The Beauty Within the Gates
Chapter 104
The Emperor closed his eyes for the last time in the middle of the night yesterday.
Illness had come like a mountain collapsing. Ever since the last time he went to the dungeon to visit the former Crown Prince, the Emperor had fallen ill and never risen again. Those old ailments buried deep in his bones surfaced one after another, and his body was no longer what it had once been.
He had already been bedridden. Who would have thought that, while being escorted away, the former Crown Prince would write a blood letter, then smash his head against a stone and die?
Everyone said that beneath imperial power, familial affection was thinner than paper. But as a father, how could he truly be heartless and without feeling?
He thought of the former Crown Prince as an infant in swaddling clothes, his eyes clear and bright, looking at him and laughing. When he first learned to speak, the first word he said was “Father.”
Later…
How had they reached today’s point? Aside from his mother’s teachings, it was ultimately the position of this empire that had blinded the former Crown Prince’s mind. Father and son drifted farther and farther apart.
Once a person grew old, aside from the realm and position, he also began to long for family affection.
That blood letter from the former Crown Prince struck the Emperor deeply. After lying down on the bed, he could no longer get up.
Tomorrow would be the Imperial Grandson’s wedding. Perhaps because the festive air had given him a little lift, the Emperor unexpectedly gained a few degrees of spirit that night. Unable to sleep, he asked Liu Kun to help him sit up. He had barely eaten these past few days, but now he suddenly had an appetite and wanted some fish and meat. Liu Kun quickly ordered people to prepare it.
Once the meal was arranged, the Emperor ate half a bowl of congee, quite a few slices of fish, and even drank a small cup of wine. His complexion was rosy, and he showed not the slightest drowsiness.
In the silence of the deep night, he began looking back on his life. He asked Liu Kun, “You have served me your whole life. Have you ever regretted it?”
Liu Kun hurriedly shook his head. “For this servant to be able to serve before Your Majesty is this servant’s fortune.”
The Emperor sighed. “You… You are simply stubborn to death. If you had been a little more flexible, by now you would also hold a high position, with children and grandchildren filling the hall.”
Liu Kun said, “This servant’s life was picked back up by Your Majesty. If not for Your Majesty, this servant would long ago have become a wronged ghost in the underworld. This servant does not regret it at all. Following Your Majesty and enjoying wealth and honor, who knows how many people envy this servant? This servant’s fortune is very deep, and it was all bestowed by Your Majesty.”
“Can I bestow fortune now?” The Emperor laughed. “That mouth of yours, after all these years, I truly could not do without it.” He paused, then said again, “These past few days, I often dreamed of Nian’er. One moment she is crying, the next she is laughing. No matter how I try to persuade her, she will not listen. Is she still resenting me…”
Liu Kun quickly said, “Your Majesty is thinking of the Empress in your heart. What one thinks of by day, one dreams of by night.”
No one else knew, but only Liu Kun was aware that as early as when the Emperor ascended the throne, he had quietly posthumously conferred the title of Empress upon Lady Zhou, Xie Nian. Because of this, no matter how the Crown Prince had petitioned on Lady Zhou’s behalf for the title of princess, His Majesty had never agreed.
“How could I not think of her?”
In this lifetime, he had wronged too many people to secure this throne. But the only one who filled him with the deepest guilt and whom he could not let go of was Xie Nian. He had not been able to give her even one day of comfort and ease in life. After her death, he could not openly give her a title. In the end, this became a knot in his heart that he could never release.
Carrying such regret, what face would he have to meet her underground? Even if she did not blame him, how could he himself ever be at peace?
“Find a proper time and let her return to the ancestral line. Tell the world that she was my first Empress.”
Liu Kun bowed and nodded. “This servant understands.”
“As for the Crown Prince’s identity, whether as an adopted son or a foster son, he is still my son.”
After a few cups of wine, the Emperor’s eyelids slowly began to grow weary. “As for the Yang family, I have given them plenty. All these years, in order to suppress Empress Yuan’s influence, I favored Noble Consort Yang alone. Though she did not have the title, everything she enjoyed was even richer than what the Empress had. We have already reached this age. At my age, why cling to the title of Empress? Greed for more brings disaster. Madam Yuan was an example.”
Liu Kun listened carefully.
“If I do not make it through tonight, then withhold the mourning first and do not announce it. Seal off the news. Wait until after the Imperial Grandson’s wedding. Strike the funeral bell at noon the day after tomorrow.”
The imperial lineage was thin. Three years of mourning could not be allowed to delay them…
“Your Majesty possesses the body of ten thousand years. You will surely hold on. After the Imperial Grandson’s wedding, in another year, Your Majesty may even see a little great-grandson.”
He did wish to live a few more years, to watch the Crown Prince ascend the throne, to see the Zhou family’s descendants flourish, and to see the world stabilize.
But what if he lived a few more years? When had this empire under heaven ever truly been stable?
No sooner had those words fallen than a eunuch entered from outside and reported, “Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”
Ever since the Crown Prince learned of his own identity, he had only asked once, “Who was she?” After that, he had never again asked the Emperor about his birth. But his devotion to the Emperor remained unchanged. He never slackened in his filial duties. After the Emperor fell ill, the Crown Prince came once in the morning and once in the evening. Today, because of the Imperial Grandson’s wedding, he had come later. Hearing that the Emperor had not yet gone to sleep, he had someone come in to announce him.
After entering, he saw that the Emperor was still sitting on the soft couch, with a table of wine and dishes laid before him. He paused slightly. “Father, is your body somewhat better today?”
The Emperor forced up his spirit and had Liu Kun add a bowl, chopsticks, and a wine cup for the Crown Prince.
“It has been a long time since father and son drank together. I still remember those years on the battlefield, looking toward the rivers on the opposite bank. You and I each held a wineskin, toasting Heaven and Earth, toasting the souls of the dead, with the whole realm beneath our feet, certain we would take it. How magnificent that was. And now…”
He lifted his head and looked at the Crown Prince before him. His bearing still remained, but fine lines had also appeared across his forehead and at the corners of his eyes. The Emperor sighed.
“You have grown old too. My grandson is getting married. How can I not accept my own age…”
Seeing him pick up the wine pot again, the Crown Prince advised, “Father is still taking medicine. A small cup or two is enough. Please take care of your body.”
The Emperor, however, did not heed the advice. He looked steadily at the Crown Prince and said, “I cannot accompany you to the end of this road. The road that remains, and the realm I have built, will be entrusted to you.”
The Crown Prince’s heart jolted. “Father’s body will recover very soon…”
The Emperor knew his own body. He had long since asked the imperial physicians and knew he could not last many more days. That he could sit here now was merely the final flare before the lamp went out. He shook his head. “I am going to see your mother.”
The Crown Prince’s throat moved lightly, but he did not speak.
“I know you resent me in your heart, feeling injustice on your mother’s behalf. But how has there been even one day when I was at peace? After I married her, she never complained. Even when she could not eat her fill, she still wore a smiling face. Before me, she was always smiling. Only at the very end, after looking at you once, did she shed tears.”
The wine entered his throat and rose to his head. The Emperor suddenly lowered his head, his voice choking. “I wronged her…”
Once he lowered his head, he never lifted it again.
His head slowly tilted to one side. In the instant he fell, the Crown Prince rushed over and caught him in time. He cried out, voice breaking, “Father.”
Liu Kun froze, then quickly reacted. His legs weakened, and he knelt on the floor, crying out, “Your Majesty…”
The imperial physicians came in, but the man had already breathed his last. No matter how they tried, there was no way to reverse Heaven’s will.
Liu Kun read out the Emperor’s final wishes.
In the latter half of the night, the Crown Prince summoned Xie Shao and had him personally lead men to surround the Emperor’s sleeping palace. No one was allowed to enter.
He kept watch until dawn. Only when Pei Qing came to replace him was Xie Shao able to rest.
On the Eastern Palace’s side, no one knew anything. The festivities continued.
An imperial marriage was full of ceremony. Ming Wanrou left the Ming residence just after dawn. She knelt to Heaven and Earth, knelt at the imperial ancestral temple, and only after completing the entire set of rites did she enter the bridal chamber at dusk.
Once she sat on the wedding bed, there was another round of fussing: the nuptial wine, the binding of hair…
By the time everything was done, the sky had already turned completely dark. Inside the room, red candles as thick as arms had been lit everywhere.
Only after the managing momo and the others withdrew did the maid beside Ming Wanrou take away the round fan in her hand. The dangling tassels and sea pearls on her phoenix crown still covered her face, so her features could not yet be seen clearly.
Zhou Kuang walked over and sat on the wedding bed with her. Turning sideways, he asked, “Are you tired?”
The closer it came to this moment, the more nervous Ming Wanrou became. She shook her head, and the tassel beads clattered noisily. “Not tired.”
Zhou Kuang reached out. His fingers gently brushed aside the tassels blocking her face. Ming Wanrou instinctively shrank back, lifting her eyes to look at him. There was caution in her gaze, timid and shy.
She let him place the sea-pearl tassels onto the phoenix crown. Then, laboriously recalling the instructions the momo had given her for the wedding night, she stood up and said sincerely to the Imperial Grandson, “Your Highness, let me help you undress.”
Zhou Kuang looked at her suspiciously. “Dressed like that, how can you help me undress?”
Ming Wanrou froze. “Then…”
“You come here first. I will take yours off for you, then you can help me take mine off.”
At first hearing, these words sounded somewhat improper. But thinking about it carefully, there seemed to be nothing wrong with them either. The momo had instructed her to help the Imperial Grandson change, but she had not said the Imperial Grandson could not help her change first.
The maids had already been sent out by Zhou Kuang. She truly could not remove the phoenix crown on her own. Ming Wanrou obediently walked over and sat beside him, leaning her head toward him. “I will have to trouble Your Highness.”
This was Zhou Kuang’s first time touching a young lady’s hair ornaments. Seeing the jade hairpins and golden beads caught among her hair, glittering with jewels, bright and dazzling, soft and exquisite, he did not know where to begin. After studying it for a while, he finally raised his hand.
Afraid of tugging her hair, he fussed for a long time and still failed to remove the phoenix crown. The young lady had not spoken yet, but he himself grew anxious first. In the end, he simply pulled her onto his lap and made her lie there. “Lie like this for a while. It will be done very soon.”
Ming Wanrou was pressed into his arms, face down, her nose almost blocked. Left with no choice, she propped up her chin with both hands. “There is no rush. Your Highness may take it apart slowly.”
A moment later, warm breaths passed through the fiery-red wedding robes and slowly soaked into her skin. Heat surged through Zhou Kuang’s chest, and he grew more and more impatient. By the time he finally removed the phoenix crown, his hands were trembling slightly.
“It is done. Get up. I will help you remove the clothes.”
He had thought the phoenix crown would be the most troublesome thing. Who knew that once they reached the wedding clothes, there would be a row of knotted buttons fastened tightly in place?
Having no patience left, he took the scissors from the table, the same pair they had used earlier to cut and bind their hair, and no longer cared about the sea pearls on the buttons. With one snip, he cut it down.
Ming Wanrou paled in shock. “Your Highness, the pearls…”
The wedding clothes had been hurriedly made by the palace women under the Crown Princess’s orders. Every pearl had been carefully selected. With that single cut, at least a dozen pearls had fallen.
How much silver would that cost?
“No need for them.” A spring night was worth a thousand pieces of gold. Who still had time to care about those troublesome sea pearls?
He had originally intended to wait for the young lady to help him change as well, but now he no longer had any interest in that. In a few swift motions, he removed his wedding robes himself. Like Ming Wanrou, he was left only in the snow-white inner garment beneath.
What came next…
Ming Wanrou suddenly remembered something. “Does Your Highness not need to go out and entertain the guests?”
According to what the momo had said, she was supposed to bathe first, then wait for His Highness to return after entertaining the guests before they consummated the marriage. He seemed to have mixed up the order.
“Mother gave instructions. Today, there is no need for me to go out and thank the guests.” He could not bring himself to say the rest.
The Crown Princess’s original words had been: “You are already twenty-one, are you not? Heaven have mercy. At your age, your father already had you. Work hard and do what ought to be done. You need not worry about anything else.”
Back in Fengcheng, when had Jing Wang and Madam Zhou ever pressured him? He could do whatever he liked. Even if he did not marry, no one urged him.
After arriving in the Eastern Capital, once Jing Wang and Madam Zhou’s identities changed, they also changed. Not only them, but the Emperor and the officials in court, both openly and secretly, were all placing pressure on him.
Tonight, every one of them was probably craning their necks in anticipation, waiting for him to complete a great task. Best if he could produce a baby by tomorrow.
Zhou Kuang was not used to days like this. But since the other person was the young lady he liked, the more others urged him, the more it stirred his emotions.
If not for that disturbance, he would have embraced his beautiful bride long ago.
The order had somehow become scrambled, and this step came ahead of time. Ming Wanrou instantly did not know what she should do. She stood there hesitating, then was suddenly swept up horizontally in Zhou Kuang’s arms and carried toward the bed.
Once the bright-red curtains dropped, after a while, aside from a few pieces of clothing being tossed out one after another, nothing inside could be seen.
When that pressure came, Ming Wanrou was already nervous, like a startled bird. Panicked, she grabbed his arm. “Why not… Your Highness, look at that booklet again?”
Caught in a neither-up-nor-down state, Zhou Kuang felt as though his soul was about to leave his body. How could he still have the mind to search for some booklet?
He lowered his head, kissed her red lips, and softly fed her a reassurance. “Do not worry. I have looked at it no fewer than ten times. It is here. It cannot be wrong…”
When he sank down in one breath, the young lady beneath him cried out in alarm, “Gao Xian truly was not wrong. You are going to split me apart…”
On a wedding night, there was probably no one who would bring up another person at such a time.
After Zhou Kuang heard this cry from her, he only felt his scalp go numb, and his whole body tremble. In an instant, everything was over.
Seeing that he suddenly stopped moving, the young lady let out a long breath of relief. In her heart, her trust in Wen Shuse grew even stronger.
She looked at the husband still braced above her and kindly comforted him, “Your Highness need not be upset. I quite like Your Highness this way.”
She was afraid of pain. That one moment from him had nearly hurt her to death. She truly could not bear to continue.
Zhou Kuang’s face turned iron-blue. He fell down beside her without saying a word, staring blankly at the canopy above him, his face full of defeat.