Chapter 434 Let Her Live

Chapter 434: Keeping Her Alive

The cloth bundle, covered in grime and never washed, was still cradled in her arms as she murmured, "Baby~ Baby~ You're Mother's accomplished child."

"You are my daughter, you are the Crown Prince. You'll give Mother a good life."

Then she hummed a tuneless melody.

A group of palace servants arrived at the Cold Palace and asked, "Who is Lady Qi?"

A Cold Palace attendant led them to Qi Shi.

The servants were new and unaware of the truth behind the Crown Prince's identity swap years ago. They assumed Qi Shi's fortunes had finally turned, and her daughter, now in power, had come to take her to the Eastern Palace for a life of luxury.

Seeing Qi Shi's frenzied state, they gently called out, "Madam? Madam?"

Qi Shi's eyes bulged as she snapped viciously, "Filthy eunuch! Can't you see I'm putting my child to sleep?"

"My daughter is the Crown Prince! If she starts crying again because of you, you’ll lose your head!"

When Qi Shi was lucid, she wouldn’t dare speak to palace servants like this, but in her madness, she exuded an intimidating aura.

The eunuch replied in a shrill voice, "Oh, Madam, stop coddling that scrap of cloth."

"Your trueborn daughter has come to take you away—to the Eastern Palace for a life of comfort. It’s Her Highness the Crown Prince!"

Qi Shi froze, and the "child" in her hands thudded to the dirt.

"She’s taking me away to live in luxury?"

"Yes, you’ll never have to suffer again. From now on, you’ll be the dowager matriarch of the Eastern Palace."

"......"

After a long pause, she suddenly burst into laughter: "Ha! Ha! Hahaha! Dowager matriarch—hahaha, dowager matriarch!"

Before long, Changyan reported to Bei Jingchu, "Your Highness, Lady Qi has been brought here. The Lady of Moqing asks how she should be accommodated."

Bei Jingchu reclined on a low couch, letting the medic massage the acupoints on her head. Her thoughts had been chaotic lately, and she had been suffering from headaches.

She opened her eyes and replied indifferently, "Let her rot as she did in the Cold Palace."

"She did give birth to me, but she gave birth and abandoned. So I’ll let her *just* live—only live."

"Just keep the breath in her body. His Majesty won’t monitor whether I truly fulfill my filial duties."

"The Eastern Palace... isn’t a place where just anyone can nose into matters."

Changyan had no objections to Bei Jingchu’s "ruthless" decision. In her heart, Her Highness was perfection itself. If someone so righteous treated another poorly, it must be the other’s fault.

Moreover, having served Bei Jingchu for years, she knew a thing or two about the past.

*

Qi Shi, giddy with anticipation, entered the Eastern Palace, only to be led by a maid to the most remote courtyard—so dilapidated it wasn’t even fit for scullery maids’ huts.

Instantly furious and terrified, she screeched, "What is the meaning of this?! I’m the Crown Prince’s own mother! You’d house me here?!"

"Where is my daughter?!" "I’ll give her a piece of my mind—is this how she treats her mother?!"

The young palace maid rolled her eyes: "Know your place! You think Her Highness would see someone like you?"

"You're not even worthy to approach Her Highness."

Qi Shi slapped the young palace maid across the face.

"How dare a lowly maid speak to me like that!"

"I am the birth mother of the Crown Prince, the matriarch of the Eastern Palace!"

"Even the Crown Prince must honor me as his mother! What gives you the right?!"

The maid, slapped for no reason, dared not retaliate and ran off in tears to report to the senior palace maid in charge.

The senior palace maid was unsure how to handle the Crown Prince's birth mother, so the matter was reported up to Bei Hua.

Being the acting Crown Princess, Bei Hua understood Bei Jingchu's temperament perfectly and replied with just one phrase: "Return the favor."

The palace servants understood.

Upon receiving the message, the young palace maid immediately slapped Qi Shi across the face.

The sharp crack of the slap echoed, and the maid shook her stinging hand.

Qi Shi: !

"You dare hit me!"

"I'll slap you whenever I please. Need to check the calendar first?"

Seeing that intimidation didn’t work, Qi Shi switched tactics, putting on a pitiful act: "Young lady, you’ve never borne a child."

"I am a mother, and I worry for my own child."

She choked up: "I haven’t seen her in five long years!"

She sobbed hysterically:

"I just want to see how tall she’s grown, if she's gained or lost weight, if she's healthy, if she's facing any hardships."

"I’m just worried about my daughter!"

The maid who had clashed with her naturally wouldn’t help, but among the others, some were taken in by her motherly act, reminded of their own mothers back home, and felt sympathy. They passed along her request.

But it didn't get past Changyan.

Changyan laughed coldly: "This is the first time I’ve seen a ‘loving mother’ who abandoned her daughter at birth."

Only then did the palace servants realize they'd fallen for her act, and under Changyan’s warning, they turned their anger on Qi Shi.

She had already offended all the palace servants in the Cold Palace, and now in the Eastern Palace, she made enemies of them as well. With her talent for making enemies, her life was no better than it had been in the Cold Palace.

Bei Jingchu wasn’t disgusted by Qi Shi, but the court was becoming a minefield.

The Emperor, acting unusually, kept hounding her, dressing her down nearly every day.

If she took action, she was accused of overstepping her authority, meddling in affairs beyond her station.

If she did nothing, she was criticized for laziness and incompetence.

Bei Jingchu grew increasingly frustrated by the Emperor's constant harassment.