!" "My heart is truly pained..." The Emperor lowered his gaze and said coldly, "It's not that your son wishes to settle old scores, but does Mother truly care for me as a son?" "Mother has raised two sons before—surely you know that a one-year-old child is at their most delicate?" "How old is the Fifth Prince? Mother had to have him carried here to Cining Palace in this sweltering heat, all for the sake of what you call filial piety?" "Is Mother truly doting on her grandson and wishing to see him, or does she want to use the Fifth Prince to control me? Why not speak plainly today?" With the Emperor and the Empress Dowager openly at odds before everyone, Xie Run and the other harem consorts all kept their heads lowered, wishing they could vanish from sight. The Empress Dowager hadn't expected the Emperor to expose her little schemes so publicly. In that moment, she was both furious and flustered, at a loss for words—even forgetting to feign her chest pain. A moment ago, the Emperor had been angrily questioning, and the next moment his expression shifted to one of hurt. "I worry that Mother is frail and cannot bear the strain, so I specifically instructed the Six Palaces to keep the children from troubling Mother too often. Yet I never expected Mother to feel that I and the princes and princesses are unfilial." Before the Empress Dowager could even process his words, her mouth had already moved to console him: "That is not what I meant. I did not blame you for being unfilial." The hurt on the Emperor's face vanished instantly. "So Mother does care for her son after all." "Of course." The Emperor pressed on: "Mother's love for her son is just like my love for the Fifth Prince. Surely Mother can understand my reluctance to let the children cause a fuss, and will not hold it against me." The Empress Dowager hesitated for a long moment before saying, "Naturally, I will not blame you." A moment ago, the Emperor had been furious, seemingly about to quarrel with the Empress Dowager, suppressing her momentum entirely. The next moment, he played the filial son with a wronged tone, striking blow after blow so that the Empress Dowager had no chance to react. This was also the first time Xie Run had witnessed the dynamic between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager—there was a certain sense of one force subduing another. The other consorts of the Six Palaces were visibly astonished, but the Empress remained composed from start to finish. Clearly, she was accustomed to it. Seeing the Emperor soften his temper, the Empress Dowager thought she could press her advantage and recalled the advice that Wet Nurse Wu had given her earlier. "I have been ill these past days, and I find my lap empty. The Cining Palace feels too vast and lonely. I was thinking of adopting a child to raise at my side, to enjoy the pleasures of family." The Emperor did not flare up as he had just done. Instead, he asked gently, "Does Mother wish to raise Little Five?" The Empress Dowager hesitated for a second before nodding. "When I received greetings last time, I saw Little Five. He has a sturdy, adorable look about him." The Emperor feigned concern: "But Mother has been ill for days, and her years are advancing. Can she bear the strain of raising a child?" The Empress Dowager had always refused to admit her age. When she heard the Emperor say her years were advancing, her face twitched. Xie Run stood close to the Empress and could clearly see the slight twitch on the Empress Dowager's face, her expression shifting from anger to forbearance. The Empress Dowager's voice seemed to tremble slightly: "I am much better now. Raising a child should not be a problem." "Did I not raise you and your elder brother and sister—all three of you—with my own hands?" The Emperor shifted the topic abruptly, no longer mentioning the matter of raising the Fifth Prince, and instead said, "Since Mother is feeling better, surely she has also heard of a certain matter." The Empress Dowager asked, "What matter?" "Imperial Father's health has been somewhat unwell lately. Since Mother is feeling better, would she not go and look after Imperial Father?" The Emperor said unhurriedly, "I know Mother has always kept Imperial Father in her heart. Imperial Father is lonely all alone and needs someone by his side to care for him. Why not have someone pack your things at once and send you to keep Imperial Father company?" "Absolutely not!" The Empress Dowager's voice cracked in her urgency, startling everyone else. The Emperor's dark gaze fell upon her. "Mother is unwilling to go and care for Imperial Father?" The Empress Dowager's mind raced frantically. But she had never been a clever person. Unable to think of a way out, she could only clutch her chest and feign illness in a flash of desperation. "You just angered me, and now my chest feels tight. Quickly, summon the imperial physician to take a look." The Empress Dowager tried to brush the matter aside by feigning illness. But this time, the Emperor was determined not to let her off easily. He had Wet Nurse Liu summon the physician. Then he glanced behind him. "The Empress Dowager is unwell. There is no need for you to linger here taking up space. Return to your own palaces." Xie Run could tell from the Emperor standing with his hands clasped behind his back beside the Empress Dowager that this matter was far from over. The moment she left Cining Palace, she hurried to Zhaohua Palace to check on Taotao. Before leaving, she cast a glance back and noticed the Empress summoning Consort Jing. She did not know what it was about, but she could guess it had to do with Consort Jing's twisted account of events before the Empress Dowager. Xie Run was anxious to see her son, so she left Xiaoshu behind to gather information and departed on her own.