The Vicious Woman and the White Moonlight are both me - Chapter 21

The banquet ultimately came to an end with only Pei Shen receiving severe punishment.

After leaving Penglai Pavilion, the Emperor had originally intended to return to Longju Palace. Unexpectedly, a senior maid from the Empress Dowager’s side came to deliver a message, saying that the Empress Dowager wished to see him.

The imperial palanquin changed direction and headed for Cishou Palace.

Inside Cishou Palace, the Empress Dowager sat upright on a rosewood chair carved with intricate patterns, her eyes closed as she rested. Though she bore the title of Empress Dowager, her attire was not lavish—only plain, light-colored everyday robes. Even so, an unmistakable air of authority radiated from her entire being.

At that moment, her personal attendant entered softly and reported in a low voice.

“Empress Dowager, His Majesty has arrived.”

The Empress Dowager gave a calm hum and slowly opened her eyes. She was already close to sixty, fine lines long settled at the corners of her eyes, yet her gaze remained bright, sharp as starlight.

The Emperor entered the inner hall and bowed respectfully.

“Your son greets Mother.”

“Rise. It’s so hot; you’ve gone to all this trouble,” the Empress Dowager said.

“Mother’s words are too kind. If Mother summons me, how could I dare be negligent? But Mother called me so suddenly—was it because of what happened today at Penglai Pavilion?”

Seeing that the Emperor was so forthright, making no attempt to evade the matter, the Empress Dowager did not bother with roundabout words either.

“Indeed. I already know what occurred at Penglai Pavilion today. What I do not yet know is how you ultimately dealt with those involved.”

The Emperor fell silent for a brief moment, then carefully recounted everything that had just taken place at Penglai Pavilion.

“Did Mother summon me today simply to rebuke me once again?”

The Empress Dowager seemed to realize that her words had gone too far. After taking a deep breath, she finally softened her tone.

“I am merely reminding you. Back then, you killed Song Zhaoyan’s father and lost the hearts of your ministers. You hoped to win them back by adopting Song Zhaoyan and bestowing upon her the title of princess. But so many years have passed, and the results have been far from evident. Those officials still muddle through their duties—every time there is fighting, they only repel the enemy at the border, never eradicating the threat completely. Clearly, they still do not trust the court, nor do they trust you. Prolonged warfare is not a solution. The state treasury will be drained sooner or later. As Emperor, you must think of another way.”

After his earlier outburst and now hearing the Empress Dowager’s measured analysis, the Emperor’s anger had already subsided somewhat. He sat back down.

“Previously, sending the Fourth Princess off for a marriage alliance did have some effect. For now, the borders are relatively stable.”

“But be careful it does not backfire. Everyone believes Yaxin offended Song Zhaoyan, and that you sent her off to marry for the sake of venting anger on Song Zhaoyan’s behalf. You treat your adopted daughter better than your own flesh and bl00d—such behavior only makes people more suspicious.”

Hearing this, the Emperor fell silent once more.

Suspicious or not, what could be done now? The Fourth Princess had already been married off in alliance—could a move already made be taken back?

“So Mother summoned me today to tell me not to continue indulging Zhaohua, is that it?”

The Empress Dowager shook her head. “Some reputations should still be borne by her, and she can bear them. But this act is only meant for outsiders to see. Do not let even your own children fear an adopted daughter.”

At the end, the Empress Dowager added with unmistakable displeasure, “She’s just like her mother—both cut from the same lowly cloth.”

Song Zhaoyan’s mother had once been the Emperor’s white moonlight, an untouchable presence in his heart. Yet now, as the Empress Dowager openly insulted her in front of him, the Emperor merely frowned slightly and offered no rebuttal at all.

He remembered that year, after Song Zhaoyan’s father died. When that woman received the news, she wept until her heart seemed torn apart—and in that instant, he felt as though his own heart had shattered as well.

Yet, he did not regret killing that man. What he regretted was not acting sooner—allowing them to marry, even letting them have a daughter together.

He had already thought it through. He did not mind that she had a child. Not only that, but he would confer the title of princess upon the child and make her a consort to himself. But that woman refused him.

Refused him.

Once. Twice. Three times… countless times. She rejected him again and again—when in the beginning, the one she liked was clearly him.

Why? Why did her affections change?

He could not understand it. At last, when even coercion failed, he voiced the question that had festered in his heart—only to receive the cruelest answer imaginable.

“Because I don’t like men without responsibility. You were the one who asked to meet me in secret. I was foolish enough to agree, but when we were discovered, you hid and left me—a woman—to face it alone. If not for my husband stepping in, my reputation would have been completely ruined. He may look frivolous and unrestrained, but he has a sense of duty and a sense of responsibility. If I don’t love him, then who should I love? I only hate that I was blind back then, that I ever liked you!”

She had nearly been violated and in her rage, she could no longer care about choosing her words.

Those words were like a chipped blade, carving into the Emperor’s heart slice by slice.

No matter how much he had loved her, he would never allow her to trample his dignity like that.

Thus, in a fit of blind rage, he struck out and strangled her—killing the woman he had loved most.

It was only when the sound of a child’s crying rose in the room that the man finally realized what he had done.

Now, as that memory he so desperately wished to forget surged back into his mind, the Emperor felt an inexplicable irritation well up inside him.

That woman had been fickle and unfaithful; her daughter was just as morally debased. Even raised within the royal household, such a rotten nature could never be changed.

It was all because he had been too deeply infatuated, blinded by that wicked woman. And because he had loved her so much, that he extended that affection to her child, indulging Song Zhaoyan without restraint.

The current state of Great Qi was all that woman’s fault. She was a calamity born of beauty! It had nothing to do with him being foolish or incompetent!

After reassuring himself in this way, the Emperor’s heart gradually settled once more.

He was the Son of Heaven—how could he possibly be wrong?

“Mother is right. Your son understands. Several of the children have already entered their formative years. Song Zhaoyan usually has no way to bully them anymore, but I fear she might turn her attention to the younger ones. We might as well find her a study companion and let her vent a little.”

For a prince or princess, arranging a study companion at this age was already rather late. From another angle, it also proved that the Emperor’s so-called favor toward Song Zhaoyan was merely for show.

But now that he truly intended to find her a companion, which family’s daughter would be suitable?

After all, no minister was willing to send his own daughter to Chaoyang Palace as a study companion.

Defying an imperial decree was a crime—but if pushed too far, even a rabbit would bite back.

Left with no other choice, Song Zhaoyan once again put on her cold, expressionless mask.

“I only came to take a look at his miserable state. It’s really not pleasant to look at at all. Xue Zhi, have someone apply medicine to him. Don’t let him die here in my Chaoyang Palace—lest he bring bad luck.”

Xue Zhi glanced at the unconscious Pei Shen. Her gaze drifted to his bl00d-soaked lower body. Though she felt a twinge of pity, she also thought that Song Zhaoyan’s words made sense.

“Princess, perhaps it would be better to send the Ninth Prince back to his own Duwai Hall? If he really were to die here, wouldn’t that be—”

Song Zhaoyan’s expression darkened with displeasure. “Carry him back and forth? What if he dies halfway? I am being generous by allowing him to be treated here. Besides, I said I would discipline him—how could I drive him away the moment he’s injured? Enough. Summon the imperial physician.”

With that, Song Zhaoyan raised her sleeve to cover her nose, her face full of distaste, and left Qianqian Residence.