Based on the convention in the harem, the childless consorts would go to the Ganye Palace after the Emperor’s death to live a life of spiritual practice and submit to the Buddhist discipline. Life for them was totally different from the flamboyant life before, but equivalent to a nun’s. If the consort had a son, she could live with her son in the King’s manor; if she had a daughter, she could still stay in the palace and be entitled as a “Consort Dowager”.
And what the Empress meant was that Imperial Noble Consort Wen was allowed to come out of the palace and live with her daughter. Such preferential treatment had never been granted before. So the Empress believed that it appealed to Imperial Noble Consort Wen most. Because the Sixth Princess was Imperial Noble Consort Wen’s only daughter. If she could live with her daughter to spend the rest of her life, it would be more appealing to Imperial Noble Consort Wen that she had to live alone in the palace.
Although Imperial Noble Consort Wen was lukewarm about the fights among consorts in the harem, the Emperor liked her character so that he would come to her palace now and then. At present, the Empress had to guard against the Empress Dowager while trying to deal with Imperial Noble Consort Su. So the Empress hoped to have more people on her side, and that’s why she would make that promise.
Imperial Noble Consort Wen appreciated the Empress’ intention immediately and replied with a smile, “Thank you so much. Your Majesty. I will listen to you from now on.”
The Empress felt contented inwardly, and the expression on Imperial Noble Consort Wen’s face fit in exactly with the Empress’ guess. Then, the Empress’ serious look softened, and she said, “Yansha, go to take the flower cloud silk goods that Duke Ding gave me. The Fifth Princess’ marriage has been settled, and the next should be the Sixth Princess’. How can the royal daughter not dress well?”
“Yes, I am going to take them.” Yansha came out behind the Empress, bowed respectfully and answered. Then, she took the palace maidservants to fetch a few gorgeous silk goods soon.
“Imperial Noble Consort Wen, I have nothing good to give the Sixth Princess. Since the Fifth Princess got married, I will definitely treat the Sixth Princess as well as my own daughter.” The Empress looked at Imperial Noble Consort Wen and said smilingly.
The Empress was a mother of the nation, setting as a motherly model for all the people. Therefore, no matter the marriage for any prince or princess, she was able to have a say, even arrange the marriage directly. As long as she was still the Empress of the Qin Kingdom, the Emperor could not reject her. So she was the best to speak on the marriage for princes and princesses.
Of course, due to various reasons, the Empress could not interfere too much in the previous three princes’ marriage. But as for princess’ marriage, the Emperor did not care about it so much. Therefore, whether a princess could have a good marriage was mainly dependent on the Empress’ arrangement or simply a word. Even if the Emperor’s daughters did not have to worry about the marriage, it was not easy to marry a satisfying husband.
Seemingly, the Empress’ words sounded the concern about the Sixth Princess, but in fact, she was trying to warn Imperial Noble Consort Wen that if she dared to betray her, her daughter could not have a good marriage.
“Thank you so much. Your Majesty. I send my gratitude to Your Majesty here first, and when I come back, I will ask the Sixth Princess to express her thanks in person.” Imperial Noble Consort Wen seemed to be totally unaware of the threat in the Empress’ words, and just said gently and happily. She stood up and gave a deep salute to the Empress without any ill feelings.
With Imperial Noble Consort Wen’s expression and attitude, the Empress became more satisfied. The two chatted for a while, and then Imperial Noble Consort Wen left with the silk goods.
Mo Xuetong only took three carriages, all of which were the very ordinary official style. Mo Xuetong took Mo Ye and Mo Lan to sit in the first car; the second car took a few nannies and maidservants, and the last one took some incenses and other goods to worship the buddha. It was of little use, so the third carriage was closed and waited there.
Mo Ye and Mo Lan helped Mo Xuetong get on the carriage. Then, the coachman cracked the whip skillfully into a flowery shape and shouted, and the carriage began to move slowly.
Although the carriage looked inconspicuous from outside, it was much more comfortable to sit in than a normal carriage. A bamboo mat was laid inside, with a soft couch under it. There was some food in the dark grids beside. The curtain was hooked, with a light-colored gauze hanging. It was not only cool and well ventilated, but also convenient to enjoy the scenery outside.
The way to hang two layers of curtains only prevailed among the influential families.
Mo Lan got on the carriage and put on the curtain well, and lowered her head to speak to Mo Xuetong in a soft voice, “My Lady, Mo Feng has taken people to the Puguang Temple to deal with the things. Could you have Feng Yue to arrange more people for you?” Usually, Mo Feng guarded Mo Xuetong secretly. But this time, he was sent out, so Mo Lan felt kind of uneasy.
Those people appointed by Feng Yue followed Mo Feng to the Puguang Temple first, because they needed to monitor Mo Xueqiong’s movement, while starting to arrange the next matters.
Mo Xuetong put on a slight smile on the corner of her lips, and nodded with satisfaction. “Don’t bother so much. The way to the Puguang Temple were all main roads. How could anything terrible happen in this way? Besides, even though it happens, I have Mo Ye to protect me.”
Hearing Mo Xuetong mentioning her, Mo Ye put down the curtain on the other side and answered with certainty, “Yes, I will try my best to protect My Lady.”
She and Mo Feng had scouted the road last night. It was not likely to have anything terrible happen. In the early morning today, the two checked the carriages again. The coachman looked ordinary, but in fact, was a martial arts master.
Seeing Mo Ye reply so firmly, Mo Lan felt less worried. The two had been serving Mo Xuetong for a long time, so Mo Lan knew clearly Mo Ye was cautious and reliable.
The carriage slowly moved forward. Mo Xuetong leaned against the couch with her eyes closed to refresh her spirit. It was not so hot to start off in the morning. So the moment Feng Yuran left, Mo Xuetong got up. It was much earlier than her usual time, so she felt a bit drowsy. Mo Ye and Mo Lan were both so well-behaved that they did not speak again when knowing Mo Xuetong was sleepy.
The carriage was running smoothly and everything was quiet. Suddenly, the carriage brought to a halt, and the people in the carriage rushed forward involuntarily.
With sharp eyes and agile hands, Mo Ye held Mo Xuetong instantly so as to avoid Mo Xuetong hit the teapot on the table in front.
Mo Lan grabbed the brocade that she sat on to keep herself steady.
Mo Lan raised the curtain and asked with a frown, “What’s the matter?”
Shocked by the sudden halt, Mo Xuetong woke up immediately. She touched her aching head, and her long eyelashes flickered, while she listened quietly to the sound outside.
“Master, someone rushed out suddenly and hit our carriage.” The coachman reported calmly outside. In order to do things easily, all the people would call Mo Xuetong as the master outside.
The carriage hit someone? Mo Xuetong frowned and sat up, about to get off to see how the person was.
Mo Ye reached out to stop Mo Xuetong and said, “My Lady, let me get off to have a look.”
Knowing that Mo Ye was worried about her, Mo Xuetong nodded.
Mo Ye lifted the door curtain, jumped from the carriage, and turned to the horse’s head. Sure enough, she saw a person lying on the ground without any trace of blood, but did not move. It was hard to tell whether he was alive or dead. Mo Ye came closer, put her fingers on the man’s neck and could faintly feel the pulse on the neck. Although the pulse was not strong, it was quite stable.
She reached out to turn the person over, and a man with a handsome and elegant face appeared in front of her. But the face was rather pale and bloodless. If Mo Ye had not felt his pulse, she would have doubted that the person was dead. Mo Ye looked at him carefully.
She went back to the front of the carriage and reported to Mo Xuetong, “Master, it is a young man around 20 years old. There are no injuries on him, but he is lying on the ground, unconscious.”
Mo Xuetong contemplated for a while, held Mo Lan’s hand to stand up, and got off. She walked to the side of the lying person, squatted down, and put her hand on the person’s wrist. She closed her eyes slightly and felt his pulse. Although Mo Xuetong’s medical skills were not brilliant, she was still able to take the pulse.
Mo Lan squatted down and asked warily, “Master, how is he?” Today, they started off early, and saw seldom people on the way, so how could this person appear here?
“He is not well and looks ill. At this time, it is hot. And being frightened, he goes faint.” Mo Xuetong stood up, looked up at the sky, and took the handkerchief from Mo Ye to wipe her hands. Mo Xuetong looked carefully at the man again and said to Mo Lan, “Go to the carriage and get him a bowl of mung bean soup.”
Mo Lan went back to the carriage and took a bowl of iced mung bean soup. Afraid that Mo Xuetong would feel too hot on the way, the manor’s kitchen had prepared the mung bean soup for her, and iced the soup well. So at this time, the ice had not been melted and the soup was still cool.
The coachman came over, half-raised the man, and sent the iced mung bean soup to the man’s mouth. In such weather, when the cool soup was given to the man’s pale lips, the corner of the man’s mouth moved slightly, and his mouth opened. Then, the coachman put the soup slowly into the man’s mouth.
The young man took a few sips, and suddenly coughed violently. He covered his chest with his hand. It was a pale hand that the blue veins were visible under the skin. He gasped for breath difficultly. Mo Lan took the mung bean soup from the coachman hurriedly and put it aside.
“Sir, are you okay?” The young man opened his eyes slowly. Everything blurred in front of his eyes, making him unable to see how many people were standing in front of him. He had to close his eyes, only feeling the soft and sweet voice slip past his ears to inexplicably make him at ease in this hot summer.
He involuntarily opened his eyes again, and his eyes were fixed on a girl around 13 or 14 years old standing in the middle of the people in front. She was wearing a white silk dress with some light green flowers embroidered on the skirt. The dress fitted in her exactly and hung to her feet. He looked up and saw a charming beautiful face. Her long eyelashes were neat and beautiful like a brush, and her lips were tender and rosy. With her appearance, she looked like an otherworldly fairy.
The man covered his chest and asked with difficulty, “Miss, may I ask who you are…”
Mo Xuetong smiled gently and didn’t answer his question. Instead, she continued the previous words and asked softly, “Sir, are you feeling well now?”
The man coughed again, and gave a smile on his pale face. He nodded and struggled to sit up slowly from the coachman’s holding.
Mo Xuetong stared at his hand where blue veins stood out because he used up all his strength. The hand was as pale as his face without a trace of blood, the same as those that had not been exposed to the sunlight all year round. The hand was rather thin and unhealthily feeble.
The young man nodded, clenched his teeth and answered with all his strength, “I… I’m better now.”
But everyone could see that he was unable to make a move at all!
Mo Xuetong grinned, with a smiling expression in her clear eyes, and asked softly, “Sir, where are you going?” Looking at him unable to move a single step, Mo Xuetong thought that if she left him here, he would die next minute.
“Just go to the Puguang Temple in front. It was my fault that I startled the lady’s carriage. I send my apology to you here.” The young man answered politely. He breathed out hard, looked up at Mo Xuetong and smiled weakly.
Ahead was surely the Puguang Temple, but it would take at least an hour to get there. But judging from his look, he was even unable to take a few steps, let alone spend an hour reaching there.
