Chapter 405: with translation of chapter title

The Grand Tutor said my writing was all crooked, that I had missed a chapter in my lessons, and that the essay I had just begun to write was completely incoherent.

So I will rewrite everything, relearn the lessons, and study anew in front of the Grand Tutor.

But Luo'er, I started holding a brush at two, my characters were taught stroke by stroke by my birth mother. Previously the Grand Tutor praised my brushwork at such a young age as astonishing and extraordinary, saying I would surely become a great master; how could I suddenly become all crooked one day?

My lessons I had memorized thoroughly from the start; I knew which word belonged to which line, so how could I have missed a chapter?

The essay I wrote was even praised by my birth mother as excellent; how could it be completely incoherent?

He deliberately held me back, but at that time, young as I was, I noticed nothing; I only felt utterly disheartened, and truly, earnestly started over from scratch.

When I finally managed to leave school and follow the eunuch who came to fetch me back, I saw that everyone in the palace avoided me as if I were a scorpion or snake.

Those former flatteries and friendships instantly turned into cold scrutiny.

They not only dared not approach, but also pointed and whispered; from that I heard a hint: Gui Fu Palace had been burned by a great fire.

At that moment, the chief eunuch of the Empress Dowager's palace intercepted me midway, intending to take me to Ning Shou Palace.

I would rather die than comply; struggling, I sprinted toward the direction of the firelight.

I saw nothing.

Gui Fu Palace could no longer be entered.

Only Qin Yu was carried out unconscious from inside, they said she still had a breath left.

As for the others in Gui Fu Palace, including my birth mother, none escaped that fire.

But when I tried to walk forward with heavy steps, the Empress's people seized me; they pinned the six-year-old me to the ground, pressing down as brutally as if holding a mongrel dog.

I pleaded with the father emperor nearby to save my mother, but he stared at me with a coldness I had never seen, as if I were the very culprit who killed her.

After that, everything changed.

Li Qingluo felt something wet on her neck.

Her heart also twisted into a knot.

Just as in her previous life she had been abandoned by everyone in a ruined hut, when she realized she had truly died, she could feel the despair and anguish Duan Rongshi had felt back then.

Yet Duan Rongshi was only six when he faced all this.

At six, he was still an innocent, pure-hearted child.

Yet he was forced overnight to confront everything, lose everything, and suddenly grow up.

Watching the mother he loved most be killed in that fire by someone.

His father the emperor ceased to love him.

And what Consort De said today suggests the murderer is not just one person, but a group…

Perhaps in this entire palace, no one's hands are clean regarding the events of that year.

Li Qingluo felt a dull ache in her heart.

And what about your father the emperor? Could he have changed too?

Duan Rongshi: 'Yes. After that, he became someone I completely no longer know, a total stranger.'

It's as if he had been possessed. I even wondered whether he was no longer my father emperor at all, but… after several attempts to probe, the result was merely that he had changed.

Li Qingluo suddenly recalled something.

'Your Highness, you once said that the Qin Yu now is not the true Qin Yu. What exactly do you mean by that?'

Because of my own and Nan Jia's experiences, and because soul-transfer arts now exist in the world, Li Qingluo could not help but consider a possibility.

Duan Rongshi gently released Li Qingluo, lowered his head, and met her eyes.

'Qin Yu, after being rescued from that fire and waking up, has never been normal since.'

'Although she is clearly only three, her gaze has become worldly and cunning, and her speech matured like an adult's.'

'That would be tolerable, but she has completely changed her disposition and often utters words and phrases I do not understand.'

She had a high opinion of herself; at first she even told the servants they should be on equal terms, but later, if anyone inadvertently offended her, they would suffer her ambiguous retaliation.

'She even began doing business at ten, starting to accumulate her own power.'

'I do admire her, but as time passes I am increasingly certain that the person inhabiting her body is no longer my timid, pure-hearted true cousin.'

'Her soul probably does not belong to this place.'

Li Qingluo's heart gave a violent jolt.

Could it be… that she too is reborn?

Or something else?

From a place where men and women are equal, from a place without a rigid class hierarchy?

She actually harbored some envy for that place deep down.

Li Qingluo shook her head: 'You have been sparring with her all this time just to find out whether she truly saw the truth back in Gui Fu Palace, haven't you?'

Duan Rongshi: '…Yes. But I have now come to understand the truth; if she really is another person, she probably knows nothing at all.'

'If that is the case, she has no need to keep living.'

His eyes gave a sharp hiss and he froze.

Li Qingluo tightly grasped his icy hand.

Back then he lost not only his birth mother, but also his beloved younger sister.

These years, he could only hide alone in a dark corner, licking at wounds that never healed.

Her heart ached as if she could feel it herself, but she could only watch him, waiting for him to continue.

'Over these years, I have uncovered quite a bit.'

'Just as Consort De said, no one in the palace has clean hands; perhaps even my father the emperor is the true murderer who killed my mother.'

Just as Consort De said, no one in the palace has clean hands. It's even possible that my own father emperor is the true culprit who killed my mother consort.

Li Qingluo really couldn't believe it.

She lifted her head to look at this strange sky, a wave of sorrow rose in her heart.

"Your Highness, if you want revenge, I, Li Qingluo, will accompany you with my life."

Duan Rongshi spoke these words buried in his heart for seventeen years, and the pent-up feelings in his heart felt much relieved.

Moreover, how could he bear to take her life?

He smiled and stroked her face.

"What would I do with your life?"

"I only need you to stay with me forever; that is already a blessing obtained from praying to the gods."

Li Qingluo, eyes red, lifted her head and kissed his cheek.

Okay.

She finally understood why, despite being clearly poisoned with a blood-thirsty toxin, he would cut himself to bleed and save her life.

He could no longer grasp anything else.

Perhaps only he himself could allow him to still live like a person.

"Your Highness, may I ask what's the matter with those mute slaves?"

"Back then, after the mistress met with misfortune, I heard that all the palace servants of Gui Fu Palace were slaughtered, and then a great fire burned everything clean."

"But looking at those mute slaves in Gui Garden, they seem like people who used to work in the palace?"

Duan Rongshi propped himself up and stood.

He took Li Qingluo's hand and walked back.

After they entered the hall, he then said: "Those mute slaves, the older ones, were formerly attendants by my mother's side."

"I, too, only received the news from them, delivered with care, two years after my mother's death, when I was eight."

"In this world, besides them, no one knows that Gui Garden was purchased by the Moon Consort while she was alive as a residence for them."

Li Qingluo gasped: "Was it bought for them by the mistress while she was alive?"

"Then the mistress, surely she already knew..."

Duan Rongshi nodded: "Yes, my mother perhaps had already foreseen that she would encounter misfortune."

"So, when she became aware, half a month in advance she had each mute slave's tongue pulled out, then took the false-death drug, and had them carried out of the palace in the guise of having been tortured to death, to settle them elsewhere."

"She replaced those around her with new people, all of whom were spies from the other palaces."

"That Gui Fu Palace bloodbath was merely a purge of the spies from the various palaces."

Li Qingluo panted heavily; such a grand move—wasn't the Moon Consort's final days infamous, making her out to be a brutal favorite?

"But if she had the false-death drug… why didn't she use it on herself?"

Duan Rongshi gripped the edge of the table, exerting all his strength.

Li Qingluo saw a crack extending from his side, reaching her.

She was shocked to have formed a conjecture.

"The mistress, as a princess of Great Chu, could not directly escape; she had to maintain the dignity and decorum of a Great Chu princess, so she could only wait for those scheming tricks to come flying at her."

"But she still had you..."

"If she could save those old people brought from Great Chu, how could she not think of a way to save herself?"

"So perhaps she also took the false-death drug?"

But a great fire burned the entire Gui Fu Palace.

Including the Moon Consort, who was burned to ashes.

The truth remains unknown.

But the Emperor Yan truly is a ruthless person.

The person she held in her palm and loved for six years says she'll turn face and turn face, says she's heartless, more heartless than anyone.

Truly the heart of an emperor.

Seeming affectionate, but actually the most heartless person.

Duan Rongshi gently closed his eyes, rubbing the thumb ring on his hand: "Starting with Consort De, they one by one have been taking turns repaying my mother's life."

Two days later, Li Qingluo left Gui Fu Palace.

She followed Ling Fengzi to the former dynasty and paid respects to Immortal Yunhe.

"Are you my little disciple?"

Immortal Yunhe looked at Li Qingluo with some disdain.

Being small in stature is fine, but this face is also ordinary and unremarkable.

Immortal Yunhe felt somewhat disappointed.

However, since it was a task entrusted by others and a duty of loyalty, Immortal Yunhe had no choice but to suppress his inner grievance and reluctantly accept.

"Since you've come, today you shall go out of the palace with me."

He said that coldly, then turned and stepped forward, holding his whisk.

Qingyangzi gave Li Qingluo a glance; the two hurriedly followed, one after the other, and climbed onto the carriage.

Midway, they encountered Princess Qinyu's sedan.

Immortal Yunhe's carriage was a gift from Emperor Yan.

It is wide and large, extremely luxurious.

Even Princess Qinyu's sedan had to pull aside and wait for the carriage to pass first.

Li Qingluo, to avoid being in the way, consciously sat cross-legged on the carriage's shaft outside the cabin.

She saw Princess Qinyu lift a corner of the curtain slightly and look over at them.

It seems she has fully recovered.

After the exchange was over, Li Qingluo watched Princess Qinyu's sedan hurry away, then had Sha Jiu go find out where Princess Qinyu had gone.

Sha Jiu quickly returned: "She went to the Empress's Palace."

Li Qingluo instantly became energized.

However, she touched her face that was about to recover, feeling somewhat regretful, and could only instruct Sha Jiu: "Go check, see what business she has going to see the Empress."

Sha Jiu vanished in an instant on the long street.

Inside the carriage, the Cloud Crane Immortal half-opened his eyes: "You've got a lot of nerve."

Soon, they exited the Imperial Palace from this side.

Li Qingluo did not immediately alight from the carriage and leave, but instead followed the two master and disciple straight to the National Preceptor's Mansion.

Just as they entered the gate, the little Daoist priest at the gatehouse came over holding a red invitation and said: "Temple Master, today we received over twenty invitations. Among them, the Pan family—i. e., the relatives of the Prince Consort—sent a wedding invitation."

"They say Eldest Miss Pan is getting married; please, when you have time, honor us with your presence at the wedding feast."