The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 637 A beautiful spring day is not as good as a dream.

The Empress is gone.

On the west gate, Zhao Du'an slowly put down his drumsticks. The spring breeze blew from the western suburbs, scattering his hair.

In view, Xu Zhenguan, leading the imperial guards, bid farewell to the capital amidst the respectful farewell of the officials, and headed straight for Xiping Road.

"Lord Zhao." As Zhao Du'an, dressed in the robes of a Junior Guardian, descended from the city wall, a group of familiar court officials turned to look at him.

Zhao Du'an smiled and said, "His Majesty has personally led the expedition today. You will all have to work hard on the affairs of state from now on."

The court officials immediately agreed. Even though many of those present held higher ranks than Zhao Du'an, who in the entire capital didn't know the significance of the future imperial consort?
After the Empress's western expedition, no one worried about the stability of the court.

On the one hand, the internal strife has ended. On the other hand, although the Empress has left, she has left behind Zhao Du'an, a formidable figure, to keep things under control. Who would dare to harbor any other thoughts?
After seeing off the court officials,

Zhao Du'an turned and entered the city gate, stepping into the prepared carriage. The coachman from Lihua Hall, Xiao Wang, said:

"My lord, the wine and meat you requested have been prepared."

Zhao Du'an climbed into the carriage, glanced at a jar of osmanthus wine and a box of beef wrapped in layers of cloth, and said:

"Go to Baima Prison."

He planned to visit the old eunuch, but when he arrived at the White Horse Palace, he was surprised to learn that the old eunuch, who was supposed to be bedridden, was not there.

"You mentioned Supervisor Sun. He seemed to be feeling much better this morning. After breakfast, he went to the palace," an envoy said.

Is Old Sun cured?

Zhao Du'an was taken aback.

……

……

Sun Lianying woke up at dawn, and for some reason, she felt as light as a swallow when she woke up.

The pain that had plagued him for months seemed to have been taken away all at once. When he got out of bed, his steps were light, and he was completely unaware of the pain.

She stopped coughing, and her face in the mirror regained some color.

Driven by hunger, my appetite improved significantly, and I ate a hot and filling meal, a rare occurrence.

Then, perhaps seeing the bright blue sky and the beautiful spring scenery, Sun Lianying instructed the servants to help him wash and change his clothes. She then personally arranged all the items in the inner quarters to his liking before stepping out of the yamen and taking a carriage to the palace, as if she had no intention of returning.

"Just stop here."

Unexpectedly, when the carriage entered the imperial city, before even reaching the palace, Sun Lianying ordered the coachman to stop.

The coachman exclaimed in surprise, "Sir, we're still quite a distance from the palace."

Sun Lianying stepped down from the carriage with a smile. In the distance, one could almost hear the drums beating outside the west gate. She said:
"His Majesty has gone on a western expedition today and is not in the palace, so we will not go."

After saying that, he waved his hand and sent the bewildered driver away.

When only one person remained, Sun Lianying squinted and looked at the "Third Princess's Residence" standing in front of her in the imperial city.

Before the princesses of the royal family were married, they would temporarily reside in the imperial city, which was the former residence of the empress.

After ascending the throne, it was locked away and never left, with only a monthly cleaning service.

Sun Lianying, slightly hunched over, approached the gate, took out a copper key from her inner bag, and opened the long-sealed Third Princess's residence.

open the door.

Sun Lianying entered the mansion. The mansion was quiet and secluded, with no outsiders around.

Perhaps it was because the spring scenery was so beautiful today that the trees in the mansion were sprouting new buds, and the flower beds were blooming with early spring buds and green leaves. Under the eaves, swifts were flapping their wings and flitting about in the mansion, chirping incessantly.

"With such nice weather, we should ventilate the house. If it stays stuffy for too long, it'll get moldy."

Sun Lianying squinted, opened the storage room, and soon came out with a broom, starting to push open one closed door after another.

Sweep away the floating dust as you go.

In the warm spring sunshine, the head eunuch, dressed in a bright red python robe and with gray hair, busied himself with meticulous care, just as he had in his youth.

After an unknown amount of time, when he was covered in sweat and his back ached, he moved a smooth bamboo chair and sat down under the eaves.

Hearing the sound of horses' hooves outside the mansion, Sun Lianying looked up and saw a figure approaching from afar in the dazzling spring light.

"You've arrived," Sun Lianying said with a smile.

Zhao Du'an, carrying a jar of wine in one hand and a food box in the other, gazed at the old man sitting in the shadows under the eaves amidst the open doors and windows. He pursed his lips and walked towards him, bathed in the spring sunlight.
"I heard you were coming to the palace. Luckily, I ran into the coachman and that's how I found out I was here."

Sun Lianying said with a smile:
"I'm too old to go to the West Gate to join the crowds. It's quiet here, which is good."

Zhao Du'an walked over and carried out a chair and a small, lightweight table from the house.

Open the food box, take out the wine bowl, and unwrap the still-warm braised beef wrapped in oil paper.

With a "bang," the wine jar was opened, and a small amount of the clear osmanthus wine was poured into the bowl.

"That's too little, pour more."

Sun Lianying was so hungry that she frowned and complained as she looked at the wine bowl handed to her.

"You're not even fully recovered yet, so you're just trying to fool people. Do you really think you can drink from large bowls and eat meat in big chunks?" Zhao Du'an scoffed.

The old eunuch, helpless like a greedy child, could only hold the wine bowl tremblingly, smelling the aroma but unable to bear drinking it.

He put down his wine bowl and said:

"This is His Majesty's former residence. She has lived in this house since she was a little girl, after leaving the Empress."

The royal elders are mostly dead. If we must find His Majesty a 'family home,' this is the only one left. When you marry His Majesty, you should come and get acquainted with the family."

Zhao Du'an drank his wine, ate his meat, and gazed at the clean and elegant courtyard scenery without saying a word.

Sun Lianying gazed at every blade of grass and every tree, as if lost in memories:

“When I was a child, my family was originally from a village near the capital. One year, we suffered a disaster, and I sold myself into the palace. I was castrated and that's how I survived.”

I was young then and not sad. When I first entered the palace, I was amazed and everything was new and exciting.

White steamed buns, which are hard to come by even at home during the Lunar New Year, are available every day in the palace. Even the lowest-ranking eunuchs in the palace live in better houses and have warmer, thicker bedding than they do at home.

If there's anything wrong with it, it's that important people are hard to please. But back then, our family wasn't qualified to serve such important people; I only heard it from others.

Zhao Du'an drank his wine in silence, listening intently: "And then?"

Sun Lianying rambled on:

"I don't remember very clearly, it's been too long. I only remember that I was very ambitious at the beginning, thinking that I could serve by the side of a certain empress, or even His Majesty. That would be the position of Grand Eunuch. At that time, there was a man who was only eighteen years old and had already reached the position of Grand Eunuch, which made everyone envious."

Zhao Du'an nodded and said:

“You told me this before.”

"Is that so?" Sun Lianying leaned back in her rattan chair, gazing at the swallows on the treetops, and said:
"But he died later. He was killed when he left the palace, which terrified me, and I gave up the idea of ​​serving important people."

But in this world, things are often incredibly difficult when you want them to be, but when you stop thinking about them, they're readily available.

For some reason, I was sent to the palace of a newly arrived empress. I heard that the empress had a strange temper, and several eunuchs who served her had died. I thought I wouldn't survive either.

Unexpectedly, her skill in combing hair pleased the Empress, and she stayed on.

A few years later, the Third Prince was born, and the caregivers then turned to look after him…

“You haven’t told me about these things,” Zhao Du’an said, continuing to drink.

Sun Lianying murmured, "It was all a long time ago. After the Empress passed away, she came here with His Highness. Mochou was about the same age as His Highness at that time, or maybe even younger? In any case, they were playmates."

Every spring, His Highness would run around the mansion with Mochou, playing with windmills.

Our servants stood guard at the door to prevent the other servants from seeing and gossiping. Only when His Highness grew up and entered the academy did things settle down; he stopped running around and began to enjoy reading…”

The warm spring breeze caressed the tender willow branches sprouting in the courtyard, and the sunlight gradually shifted, dispelling the shadows under the eaves.

Zhao listened quietly as the old eunuch reminisced about the past, occasionally chiming in, but mostly just listening.

"...I had planned to serve His Highness until he found a husband and got married, then leave the palace, buy a small house, and live out the rest of my life there. Unfortunately, my family members have long since disappeared, and I don't know who to give my meager savings to... Well."

As Sun Lianying spoke, she coughed again, her face becoming even rosier than when she was in the best of health.

He took a deep breath, then slowly said:

"Unexpectedly, a coup d'état occurred, and Her Highness became the empress, which turned everything upside down."

"You'll know what happened next."

Zhao Du'an looked at him and suddenly said:
"Why don't we stop talking for now? Let me help you back to your room to rest for a while."

Sun Lianying shook her head:

"I've been lying in the house for months, and I'm feeling really stifled. The spring weather outside is so nice. Don't worry about me, I'm going to take a nap and recharge."

The old eunuch spoke, half-reclining in the rattan chair, eyes closed, basking in the spring sunlight, murmuring in a low voice as he continued to ramble on.

His speech was just a little less fluent.

She looked like she was about to fall asleep.

"...Thinking about it, it's really amazing. When I was a child, I felt it was a great achievement to walk from the village to the town. I was overjoyed to go to the outer city of the capital... Now I've actually made it to the palace and become the Grand Eunuch."

These were the last words Sun Lianying uttered.

The wind blew through the eaves, and the swallows in the trees took flight.

Zhao Du'an drank a whole jar of wine and ate all the beef on the table by himself. His eyes became slightly moist without him noticing.

He turned his head and looked at the old eunuch lying lifeless in the spring sunshine.

He never tasted a single drop of the shallow bowl of wine that lay on the table beside him.

"Father-in-law?"

Zhao Du'an tentatively called out, then remained silent for a moment before picking up the bowl of wine and evenly scattering it on the ground.

Beautiful spring scenery is not as good as a dream.

He stood up, picked up the old eunuch, and was surprised to find that such a large man was as light as a cloud under his python robe.

Zhao Du'an carried Sun Lianying out of the Empress's former residence.

They walked straight into the palace.

"Lord Zhao? This is..."

Inside the palace, a familiar-looking female official saw him approaching and asked him tentatively in surprise.

Zhao Du'an said calmly:

"Grand Secretary Sun has passed away. I'll trouble you to find someone to handle his funeral arrangements. I don't know what the palace regulations are, but in short, let him be buried in the most honorable section that palace people can be buried in. I will explain to Her Majesty when she returns."

Sun's seal is gone... gone...

The middle-aged female official was stunned. After a long while, she came to her senses, hurriedly nodded, and called over several eunuchs to take Sun Lianying away.

Zhao Du'an did not interfere with the funeral arrangements of his former boss, who was also the first person to have been genuinely kind to him since he transmigrated to this world.

He wandered aimlessly around the palace for a while, then suddenly felt a sense of boredom.

Before I knew it, I had arrived at the Xiuwen Hall outside the North Gate.

"Scholar Zhao? You've come at the perfect time! The Grand Tutor was just looking for you!"

Scholar Han Zhou walked out of Xiuwen Hall, saw him, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly went up to him, grabbed his sleeve and pulled him inside.

Zhao Du'an didn't ask what had happened. After entering a separate room, he saw Grand Tutor Dong Xuan sitting behind a desk, repeatedly examining a fresh urgent report in his hand.

"You've arrived." When Grand Tutor Dong saw him enter, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had found his pillar of support.

But when she noticed Zhao Du'an's slightly reddened eyes, she was taken aback.

He first waved for Han Zhou to leave without saying a word, then closed the door before asking, "What happened?"

He didn't think Zhao Du'an was saddened because the Empress had left the capital... that was too exaggerated.

Zhao Du'an said calmly, "Master Sun has gone."

Grand Tutor Dong paused, then, after a moment's thought, understood. The elderly Grand Tutor, already in his eighties, nodded and said:
"The physicians of the Imperial Medical Academy told me privately that Grand Secretary Sun should not have been able to hold on until now. He should have been holding on until the Rebellion of the Eight Princes was quelled before he finally passed away."

Zhao Du'an was taken aback.

After a moment of silence, he composed himself and asked:

"What happened? Why did you urgently call me here?"

Grand Tutor Dong waved the urgent military intelligence report in his hand:

"Zhao Shixiong from Yunfu sent an urgent letter saying that the Liao people are making unusual movements and are planning to attack Yunfu."

Zhao Du'an calmly took out a prepared imperial edict from his sleeve and tossed it over:

"His Majesty has already prepared orders, commanding Zhao Shixiong to lead the border troops to keep the Liao people at Yunfu, not to repel them, but only to prevent them from spreading into the heart of the empire. Everything is based on the Xiping Road battle situation as the top priority."

Although the Liao people are a problem, they are few in number and too far from the capital. Given the strategic depth of Yunfu Road, they won't pose a problem in the short term.

Dong Xuan was stunned for a moment, then said in surprise, "Your Majesty already knew..."

Zhao Du'an nodded and said vaguely:
"This matter involves some higher secrets, which are not convenient to discuss with the Grand Tutor. In short, everything is under control. Now that His Majesty is on a western expedition, the Grand Tutor is the leader of the court. He should remain calm and composed so that the court officials will not waver."

As for the rest... His Majesty has his reasons for keeping me in the capital."

Grand Tutor Dong paused for a moment, then let out a long sigh and said:
"That's good."

His eyes held a complex expression, a deep sense that this ancient dynasty had already become the era of the young.

……

After a while.

Zhao Du'an left the Xiuwen Hall, attempting to leave the palace and head to the Celestial Master's Mansion.

However, as soon as they reached the palace gate, they saw a woman in elegant attire waiting ahead.

"Princess Consort Lu?" Zhao Du'an exclaimed in surprise.

Lu Yan'er stood alone at the palace gate, looking travel-worn, wearing a bamboo hat and a veil.

The imperial guards at the city gate saw him and quickly saluted:
"Lord Zhao, this woman just came over, wanting to enter the palace, saying she was here to keep an appointment, but we stopped her."

Lu Yan'er removed her veil and said wearily:

“I have never been a princess. Lord Zhao should correct my form of address.”

(End of this chapter)