It is very hot in June, and it is only cooler in the morning and evening.
Because the lotus bowl was used again last night, Huayang slept until the early morning. By the time she finished breakfast, it was already noon. If the ministers in the palace had little to do, the court meeting should have ended.
Before the summer heat set in, Huayang took the maids for a stroll in the Chen Mansion's garden, and on the way back they went to sit in Chunhe Hall.
My eldest sister-in-law Yu Xiu was also there. She was good at needlework and made a light and breathable blouse for my mother-in-law.
When Huayang came over, Sun was trying it on.
Sun said helplessly: "I have told your sister-in-law so many times to make me more clothes. I am too old to wear fancy clothes. Why waste good materials?"
Yu Xiu was not good at making jokes, so she gently helped her mother-in-law check whether the clothes fit her.
Huayang looked at his mother-in-law, whose face was still charming despite her age, and said with a smile, "Mother is a flower in itself, and these clothes are just green leaves to set off you."
Sun was so sweet to her daughter-in-law that she couldn't stop smiling. Her face turned red with smile: "If the fourth son could be even 30% as sweet as the princess, I would have fewer gray hairs."
After she tried on the clothes, Huayang left Chunhetang before the sun got too hot.
Chaoyue was holding an umbrella beside her, while Chaoyun was holding the princess' arm with one hand and fanning her with a round fan with the other.
The master and his two servants were so particular that they naturally couldn't walk fast. They came to Siyi Hall very slowly. Before they went in, they suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps.
This is the Prime Minister's residence. The servants have all learned the rules. Unless there is an emergency, they will not run around in a panic.
Huayang stopped and looked over in confusion.
The person who appeared in front of her after walking around the flower trees was actually Chen Jingzong, a man who at this moment should either be holding a court meeting in the palace or had already adjourned the court and was about to set off for Daxing Zuowei.
He seemed to be in a hurry and his face turned red from running.
This is so rare. He is so strong and has carried Huayang in his arms and on his back so many times. Unless he is extremely tired, his face hardly turns red.
Seeing Huayang, Chen Jingzong stopped. He was breathing rapidly and looked embarrassed, but his handsome face was solemn, and the look in his eyes when he looked at her was more complicated than ever before.
Huayang was about to ask him why he came back at this time when a low, ancient and faint bell sound suddenly came from afar.
Huayang's heart skipped a beat.
There are some temples in the capital, but these temples use small bells, and the sound of the bells cannot be heard very far. Only the big bells in the palace...
Like the surging tide, the second bell followed.
Chaoyue's hands holding the umbrella began to tremble.
The umbrella tilted, and the dazzling sunlight shone through.
Huayang closed his eyes, and two lines of tears fell down his pale face, like two clear streams, competing to wet the princess's cheeks.
Chen Jingzong came over and held her in his arms.
Apart from shedding tears, Huayang's body was as still as a flower or plant, but Chen Jingzong's chest was rising and falling, and his heartbeat was pounding like thunder.
It was not until the nine funeral bells announcing the emperor's death that Chen Jingzong's breathing calmed down a little.
Huayang's face was pressed against his chest. When the chest gradually returned to normal rise and fall, like a surging lake returning to silence, the shock and pain in her heart actually eased.
It was like a sudden rainstorm that turned into a continuous but endless drizzle of spring rain.
"Do you know, Father, how he left?"
Huayang buried his head in his chest and asked slowly.
Chen Jingzong: "When the court meeting was over and the emperor was about to leave, he suddenly vomited blood."
"He passed away very quickly. He only had time to tell us three things before he died."
He repeated Emperor Jingshun's three sentences to her word for word.
The first two were major events, which were what a wise ruler should be most concerned about before his death, and were within Huayang's expectations.
The only thing was that the emperor was still worried about the third thing, that he could no longer play chess with her.
The princess, who had been crying silently since the bell rang, finally cried out loud.
.
Huayang just wants to see his father as soon as possible.
As the carriage was too slow to be prepared, Chen Jingzong directly helped Huayang onto his horse's back. He then mounted the horse, held her tightly with one hand and grasped the reins with the other, and galloped away as fast as he had come.
The horse's back was bumpy and the sun was glaring.
Huayang half leaned in Chen Jingzong's arms. With him around, she didn't need to worry about bumping into anyone or falling off the horse at such a fast speed.
Huayang just stared blankly at the stone road under his feet that was rapidly receding but extending endlessly. Sometimes his vision was clear, and sometimes it would suddenly become blurred.
The Chen Mansion was very close to the imperial city, and it only took a cup of tea for a horse to gallop there.
Chen Jingzong carefully carried her off the horse.
The gates of the imperial city are opened, and standing under the towering gates, one can see a long, straight, wide palace road. Passing through Duanmen, Wumen, and Taihemen, and around the three main halls of Huangji, Zhongji, and Jianji, and then passing through Qianqingmen, one reaches the Qianqing Palace.
The ministers and Huayang are familiar with this road.
When she was a little princess, she liked to let the eunuchs and palace maids take her around the palace to play. This road was her favorite because she would meet many people on the road. She had seen the civil and military officials who were majestic outside respectfully walk along this road to pay homage to her father. When those officials saw her, they would also show a gentle and caring smile. It was not until she grew up that their love turned into respect.
The Queen Mother will discipline her and not allow her to run around in the front palace, as that is against the rules and etiquette.
Of course, the queen mother was a good mother. She cared about her and her younger brother and taught them strictly, hoping that they would grow up to be the crown prince and princess praised by the subjects.
It is undeniable that the Queen Mother was much more dedicated in raising them than the Emperor was, but being dedicated also meant more hard work and more fatigue.
But hardworking people may not necessarily receive gratitude from their children. When Huayang was still young, she and her brother always liked the emperor more because he was very gentle, especially to her. He would give her almost anything Huayang wanted. Her mother opposed her coming to the front palace, but the emperor personally took her to play. Sometimes he would hide her behind the dragon throne or the screen so that she could eavesdrop on his conversations with his ministers.
Her mother is the best mother, and her father may not be the best emperor, but he is the one who dotes on her the most in the world.
Her father was gone, and her mother and brother were still her relatives. However, Huayang knew that although her mother, who was always strict, loved her, she would put rules before this love. Not to mention her brother, he would grow up quickly and put many things before her sister. Even if he didn't get married, he would not make time to talk, play chess, and eat with her like his father did.
He came in a hurry, but once he entered the palace, Huayang walked very slowly.
When her father left, he took away almost all the human touch that was left for her in this palace. When she comes again in the future, she will attach greater importance to the power and majesty that this palace carries.
The queen mother said that getting married meant she had become a grown-up girl and could no longer act as she pleased.
Only Huayang knew that it was her father's passing that truly marked the end of this hurdle for her.
.
Palace of Heavenly Purity.
The palace servants had cleaned the blood stains on Emperor Jingshun's body and changed him into an ink-colored dragon robe.
The emperor passed away suddenly and had no time to prepare for his funeral, so mourning clothes had to be sewn on the spot.
Concubines, civil and military officials, and palace maids all knelt in a crowd. Chen Jingzong accompanied Huayang past these people. Finally, he knelt in the place where a prince consort should kneel.
Huayang stepped forward alone.
Empress Qi and the Crown Prince knelt side by side beside the dragon bed. Empress Qi had her face bare and tears were streaming down her face.
The thirteen-year-old prince had been wailing for a while. Now he lay with his upper body on the bed, holding his father's hand with one hand, as if his father would wake up again.
"elder sister."
Seeing his sister, the prince began to sob again.
Huayang knelt down, moved his brother's hand away, and held it himself instead.
My father's hands had grown cold, but they were still as soft as when he was alive. He closed his eyes, his face was pale, but his expression was still gentle.
The prince choked up and whispered in his sister's ear: "The imperial physician said that father was overworked due to worrying about state affairs..."
Huayang looked at his sleeping father with blurry vision.
She knew the truth: her father was addicted to women and abused elixirs, which had drained his body. Unless the root cause was treated, nothing else could save her father.
She couldn't cure the disease fundamentally, so she could only try temporary solutions, hoping to let her father live a few more years.
But God was unwilling to satisfy her greed and only allowed her father to live for nine more days.
Nine days are very short, but at least this time my father collapsed in the court, in front of the civil and military officials, and died in a dignified manner. He was not recorded in such a disgraceful manner by the historians, and was not ridiculed by future generations.
Huayang held his father's hand tightly.
This was probably the only way she could help her father share his worries since she was reborn.
.
The funeral was presided over by Empress Qi, the Cabinet, the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Observatory and other officials. Huayang did not need to do much. She changed into mourning clothes and knelt in the Qianqing Palace with her brother to keep vigil.
Civil and military officials also had to kneel before the spirit, but they all retreated outside the Duanmen Gate.
When night fell, the only people left in the Qianqing Palace were the empress, the crown prince and the two princesses.
Huayang knelt until midnight, then returned to the Qifeng Palace to rest, and then went to the Qianqing Palace to kneel again at 3:00 a.m.
During these two hours, Huayang lay in bed but had no desire to sleep.
Her father is gone and gone. She has experienced this kind of pain in her previous life and has been prepared for it in this life. When this day really comes, she will still feel the pain, but she will not let herself be completely immersed in grief.
She has more important things to do.
While her father was alive, she couldn't deal with Prince Yu. She couldn't even hint to her mother and father-in-law to prepare for a rainy day, for fear that her father would suspect that they were trying to frame Prince Yu.
Now that my father is gone and my younger brother is about to succeed to the throne, there are still twenty-eight days left before Prince Yu rebelled at the end of the month in my previous life. As long as my mother and father-in-law act in time, there is still a chance to stop Prince Yu's rebellion in advance.
The next day, it was still pitch black. Huayang met his mother in the Qianqing Palace. His younger brother was caught off guard and was so sad that he knelt until midnight and fainted. He hasn't woken up yet.
"Mother, I have something important to discuss with you. It would be best if you could invite Elder Chen as well."
Empress Qi was also dressed in white mourning clothes, with only a wooden hairpin on her head, and her beautiful face was without any makeup.
She had a lot on her mind and didn't pay much attention to her daughter's words. She just called her daughter aside and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"
Huayang was so used to his mother being like this that he no longer felt a little aggrieved. He just looked back at her calmly and said, "My father came to me in a dream last night and asked me to discuss this with you and Lord Chen."
Not knowing whether it was because her daughter's expression was too solemn or her words shook Empress Qi's contempt, she thought for a moment and told her daughter to go to the imperial study in the Qianqing Palace and wait first.
Huayang sat in the imperial study for a while, and Chen Tingjian arrived first.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, Chen Tingjian had almost not slept the night before. Also in his fifties, he inevitably looked haggard, but his eyes were sad but firm and restrained, as if he could hold up the collapsing building by himself.
Chen Tingjian came here at the suggestion of Empress Qi. He thought Empress Qi had something important to discuss with him, but he didn't expect to see the princess' daughter-in-law in the imperial study.
Chen Tingjian's attitude towards Empress Qi and the princess' daughter-in-law was definitely different.
As soon as he met Huayang, Chen Tingjian's eyes became gentle and compassionate, as if the person standing opposite him was the little princess of seven or eight years old, who was very sad and needed his comfort.
Huayang burst into tears.
Chen Tingjian was also sad. Although Emperor Jingshun was not the truly wise monarch in his mind, he was also a good emperor who was generous and loved his people. He knew that they, the ministers, would not let the people down, so he dared to let them go, and he firmly supported them when the cabinet needed them.
"Princess, please accept my condolences. The late emperor loved you the most and would not bear to see you so sad."
Huayang nodded and wiped away his tears with a handkerchief.
At this time, Empress Qi also arrived.
(End of this chapter)