The Vow of Mountains and Rivers - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

At seven years old, I knocked the Old Emperor dead!

Since he was dead, I figured I might as well turn around and go home.

But when I looked back, I realized the palace gates had closed at some point.

Along the solemn palace road, a dark, surging crowd of people came rushing toward me.

Just then, a young palace servant stumbled over, waving his arms and shouting,

“Quick, carry her… carry Third Miss to Cining Palace!”

Father always said:

I lost my mother the moment I was born, and my health was so poor I nearly died. It was my cousin-aunt who brought me into the palace and cared for me day and night until I recovered.

After the Late Emperor passed away, my cousin-aunt became the Empress Dowager, so of course she lived in Cining Palace.

Only after I entered Cining Palace did I realize the Empress Dowager was nothing like Father had said.

She knew children were afraid of the dark, yet she ordered people to lock me in a pitch-black room. The door could not be opened during the day, and no lamps could be lit at night.

She knew children hated hunger most, yet every time I was starving, the palace servants only gave me dry rations hard enough to chip my teeth.

She knew children feared having their palms struck most of all, yet when I secretly moved a stool over and tried to pry open the window to climb out, an old matron beat my palms until I hopped around howling.

On my third day in the palace, I was squatting on the floor drawing circles, using everything I had ever learned in my life to curse that old witch, when a soft, sweet voice sounded beside me:

“It’s dangerous outside. Mother is protecting us.”

She was Princess Wen Zhao, the same age as me.

My cousin-aunt’s most beloved youngest daughter, and Crown Prince Wen Yu’s most beloved little sister.

Protecting us?

The kind that could starve a person to death?

Seeing the guarded look on my face, Wen Zhao explained obediently and seriously,

“Otherwise, why would I be locked up here too, gnawing on dry rations all day like you…?”

The girl tilted her head and studied me. Her black-and-white eyes were lively like a fawn’s, making it impossible to argue with her.

It was not until two days later, when the gates of Cining Palace were finally opened slowly, that I understood what Wen Zhao meant by “protecting us.”

Looking out, what kind of imperial palace was that?

Corpses lay everywhere. Blood flowed like rivers…

Palace servants hurried back and forth with buckets of water, scrubbing with all their might at the jade steps and palace walls stained red with blood.

Many years later, I still found it hard to forget that nightmare of a day.

In the First Year of Jinghe, the Late Emperor died, and Prince Ning rebelled.

Father and Eldest Brother led troops to suppress the rebellion, executed the traitors, and protected the ten-year-old Crown Prince Wen Yu as he ascended the throne and became emperor.

By the Late Emperor’s posthumous edict, the Empress Dowager held court from behind a screen, while Chancellor Jiang and the Marquis of Jingbei assisted the young emperor. Father and Eldest Brother guarded the realm.

That spring, everyone was busy deciding the state name and holding the enthronement ceremony.

But where had Eldest Sister, who had eloped, and Second Sister, who had fled, gone?

Everyone hesitated to speak, yet their eyes could not help but redden.