CH 53

Chapter 53: The Same Dilapidated And Messy Wooden House.

When Empress Dowager Xianyi walked in from outside the bedchamber, step by step, with a graceful and noble posture, Qi Ci hurried to bow to her, while the Crown Prince saluted her by calling ‘Imperial Mother’. At that moment, Empress Dowager Xianyi’s eyes looked at the Crown Prince, but when her gaze fell on Qi Ci, she said to him: “The Crown Prince is not feeling well, it’s time for him to rest. What you two were discussing now can be discussed tomorrow.”

The Crown Prince didn’t argue with this, he simply dropped his gaze and nodded his head. When Qi Ci saw this, he saluted again and withdrew from the bedchamber.

When Empress Dowager Xianyi saw that there were no outsiders in the bedchamber anymore, she reached out and flipped through the memorials on the table. She asked: “Have you finished reading all these?”

The Crown Prince said: “Replying to Imperial Mother, I’ve finished reading them.”

As he spoke, a Palace maid brought up a bowl of black and sticky medicine, which the Crown Prince wanted to drink all by himself. However, because his hands kept shaking out of weakness, he looked pitiful and ridiculous.

Without saying a word, Empress Dowager Xianyi took the bowl of medicine, sat on the edge of the bed, and picked up the spoon to feed the medicine to the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince summoned the maids that were serving at his bedside and said to Empress Dowager Xianyi while drinking the medicine: “Imperial Mother, I heard that the King of Bei’an County has been trying to bring Prince Chongfeng to his side.”

Empress Dowager Xianyi expressed an unchanged ‘hmph!’ and said: “You don’t need to worry. If the King of Bei’an County tries to fight for the Imperial Power, I’ll cut weeds and eliminate the roots1 for you.”

“Then, Imperial Mother,” the Crown Prince said softly, “did you suddenly search for Prince Chongfeng to come back to the Palace because you were worried that after my death, there would be no reason to fight for power?”

Empress Dowager Xianyi stopped moving and stopped feeding the medicine to the Crown Prince. Then, she gently placed the medicine bowl on the table.

After a long silence, Empress Dowager Xianyi got up slowly as she said to the Crown Prince faintly: “You will not die.”

The Crown Prince smiled mockingly: “Imperial Mother, I’m already in this state, what are you expecting? You—”

At that instant, Empress Dowager Xianyi interrupted him: “Keep reading the memorials and learn about the affairs of the Court. If there’s something you don’t understand, ask about it and think harder.”

After saying that, Empress Dowager Xianyi walked out of the Crown Prince’s bedchamber without looking back.

…

Time passed by quickly, and soon it was time for Qi Ci to leave for the Northern Border.

Qi Ci came to the Capital unnoticed, but now he was leaving with a large number of people following behind him.

That group of people traveled by boat from the town in the South of the Yangtze River, but then turned back to travel through earth. Finally, they arrived at the Northern Border on a cold autumn day.

The County Magistrate in the town had long heard the news that the Prince was coming, so he racked his brains trying to think how to welcome him best.

People this important had never come to this remote area, so the Magistrate didn’t know the proper etiquette to welcome them. After the County Magistrate patted his forehead, he decided to bring a few performers. As soon as the Prince’s carriage entered through the City’s gates, several performers rushed up to welcome him. The performers were setting off firecrackers and playing games, while some would stop the carriage to shout loudly as some performed the act of swallowing long swords and breaking big stones on their chests.

Oh boy, the Imperial Guards of the Capital, who had never seen such a scene before, thought that a group of wild robbers had walked up on them. As the Guards shouted for the people to stand down, they pressed the performers to the ground.

The fuss might have come and gone quickly, but at least it was over.

The County Magistrate, who had gone forward to persuade the Guards to release the performers, accidentally injured himself. Now, as the Magistrate held his waist, he bowed to salute Qi Ci: “Your Majesty, your journey must have been quite hard. This humble subordinate offers you my home so His Majesty can have a little rest.”

Qi Ci waved his hand and said: “Don’t worry about it, I want to go pay my respects to my mother first. Bian Zhonghua, you can follow me. As for everyone else, I will trouble the Magistrate to settle them down first.”

The Magistrate didn’t dare to say anything else and quickly obeyed Qi Ci’s orders.

When Bian Zhonghua and Qi Ci were already far away, the Magistrate asked a Guard, who was holding his horse, with some concern: “If only one Guard follows the Prince, will–?”

The Guard waved his hand and said: “Don’t worry, that Guard isn’t an ordinary man. He’s a Demon Slayer. If we really encounter any danger and he can’t protect the Prince, then it means we have no other choice but to die.”

As soon as the Magistrate heard this, he suddenly realized that he shouldn’t ask any more questions.

On another site, Bian Zhonghua and Qi Ci had just arrived at the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of the City.

At the still dilapidated and messy wooden house, on the same green bamboo forest.

Qi Ci didn’t hurry to walk into the wooden house, instead, he walked first towards the depths of the bamboo forest to find the grave of Qi Rulan. Qi Ci knelt down and worshiped three times, then he got up and silently pulled up the weeds next to the tombstone.

Seeing this, Bian Zhonghua went forward to stop Qi Ci’s actions and pulled his wrists to pat the mud on his hands. Then, Bian Zhonghua waved his hand, and as a silver light rose from his fingertips, the grass next to the grave was suddenly uprooted entirely, falling down to one side.

Qi Ci was dumbfounded as he looked at Bian Zhonghua: “You….”

Bian Zhonghua smiled proudly as he said: “This is a trivial matter, nothing to be praised for.”

Qi Ci wiped his face and said painstakingly: “No, I wanted to say that you pulled out the evergreen I planted beside the grave….”

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Bian Zhonghua: “….”