The quiet room was filled with the curling smoke of sandalwood incense.
As the most esteemed woman in the Great Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager was dressed with excessive simplicity. Apart from a jade bracelet that could no longer be removed, she wore no other jewelry.
She wasn't reciting scriptures at the moment, but resting with her eyes closed against a cushion, occasionally covering her mouth with a light cough.
"Your Majesty, Yu Xiang has returned."
The Empress Dowager opened her eyes. "Come in."
Yu Xiang brushed off the chill at the doorway and warmed herself by the brazier before pushing open the door to enter the quiet room. "Your Majesty, this servant has returned."
"Did you see her?"
"Yes, I saw her." Yu Xiang knelt beside the Empress Dowager's feet, gently straightening them and applying appropriate pressure while massaging. "This servant observed that she is a good young lady—gentle yet firm, and quite courageous. She appears to command respect."
"Wan Niang insisted on waiting for her return before passing away, so she must be capable. I was initially concerned she might not handle her elders well, but it seems I underestimated her. What about Hua Jing?"
"She's still in that shed. When this servant arrived, she was weeping pitifully. Before leaving, I glanced around—the brazier in the shed was burning brightly, and the blankets were piled thickly, so it seems she hasn't been neglected."
The Empress Dowager chuckled lightly. "Surely you understand the subtleties here? It's remarkable that child could be so thorough. I want to see how she ultimately deals with Hua Jing. If she does nothing, I'll have to step in."
Her smile remained, but it sent chills down one's spine. Having lived in the palace for most of her life, she hadn't mastered much else, but those life-threatening tactics came to her naturally.
"This old servant suspects you may not get the chance. That young lady isn't one to hold back. However, since Hua Jing is her aunt, she'll need to devise some strategy if she doesn't want to appear inferior."
"Raised on the same rice and water, yet they turned out so completely different." Thinking of her second son, the Empress Dowager felt even more empathy for Wan Niang. "Has Yan Xi entered the palace today?"
"His Majesty has been summoning the Heir to the palace these past few days." Yu Xiang glanced up at her mistress and whispered, "This servant overheard something by chance—it seems the Emperor was displeased that the Heir went to offer condolences to the Hua family."
"Yan Xi went to mourn Wan Niang?" This was news to the Empress Dowager. Having been revered as the ancestral matriarch in the palace for years, she no longer involved herself in affairs and hadn't known Yan Xi had any connection to the Hua family. "Who was he there for?"
Yu Xiang lowered her head. "This servant didn't dare inquire further, only vaguely heard that remark."
The Empress Dowager frowned slightly. "Go to him and say I miss him. Have him come keep me company for a meal."
"Yes."
In the inner chamber of the imperial study, Gu Yanxi—whose face showed no wounds but only resembled thirty percent of his usual appearance—was restraining the Emperor while the imperial physician removed the silver needles from His Majesty's head.
Once his grip loosened, the Emperor pushed him away and sat up, shaking his head in various directions and feeling much relieved. He shot his nephew a sidelong glance and scolded with a laugh, "I see your courage has grown—daring to lay hands on me now. If you knew this technique yourself, would you have planned to use it on me personally?"
"Yes."The Emperor raised his hand and gave him a light knock on the head, but inwardly felt deeply comforted. If Yan Xi hadn’t cared, why would he have dared to commit such an audacious act? His own sons, by contrast, treated him with excessive reverence, addressing him as “Your Majesty” and showering him with words of concern, but their empty pleasantries paled in comparison to Yan Xi’s actions.
“Enough, don’t hold a grudge against me. If you had told me earlier that Hua Yizheng had done you a favor, I might have been more lenient in his punishment. Since you’ve already gone, let it be—it’s no great matter.”
Compared to those families who were quick to distance themselves from the Hua family, Yan Xi’s actions only highlighted his integrity and forthrightness. “Find some time to go back and visit. It seems to me you’ve almost forgotten which way the gates of the Prince’s mansion face.”
“If I’ve forgotten, then so be it. I have other places to go,” Gu Yanxi replied indifferently. “If Your Majesty has no further instructions, I shall take my leave from the palace.”
“No need to rush. Stay and dine with me before you go.”
Just as Gu Yanxi was about to decline, the voice of Eunuch Lai Fu came from outside: “Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has sent someone to request the presence of the Heir.”
“It seems I’ll have to wait until next time. Go ahead. My mother has been in low spirits lately—stay and talk with her for a while.”
“As you command. I take my leave.”
Gu Yanxi strode away, his every word and action reflecting neither the fearful deference of an ordinary subject nor the sycophantic posturing of a prince. He moved with the ease of someone strolling through his own home.
And wasn’t it, in a way, his home? The Emperor’s lips curled into a cold smile. His own sons seemed to have forgotten that he was not only their sovereign but also their father. The palace was a place to discuss matters of state, but it was also their home.
He appreciated Yan Xi’s straightforward nature—how he spoke plainly when he had something to say and never visited without a purpose. Though he never heard flattery from Yan Xi, he also never had to guess which words were sincere and which were false. Yan Xi acted directly, as he had today: the moment the Emperor mentioned a headache, Yan Xi had pressed him down and covered his head with acupuncture needles. In all the world, only Gu Yanxi would dare to do such a thing.
The Emperor turned to Lai Fu. “Has the person Mother sent to the Hua family returned?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The Empress Dowager sent some burial gifts, lit a stick of incense, and returned.”
“How interesting. I punished the Hua family, yet Mother shares a past with the Old Madam of the Hua family, and Yan Xi owes a debt to Hua Yizheng. It makes me seem unfeeling.”
Lai Fu was inwardly alarmed but showed no trace of it on his face. With practiced ease, he offered a soothing reply: “No bond of affection could ever compare to what they share with you, Your Majesty. Did the Empress Dowager not wait until after you had punished the men of the Hua family to protect its women? And had the Heir not gone to pay his respects to the Old Madam this time, you would never have known of his debt to Old Master Hua. This shows that both the Empress Dowager and the Heir always put you first—a distinction no one else can claim.”
Pleased by these words, the Emperor smiled and pointed playfully at Lai Fu. “What has Yan Xi bribed you with to make you speak so well of him?”
“Your servant is wronged! With the Heir’s temperament, the fact that he didn’t punish me today for failing to prevent your headache is already an act of mercy.”
The Emperor laughed heartily, clearly delighted. This was the nephew he had raised by his side, and if truth be told, the bond between them was no less than what he shared with his own sons.
Lai Fu quietly breathed a sigh of relief, his back drenched in sweat despite the cold weather.
“How long has it been since Hua Yizheng left for the northern borderlands?”Lai Fu quickly calculated in his mind, "Almost four months."
The Emperor, with his hands clasped behind his back, paced back and forth for a while. "Send a loyal and tight-lipped person to Yinshan Pass to see how the Hua family is behaving there."
Lai Fu bowed in acknowledgment, then secretly glanced up at the Emperor's noticeably less upright figure. His lips twitched, but he refrained from reminding the Emperor that it wasn't just the Hua family who had been exiled there—compared to the scholarly Hua family, the military officials posed a far greater threat.
Yet he dared not mention it. The Emperor had grown increasingly unpredictable this year, and seven palace servants had already lost their lives this month. There was no need for him to add to that number.
Suddenly, the Emperor clapped his hands together and strode out. "It's been some time since I last dined with the Empress Dowager. I can't let that young fellow steal all the favor."
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