Chapter 264 - Lackl.u.s.ters

True to Doctor Lou's words, Chen Madam passed away a few days later. The night before she was fine, talking and laughing in good spirits, she went to sleep like normal and her breath was gone in the morning.

As Doctor Lou had promised, she felt no pain at all leading up to her death, which was shocking to everyone because her wound was not healing at all. The bleeding had slowed but the wound had started to fester.

The Chen family had tried to find Doctor Lou again to see if he could help with the wound, but his pharmacy was closed and the old man was nowhere to be found.

In the end, the family only had a few days with Chen madam just as Doctor Lou had promised. The Emperor sent his condolences and gave Chen madam a posthumous title to honor her, praising her for her bravery and sacrifice.

While it was never announced how she got hurt, but the assumption was that she got hurt during the chaos in the Chen manor that night. And since the Emperor praised her, suspicions that she must have somehow aided the Emperor also rose. But there were some rumors that she got hurt in a fight with the Empress dowager, although no one really believed that as it sounded too absurd.

The Emperor also graciously never blamed the Chen family for sending Chun Hua, an enemy of the state to the palace. Chen You's banishment to Fen Li temple also seemed to be dropped.

It had been over a week since Chen madam had been buried but no order had been made to send Chen You away yet but neither was there one calling her back to the palace.

Therefore, Chen You was in limbo and had been spending her time in bed or blankly staring into space at home.

Her father had been badgering her about returning to the palace, telling her that this was an opportunity that she should not waste. The Emperor clearly felt bad about her mother's death, she could use this sympathy to wheedle her way into the Emperor's heart.

Chen You was not as optimistic as her father and just ignored him most of the time. This whole thing was mostly her fault for letting Chun Hua play her, but she honestly blamed her parents a bit as well for sending Chun Hua to her.

But then the thoughts of blaming her deceased mother made her feel even more horrible. Now she barely talked to anyone or did anything other than sleep and stare into space.

After several days of her father constantly telling her not to make her mother's death pointless, Chen You finally could not stand it anymore. So one morning, after her father had left for Court she dragged herself to the palace. She intentionally waited until her father left because she was trying to avoid another lecture about all she had done wrong and how to fix her mistakes.

As soon as she stepped out of her manor she was greeted with decorations on the street in anticipation of the Empress's, Lei Xing's ascension ceremony which was only a few days away now.

Chen You thought she would have been upset but she honestly did not feel much of anything as the carriage rolled along.

She did not feel much of anything these days.

She arrived at the palace and was made to wait outside because the guards were not sure about granting her entry. After all, the last order that was given regarding her was that she was banished to Fen Li temple.

Apart from that, she was also not assigned a palace considering she had been demoted and immediately cast out. So the servants were also not sure what to do with her.

Since the Emperor was in the middle of court, the servants decided to go inform Lei Xing to ask her what they should do with Chen You. Lei Xing was actually already awake, she had actually been waking up quite early most days recently. Not as early as the Emperor, but at least she was up before noon.

Today Lei Xing was already over at Li Ru's palace practicing on the qin when an eunuch came over to inform her of Chen You's arrival.

Lei Xing blinked at the eunuch, she was also not sure what to do with Chen You. She knew that the Emperor was feeling guilty over Chen You's mother's passing. Lei Xing also felt sorry for Chen You given the situation but she was really not comfortable with Chen You being back either.

So, Lei Xing's default reaction was to tell them to go ask the Emperor but she knew the Emperor was busy which was why they probably came to her. Lei Xing inwardly sighed and ordered for the eunuch to go find Ming Shu to get Chen You settled in a random courtyard for the meantime.

Sending Chen You back was not an option and having her wait by the palace gates until the Emperor was free did not look good. So this was the best option at the moment.

As for what would actually become of Chen You, she would talk to the Emperor about it later. Lei Xing had honestly forgotten about Chen You and she suspected that it was the same for the Emperor as well.

***

That evening after they had dinner, Lei Xing brought up the issue of Chen You, and the Emperor's response was very simple, "...She will be sent to Fen Li temple as planned." He curtly responded and then proceeded to continue sipping his tea.

Lei Xing blinked at him and went, "Oh, okay..." She was surprised, considering that he gave her mother a posthumous title, Lei Xing thought that he intended to pardon Chen You.

But apparently, she was completely wrong on his thoughts.

The Emperor glanced at Lei Xing to find her with her eyebrows slightly knit, "Did you have something else in mind?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her.

Lei Xing blinked at him and honestly went, "Well, no...It's just that I thought you were going to pardon her because of her mother..."

The Emperor knit his brows and lightly let out a breath and explained, "Her mother's death and punishment are two separate issues. Chen You has committed her wrongs and has to pay for them...I only let her be so she could properly pay her last respects to her mother. Now that she has returned to the palace, it seems she is now ready to serve out her punishment..."

"Oh..." Lei Xing responded, leaning back in her chair as she sipped her tea.

{...Harsh...but It's not like I want to keep her here so whatever, it sounds perfectly reasonable -_-)'...}

***

The next morning, the Emperor woke up as usual for court, kissed his sleeping Lei Xing goodbye, and then left to get ready.

Lei Xing never woke up when he did these days, she seemed to be draining herself completely every day. He honestly missed their morning play, but it was not too bad. He was still very happy, after all, she was going to be his Empress in the next few days. So nothing could ruin his good mood, not even his mother. 

Although, the Empress dowager has been behaving herself the last few days... much better than recent times anyway.

After the Emperor's visit, the Empress dowager kept nagging those around her and throwing fits wanting to know the status of the search for Monk Du. 

Eunuch Li suggested going to give her daily reports and even volunteered to take up the task himself. The Emperor agreed but then the Empress dowager ended up just throwing fits about the slow progress of things. 

But she was eating, receiving treatment and looking after herself, most of the time.

The Emperor was also informed about her constantly attempting to kill herself in her sleep and the head physician explained that it was not a medical issue as she seemed fine.

On more discussion, the idea that she might need an exorcism popped up and Eunuch Li even reasoned that this was the reason she had been calling for monks in the first place. The Empress dowager never did tell anyone what she wanted the monks for so it was a reasonable assumption.

Anyway, after extensive discussions and Eunuch Li getting the Empress dowager's approval. Eunuch Li had become the liaison between the Emperor and the Empress dowager now since neither cared to see the other.

And given their history, the Empress dowager was a bit more receptive to him than to random servants or guards. These days, the Empress dowager never called for the Emperor and only asked to see Eunuch Li, who she felt was obviously a lot more understanding and better company than her son.

After all, most of her discussions were complaints about said son, and Eunuch Li apparently was an understanding ear for her. It seemed they were somehow rekindling their old friendship amidst the chaos of her life.

The monks were brought in and with each visit Eunuch Li accompanied them for their own safety. The Empress dowager initially wanted private meetings but the Emperor refused. He would not add the possibility of monks dying in his palace to his issues. So after throwing a fit and the Emperor not budging, the Empress dowager eventually agreed to have Eunuch Li in the room. 

But rather than talking about herself and her issues, the Empress dowager always asked them if they knew Monk Du and Taohua temple. And depending on her mood and their answer, she raged and ran them out of her palace.

While on some other occasions, she quietly listened to what they had to say before kicking them out. And on some rare occasions, she even allowed a few to go about cleansing her palace and placing all sorts of talismans all over the place.

Following the advice of one of the monks, the Empress dowager had even taken up meditation and her angry outbursts seemed to have subsided. Most importantly, she had stopped trying to strangle herself in her sleep recently. 

So all in all, it seemed like there was a great improvement in the Empress dowager's condition. Which was great as it meant that she might be stable enough to attend the ceremony in a few days.

All this traffic in the Empress dowager's palace had resulted in some hushed nasty rumors about the Emperor locking up his crazy mother and all sorts of other nonsense about his ill-treatment towards her. All painting his mother to be this pitiful character with an ungrateful son who had forsaken her in her time of need.

They even brought Lei Xing into the mix saying she was the cause of the Empress dowager's madness and that this was simply the prelude to the chaos this "ill-fated" marriage would bring. The nicer ones simply said that the Emperor imprisoned his mother simply to please Lei Xing, lamenting the fate of the pitiful mother who was forsaken by her husband in the past, and now her son had done the same.

While those in the palace were coming to like Lei Xing greatly, the people outside already did not have a positive view on her character thanks to Chen You's nonsensical rumors from the past. This made it easier for the people to believe any nonsense that came their way regarding Lei Xing.

So this incompatibility issue was enough of a spark to reignite the dying embers of the past rumors. And now everything was lumped together to make Lei Xing out to be this demoness of a character. 

The Emperor was busy with damage control working hard to overturn those rumors by giving out money and relief to the people in Lei Xing's name. His people also spread some favorable tales about Lei Xing in the process to try to mitigate the damages. 

This was why the Emperor had no interest in sparing Chen You. Her good work from earlier put Lei Xing's name on shaky ground. With the effect of her crimes still lingering and causing issues, she could definitely not go unpunished.

With all this going on, the Empress dowager's absence in the ascension ceremony will definitely give more weight to these rumors. Therefore, the Empress dowager's public appearance in the ceremony was vital in stomping out some of the negativity around the royal household right now.