novelraw Chapter 153 One Cut in Two
Chapter 153 One Cut in Two
The Empress Dowager looked at the gleaming sword, unsure whether to hold on or let go.
Her voice trembled, "Yan'er, what are you doing? You...you're going to kill your mother?"
Xiao Yan took the sword, flicked his wrist slightly, and with a flash of cold light, the dragon robe was torn to shreds.
He looked at the Empress Dowager's pale face and said coldly, "With this broken robe, from this day forward, our mother-son relationship is severed."
The Empress Dowager seemed unable to believe her ears. She trembled as she reached out, trying to grasp something, but only grasped at empty air.
As soon as she began to speak, tears streamed down her face.
"Yan'er, what did you say? You want to sever your mother-son relationship with the Empress?"
"Yes."
Xiao Yan looked at the Empress Dowager and said, word by word, "I have tolerated you for too long."
"What...what did you say?"
Disbelief welled up with tears, and her voice trembled uncontrollably.
"I have never forgotten Empress Dowager Dehui's dying wish."
"She once told me to treat you better, even better. But what about you, Empress Dowager? You disregarded the Imperial Seal of the State, and you disregarded my bottom line! Based on just a few ridiculous slanderous words, you wanted to take Consort Zhao's life. Over the past few years, one thing after another has worn away that little bit of motherly affection completely. You yourself have exhausted it."
The Empress Dowager listened intently, her ears ringing.
She could barely hear her own voice, mechanically repeating, "Are you really going to sever our mother-son bond?"
"Yan'er, it's not that your mother doesn't love you..."
"You just love Xiao Ze too much," Xiao Yan interrupted coldly.
However, his excessive favoritism towards his eldest son overshadowed his affection for his other children, making it almost invisible.
The Empress Dowager wept bitterly, filled with remorse.
"You just gave all your favoritism to Xiao Ze." Xiao Yan thought there would be no reaction, but he couldn't help but choke up when he said this.
He looked up at the azure sky.
"From this day forward, Empress Dowager Dehui will be my only mother. You will remain the Empress Dowager and the grandmother of the princes and princesses, but you will no longer be my mother."
The Empress Dowager was completely devastated by the last sentence, and tears streamed down her face.
"Yan'er..."
"Empress Dowager, please return."
She refused to move an inch; those cold words were like knives piercing her heart, causing her unbearable pain.
As she was being dragged away by the nanny, the Empress Dowager struggled to look back and saw Xiao Yan's upright and resolute figure.
She clearly wanted to cherish this son, but ultimately, her obsession and selfishness pushed him further and further away until she lost him completely, leaving only regret.
Regret overwhelmed her, burning her with pain.
One wrong step leads to another, and she truly knows she was wrong.
But it was all too late; there was no way to salvage the situation.
The Empress Dowager suddenly cried out, "Yan'er, your mother knows she was wrong."
"Mother truly knows she was wrong..."
Xiao Yan closed his eyes.
Everything is too late.
Spilled water cannot be gathered up again.
If so, there will be a chance to start over.
She would definitely choose Yan'er, whom she had neglected for half her life, without hesitation.
But the cruelest thing about this world is that there is no turning back.
The Empress Dowager wept bitterly.
Xiao Yan looked at the messy altar, with peach wood swords and incense burner fragments scattered everywhere.
"Clean it up thoroughly; I don't want to see any more filth."
The palace servants were already terrified and fell silent, quickly replying "Yes."
Xiao Yan strode up to Consort Shao and Consort Xu, his expression softening: "You've worked hard these past two days."
Consort Shao curtsied and said, "Your Majesty is too kind. Shuangning is also a good friend of ours. If Your Majesty had not given the order, we would have done the same."
Xiao Yan nodded slightly.
Xiao Yan returned to the palace, where Song Shuangning was already sound asleep.
Without disturbing her, he quietly knelt on one knee in front of the bed, leaned down and kissed her forehead, then followed her temple and kissed her cheek.
It is full of cherishing.
After a long while, he slowly moved his hand to her flat stomach.
A faint smile unconsciously spread across her lips.
Their child is being conceived here.
This was his only solace at that moment.
The turmoil of the past two days, the rift between mother and son—everything has become a thing of the past.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
The ancestral temple ceremony, originally scheduled for three days, was cancelled by Xiao Yan on the second day, as he decided to return to the palace.
He claimed that on the night of the sacrificial ceremony, he dreamt that his ancestors appeared to him in a dream, saying that there seemed to be some subtle disturbances in the palace, and that the emperor needed to return to the palace to take charge of the overall situation in order to protect the stability of the imperial family.
So they kept the King of Chu in the ancestral temple to perform the last day's sacrificial rites on his behalf.
This not only did not go against the wishes of the ancestors, but also made the move of returning to the palace ahead of time seem more natural.
But how could the Empress not know that this was merely an excuse from the Emperor?
For the sake of Consort Yuan, the Emperor disregarded the ancestral temple sacrifices passed down through generations and returned to the palace ahead of schedule. But are those coincidental changes at the ancestral temple today truly the manifestation of ancestors?
The Empress shook her head, "I don't think so."
She sighed softly, and an idea gradually took shape in her mind.
*
The two in Yaohua Palace were flirting intimately.
Song Shuangning was nestled in Xiao Yan's arms, enjoying her dinner. The kitchen staff, noticing her poor appetite these past few days, had specially learned appetizing recipes from the imperial kitchen and prepared her favorite dishes in a modified form.
There was a porridge with poria cocos, lotus seeds, and japonica rice, and a dish of millet cake with gorgon fruit and barley that melted in your mouth.
As for why they were acting so intimately...
It turned out that after Song Shuangning woke up, she told Xiao Yan about the grievances she had suffered in the past two days with red eyes. Xiao Yan felt very sorry for her and immediately held her in his arms, kissed the corners of her red eyes, kissed her lips, and comforted her with soft words.
He also promised her that he would take her with him wherever he went in the future.
After being comforted, Song Shuangning refused to get down. Xiao Yan carried a reassuring ambergris scent, and his broad embrace made it very comfortable to nestle in.
So Xiao Yan held her while they ate, and he dismissed the palace servants who were serving in the hall, leaving the two of them alone.
Xiao Yan watched as she finished the entire bowl of porridge, then wiped her lips with a handkerchief.
"Is he starving? He vomited a lot the other day. What's wrong with this child?"
Song Shuangning chuckled: "Although the food was good, I didn't feel hungry."
Xiao Yan frowned and said with concern, "No wonder you look so thin today."
Seeing his serious expression, Song Shuangning tilted her head back and nuzzled his chin, "It's only been two days, how have I lost weight?"
Xiao Yan held Song Shuangning in his arms, not letting her get down, as if he couldn't get enough of her.
"Ningning, I am severing my mother-son relationship with the Empress Dowager."
Song Shuangning was taken aback.
The emperor severed his relationship with the Empress Dowager and even went against the ancestral rules for sacrificial rites at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, rushing back to the capital.
This often made her feel a sense of indescribable guilt.
She asked herself honestly, did she really like the emperor?
Forget it.
But this affection ultimately remained superficial.
I simply like his handsome appearance, and I also like the way he seems to have me in his heart and eyes.
Song Shuangning sighed.
She then wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and gently patted his back. "Your Majesty, you still have me and our child. I will always be with you, and my love will never change."
Xiao Yan tightened his arms and pulled her into his embrace.
"You must not break your promise; you must stay with me forever."
[I will write a side story later, written in the first person, about the Empress Dowager's changes, which may be easier to understand.]