Su Li hadn"t even warmed the seat of her chair in the emperor"s palace when a voice called from the outside."Your Majesty, Esteemed Empress Dowager has invited Your Majesty to her hall."
Su Li really wanted to retort that she wasn"t meeting anyone, anytime soon.
She didn"t know anything about her present circ.u.mstances right now. She was running completely blank and couldn"t ask the system to send her the information while she was with others or mult.i.tasking. The process of receiving and a.s.similating that information required a lot of time and patience, and time was what she wasn"t being allowed to have.
Su Li didn"t want to trip over herself and fail whatever task had been set by the system before she had even begun therefore, she needed to set her priorities straight.
Otherwise, she could say goodbye to not only this world but to also ever being reincarnated in the real world as well. She could clearly recall how the system had extorted her by saying that if she failed or didn"t comply with its demands, she could forget about drinking Aunt Meng"s soup and ever being reborn again.
However, Su Li still had the presence of mind so as not to blurt out "not leaving, d.a.m.n it all to h.e.l.l". If anybody heard her refusal to meet the Empress Dowager and spread those words around, wouldn"t she be branded as "unfilial"
Nothing could be worse for a monarch than being labelled as such - probably, in a few days those ever free Imperial Censors would send reports against her right up to her own table.
Oh, what we"re those official reports called?
She knew the word but couldn"t remember it at the moment.
What was the word again?
Oh, Yes. Memorandums.
Right, that"s the word. If those memorandums for impeachment were written against her, everyone would know about it. The scholars would admonish her in tea houses and actors would portray her in an unappealing light.
Well, Su Li didn"t know if all of this would really happen or if all those period dramas exaggerated things in her world but what she did know was to get her sorry a.s.s off the chair and meet this new exalted existence. Empress Dowager was the highest position a girl/lady could reach in these ancient times.
Su Li might as well observe her and see why she was being called. Moreover, already she was just a few steps away from the guillotine due to her false ident.i.ty. No need to walk towards it with post-haste.
Meanwhile, the eunuch stared at the closed doors of Emperor"s Palace and when no reply was forthcoming, he thought that maybe His Majesty blamed the Empress Dowager for being sent as a hostage all those years ago.
Maybe that was the reason why even though His Majesty had entered The Imperial Palace for close to a month, he would seldom go to Empress Dowager"s place to visit her.
The eunuch thought he should explain things on behalf of his mistress so he said, "Your Majesty, Esteemed Empress Dowager misses you dearly and wants to have an audience with you."
The eunuch further thought that His Majesty must feel that his mistress had done a service to him but at that time, the Late Emperor hadn"t even allowed the then Empress to take care of their prince. He had kept the Second Prince with himself always and when the war had been imminent, he had sent Second Prince to the opposing state.
Empress Dowager had her own share of troubles throughout her life and had been helpless with nowhere and no one to then to.
Now that the Second Prince had returned safe and sound to take his rightful place, it seemed there was a great chasm between the two people.
The eunuch tried to persuade His Majesty, "Empress Dowager used to pray for your safe return all these years and would cry herself to sleep many nights."
Inside the room, Su Li also wanted to cry.
Don"t misunderstand.
She didn"t want to cry because of the sob story told by the eunuch.
No, she wanted to cry because she was vexed beyond belief but she had no tears so she just stamped her feet to give vent to her feelings.
Su Li strode out the door and on her way to Empress Dowager"s place she noticed a similarity between both worlds.
Last time, she was a motherless child.
This time, she was a fatherless child.
Don"t tell her, that in the next one she will be a parentless child - an orphan.
Then, what about the world after that?
Would her entire clan be exterminated or die in some gruesome way? Thinking up to here, Su Li felt speechless. She dearly hoped that wasn"t the case.
The eunuch by her side realized that His Majesty"s mood had dropped for some reason.
Maybe His Majesty hadn"t wanted to be disturbed and his words had pushed him to go along with him. The eunuch walked even more carefully while maintaining a safe distance from the monarch.
At the Empress Dowager"s place, Su Li saw the eagerly awaiting Empress Dowager welcome her as soon as she entered. Looking at the delighted look in that lady"s eyes, her own heart skipped a beat and she greeted her, "Queen Mother"
However, The Empress Dowager didn"t give a reply, just took Su Li"s hands in her own and pulled her inside while softly patting them every few seconds.
Empress Dowager Xie looked at her son and inspected him all over. After she had her fill of looking at her son, she spoke, "Good child. You have been away from my side for so long. Come and sit."
Though she felt that her son didn"t visit her often enough, she didn"t complain about it to him.
Su Li watched as the lady arranged a table full of food and pushed it in front of her.
Looking at the scrumptious meal presented to her, Su Li once again recalled that she hadn"t had a morsel of food since her kidnapping at the hands of that old geezer.
She had died, left a world behind and taken over someone else"s body but hadn"t eaten in all that time. Therefore, with a hasty but heartfelt thanks towards Empress Dowager, Su Li threw away any Imperial propriety out the door and started on her food.
She also had an errant thought that she didn"t even know what Imperial etiquette one had to follow while partaking in a meal but that problem could be solved later on.
When Empress Dowager Xie saw how her son was engulfing the food without an end, her heart tinged with acute pain. He had left her side for so long.
Even before he was sent away, the Late Emperor never allowed her any personal time with her son.
Her son must have suffered untold miseries in all his time away and from the way, he was wolfing down his food, it was clear how those despicable Northern barbarians must have starved him.
A small child, how had he endured his hunger?
On the other hand, Su Li was thinking that the Imperial cooks were really masters of their craft.
The food was so appetizing. Even though it didn"t have the flavour of all the modern day spices and was prepared with their own methods, it still didn"t lack in terms of presentation and taste.
After she filled her stomach with all that delicious food, Su Li looked at The Empress Dowager and saw her sighing to herself.
Since the lady had given her timely a.s.sistance in regards to the hunger pangs a.s.saulting her, Su Li was even more amicable and docile towards the other person.
Su Li questioned, "Queen Mother, what is it? Is something the matter?"
The Empress Dowager didn"t want to say to her son that she was mourning all the time they had missed with each other and that she was feeling saddened at all the troubles he must have faced all these years.
Therefore, she evaded the question by saying that she just hadn"t slept well last night.
After talking about a few inconsequential things, the Empress Dowager lead the conversation to the main reason as to why she had called His Majesty over to her place.
"Your Majesty, I would like to talk to you about something important."
Su Li wondered what could it be that the lady wanted? Until a few minutes ago she was calling her son and now this about-face in terms of address was alarming.
Hopefully, she wouldn"t say that she knew her secret ident.i.ty. Hoping for the best, Su Li replied, "Queen Mother, you don"t need to feel apprehensive. I am your child. Tell me what is it?"
Even though her words were full of reverse, Su Li had her hands clenched into right fists, waiting for the axe to fall down.
Empress Dowager"s next words didn"t push her to the guillotine but they certainly pushed her into an electric chair. The only thing left was to switch it on.
"Your Majesty, I have a younger niece who greatly admires your civil and military expertise. She knows her place well and realises that she is nothing extraordinary, and seeks only to be a concubine, even a low-ranked one."
The Empress Dowager didn"t want her niece to be someone"s concubine, let alone her sons. That child had kept her company when she was all by herself in this vast Imperial Palace without the support of her husband and son. Now, that child had asked her for this favour, she couldn"t reject her in good conscious.
Therefore, she had to take this last option of a thick-skinned request in front of the Emperor.
Su Li"s thoughts came to a screeching halt, her vision flashed white, her smile stiffened on her face and she almost fainted from this unexpected request.
Oh, G.o.d! Was there another mother in this world, who was so eager to push their child off the cliff with such enthusiasm?
The Empress Dowager witnessed how the emperor"s expression darkened and he hurriedly said: "That would be inappropriate."
The Empress Dowager refused to back down. It was a matter of repaying someone"s kindness, she wouldn"t take no as an answer from her son.
She wasn"t even asking him to marry that girl as a higher ranked concubine.
What was he so unsatisfied with?
Couldn"t he simply grant her this favour?
Why was her son fidgeting around as if he was sitting over a pan of hot coals?
Su Li saw the lady"s expression and knew that she wouldn"t back down without a fight, therefore, she deflected by saying that they would talk about it after the mourning period for the Late Emperor was over.
She herself was on thin ice as things stood.
Why would she pull someone else into hot water alongside her?
Thin ice - hot water, had she turned to idioms and sarcasm once again, Su Li wondered.
Anyway, she would try everything in her power to avoid wasting the lady"s life for nothing.
The very next moment, Su Li bid farewell to Empress Dowager and ran away with her metaphorical tail tucked away.
If she waited any longer, the lady might start discussing finding an appropriate girl for marriage and the now vacant Empress position.
The Empress Dowager saw her son rush out like a whirlwind.
Looking at his anxious and shy face, her heart warmed.
Even if he had the highest position in the dynasty, he was still her small child, even so, wasn"t it too much?
Empress Dowager dismissed the servants, sat at her seat with half closed eyes and a thousand thoughts flashed through her mind.