USWHC -Chapter 469 Escape (Part 9)

A steady drizzle fell from a darkened sky, the sun obscured and dim. The air itself felt heavy, almost suffocating, as if a storm was about to break at any moment.

Inside the main hall, however, it was anything but quiet. Consort Duan wept as she cried out,
“Your Majesty, my Jingqi! She’s still so young—where could she possibly have gone?”

The Emperor’s brows were tightly knit. With a sigh, he muttered, “Not a single one of them ever lets me have peace of mind!”

“Your Majesty, Jingqi would never run off on her own. She’s been obedient since childhood—how could she do something so rebellious? I fear she must have been abducted!” Consort Duan choked out in defense.

But the Empress, standing to the side, replied coldly, “A child grows up, and so does her heart. If she didn’t run away herself, then why was there not the slightest disturbance? There were so many palace maids outside, yet not one heard anything?”

“Sister Empress, how can you speak of my Jingqi like that? If she could have cried out, she surely would have! I fear she was knocked unconscious early on and couldn’t make a sound!” Consort Duan shot back, clearly displeased.

“Knocked unconscious? Quite a feat,” the Empress sneered. “With so many guards present, someone could just carry a person down the mountain? That would require quite extraordinary skill.” She even let out an abrupt laugh, as if abducting Princess Lanyi would hardly be worth the trouble for such capable kidnappers.

“What? Do you think I’m lying?” Consort Duan’s voice trembled with restrained anger. “My Jingqi is beautiful—countless young men admire her. Who knows if some foolish one…”

Her voice trailed off abruptly.

The Empress snorted disdainfully. “Foolish indeed. I was wondering why Yingrong and that boy from the Li family have been at each other’s throats lately—so this is the root of it.”

“Sister, is Yingrong at home?” Consort Duan suddenly asked.

“If he’s not at home, where else would he be? Surely not foolish enough to elope with someone?” the Empress replied with a cold laugh.

Seeing the two on the verge of tearing into each other, the Emperor sat above them with a dark expression, watching this pair of wives—both still in their prime—without uttering a word.

Zhu Jie quietly observed the long-time rivals. The two had entered the palace in the same year as selected beauties, and after more than twenty years of fighting, they still showed no sign of stopping.

Indeed, both Consort Duan and the Empress were only in their forties. By modern standards, the Emperor would certainly be seen as an old man marrying much younger women, but in ancient times, they were already considered middle-aged—yet still as spirited as ever.

As for the Emperor, he was truly old now. He had ascended the throne only in his thirties, and his residence back then had not been crowded. But once he became Emperor, the harem expanded rapidly. His original wife—the first Empress—had not been so fortunate; she passed away soon after his rise, conveniently making room for those who followed.

And this current Empress was already his third. She was as beautiful as a flower, seated beside the Emperor like a daughter beside her father.

“Who knows if it wasn’t some fool?” Consort Duan retorted, refusing to yield an inch.

With a loud bang, the teacup lid slammed shut. Grinding her teeth, the Empress said, “I will personally knock sense into that idiot—there’s no need for your concern!”

The atmosphere grew tense, as if a fight could erupt at any moment. Just then, Princess Lanxin suddenly stepped forward, taking the blame upon herself with seeming goodwill.

“It’s all my fault,” she said tearfully. “I shouldn’t have taken my sisters to the Daoist temple to offer incense… I ended up losing one of them!”

Though she meant to ease the situation, the Empress did not appreciate it. Instead, she sneered, “How was it you who led them? Wasn’t she the one eagerly following along? Perhaps she had been waiting for this opportunity all along.”

Hearing this, Consort Duan immediately snapped back, “What do you mean ‘waiting for an opportunity’? Don’t you go out to offer incense once or twice a year as well? With such grand entourages—who are you waiting for then?”

“My heart belongs solely to His Majesty. I don’t have such foolish accounts waiting to be settled!” the Empress mocked. “Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes—rats’ children are born to dig holes!”

“What do you mean by that?!” Consort Duan shot to her feet in fury.

At that very moment, the Emperor’s voice rang out sharply: “Enough! Haven’t you made a big enough scene already?!”