Da Li Temple - Chapter 82

Chapter 82
Conditions

The sun rose slowly, revealing a round head on the window like a naughty peeping child. The tea on the table has cooled, leaving a thin circle of water droplets at the mouth of the cup. With a grunt, the droplets roll down along the wall of the cup, creating a ripple.
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Lin Wanqing honestly sat at the bottom, her slender fingers twisting her cloak’s corner. From time to time, she raised her eyes and secretly looked at the Empress Dowager, sitting motionless at the top of the table, only to realize that her ears were full of heartbeats.
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A rustling sounded in the inner room, and after waiting for a while, Su Moyi walked out wearing a moonlight-white robe. He respectfully bowed to the Empress Dowager calmly, and then his gaze fell to the side of Lin Wanqing. She looked like she was straight out of bed and only cared to add an outer robe and cloak; inside was a plain white nightgown, exposing a large area of her chest that was dotted with red marks —
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“Cough, cough—” Su Moyi put his fist against his lips. He coughed twice before he walked over and draped a thick cloak over her body. He had a calm, businesslike appearance and sat beside Lin Wanqing. His demeanor was natural and decent.
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Lin Wanqing looked at him and did not know whether to ask for help or plead guilty—her gaze was complex.
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“Hmph ……” In the upper seat, the Empress Dowager, who had watched drama for half a day, could not help but coldly snort. While lifting her hand to ask someone to change the tea, she carelessly said: “This matter, no one wants to give me an explanation?”
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Lin Wanqing froze. According to her status, this kind of unnamed question, how could it not be her turn to speak? Moreover, it was still debatable which matter the Empress Dowager referred to with ‘this matter,’ so Lin Wanqing dared not to say. However, when she looked at Su Moyi, she found that Lord Su was bowing his head and sipping tea without the intention of talking. The atmosphere became strange and stagnant for a moment.
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Lin Wanqing gulped and was about to explain. Suddenly, someone at her side tugged on her sleeve. She looked over in a daze and saw Lord Su’s solemn, expressionless face. Then, the other party’s palm quietly reached into her wide sleeve, sought out her hand, and began to break her fingers one by one.
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One, two, three, four, five, five fingers. Lin Wanqing was confused.
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“Water,” Lord Su raised the teacup and said to the maids present. That sentence wasn’t meant for her, but having stayed by Lord Su’s side for many years, she had the necessary awareness. When it comes to delivering news under the eyes of the enemy, she and Lord Su never cooperate often. Therefore, when Su Moyi said, ‘Water,’ Lin Wanqing immediately understood.
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Lord Su was negotiating with her. Sleeping five times, he saves her.

T/N: Water (?) and sleep (?) have similar spelling but different tones in Chinese.
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Lin Wanqing hated him so much that her teeth itched. So she tried curling her thumb and forefinger back and offered a price. Lord Su sneered, shook his head, and withdrew his hand.
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Lin Wanqing yanked him on the spot, gritting her teeth and straightening her index finger. Su Moyi sighed, unsatisfied, and put his finger into her palm, gently tickling it, breaking her thumb straight.
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Lin Wanqing: “…… ” Well, Lord Su knows how to seek personal gains and raise the price —

Without a bargaining chip in hand, Lin Wanqing had no choice but to be slaughtered. So she nodded her head, enduring humiliation. Su Moyi became happy and put the teacup in his hand on the low table at his side, making a “clang” sound.
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The Empress Dowager did raise her head.
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Su Moyi pretended to clear his throat, facing the Empress Dowager, and said: “Just like Royal Grandmother saw. Last night, I tied myself.”
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Confident, specific, and unquestionable, like a public court pronouncing judgment.
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“……” Lin Wanqing suspected that this person may not want to help her. Her heart was apprehensive, her back was sweating, and when she secretly raised her eyes to look at the Empress Dowager, she realized that her face was not as ugly as she had imagined. Between her slightly furrowed brows, there was no annoyance but a bit of inevitable worry. She then coldly glanced at Lin Wanqing and, a moment later, ordered someone to take her.
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Lin Wanqing looked at Su Moyi incredulously and honestly followed a group of courtiers to retreat. With all the people gone, the main hall was empty.
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Su Moyi sat up straight, turned to the Empress Dowager, and said, “Royal Grandmother can ask for whatever she wants.”
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The attitude was frank. However, when the Empress Dowager looked at the circle of red marks on his neck and wrists, she felt a throbbing pain in her temples. She rubbed her hand, averted her eyes, and pointed in disgust at Su Moyi’s neck, “Cover up for me. This frivolous manner.”
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Su Moyi’s ears became imperceptibly red. He lowered his head and quickly tidied up, and then he heard the Empress Dowager coldly hum: “Tied by yourself? Can you tie yourself like that? Liar.”
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Su Moyi smiled, “I can hide nothing from Royal Grandmother’s eyes.”

The Empress Dowager was so angry at his indifferent look that her throat went dry. She suddenly remembered that when she introduced Wei Shu to him earlier, this person had told her, ‘As a law official, a mistake is a mistake, and you can’t accept a mistake.’

Now, he mindlessly tells lies. But her grandchildren wanted to protect the other person; what could she do? So the Empress Dowager patted her chest, gave herself a smooth air, and said: “A dignified Da Li Temple’s Chief, how do you count this?”
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“Grandmother is wrong,” Su Moyi smiled and said respectfully, “The one sitting here to talk to Grandmother is not the Da Li Temple’s Chief. It’s Jingche, your grandson. ” He paused, his eyes softened, “I’m also her future husband.”
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The Empress Dowager was stunned, and her expression became serious. “Have you thought about it?” She asked.
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“I was never hesitant in the first place.” These words drew a moment of silence, and after a few moments, the Empress Dowager asked, “Regarding the case of the Xiao family, you wrote ……”
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“Some time ago, I wrote a letter about my mother’s case to say that there was injustice in the Xiao family’s case and hope that Grandmother would allow me to find out.”
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After hearing this, the Empress Dowager stopped speaking and sighed. She waved her hand towards Su Moyi and said, “What the Emperor has agreed to, how dare I say no? Just…”
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She raised her head. Her eyes’s color paled, like falling into some memories. She said, “The Empress …… if it is her, how sad An Yang should be ……”
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Su Moyi knew what the Empress Dowager was referring to. Empress Chen and his mother knew each other when they were young and were each other’s bosom friends. They were five years apart, and she had always treated Empress Chen as a younger sister. Therefore, at that time, when Empress Chen said that Princess Anyang asked to swap the carriage with her because of her pregnancy, everyone believed it. Because of this, after Princess Anyang’s accident, no one suspected Empress Chen. Perhaps no one thought that human nature would be so evil.
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The Empress Dowager was silent. Her clear eyes turned gloomy, and she tugged on the teapot.
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Meanwhile, Empress Chen returned to Sheng City with Empress Dowager, looked at the wreckage along the way, and a burst of uneasiness spread through her heart. She returned to the Cheng Huan Hall and sent the Nurse to inquire about the news.
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Inside the house, the earth dragon burned, but it could not stop the cold gusts. Outside, the sound of the palace’s people de-icing rustles, scraping the heart. Empress Chen turned around with a burst of bone-chilling cold wind and saw that the Nurse had returned with a chilly face. She listened to the Nurse’s narration and broke into a cold sweat.
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King Liang’s conspiracy was so big that after last night, everyone in the court knew about it, and it had long been no secret. Previously, she only knew that King Liang and Song Zhengxing colluded to mine the government’s mines, thinking they were trying to make a profit, but she never thought that the wolves were so ambitious and bold.
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Therefore, King Liang installed Wei Shu on her side to use the ‘Grand Princess’ marriage to win over the court and placed a spy on her and the Emperor’s side.
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“Wei Shu ……” The Empress suddenly thought of something and asked with a pale face, “Wei Shu …… has not participated in King Liang’s plan this time? “

The Nurse hesitated for a moment and truthfully said, “Yes, King Liang instructed her to poison His Majesty, and she was captured on the spot.”
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“What?” The Empress froze and mumbled, “But why didn’t I hear anything when I was at the holiday palace? “
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“Not only does the Empress not know, no one in the court knows.” The Nurse said, “His Majesty even pretended that he wanted to block the news after being poisoned and secretly asked the Imperial Doctors to enter the palace to diagnose and treat for days to lure King Liang into the capital.”
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“Then ……” the Empress reacted, grasping the Nurse’s fingers, “Yan’er, as the commander of the Nan Dynasty’s soldiers, didn’t participate in this matter, right?”
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“This…” the Nurse sniffed and squeaked. The Young Master was suspended before King Liang entered the capital.”
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“Why?”
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“Because ……” the Nursed clenched her teeth and said, “Because of the matter of the Xiao family’s daughter, the Golden Guards and Da Li Temple clashed head-on, and His Majesty used this as an excuse to punish Young Master.”
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“The Xiao family ……” the Empress mumbled confusedly. Still, she heard the Nurse continue, “His Majesty has already handed the case over to Da Li Temple and the Ministry of Justice, allowing Heir Su to investigate it strictly.”
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“This means that …… ” the Empress paused. She wanted to ask but couldn’t speak.
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Things have come to this point; what else was there to ask? Even if King Liang’s rebellion has nothing to do with her, and she could say that others instructed Wei Shu’s participation, she has no knowledge from beginning to end. But with Chen Yan’s suspension, and the Empress Dowager deliberately brought her to the holiday palace with the excuse of accompaniment, but in fact, she was trapped in the palace and coupled with the sudden overturn of the Xiao family’s case —

Piece by piece, it has long illustrated Emperor Yonghui’s distrust of her and the Chen family. Rebellion was a serious crime; the whole family would be killed. Now, the Emperor hasn’t moved; he probably didn’t think about how to tear the face of the Chen family.
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The sweeping continued outside the palace, rustling like an ambush in the darkness, gnawing flesh and blood bit by bit. Even after analyzing things thoroughly, one couldn’t escape the cause-and-effect.
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Empress Chen sat in a daze for a while, got up, and pushed open the door of the Cheng Huan Hall. Winter scenery has always been depressing. The sky was blue, and the road was gray. The ninety-nine steps leading to the main hall were stained with last night’s residual snow, wet and mottled. The Nurse’s footprints remained on the steps leading to her feet and stopped.
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“Do you believe in karma?” The Empress suddenly laughed. Her laughter mixed with desolation, helplessness, and a kind of relief. She had walked these ninety-nine steps for so many years and finally arrived here. But when she turned back, she realized that she had landed in the wrong place on her first step.
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——

T/N: Do you understand the fingers thing? Hahaha
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