newbobooks Chapter 208 Mother and Child Night Chapter (Part 1)
Chapter 208 Mother and Child Night Chapter (Part 1)
Phoenix Palace
Pale blue curtains swept the ground, golden tassels swayed, and a lotus-shaped incense burner emitted a faint fragrance.
The window was half-open, and the scent of ink filled the air.
The Empress sat on an exquisitely carved phoenix chair, intently copying Buddhist scriptures.
The nanny served tea and said softly, "Your Highness, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived. He came from Ronghua Palace."
The Empress smiled and said, "It's kind of him that he still remembers his mother."
The nanny stared at the Empress's pen, and when she finished copying the character in her hand, she immediately served her warm tea.
"Your Majesty, what are you saying? His Highness the Crown Prince is your own son, and he has always had you in his heart. Besides, Your Majesty knows how filial he is."
The Empress took a sip of tea in a cheerful mood, looked towards the door, and said, "Let him in! He's probably eager to talk to me about something."
The old woman smiled and invited the prince in.
After the ceremony, the Crown Prince picked up the Buddhist scripture that the Empress had just copied: "This must be the thousandth time Mother has copied it, right? Father's condition has stabilized, which must be because Mother's sincerity has moved all the Buddhas in the heavens."
The Empress chuckled, looking at the Crown Prince's features: "Are you still my son? You seem more and more like that girl, Yuan'er. Could it be that this is what they mean by 'one is influenced by one's company'?"
"Your Majesty is teasing your son." The Crown Prince arranged the Buddhist scriptures, walked behind the Empress, and gently massaged her shoulder.
The Queen patted his hand, gesturing for him to sit down beside her.
"Whether it's a joke or not, you know in your heart. Your father's illness wasn't cured by your mother copying Buddhist scriptures. It was a chronic disease, and if it weren't for Yuan'er, he would have returned to the imperial mausoleum long ago."
The Crown Prince lowered his voice: "Mother, please be careful with your words."
"If it is the truth, why be careful with your words? Besides, Mother has been in this palace for over twenty years. If she can't even speak her mind, what's the point of being the mother of the nation?"
A-Yuan said something similar.
Even someone as noble as the Empress Dowager must be cautious and discreet in the palace. Perhaps this is why A-Yuan was unwilling to stay in the palace to become his Empress. In ordinary marriages, how could a mother and son need to be wary of eavesdroppers? How could a couple harbor their own thoughts and scheme against each other? In A-Yuan's words, there are no husbands and wives, no fathers and sons in the royal family, only rulers and subjects.
He felt a pang of disappointment and hesitated, unsure whether he should mention his marriage to A Yuan to his mother.
The Empress saw his inner turmoil and, just as she had when he was young, gently took his hand: "Yuan'er went to such lengths to treat your father because of you. These past seven years have brought you such a great change; they have truly secured your position as Crown Prince. Apart from Prince Yong'an, who is still like a pesky flea, who else in the entire Northern Liang can replace you in that position? Even if there is, they would not be popular with the people."
"Your Majesty, I understand!" The Crown Prince raised his eyes: "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you a question."
"You want to ask your mother, if you had a choice, would you still enter the palace to become the Empress?"
No one knows a child better than their mother, the crown prince nodded.
The Empress stood up and looked out the window: "Your mother lied to your father. Before entering the palace, I had a childhood sweetheart, an older brother."
The Crown Prince frowned: "My childhood sweetheart brother? How come I have never heard the Empress Dowager mention him, nor have I ever seen him?"
The Empress smiled and turned to look at the Crown Prince: "Because he died on the day his mother entered the palace."
The Empress was the legitimate daughter of the Jiang family, but being a legitimate daughter of a noble family wasn't easy. From a young age, she had to learn countless things: music, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, flower arranging, and mastering the art of tea, using different waters to brew different teas to achieve the best flavor. She had to be presentable in the drawing room and capable in the kitchen. She had to be able to distinguish gold, silver, jade, and fabrics. In short, she had to know what others could do, and she also had to know what others couldn't.
She was like a puppet, obeying her family's arrangements and striving to learn every subject to the best of her ability.
But she was human, not a god. She fell ill and, at her parents' arrangement, went to live in a country estate to recuperate. The old servant who looked after the estate had a son, two years older than her, who was as wild as a mischievous monkey. She politely called him "brother," and he took care of her and protected her like a real brother.
Life in the countryside was completely different from life in the capital. She didn't need to learn those things; instead, she spent her days following him up and down the hills. When they returned to the capital, he came back as a servant. Spending so much time together, feelings began to blossom, yet they both knew they could never be together. They each suppressed their feelings, addressing each other as master and servant, or brother and sister.
He took the imperial examinations and pursued an official career, desperately wanting to be worthy of her. But the efforts of generations of the Jiang family could not be compared to his ten years of hard study alone. Just when she was about to take a desperate gamble, abandon everything, and threaten her life to beg her father to grant them her wish, he sent a wedding invitation; he wanted to get engaged.
She sent the congratulatory gift as the younger sister, accepted the family's arrangement, and entered the palace to become a concubine.
The night before she entered the palace, he got drunk and poured out his heart to her through the courtyard wall.
He said the engagement was fake, and he had never liked that woman. He said she had feelings for him, and he knew he didn't simply see her as a prostitute or a younger sister. He said he knew her feelings for him and asked if she was still willing to go with him.
Of course she didn't want to!
What did he think that imperial edict was? What did he consider the lives of the hundreds of people in the Jiang family to be? What did he consider her to be?
She once risked her life to fight for a future for them. And him? He sent over a wedding invitation.
He said he never liked that woman?
What did he take that woman for? He was the one who got engaged, and he was the one who ran away from the wedding. He treated marriage like a game, and treated her and that woman as playthings that he could summon and dismiss at will.
The Empress's eyes were full of mockery: "I am very grateful to him, grateful that he came to the outside of the wall that night and said those nonsense things to me over the wall. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be able to let go of those feelings from my youth."
"How did he die?"
"He blocked the emperor's path in the street and was shot dead, mistaken for an assassin." The empress's face remained expressionless. "He was dragged away before he even breathed his last. The bloodstains on the ground were quickly cleaned up. The Empress Dowager's carriage passed over that puddle of water when it entered the palace."
The Crown Prince could not imagine the scene, nor could he understand why his mother was so calm. The person he had cherished since childhood, the person he had almost risked his life to spend his life with, had died right before his eyes. Did his mother really not feel anything?
His throat seemed to be blocked by something; after a long and hesitant attempt, he finally spoke: "Between Mother and Father..."
"It's just a relationship between the emperor and his concubines, the emperor and the empress, the shopkeeper and his employee."
"The shopkeeper and the shop assistant?" The Crown Prince looked at the Empress, puzzled. "How could Mother compare the shopkeeper and the shop assistant to you and Father?"
"Why not?" the Empress smiled. "Let's not talk about your mother and father anymore. Tell me about yourself. What brings you here tonight?"
"Your Majesty wishes to marry A-Yuan," the Crown Prince said. "Your Majesty has A-Yuan in your heart and believes that she is the only one worthy of being your Crown Princess. However, I do not know whether it is right or wrong to keep her confined in this deep palace."
"You're just making trouble for yourself." The Empress poked the Crown Prince on the head. "If she weren't willing, these few dilapidated palaces wouldn't be enough to keep your Crown Princess confined. You've lived such a long life for nothing."