Chapter 5: The State Preceptor Scheming to Overthrow the Court

The entire Imperial City was blanketed in heavy snow, but Chaoyang Hall remained as warm as spring. The woman on the throne had a clear and aloof beauty, her slender fingers holding a memorial to the throne as she pondered in silence.

Her beauty was breathtaking, yet no one dared to glance at her for long.

The ministers had finished their deliberations, leaving only this final report undecided—officials in Minnan had discovered remnants of the Female Sovereign’s old subordinates rallying the border generals to march on the capital and rescue her.

Word from the palace suggested that the State Preceptor had released the Female Sovereign from the Dark Prison, possibly related to this matter.

The ministers harbored varied thoughts in their hearts. After a long pause, the memorial dropped onto the desk with a crisp slap. A cold voice, devoid of emotion, rang out: “This matter will be discussed later. You may all withdraw for now.”

Everyone was stunned. It was neither an order for execution nor immediate action, but no one dared question the State Preceptor, whose power now reached the heavens. They retreated silently.

Once the maids and eunuchs had also withdrawn, Shi Qingyi leaned back against the chair, cradling a hand warmer as she rubbed her brow, her head aching.

The one still working tirelessly for Xu Zhaosu outside was her own aunt, the Eldest Princess of Li Yue, Xu Wan. According to the original plot, she should have sent someone to execute Xu Wan directly, severing the last thread of attachment in Xu Zhaosu’s heart.

It was precisely after Xu Wan’s death that Xu Zhaosu, bereft of all kin, finally lost her mind, fled the Imperial City without regard for anything, laid siege to the city, and burned her alive.

But now, she dared not court death like that, madly pulling aggro onto herself.

Assassinate Xu Wan and enrage Xu Zhaosu: swift death. Let Xu Wan go and wait for her to gather forces: still swift death.

“What to do?” Shi Qingyi looked up at the sky, unwilling to choose between these two options here.

The System replied coldly and mercilessly: “There are still 28 days left.”

Shi Qingyi: “…”

She knew she couldn’t count on it.

Standing at the pinnacle of a nation’s power brought an extraordinary volume of affairs. By the time Shi Qingyi finally finished handling everything, the moon hung high over the treetops. The snow had fallen all day and still swirled relentlessly. When she arrived at Mingze Hall, night had already fallen, and palace lanterns hung from the four corners of the hall, casting a warm glow in the icy snowstorm.

She paused at the hall’s entrance for a long while. When she entered, the side door was slightly ajar. Inside, the girl leaned on the soft couch with lowered brows and eyes, her glassy eyes now dull and lifeless, her dark hair scattered. Someone supported her as she took her medicine.

Shi Qingyi’s brow arched slightly. The one feeding her the medicine was none other than the Medicine Apprentice who had spent the night trembling in fear yesterday. In just one day, he had established a connection to get close and serve her—truly worthy of a dark guard trained for years.

When they saw her, everyone hurried to bow, but she waved them off with a hand. She didn’t enter, merely standing at the hall door and watching quietly.

In an unnoticed corner, the Medicine Apprentice discreetly touched the slender wrist of the emaciated Female Sovereign. That pale wrist bone stiffened for a moment, and her little finger trembled unconsciously.

Shi Qingyi pretended to glance casually and saw that the exposed part was covered in purple bruises from frostbite, winding all the way to the cuff’s edge.

Mingze Hall hadn’t changed much from a few years ago, though the furniture looked more antiquated. Several braziers burned on the floor, so even with the door open for ventilation, it didn’t feel cold. Everyone remained silent, while the blind girl knew nothing and continued sipping her medicine obediently.

One bowl wasn’t enough; there was more. As it was brought forward, the person furrowed her dark brows—perhaps fed too hastily, she choked. The State Preceptor, who had been silently watching, seemed to step forward instinctively but halted abruptly just inches away.

Xu Zhaosu’s hand tensed on the back of her hand. She turned her head and asked hoarsely, “Who is it?”

Though she couldn’t see, she could hear the footsteps.

Those around her trembled, afraid to answer. Amid the flickering candlelight, the State Preceptor’s phoenix eyes darkened intensely, chilling everyone to the bone. After a long moment, someone finally stammered, “It… it’s the imperial physician, come to take Your Majesty’s pulse.”

Shi Qingyi didn’t dare move. She shot a glance at the imperial physician beside her, who hurried forward unsteadily to take the pulse of the frail woman. Seizing the moment, Shi Qingyi slowly retreated until she was fully outside the hall.

Xu Zhaosu’s gaze remained steady. Her slender, pale fingers unconsciously clenched her sleeve amid the flurry of footsteps, carefully distinguishing that faint sound. When the footsteps fully exited the hall, her eyes chilled briefly before her crow-feather lashes quickly veiled the emotion.

—

The lamplight flickered as wind and snow battered the eaves from afar, shaking the room’s candles. After finishing her medicine, night had deepened. Xu Zhaosu, weak in body, went to bed early, but the young maids in the hall continued tending the braziers without pause.

That night, the night-watch maid finally couldn’t resist and dozed off in the outer hall. The one who had supposedly gone to sleep early quietly opened her eyes. Her vacant gaze held no emotion, only a bone-chilling coldness.

After a long while, she rasped, “Has she left?”

The Medicine Apprentice kneeling by the bed glanced outside and whispered, “She left after midnight. She stood out there for nearly an hour.”

He didn’t come in, just watched Her Majesty from afar in the wind, his expression unreadable.

—Who knew what vicious scheme he was plotting now.

The snow outside mixed with biting wind battered the window frames; one could imagine how fierce it was. Xu Zhaosu continued, “Did she return to Yuming Hall?”

“No,” the Medicine Apprentice shook his head puzzledly. “She just went to rest in the adjacent study. Probably still can’t let go of her worries about you.”

Mingze Hall had been neglected for so long that the main hall was in ruins, and the study dilapidated. How could someone like Shi Qingyi, who favored luxury, condescend to stay there? She must be uneasy about Her Majesty, wanting to monitor her every move at all times.

Traitorous rebel!

Xu Zhaosu closed her eyes slightly. After a long pause, she asked hoarsely, “What else did she say?”

The Medicine Apprentice scratched his head, baffled. “Just that next time we serve the medicine, it can’t be too hot, and…”

“And to prepare some sour plums nearby for the next dose.”

The Medicine Apprentice didn’t know the reason, nor did he understand why the Female Sovereign’s hand, hidden under the brocade quilt, suddenly clenched tight, gripping the bed curtain so fiercely that he felt suffocated for an instant.

Back then, when Shi Qingyi sought to enter politics, she had rejected it amid the ministers’ persuasions, displeasing Shi Qingyi, who stormed out of court in a huff. By the time she pacified the ministers and went to find her, Yuming Hall was already locked—a blatant refusal of entry.

Before meeting Shi Qingyi, she had never felt so humiliated or desperate as the supreme ruler.

For such a person, to stand waiting bitterly outside the hall door for two hours in the heavy snow of midwinter, all because she feared making her angry, just to see her once.

She still remembered how heavily the snow fell that day. By deep night, she could barely stand and was on the verge of collapsing when the doors finally burst open. The elegant woman, draped only in a snow-white cloak with her long hair cascading behind, stood at the entrance holding a palace lantern and walked out slowly: “Why is Your Majesty still here?”

Her voice was cold and clear, like the pristine snow of that winter year.

She lacked the strength to speak. By the time Shi Qingyi emerged, it had taken all her energy, and her vision went blank as she toppled forward.

Yet she didn’t fall into the snow. Someone tossed the lantern aside and caught her.

When she awoke, she was in a side hall of Yuming Hall—the hall that never permitted outsiders—for the first time opened to her. The aloof beauty sat by the couch in only thin inner robes, her long hair piled on her snowy shoulders, slender fingers holding a scroll as she read with lowered eyes. She only said flatly, “Your Majesty is awake.”

If not for the copper basin by the couch, she might have truly believed Shi Qingyi cared nothing for her.

Before waking, she had distinctly felt someone wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with a damp cloth.

This person was always like this—outwardly forever aloof and unapproachable, yet in certain details revealing a gentleness hard to detect. Thus, the Female Sovereign who had traversed the world fell for her, handing over the entire realm just for a smile.

That wait in the snow gave the exalted Female Sovereign a severe illness. She stayed in Yuming Hall as long as she was ill, enduring the bitterly astringent medicine from the chill. Every time she couldn’t bear it, she frowned—until one day, after finishing her dose, she found sour plums added to the dish beside her.

The girl in white robes kept her eyes straight ahead, quietly reading her book, and said indifferently, “It’s just that I’ve been craving sour plums these past couple of days. Your Majesty dislikes them? Then remove them.”

The wind and snow had stopped; the post-snow sunset fell on the woman’s aloof brows and eyes, her fair, delicate earlobes faintly tinged pink.

How could she dislike them? It was precisely because she liked them too much that the next day she permitted her political involvement, setting a precedent unseen in centuries.

Now, it all seemed like a meticulously planned game of hard-to-get, every step calculated.

The Medicine Apprentice continued softly: “Your Majesty, we don’t know the situation with the Eldest Princess yet. Word has already reached the Imperial City. If something happens to her, you must leave the palace immediately—”

The Female Sovereign’s eyes squeezed shut as she forced through gritted teeth: “The plan remains unchanged.”

Outside, the wind and snow raged, pounding at hearts one strike at a time. On the other side of the wall, Shi Qingyi looked up and rubbed her brow.

Her hands were frozen stiff, unable to move freely, her motions sluggish.

The snow in the second month turned out to be so cold. Had Xu Zhaosu felt the same chill during that hour waiting for her outside back then?

By the time even her heart sank.