BERW - Chapter 14
Chapter 14
From the palace gate they headed south the whole way, passing through sparsely populated streets, merging into the bustling market district, then through the tall city gate, along the official road from bustle into desolation, until at midday the long convoy halted on the open ground by the river.
After riding in a carriage all morning, Shen Yuyao felt as if her skeleton was about to come apart.
But it was only her imagination. In fact, she could still run and jump, and the moment she got down, she began romping about.
"The air is so fresh. The mountains are green, the water is lovely. It is truly beautiful."
Shen Yuyao admitted she had never seen much of the world. In the Modern World, she had started wearing glasses early; without them everything was blurry, and with them her nose felt terribly heavy. When she went out to play, they would fog up from sweat.
For all sorts of reasons, then, she had never been able to observe nature so freely and from every angle as she did now.
Not to mention that the ancient environment was far better than the Modern World's.
The guards and palace attendants all began bustling about preparing food. Qianyin Temple was not far from the Capital; it was just that Shen Yuyao had brought rather a lot of people this time, and since this was an outing, not a rush to arrive, there was no need to spur the horses on. That was why they had traveled all morning and still had not arrived.
But they were almost there.
"In a little over an hour, we will reach Qianyin Temple. The scenery there is beautiful; Yuyang, you will surely like it." Qin Shujun saw Shen Yuyao delighted by the simple mountains and water before them and laughed softly behind her hand. "I remember you went to the Hunting Grounds last year. How can you still be so interested in such ordinary scenery?"
The hunting grounds of the House of Shen covered more than half a mountain, with countless wondrous sights and strange rocks, and even more rare and exotic beasts. How could this small patch before them compare?
"Sister-in-law, that is not quite right. Mountains and waters each have their own wonder. Small hills and streams have a delicate beauty; great mountains and rivers have a vast beauty. I love them all."
Shen Yuyao simply did not love those palace walls and tiles that were like a prison. But people were always their own jailers; the true prison was never the high walls men built.
When Qin Shujun heard this, her expression stirred. She felt a little envious of Shen Yuyao, because in Shen Yuyao's words she sensed the breath of freedom.
It was the freedom that three years of palace life had stripped from her.
"Sister-in-law, we have finally managed to go out for once. Don't keep dwelling on unhappy things. By the way, didn't you say you used to play polo with your close friends from your maiden days? I remember Qianyin Temple has a polo field. When the time comes, why not invite your old friends and enjoy yourselves together? Wouldn't that be delightful?"
Shen Yuyao hoped to pull Qin Shujun out of the palace's whirlpool, not for any other reason, but simply because she did not want to see a woman with spirit and vision walk step by step toward destruction before her eyes.
This time, Qin Shujun was truly moved by Shen Yuyao's words.
She had gone too long without having a proper good time with friends, or sitting down to talk.
"But we are going to Qianyin Temple to visit Grandmother. Polo is noisy, and I fear it would disturb Grandmother. Besides, they are all very busy these days and likely have no time..."
"Other time they may not have, but they can surely find two days to come out and have fun. Besides, Grandmother will be happy just to see me. If I want to watch a polo match, Grandmother will definitely agree. I only ask you, Sister-in-law: do you want to play?"
Shen Yuyao did not care what difficulties there were; she only asked Qin Shujun whether she wanted to.
When Qin Shujun heard this, her eyes brightened.
Ever since she entered the palace, everyone around her had been telling her she could not do this and could not do that. No one had ever asked her what she wanted.
She wanted to say that she did not want to be any Crown Princess. She did not want to share her beloved with other women, nor raise another woman's child, and still less did she want to be shut inside the palace chambers for a lifetime, unable to move a single step away.
She did not want to drift further and further from her friends, nor to see her parents and kin only a few times a year.
She did not want to live under the same roof as a man who did not love her, nor to be the model Crown Prince's Senior Consort in the eyes of the world.
Too many refusals, too much unwillingness, had been pressed little by little into the bottom of her heart by time, and ruthlessly buried by her in a place without light or sky.
Shen Yuyao's question was like a chisel opening a crack in stone. Light filtered down, and the fresh air let her finally breathe for a moment.
"I do! Yuyang, can it really be done?"
The Original Owner was favored. This meant that the few people at the very top of the palace food chain all liked the Original Owner.
Including that old lady at Qianyin Temple.
"Of course. Leave it to me!" The reason Shen Yuyao had suggested going to Qianyin Temple was not only to find a place where the Emperor would feel at ease about her, but also because only the Empress Dowager could keep the Crown Prince in check.
Even the Emperor could not restrain him. After spectating the drama in person last time, she had come to understand: Shen Chong was severe on the surface, but in truth he would still yield for his children.
Shen Yuyao did not know how much affection Shen Chong still had for the Crown Prince, but she knew that parents sometimes yielded not because they doted on their child so much, but often because of habit.
Because they were parent and child, the parents were willing to indulge the child a little, subconsciously willing to retreat a little.
Shen Yuyao always felt that given the Crown Prince's temperament, if Shen Chong did not die within three to five years, the Crown Prince would surely wear Shen Chong down until he had little patience left for him.
The Empress Dowager and the Crown Prince were not especially close.
Although the Empress Dowager's surname was Zheng and she was still related to Zheng Wanwan, the Empress Dowager's Zheng was practically a separate household from Zheng Wanwan's Zheng.
The Late Emperor was the founding emperor. It was only that the Zheng Clan was powerful, so to stabilize the court's configuration, the Late Emperor greatly expanded the Inner Palace. At that time, the Late Emperor's first wife was in poor health and soon died of illness. Only afterward did he marry the Empress Dowager into the palace as Empress.
The Empress Dowager and the Late Emperor were about the same age; the Empress Dowager married for the second time, and the Late Emperor took a second wife.
The two were indeed well matched, but they had not come together for love; all sorts of interests were mixed in. Inside and outside the palace, rumors had long circulated that there was something fishy about the deaths of the Late Emperor's first Empress and the Empress Dowager's former husband, but no one dared say so openly.
At any rate, the Empress Dowager did indeed detest the Zheng family. After Shen Chong's Accession, the Empress Dowager would always go to Qianyin Temple for quiet cultivation, under the fine name of praying for the Late Emperor, and only return to the palace once at year's end.
After a simple picnic, they set out again and soon saw the main gate of Qianyin Temple.
Qianyin Temple was like any ordinary Taoist temple, built among the mountains. Because the Empress Dowager cultivated in quiet there, a road wide enough for carriages had been built from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside.
Qianyin Mountain was a great mountain. The road up was not exactly rugged, but it was rather bumpy; there were quite a few stones on the way. By the time they reached the front of Qianyin Temple, Shen Yuyao's face had gone pale.
This time she did not feel as if her skeleton was about to come apart; rather, she felt as if the lunch in her stomach was about to come back up.
The ancients adapted well. When Qin Shujun got down, her complexion was unchanged, and she even teased Shen Yuyao.
"Yuyang, your constitution is still a little too weak. When you begin training in Martial Arts later, you must have the Instructor give you a solid foundation."
Shen Yuyao wanted to say that once she learned to ride a horse, she would rather die than ride in any carriage again!
Quite a few female Taoists were already waiting in front of Qianyin Temple. The Female Taoist Nuns stood in a row; the two at their head both had white hair.
One looked rather familiar; she was a trusted attendant at the Empress Dowager's side.
Shen Yuyao hurried forward to greet her. "Aunt Qingzhen!"
The group bowed to the two of them. "This humble Taoist pays her respects to Princess Yuyang and to the Senior Consort."
Qingzhen then stepped forward alone and bowed. "This old servant greets the Seventh Princess and the Senior Consort. I trust the two noble ladies had a smooth journey?"
"No need for formalities. Thank you for your concern, Aunt. It was smooth, very smooth. Where is Imperial Grandmother?" Shen Yuyao was exhausted and only wanted to find somewhere to rest at once.
"When Her Majesty the Empress Dowager heard that the Princess was coming, she instructed this servant early on to invite the Princess to meet her at the back mountain." Qingzhen first answered Shen Yuyao's question, then gave a look to the Female Taoist Nun beside her.
Evidently it had already been arranged. The Female Taoist Nun came forward and spoke quietly to Qin Shujun, then led Qin Shujun and the guards to the guest rooms to be settled.
The Taoist priests in Qianyin Temple were all Female Taoist Nuns, while many of the Imperial Guards who had come this time were men. Fortunately, the guest rooms of Qianyin Temple were not too close to the rooms where the Female Taoist Nuns lived, so there was still room to accommodate everyone.
It would more or less hinder the Imperial Guards' daily patrols and duty shifts, but ordinarily there were also Imperial Guards at the Empress Dowager's side here. A mature procedure had long been established, so it was still very safe.
Shen Yuyao could see that the Empress Dowager only wanted to see her, not Qin Shujun.
Indeed, she had heard that the Empress Dowager was cold by nature and disliked meeting outsiders. She simply had not expected that even Qin Shujun, a Crown Prince's Senior Consort, counted as an outsider in her eyes.
This was not merely a cold nature; it was practically aloof and lofty.
But in the Original Owner's memories, the Empress Dowager was not such a difficult person to approach.
Shen Yuyao followed Qingzhen all the way to the back mountain. On the way, Qingzhen gave her a rough account of the Empress Dowager's daily schedule at Qianyin Temple. When she heard that the Empress Dowager joined the Female Taoist Nuns for morning lessons every day, Shen Yuyao was startled.
"The Female Taoist Nuns study Taoist texts in their morning lessons, and their meaning is obscure and difficult. Why would Imperial Grandmother be interested in such things?"
"The Empress Dowager has always loved reading the words of Laozi and Zhuangzi, valuing quietude and inaction, cultivating herself and nurturing her nature."
Qingzhen's reply was rather perfunctory; clearly this was not the real reason.
But Shen Yuyao could not be bothered to ask more. As long as the Empress Dowager was not obsessed with Taoist alchemy and stuffing lead into her stomach all day, it was fine.
When she met the Empress Dowager, Shen Yuyao was surprised. Although from the Original Owner's memories she already knew that the Empress Dowager was nearly seventy this year yet looked to be in her fifties, she had not expected that the real Empress Dowager looked even younger.
Perhaps it was because the Empress Dowager had a head of black hair. That hair of hers could have been used to shoot a shampoo commercial in the Modern World.
When she smiled, there were not many wrinkles on her face, and she had a youthful, doll-like face. Only the lines around her mouth and her clouded eyes revealed that she was no longer young.
The Empress Dowager herself was very tall, by eye a full head taller than Qin Shujun, about 1.7 meters, the height Shen Yuyao most wanted to have!
Right now Shen Yuyao was only 1.5 meters, and she firmly believed she would still shoot up a bit!
"Your granddaughter pays her respects to Imperial Grandmother. May Imperial Grandmother's fortune be as deep as the Eastern Sea and your longevity as enduring as the Southern Mountains!"
"Aiyo, Grandmother's good little darling, why is your little mouth so sweet today? Even your words sound so lovely. Come quickly to Grandmother's side!"
The Empress Dowager reached out, pulled Shen Yuyao into her arms, and rubbed her, so delighted that her eyes narrowed into slits.
Shen Yuyao was certain: this one truly liked her very much.
Who could resist a white, soft little dumpling? Until Shen Yuyao grew taller, it would be impossible for her to take off the cute-girl label!
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