Royal Road
Chapter 236: Found
Chapter 236
The tragic death of her daughter had strengthened Madam Li's resolve.
Without hesitation, Madam Li left the capital with all of her dowry.
Just outside the city, a woman came stumbling towards the capital.
As she neared the carriage, the woman suddenly fainted.
"My lady, there's a young woman who has collapsed by the roadside," Madam Li's maid reported.
Madam Li looked and saw that the woman did indeed appear quite young, probably around her daughter's age.
This thought inevitably reminded Madam Li of her own daughter's tragic fate.
"Go check on her," Madam Li instructed, thinking that if she had paid more attention to her own daughter, perhaps the outcome would have been different.
A sudden feeling of compassion compelled Madam Li to descend from her carriage.
She intended to ask the young woman why she was traveling alone and why she had fainted.
Was she in some kind of trouble?
As a fellow victim of misfortune, Madam Li felt compelled to offer help to this young woman who was the same age as her daughter.
However, when Madam Li saw the woman's face, she was shocked.
It was the former Empress?
After being given some water, Gu Qingrou's eyelashes fluttered, and she regained consciousness.
She stubbornly tried to stand up but became dizzy and nearly fell again. Fortunately, Madam Li quickly reached out to support her.
"Your Majesty, where are you going?"
When Gu Qingrou heard the title "Your Majesty" again, her whole body trembled. She grabbed Madam Li as if clutching at a lifeline.
"You know me? Take me back to the capital!"
Madam Li looked at the disheveled woman before her, with her messy hair and cracked lips, and sighed inwardly.
With mixed emotions, Madam Li said, "Your Majesty, weren't you sent to a temple by the Emperor? Did you walk all the way from there?"
Seeing her exhausted and thirsty state, Madam Li guessed that she had escaped from the temple on foot, which explained her bedraggled appearance and collapse by the roadside.
But why had the former Empress run away?
Noticing Madam Li's questioning gaze, Gu Qingrou pressed her lips together and asked in a dry, slightly trembling voice:
"Has Gu Sang returned?"
"Is Gu Sang going to be made Empress?"
"Is she in the palace? Is she?"
Seeing the unwillingness in Gu Qingrou's eyes, Madam Li suddenly understood.
She nodded and replied, "She has returned. Although the decree hasn't been issued yet, everyone knows the Emperor will make her Empress."
As soon as the words were spoken,
Gu Qingrou froze, the last glimmer of hope in her eyes extinguished.
"No! I won't allow it. I must go and stop this!"
"He promised me, I'm the one who's supposed to be with him for life. How can he make someone else Empress?"
"I don't believe it. I'm the only Empress! He promised me!"
Gu Qingrou walked forward, crying. She had walked for a day, driven by sheer unwillingness, to reach this point.
She couldn't accept it!
She had to confront the Emperor and get answers.
The promises they had made were still vivid in her mind. How could the Emperor change his heart so easily?
Gu Qingrou's stumbling figure appeared lonely and desolate to Madam Li. What everyone else knew as fact, Gu Qingrou refused to believe.
Perhaps even when faced with reality, she would stubbornly cling to her love, even if that love was illusory...
Madam Li suddenly made a bold decision. She quickly walked up to Gu Qingrou and gently took hold of her.
"Your Majesty, I have an idea that might help you."
-
In the Imperial Palace.
Pei Changying couldn't wait for the next day's court session. He hastily wrote an imperial decree announcing the Empress's coronation ceremony in half a month.
The news caused an uproar among the people.
The plague-stricken city was in turmoil, with people angrily cursing Pei Changying.
When the Princess, who was commanding troops in South City, heard the decree, she was so shocked that she bit through her lip.
"Pei Changying truly never changes!"
"I was a step too slow. If I had found your grandmother earlier, you wouldn't have been threatened like this."
The Princess's clenched fists betrayed her anger. She immediately summoned Zhou Qichen, General Qin, and others, deciding to head to the capital at once to rescue Gu Sang and her grandmother.
In Xuyang Palace.
Gu Sang and her grandmother were confined within the palace.
Gu Sang recounted everything that had happened in ancient times, as well as what occurred after returning to the modern world when her grandmother wasn't there.
Gu Sang knew her grandmother regretted not being by her side during these events, so she described everything in detail to give her grandmother a sense of involvement.
For the first few days, Pei Changying had patiently come to Xuyang Palace every day, waiting for Gu Sang to see him willingly.
By the fourth day, Pei Changying realized that Gu Sang might never forgive him in this lifetime. He had no choice but to swallow his pride and enter the palace to face Gu Sang directly.
Gu Sang couldn't be bothered to even look at Pei Changying, treating him as if he were invisible. She continued to chat casually with her grandmother, just like their leisurely afternoons in the modern world.
Every time Pei Changying tried to start a conversation, he was met with Gu Sang's cold indifference and her grandmother's contemptuous gaze, making him feel like an unwelcome intruder.
"Sang Sang, do you really despise me this much?"
"You know how I've treated you these past days."
"I, the Emperor of a great nation, have done so much for you. In all of history, which emperor has ever been as devoted as I am?"
Pei Changying, unable to contain himself any longer, poured out his feelings to Gu Sang.
He would rather have Gu Sang argue with him or curse at him than not give him even a single glance.
Gu Sang's gaze was ice-cold, as if she were looking at something filthy.
"Sang Sang, it doesn't matter if you don't understand my devotion now."
"Once you become my Empress, I will spend a lifetime proving to you how deep my love is!"
"You used to dislike sharing a husband with other women. That's fine, I'll dissolve the harem. As long as you have a change of heart, I'll do anything for you. You'll understand eventually."
Pei Changying gazed deeply at Gu Sang before turning to leave.
As he was leaving Xuyang Palace, he encountered the Imperial Kitchen Aunt coming to deliver meals.
After being thoroughly checked by the guards, the Imperial Kitchen Aunt was allowed to enter and deliver the food.
Pei Changying, worried that someone might sneak in to rescue Gu Sang, had ordered strict inspections for anyone entering or leaving Xuyang Palace. Even meal deliveries had to be made by familiar faces from the palace.
However, what Pei Changying didn't know was that
The Imperial Kitchen Aunt had already secretly helped Gu Sang establish contact with the Prime Minister.
Although Gu Sang appeared to have done nothing during her days in Xuyang Palace, she had already instructed the Prime Minister to secretly find someone who resembled her grandmother.
Only by sending her grandmother out of the palace first could Gu Sang fight freely within the imperial court.
After the Imperial Kitchen Aunt delivered the meal, Gu Sang's grandmother tactfully kept watch at the door.
Gu Sang and the Imperial Kitchen Aunt went behind a screen to speak quietly: "Miss Gu, we've found someone who bears a 50-60% resemblance. Her family has already passed away, and she volunteered to the Prime Minister to enter the palace."