Chapter 6: The End of Eternity 7. The
The ceremonial procession was so huge that it stretched for almost twenty or thirty feet.
Although the buildings in the North Palace are old, the exterior decoration has been greatly improved since Liu Xiu's five sons moved here to live. The gates of each mansion are built with white marble steps, the doorposts are covered with gold, and the walls are whitewashed. When a carriage passes by and you glance outside, you will feel that these facades are magnificent and full of wealth.
"This is your brothers' home. If you get bored living in the palace, you can go out and visit them. I remember that the Grand Herald's family lives not far away. That's your uncle's home. Relatives should visit each other more often."
Liu Liliu bit her lip, lowered her head, fiddled with the belt on her waist with her fingers, and never said a word. I pointed at the palace outside the window, but she didn't even raise her head.
The carriage stopped, and I took her hand with a smile. Her hand was cold, which was rare in the hot summer. "We're here! You must be more intimate with your mother. She will be very happy to see you. Don't be too distant and disappoint her."
"Mother..."
"Good boy, she is your mother, why are you so awkward?"
The bamboo curtain was rolled up, and I pulled the dejected Liu Liliu out of the car. The housekeeper who was in charge of looking after the palace was already standing at the door to greet us.
In fact, this is just an inconspicuous side hall, with not many rooms, but the space is spacious. There is no tree in the bare courtyard, but there are a lot of grass.
"What's going on?" I pointed at the overgrown area and scolded the housekeeper. "How could a place where people live be so lifeless? Where are all the servants in this house? Are their hands or feet rotten? They can't even pull out a blade of grass?"
The housekeeper was so frightened that his legs were shaking. He knelt down and said, "Please forgive me, Queen! I know I was wrong."
I said angrily, "Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you are not under the supervision of the Shaofu. The government does not pay you a salary, but don't forget that all the staff here are paid from the Pei Wang's fief. Are we spending money to support you guys just to make you lazy and perfunctory in treating the Queen Mother Pei?"
The housekeeper was so frightened that he could not speak, and could only kowtow on the ground. I looked around and pulled Liu Liliu towards the main house. As we stepped onto the stone steps, I heard the housekeeper trembling behind me and replied: "The Queen... Queen Mother Pei lives in the side wing..."
I retracted my steps and turned back to ask, "Why don't you live in the main house, but live in the side wing?"
"Ever since Queen Mother Pei moved here, she has been living in the side wing. She once said that she was not worthy of living in the main house... I naturally followed Queen Mother Pei's wishes. Since she fell ill, the imperial physician also said that the side wing was not well ventilated, dark and damp, and not suitable for recuperation, but Queen Mother Pei insisted on not moving to the main house, and we really had no choice."
I waved my sleeves and turned to the side room. When I reached the door, I ordered the bodyguards to stay at the door, and only Liu Liliu pushed the door open and entered.
The side wing was just as the family leader had described. Even in the hot summer, as soon as you stepped in, you could still feel a cool breeze blowing towards you. The furniture in the room was simple, and there were copper lamps in each corner to illuminate the cramped space.
The bed curtains were hung low, and when you got closer you could smell a faint scent of herbs.
"Who?" A hoarse voice called out vigilantly from inside the tent.
I didn't say anything, just stared at the curtain quietly. After a while, a cough was heard, and a shadow sat up in the tent: "Come here——"
I turned around and pulled Liu Liliu, motioning her to come over. Liu Liliu frowned and shook her head desperately, I scowled, pursed my lips, and pushed her on the back.
She walked slowly to the bedside. The person behind the curtain was still coughing. She slowly reached out and lifted a corner of the curtain.
I stood about 20 feet away and saw the corner that was lifted up revealing Guo Shengtong's haggard face. Liu Liliu's eyes widened, his hand suddenly trembled, and he let go and jumped back three or four steps.
"Ah..." Guo Shengtong exclaimed, and hurriedly waved open the curtain. The light gauze fluttered, and the mother and daughter inside and outside the tent looked at each other from a few steps away, "You...you are..."
Liu Liliu took a few steps back. Guo Shengtong lay sideways on the edge of the bed and screamed, "Don't go - Liliu, I know it's you! Liliu - my daughter..." Her right hand stretched straight out towards Liu Liliu, tears streaming down her weathered face. "Come here, let me take a good look at you, my daughter, my daughter..."
Li Liu seemed frightened by this scene. He didn't know how to respond to the tearful old woman in front of him. He looked at me in panic as if asking for help.
I nodded and smiled at her soothingly, and Liu Liliu's pale and tense face finally relaxed, and she forced a smile at me.
Guo Shengtong noticed something strange about her daughter and slowly turned her head following her gaze. I met her eyes and stared at her without blinking. I saw her expression change from sadness to surprise, and then to shock and anger. The strong hatred in her eyes seemed to burn a hole in me.
“Yin Lihua—” She screamed and slapped the bed board, looking crazy, “You…what are you planning? What have you done to Li Liu? You are a vicious woman, you have taken away my position as queen and my son’s position as crown prince, and now you are trying to murder my daughter with some sinister and shameless means? Yin Lihua, you despicable bitch, you cannot die a good death! I curse you to die a bad death—I curse your entire Yin family to die a bad death…”
"Pa!" A crisp and loud slap suddenly sounded in the cold room, interrupting Guo Shengtong's crazy cursing and completely shattering her heart that was on the verge of collapse.
Liu Liliu raised his hands and stood beside the bed, trembling all over. Guo Shengtong raised his head high, with nothing but shock on his face.
"You..." She covered her face and murmured in disbelief, "You are not Li Liu... You are... the daughter of that bitch... You are Liu Shou!"
I walked forward and pulled Liu Liliu, who was so stunned that she couldn't speak except for trembling, behind me: "She is Liliu!"
"You're talking nonsense—" Guo Shengtong was furious, "cough cough cough..." After a coughing fit, she finally caught her breath, but suddenly shouted: "I know, you evil-minded bitch, you want to use this method to sow discord between us mother and daughter, you have educated Li Liu to the point that she doesn't even recognize her own mother, you... you have such a vicious mind..."
"You...you shut up!" Liu Liliu suddenly jumped out from behind me, panting, her face flushed. Her voice was trembling, her slender back pressed tightly against my chest, but her arms subconsciously opened to protect me, "You are not allowed to...you are not allowed to slander my mother again! My mother raised me with great effort and treated me as her own child. She never looked down on me because I was born out of wedlock. I have everything that my sisters have. My sister is younger than me and is my mother's biological daughter, but my mother has never ignored me because she favors her! How can you...how can you insult my mother like this?"
"Your...your mother?" Guo Shengtong gasped, her face looking like she was crying and laughing at the same time. She was extremely sad and angry. She suppressed her breath deeply in her throat, and then suddenly burst out. She patted her chest frantically, feeling heartbroken. "Look carefully, I am your biological mother! I gave birth to you. I carried you for ten months and gave birth to you. Is it just for you to help outsiders humiliate me like this?"
Guo Shengtong was like a madman, behaving wildly. I dragged Liu Liliu behind me again and scolded him, "If you are sick, you should take good care of yourself! If you have any dissatisfaction, just come to me. Why scare the child?"
Guo Shengtong just cried out: "You are my daughter! The daughter I have waited my whole life for! Why do you treat me like this? You admitted that you were the mother of an adulterer and slapped your biological mother. Do you still have any filial piety as a child?"
Liu Liliu bit her lip hard, her face flickering, half fear, half stubbornness. I held her in my arms and patted her back gently. She suddenly broke free, pointed at Guo Shengtong and said tremblingly: "No matter who you are, I only recognize my father and mother! I have eyes, ears, and a heart. I can see, listen, and think. You know why my father deposed you in the early years. You know what you did to my ninth brother. My mother has never said a bad word about you in front of me in the past ten years. She always taught me that my uncle's family surname is Guo, so I must not forget my roots and must abide by filial piety. She treated me sincerely, but you made malicious speculations, which shows that you are not right in your heart. My father is a benevolent monarch. There is no one more gentle and kind than him. He has been married to you for more than ten years and finally couldn't stand you... How dare you call yourself my mother? I tell you, I have only one mother, and I will always recognize only her in my heart. My uncle's family surname is Yin, not Guo!"
After these cruel and heartless words came out of her mouth, Guo Shengtong suddenly stopped crying.
Liu Liliu held my arm in disgust and said, "Mom, let's go quickly... You kindly persuaded me to visit her, but it's better not to see her."
"Li Liu, you can't say that. After all, this is yours..."
"Cough... cough... cough... cough... cough... cough... cough... cough... cough... cough... After a burst of rapid and violent coughing, Guo Shengtong held his chest and curled up in pain.
Liu Liliu was getting more and more anxious to pull me away, saying, "People's hearts are filthy, and this room is also tainted with bad luck. Mother, you'd better not stay here, lest you get sick!"
I was just about to say a few words of persuasion when I heard Guo Shengtong lying on the bed moaning hoarsely: "Don't go... cough cough cough, Li Liu, cough cough, Li Liu... Li Liu... cough cough cough cough, give my daughter back to me... give it back to me... cough cough cough... cough..."
When Liu Liliu heard this, he was so angry that he stomped his feet, twisted his waist, turned around and ran out.
In the dim and cold room, heart-wrenching coughs and bellows-like wheezing sounds echoed one after another.
With my hands in my sleeves and clenched fists, I walked slowly and heavily to the bedside. Looking at her miserable appearance with haggard face and disheveled hair, I suddenly felt that the resentment that had been suppressed in my heart for a long time had finally been released. I looked down at her, watching her struggle and wailing on the brink of life and death with cold eyes.
"The imperial physician said that there is something wrong with your internal organs. Even if the gods came down, they couldn't save you."
She desperately covered her mouth, her wide-open black pupils and bruised eye circles made her look indescribably weird: "Cough cough... cough cough..."
"You've been coughing up blood for a long time. I heard Wan'er beside you describe it as if you drank a bowl of black medicine, you would cough up half a bowl of bright red blood. This child really loves to exaggerate, don't you think?"
“Cough cough… cough cough cough…”
"I have raised this daughter for you for eleven years. What do you think of her? Isn't she beautiful? She is as stunningly beautiful as Empress Guo was back then. Moreover, she is very well-behaved, obedient, gentle, filial, and considerate. I think with her by my side, my life in retirement should be very interesting."
She stared at me with a cough, bright red blood oozing out from between her fingers.
I suddenly clapped my hands and said with a smile, "Oh, right, there are your five sons. Among these five brothers, I think Liu Yan is barely obedient, but none of the other four brothers act like brothers! Oh, I worry about them every day. On weekdays, you are behind them to guide and restrain them. Once you are gone, the four princes will lose their brains and make mistakes. I don't know what stupid things they will do. I feel nervous just thinking about it. Sister Guo, don't you think so?"
"Cough cough..." The blood between the fingers flowed very quickly.
After venting my anger, I suddenly lost interest and said, "Well, you should be busy now. It's getting late. If His Majesty can't find me, he will keep nagging me. I'm leaving now. If you want to scold me, you'd better seize the opportunity before I walk out of this door."
I turned around leisurely, and just as I reached the door, I heard a muffled "thump" behind me, as if something heavy had fallen to the ground. I stepped over the threshold, and suddenly a shrill scream came from behind me.
Inside and outside the door, it was like two completely different worlds. I put my hand on my forehead to avoid the glaring sunlight. My heart felt heavy, bitter, and empty. Before I knew it, a tear had rolled down my cheek.
"Mother!" Liu Liliu came over with an umbrella to shade me from the sun. "Don't be sad. It's not worth it."
I sighed, forced a smile, and looked around: "Where's Su He, is she in the car? This silly girl, it's so hot and stuffy in the car!"
Liu Li Liu Huer pursed his lips and smiled: "My cousin is not in the car. I know where she is, but I'm afraid that my mother will be unhappy if I tell her."
"Oh? Why would I be unhappy?"
She laughed even more happily. I observed her expression carefully and found that she really didn't take Guo Shengtong's matter to heart at all. In her eyes, Guo Shengtong was probably no different from an insignificant stranger, not even as important as Su He.
"Mother, come here..." She waved her hand for me to lean close to her ear and whispered softly, "My cousin has gone to Gaomi Marquis's Mansion."
"What?"
She suddenly smiled complacently and said, "I always thought that mother knew everything, but it turns out that she didn't know that my cousin had been secretly having an affair with the Sixth Young Master of Gaomi Marquis for a long time."
"Long...how long?" I hurriedly crossed the yard and ran straight out of the hall.
Li Liu said: "I am not very clear, but I overheard my cousin crying to her mother, worried that the queen mother would not agree to her and Master Deng's marriage."
Master Deng... the sixth son of Marquis Gaomi...
I suddenly stopped and Li Liu almost bumped into me. Seeing my expression change, she began to realize that something was wrong: "Mother! Could it be that... you really want my cousin to be the crown prince's princess?"
