Chapter 125: Winter Plum Blossom
A few winter plum blossoms braved the wind and snow, blooming vibrantly.
Xiao Yi felt very warm as soon as he entered the palace hall. He noticed a few braziers, but not many charcoal basins.
That wool carpet had been cleaned and was spotless.
Empress Dowager Li emerged from behind the screen, ignoring him as she sat down on a prayer mat, appearing dignified.
“Pour me a cup of water… take off your shoes.”
Although unsure if it was in accordance with palace etiquette, Xiao Yi complied. His fine linen foot coverings felt warm on the bluestone floor; there was underfloor heating, though he didn’t know how it was done.
The water in the pot was warm. He poured a cup. During the process, he felt Empress Dowager Li’s gaze on him. He turned his head and saw her reading a memorial.
He approached and handed her the water cup. Empress Dowager Li, without looking up, said calmly, “It becomes easier with practice.”
“This subordinate will not be able to serve the Empress Dowager much longer.”
“What do you mean?” Empress Dowager Li asked reflexively, then changed to a condescending tone, stating, “You have not brought the successor lord here.”
“Liu Yun abandoned the country and its people, fleeing to Hedong without authorization. This subordinate has apprehended him.”
“Whom does Guo Wei wish to enthrone?”
“Ming Gong originally intended to return to the capital to discuss with the Empress Dowager and officials. en route to Xiang Prefecture, a mutiny occurred in the army. Yellow banners were unfurled for Ming Gong, proclaiming him Son of Heaven; this is what the people desire…”
“You dare?!”
Empress Dowager Li suddenly turned back, her face full of menace.
She was truly shocked this time.
Xiao Yi took out Guo Wei’s memorial and handed it to her, saying, “This is Ming Gong’s memorial of confession.”
Empress Dowager Li did not take it, remaining like a statue.
Gradually, her breathing deepened with anger, her chest heaving.
“For fifteen years, Guo Que’er served Gaozu for fifteen years. He has likely forgotten how he cried, ‘Only Lord Liu favors me,’ back then. I repeatedly called him a loyal subject, and this is his loyalty?!”
Losing her temper, she suddenly threw the water cup at Xiao Yi. The cup fell onto the carpet and did not break.
But the Han Dynasty State had long since shattered into pieces.
If one were to really analyze it, it was Liu Chengyou and Li Ye who first broke the rules. Xiao Yi knew that Empress Dowager Li was well aware of this and therefore did not elaborate, offering only three words.
“It’s over.”
Empress Dowager Li’s eyes immediately welled up with tears.
Xiao Yi said, “The winner is king, the loser is a bandit. The dust has settled. Since the Empress Dowager did her best, you need not worry about power struggles in the future; live out your remaining years peacefully…”
“What remaining years?!”
Empress Dowager Li suddenly became enraged, lunged forward, and tried to snatch the memorial from Xiao Yi’s hand.
Xiao Yi raised his hand, preventing her from reaching it. She then began to punch his chest and pull at his shoulders.
Perhaps with the fall of the state, she no longer needed to maintain her composure, crying out, grabbing, and venting like a madwoman.
“Forced to be my wife at sixteen, what has sustained me since? You dare to take it?!”
Xiao Yi grabbed her hands as she tried to choke him.
Empress Dowager Li struggled, crying and cursing.
“Do you think you’re snatching the throne from a dead person? I’m still here! Liu Zhiyuan was a stablehand at thirty-eight, illiterate. It was I who spent twenty years of hard work to achieve this great undertaking. This state is mine! You take my life, yet say I have remaining years? Go to hell!”
Xiao Yi was dismissive, believing she was prejudiced against Liu Zhiyuan.
From what he learned in Guo Wei’s army, he could piece together Liu Zhiyuan’s rise to power. It was indeed a miracle for a stablehand to conquer the empire in just over a decade, including an instance where he risked his life to save Shi Jingtang. More crucially, the man was brave, valued loyalty, and united a group of formidable brothers, seizing the opportune moment when the strong and powerful could become Son of Heaven. Empress Dowager Li had undoubtedly provided significant assistance, but she magnified her own role, leading to greater suffering.
“The Empress Dowager may be overestimating herself. While you had a part in founding the state, did Ming Gong, Shi Hongzhao, and Wang Jun have no merit? The state belongs to everyone, and everyone has made their choice. Fussing like a child now is useless.”
The truth seemed to shatter Empress Dowager Li’s last shred of pride.
Xiao Yi felt the wrist he was holding go limp.
He released his grip, and Empress Dowager Li collapsed onto the floor, no longer in a frenzy.
“Very well, the winner is king, the loser is a bandit. I have nothing more to say.”
Suddenly, a cold glint flashed.
Empress Dowager Li had produced a dagger from under her prayer mat and was slashing at her own neck.
Xiao Yi quickly kicked out, sending the dagger flying.
A few drops of blood fell on the white wool carpet, like plum blossoms blooming in the snow.
Empress Dowager Li closed her eyes and fell.
“Empress Dowager?”
Xiao Yi leaned over to look. He saw a red wound on her pale neck, but it was not deep. She had likely fainted from exhaustion and emotional distress.
“Someone!”
He called out twice towards the hall, but no palace servants appeared.
Xiao Yi felt something was wrong. He took out the healing ointment he carried and sprinkled it on the wound, then cut two strips of fabric from the edge of her skirt and tied them around her neck.
He poured another cup of warm water and sprinkled a few drops on her colorless lips.
After a moment, Empress Dowager Li’s eyelashes fluttered.
She opened her eyes and looked at him blankly. After a long pause, she spoke softly, her voice weak, her heart ashen.
“Saving me is useless; my spirit is broken.”
“Empress Dowager…”
“Don’t call me Empress Dowager; I am no longer the Empress Dowager.”
“Ming Gong wishes to recognize you as his mother, so you are still the Empress…”
Xiao Yi stopped mid-sentence, realizing his words would not comfort her, but would only hurt her more. He changed his tune: “You are still too young. Emperor Gaozu had not even begun his rise to prominence at your age.”
Empress Dowager Li turned her head and murmured, “I don’t want to mention them again.”
“Yes.”
“I will appoint you as an officer of the inner palace, promoting you by at least three ranks. If you owe me a favor, help me with one thing?”
“Please, speak freely.”
“After I die, I do not wish to be buried in Rui Mausoleum. Please cremate me, and scatter my ashes in Mingli Village, Yuci County, Bingzhou. There is a plum grove behind the mountain village; consider it sending me home.”
“Why does the Empress Dowager wish to die?”
“I said, do not call me Empress Dowager; I am tired. Call me ‘Third Lady’ or ‘Li Hanmei,’ but do not let the palace servants sing ‘Wind and snow, cold plum, Li Sanniang, reflect my Lord Liu’s bright future.’ I detest that poem. If it was taken, I accept fate, but I do not want to marry, and I will not marry.”
“Alright.”
Xiao Yi could understand. A young girl forcibly taken as a wife by an old stablehand, even if that stablehand later became emperor, the fear of being taken would forever be a shadow in her life.
At this moment, he saw the woman before him not as an Empress Dowager, but as Li Hanmei.
He saw her curled up, seemingly in a state of helplessness again. He went around the screen, picked up a thick quilt, and covered her with it.
Li Hanmei turned her head and met his gaze. Though she said nothing, she asked a question.
“Do you… understand?”
“Yes.”
Two lines of tears flowed inexplicably from Li Hanmei’s eyes.
She wiped her face and said mockingly, “Even my parents and entire family always said, ‘What is there for you to not want? You have become a great noble!’ How laughable.”
“Some wear flowers, and others look. These people cannot possibly understand how a flower branch feels when it is broken.”
“Heaven knows how disgusted I was the first time I saw him… I thought all of this was compensation for me. Ha, twenty years like a dream.”
“Who hasn’t? A life of hardship, only to end up empty-handed.”
Li Hanmei fell silent upon hearing this.
Xiao Yi simply sat down on a prayer mat, waiting for her mood to calm.
After a long while, he felt Li Hanmei looking at him. He turned to see her; she did not shy away but looked directly at him.
Her eyes were deep, indeed carrying a hint of probing.
“You haven’t agreed yet.”
“Agreed to what?”
“To scatter my ashes back in Yuci.”
“You are in your prime; do you truly intend to die?”
“First, do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Swear it.”
“If Li Hanmei dies, I will scatter her ashes in the plum grove of Mingli Village, Yuci. If I break this oath, may I be struck by lightning.”
Li Hanmei’s eyes brightened, regaining some of her empress’s demeanor. She said sternly, “Yuci belongs to Bingzhou and is Liu Chong’s stronghold. Can you go there?”
“One day, I will be able to.”
“You cannot go now because Liu Chong is still here.”
Xiao Yi thought to himself that this woman before him, much like her name, possessed the resilience of cold plum blossoms. While she appeared to have a breakdown moments ago, her fighting spirit was not extinguished.
Her words just now came from the heart, and her shrewdness lay in trying to win him over with sincerity.
Unfortunately, her prediction of historical trends was far inferior to his.
“Give up. Liu Chong will not truly support you if you don’t mention it; he absolutely cannot stop Ming Gong.”
“I am not betting on Liu Chong, but on… you.”
“Me?”
“From Li Siyuan to Guo Wei, including the Liao Lord, and Liu Chong who will undoubtedly ascend the throne, I have met ten emperors. I trust my judgment of people.”
“So?”
“You harbor great ambition, don’t you?”
“Trying to harm me? Useless. Ming Gong knows my intentions are pure and will not fall for your schemes.”
“He underestimates you, and all this time, I have underestimated you too. But now, I genuinely wish to help you.”
“Help me become emperor?”
“Don’t rush to refuse; listen to me. I can adopt you as my son. You will be my inside contact, coordinate with Liu Chong to eliminate Guo Wei, then eliminate Liu Chong. I will make you my successor. In twenty years, we, mother and son, can share the world.”
Xiao Yi chuckled and said, “Now I believe you truly wish to die.”
“Why laugh? This matter is not impossible. If it succeeds, apart from you as my adopted son, whom else could I bestow the throne upon?”
Xiao Yi could not help but smile.
Li Hanmei sat up cross-legged, straightened her posture, and assumed an authoritative air. In the tone of an empress, she said, “What is so funny?”
The more serious she became, the more Xiao Yi found it amusing.
“Do not lose composure before the emperor. You have concerns; state them.”
“You are still quite childish.”
“What?!”
“I said, I do not agree.”
“You disagree with contacting Liu Chong, or with being my adopted son?”
“Neither.”
“Afraid?”
“Trying to provoke me is useless. Let me put it this way: in my previous life, I lived longer than you by several years and knew the direction of the world. How could I agree to your terms?”
“Playing with me?”
Xiao Yi’s gaze fell upon Li Hanmei. Her eyes held authority, attempting to suppress his aura with her gaze. He did not yield, meeting her eyes squarely.
She wore no makeup, even deliberately appearing older to show solemnity, yet she possessed an elegant charm, growing more captivating the longer he looked…
Li Hanmei finally averted her gaze and looked out of the hall with a sense of disappointment. For her, her final counterattack had ended in failure.
She had underestimated him too much.
“Fine, what do you want?”
“Please obey heaven and man, and issue an edict to abdicate.”
“Alright.” Li Hanmei closed her eyes. After a moment, she said calmly, “Let’s talk again tomorrow.”
“Why bother?”
“Just consider it… I want to die a little slower.”
As Xiao Yi left, he glanced back at the winter plum blossoms in the courtyard, thinking that once this snow passed, their blooming season would be over.
