496 Thunderstorm 1

The day brightened hazily. The clouds gradually gathered above Jingdou and turned the hazy light into blurry darkness. In the mess of buildings in the rear of the Royal Palace, the sleeping eunuchs and serving girls were still turning in their sleep. However, some among them had woken up a long time ago.

Hong Zhu forcefully steadied his state of mind. He slapped his face repeatedly, trying to use this motion to make himself maintain his composure. He had not been on duty in the Eastern Palace, so he had not been killed by the eunuchs and guards. Even though he was in the courtyard near the laundry facility, he still felt scared. He had no idea what he would face next.

A sound suddenly came from outside the courtyard. Although it did not disturb the people in their dreams, it scared Hong Zhu so much he shot to the window. The hand in his sleeve held tightly to the poisonous dagger Fan Xian had once given him to defend himself. He was prepared, at any moment, to fight for his life with the people who came to silence him.

If he struggled, it would be difficult for him to escape the path to death. If he didn't fight and just surrendered to the capture, it was not something young Eunuch Hong, who was as stubborn as a scholar, would be able to do.

His hands shook as he placed his ear against the door, listening for sounds outside the courtyard. Occasionally, he heard a tragic groan and the sound of crying ringing out. The sounds rang out quickly and immediately disappeared.

His face was deathly pale. He knew there was someone killing people outside. The eunuchs and serving girls who lived near the laundry facility were almost all servants who served either the Eastern Palace or Guangxin Palace. Of course, Hong Zhu knew exactly the reason for which the things outside were happening. He held the dagger tightly and anxiously bit his lip. He didn't notice that he had made a small cut on his lip.

He didn't know when the people would come to kill him.

He didn't know if he could kill one person in a struggle.

Hong Zhu nervously waited for the arrival of death.

After an indeterminable amount of time, no one came to knock on Hong Zhu's door. Gradually, the movements outside the laundry facility disappeared, and the courtyard outside recovered its peace.

Hong Zhu swallowed a mouthful of saliva that had the taste of blood. Nervously, he looked out through the crack in the door and found that there was no one outside. He wanted to push open the door to see what exactly had happened outside, but his body had long been frozen by fear. For a moment, he couldn't move at all.

He crouched down to rub at his ankles. He then summoned his courage to push open the door and walked out onto the street of the laundry facility. He looked around absent-mindedly and found that, not far away, the door to where the eunuchs and serving girls lived were tightly closed, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

He walked to one of the courtyards and carefully stretched out his hand to push at the door.

The door wasn't bolted and opened immediately at his push.

Hong Zhu looked at the courtyard in front of him. His face became even paler, and even his lips began to lose their color.

He didn't see a courtyard filled with bodies, but he did see a few puddles of blood in an unremarkable corner. The courtyard was empty. Not one person existed here.

Presumably, the other courtyards were also like this. The eunuchs and serving girls in these courtyards had already been ordered to death by the Emperor. Their bodies had been dragged, under the cover of darkness, to some secret place to be burned.

The Emperor's hands were indeed bloody.

Hong Zhu backed out of the empty courtyard in a daze and stood in the empty alley. He didn't understand why he wasn't killed. A feeling of gratitude and fear for the new lease on life twisted in his heart, making his entire body shake.

Crack!

A streak of light flashed in the depths of the dark clouds in the sky. In an instant, the sound of thunder traveled through Jingdou and surrounding countryside. Immediately after, a strong wind picked up. Countless raindrops began to fall to the ground, accompanied by the wind and thunder.

Hong Zhu stood upright in the downpour and allowed the water to wash over his face and wet his thin clothing. After a long time, he finally returned to his senses. Holding tightly onto the knife like a life-saver, he returned to his own little courtyard, closed the door tightly, and didn't dare to open it again.

…

…

"Father, what is this for?" The Crown Prince gazed angrily at his father with a rarely seen rage and roared loudly, "Why!"

The Qing Emperor did not reply to his question. He only stared at the empress' dazed face. Putting his hands behind his back, he slowly lowered his head and placed his face beside the empress'.

Her body shook without reason. She looked at the middle-aged man she was most familiar with, loved the best, and also hated the most, come closer to her. She saw clearly the black edged brilliant gold robe on his body and golden threads on the dragon robe, and she smelled the scent on his body. She could not see the man's expression clearly or the emotions below the expression clearly.

Many years had passed, but the empress had never truly seen the Emperor clearly.

Her body shook again. It was clear that this empress felt a deep fear toward the Emperor.

Beside her ear, the Emperor quietly said, "This is the good son you've raised."

The empress immediately froze in surprise. She had no idea why such a terrifying thing as purging the Palace had happened today. Hearing the Emperor's words, only then did she realize that it had something to do with the Crown Prince. But, the Crown Prince had recently been very playing his role very smoothly. What trouble could he possibly have caused? Particularly after hearing the Emperor say this, an emotion unique to women excited the empress. She screeched in a sharp voice, "My son? Is he not your son?"

The sound of a crisp slap was the response to her words. The Emperor slowly pulled back his hand and looked at the empress in front him, who was holding her face and didn't look at him directly. Coldly, he said, "If you want me to abolish you, then don't make so much noise here."

Although the words were soft, they carried chilling coldness.

A glimmer of hopelessness flashed through the empress' eyes. She gazed at the Emperor and laughed maniacally. "You hit me…you actually hit me? In these dozen years, you couldn't even be bothered to glance at me. You actually hit me right now? Should I thank you?"

The Crown Prince saw his mother being humiliated. He gave a roar and charged over. He stood in front of the empress and stared at the Emperor with rage and helplessness. In a loud voice, he said, "Father, enough!"

Although he stood between the Emperor and empress, the Emperor's serene eyes seemed to not see the Crown Prince at all. They pierced through his flesh to stare at the sobbing empress behind him. Faintly, he said, "Do not lose your sense of propriety. Do you know that, Empress?"

The empress raised her head fearfully and glanced at the Emperor past the Crown Prince's not very substantial body. She bit her lip and didn't speak for a moment.

The Emperor saw that she did not reply. He furrowed his brows slightly and took a step forward. If he went forward another step, he would crash directly into the Crown Prince's body.

At this moment, the Crown Prince's heart had been chilled through. He knew what a harsh and unfeeling person his father was. A ruler was never soft-hearted. His father had slapped his mother across the face, but at least it demonstrated that he still considered his mother a person.

However, the Emperor's gaze went right through him like he didn't exist. What did this show? This showed that the Emperor already no longer considered him a person.

The Crown Prince didn't know what matter had made his father so angry and unwilling to tolerate him. He suddenly thought of a matter, and his face paled further. But, he still stood in front of the empress because he wanted to protect his mother.

Although the Emperor had only taken one step forward, the Crown Prince felt that a giant mountain had approached. An imposing aura emanated from the man in the dragon robe in from of him and directly pressed down on his body.

It seemed to the Crown Prince that he could hear the sound of his knees creaking. He was scared. He wanted to back away, but he could not because he knew that the Emperor was in a rage. He didn't know what the Emperor would do to his mother while he was angry.

So, he stood without moving between the Emperor and empress. He used all of his strength to resist the imposing aura. His mind was a bit distracted. He wondered if this was the aura that a tyrannical ruler needed to have? Did the person sitting on the dragon chair have to be so iron-blooded and merciless?

"Why?" Under the great pressure, the Crown Prince kept his back straight with great difficulty. The tendons on his neck stood out. He roared in a sharp voice, "Father, why!"

This time, the Emperor finally looked directly at the Crown Prince. He looked at the young man who dared to stand in front of him. A faint light rose in his eyes. As if his voice was being squeezed out between his lips, he cursed in a low voice, "Disgusting!"

…

…

The Crown Prince understood and proved his guess. He broke. His leg's turned soft, so he sat down suddenly in front of the Emperor and began to sob. Tears and snot smeared all over his face.

The Emperor didn't glance at him again. He walked to the empress side and coldly swung out with his hand and slapped her again.

The empress gave a wretched cry and was pushed by this slap to the ground, where she lay on the low couch.

The Emperor lowered his head to the empress' ear and said through gritted teeth, "I handed this child to you, and this is how you raise him to be?"

The Emperor raised his body and coldly walked toward the exit of the Eastern Palace. Just as he was about to walk out of the Palace, he turned his head and looked with coldness and disgust at the Crown Prince sitting in a daze on the ground. With hated in his voice, he said, "If you dared to stand in front of me the entire time earlier, perhaps I might still have some respect for you."

Having said this, the unusually cold and merciless Qing Emperor shook his sleeves and left. His figure appeared to be very straight and cold. He didn't look like a husband or a father [JW1], only like a ruler.

The doors to the Eastern Palace were slowly closed. The stench of blood continued to linger in the Palace. Other than the sobbing empress and Crown Prince, there was not a single other person. It appeared very lonely.

The Crown Prince suddenly slowly rose and somewhat woodenly helped his mother to sit up properly.

With a smack, the empress slapped him across the face. The Crown Prince did not dodge it. His eyes were filled with helplessness and conflict. He raised his hand and caught his mother's wrist, which was coming down in a second slap. Viciously, he said, "Mother, if you don't want to die, then quickly think of a way to notify grandmother!"

The empress immediately froze.

…

…

Inside and outside the Eastern Palace, the Guangxin Palace, and the laundry facility, within a half-hour, any eunuch and serving girl who had served in these two Palaces had all been killed. Other than Hong Zhu, not a single survivor was left. Hundreds of lives were sacrificed so the Emperor could hide the ugliness in the royal family.

Perhaps it was not until now that the Qing Emperor had begun to gradually demonstrate his bloodiest, coldest, and most powerful side.

This middle-aged man in a dragon robe came alone to Guangxin Palace.

He didn't have a single eunuch with him.

Old Eunuch Hong saw him approaching. He bowed deeply and then disappeared without a trace like a spirit.

In Guangxin Palace, there was only the Eldest Princess inside and Emperor outside. Two of them stood separated by the thick Palace door thinking their own thoughts. Would death come next or memories? Would it be a dozen years of familiarity or the distance of an instance? Would they be ruler and official or brother and sister?

The wind began to blow.

The dark clouds above Jingdou grew thicker and thicker.

A streak of lightning shot down as countless drops of rain poured down.

The Eldest Princess sitting on the low couch slowly raised her head and looked at the Palace door with a cold and laughable gaze. The Palace doors squeaked as they were slowly pushed open. A thoroughly wet middle-aged man with long hair spread out behind him slowly walked in. The dragons sewed onto his dragon robe seemed to be struggling in the wet as if they wanted to charge out and destroy everything in the world.

The Eldest Princess, Li Yunrui, looked at him coldly and said, "So, you look this wretched."

Crash! Lightning flashed across the sky and it illuminated the dim Royal Palace. For a very short space of time, it lit up everything with an impossible brilliance, particularly the figure of the Emperor, an angry but controlled, and lonely but tyrannical figure.

[JW1] Original said "wife," which seems to be a typo.