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Outside the window, the wind had risen at some unknown time, causing the long window to open and close erratically. Empress Dowager Mingxi gazed at the dark sky outside and sighed, "I have always followed the will of the Founding Ancestor, wholeheartedly caring for Lan. I will never forget the look in Lan's eyes before she left—lonely and desperate. She told me that in her next life, she would never be a royal daughter. If her daughter were to marry into the royal family, she would only be an Empress..."
"So, is that why you are so determined to make Mei Shuang the Empress of our Great Qin Empire?" Xiao Luo asked.
Empress Dowager Mingxi nodded, a hint of complexity flashing in her phoenix eyes. "Consider it my contract with Lan from years ago... If Shuang'er becomes the Empress of our Great Qin Empire, she can stay by my side, allowing me to care for her. It is a bit of my selfish desire... Moreover, I have watched Shuang'er grow up and genuinely like her. Now that Shuang'er has transformed completely, there is no one more suitable for the position of Empress in this Great Qin Empire than her. Shuang'er is of royal blood; being cast into the Cold Palace has already brought shame upon her. She has nearly suffered harm at the hands of Queen Meiru and must have endured much hardship. Now that she is wandering outside, if anything were to happen to her, how could I explain it to Lan and the Founding Ancestor?"
Xiao Luo listened quietly without speaking.
After a long while, he stood up and approached the window, reaching out to close it before turning back and saying lightly, "Empress Dowager, do you not know that she is no longer the Mei Shuang of before?"
Empress Dowager Mingxi dismissed his words. "Isn't that better? Perhaps due to the suffering from being cast into the Cold Palace, her temperament is now many times better than before. If she had been like this earlier, you probably wouldn't have found her so distasteful..."
Xiao Luo remained silent and simply pulled a book from a shelf behind him, handing it to Empress Dowager Mingxi. "This is Consort Yi's book from within the palace; you might want to take a look."
Empress Dowager Mingxi took it with confusion and flipped through a few pages before closing it impatiently. "What are these strange characters? They make my head spin..."
"These are the characters of the Eastern Kingdom," Xiao Luo replied calmly. "Only a few people in the palace understand such writing, yet Mei Shuang can comprehend it—and deeply understand its meaning."
Empress Dowager Mingxi widened her phoenix eyes in disbelief, pulling back the teacup she had raised to her lips. "So you're saying that Shuang'er is not just suffering from amnesia but has truly... changed into someone else?"
Xiao Luo's expression turned serious. "She understands far more than just this. Compared to who she was before, her change in handwriting is minor; however, it seems she knows too much now—as if she possesses foresight..."
Startled, Empress Dowager Mingxi nearly dropped her teacup as tea spilled dangerously close to her fingers.
"Do you know why I let her leave the palace?" Xiao Luo said lightly.
Empress Dowager Mingxi steadied herself and shook her head with a sigh. "In the end, you still dislike her and don’t want her near..."
Xiao Luo took out a folded document from his sleeve and presented it before Empress Dowager Mingxi. "Do you still remember this?"
Empress Dowager Mingxi carefully flipped through the documents, nodding slightly. "Isn't this Chancellor Mei's Secret Edict?" she asked. "What happened?"
Xiao Luo's expression turned serious. "Years ago, when Chancellor Mei was gravely ill and unable to speak, he passed this Secret Edict to Zhao Prince, which eventually reached Father Emperor. But no one knew its true purpose. Suddenly, Chancellor Mei recovered and claimed it was just an ordinary memorial. In reality, at that moment, Chancellor Mei had already been replaced—this was the work of the current false Left Chancellor, Li Tang. The reason Li Tang took such a huge risk to replace Chancellor Mei is that he discovered a tremendous secret about him."
Empress Dowager Mingxi felt a jolt in her heart. "What secret?"
Xiao Luo lightly touched the document. "It's all right here..."
Empress Dowager Mingxi's eyelids twitched, and after a long pause, she murmured, "So you're saying this treasure is indeed real?"
Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, her voice trembling slightly. "Do you mean that Shuang'er... she knows this secret?"
Xiao Luo shook his head. "She had amnesia before; that's absolutely true. Even if she knew, she wouldn't be able to remember it. However, she is exceptionally clever and has unraveled the secrets within..."
Empress Dowager Mingxi was truly shocked now; the silk handkerchief in her hand slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. "What?! You're saying Shuang'er has uncovered the secrets within?"
"Yes, of course. She did it unintentionally; she just doesn't realize what this Secret Edict contains... That's why I let her leave the palace..."
Empress Dowager Mingxi was completely stunned.
Sitting dazedly on the couch, she suddenly lost her composure and exclaimed, "You let her go out alone, with no one to rely on? Isn't that putting her in danger?"
"Empress Dowager, if she stayed in the palace, do you think she would be safe? The matter of the false Left Chancellor Li Tang has already been exposed. Before Deposed Empress Mei Shuang is dealt with, if Mei Ru finds out she remains in the palace, there will be no stopping her. Allowing her to leave is the safest option. Moreover, the one most eager to know this secret is likely Zhao Prince..."
"Zhao?" Empress Dowager Mingxi blurted out but quickly realized it was inappropriate and corrected herself. "Does Zhao Prince know?"
Xiao Luo pressed his lips together; a fleeting look of doubt crossed his stern face as he shook his head. "Not yet."
"Does that mean only you and Shuang'er know about this?"
"So far, the Empress Dowager is also aware," Xiao Luo said, a meaningful glint passing through his eyes.
Empress Dowager Mingxi, sensitive to that implication, felt her heart skip a beat and her expression slightly changed. She finally nodded, "The Empress Dowager will not tell anyone."
"Chancellor Mei is thoughtful and cunning, fearing that he might encounter unforeseen circumstances one day. Therefore, he has stored this secret in another way and taught the method of revelation to his bloodline, Mei Shuang. This means that this secret can only be deciphered by Mei Shuang. Although she knows how to decode it, she is unaware of the shocking truth behind it. Thus, even if one day Mei Shuang successfully deciphers it, she will remain uninvolved and protect herself."
"My goodness!" Empress Dowager Mingxi sighed. "To preserve these royal treasures, Chancellor Mei has truly put in a lot of effort. However, poor Shuang'er... I fear that with Chancellor Mei in such a state, these treasures may well sink into oblivion."
"In order to make Chancellor Mei reveal the shocking secret of the Secret Edict, Left Chancellor Li Tang fed him various drugs, intending to coax him into disclosing the method of decoding. As a result, Chancellor Mei was poisoned too deeply; his meridians were in chaos and his mind unclear. Yet, the bond between father and daughter remained strong. His love for Mei Shuang brought him a moment of clarity when he saw her. Remarkably, he did not harm her," Xiao Luo lamented. "That is why Zhao Prince was determined to let Mei Shuang fall into a deep sleep to meet Chancellor Mei but returned empty-handed at the most critical moment."
Empress Dowager Mingxi suddenly raised her gaze. "What? You mean Zhao Prince actually used Mei Shuang as an experiment?"
Xiao Luo nodded, a mocking smile curling at his lips. "Does the Empress Dowager think Zhao Prince wouldn't do such a thing? Because of Mei Shuang's amnesia, Zhao Prince had no choice but to exhaust every means to help her regain her memory... He even went so far as to let Mei Shuang absorb some substance and then placed her in the stone palace to meet with the nearly insane Chancellor Mei... Now that Mei Shuang has inadvertently uncovered this secret, if I do not release her from the palace soon, I truly worry that she might follow in Chancellor Mei's footsteps one day. This also involves Mei Ru's contribution..."
After recovering from her shock, anger rose in Empress Dowager Mingxi's eyes. She slammed her hand on the table and exclaimed angrily, "This wretched creature has done such a thing! How dare he! I have always protected Shuang'er under the impression that he genuinely cared for her; it turns out he had such intentions..."
After venting her anger, Empress Dowager Mingxi finally understood Xiao Luo's true meaning.
Calming herself down, she stood up and said lightly, "I understand now... I will restrain Zhao Prince."
"I just received news from Qizhou that Zhao Prince has already gone there; Mei Shuang must have met him by now..."
Empress Dowager Mingxi took a deep breath. "Quickly convey my decree: summon Zhao Prince back to the palace immediately to see me and bring Mei Shuang along."
After issuing the order, Empress Dowager Mingxi turned to Xiao Luo and asked, "How about we make an exchange?"
“Empress Dowager, please speak.”
Empress Dowager Mingxi gazed at Xiao Luo for a long time before softly saying, “For many years, you have been leading troops at the border. Although you have achieved great military success, I always thought of you as merely a skilled warrior. I never expected that my son, despite not having managed the affairs of the Celestial Empire until now, would be so astute in political matters. It seems I was mistaken before...”
Xiao Luo's stern face revealed no emotion as he listened to Empress Dowager Mingxi continue.
“I understand that you still think of Chu Xiruo regarding Mei Shuang. I will grant you this.” A glint of sharpness flashed in Empress Dowager Mingxi's phoenix eyes. “If you wish to see Chu Xiruo, it is not difficult; just make Shuang'er your Empress.”
Xiao Luo neither nodded nor shook his head.
Empress Dowager Mingxi said no more. As she stood to leave, she gently added, “Sometimes, deep feelings for one’s children can lead to one’s own downfall... You are a ruler of a nation, not just the son-in-law of an ordinary family or an ordinary man. You bear the weight of the entire world on your shoulders...”
Mei Shuang awoke from her slumber, staring blankly at the sky outside, which remained overcast despite the rain having stopped. Her mood matched the color of the sky—gray and dreary.
If it hadn’t been for a stone that flew in from outside and struck Nangong Nuo at such a critical moment last night, she might have already spent the night with him.
It was quite amusing to think about; who could bring a stone in at such a pivotal moment? Regardless, that stone arrived just in time. She chuckled at the memory of Nangong Nuo's ugly expression when he was hit by that stone and had to hold her hand against her snowy peak. Who would want such a discordant note during such an intimate moment?
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