The Lonely City Closed - Chapter 14
I hesitated, remembering that witchcraft incident.
She could clearly see what I was thinking. “Brother,” she addressed me this time, sounding particularly serious, “I have never cursed Youwu.”
I nodded and gave her a gentle smile: "I know."
But Consort Zhang might not know. When I relayed the princess's message to Consort Miao and asked for her instructions, Consort Miao sighed, "If Huirou goes at this time, wouldn't she be walking right into Consort Zhang's clutches?"
She secretly asked Wang Zhaoming, the Imperial Attendant, to inquire about the Emperor's opinion. The Emperor ordered the princess to go again the next day and to wear mourning clothes for Youwu.
The death of a child before the age of eight is considered a death without mourning, and the family is not required to observe mourning. The Emperor's insistence that the eldest daughter wear the lowest mourning garment for the younger daughter was actually against etiquette, making the funeral for the youngest daughter seem particularly solemn and also putting Princess Fukang in a difficult position. However, the princess did not complain and indeed wore the lowest mourning garment the next day to attend the funeral.
Incense smoke curled in the courtyard of Consort Zhang's Xiangluan Pavilion, where a group of monks sat chanting sutras. Consort Zhang stood guard before Youwu's coffin, her eyes red and swollen, her expression blank and lifeless, likely from excessive crying earlier. The Emperor stayed by her side, offering words of comfort from time to time, but he himself could not help but wipe away tears frequently.
When Consort Zhang saw Consort Miao and Princess Fukang, she seemed to suddenly awaken, a cold smile playing on her lips: "This is the third time, are you still not satisfied?"
I followed the princess inside and heard these words. I was puzzled for a moment and was still pondering them when Consort Zhang's sharp gaze pierced straight at Consort Miao and her daughter: "Anshou is dead, Baohe is dead, and now you won't even spare Youwu! I know you hate me, so let the Emperor kill me. Why do you have to harm my daughter?"
Princess Anshou and Princess Baohe were the Emperor's third and fourth daughters, born to Consort Zhang, and both had died one after the other. Consort Zhang seemed to suspect that her three daughters had all died unnatural deaths. Given the matter of the puppet, she vented all her anger on the princesses and Consort Miao.
She grew increasingly angry as she spoke, and rose to her feet, charging straight at the princess. The emperor quickly rose from his seat and pulled her back.
Tears welled up in the princess's eyes, and she shook her head repeatedly, saying, "I have never harmed Youwu, I have never harmed any of my sisters..."
Lady Zhang completely ignored her explanation. The princess's appearance gave her a reason to vent her anger. She continued to cry and curse, cursing those who supposedly harmed her daughters. After a while, she was overcome with grief and turned to lean against the emperor, beginning to recall the events surrounding her three daughters before their deaths.
As she continued to pour out her heart, her expression gradually softened, and her tone became gentler: "...Youwu is very good. She was afraid of making me sad, so even when she was in the worst pain, she didn't cry out. When she saw me crying, she would reach out her little hand to wipe my tears and say, 'Sister, don't cry, your tears are falling.'...Later on, she couldn't even breathe properly, her little face turned red, and she still tried to smile at me...I just held her like that, holding her, her face pressed against my chest, her hands still clutching the hem of my clothes, but her body was getting colder and colder..."
The official held her close, gently turning his back to us. We couldn't see his expression for the time being, but we could see his shoulders trembling slightly, as if he was trying to suppress his grief.
Zhang Meiren's last words brought tears to my eyes. Beneath her outward arrogance, she was, at that moment, nothing more than a grieving mother.
The princess wiped away her tears and stepped forward, intending to light incense and offer prayers, but Consort Zhang coldly spoke up from the side: "Princess, please leave. I think Youwu doesn't want to see you right now."
The princess took two steps closer to her, looked up at her, and said with a sincerity she had never shown to Lady Zhang: "Lady Zhang, I..."
She must have wanted to explain something to Zhang Meiren, but Zhang Meiren immediately interrupted her, ruthlessly ordering her to leave: "Get out!"
The princess looked at the emperor with tears in her eyes: "Father..."
The official sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Go back now."
The princess still wouldn't leave, sobbing, "Father, please listen to me..."
"Get out!" Lady Zhang was furious again. She stared at the princess's mourning clothes for a moment, and then said, "There's no need to pretend to wear these mourning clothes. Even if you wear the tenth layer of mourning clothes, can you atone for your sins and bring Youwu back?"
These words slightly stirred the princess's emotions. She stood up straight, frowned, and said coldly, "I did not do what you said, and I am innocent."
"Enough, Huirou!" the Emperor suddenly shouted. "Get out, get out now!"
The princess stared blankly at her father, noticing his cold and stern expression, so unlike his usual loving demeanor. Her eyelashes drooped, and two more tears fell. She turned and ran away quickly.
Han Shi, along with a group of palace servants from Yifeng Pavilion, rushed out and chased after the princess to the outside of Xiangluan Pavilion. The princess stopped and turned around, shouting angrily, "Stop right there! Anyone who follows me will be beheaded!"
Everyone stopped helplessly, but the princess continued running forward. At this moment, Han tugged at my sleeve and gestured towards the princess's retreating figure. I understood what she meant and quickly chased after her.
The harem was only so big. She ran around and eventually came to the back garden, where she sat down against a rock and burst into tears.
I knew she was feeling wronged and that it was good for her to cry, so I didn't try to comfort her. I just stood behind her and watched silently. She quickly noticed, stood up, and ran to another spot to sit and continue crying. When I followed her, she knew it too, and this time she just glared at me and didn't move to another spot.
She cried for a long time, in the way a child cries without any regard for their appearance, tears and snot streaming down her face. Since she didn't have a handkerchief, she wiped her nose with her sleeve, which quickly became half-wet. Just as she was about to wipe her nose again, I walked up to her, bent down, and held my clean sleeve to her eyes.
She looked at me, and without any hesitation, pulled up my sleeve and blew her nose.
The way he wiped his nose so casually made me laugh.
She snorted, her dark eyes fixed on me, and asked, "Why are you following me like a shadow?"
“…I am not like a shadow,” I replied without much thought, “I am the princess’s shadow. Wherever the princess is, I am there.”
She stared at me silently for a long time, then looked up at the sky. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she jumped up and ran to an open space without flowers or shadows, stood up straight with her legs together, her hands hanging at her sides, looked up at me, and tried to stay still. She said, "Look at the ground!"
She was bathed in golden sunlight, with no shadows. It turned out that the sun was high in the sky, at noon, and with her constricted posture standing upright, it was natural that her shadow was almost invisible.
"Where is the shadow? Where is Huaiji?" she asked with a smile.
I smiled at her but didn't answer.
"How silly!" she concluded for me, then told me what she thought was the appropriate answer, "You could say: 'The shadow is at the princess's feet, Huaiji is in the princess's heart.'"
She smiled innocently in the sunlight, oblivious to my shock. I think she didn't realize the ambiguity in her words at all; she was simply stating a fact, like clouds floating on misty waters or willow catkins drifting within palace walls.
After bringing the princess back to Yifeng Pavilion, she went to her room for a short rest in the afternoon. Consort Miao summoned me to the hall and asked me about the details of the princess's time in the back garden. I told her some of the details, but naturally I skipped over the "shadow" part.
Consort Yu was also present at the time. After hearing this, she sighed and said, "This time, the princess has truly been wronged... Sister Miao, you have such a good temper. If it were me, being wronged like this by Lady Zhang, I probably wouldn't be able to hold back and would retort: 'You suspect me, but I suspect you too! Since you gained favor, how come none of the newborn children in the palace have grown up?'"
Consort Miao smiled and said, "Should we stoop to her level just because she's gone mad? On the other hand, she's pitiful too. She had three daughters, but not all of them are born. Naturally, she's not in a good mood. To put it bluntly, let's just bear with it for now. There's no need to argue with her right now."
"Does being in a bad mood give you the right to bite people randomly?" Yu Jieyu said dismissively, adding, "When my Chongqing passed away, I never imagined I would go around saying she was murdered."
Princess Chongqing was the second daughter of the emperor, born to Consort Yu, and she also died young.
Upon hearing this, Consort Miao said sadly, "Indeed, when Zuixinglai passed away, I cried so bitterly, but I never suspected that someone else had poisoned him..."
Zui Xinglai was the nickname of Prince Yu, Xin. When Consort Miao gave birth to the prince, the Emperor dreamed that a divine being told him, "Zui Xinglai." Therefore, these three characters were chosen as the prince's nickname. Prince Yu was of outstanding talent and was greatly loved by the Emperor. Unfortunately, he passed away less than half a year later. The Emperor and Consort Miao were devastated and still remember him fondly to this day.
When her son was mentioned, Consort Miao was on the verge of tears. Consort Yu quickly smiled and said, "Why are you saying all this? You're making your sister sad."
Miao Zhaorong sighed, "It's none of your business. We sisters are in the same boat, we understand each other perfectly well, there's no need for explanation."