Chapter 197: Keeping Vigil

Night slowly fell.

With the last sound of the evening drum, pedestrians on the street dispersed, and even Sanqu Lane became quiet.

Because of the Empress’s recent death, entertainment was banned in the capital for a month.

When the sound of horses’ hooves came from the street, the patrolling guards immediately noticed and shouted loudly, “Who is so bold to be walking during curfew!”

The sound of horses’ hooves did not stop, and as the sound of “clatter, clatter” approached the intersection, the guards’ torches illuminated the newcomers: a young man and a guard attendant.

Although the night was dimly lit, the guard at the front immediately recognized him and was somewhat surprised: “Marquis of Dongyang’s Heir, what are you doing…….” He coughed lightly, “Is it official business?”

Zhou Jingyun said calmly, “I’m entering the palace tonight to keep vigil.”

Keeping vigil.

The Emperor did not conceal the news of the Empress’s suicide, letting the world know that Yang, relying on the Empress, had committed evil deeds, harbored treacherous intentions, and done outrageous things. The Empress died for her father and brother, for the Yang family.

The Emperor personally went to the prison, scolded Yang’s father and brother severely, demoted them to commoners, and exiled them to Ganzhou.

The Empress’s funeral was conducted with great solemnity. In addition to the customary rites, the Emperor kept vigil in the funeral hall day and night, weeping incessantly. Therefore, the court officials, besides mourning in the morning and evening, also had to go to the front of the hall to keep vigil. Of course, to avoid chaos due to the large number of people, the officials were divided into two shifts, morning and evening.

Hearing Zhou Jingyun say this, the guards were relieved and made way, watching Zhou Jingyun and his guard head towards the Imperial City.

“The Marquis’s Heir is scheduled for the evening shift.”

“The evening shift is indeed more tiring.”

“I’m afraid they deliberately arranged the evening shift for him, after all, the Empress’s death….”

“The Empress’s death was due to the Yang family’s evil deeds.”

“Although that’s what they say, if it weren’t for his request to investigate his wife’s death, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“That’s nonsense! Discovering it earlier is a blessing to the dynasty and relieves His Majesty of his worries!”

“Yes, just watch, His Majesty will not be angry with the Marquis’s Heir, he will even reward him.”

Hearing the guards’ discussions getting louder and louder, the leader angrily stopped them: “All of you, shut up! Stop gossiping.”

The guards immediately fell silent and continued their patrol.

However, the leader frowned and looked in the direction where Zhou Jingyun had disappeared, then looked in the direction he had come from. The Marquis of Dongyang’s Residence wasn’t in that direction, was it? That was the direction of the Eastern Market.

Why did Marquis Zhou come from the Eastern Market so late?

Zhou Jingyun did not hear the discussions of the patrolling guards behind him, and even if he had heard them, he would not have cared. Riding on his horse, he looked at the night and couldn’t help but laugh self-deprecatingly.

It wasn’t that he found his actions of sitting idly in the Eastern Market until dark today laughable, nor did he feel he had lost his mind. Rather, he felt he had overestimated himself.

He once thought that if he encountered Zhuang Li, he would be very calm. He didn’t expect that without encountering the person, just seeing the blooming flowers that were sent, he would lose his composure.

It was also fortunate that Zhang Ze was no longer pursuing the investigation, otherwise, his actions would have been enough to expose him.

Fortunately, although he had lost his reason, Zhuang Li had not. She did not come to see him.

That was good. It was enough that one of them remained calm. The corners of Zhou Jingyun’s mouth curved up slightly.

The guard beside him saw this and hurriedly reminded him in a low voice, “Marquis’s Heir, we’ve arrived at the palace gate.”

Zhou Jingyun came back to his senses and looked ahead. The Imperial City was brightly lit, and the quiet night wind carried faint, continuous cries.

Apart from the Emperor personally keeping vigil in the funeral hall, the imperial consorts were naturally also there. Moreover, the Emperor, in his grief over the loss of his wife, demanded that everyone weep sincerely for the Empress.

If anyone was found not crying, or their expression was not sufficiently sorrowful, they would be caned.

“Can’t cry on your own? Then let others help you cry.”

For a time, the atmosphere in the palace was tense, and the palace servants were trembling with fear.

Although the officials did not need to truly cry, they could not go to the palace with smiles on their faces, especially him.

Zhou Jingyun lowered the corners of his mouth, his face solemn, and dismounted his horse to walk towards the palace gate.

There were already two officials ahead. Seeing him, they waited for a while, about to walk over together when a palace maid came hurriedly from inside, handing her identification token to the guard first.

“Going to wait for the prayer sachets from the Temple of the Holy Ancestor.” The palace woman said, “….for Consort Bai.”

Hearing the words “Consort Bai,” Zhou Jingyun couldn’t help but glance over. However, he didn’t recognize many people around Bai Ying. This palace maid was plain-looking, with a somewhat wooden expression and a rather plump figure, seemingly wearing thick clothes because she was afraid of the cold….

It was normal. Now, with the vigil going on day and night, many palace servants could only find opportunities to sleep for a while standing or sitting, so naturally, they had to wear thicker clothes to avoid getting cold.

The guard checked the identification token, and the palace maid passed by without looking sideways.

Zhou Jingyun and the other two officials each verified their identities, exchanged a few words with two or three other officials who had just arrived, and waited for the eunuch in charge of reception to arrive. Only then did the group proceed inside. Zhou Jingyun subconsciously looked back at the palace gate again and saw that the palace maid who had just gone out had returned, accompanied by another palace maid….

“Marquis’s Heir, this way please.” The eunuch said.

Zhou Jingyun withdrew his gaze and followed him.

At the palace gate, the palace maid turned around with a wooden face and scolded the palace maid she had brought with her: “….Why did it take you so long to come back?” As she spoke, she handed her identification token to the guard again.

One guard took it and glanced at the other palace maid.

That palace maid was wearing the same clothes. Perhaps because she was being scolded, she lowered her head, but she also immediately handed over her identification token.

The other guard took it, glanced at it, and silently recited the name, age, appearance, and markings on it: “Raise your head.”

The palace maid raised her head. In the flickering lamplight, the guard’s vision was somewhat blurred, and the palace maid before him presented the same appearance and age as on the identification token.

The previous palace maid was still scolding from the side: “The Consort is also going to keep vigil for the Empress, and we don’t even know if she can hold up. The birthing room is missing this, and if something goes wrong, you’ll be the one to blame.”

The palace maid who had raised her head turned pale and lowered her head.

Hearing this, the guard was also afraid of making a mistake and hurriedly handed the identification token back to them: “Hurry up and go inside.”

The two palace maids hurried inside.

The previous palace maid was in front, complaining as she walked, and the content of her complaints became increasingly chaotic.

“….Which little thief used my face powder? That was something I’ve treasured for years.”

“….All the dirty and tiring work is left for me to do.”

“….Saying I have bad luck? No matter how bad my luck is, I wasn’t assigned to the Empress’s Palace, ha, ha, that’s truly bad luck.”

“….If only I could go serve Consort Bai….”

As she spoke, she walked hurriedly, turning past a palace, from the brightly lit front of the hall to a dim passageway.

“Alright.” The palace maid who had been silently following behind her suddenly said, “Xu Chun, you can continue sleeping.”

The palace maid named Xu Chun stopped abruptly. Apart from her wooden expression, her body also became stiff. She stopped talking and walked towards the passageway like a sleepwalker.

Only one palace maid was left in front of the dim passageway. The night wind lifted her dress and made it sway, and a shadow seemed to appear on the ground.

“We’re in.”

Bai Li listened to the voice beside her, a voice with a hint of pride.

“I told you, with me, it’s very easy for you to enter the palace. My marks are everywhere, you can weave dreams for anyone you want.”

Previously, following the scent of the pregnant woman that Zhang Ze had transported, they arrived at the Imperial City. Zhang Ze had various means to bring people into the Imperial City, but she didn’t.

Moreover, it was not very convenient to enter through dreams this time.

She needed someone to bring her in.

Just like how she had Zhou Jingyun bring her into the capital.

Bai Li stood outside the Imperial City and laughed self-deprecatingly.

Then she would also weave a dream for someone else now.

Of course, first she had to find someone in the palace, so she woke up Jiang Mian’er.

Jiang Mian’er was indeed very useful. She instantly brought her into a palace maid’s dream, allowing her to smoothly weave a dreamscape, controlling the palace maid to come and pick her up.

Bai Li looked at the shadow on the ground and smiled, “If I weren’t useful, you wouldn’t use me either.”

The shadow laughed beside her ear, “You little girl, not bad, always reminding yourself that you are you.”

She wanted to say something more, but Bai Li raised her hand and waved it, as if the night wind had instantly blown away the shadow. The passageway became quiet.

✿✿✿

“Me using it, and others wanting me to use it, are certainly different.” Bai Li muttered to herself.

The next moment, she sniffed the night wind and headed towards a certain direction.

The moment she disappeared, lamplight shone in. Several eunuchs carrying lamps entered the passageway and saw at a glance two palace maids sitting between an extinguished lamppost and the corner of the wall.

“Good!” An eunuch shouted, “Slacking off again!”

With this shout, the two sleeping palace maids woke up with a start. Although they hadn’t opened their eyes yet, they already knew what was happening and immediately threw themselves to the ground, kowtowing, “We won’t dare to do it again, we won’t dare to do it again.”

An eunuch raised his whip and lashed down. The two palace maids cried out in pain and didn’t dare to move.

Fortunately, he only lashed them once before stopping.

“Keep an eye on the lamps! If you dare to sleep again, we’ll have you go serve the Empress, sleep to your heart’s content.” An eunuch said coldly.

The two palace maids kowtowed repeatedly in response. Hearing the eunuchs leave with a clatter, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief and raised their heads, grimacing and enduring the pain of the whipping as they lit the palace lamp on the stone pillar.

The passageway became bright.

The two palace maids leaned against the wall to catch their breath. One of them suddenly chuckled.

“What are you laughing at?” The other palace maid asked, “Xu Chun, are you silly from the beating?”

The palace maid Xu Chun chuckled, “I just had a dream, I dreamt that I was serving Consort Bai….”

The palace maid beside her curled her lip, “It truly was a dream. To be able to serve Consort Bai now is a great blessing.”

The Empress was gone, and Consort Bai was about to give birth. If she gave birth to a prince, she would definitely become the new Empress.

“We old servants are all unlucky, how can we go and offend the noble one’s eyes?” The palace maid said, reaching out to pat her robe, then suddenly froze, hurriedly looking towards her waist, “Where’s my identification token?”

Xu Chun hurriedly looked around with her, and indeed they couldn’t see the identification token: “You must have dropped it.” She hurriedly lowered her voice, “Don’t shout, otherwise we’ll get another scolding. Let’s look for it when it gets light.”

The palace maid looked distressed, “Fortunately, we’re on duty here today and don’t have to walk around in front of people, otherwise, we would definitely have been found out.”

Xu Chun nodded. A gust of wind blew by, and she couldn’t help but shiver. She reached out to feel her body, her expression strange.

“What’s wrong?” The palace maid beside her asked, “Did you lose your identification token too?”

Xu Chun shook her head, looked at the identification token hanging at her waist, and pulled at her collar, looking at the other palace maid, “I seem to have lost an outer robe. I was afraid of the cold tonight on duty, so I specially wore two. Why is there only one left?”

It was unlikely to lose clothes while wearing them. The other palace maid laughed, “You must be remembering wrong. You planned to wear it, but you were in a hurry to leave and forgot.”

That was also possible. Xu Chun pinched her collar and shrugged her shoulders. She couldn’t sleep anymore tonight, it was too cold.

As the two were talking, a commotion came from the night wind, and then the group of eunuchs who had just passed by came running back in a flurry….

“Is she really giving birth?”

“It seems so, it started in the funeral hall.”

As they spoke, the group passed by. The two palace maids looked at each other.

Consort Bai was about to give birth.

✿✿✿

✿✿✿

Outside the funeral hall, the officials keeping vigil all put away their mournful expressions, looking inside with a hint of nervousness, whispering to each other from time to time.

Zhou Jingyun watched as eunuchs, palace maids, and imperial physicians kept going in. The crying of the imperial consorts and palace maids inside had stopped, replaced by strange groans.

Bai Ying, she was about to give birth.

The next moment, seeing Zhang Ze also arrive with the guards from the Censorate, Zhou Jingyun lowered his gaze, his mind racing.

Bai Ying, after all her scheming, if she gave birth to a daughter, what would she do?

Bai Ying’s vision was somewhat blurry.

She hadn’t expected to go into labor at this time. Just as she said to His Majesty, “I have been with my elder sister for more than ten years. My mother died early, and my elder sister treated me like a mother—” her stomach suddenly started to hurt.

The attending imperial physicians checked and said she was about to give birth.

The Emperor was both sad, happy, and nervous. He wanted to leave with her, but Bai Ying, although in pain and somewhat dazed, gritted her teeth and dissuaded him.

“Your Majesty, stay with elder sister, Your Majesty must stay with elder sister.” She said tearfully, “Your Majesty can only accompany elder sister this one time, don’t make elder sister angry.”

These words did persuade the Emperor. Not to mention whether the Empress died willingly or not, the Empress was not known for her good temper when she was alive, especially her jealousy towards Bai Ying.

If he went to accompany Bai Ying at this time, it might really anger the Empress who had become a ghost.

Moreover, he couldn’t really help with a woman giving birth.

It was better to stay in the funeral hall to guard, no, to accompany the Empress.

Zhang Ze also entered at this time: “Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will bring the Censorate to strictly guard Hanliang Palace.”

The Emperor hurriedly nodded and instructed him, “Guard it well, choose the most reliable people.”

The Empress had just passed away. Although they had already conducted a thorough investigation when questioning the guilty parties, they still had to be careful. After all, the Empress had been by his side for many years, and her connections were intricate and complex. For example, that Gao Shi’er, he was very close to the Yang family and the Empress in private, and he could no longer be used in the future.

There were probably many palace servants like Gao Shi’er.

Zhang Ze responded, “Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will guarantee the safety of the imperial heir with my life.”

Accompanied by everyone’s gaze, surrounded by the Censorate guards, Bai Ying was carried away from the funeral hall.

Hanliang Palace was brightly lit. Teams of pre-selected eunuchs, palace maids, and imperial physicians, after passing through a layer of imperial guards and a layer of Censorate guards, entered Hanliang Palace after two layers of verification.

Inside the palace, Bai Ying’s body was already drenched in sweat.

“Is this really the right time?” She asked Zhang Ze, who was standing in the room, urgently, taking advantage of the gaps between the pains.

According to the imperial physicians’ estimates, she was originally due to give birth in more than ten days.

Perhaps because of the Empress’s suicide, Bai Ying’s emotions fluctuated, causing her to go into labor early.

“Rest assured, Consort.” Zhang Ze said, “This chaotic time is actually more convenient.”

Bai Ying breathed a sigh of relief and then asked urgently, “Where is that person? Where are those people?”

Originally, there were also pregnant women prepared according to her due date. If she gave birth early, what if those women couldn’t give birth?

Zhang Ze said calmly, “Consort, you don’t have to worry, there are always various means to make them give birth before you.”

Bai Ying urged, “The child, don’t let anything happen to the child. I don’t want a weak or disabled son.”

Zhang Ze responded, “Everyone around you has been arranged, they are all our people. If you need anything, Consort, just tell them directly.”

Bai Ying nodded again, wanting to say something, but another wave of pain hit, and her voice turned into a cry of pain.

The palace woman beside her stepped forward to check and whispered to Zhang Ze, “Consort can enter the birthing room now.”

Hearing this, Bai Ying looked at Zhang Ze for a moment and subconsciously reached out to him, as if wanting to grab him.

But as she reached out, Zhang Ze had already taken a step back.

Bai Ying’s hand fell empty. She could only grab her own dress in panic, clenching it tightly. The fear in her eyes was hard to conceal, and her breathing became even more rapid than before, as if she couldn’t catch her breath.

“Consort?” Wang Degui and the palace woman asked urgently, “Are you alright?”

Bai Ying hissed in pain, “My, my mother….”

Was she thinking of her mother? The palace woman could understand that. When a woman was giving birth, she wanted her mother to be with her.

Zhang Ze was silent for a moment, then looked at the palace woman and Wang Degui, “If there is any danger to the Consort during childbirth, remember, abandon the baby and only protect the Consort.”

Even though they knew what Zhang Ze and Bai Ying were going to do, upon suddenly hearing these words, the palace woman and Wang Degui still froze for a moment.

Bai Ying looked at Zhang Ze, her tense body gradually relaxing.

“Bai Ying.” Zhang Ze looked at her and said softly, “I chose you as my master because of who you are, not because you can bear an imperial heir. So, take good care of yourself, I will take care of the child.”

A smile appeared on Bai Ying’s pale face. She lay back on the soft couch, “Let’s go in.”