Chapter 245: Farewell Gift
The rain had lingered for over half a month, only clearing on the eve of Winter Solstice.
In the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Princess Ping Le waited with growing anxiety.
She repeatedly threw things and cursed people.
She cursed Lu You’an, cursed Gu Jie, cursed the Lu family, cursed Xue Sui, cursed Li Zhao, cursed everyone she could think of…
Having stayed in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices for so long, no one was willing to tell her about the outside world. She couldn’t leave, nor could she get any news, like a bird trapped in a golden cage, occasionally succumbing to her desires…
Sometimes she cried, sometimes she threw tantrums, making her unable to eat or sleep.
She smashed all the porcelain, broke tables and chairs, and even injured the palace servants on guard…
“You pack of dog slaves! Do you treat this Palace as an ordinary criminal’s wife?”
“Dog slaves! Even you dare to give this Palace a dirty look? When I see my Imperial Father, the first thing I’ll do is cut out your tongues…”
“Did you hear me? Let this Palace out! This Palace wants to see my Imperial Father…”
The attending palace servants trembled.
Finally, on the morning of Winter Solstice, Emperor Chong Zhao arrived.
The hem of his imperial yellow robe swept across the threshold, his dragon-patterned boots stepping on the blue bricks with heavy thuds.
Ping Le stared blankly, loosening her grip on the teacup.
“Imperial Father!”
Her eyes instantly brightened. Upon seeing the Emperor, she immediately threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly, her shoulders trembling with emotion, sobbing uncontrollably…
“You’ve finally come, I missed you so much.”
Emperor Chong Zhao looked down at her, patted the back of her head, and remained silent.
“Imperial Father…” Ping Le called out, her voice choked with sobs.
“They wouldn’t serve me properly. The food had sand mixed in, the bedding smelled of mold, and they wouldn’t even add enough charcoal to the brazier… Imperial Father, I really can’t take it anymore…”
She complained to herself.
The Emperor sighed softly and gestured for Wang Chengxi to gently open the food box, revealing her favorite pastries—
The sweet aroma of chestnut cake wafted out…
Ping Le was stunned for a moment, then smiled through her tears.
Whenever she got into trouble as a child, her Imperial Father would coax her with pastries.
“Try it. Your Imperial Mother made this before she passed. See if it tastes the same…”
Tears streamed down Ping Le’s face.
“It’s exactly like what Imperial Mother made, Imperial Father…”
“Eat slowly. I specifically told them to use less sugar.”
“Imperial Father loves me the most…” She suddenly smiled with childlike innocence, “When I get out, can I make chestnut cake for you myself? I’ll use the freshest chestnuts, it’ll be delicious…”
Emperor Chong Zhao looked at the mess on the floor, his gaze falling on his daughter’s disheveled hair. A flicker of heartache crossed his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by the majesty of an Emperor.
“Ping Le, your Imperial Father cannot eat the chestnut cake you make.”
Ping Le’s fingers froze in mid-air as she looked at the icy coldness in Emperor Chong Zhao’s eyes.
Slowly, she knelt down, her voice filled with pleading.
“Imperial Father, your son knows her mistake… Your son was just confused, it wasn’t your son who poisoned Imperial Mother, it really wasn’t…”
Emperor Chong Zhao turned his face away, unwilling to look at her tears.
“Since you made a mistake, you must confess and accept punishment.”
Ping Le kowtowed repeatedly, “Your son truly knows her mistake… Imperial Father, your son is loyal to Imperial Father and has never dared to have any dissent. This time, your son was merely instigated by someone… Please spare your son this once, your son will never dare to do it again.”
“Enough!” Emperor Chong Zhao abruptly flicked his sleeve.
“You constantly speak of filial piety and loyalty to your sovereign and father, yet you collude with the enemy and harm the imperial harem! If I indulge you further, how can I face the ancestors?”
After speaking, seeing her tightly clutching his robe corner, weeping uncontrollably, Emperor Chong Zhao sighed again.
“You, you were spoiled by me since you were little, which is why you are so audacious. It is also my fault for not teaching my daughter properly—”
Ping Le’s eyes were filled with terror, “Imperial Father, you’re not really going to kill your son, are you? Your son is your own flesh and blood!”
Emperor Chong Zhao shook his head, “How could I kill you?”
Tears welled up in his old eyes, his voice trembling slightly.
“But you have truly disappointed me…”
Ping Le’s eyes widened, feeling as if the world was spinning.
She suddenly remembered when she was little, her Imperial Father holding her in the Imperial Garden flying a kite, saying she was the most obedient daughter. She also remembered at her coming-of-age ceremony, her Imperial Father personally placed the Phoenix Crown on her head, saying he would choose the best Imperial Son-in-law in the world for her.
Are these things gone forever?
“Imperial Father!” She reached out tremblingly, grabbing Emperor Chong Zhao’s sleeve, “Your son is your own flesh and blood, your most beloved daughter. Have you forgotten? You said your son was your cherished daughter, and Imperial Father would give you anything…”
“Yes. That’s why Imperial Father indulged you too much, and it harmed you.”
Emperor Chong Zhao slowly withdrew his sleeve and turned his back.
“Princess Ping Le, Li Yushu, colluded with the Xizi Wolf Guard, caused chaos in the imperial harem, harmed the innocent, disregarded the safety of the state, her crimes are too numerous to count, and she deserves death…”
Ping Le was struck as if by lightning.
Emperor Chong Zhao took a breath, “Considering our imperial bloodline, I shall spare her life—she is hereby stripped of her title, demoted to commoner, and exiled to the Shuozhou Ruined Garden for life, forbidden from setting foot in Shangjing ever again. So decreed.”
With that, he strode away, leaving Ping Le kneeling on the ground, watching his retreating back, tears falling one by one onto the blue bricks.
“Imperial Father…”
“Imperial Father, how could you do this to me? I am your daughter!”
“Imperial Father—”
“Imperial Father!”
Emperor Chong Zhao strode away with his sleeves flicked, not looking back.
Ping Le collapsed onto the ground, watching the Emperor’s retreating figure. She suddenly remembered the look in Gu Jie’s eyes when he betrayed her at the Hu Ji Wine Shop in the West Market that day, and thought of Lu You’an, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, leaving resolutely…
She finally understood that in this palace where imperial power reigned supreme, there was never any family affection, only the weighing of interests.
–
When the news of Ping Le’s demotion reached Hanzhang Hall, the water stains on the eaves had not yet dried.
The blue bricks on the palace walls were bleached by the rain, emitting a cold, pale blue light. A few gray sparrows pecking for food took flight, soaring past the palace eaves as if cheering for something…
Wen Jia, accompanied by Dong Xu, entered the hall carrying a branch of winter plum blossoms, her face beaming with joy.
“Ping Le brought disaster upon the nation and its people. It is fitting that she suffers this retribution. Imperial Father protected her for so many years, and finally made a decision…”
Xue Sui took the celadon vase from Xiao Zhao and personally arranged the winter plum blossoms, smiling slightly.
“What about the others?”
Wen Jia glanced at her.
“The Crown Prince falsely issued an imperial decree. Imperial Father, considering it his first offense, has fined him one year’s salary, confined him to the Eastern Palace, and ordered him to re-catalog and proofread the palace archives within three months…”
“Prince Duan requested to guard the imperial mausoleum. Imperial Father did not grant his request but instead ordered him to lecture at the Imperial Academy for half a year, specializing in the principles of sovereign and subject for the imperial clan’s children…”
Xue Sui remained silent.
Wen Jia asked, “Is Ping An satisfied with this outcome?”
Xue Sui lowered her eyes, looking at her hands, her fingertips gently tracing an old scar on her wrist…
“I will be satisfied when all the traitors are executed…”
Regardless, the matter that had been lingering for so long had finally been settled.
The punishment of the imperial princes and princesses showed the extent of the Emperor’s wrath.
In the tea houses and taverns on street corners, storytellers tapped their wooden blocks, lamenting day after day about “the heartlessness of the imperial family.” The common people looked towards the palace walls, saying that the snow this winter would likely freeze the vermilion gates.
Xue Sui lived in the side hall of Hanzhang Hall, day after day, listening to the sound of sutras being chanted from the next room…
She stayed there to recuperate for over two months.
From Winter Solstice to Great Cold, during her time in Hanzhang Hall, the Empress Dowager did not cause any trouble, and Li Zhao and Li Huan seemed to have vanished.
She was as quiet as aged wine locked away in a cellar.
Isolated from the world—
When Shangjing City welcomed its first snow of deep winter, she could finally get out of bed with Xiao Zhao’s arm for support and walk slowly, then walk briskly on her own through the shattered jade-like flying snow…
After a long illness, she had finally recovered.
Xiao Zhao held a bronze mirror, standing under the candlelight.
She watched as Xue Sui picked up a razor and trimmed her newly grown, uneven short hair to the root.
The person in the mirror had a thin face, her illness faded, and in her thinness, there was a certain tranquility of a monastic.
“Miss… can this hair really not grow back dark?”
Xue Sui turned her head, her gaze falling on Xiao Zhao’s reddened eyes.
Ever since she shaved her head, this maidservant always liked to wipe away tears behind her back.
Xue Sui smiled and asked, “Doesn’t a bald head look good?”
“Miss is naturally beautiful, even a bald head looks better than other young nuns, but…” Xiao Zhao sniffled, her voice tinged with sadness.
“This maidservant still prefers to see Miss adorned with flowers and jade…”
Back then, the Eldest Young Master would always find remedies to make Miss’s hair grow beautifully, dark and lustrous, making others envious.
Xiao Zhao suddenly missed the Eldest Young Master.
He doted on Miss the most; he must have a way to make Miss return to her former self.
“I wonder when we will see the Eldest Young Master again…”
Xue Sui’s hand holding the razor paused slightly. She looked at the reflection in the bronze mirror and smiled gently.
“Pack up. We should take our leave from the Princess.”
“Is Miss really going to Shui Yue Nunnery? The practice is so austere…”
“Silly girl…” Xue Sui interrupted her, saying softly, “Although the convent is austere, it is much cleaner than this palace city.”
A gust of north wind stirred the remaining snow on the eaves. Princess Tuya entered gracefully, stroking a hand warmer, silver bells on her wrist jingling softly.
The maidservant behind her held a sandalwood box.
“Has Sixth Miss Xue recovered?”
Xue Sui handed the razor to Xiao Zhao and rose to bow.
“Thank you for your concern, Princess. I have recovered and was just about to take my leave from you…”
Tuya smiled lightly, said nothing more, and turned to have her maidservant present the box.
“Li Dong had new winter clothes made for you. Try them on and see if they fit?”
It was a plain gray cloak that could be worn over the head, made of soft, finely textured material, perfect for covering her newly shaved head, providing warmth and concealing her appearance…
Xue Sui’s fingertips brushed over the soft fabric.
“Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Princess.”
She added, “Please trouble the Princess to inform His Majesty that Sixth Miss Xue requests permission to depart for Shui Yue Nunnery today, and hopes for his approval…”
“Does Sixth Miss know of the snow swans of Wulan Holy Mountain?” Tuya asked abruptly.
Then she slowly knelt on the Persian carpet and personally poured tea.
“Every year on the eve of the Awakening of Insects, they crash into the sutra banner poles in the Priest’s Hall… Year after year, like moths to a flame, martyrs, asking only for piety, not fate.”
Xue Sui shook her head.
Tuya said softly, “The priests of the Holy Mountain use the blood of the snow swans to dye the sutra banners and anoint the altars… Perhaps this is where the snow swans wish to go…”
“The Princess has clarity in her heart.”
“Unfortunately… no matter how the Holy Mountain’s sutra banners flutter, they cannot overcome the wind and snow of Shangjing.”
Tuya suddenly lifted her sleeve, removed the silver bells from her wrist, and solemnly pressed them into Xue Sui’s palm.
“These silver bells have accompanied me on my pilgrimage for many years. They have been soaked in the blood of snow swans and touched the spiritual essence of the sacred stones. They will bless your journey of cultivation with smoothness and peace.”
