Xue Xingyue saw the Empress Dowager looking at her and slowly uttered a few words, "No comment!"
"Meng Jia!" Xue Xingyue couldn't help but call out her name.
The Empress Dowager smiled upon hearing this, her eyes filled with tears, but she forced them back. "Xingyue, this is the first time you've called me by my name since you came here."
Xue Xingyue frowned at this. "All past events are now in the past. Meng Jia, our paths diverge, and we cannot cooperate."
The Empress Dowager nodded. "Indeed. Therefore, what I wish to do is none of your concern, especially since you are no longer Princess Xingyue."
"Meng Jia, tell me, what is your next plan?" Xue Xingyue pressed closer, asking word by word.
The Empress Dowager turned her face away. "Xingyue, I advise you not to ask, nor to guess. Wouldn't it be better to let me fulfill the late Emperor's final wish?"
Xue Xingyue lowered her gaze and, after a long pause, slowly said, "Meng Jia, besides my imperial brother, you are the closest person to me. Although our paths differ, I wish you well. Do you understand?"
"Your heart is the same as mine, and the same as the late Emperor's. Xingyue, do not ask any further. I will not tell you."
"Alright, I won't ask anymore. Then tell me, what will happen to you in this plan?" Da Feng Novel
The Empress Dowager was slightly taken aback, turned her head, and remained silent.
"Are you including yourself in this plan?" Xue Xingyue asked, word by word.
"Xingyue, you know Tianyue is a sensitive and suspicious child. If I am not here, he will not believe."
"Meng Jia, have you considered yourself at all?"
"Xingyue, the late Emperor once said that every dynastic change is accompanied by bloodshed and sacrifice. If I can fulfill your imperial brother's entrustment this way, then my life will not have been in vain!"
Xue Xingyue understood. Meng Jia had calculated herself into it, leaving no path of survival for herself.
"Why didn't you ask for my consent when you were doing these things? Why didn't you seek my opinion? Was I to be manipulated by you, to grieve for you, to hate for you, why?"
"Xingyue, many years from now, you will understand the late Emperor and me."
Xue Xingyue shook her head. "No, I won't understand. Leaving me alone in this world, with all my loved ones gone, I don't want such an ending."
"Xingyue, you have no choice. The game has already begun, everyone is deeply involved, and there is no escape."
Xue Xingyue looked at her and, after a long silence, said, "Is there truly no way?"
The Empress Dowager shook her head. "No. Xingyue, stay and talk with me!"
Seeing her pleading gaze, Xue Xingyue sat on the ground. "What do you want to say?"
The Empress Dowager said, "I remember when I first met you, you and your imperial brother were by the side of Empress Changjiu. Empress Changjiu praised me the first time she saw me. I was shocked to see you and your imperial brother. I never expected such beautiful twins to exist in this world. However, thinking of Emperor Yun, it is not impossible."
Xue Xingyue's expression softened considerably. "My father was a man of astonishing beauty."
The Empress Dowager nodded. "Indeed. Every time I saw him, I found him breathtaking. But in Emperor Yun's eyes, there was only Empress Changjiu, and no gaze was spared for anyone else."
"Of course. My father and mother were deeply in love; I was extremely envious when I was young. I often felt jealous of my mother, wondering how such a wonderful man like my father could be so devoted to my mother?"
"Later, Empress Changjiu's health deteriorated day by day, and I saw fewer smiles on your and your brother's faces."
Xue Xingyue lowered her eyelids. "Yes. According to my father, it was because my mother expended too much energy when giving birth to me and my imperial brother. Even with my father's internal energy support at the time, it was of no avail. Therefore, my father did not want my mother to work so hard and wished to take her away from the court to live a reclusive life."
"The last time, I saw your imperial brother standing on the city wall, gazing at Emperor Yun and Empress Changjiu for a long time. Finally, he couldn't help but shed tears. Years later, your imperial brother once told me, 'Meng Jia, I no longer have my father and mother.' Only then did I know that Emperor Yun and Empress Changjiu had departed."
Xue Xingyue was startled. She suddenly remembered that on the way back to the capital with the Jiang family, Feng Wu and others had suddenly left her overnight and never returned. Although Feng Wu had returned, she had also died for her. It turned out that her father and mother had departed.
Tears fell drop by drop. She hadn't had the chance to see her father and mother, and they were already gone. "Did they pass peacefully?" she asked softly.
The Empress Dowager replied, "I don't know the specifics. The late Emperor took people to accompany them. When he returned, he was dejected, and later..."
So, her imperial brother had taken the last look at their father and mother before his illness worsened. "I always thought you had poisoned him."
"Regardless of whether Tianyue succeeds, I will not allow it."
"Meng Jia, thank you for telling me all this. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known how my imperial brother departed."
"Why thank me? I have enjoyed so much favor; it is time I did something for the late Emperor."
Xue Xingyue suddenly felt dizzy. She looked up at her and asked, "You... what did you give me?"
The Empress Dowager took out a sachet from her sleeve. "Do you remember the three-day incense?"
Xue Xingyue trembled all over. "Meng Jia, you..."
"Xingyue, some matters indeed need to be brought to a close, but the one to do it is not you; it is me."
"Meng Jia, no, don't..."
Xue Xingyue fell into darkness. She touched her hair bun. "Xingyue, this is all I can do. I hope you will be a good Empress. Late Emperor, your concubine has done it. Do you see? I will soon be able to accompany you, forever..."