The Command to Pamper the Husband - Chapter 157

In the brightly lit Imperial Study, the Emperor sat deep in thought. Outside the Imperial Study, Song Jin stood in the bitter cold, waiting for the painting.

The Heavenly Hound had sensed Song Jin’s presence in the palace early on. The moment she emerged from the doors of the Imperial Study, it pounced towards her.

“Master, did you miss me?”

Song Jin rubbed the Heavenly Hound’s large head without speaking. She still didn’t dare show too much affection towards the Heavenly Hound in a place like the Imperial Study.

The Heavenly Hound nudged Song Jin’s knee, asking, “Master, what are you waiting for here?”

Patting its head, Song Jin smiled. “Father Emperor promised to give me a painting, so I’m waiting here for it.”

The Heavenly Hound rolled its eyes. “That is not your Father Emperor.”

Song Jin…

The young eunuchs of the Imperial Study watched the interaction between the Heavenly Hound and the Fourth Prince with curiosity. The Heavenly Hound was known for its spiritual sensitivity, yet it was not so close to the Emperor but rather to this useless prince.

Moreover, why would the Emperor ask this useless prince what he wanted? That was very unlike his usual attitude towards him. And this useless prince actually asked for a painting from the Empress’s bedchamber. He is a grown prince! Asking for something from the Empress’s bedchamber, especially a painting that hung in her bedroom…

Under the various scrutinizing gazes of the young eunuchs, Song Jin finally received her painting. She bid farewell to the Heavenly Hound and left in long strides.

“Miss, someone is following us,” reported Wang Liu softly beside Song Jin after they left the palace.

Song Jin’s expression remained unchanged. With the suspicious nature of that wretched Emperor, it would be strange if he didn’t send someone to follow her! After all, her behavior today was very different from the past.

Returning directly to the mansion with the painting, an old maid at the Empress Dowager’s bedchamber rubbed her cold hands and took a warming stone handed by a palace maid. The maids had all been dismissed, and after warming herself by the bed-stove, the old maid entered the inner chamber.

The Empress Dowager, who had been resting with her eyes closed, immediately opened her eyes upon hearing the bead curtain jingle. “Has he left?”

The old maid nodded. “Weren’t you planning to invite him over? Why did you stop me?”

She had been waiting outside the Imperial Study to invite the Fourth Prince to the Empress Dowager’s bedchamber once he came out. But just as the Fourth Prince left, the Empress Dowager sent word to not disturb him.

Pouring a cup of tea, the old maid handed it to the Empress Dowager, who took a sip. “What would it matter if I saw him? He is not…”

The old maid knew the Empress Dowager meant that the Fourth Prince was not the late Emperor’s child. She sighed. If the late Emperor’s child were alive, he would be sixteen now. But the Fourth Prince was already eighteen.

Sitting on a small stool at the foot of the Empress Dowager’s bed, the old maid began to massage her legs. “If I may say, it must be your longing that made you hallucinate. How could the Fourth Prince resemble the late Empress? His mother is…”

The Empress Dowager shook her head, silencing the old maid. The room, warmed by the bed-stove, fell into silence. Holding the cup, the Empress Dowager closed her eyes, her face marked by deep sorrow.

The old maid, seeing this, felt distressed and wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how. The sudden deaths of the late Emperor and Empress sixteen years ago had left an unhealable scar on the Empress Dowager’s heart.

After a long pause, the Empress Dowager spoke in a hoarse voice. “Why did he come to the palace?”

The old maid shook her head. “I don’t know, but the Emperor gifted him a painting.”

The Empress Dowager’s brow twitched as she suddenly opened her eyes. “What painting?”

Sensing the Empress Dowager’s anxiety, the old maid hurriedly replied, “It was the ‘Cloudy Jade Book Pavilion’ from the Empress’s bedchamber…”

Before the old maid could finish, the Empress Dowager’s hand slipped, spilling the tea all over the brocade quilt. She seemed unaware of the mess, staring at the old maid with a stormy, unreadable expression, her hands trembling uncontrollably.

Rarely had the old maid seen the Empress Dowager so shaken. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty…”

The Empress Dowager’s vacant eyes slowly focused on the old maid. Grasping her hand tightly, she asked, “Did he take the painting?”

The old maid, confused, nodded. “I heard the Fourth Prince specifically asked the Emperor for it.”

After a pause, realizing the oddity, she added, “The Emperor asked the Fourth Prince what he wanted, and the Fourth Prince named the painting.”

The old maid watched as the Empress Dowager’s face turned pale. During the banquet, she had sensed a resemblance between the Fourth Prince and her ill-fated daughter-in-law. Therefore, she had sent someone to bring him to her after his audience with the Emperor.

In the meantime, she had received news that Shen Yue indeed had some connection to the late Empress, though the exact nature was unknown. Terrified that her sudden interest in Shen Yue might draw the Emperor’s suspicion and bring trouble to the child, she had changed her mind.

Now, Shen Yue had unexpectedly entered the palace at night. Whatever he said in the Imperial Study had prompted the Emperor to reward him. And he had asked for that specific painting.

Was it just a coincidence? How could it be? If not, was it destiny? The Empress Dowager’s mind was a whirl of turbulent thoughts. As age and frailty overtook her, the overwhelming emotions made her short of breath.

Panicking, the old maid was about to call for a physician but was stopped by the Empress Dowager. “I’m fine.”

Glancing at the soaked quilt, the Empress Dowager said hoarsely, “Change the bedding. I’m tired and wish to sleep.”

The old maid, seeing her state, did not argue and carefully tended to her needs, helping her to bed. As the lights dimmed, the Empress Dowager lay there, gazing at the canopy overhead, tears finally escaping her eyes.

The ‘Cloudy Jade Book Pavilion’ had been a gift from the late Empress, painted by her own hand. The Empress Dowager had treasured it, but after the deaths of the Emperor and Empress, the current Emperor had put it away, fearing it would remind her of the past.

Later, the Empress had seen it by chance, fallen in love with it, and asked her for it, unable to ask the Emperor directly. Unwilling to let her daughter-in-law’s creation gather dust, she had agreed.

For years, the Empress had hung it in her bedchamber, cherishing it. Now, Shen Yue had asked the Emperor for it. And more disturbingly, the Emperor had granted it. What had motivated him?

Had he also sensed the resemblance between Shen Yue and the late Empress? Or was it something else?