Your Majesty is Poisonous – Chapter 102
by Little PandaThe Empress Dowager Refuses
Before the palace gates were locked for the night, the merchants sent word into the palace—they had searched all day but found no trace of the person in the portrait.
Gugu Liufang had led a party and rushed toward Princess Longyi’s fiefdom, but a round trip would take at least three days. With the extra time needed to search the Princess’s Mansion, it would likely be four or five days before she returned.
Wan Bi had hoped to see Yao Xi before nightfall, but by the dead of night, she remained utterly alone in the cold, quiet warm pavilion1.
She had been fed some porridge by Emperor Ming Cheng in the morning, but she hadn’t touched either her midday or evening meals. It wasn’t that she felt hungry; rather, it felt as though it wasn’t her stomach that was empty, but her heart. Knowing Yao Xi was safe had eased much of Wan Bi’s anxiety, yet her longing only grew more intense as the hours slipped by. When she actually sat down and counted, Yao Xi had only been gone for a single day.
Yet she was already driven nearly mad.
Wan Bi considered herself strong enough to weather any storm. If even she was suffering this much, then with that girl’s fragile nature, her days away must be an absolute torment.
Yao Xi had slept the entire way in the carriage during the day, so after bathing and lying in the guest room bed that night, she was wide awake. Being unable to sleep was one thing, but the main issue was that her stomach was uncomfortably stuffed; sitting, reclining, or lying down, nothing felt right.
That meal just now had been the best, most filling, and most comfortable one she’d eaten since she transmigrated. With the Sun family, she’d eaten poorly; in the Bureau of Imperial Gardens, she’d eaten in a rush; and by the Empress Dowager’s side, she’d eaten in constant fear. If her heart weren’t set on the Empress Dowager and returning to the palace, this Princess’s Mansion would have been absolute heaven.
With no sleepiness whatsoever, Yao Xi lay on her stomach, holding the preference booklet Gugu Yuanqian had given her, and began flipping through it page by page.
Gugu Yuanqian’s notes were incredibly detailed, documenting every single one of the Empress Dowager’s likes and dislikes, and even when those preferences had changed over time. Looking at the booklet in her hands, Yao Xi felt like she was cheating. Getting to know someone required time, effort, and companionship, yet she had effortlessly learned so much about the Empress Dowager.
At that thought, Yao Xi suddenly closed the booklet with a trace of panic. She wanted to gradually learn everything about the Empress Dowager on her own, not through someone else’s words.
Honestly, there were so many things the Empress Dowager disliked!
But what did that matter? It was enough that the Empress Dowager liked her. Yao Xi rolled over, hugging the booklet to her chest, and stared blankly out the window as the night deepened. She thought to herself, How wonderful it would be if the Empress Dowager could see me the moment she wakes up tomorrow morning!
The thought made her bolt upright.
Why not steal a carriage under the cover of night and run away? She could drive it to some random, out-of-the-way spot to hide first, then head toward a populated area at dawn to ask for directions back to the palace. The Princess’s Mansion was in a remote location with almost no neighbors nearby. She’d slept the entire way in the carriage when she arrived, so without someone to guide her, she had no idea how to get back to the palace. Most fatal of all, she was penniless. It would take at least a day or two to return, and she couldn’t go without food and water the entire time.
So, she would have to steal some dry rations to eat along the way.
Yao Xi looked around the guest room. There was a plate of pastries on the table, as well as a bamboo tray of fresh fruit.
This would be enough! She pulled a clean piece of cloth from the wardrobe to use as a makeshift bundle, packed the food inside, and then cautiously pushed the door open.
“Uh…” The moment Yao Xi pushed the door open, her eyes locked with those of the palace maid jiejie sitting outside, who was busy with her embroidery.
“Where are you going with all those things, Eunuch?” The palace maid set down her sewing basket, picked up a very familiar-looking iron chain from the floor, and smiled. “You aren’t thinking of escaping back to the palace, are you?”
“No…” Embarrassed, Yao Xi quickly shut the door. From outside, the voice of the palace maid jiejie drifted in: “Eunuch, please don’t cause trouble for us. Just stay here in the mansion and rest easy.”
Unable to leave, Yao Xi had no choice but to settle down for some fitful sleep. She woke up several times during the night, each time roused by the pattering of rain outside her window.
After waking up yet again, Yao Xi gave up on sleeping and stepped outside to listen to the rain. Dawn had just broken, and the rest of the mansion was not yet awake. Life at Princess Longyi’s Mansion ran at a completely different pace from life in the imperial palace. The palace was governed by endless rules, where servants slept later than dogs and rose earlier than roosters. Here, however, everything was relaxed and leisurely, and Cousin was an exceptionally gentle soul.
Yao Xi watched the fine morning rain for a moment, sensing that something was slightly off. When she gave it some thought, her gaze drifted toward the doorway.
The palace maid jiejie had fallen asleep on the lounge chair. Perhaps finding the night rain too chilly, she had completely covered her head with her blanket.
The person guarding her was asleep, and the rest of the mansion had yet to wake up. This was a godsend!
Treading as lightly as possible, Yao Xi slipped back into her room, grabbed the bundle she had packed the night before, and dashed out into the rain, sprinting toward the stables.
Under the shed beside the stables stood various carriages—some large, some small, some ornate, and some plain. Yao Xi stood in the rain, with horses to her right and carriages to her left. But the carriages were unhitched from the horses… She had absolutely no idea how to hitch a carriage!
The stablehands could arrive at any moment, so Yao Xi couldn’t afford to hesitate. Slinging her food bundle over her shoulder, she untied the reins of the most pleasant-looking horse and led it out. The last time she’d ridden a horse was in her past life; back then, there was a stable near her grandmother’s house, and she’d gone there often during her summer and winter breaks.
After leading the horse out and preparing to mount, Yao Xi realized another severe problem—the saddle hadn’t been put on yet!
She couldn’t exactly walk all the way back to the imperial palace, could she? Her heart felt so weary.
Saddles were hanging inside the carriage shed, so Yao Xi had to teach herself. She tied the reins back to the post, then hefted a saddle and began coaxing the horse as she made her arduous preparations for escape.
She did it! Though the saddle was mounted a bit crookedly, it was at least usable.
Yao Xi stepped onto the blue-lacquered, copper-bottomed stirrups and swung herself onto the horse’s back. Grasping the reins, she gently nudged the horse’s flanks with her feet, and the beast slowly ambled into the rain.
Finally, she could return to the Empress Dowager’s side! Yao Xi wiped the rainwater from her face and rode off toward populated areas.
When Sun Yan woke up, she heard from one of Princess Longyi’s maids that Yao Xi had disappeared.
“He must’ve escaped back to the palace…” the maid said guiltily. She should have wedged a chair against the door before sleeping; that way, any attempt of Yao Xi’s to leave would have woken her. “If Yao Xi really goes back to the palace, how’s this slave-girl supposed to explain it to Her Highness?”
“Returning to the palace would be the best-case scenario,” Sun Yan said with a grim expression as she stood in the stables. “My biggest fear is that the roads are slick from the rain. If he accidentally falls into some ravine or ditch, it’ll be disastrous. The horse Eunuch Yao took is our wildest, most temperamental beast.” She said no more, immediately leading a horse out, mounting it with practiced ease, and galloping away with a crack of her whip.
“Cousin… be careful not to catch a cold…” By the time the maid looked up, Sun Yan had already vanished. She turned to the others. “Send word to heat plenty of water and brew some ginger soup.”
Fortunately, the rain was light, and because the area surrounding the Princess’s Mansion was sparsely populated, Sun Yan could clearly see the hoofprints left by the wild horse Yao Xi was riding. She galloped through the rain, following the tracks. She had no idea when Yao Xi had left or if she could catch up. However, the neat, regular hoofprints along the way put her at ease; they showed that the wild horse hadn’t lost its temper just yet.
“Form over function!” Yao Xi grumbled, thoroughly frustrated by the slow pace of the horse beneath her. At this snail’s pace, she probably wouldn’t reach the palace until next year. She had chosen this horse because it had long legs, a broad back, and a sleek, glossy brown coat. It looked gorgeous, like the type that could run incredibly fast. She had been dead wrong; this horse was so excruciatingly slow it could drive anyone insane.
“Could you go a bit faster?” Lacking a whip, Yao Xi could only nudge the horse’s belly with her legs. “Master Horse, I beg of you, please run!”
Was she really riding a horse and not a donkey or a mule? Yao Xi couldn’t help but wonder.
The horse acted as if it couldn’t understand human speech, continuing at its agonizingly slow pace. The rain seemed to be getting heavier, and the sky remained dark, as though it would never brighten. If this continued, she would either freeze or starve to death. Steeling her resolve, Yao Xi kicked the horse’s flanks hard.
The horse let out a loud whinny and tossed its head back to look at Yao Xi. A cold gleam flashed in its eyes.
Yao Xi saw the horse’s gaze! It was chilling! Why on earth did she see a spark of vengeance in a horse’s eyes?
The horse did run as Yao Xi wished, and it went far faster than she could have imagined. However, its running posture was bizarre; it lifted its hooves incredibly high, as if it were running a hurdle race. The higher it lifted its hooves, the higher Yao Xi was bounced. Her amateur saddle job made matters worse, and she felt as though she was about to be thrown off its back.
The horse grew wilder with every stride. Yao Xi clung to its back, gripping the reins tightly as she cried out in terror, “Slow down! Slow down!”
The beast remained deaf to her pleas. As if seized by a sudden madness, fire burning in its eyes, it carried Yao Xi forward in a wild sprint.
The poorly secured saddle began to slide. A cold sweat broke out over Yao Xi. If the saddle slipped off completely, she would never be able to stay balanced on the slick back of the horse. She pulled back hard on the reins, begging and praying to every deity she could think of for Master Horse to stop, but it was useless.
At such a breakneck speed, if she were thrown off, she would certainly die. Yao Xi burst into hopeless tears. She was dead meat!
Before long, Sun Yan spotted Yao Xi hurtling along a short distance ahead of her.
The horse had clearly gone mad, and she could faintly hear Yao Xi’s helpless, intermittent crying drifting through the air.
“Jia!2” Sun Yan cracked her whip, urging her horse to catch up. But Yao Xi was moving too fast; Sun Yan could barely keep pace and couldn’t close the gap. “Jia!” She whipped her horse again. Stung by the blow, her mount finally gave its absolute all and surged forward.
“Eunuch Yao!” Sun Yan shouted as she finally drew level with Yao Xi. Riding side by side, she called out, “Let go of the reins and give me your hand!”
Yao Xi’s face was a mess of rain and tears. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cousin catching up, but she didn’t dare let go. She was terrified that the second she did, she would be flung from the horse and dashed to pieces!
Seeing Yao Xi clutching the reins as if they were a lifeline, Sun Yan had no choice but to shout as they galloped, “Further ahead, the path narrows! There won’t be room for two horses side by side, and even if I want to save you, I won’t be able to. Trust me, Eunuch! Let go of the reins and give me your hand!”
With the saddle slipping precariously beneath her, Yao Xi closed her eyes, let go of the reins with one hand, and reached out toward Cousin on her left.
She felt her hand caught in a firm grip. Then, her entire body was lifted into the air before landing securely on a solid surface. Yao Xi timidly opened her eyes. She found herself sitting on the same horse as Cousin, positioned right in front of her, with Cousin’s slender arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
The frenzied horse had already galloped away into the distance…
Having just escaped death, Yao Xi covered her face and sobbed. She’d been absolutely terrified. But what was the deal with Cousin? How had a girl who looked so delicate and fragile managed to rescue her like that?
Yao Xi had no idea that Sun Yan had been nicknamed Sun Dali since childhood. Let alone catching her, who weighed only a few dozen jin3, Sun Yan could easily heft a two-hundred-jin boulder.
Seeing Yao Xi covering her face and crying like a little girl, Sun Yan couldn’t help but laugh. Could becoming a eunuch truly erase all of a man’s masculinity?
Upon returning to the mansion, Yao Xi was still dazed, clearly frightened out of her wits.
By the time they had bathed and changed their clothes, it was close to midday. Sun Yan and Yao Xi sat together in the hall where a charcoal brazier burned, each holding a bowl of ginger soup.
“Thank you for saving my life, Cousin,” Yao Xi said, mechanically sipping her ginger soup, not forgetting to express her gratitude to her savior.
“Do you really want to go back to the palace that badly, Eunuch?” Sun Yan asked quietly as she sipped her ginger soup. Someone willing to risk their life just to return to the Empress Dowager’s side could not be kept here by force. However, her elder cousin Longyi’s worries were not unfounded. Yao Xi was a convicted criminal; could the Empress Dowager truly be trusted? “It’s not that I won’t let you return. If the Empress Dowager has the ability to find you here, then I can rest easy handing you over to her.”
Yao Xi raised her head listlessly. Isn’t Cousin stating the obvious? If the Empress Dowager actually tracked her down here, Cousin would have no choice but to hand her over anyway.
Sun Yan continued, “If the Empress Dowager seeks you out, it proves she cares about you and is willing to protect you and your family. If she can find you here, it proves she has the power to do so.”
Yao Xi looked up in shock. She hadn’t expected Cousin to think so deeply on her behalf… But how could the Empress Dowager possibly know she was here?
Yao Xi blew on her steaming ginger soup in disappointment. Just then, a maid entered the hall and reported, “Cousin, a Gugu named Liufang from the Empress Dowager’s side has arrived with a group of palace maids and eunuchs. She’s asking if Eunuch Yao is here.”
Sun Yan and Yao Xi looked at each other in stunned silence.
Footnotes
- A warm pavilion (nuǎngé) is a smaller, heated side chamber within a larger palace room, commonly used for sleeping or resting during the cold winter months.
- A traditional Chinese exclamation (jiā) used to urge a horse forward, commonly used by riders to make their mounts gallop or speed up.
- A traditional Chinese unit of weight (jīn), equivalent to approximately 500 grams, used in imperial China for measuring food, materials, and physical strength.
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