Green Mountain-Chapter 685 - 542: See the Mountains, See the Sea

On usual days, Kunning Palace has over twenty female servants awaiting orders, but today only Aunt Yuan Jin leads four of them nearby, making the palace feel much more desolate.

Bai Li realized that after months of planning, it was finally time to see the results, yet she still didn't know how she was supposed to leave.

This Forbidden City is a cage, without orders or edicts, no one is allowed to leave the palace; even the Empress and Imperial Concubine may only leave to worship the Silkworm God, pay respects at mausoleums, visit their families by decrees, or attend grand ceremonies, let alone the female servants and nuns within the palace?

Even if you are an Inner Eunuch, having a waist tag isn't enough to leave the Forbidden City; you must be a eunuch registered with the Jiefan Guard for legitimate duties requiring you to leave the palace. The Jiefan Guard not only registers but also remembers the appearance of the individual, and unfamiliar eunuchs cannot leave even if all procedures are in order.

Bai Li looked at the Empress: "Your Majesty, how will I leave? Will it implicate you?"

The Empress paused, then stepped forward to embrace her gently, "What is the point of caring about others now; if you can leave here, stepping over anyone is worth it…"

Bai Li whispered, "No."

The Empress laughed and said, "Don't worry, it won't implicate me. The two hours have not yet arrived, so come eat the Mid-Autumn Reunion Dinner with me first."

Bai Li gathered her spirits and looked at the empty and lonely Kunning Palace, asking, "How did you get rid of the female servants?"

The Empress pulled her to sit by the desk and said cunningly, "I don't usually manage them strictly, today I just got really angry, and they quietly slipped away to avoid being involved. When I want peace, I do this; pretend to have a big tantrum, it allows Kunning Palace to be peaceful for a whole day."

Bai Li held Wu Yun and looked at the desk.

On the table, there were no exquisite palace dishes, nor did they have complicated names; they were her favorite home-cooked meals: pot tofu, stir-fried bok choy, garlic hollow vegetables, and braised carp.

Just then, Bai Li noticed a jar of wine on the table, the Empress followed her gaze, laughing as she unveiled the clay seal: "How could you leave without farewell wine? Sometimes I secretly drink in Kunning Palace too, life is but a few decades, ignorance is bliss, when drunk you think of nothing."

Aunt Yuan Jin was standing at the door, giving a sideways glance into the hall, but said nothing.

The Empress laughed: "When I first entered the palace at seventeen, I was young and had to hide to drink away from Aunt Yuan Jin, she only ignored it after I turned twenty."

As the Empress poured herself a drink, Bai Li was about to pass her empty bowl to be poured into, but the Empress set the wine jar down and picked a dish for her: "You can't drink, you have important matters today."

After serving Bai Li, she picked a piece of meat from the fish belly and placed it into a dish, pushing it to Wu Yun: "The reunion dinner wouldn't be complete without you, eat up."

Wu Yun jumped onto the table and lowered its head to eat fish, unperturbed by the Empress.

The Empress silently drank a bowl of wine, her cheeks quickly flushed with red.

She looked at Bai Li and Wu Yun, her eyes filled with warmth: "In the past, what I longed for most was to have a proper ordinary meal with family like common folks, the dishes at Fengxian Hall yesterday looked nice, and the dances were splendid, but alas they lacked taste, they were all cold, and who knows how many had tasted for poison... but such words must not be shared with others, or surely they'd consider me affectedly pretentious."

Bai Li softly replied, "I understand Your Majesty's frustration."

The Empress chuckled, "Oh yes, you didn't come to Kunning Palace yesterday, and haven't read the newspapers these past two days yet."

She waved to a maidservant behind her, who brought a stack of newspapers to Bai Li.

Bai Li set down her chopsticks and opened the newspapers to read attentively.

The Empress sighed: "The Marquis of Wuxiang runs this newspaper, it's quite a good thing; in the past in Kunning Palace, I felt like a blind person, knowing nothing of what happened outside the palace, but now I'm aware of everything through a newspaper... Who knew life outside the palace was so interesting."

She took a sip of wine, saw Bai Li looking at the second page, and teased immediately: "What's the point in watching these bothersome official promotions, look at the sixth page. That Landlord Wang is truly unfortunate, abandoning his wife for a courtesan, only for the courtesan to run off with his lifetime savings and then going back to seduce that other Landlord. But he deserves it, everyone has their own retribution, for he abandoned his wife. There's also that Landlord Ma…"

The Empress babbled on about the interesting things she read from the newspaper, sounding not at all like the dignified master of the Six Palaces.

Speaking joyfully, she raised her bowl and drank it all, refilling it for herself, her voice softened: "Reading the papers, I learned that ordinary girls could now gather for outings, fly kites up to the city wall height, listen to storytellers in teahouses, buy barbarian rouge in the Outer City, and even go wading on summer outings outside the capital with their fathers and brothers."

Bai Li's fingertips slightly tightened on the newspaper.

What the Empress spoke of was a world Bai Li was about to venture into, a world the Empress could never reach.

"When I entered the palace at seventeen," the Empress suddenly changed the topic, "Mother secretly placed a packet of osmanthus sugar at the bottom of the box. She said palace pastries are exquisite but might not have this taste. But before mid-autumn, Aunt Yuan Jin found it and said the Empress couldn't eat such common things, it didn't suit the rites."

She looked up and drank another bowl: "Later, I learned not to eat, not to see, not to think. Kunning Palace is a sumptuous cage, woven with gold threads, embroidering dragons and phoenixes. Last mid-autumn, Your Majesty came to Kunning Palace as usual, spent a tea's time here, that day he asked what reward I wished for. I said, I wanted to dress as an ordinary woman, to the side of the Yongding River to release a river lantern, just one."

"Your Majesty did not agree, only rewarded me with a pair of South Sea Pearls, as big as pigeon eggs. But those pearls are still kept in the treasury, I have never worn them once, he knows what I truly want is not this... I cannot speak to anyone about my unhappiness, after all, what unhappiness would a person have when they've become Empress in a day? I simply do not have the right to feel unhappy."

Bai Li tried to dissuade, "Your Majesty, please stop drinking."

The Empress, however, ignored her, and drank another bowl of wine to the bottom. Staring at the empty bowl in her hand, she remained silent for a long time before sighing deeply, "No more drinking."

Wu Yun rubbed against the Empress's hand, and she looked down, stroking its glossy fur, "Bai Li, I actually envy Second Miss Zhang the most. Don't be upset, the newspaper wrote about her story with the Marquis of Wuxiang County; I secretly read it three times at night... She dared to break into the White Tiger Festival Hall, dared to follow the Marquis of Wuxiang County outside Chongli Pass, and then fight her way back... I guess there are marks left by wind and frost on her face, maybe calluses from holding reins on her hands, how marvelous."

Bai Li shook her head, "Your Majesty, I'm not upset, I envy her too."

The Empress gently stroked her cheek, "The world outside is so good, how could I bear to let you be trapped here like me? You should go out and see."

Just then, Aunt Yuan Jin cleared her throat softly.

Bai Li turned around and saw two eunuchs standing outside the hall, one of whom was Xu Xi, the Seventh-Rank Chief Eunuch from the Shangyi Palace, who was planted by the Cao Guild, and the other was unfamiliar.

Xu Xi led the little eunuch forward a few steps.

The little eunuch's eyes were downcast, his brows and eyes delicate, under the moonlight he looked remarkably similar to Bai Li, nearly indistinguishable in the dark.

Xu Xi whispered, "Commandery Princess, the Gang Leader took five months to find a suitable candidate, and then three months to silently place this person within the Shangyi Palace. Later, you can disguise yourself as this person, and I will lead you, using the reason of meeting with the Imperial Merchant to leave the Forbidden City, exiting through Xuanwu Gate, someone will be waiting in concealment under Wansui Mountain."

Bai Li suddenly turned to the Empress, "But if we just leave like this, they will surely investigate Kunning Palace afterward, you and this..."

The Empress smiled mischievously, "I also have support from my family, unless I lose virtue and damage the dignity of the Heavenly Family, violating ancestral rites and laws, such small matter is insufficient to depose me. At most, Your Majesty may neglect me somewhat, but my Kunning Palace is already cold enough, I'm not afraid of it becoming even colder. Nothing will happen to this little eunuch, I will protect him."

Bai Li remained silent.

The Empress's expression grew gentle, "Bai Li, a person's life is very short, they shouldn't be confined here. This Forbidden City has trapped both you and the Marquis of Wuxiang County."

At this moment, someone began beating the drum outside Kunning Palace.

It was the two hours period from 9 to 11 PM.

Suddenly, the Empress grabbed Bai Li's hand tightly, her fingertips icy, "After you leave, eat a bowl of wonton at the street stalls for me, with hot soup, lots of coriander and shrimp skins. They say the soup base at the night market is brewed with chicken bones for three two hours. Go see some mountains for me, not the fake hills piled in the palace gardens, but real, continuous mountains with wild trees and nameless flowers blooming. Then go see the sea, not the little pond like Taiye, but the sea with shells as big as cheeks and whales as large as houses..."

Tears finally fell from Bai Li's eyes, "Your Majesty..."

The Empress interrupted her words, gripping her wrist, eyes red as she smiled gently, "Go quickly, if you don't go now, you'll lose the opportunity."

Xu Xi pulled Bai Li toward the exit, but just as she was about to leave the hall, the Empress suddenly called out, "Bai Li."

Bai Li freed herself from Xu Xi's grip, stopped and turned around, "Your Majesty?"

The Empress paused for a moment, then waved her sleeve, "Go quickly, don't look back."

Bai Li left.

Inside Kunning Palace, the Empress sat slowly holding Wu Yun, lowered her head to touch her nose to Wu Yun's head, "From now on, it's just the two of us."

Wu Yun nestled into her arms.

The Empress picked up the chopsticks Bai Li had used, clamped a piece of cold stewed tofu, and chewed carefully.

Aunt Yuan Jin gestured for the female servant to lead the eunuch resembling Bai Li to a secluded spot in the main hall before she said to the Empress, "Your Majesty, the master said you can only act capriciously this time, you cannot have any more disturbances from now on. Prince Fu is now diligently ruling, he's only one step away from that position, you just need to endure a little longer..."

The Empress responded gracefully, "Alright."

Aunt Yuan Jin hesitated for a long time, "Your Majesty, is it truly worth taking such risks for such a young girl?"

The Empress looked at the bright moon outside the hall, replied with a smile, "Aunt Yuan Jin, I'm not doing this for her, I'm doing it for myself."