Although Heshou lived in a side hall, the interior was still very well furnished, only slightly inferior to that of the Empress. With the title of having saved the Emperor's life, the Empress couldn't possibly have skimped on Heshou's food, clothing and shelter. Apart from her lack of freedom, Heshou's treatment in the Imperial Palace was second only to that of the Empress Dowager Song and the Empress.
When Yuchen was outside the royal bedchamber, she was a little surprised that she didn't smell any medicine. Generally speaking, when someone was terminally ill, shouldn't the whole courtyard be filled with that smell? However, given the grievances between the two, Yuchen didn't ask any more questions but followed Momo Jin directly inside.
After entering the royal bedchamber, Yuchen took a few steps and stopped. She wasn't here to visit Heshou, but just to listen to her. Even if she stood further away, she could still hear her.
It was also because she was standing so far away that Yuchen couldn't see Heshou's face at that moment since it was all covered by the half-drawn curtain. However, the hand resting on the side of the bed was a sickly pale colour.
Yuchen didn't feel any sympathy for Heshou just because she had become pitiful. Considering the sins Heshou had committed, this could only be seen as her retribution.
Momo Lin announced, "Guifei1 Niangniang2, Jing Wangfei3 is here, you can say what you have to say now!" In fact, Momo Lin was also a little curious as to what important words Heshou had to say.
Heshou, who was lying on the bed, heard Momo Lin's words and spoke, "Ah, Jing Wangfei3 is here..." Before she could finish speaking, a burst of coughing came from behind the curtain, the sound growing louder and louder, more and more painful, causing the people around her to feel flustered.
After a long while, the coughing subsided.
Yuchen had no interest in seeing what Heshou had become under the curtain, and asked, "Why did you ask to see me?" Heshou's voice was hoarse and tired, while Yuchen's voice was full of coldness and impatience.
Heshou coughed again, and after coughing, she said, "All of you, get out! I want to speak to Jing Wangfei3 alone." Heshou knew full well that her time was up. Therefore, she had nothing to fear at this point.
Momo Jin didn't wait for Yuchen to speak before she told everyone else in the room to withdraw. Yuchen frowned but said nothing.
Only Heshou and Yuchen remained in the room. Heshou didn't say anything, and Yuchen didn't take the initiative to speak either, and the room fell silent all of a sudden.
After a moment of silence, it was Heshuo who finally broke the silence by asking, "Aren't you curious as to why I wanted to see you?"
Without hesitation, Yuchen replied, "No, I'm not." She truly had no interest in listening to Heshuo's nonsense. Even if she didn't take Heshuo's words seriously, she didn't want to pollute her ears with them.
Heshuo paused and said, "Everyone else is hoping I'll tell them something. Are you really not the least bit interested?" Her years at Mount Wutai hadn't been entirely without lessons. At the very least, Heshuo had learned to keep silent unless she was sure of what she wanted to say. However, whenever she did speak, her words usually came true. That said, in her past life, she had been just an ordinary woman of the inner court. Aside from a few widely known major events, she didn't know much about court politics or local disasters unless they were particularly significant. Even so, Heshuo still knew much more than Yuxi, who had spent her entire life confined to the inner quarters.
Yuchen remained unwavering as she responded, "No, I'm not." She didn't believe a word Heshuo said. If Heshuo were as capable as she claimed, how could she have ended up in such a pitiful state?
Heshuo chuckled. "What if I were to tell you that in your last life, your daughter Zhou Xia lived well and untouched until my death? Would you still not want to hear what I have to say?" When she learned of Zhou Xia's passing in this life, she felt a bitter satisfaction. At the very least, Yuchen's fate had changed, and she was no longer the flawless, enviably perfect woman she had been in their previous life.
Yuchen's pupils contracted briefly, but she quickly regained her composure and said, "Utter nonsense." Heshuo was once again spewing wild, deceitful words.
Heshuo laughed. "You must be curious as to why I was so determined to destroy Han Yuxi, aren't you? I can tell you now—it's because she's *just like me."
Yuchen sneered, "Just like you? Are you saying my Si Mei4 has also lived two lives? And that was why you want to *kill her?" To have lived an extra life only to end up in such a miserable state—how utterly laughable!
Heshuo made no effort to hide her thoughts. After all, she was already close to death, and her family was gone, so there was no longer any need for secrets. "Yes. That was why I couldn't allow her to live."
Yuchen countered, "Then tell me, how did you determine that my Si Mei4 is the same as you?" If Yuxi had displayed extraordinary intelligence from an early age, Yuchen might have entertained the idea. But Yuxi had not seemed particularly bright as a child. In terms of aptitude, she was not even comparable to Yujing, let alone Yuchen herself. Furthermore, Yuxi did not exhibit any unusual behaviour—such as inventing peculiar things like Heshuo did. If Yuxi was truly like Heshuo, then she must have completely wasted her previous life, because she wasn't even as talented as the seven- or eight-year-old Yujing.
Heshuo said, "Haven't you noticed how Han Yuxi's personality changed drastically after she survived smallpox? Before the illness, she was weak and timid, easily bullied by anyone. But after she recovered, she became clever and began to work hard to win the favour of the Duke's wife. And when she was eleven, she managed to master double-sided embroidery—doesn't that seem strange to you?"
Yuchen replied, "Not at all. Compared to her, I know far more." In Yuchen's eyes, Yuxi's ability to master double-sided embroidery was hardly impressive.
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
Speaking of which, Yuxi was actually lucky to have an elder sister with such a genius aura. No matter what she did, it wouldn't attract any attention. Therefore, neither Yuchen, who had grown up with Yuxi, nor anyone else would believe Heshou's story.
Heshou was silent for a moment before saying, "The Han Yuxi in her previous life was talentless, ugly, and weak. After she came of age, she married Jiang Hongjin, the youngest Zhuangyuan5 in the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, it was a pity that her Zhuangyuan5 husband hated her so much that he didn't consummate the marriage on their wedding night. Even her mother-in-law, Yu Shi, and her younger sister-in-law hated her, thinking that she wasn't worthy of Jiang Hongjin. After she married into the Jiang family, Yu Shi was afraid that she would lose the Jiang family's face when socialising, so she never took her out..." In fact, Heshou didn't know much about Yuxi's past life. She only heard people gossiping that Zhuangyuan5's wife, Han Si, was a coward who didn't even go back to her family's house to complain after spending her wedding night alone. Heshou looked down on such a coward, so she never paid attention to Yuxi again. It was also because Yuxi was so different from her previous life in all aspects that she attracted Heshou's attention. Why else would Heshou have noticed her?
Yuchen couldn't listen anymore and interrupted Heshou, saying, "Are you kidding me? If what you said is true, Yuxi was talentless, ugly, and weak in her previous life, and the youngest Zhuangyuan5 in the Great Zhou Dynasty didn't like her, then why would he marry her?" Besides, the Han family wasn't extinct, how could they allow the Jiang family to treat their daughter like this without stepping in?🦊
Thinking of this, Yuchen sneered, "I don't know why you dislike Yuxi so much, but even if you have to make it up, at least make it a decent story." Heshou's words just now were completely contradictory. Did she think she was stupid enough to use such words to trick her?
Hearing this, Heshou coughed again, and this time she coughed up blood. Heshou wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and said to Yuchen through the curtain, "Jiang Hongjin married her because of you." At this point, Heshou paused and continued, "Because you are the Empress, Jiang Hongjin married her..."
The first sentence made Yuchen's face turn black, and the second sentence made her tremble with anger. What Empress? If she was the Empress, then what was Yu Xiyu? This was an attempt to kill her! If she had known, even if it meant offending Xiyu, she wouldn't have come to see Heshou.
At that time, Heshou just wanted to pour out the words in her heart. "In her previous life, the Emperor was assassinated and died. Later, the one who was established as the Crown Prince was Jing Wang. After the death of the first Emperor, Jing Wang ascended the throne and became the Emperor, and you became the Empress. It was I, I who predicted that the Crown Prince would be assassinated, so I saved him, thus changing your and Jing Wang's fate." After saying that, Heshou muttered to herself, "Actually, I not only changed your and Jing Wang's fate, but also the fate of many people." For example, Zhou Xia. When Heshou died in her previous life, Zhou Xia Gongzhu7 was still alive and well.
It was obvious how difficult being an Empress could be, especially when one had a mother-in-law as demanding as Empress Dowager Song and a harem full of rivals. Just look at Yu Xiyu. That was why Yuchen had never thought about becoming Empress. Yuchen sneered, "I think you're delirious."
Regardless of Yucheng's reaction, Heshou continued to speak, "Do you know? In her previous life, you were the Empress, yet the Emperor was devoted to you. You had both sons and daughters, and you were also favoured by the Empress Dowager. You are the object of every woman's envy, a paragon of good fortune." She was also one of the people who envied her. That was why she wanted to marry Jing Wang at first. Unfortunately, Jing Wang didn't like her.
Hearing this, Yuchen was sure that Heshou really was delirious, otherwise she wouldn't have started talking nonsense. Even now, it was impossible for her to make Jing Wang devoted to her. If Jing Wang really became the Emperor, it would be even more impossible for him to be devoted to her. As for the Empress Dowager's favour, with the Empress Dowager Song's temperament, she wouldn't like whoever became her daughter-in-law.
Seeing that Yuchen didn't respond for a long time, Heshou said, "This time, I specifically asked the Empress to arrange a meeting with you because I actually need your help with something."
Yuchen refused, "I won't help you."
Heshou didn't care about Yuchen's attitude as she let out, "I've wasted my whole life. If I could be as low-key as Han Yuxi when I was reborn, I wouldn't have ended up in this state. Han Yuchen, if you ever see Han Yuxi, please tell her this for me, she was actually right, even if she lived another lifetime..."
Before Heshou could finish, Yuchen interrupted her again and said loudly, "I will not tell my Si Mei4 these inexplicable words. Qiao Guifei1, if you are sick, take your medicine! I still have something to do, so I won't bother you anymore!"
As Yuchen left the palace, she questioned the Imperial Physicians waiting outside, "Didn't you all know that Qiao Guifei1 is suffering from hysteria? Aren't you worried about her scaring people with her looking like that?" It was really bad luck. She would rather play the qin or paint at home than waste her time here.
The Empress happened to walk in when she saw Yuchen losing her temper. She asked, "What's wrong? What did Qiao Guifei1 say to make you so angry?" The Empress could tell whether Yuchen was really angry or just pretending to be.
Yuchen didn't hide the anger on her face as she replied to the Empress, "Forgive me, Huang Sao, I really can't stay here any longer, I'll go back to the wangfu8 first." Yuchen was very sure that the Empress would immediately know what Heshou had told her. Therefore, she had to put on an act of not believing Heshou's words at all. Of course, she didn't believe Heshou's nonsense in the first place. Now that she was acting the way she *was supposed to, there should of course be no mistake.
The Empress nodded. "Okay, then you can go back!" Even if she asked, Yuchen might not tell her what Heshou had told her. But that was okay, she was prepared.
Before she could leave the side hall, Yuchen heard someone in the room shout that Qiao Guifei1 had passed away. Now, she couldn't leave even if she wanted to.
Footnotes Full List
- noble consort
- addressing or referring to an empress or an imperial concubine
- wang = king, fei = consort
- si = fourth, mei = younger sister, short form for Meimei
- Number One Scholar (a title conferred on the one who came first in the highest imperial examination)
- Um, shouldn't you ask why that person wasn't the Zhuangyuan in this life?
- princess
- wang = king, fu = residence
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi