Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Cui Xun acted swiftly. From the report to Wang Ranxi's execution, it took only three days.

Cui Xun had once asked Li Ying if she needed to witness Wang Ranxi's execution. Li Ying thought for a moment and shook her head: "I hope that when I reincarnate, my heart will be calm, not still filled with resentment."

Her case had been resolved; she no longer needed to be trapped in the night at the lotus pond.

Cui Xun nodded: "Wang Ranxi is the wife of a high-ranking official, the Lady of Jincheng, personally bestowed by the Sage. Moreover, there is no evidence that her husband, Pei Guanyue, was aware of this matter. Therefore, to preserve some dignity for Pei Guanyue, the Empress Dowager and the Sage will not publicly execute Wang Ranxi but will secretly put her to death at the Prosecutor's Office."

"She killed me. I don't need her to be publicly executed; she only needs to atone to me." Li Ying sat on the ground, her feet dangling over the corridor, feeling the warmth of the sun one last time as Li Ying. The sunset cast golden light upon her, and though she was a spirit, she seemed to radiate a gentle golden glow: "I do not want the people to feel sympathy for me and harbor hatred towards Wang Ranxi. A person's heart is small; it should hold love for the world and loved ones, not hatred."

As the sun set, the sky was painted with orange-red hues, the distant mountains layered in shadows, and the last rays of sunlight filtered through young green willows, casting a golden glow over everything, imbuing the world with a soft, warm light.

The sunset was beautiful, but it heralded dusk.

Cui Xun looked at the picturesque scenery and suddenly said: "Just as the princess said, the princess should not have died."

Li Ying smiled gently: "Cui Shaoqing, you don't need to think I'm great because I said these things. Though I am a princess of Great Zhou, I have no grand ambitions. I lack the ability of Princess Qingyang to aid her father in battle or the ambition of Princess Pingyuan to participate in politics. All I ever wanted was for Father and Mother to be with me always, for our family to live peacefully."

Cui Xun stood beside Li Ying, a gentle breeze brushing their faces: "Princess, this is just fine."

They sat and stood, watching the sun sink into the horizon, its fiery orb gradually disappearing. The setting sun turned crimson, and birds sang their evening songs. Cui Xun suddenly asked: "Princess, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

"Wishes?" Li Ying murmured, lowering her head: "Indeed, there is one wish."

"What is it?"

"I want to see... my Mother one more time."

-

Cui Xun remembered the day Li Ying risked her soul to confront Wang Ranxi. He had found her injured at the gate of Daming Palace. She lay on the ground, pale and weak, her hand reaching out towards the palace gate, as if trying to touch a figure she could no longer reach.

That was her birth mother, the one she loved most.

Cui Xun was silent for a moment before asking: "Princess... do you miss the Empress Dowager very much?"

"Yes," Li Ying nodded: "Thirty years have passed. Father is gone, and Mother is old. I cannot see Father again, or rather, when I see him next, he will have reincarnated and won't be my Father anymore. Neither will I be his Moon Pearl. So I want to see Mother one last time while she is still my Mother."

She lowered her head, her feet clad in heavy shoes tapping against the stone wall beneath the corridor: "After seeing Mother, I will have no more regrets."

Cui Xun said: "The Empress Dowager rarely leaves Penglai Palace, and all the doors are sealed with door gods. You cannot enter."

Li Ying sighed: "I know I can't enter. Before reincarnation, I fear I won't see Mother."

Cui Xun replied: "You will see her." He paused: "If the Empress Dowager leaves Penglai Palace, you will see her."

Li Ying was puzzled. Her Mother's health was poor, and she hadn't left Penglai Palace even for the New Year's assembly or the Lantern Festival. What could make her leave? She asked: "Why would Mother leave Penglai Palace?"

Cui Xun did not answer but said: "I will fulfill your wish, Princess."

Cui Xun seemed confident, but Li Ying was anxious. She watched him enter Daming Palace and waited outside alone, unsure how he could convince her Mother. She couldn't fathom what reason could make her Mother willing to leave Penglai Palace despite her illness.

-

Despite her doubts, she waited at the palace gates, trusting Cui Xun. After several hours, the dark figure emerged from Daming Palace, and Li Ying eagerly approached him but hesitated to ask.

Without prompting, Cui Xun said: "Tomorrow, the Empress Dowager will go to Famen Temple."

"Why is Mother going to Famen Temple?"

Cui Xun reminded her: "Princess, you've been to Famen Temple, haven't you?"

Li Ying thought for a moment and said: "When I was five."

At five, her Father took the empresses and concubines to Famen Temple. Her Father and Empress Zheng entered the pagoda to offer hair relics, symbolizing the imperial couple's devotion to Buddha. Her Mother, not her Father's primary wife, could not enter the pagoda and instead waited outside with her.

While her Father and Empress Zheng were inside for a long time, her Mother took her to plant a bodhi tree near the pagoda.

At the time, the bodhi tree was just a sapling, shorter than her. Cui Xun said: "I told the Empress Dowager that the bodhi tree planted by Princess Yong'an has grown tall and strong. She wants to see it."

He continued: "The Empress Dowager was moved to tears and decided to visit Famen Temple tomorrow morning."

Li Ying's eyes welled up, whispering: "Mother..."

It turned out her Mother had never forgotten her.

She quickly wiped away her tears: "This is the last time."

"Hmm?"

"I hope this is the last time Mother thinks of me." She spoke softly: "Afterward, I hope she forgets me. I don't want her to dwell in the past."

Cui Xun said: "I think the Empress Dowager will never forget the princess."

Li Ying looked at him, hoping for more details, but he simply said: "Go back. Tomorrow, you will see the Empress Dowager."

Li Ying nodded and walked silently with Cui Xun, their figures gradually leaving Daming Palace.

The next morning, a palanquin quietly exited Danfeng Gate.

The Empress Dowager did not want to be too conspicuous, so she brought few attendants. Cui Xun rode alongside the palanquin as they arrived at Famen Temple. The weather was clear and sunny, and the abbot welcomed them at the temple gate. The Empress Dowager went straight to the pagoda.

-

As Cui Xun had said, the bodhi tree Li Ying had planted was now tall and strong.

The Empress Dowager touched the sturdy trunk, its bark wrinkled with age: "This tree has been here for forty-one years."

Cui Xun stood beside her, saying: "Your memory is excellent, indeed forty-one years."

"It is not that I have a good memory, but as a mother, every little detail of my children remains vivid in my mind."

She raised her eyes to the lush Bodhi tree, which had grown to be over twenty feet tall. When Li Ying planted it, it was no taller than her knee. "When we planted this tree, I never imagined that Moon Pearl would leave me so soon."

Cui Xun glanced at Li Ying, who stood behind the Imperial Guards, fully armed. Dozens of these sturdy guards surrounded the Empress Dowager, shielding her from her daughter, making it impossible for Li Ying to even see her face.

Through the gaps between the guards, Cui Xun could see the sorrow in Li Ying's eyes. He silently turned away and said to the Empress Dowager, "Princess Yong'an would also wish to always be by your side."

The Empress Dowager murmured, "Yes, Moon Pearl was always so close to me. She once said she didn't want to marry, just wanted to stay with me and her Father forever."

As she spoke, her eyes welled up with tears. "Moon Pearl was so understanding and well-behaved. Why did such a thing happen to her? Why did it have to be my Moon Pearl?"

Cui Xun remained silent for a long time before saying, "Empress Dowager, please take care."

"I am tired of hearing those words," the Empress Dowager said with a bitter smile. "Enough. You never had Moon Pearl, so you can never understand how much I miss her. You will never truly understand my pain."

Cui Xun pursed his lips and bowed his head. "Empress Dowager, please take care."

The Empress Dowager seemed weary. "Wangshu, you may leave. I wish to be alone for a while."

Cui Xun nodded and, as he retreated, gestured for the Imperial Guards to step back several paces, creating space for Li Ying.

-

The moment they moved aside, Li Ying rushed to the Empress Dowager. Perhaps still unwell, the Empress Dowager looked exhausted and sat down before the tree. She measured its height with her hands, reaching ten hand spans high, and smiled. "Yes, when Moon Pearl planted this tree, it was this tall."

Li Ying's eyes were already red. Even though the Empress Dowager couldn't hear her, she still walked softly and knelt before her, tears streaming down her face.

She looked up at the Empress Dowager, choking back sobs, wanting to say many things—how much she missed her, how every moment of the past thirty years had been filled with longing. But in the end, she only managed to say, smiling through her tears, "Mother, you have white hair now."

The Empress Dowager couldn't see or hear her. She continued measuring the tree, murmuring, "When we planted it, it was only this small, barely reaching Moon Pearl's knee."

Li Ying was sobbing uncontrollably. She reached out to hold her mother's hand, as she used to do when she was young, but her hand passed right through the Empress Dowager's, unable to touch her.

Pausing, Li Ying realized more deeply that she was dead, a ghost, and could never be with her mother again.

Overwhelmed with grief, she cried out, "Mother... Mother..."

"Moon Pearl misses you so much..."

"Mother..."

The Empress Dowager gently stroked the tree trunk, as if caressing Li Ying's small hand when she was five. Perhaps sensing her daughter's presence, she whispered, "Moon Pearl, do you miss your Mother?"

"Your Mother misses you too."

"You were always so understanding and caring. When I had headaches, you studied medicine and made sachets to ease my pain. When I was unhappy with the Empress, you learned tea ceremony to cheer me up. How could you bear to leave me?"

"Moon Pearl, my heart is breaking. You have torn my liver and intestines with grief."

"Moon Pearl, my daughter, Moon Pearl..."

In Famen Temple, the Empress Dowager of Great Zhou, caressed the Bodhi tree, weeping for her departed daughter, while her daughter's spirit knelt before her, weeping silently.

From a distance, Cui Xun watched, his lips pressed together. The mother and daughter, bound by love yet separated by life and death, could never meet again. In this moment, they were not the exalted Empress Dowager and princess of Great Zhou, but simply a mother who had lost her child and a daughter who longed for her mother. A fleeting trace of emotion flashed across Cui Xun's eyes, but it was gone in an instant. He slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his gaze had returned to its usual coldness and detachment.