Chapter 289 Meeting with Empress Dowager in the Palace Sets Her in a Dangerous Situation
After getting out of the carriage, the old eunuch smiled and greeted her. “Your Majesty, come with me. Her Majesty has been waiting for a long time.”
Mo Xuetong took the opportunity to slip a silver ticket into his hand, smiling. “How do I address you?”
“You can call me eunuch Yu. I am a servant in Cining Palace, taking care of Empress Dowager. Usually, I help my master with the garden.” Eunuch Yu received the silver ticket and became even more polite.
Inside his heart, he approved of the girl as he recognized her as a sensible woman despite her young age. It was no surprise that Princess Royal had her as a foster daughter as she was indeed a bright woman.
Following him in, Mo Xuetong smiled as she chatted. “So it’s Eunuch Yu. Eunuch Yu, I apologize for my ignorance as I was extremely nervous just now, having never received an order from Empress Dowager before. I wonder why Empress Dowager would want to meet me.”
She was sincere and respectful, showing a modest and docile att.i.tude.
“There’s no need to worry. Empress Dowager heard that Princess Royal had a new foster daughter, and wanted to see you for herself. Empress Dowager is extremely kind and loving, especially to the younger generation. If you can get Empress Dowager to like you, you will naturally have a good life.” Eunuch Yu smiled, as he expressed wishes for Mo Xuetong to appease Empress Dowager.
However, his words conveyed a vague meaning as Empress Dowager had always been residing deep within the palace, leaving the management of the Emperor’s harem entirely to the Empress herself. It was as if she did not care about worldly matters. However, even since she discovered that King Ning entered the palace, Mo Xuetong knew that Empress Dowager was merely waiting for an opportunity to strike for King Ning to become the next emperor.
However, she was unsure about why she was involved.
Perhaps now wasn’t the most ideal time for Empress Dowager yet?
She was full of doubts but still chatted with Eunuch Yu all the way to Cining Palace.
The current Empress Dowager sat on the throne at Cining Palace. She wore plain but prestigious clothes. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes were poised like an ancient well without ripples. However, her ordinary demeanor could not hide the royal aura that she involuntarily gave off. Lady of Xian, whom Mo Xuetong had met once before, and a woman in her late forties sat beside her.
There was another beauty sitting by her other side. She wore a glamorous dress and was holding a fan with a jade pendant hanging on it. The drawing on the fan indicated that it was a treasure.
Mo Xuetong went in and kneeled down in front of the Empress Dowager, who was sitting in the middle. “I bow in respect before Your Majesty. May you have prosperity and good health, together with eternal glamour.” As she spoke, she paid her respects.
“So you are the foster daughter of Mingzhu. Lift up your head.” Empress Dowager focused her glance on her face and examined it as she lifted up her head slowly.
“Empress Dowager, Princess Royal’s new princess is really pretty, comparable to the one from your family. If no one told me, I would have thought that she is your birth granddaughter.” Lady of Xian, who saw Mo Xuetong before, joked with Empress Dowager.
“Your words are really sweet. People will laugh at you.” Empress Dowager replied jokingly.
“That’s not possible. I dare to joke before Your Majesty only because you’re extremely kind. Even if I am a little overboard, Your Majesty will always forgive me.” Lady of Xian continued.
“That’s right. Everyone knows that Empress Dowager follows the Budda, and will not be angry at us. Take me, I could not find my direction when I entered the palace for the first time. It was due to the generosity of Empress Dowager that I was not punished, even though I forgot to pay my respects. Even thinking about it now makes me extremely thankful.” d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang, who was seated by them, joked as well.
Those words made Empress Dowager extremely happy as she giggled. “You are also so talkative, working with Ruoling to just flatter me.”
Then, she smiled and turned to Mo Xuetong. “Anping, please sit. If you kneel for too long, you will injure your own knees, and Mingzhu will be angry at me!”
Her words were very casual as if she were just joking with her own granddaughter, showing a faint sense of intimacy. The servants lifted Mo Xuetong up and sent her to sit on a large chair at the side. The servants then sent a cup of fragrant tea to her and then left.
“I heard that Princess Anping is not yet fourteen but she is so beautiful. Her beauty is unmatched by anyone within the imperial palace.” Sitting beside Empress Dowager, Consort Yu covered her lips with her fan and smiled.
“That’s ironic because you are the prettiest in the entire palace!” Empress Dowager chided her jokingly before introducing her to Mo Xuetong. “Meet Consort Yu from Caiwei Palace!”
Consort Yu from Caiwei Palace was the sister of Yu Mingyong. Even though Yu Mingyong managed to not get jailed in the end, he was frightened by the Ministry of Justice and couldn’t eat or sleep well. Thus, he was sick upon his release. Furthermore, the affairs with the Yu family were complicated as well. It was definitely not easy to judge Consort Yu.
“Well wishes to Madame Yu.” Mo Xuetong stood up and bowed to Consort Yu respectfully. Anyway, Consort Yu was not only Emperor Zongwen’s concubine but also someone older than her. She had to act carefully and not show any weakness in front of her, for Consort Yu was not someone as harmless as she appeared to be.
“You are too polite, please sit.” Consort Yu replied politely, smiling as if she had forgotten about the conflict with Mo Manor. Standing up, she pulled Mo Xuetong up and examined her for a while before replying to Empress Dowager. “Empress Dowager, you are being too polite, my beauty cannot be compared to that of Princess Anping, for it is the first time that I have seen such beauty since my birth. It’s all thanks to the rule of Empress Dowager that we can have such a beauty in the Qin Kingdom.”
Mo Xuetong did not understand how her beauty was related to Empress Dowager’s rule. However, she lowered her gaze in embarra.s.sment upon hearing the compliment of Consort Yu, unable to utter a word. Her watery eyes were full of panic as she stared at Empress Dowager, blinking innocently.
“Alright, alright. You scared her. Come here, Anping, come to me.” Empress Dowager gave a kind smile as she pointed to beside her. A smart servant had already placed a stool next to Empress Dowager for Mo Xuetong to sit on.
“Anping, I heard that your mother is Luo Xia from Fu General Manor. I’m sorry for her early demise. It’s truly a pity that she left you behind alone. Mingzhu used to be extremely close to your mother but then they fell out with each other, and thus she had not contacted you all these while.” Empress Dowager sighed and touched Mo Xuetong’s head, looking at her with a peaceful and loving gaze.
“My mother had always been in poor health. She suffered from her illness for years, and finally…” Tears welled up in Mo Xuetong’s eyes as she struggled to continue her sentence. On her jade-like fair skin, her bright eyes misted. Without any makeup, her face looked delicate and made people feel pitiful for her.
Sorrow was shown on her face but her mind was thinking of other things. “Princess Royal had a conflict with mother? What type of conflict resulted in two best friends splitting paths till death?” In her previous life, not only did Princess Royal not ask about Mother at all, but she also brought down Fu General Manor. Could there be other hidden secrets?
Smiling, Empress Dowager patted her hand as she stroked the rosaries with her other hand. She comforted her. “At least your mother left such a beautiful daughter like you. Now that you became Mingzhu’s daughter, and since she was your mother’s best friend, you should treat her as your real mother and love her as such. Mingzhu has had a bitter life too but at least now you can be her comfort.”
“Your Majesty, you do love Princess Royal greatly. It is her blessing to have you as her mother, how can she have a bitter life? It’s even better now that she has a daughter. In the future, when she gets a good husband, Princess Royal will enjoy her life even more!” Lady of Xian smiled.
“That might not be right. Given the princess’s position today, not anyone can marry her.” d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang continued this topic smilingly.
“That’s not true. Princess Royal will not want her precious daughter to marry any ordinary man, and I’m sure our Empress Dowager would want her to have a good marriage as well.” Consort Yu’s fan swayed as she laughed out loud, reb.u.t.ting d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang.
“Indeed, Consort Yu. But there are not many who can match up to the position of our princess other than princes and kings. However, many of them already have wives, granted by the Emperor. Furthermore, our princess is too young and it would be too late to marry her to them. If Empress Dowager had known that she had such a beautiful granddaughter long ago, she would definitely have married her into the royal family, making for a proper and delightful marriage. Princess Royal would be satisfied too.” d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang said slowly.
As she spoke, she turned around and asked Empress Dowager, “Your Majesty, isn’t that true?”
“Your words are indeed very sweet. No wonder the duke is so mesmerized by you, having only a few old concubines and no one new.” Empress Dowager chided her jokingly again.
d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang was immediately embarra.s.sed. Indignant, she continued, “Empress Dowager, don’t listen to those rumors! I dare not meddle with the duke’s matters. Furthermore, it was Empress Dowager who arranged the marriage for me. Talking about it now makes me embarra.s.sed.”
“Oh, it’s my fault now. Could it be that you are unsatisfied with the marriage I arranged?” Empress Dowager smiled and put down the rosaries to sip at the tea the maidservant had just presented.
“Your Majesty…” d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang was red with embarra.s.sment.
“So she is d.u.c.h.ess Mingyang, the sister of d.u.c.h.ess of Zhen Manor!” Mo Xuetong alerted herself as she realized that only the intentions of Lady of Xian were unknown. She did not believe that the other three merely wanted to talk to her as the sly Empress Dowager should not have much time for mere chats.
“What is their purpose for today? Their topics all centered on marriage, so could it be that they want to marry me to someone?”
Even though there was no direct order given as for her marriage, all those in the palace would have known what Emperor Zongwen wanted for her. If the Empress Dowager wanted to settle her marriage now, wouldn’t she be worried that she might enrage Emperor Zongwen? If she would grant Mo Xuetong a marriage, who would the Empress Dowager marry her to? Was he someone equivalent to a king or prince?
Even though Mo Xuetong was still smiling with embarra.s.sment, coldness flashed across her eyes. She immediately lowered her head to hide the harsh coldness in her pupils as she wrecked her brains to think of a possible target that could match up to potential emperors like Feng Yuxuan.
“King… Ning!” Mo Xuetong suddenly remembered someone and froze. Her pupils widened as she gasped on cold air! Indeed, King Ning Feng Yuzhen could be compared to the likes of Feng Yuran.
Empress Dowager wanted to marry her to King Ning Feng Yuzhen!
She would use her t.i.tle as Empress Dowager to force her. What could she do? What exactly could she do?
The best way was to leave when Empress Dowager had not started on the matter, but it was impossible for her to leave now!
Suddenly, her heart pumped faster as cold sweat covered her body!
Even Emperor Zongwen could not oppose the orders of Empress Dowager.