Chapter 71: Implicating Yuanchun (Part Two)

It was already evening, and the setting sun was sinking in the west.

The banquet had ended, and Ningchun Hall gradually returned to a tranquil stillness.

The Empress Dowager walked slowly, facing the setting sun as she headed toward the lakeside. Her pearl-inlaid, phoenix-crowned headpiece gleamed with a brilliant radiance, and the golden-threaded embroidery on her lavish phoenix robe shimmered brightly.

She paused at the water's edge, her gaze stretching into the distance as she watched the sun slowly descending toward the horizon.

The setting sun, like a massive ball of fire, dyed the clouds at the edge of the sky in gorgeous shades of orange-red. The surface of the lake was also coated with a golden sheen, echoing the glowing evening clouds. A few egrets skimmed across the rippling water, the tips of their wings brushing against the sunset light as if they were biting into burning wisps of cloud. Nearby pavilions and towers were shrouded in a soft halo of light. The evening breeze blew, causing the flowers and trees to sway and rustle gently, whispering and singing softly for this serene evening.

The Empress Dowager looked upon all this with a tranquil expression.

Suddenly, she turned her head to look at Yuanchun, who was quietly following behind her. She spoke slowly, her voice soft yet every word clear: "You must know that your family's matriarch once implored me to make you a consort to the Emperor. Just now, the Retired Emperor spoke with me on the matter, and this affair is now dropped! This is because the Wang family and the Ningguo Mansion have successively brought ruin upon themselves and angered the Retired Emperor."

Upon hearing this, Yuanchun widened her eyes in shock. She raised her head to glance at the Empress Dowager, then immediately lowered it without a word. She stared at the foaming sea-and-cliff embroidery along the hem of the Empress Dowager's phoenix robe, a wave of disappointment welling up in her heart as something seemed to quietly collapse in that very moment.

Back then, Lady Jia had sent her into the Palace with burning expectations and a solemn tone, repeatedly urging her to strive and become a consort to the reigning Emperor. To this end, she had devoted herself to serving and pleasing Consort De—who was none other than the Empress Dowager before her—moving with utmost caution for fear of the slightest misstep. Her smile was always just right, and her words were invariably proper and thoughtful.

Now, it was announced that this endeavor had failed.

Inevitably, she felt a sense of loss. Although she believed the failure was not her fault, but rather the result of being implicated in outside turmoil, she still felt she had let down Lady Jia's high expectations and failed the Jia family.

However, beneath the disappointment, a subtle sense of relief also stirred within her. Although Emperor Taishun was the ruler, he was already nearing fifty, cold in temperament, and indifferent to his consorts. Deep down, she truly did not wish to become the consort of such an emperor. Having already experienced life within the deep palace firsthand, she found such an existence dull and lonely; she did not want to be "imprisoned" for life in a "place where one cannot be seen."

Seeing Yuanchun standing with lowered head and silent, the Empress Dowager softened her tone, her voice as gentle as a spring breeze: "Though you cannot become the Emperor's consort, I have grown fond of you. You are virtuous, filial, and talented, and you are well accustomed to serving me. Just continue to serve me as before. When you are a bit older, I will either release you to return home or arrange a good match for you."

Yuanchun slowly knelt down and bowed deeply in gratitude: "This handmaiden thanks Your Majesty the Empress Dowager for her grace. I shall wholeheartedly and devotedly serve the Empress Dowager, and never fail Your Majesty's deep affection."

The setting sun continued its descent, and the lake water had been stained a deep orange-red.

Both the Empress Dowager and Yuanchun gazed quietly at the setting sun, each immersed in her own thoughts.

The Empress Dowager seemed to be reminiscing about bygone years or pondering future arrangements. Her expression carried a touch of profundity, as tranquil as the lake water and as elusive as the evening clouds.

Yuanchun's gaze rested on the setting sun while her slender, delicate fingers stroked a jade bracelet on her wrist. Her thoughts drifted back to a scene from her memory:

It was an evening several years ago.

The setting sun shone upon the inner quarters of the Rongguo Mansion, bathing everything in a warm golden-orange hue.

A young master stood under the veranda, quietly gazing at the sunset in the distance with a look of intense concentration, as if pondering some profound question. The oblique rays of sunlight coated his indigo-blue robe in the color of marsh mallow, and even his hair was dusted with fragments of gold.

He was refined in appearance, slender in build, and possessed a scholarly aura.

He was none other than Yuanchun's full brother, Jia Zhu.

At that moment, the young maiden Yuanchun walked lightly toward Jia Zhu. Her eyebrows were painted like distant hills, her skin was as smooth as congealed fat, and her lips were like touched cherry blossoms. She wore a moon-white cloud-brocade skirt, and the pearl hairpins at her temples swayed gently.

She softly called out, "Brother Zhu."

Hearing the voice, Jia Zhu turned his head. Seeing it was Yuanchun, a warm smile immediately bloomed on his face, and he affectionately replied, "Elder Sister."

Yuanchun smiled brightly and said, "Congratulations, Brother Zhu, on advancing your studies! To be a scholar at fourteen! Truly remarkable!"

Jia Zhu gave a shy smile. "It is merely due to a stroke of luck. I must strive all the harder so that I may one day pass the provincial examinations and even the metropolitan examinations."

Yuanchun gazed at his slender cheeks, knitting her misty, distant-mountain brows together with concern. "Actually, given our family's wealth and prestige, even without achieving official honors, you would still have a bright future. Yet you study with such bitter diligence, which really makes one's heart ache for you."

Jia Zhu cast his gaze toward the distant sunset and slowly began, "Firstly, it is the expectation of our elders, which I cannot bear to disappoint; secondly, I wish to bring honor to our ancestors just as our grandfather did. And there is a third reason."

At this, he turned his head to gaze intently at Yuanchun.

Yuanchun blinked inquisitively and asked, "What reason is that?"

Jia Zhu smiled slightly and teased, "Elder Sister, you were born on the first day of the first lunar month—'A consort born on the first, an official born on the fifteenth.' You are destined for great wealth and nobility; who knows, perhaps one day you will become a prince's consort or even an imperial concubine. If I cannot become a high-ranking official in the future, how could I be worthy of being your brother?"

Hearing this, Yuanchun's delicate cheeks blushed with shyness, and her fair face carried a hint of feigned anger. "I... I don't want to be a prince's consort or an imperial concubine at all..."

Suddenly, Jia Zhu said, "Oh, right, I have something for you."

Yuanchun blinked her curious eyes again and asked, "What is it?"

Jia Zhu drew out a jade bracelet and handed it to Yuanchun.

Yuanchun's bright eyes lit up as she took the jade bracelet. "This bracelet is truly lovely."

She examined the jade bracelet closely for a moment before eagerly slipping it onto her wrist.

The brother and sister smiled at each other, then stood side by side in quiet appreciation of the sinking sun.

The afterglow of the sunset spilled over them, and the flowers and trees in the courtyard rustled softly in the evening breeze, whispering and singing as if for this warm and tender moment.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still, leaving only the setting sun, the evening breeze, and the figures of the brother and sister.

At that moment, the brother and sister seemed to melt into the radiance of the setting sun, becoming an eternal memory.

Yet fate did not favor Jia Zhu.

Before he was even twenty, Jia Zhu took a wife, fathered a son, and then fell ill and died...

Returning from her memories to reality, Yuanchun was still gazing at the sunset alongside the Empress Dowager.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she hurriedly and quietly wiped them away with her handkerchief, sighing deeply in her heart: "If Brother Zhu had not passed away from illness, the Matriarch perhaps would not have sent me into the Palace to serve as a palace lady. Brother Zhu would have made something of himself and brought great honor to our ancestors! Brother Zhu, if only you were still here, how wonderful it would be!"

The setting sun is infinitely lovely, but it is near dusk!

The lingering glow of the sunset gradually faded, and the clouds on the horizon shifted to a deep purplish-red.

The Empress Dowager's voice sounded softly, tinged with a hint of fatigue: "I am tired. Support me back."

Yuanchun instantly reined in her wandering thoughts and responded respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty."

She stepped forward and gently supported the Empress Dowager's arm, her movements tender and meticulous.

With their backs to the setting sun, the two of them walked slowly back toward Ningchun Hall, their shadows looking like pooled ink spreading across rice paper.