The Empress Dowager closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her fair cheeks, but she paid them no heed. She only said, her voice full of disappointment, "Did your uncle and I put you on the throne just so you could say such things today? You are the Emperor. If you want the lives of the entire Lin family, simply issue the decree and have them taken."
Qi Junmu did not answer. He sat there quietly.
These were, after all, his true feelings—words he had held in and buried until his death in his previous life. In this life, he had finally found the perfect moment to speak them out loud.
Qi Junmu was truly calm. The Empress Dowager's grief, disappointment, anguish, and pain—he felt none of it. Deep in his heart, there was even a faint surge of satisfaction.
The Empress Dowager murmured softly, "Your Majesty, you are driving a dagger into my heart." Her expression defeated, she sat frozen on her chair, utterly exhausted.
Fuhua stood there at a loss, looking from the Emperor to the Empress Dowager, her face uneasy and dazed. She could not understand how things had come to this.
Qi Junmu slowly rose. He looked at Fuhua and said gently, "Imperial Mother is not in good spirits. Elder Sister, come back to the palace with me for now. Let Imperial Mother have some time alone." Fuhua looked at the Emperor's hands, clenched so tightly that the veins stood out, and knew that he too was not entirely at peace. She slowly stood and said hoarsely to the Empress Dowager, "Imperial Mother, this daughter takes her leave."
The Empress Dowager did not speak. The brother and sister walked out of the great hall together.
Outside, the sunlight was bright—almost too bright, stinging the eyes.
Qi Junmu walked slowly alongside Fuhua, not taking the palanquin. Ruan Jiqing and the palace attendants trailed far behind, not daring to come anywhere near the emperor now.
Fuhua felt that the road back to her palace was especially long today. All she wanted now was to sleep soundly. When she woke, she would still be the emperor's elder sister, the daughter cherished in the Empress Dowager's palm, the Grand Princess envied by everyone in the palace.
She only hoped this was all a dream.
"What is Sister thinking about?" In her daze, Fuhua heard Qi Junmu's voice.
She came to her senses and looked at him, her eyes full of complicated emotions. "And what is Your Majesty thinking about?" she asked.
Toward the Empress Dowager, Fuhua and Qi Junmu held two entirely different kinds of feelings—which was not surprising, for the Empress Dowager herself treated them differently as well.
In the previous life, the rift between Qi Junmu and the Empress Dowager had grown wider and wider. At first, Fuhua had tried to mediate between them. In the end, she could comfort neither side and could only stand at a distance, watching the mother and son drift further apart.
In her heart, the Empress Dowager was a loving mother, and Qi Junmu was a younger brother who protected her. Honoring the Empress Dowager was her duty; upholding the emperor's dignity was what she wanted to do.
She had not sided with the Empress Dowager, nor had she ever harmed the emperor. Sometimes, she even felt utterly useless.
Qi Junmu thought back to the past and smiled faintly—neither pleased nor sorrowful, nor holding much expectation.
He answered Fuhua's question, saying calmly, "I was only thinking—Sister was not so opposed to this marriage with Cousin Lin En before. Why are you suddenly unwilling now?"
Fuhua did not answer. In truth, she did not understand it herself. She simply felt, all of a sudden, that Lin En was not the man she wanted to marry.
She sympathized with Lin En's misfortune and respected him as a person. She also knew there were many advantages to marrying him—she would certainly be protected by her maternal uncle's family. Yet still, something about him felt wrong.
Seeing Fuhua's silence, Qi Junmu said, "Has Sister set her heart on someone else?"
Fuhua stopped abruptly. For a moment, she stood frozen. Then she shook her head and said, "There is no such thing."
Qi Junmu glanced at her but did not press the matter further.
His tone turned wistful. "Earlier, at the Imperial Mother's palace, I said some things that went too far. Sister, when you go to pay your respects to her in the future, please help smooth things over for me."
Fuhua gave a bitter smile. "Imperial Mother is furious this time. I do not know if she will even wish to see me."
Qi Junmu said, "Between mother and daughter, there is no lasting grudge. I will have someone escort you back to your palace."
Fuhua did not refuse. After Qi Junmu left in his palanquin, she slowly walked back to her palace under the attendants' company.
---
Shortly after the Emperor returned to Qianhua Hall, news arrived that the Empress Dowager's heart palpitations had flared up. Along with it came word that the Empress Dowager had ordered Wen Wan, Fuhua, and Yueqing to copy Buddhist scriptures.
The Empress Dowager said her heart was so troubled that only scriptures written with filial devotion could calm her.
Wen Wan was assigned the most—ten copies. Fuhua came second, and Yueqing the least. They all understood that the Empress Dowager was venting her anger. Wen Wan had secretly sent for the emperor, and in the end, the emperor and the Empress Dowager had clashed openly, so her fury naturally fell upon Wen Wan.
Yueqing was purely caught in the crossfire—her name had been linked with Lin En's, and in the Empress Dowager's eyes, that was already a fault.
Qi Junmu knew the Empress Dowager was displacing her anger, but he did not say much. Everyone must consider the consequences of their actions. In his previous life, he had lost his life for that very reason.
At this moment, Qi Junmu's thoughts were entirely on the Lin family. The Empress Dowager trusted the Lin family above all others. What had happened today would surely be reported to Lin Xiao by the Empress Dowager. Qi Junmu was wondering whether Lin Xiao would grow estranged from him because of this.
This was something that had never happened in his previous life. He did not know whether Lin Xiao's stance would change. After all, Lin Xiao was his maternal uncle, the head of the Lin family, and Lin En's father.
With this thought, Qi Junmu lowered his gaze and quietly turned these matters over in his mind.
---
When Shen Nian arrived at Qianhua Hall, he saw Ruan Jiqing pacing nervously back and forth at the entrance, his face clearly anxious and irritable.
At the sight of Shen Nian, Ruan Jiqing's eyes lit up. He hurried over, his face breaking into a nearly obsequious smile. "Marquis, you have arrived."
Shen Nian frowned, looking him up and down with a skeptical expression. "What is the matter with Eunuch Ruan? Have you encountered something joyful?"
"Oh, my dear Marquis! For this servant, seeing you is the greatest joy of all." Ruan Jiqing's flattery continued unabated. He tilted his chin slightly toward the hall and sighed softly. "His Majesty is in a foul mood. When he is displeased, can anyone else be pleased?"
Shen Nian's heart tightened slightly. He had never seen Ruan Jiqing wear such an expression before—it seemed the Emperor's mood must be truly terrible.
He lowered his voice as well. "What happened?" Then, with a look of sudden understanding, he said, "Is it because the Empress Dowager is ill, and His Majesty is worried and distressed?" Or perhaps the Empress Dowager had punished the empress, and the emperor, though pained, could not openly fall out with her and was instead fuming in silence?
The Empress Dowager summoning the imperial physicians was a major event—everyone in the palace was watching. Naturally, Shen Nian had heard of it.
However, the fact that the emperor and Fuhua had walked out of the Empress Dowager's palace together had not leaked out, so he only knew that the Empress Dowager was ill—nothing more.
"Marquis, please do not ask," Ruan Jiqing said with a frown. "This servant's words do not strike the right chord. I cannot speak to His Majesty's heart, nor relieve his gloom. His Majesty has always held you in the highest regard. When you go in, please do your best to comfort him."
Seeing Ruan Jiqing's miserable expression, Shen Nian thought to himself: So this isn't about the Empress Dowager, and it isn't about the empress either.
He grew concerned. In his eyes, the emperor was a fiercely proud man. If even Ruan Jiqing could plainly see his distress, then the matter must be rather serious.
With that, he said, "Then I will trouble Eunuch Ruan to announce me."
Ruan Jiqing replied, "Certainly. Marquis, please wait a moment."
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