pdf-ebookys Chapter 1205 Will Concubine Chen Really Come Again?
Chapter 1205 Will Concubine Chen Really Come Again?
The heavy door closed behind Mother Lu, blocking out her shrill cries.
Mother Lu slumped on the cold ground, staring at the tightly closed door and listening to the sound of it being locked. Endless sadness welled up in her heart...
She didn't understand the son she had raised with so much difficulty.
How could the son who once obeyed her and relied on her in every way suddenly become a stranger who looked at her with cold eyes and locked her up?
Main courtyard.
Lu Jianglin listened to the faint cries coming from the direction of the east wing and slowly closed his eyes.
His sallow face was expressionless, filled with a deep indifference. His clenched fists slowly loosened, revealing bloody nail marks on his palms.
He has cut the invisible shackles between him and his mother.
Next, the question is how to crawl out of the shameful Xingyang...
Climb back to the capital, the center of power!
Only then can he renew his old relationship with Nian Nian, who is like the bright moon in the clouds.
To regain the position of Prime Minister that rightfully belongs to him!
……
The winter chill, like an invisible spider web, entangles the Cining Palace layer by layer.
The thick medicinal smell and the stagnant silence almost froze the air.
Empress Dowager Liu lay behind the heavy, low-hanging brocade curtains, her withered body like a wind-dried leaf. Every weak breath she took carried a heavy echo.
Her cloudy pupils occasionally moved when she was lucid, and what was surging in them was no longer overwhelming resentment, but cold calculation and heart-pounding patience.
Concubine Zhuang is here.
She was wearing a plain palace dress, with warm red sandalwood Buddhist beads wrapped around her wrist. Her expression was gentle and peaceful, like a compassionate Bodhisattva in a temple.
After the ceremony, Concubine Zhuang sat quietly on an embroidered cushion not far from the bed, holding a thick volume of "The Sutra of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva" in her hands.
Her voice was low and clear as she recited the scriptures to the Queen Mother: "... Therefore, that country is called the Pure Land. The living beings in that land have no suffering and only enjoy happiness..."
Empress Dowager Liu's eyelids moved slightly, and her turbid gaze passed through the gap in the curtain and fell on Concubine Zhuang's quiet profile.
"Bliss? Haha... In this deep palace... where does bliss come from?"
"Reciting these... empty words..."
Concubine Zhuang paused in her chanting, raised her gentle eyes, and spoke through the curtains in a calm voice, yet with a subtle hint of profound meaning: "Empress Dowager, all dharmas are empty, manifested only by the mind."
“If the mind is pure, then where is not a pure land?”
"I recite scriptures and chant mantras to purge the Empress Dowager of her worries and pray for her good health!"
There was silence in the tent for a moment, except for the sound of heavy breathing.
Empress Dowager Liu seemed to have lost the energy to even sneer, and in the end, she only let out an inaudible snort.
Believe in Buddhism?
Reciting scriptures?
Ah……
Which of the Bodhisattvas in this harem is not covered with the guise of compassion?
Empress Dowager Liu was too lazy to waste even a bit of her energy on Concubine Zhuang.
Listening to Concubine Zhuang's chanting was like a hypnotic spell, making Empress Dowager Liu's already drowsy mind even more erratic.
Her waking time was getting shorter and shorter, and most of the time, she was immersed in endless sleep...
It doesn't matter, she can still wait.
Concubine Zhuang was just an insignificant passerby.
The next day, Concubine Kang also came.
She was wrapped in a thick cloak, her face was still pale, and she moved with deliberate caution and weakness.
After helping Empress Dowager Liu drink her medicine, Concubine Kang stood quietly in the corner.
Caiju held a small sachet containing refreshing mint and carefully passed it to Concubine Kang's nose.
Her voice was very low, full of worry: "My Lady, are you okay? Do you want to go out for some fresh air?"
Concubine Kang hurriedly shook her head, glanced in the direction of the brocade curtain with a panicked look, and said in a weak voice: "Shh!"
"No. I can handle it..."
As she said this, she took the sachet, held it tightly in her hand, and took a deep breath.
The cool air made Kangpin's mind a little clearer.
She hardly spoke in the Cining Palace, and only stepped forward politely when needed to serve tea or deliver medicine, her movements as cautious as if she were touching fragile glass.
Concubine Kang tried her best to reduce her presence, as if this could help her avoid the vortex that might arise in the Cining Palace.
Concubine Zhuang and Concubine Kang have been taking care of the patient for the past two days, and the Cining Palace has been as quiet as stagnant water.
There were no accidents and no disturbances.
Concubine Zhuang recites scriptures.
Concubine Kang was like an inconspicuous shadow.
Empress Dowager Liu alternated between brief periods of wakefulness and long periods of coma.
Everything is going according to plan, like a set chess game.
Nanny Yuan stood with her head bowed, but deep in her eyes there was a barely perceptible trace of anxiety.
The Empress Dowager's health... seems to be declining faster than expected...
Can she still wait for Concubine Chen to come?
After Concubine Kang left, Nanny Yuan asked worriedly, "Empress Dowager, will Concubine Chen really come?"
"Ah……"
An extremely faint sneer rolled in Empress Dowager Liu's throat: "Noble Concubine Chen...she will come eventually."
"You can avoid the first day, but you can't avoid the fifteenth..."
"Ai Jia, Ai Jia...I can wait..."
Empress Dowager Liu's voice was hoarse and broken, almost exhausted from all her strength, yet it carried a venomous persistence: "Filial piety is a fine sword... She can't dodge it... Sooner or later, sooner or later she will kneel... before my bed..."
When saying this, every word Empress Dowager Liu uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth, filled with cold hatred.
As long as Liu Shuying still holds the title of empress dowager, there will always be a day when Concubine Chen will step into the Cining Palace to take care of the sick!
Unless... she dares to risk the wrath of the world and bear the eternal infamy of being "unfilial"!
……
Royal study room.
Nangong Xuanyu sat at the imperial desk, and the cuffs of his dark uniform drew steady arcs on the bright yellow memorial as he waved his red brush.
Shen Zhinian stood beside him, her gorgeous palace dress making her look more beautiful than a flower.
She lowered her eyes slightly, and held the ink stick with her slender fingers, slowly swirling it in the Duan inkstone.
The ink is rich and mellow, and the fragrance of ink is thick.
Shen Zhinian's posture was elegant and focused, as if this was the only important thing in the world.
There was no verbal communication between the two, only the rustling sound of the pen tip sliding across the paper and the subtle sound of the ink stick rubbing against the inkstone.
Occasionally, the emperor would stop writing and look at the quiet face beside him. An imperceptible warmth and peace of mind would flash across his deep eyes.
When Shen Zhinian felt Nangong Xuanyu's gaze, he would look up at the right time, and a gentle and light smile would appear at the corner of his lips.
The tacit understanding is evident in the glances.
finally--
The emperor wrote the last word with his red pen and closed the memorial.
His eyes turned to the side, where Shen Zhinian was concentrating on grinding.
Her slender fingers held the ink stick, her movements graceful and calm.
"Near."
The emperor's voice broke the silence, with a barely perceptible hint of laziness: "I heard that Concubine Xue, Concubine Zhuang, and Concubine Kang have all gone to the Cining Palace to show their filial piety these past few days?"