Chapter 749: 347 Mother and Son United (First Update) Chapter 749: 347 Mother and Son United (First Update) “No!”
“Not unless I am dead!”
In the Sleeping Palace of Renshou Palace, Dowager Empress Zhuang rejected Gu Jiao’s suggestion without consideration, leaving absolutely no room for negotiation.
Gu Jiao hummed in a peculiar way.
In all the years she knew her aunt, this was the first time she was rejected so utterly.
All she did was to convey her uncle’s words, advising her aunt to temporarily put aside her prejudices and cooperate with the emperor to lure the schemer behind the scenes.
However, it seemed that her aunt wasn’t too pleased with her grandfather’s proposal.
“How about eating three honeyed sweets every day?” Gu Jiao threw out a sugary incentive.
“Hmph!” Dowager Empress was unmoved.
“Hmm… five?” Gu Jiao measured out five on her fingers.
However, Dowager Empress held her ground, not giving Gu Jiao a chance to take down her defenses with mere sweet offers, and angrily walked to the Study Room without looking back.
“Sigh.” Gu Jiao exhaled.
Gu Jiao came out slowly, arrived at the courtyard of the front hall, and sat down on the lonely swing.
When Xiao Jing Kong was around, it was more lively, but when he was away, it was quite deserted.
The July night did not bring much coolness. The hot weather persisted, but due to consecutive rainfall, the days weren’t as oppressively hot as before.
Gu Jiao sat on the swing, swinging idly and sighing repeatedly.
The eunuch Qin held a dust brush and came over: “Miss Gu.”
Gu Jiao stopped the swinging swing with her toe.
“Eunuch Qin.” She greeted.
Eunuch Qin stood next to the swing and glanced at Gu Jiao and then towards the endless night.
He recalled their first meeting when he thought of her as an unruly, arrogant little girl. After interacting with her, he realized just how wrong his impressions were.
Where was she unruly or arrogant? She clearly stepped over conventions and punctured the heavens.
She possessed the maturity unlike girls her age and also the innocence other girls her age had long forgotten.
She wasn’t crafty, nor did she carry any worldly burdens. If she wanted to care about someone, she was the type to do so wholeheartedly and unconditionally.
Regardless if a certain person is good or evil.
She had her own beliefs and were firm about them; no one could easily shake her.
Her thin small body seemed to exude infinite strength, a kind of strength that was comforting and compelling others to approach.
Eunuch Qin sometimes wondered, if the Emperor back then was as firm and unwavering as Miss Gu, would things have turned out differently for him and the Dowager Empress?
“The Emperor was very clingy when he was young, especially towards the Dowager. Even more than Princess Ning An.”
Eunuch Qin said, as if recalling something amusing, and started laughing himself, “I still remember once… The Dowager was holding onto a little master from the Zhuang family. The boy had lost his way and was frightened by the dog of Consort Liu. The Dowager didn’t want to carry him, so she merely held his hand. Who would have thought that the Emperor would get jealous over this? He didn’t eat his dinner properly that night and would not sleep either. He was tossing and turning in his bed all night but wouldn’t say what was wrong.
Consort Jing asked if he was feeling unwell, but he stayed silent. Even Princess Ning An asked him, but he just sulked and didn’t say anything.”
Gu Jiao was unspeakably amused. Xiao Jing Kong wasn’t even this childish.
“What happened next?” Gu Jiao inquired.
Eunuch Qin recollected with a smile: “Then Consort Jing brought him to the Dowager’s palace, the Kunning Palace where Empress Xiao now resides. The Emperor climbed into the Dowager’s bed and slept with her for the night. The next day, he was all lively and spirited.”
Gu Jiao made a face. Such a childish behavior.
Gu Jiao asked, “How old was the Emperor then?”
Eunuch Qin thought for a while: “I believe he was around seven or eight years old… I can’t recall it clearly now. He was younger and thinner than the current seventh prince. The Emperor now may be tall, but when he was little, he was skinny like a monkey. At seven, he barely looked five, and the Dowager even worried that he wouldn’t grow tall.”
So similar to Xiao Jing Kong. It seems that she didn’t have to worry about Xiao Jing Kong’s height, some people just grow taller as they age.
“What happened after that?” Gu Jiao found this story quite interesting.
Eunuch Qin sighed: “Afterwards, for some reason, the Emperor and the Dowager slowly drifted apart. I cannot pinpoint the exact reason, but their relationship got increasingly strained. Princess Ning An was stuck in the middle and felt torn. Then later on, when the Emperor ascended the throne, the Dowager was in power, and Consort Jing was demoted to a nunnery. That’s when the relationship between the Emperor and Dowager was completely destroyed.”