On the eighteenth day of the eleventh month, Zhou Huizhen was married.
The bride was Wei Rao's cousin, and the groom's family had maintained generational ties with the Duke of Yingguo's household. Thus, on this joyous day, the Duke and Duchess of Yingguo went to the West Pavilion Marquis Estate to attend the wedding banquet, while the young couple Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo visited Shou An Jun's Secluded Manor.
Shou An Jun had not invited many guests. Her maternal family and the Zhou family's ancestral home were both over a thousand miles away, consisting of distant relatives with whom contact had long been severed. Relying solely on Wang Shi's maternal family to fill a few banquet tables and inviting nearby villagers with whom they usually interacted, they managed to assemble twenty tables for the wedding feast, finally creating a festive atmosphere.
Amid the busyness, Shou An Jun found a moment to ask Wei Rao, "How is your grandmother doing?"
Wei Rao smiled bitterly. Her grandmother's health was deteriorating, but she couldn't bring herself to say it aloud.
Shou An Jun embraced her granddaughter and kissed her forehead. "Don't be afraid, it'll be alright."
At the auspicious noon hour, the groom Han Liao led the wedding procession to take the bride away. That same day, Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo returned to the capital, not lingering further at the Secluded Manor. Aunt Wang Shi felt somewhat regretful, as she had hoped for an opportunity to speak with Wei Rao and ask her to look after Zhou Huizhen at future social gatherings, considering their cousinly bond.
Winter arrived early in the capital this year, colder than previous years.
Wei Rao had just returned from the Secluded Manor when, early the next morning before she could prepare to visit her grandmother, a steward from the Cheng'an Marquis Estate came weeping and knelt before her, saying the old lady was fading fast. The Marquis requested her to hurry over and see her grandmother one last time.
Bitao and Liuya burst into tears immediately.
Wei Rao merely froze for a moment.
Hadn't she anticipated this long ago? Watching her grandmother wither like a leaf day by day—now that this day had truly arrived, what was there to be shocked about?
After bidding farewell to the Duchess of Yingguo, Wei Rao calmly boarded the carriage.
As the carriage curtain fell, Wei Rao's tears suddenly streamed down. She was suddenly afraid—afraid her grandmother might not wait for her.
"Hurry, go faster!" Wei Rao knelt by the carriage door, suppressing sobs as she commanded the coachman.
The coachman cracked his whip fiercely, and the carriage raced at full speed.
Stumbling and unsteady, Wei Rao rushed to her grandmother's bedside. Old Mrs. Wei had only one breath left. Seeing the granddaughter she worried about most, two lines of tears rolled from the old woman's clouded eyes. Unable to speak, she tremblingly reached out toward Wei Rao. Kneeling by the bed, Wei Rao clasped her grandmother's hand against her wet cheek. "Grandmother, grandmother, don't leave me..."
Old Mrs. Wei tilted her head, watching her married granddaughter weep like a child before her—crying as she had when she first lost her father, when her mother had just passed away.
What a pitiful child. Old Mrs. Wei couldn't bear to leave her granddaughter either, but the pain was too great—she could hold on no longer.
Her granddaughter's face grew increasingly blurred, until only the sound of her hiccupping sobs remained. Slowly, even those sobs faded from hearing.
Old Mrs. Wei closed her eyes.
Every harsh winter, a number of elders pass away.
On the fourth day after Old Mrs. Wei's death from illness, in the Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager—who would have turned sixty the following year—also lay dying.
Emperor Yuanjia knelt by the sickbed, accompanied by the Empress, three consorts, three princes, their princess consorts, and two young imperial grandsons. A court historian knelt solemnly to the side.
The impending death of the Empress Dowager was, naturally, a major event to be recorded in the annals of history.
Emperor Yuanjia knelt at the very front, right beside the Empress Dowager's sickbed.The Empress Dowager gazed at her son, the emperor. Emperor Yuanjia, now in his early forties, resembled a piece of celestial jade polished by time—dignified and elegant, yet unable to conceal his imperial majesty. Such an outstanding son, despite years of her neglect, had still managed to win the late emperor's favor, successfully ascending the throne and allowing her to fulfill her wish of sitting upon the throne of Empress Dowager. She felt immensely proud.
Having been Empress Dowager for so long, she was largely content with everything around her, except for two matters.
She did not want her son to hold Shou An Jun in high regard, nor did she want him to dote on that vixen daughter of Shou An Jun.
But she was dying. Her final words would be recorded in the annals of history. She could not, at this moment, demand that her son promise not to favor that mother and daughter pair any longer. Otherwise, it would make her, the Empress Dowager, appear narrow-minded and short-sighted, only concerned with those trivial matters of the Back Residence that were unfit for public discussion.
"Your Majesty, I am leaving," the Empress Dowager said, her eyes filled with sorrow and reluctance as she looked at Emperor Yuanjia.
Emperor Yuanjia's face was etched with grief.
No matter what the Empress Dowager had done, she was his mother, the one who had brought him into this world. Emperor Yuanjia had yearned for her affection and had been disappointed time and again. But at this moment, those past grievances no longer mattered. Emperor Yuanjia knew only that the person before him was his mother, his own mother.
"Your unfilial son has failed to attend to you day and night at your bedside," Emperor Yuanjia said, tightly gripping the Empress Dowager's hand as tears slid from the corners of his eyes.
The Empress Dowager shook her head and smiled. "You have done very well. You are a good emperor. Even in death, I can face the ancestors of the Zhao family with dignity. But there is one wish I have yet to fulfill. Without it, I fear I will not rest in peace."
The tears that had been welling in Emperor Yuanjia's eyes suddenly ceased.
He looked at the Empress Dowager with a complicated expression, and the strength in his hand loosened.
There was one matter the Empress Dowager had discussed with him for years, and he had never relented. Could it be that even at this final moment, their last meeting, their last words, she would still use filial duty to pressure him? Why couldn't she consider that Prince Jing was unworthy of being Crown Prince? Frivolous and lustful, accomplished in neither literature nor martial arts—aside from being the Empress's son and having a noble status, how could he compare to Prince Duan? He was not even as capable as the third prince, Fu Wang!
Emperor Yuanjia remained silent for a long time. The Empress, kneeling behind him, grew anxious and could not help but cry out, "Mother Empress, whatever wish you have, please speak it. Your servant will surely fulfill it for you!"
The Empress Dowager ignored her. Struggling to catch her breath, she fixed her gaze intently on Emperor Yuanjia and said, "Your Majesty has reached the age of forty, yet you have delayed appointing a Crown Prince. Without a Crown Prince, the court and the nation will remain unstable. Your Majesty, Prince Jing—"
"Mother Empress, the matter of the Crown Prince is for me to decide. Please do not worry," Emperor Yuanjia abruptly interrupted her, turning instead to comfort her. "Mother Empress, you may not know this, but I once had a dream in which an immortal descended and bestowed blessings upon our Zhao dynasty, ensuring its eternal stability—"
The Empress Dowager's hands began to tremble, and her breathing grew heavy!
She wanted the Emperor to appoint Prince Jing, the Empress's legitimate son, as Crown Prince. Once the Crown Prince was decided, once the Empress's position was secure, no matter how much Little Zhou tried to curry favor, she would never surpass the Empress! But the Emperor would not even grant her dying wish—he would not even allow her to speak it! This unfilial son!
The Empress Dowager was so enraged she wanted to leap up, point at Emperor Yuanjia, and curse him vehemently. She wanted the historians to record this son's unfilial behavior!However, she no longer had any strength left. Before Emperor Yuanjia could finish lamenting the visions in his dream, the Empress Dowager’s eyes rolled back, and she passed away with her eyes wide open.
Upon seeing this, Emperor Yuanjia threw himself over the Empress Dowager’s body, weeping and wailing uncontrollably.
The court historian knelt and kowtowed, then recorded a few brief lines: "The Empress Dowager has passed away. The Emperor wept in profound grief."
With the Empress Dowager’s death, Emperor Yuanjia suspended court affairs for ten days, and commoners were forbidden from holding celebratory events for three months.
Funerals, however, were unaffected.
When Old Mrs. Wei was laid to rest in the Wei family ancestral tomb, Wei Rao had already exhausted her tears. The howling winter wind stung her face as she stood supported by Lu Zhuo, her gaze vacant as she watched her grandmother’s coffin lowered into the grave.
As the red sun dipped westward, Lu Zhuo helped Wei Rao into the carriage.
He wanted to offer words of comfort, but Wei Rao leaned against the corner of the carriage with her eyes closed, clearly unwilling to be disturbed.
Lu Zhuo did not know what to say.
The carriage wheels rolled along the official road, drawing closer and closer to the capital.
Just as Lu Zhuo thought Wei Rao might have fallen asleep from exhaustion after days of toil, she suddenly opened her eyes and looked in his direction, saying, "Young Marquis, I wish to observe mourning for my grandmother."
Lu Zhuo’s heart tightened.
A married woman was not required to observe mourning for her grandparents. If he and Wei Rao were truly husband and wife, he would not have thought much of her request, but now…
Before Lu Zhuo could respond, Wei Rao calmly continued, "According to our Contract, I may request an early divorce. Rather than racking my brains for another opportunity years from now, it is better to part ways now. I wish to observe mourning for my grandmother and cannot bear to delay you for a year, so I voluntarily request a divorce and to return to my family."
While her grandmother was alive, Wei Rao had thought of nothing but her. After her grandmother’s death, she wept for three days before gradually calming down.
With the Empress Dowager gone, she no longer needed to rely on her husband’s influence to intimidate the Empress Dowager, so she could leave.
As for her mother and younger brother, Emperor Yuanjia was in the prime of his life. By the time the Emperor passed away, her brother might already be an adult and enfeoffed as a prince, no longer needing her support.
At this moment, Wei Rao only wished to mourn her grandmother quietly and alone, to remember her in peace. With a divorce, she would no longer be criticized for failing to be a virtuous daughter-in-law of the Lu Family.
Wei Rao looked at Lu Zhuo, her heart as still as water as she awaited his response.
Lu Zhuo’s gaze was shadowed as he attempted to persuade her, "If you wish to observe mourning for the old lady, I can join you. There is no need…"
Wei Rao closed her eyes and turned her face away. "You signed the Contract, Young Marquis. Please honor your promise. Once we have discussed this, we can seek the approval of the Duke and Old Madam upon returning to the manor. Tomorrow morning, I will move back to Cheng'an Marquis’s residence. While the commoners are preoccupied with the affairs of the palace, a simple and quiet divorce will spare us unnecessary gossip."
Lu Zhuo did not want a divorce. He had much to say—whether to confess his feelings or persuade her to stay in the Hall of Pine and Moon with promises of the benefits of their marriage.
But she had turned away, refusing to hear more.
She had grown thinner. She had never been a delicate beauty. When she first returned to the capital, her face had been full and radiant, but now it was pale and gaunt, her small face nearly lost in the snow-white fox fur collar.
She did not like him; she even deeply despised him. With the old lady gone, she longed to return to the Hall of Verdant Spring, where she and her grandmother had relied on each other.
"Very well. I will write the divorce agreement for you tonight."
A faint smile touched Wei Rao’s lips. "Thank you."
Tonight, in the Duke of Yingguo’s Manor, someone was destined to lie awake.Lu Zhuo asked Wei Rao to return to the Hall of Pine and Moon first, while he privately reported the matter to the Duke and Duchess of Yingguo.
The Duke of Yingguo, unaware of the circumstances, exclaimed, "Why on earth does she want to leave? If she wants to observe mourning, let her observe mourning. Why leave?"
The Duke truly couldn’t understand his grandson’s wife. Observing mourning was one thing, but was it really necessary to go this far?
The Duchess of Yingguo told him to be quiet and asked Lu Zhuo, "Did you agree?"
Lu Zhuo nodded. "Old Mrs. Wei has just passed away, and she’s deeply saddened. If I force her to stay now, it will only add to her distress. Rather than making her unhappy, it’s better to let her go. After the mourning period is over, I’ll find a way to coax her back."
The Duchess of Yingguo pondered for a moment and sighed. "That might be for the best. The Marriage to ward off misfortune was hastily arranged, and in many ways, we’ve let Rao Rao down—especially you. After a year, when Rao Rao has moved past her grief, we’ll make it up to her with a proper wedding ceremony, complete with all formalities."
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhuo knelt with a thud, ashamed. "It’s all my fault for being foolish and causing you and Grandfather so much trouble."
The Duchess of Yingguo urged him to rise. "It’s no trouble for us, but you mustn’t be foolish again and push Rao Rao further away. Now, go and inform your mother so she doesn’t worry."
Lu Zhuo then took his leave.
The Duke of Yingguo stared at his wife, bewildered. What was really going on?
The Duchess of Yingguo had no choice but to explain the whole story from beginning to end.
The Duke’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. His grandson hadn’t consummated the marriage with such a fairy-like granddaughter-in-law?
Should he be pleased that his grandson was as virtuous as Liu Xiahui, unmoved even by beauty, or angry that he was so stubborn and unable to distinguish what was good for him?
The Duke and Duchess, being older, took things in stride, but He Shi was different. Upon hearing that her daughter-in-law wanted a divorce—and the reason being that she didn’t want outsiders to criticize her for observing mourning for her grandmother or to delay her son for a year—He Shi was both weeping and furious. Her daughter-in-law had been raised by Old Mrs. Wei, so what was wrong with a married woman observing mourning? If she didn’t mind, why should she care about idle gossip from outsiders?
To lose such a good daughter-in-law over mere gossip!
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