Chapter 108

 

It was extremely hot in Sixth Month, and it only got cooler in the morning and evening.

Because the lotus bowl was used again last night, Hua Yang didn’t wake up until the beginning of chenshi (7-9 am). By the time she finished breakfast, it was already the middle of chenshi. If the ministers in the palace had fewer things to discuss, the court meeting should be over by now.

Taking advantage of the fact that the heat had not yet shrouded, Hua Yang took the maids to go for a walk in the Chen Mansion’s garden, and then went to Chunhe Hall to sit there on the way back.

Her sister-in-law Yu Xiu was also there. With her amazing needlework, she made a light and breathable blouse for their mother-in-law.

When Hua Yang came over, Sun shi was in the middle of trying it on.

Sun shi said rather helplessly: “How many times have I told your sister-in-law to make more clothes for herself. I’m already at this age and I can’t wear anything fancy, so why waste good materials.”

Yu Xiu was not very good at making witty remarks, she just gently helped her mother-in-law to check whether it fit.

Hua Yang looked at her mother-in-law’s face, which was still charming despite her age, and smiled: “Mom is the flower, and these clothes are the green leaves that set off you.”

Sun shi smiled from ear to ear hearing her daughter-in-law princess’ sweet words: “If the Old Four was as sweet as the Princess, I would have fewer gray hairs.”

After she finished trying on the clothes, Hua Yang left Chunhe Hall before the sun became too hot.

Chao Yue held an umbrella on the side, while Chao Yun held the princess’s arm with one hand and fanned the princess with a round fan with the other.

The three master and servants were so particular that their pace naturally couldn’t be fast. They slowly and leisurely arrived at Siyi Hall. But before they entered, they suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps.

This was the mansion of the Chief Minister, and the servants have all learned the rules. Unless there was an emergency, it was impossible to run in panic.

Hua Yang stopped and looked over suspiciously.

The person who ran around the flower tree and appeared in front of her turned out to be Chen Jingzong, a man who either supposed to be attending a court meeting in the palace, or who was supposed to be on the way to Daxing Left Guard after the court meeting was dispersed.

He seemed to be in a hurry and his face turned red as he ran.

This was so rare. He had so much strength and had hugged Hua Yang so many times, unless he was extremely tired, he could hardly blush.

Seeing Hua Yang, Chen Jingzong stopped in his tracks. His breath was rapid, and he appeared disheveled, his handsome face bore a grave expression. His gaze on her was more complex than ever before.

Just when Hua Yang was about to speak and ask why he came back at this time, a low and simple faint bell suddenly rung from a distance.

Hua Yang’s heart palpitated.

There were also some temples in the capital, but these temples all used small bells, and the sound of their bells could not travel too far. The only big bell was in the palace…

Like the rising tide, the second bell followed.

Chao Yue’s hand holding the umbrella began to tremble.

The umbrella was slanted to the side, and the dazzling sunlight shone through.

Hua Yang closed her eyes, and two lines of tears fell straight down her pale face, like two clear streams competing to wet the princess’s cheeks.

Chen Jingzong came over and took her into his arms.

Apart from crying, Hua Yang’s body was like a still flower, but Chen Jingzong’s chest was heaving high and his heartbeat was pounding like thunder.

It wasn’t until the end of the nine mourning bells announcing the emperor’s death that Chen Jingzong’s breathing calmed down slightly.

 

Hua Yang’s face was pressed against his chest. When his chest gradually returned to its normal ups and downs, like the turbulent lake returning to silence, the shock and pain in her heart eased as well.

Like a sudden rainstorm that turned into a continuous but endless spring rain.

“Do you know, Father Emperor, how he left?”

Hua Yang buried herself in his chest and asked slowly.

Chen Jingzong: “At the end of the court meeting, when His Majesty was about to leave, he suddenly vomited blood.

“He passed away very quickly. He only had time to confess three things before he died.”

He told her Emperor Jingshun’s three sentences, word for word.

The first two were major events, and they were what a wise monarch should be most concerned about before his death. They were expected by Hua Yang.

Only the third thing, her father emperor was still worried that he could no longer play chess with her anymore.

The princess, who had only been crying silently since the bell rang, finally cried out loud at this moment.

.

Hua Yang just wanted to see her father emperor as soon as possible.

It was too slow to prepare the carriage, so Chen Jingzong directly helped Hua Yang onto his horse. Then he got on the horse, hugged her tightly with one hand, held the reins with the other, and galloped away the way he came.

The horseback ride was bumpy and the sun was glaring.

Hua Yang was half leaning in Chen Jingzong’s arms. With him here, she didn’t need to worry whether such speed would hit someone or knock her off the horse.

Hua Yang just stared blankly at the rapidly retreating but endlessly extending stone road under the horse feet. Sometimes her vision was clear, and sometimes it was suddenly blurred.

The Chen Mansion was very close to the imperial city, and the horse galloped for a cup of tea time.

Chen Jingzong carefully lifted her off the horse.

The imperial city gate was open. Standing under the majestic city gate, one could see a long, straight and wide palace road, passing through the Duanmen, Meridian Gate, and Taihe Gate, and bypassing the three main halls of Huangji, Zhongji, and Jianji. Passing through the Qianqing Gate was the Qianqing Palace.

This road was familiar to the ministers and familiar to Hua Yang.

When she was a little princess, she liked to let the eunuchs and palace maids take her to play around the palace. This road was her favorite because she would meet many people on the road. She had seen the majestic civil and military ministers walking respectfully through this road to meet her father emperor. When those ministers saw her, they would also show gentle and caring smiles, until she grew older and their gentle and care turned into respect.

Mother Empress would then discipline her and not allow her to run around in the front palace, which was against the rules and etiquette.

Of course, mother empress was a good mother. She cared about her and her younger brother, but also taught them very strictly. She hoped that they would grow into princes and princesses that were praised by their subjects.

It was undeniable that mother empress had raised the pair of siblings with much more dedication than their father, and being dedicated also means that it was harder and more tiring.

But those who work hard may not reap the gratitude of their children. When Hua Yang was not sensible enough, she and her brother always liked their father emperor more because he was very gentle, especially towards her. Almost everything Hua Yang wanted, her father emperor would give it to her. When mother empress objected to her coming to the front palace, her father then personally took her there to play. Sometimes he would hide her behind the dragon chair or a screen and let her eavesdrop on him talking to his ministers.

Mother Empress was the best empress, and father emperor may not be the best emperor, but he was the person who love her the most in this world.

As long as her father was here, this palace was her home, her real home. Hua Yang could return to the palace whenever she wanted, without having to worry that she would not be welcomed.

With her father emperor gone, her mother empress and younger brother were her only family left. However, Hua Yang knew that although her always strict mother loved her, she would put rules before this love. Not to mention her brother, who would soon grow up and put many things before his sister. Even if he was not married, he would not deliberately make time to talk, play chess, or eat with her like their father emperor did.

She came here in a hurry, but when she actually entered the palace, Hua Yang walked very slowly.

With the departure of her father emperor, almost all the sentimental aspects left behind for her in the palace disappeared. In the future, whenever she returned, she would view the power and authority embodied by the palace with even greater importance.

Mother empress said that when she got married, she would become a big girl and could no longer act wilfully.

Only Hua Yang knew that the passing of her father emperor had really set this barrier for her.

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Qianqing Palace.

The palace servants had already cleaned off the blood on Emperor Jingshun’s body and changed him into a dark dragon robe.

The emperor left suddenly, and there was no time to prepare for his funeral, so mourning clothes had to be sewn at short notice.

The concubines, civil and military officials, and palace people all knelt on the ground. Chen Jingzong accompanied Hua Yang and walked past these people. Finally, he knelt down where a prince consort should kneel.

Hua Yang stepped forward alone.

Empress Qi and the crown prince knelt side by side beside the dragon bed. Empress Qi faced the emperor with plain face, her tears flowing incessantly.

The thirteen-year-old crown prince had been howling for a while. At this moment he was lying on his stomach on the bed, holding his father’s hand with one hand, as if his father would wake up again.

“Sister.”

Seeing his sister, the crown prince began to sob again.

Hua Yang knelt down, removed his brother’s hand, and replaced it with her own.

Father emperor’s hands had become cold, but they were still as soft as when he was alive. Father emperor’s eyes were closed and his face was pale, but his brows were still gentle.

The crown prince choked up and said in his sister’s ear: “The imperial doctor said that Father Emperor was worried about state affairs and was overworked…”

Hua Yang looked at her sleeping father emperor with blurred vision.

She knew the truth. Her father emperor was addicted to women and had been abusing all kind of pills, which had drained his body long ago. Unless the root cause was treated, nothing else could save her father emperor.

She couldn’t cure the root cause, so she could only try to treat the symptoms, hoping to let her father emperor live a few more years.

But Heaven was unwilling to satisfy her greed and only allowed her father emperor to live for nine more days.

Nine days were very short, but at least this time father emperor fell down in the court hall, in front of the civil and military ministers, and passed away in a decent manner, so that he would not be recorded in such a disgraceful way by the historians and ridiculed by future generations.

Hua Yang held her father emperor’s hand tightly.

This was perhaps the only time she could share her father emperor’s worries after being reborn.

.

The funeral was presided over by Empress Qi, the Cabinet, the Ministry of Rites, and the Qintian Supervisor. Hua Yang did not need to do much. She changed into mourning clothes and knelt down in Qianqing Palace with her brother to keep vigil.

All civil and military officials also knelt down, but they all retreated outside of Duanmen.

When night fell, the only ones still in Qianqing Palace were the concubine, the crown prince and the two princesses.

After kneeling until Zishi (11pm – 1am), Hua Yang temporarily returned to Qifeng Palace to rest, and then went back to Qianqing Palace to kneel at Yinshi (3-5am).

During these two hours, Hua Yang lay on her bed, but she was not asleep at all.

Her father was gone. She had experienced this pain in her previous life and had been prepared for it in this life. When this day comes, she was still felt pain, but she would not let herself be completely immersed in grief.

Because she had more important things to do.

While her father emperor was alive, she couldn’t deal with Prince Yu. She couldn’t even hint to her mother empress and father-in-law to let them take precautions, for fear that her father emperor would suspect that they wanted to frame Prince Yu.

Now her father emperor was gone and her brother was about to succeed the throne, and based on the previous life, there were still twenty-eight days before the rebellion of Prince Yu at the end of the month. As long as her mother empress and father-in-law took action in time, there was still a chance to stop Prince Yu’s rebellion in advance.

The sky was still dark the next day. In Qianqing Palace, Hua Yang saw her mother empress. Her younger brother, unprepared for the sorrow, was overwhelmed with grief. He had knelt until midnight last night and fainted, even now had yet to wake up.

“Mother, I have something important to discuss with you. It’s best if you invite Cabinet Elder Chen as well.”

Empress Qi was also dressed in white mourning clothes, with only a wooden hairpin on her head, and no makeup on her beautiful face.

She had a lot of things on her mind and didn’t pay much attention to her daughter’s words. She just called her aside and asked in a low voice: “What’s the matter?”

Hua Yang was so used to such mother empress that she no longer felt any grievance. She just looked back at her calmly and said, “Father Emperor gave me a dream last night, asked me to discuss something with you and Cabinet Elder Chen.”

She didn’t know whether her daughter’s expression was too solemn, or whether her daughter’s words shook Empress Qi out of her inattentiveness. She thought about it and asked her daughter to go to the imperial study room of Qianqing Palace to wait.

Hua Yang sat in the imperial study for a while, and Chen Tingjian arrived first.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Chen Tingjian had almost stayed up all night the night before. He was also in his fifties and could not avoid showing signs of fatigue. Even though his eyes were sad, it still firmed and restrained, as if a collapsing building could be steadied by his strength alone.

Chen Tingjian came here on the hint of Empress Qi. He thought that Empress Qi had something important to look for him, but he didn’t expect to see his daughter-in-law princess in the imperial study.

Chen Tingjian’s attitude towards Empress Qi and this daughter-in-law princess was definitely different.

Almost as soon as he met Hua Yang, Chen Tingjian’s eyes became gentle and compassionate, as if the person standing opposite him was still the seven or eight years old little princess who was very sad and needed his comfort.

Hua Yang burst into tears.

Chen Tingjian was equally sad. Although Emperor Jingshun was not a truly wise emperor in his mind, he was still a good emperor who was generous and caring for the people. He knew that his ministers would not let down the people, so he dared to let them have free reins, and firmly supported the cabinet when it was needed.

“My condolences, Princess. The late Emperor loves you most and cannot bear to see you so sad.”

Hua Yang nodded and wiped away her tears with a handkerchief.

At this time, Empress Qi also arrived.

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