Chapter 264 - Lackl.u.s.ters (1/2)

True to Doctor Lou's words, Chen Madam passed away a few days later. The night before she was fine, talking and laughing in good spirits, she went to sleep like normal and her breath was gone in the morning.

As Doctor Lou had promised, she felt no pain at all leading up to her death, which was shocking to everyone because her wound was not healing at all. The bleeding had slowed but the wound had started to fester.

The Chen family had tried to find Doctor Lou again to see if he could help with the wound, but his pharmacy was closed and the old man was nowhere to be found.

In the end, the family only had a few days with Chen madam just as Doctor Lou had promised. The Emperor sent his condolences and gave Chen madam a posthumous title to honor her, praising her for her bravery and sacrifice.

While it was never announced how she got hurt, but the assumption was that she got hurt during the chaos in the Chen manor that night. And since the Emperor praised her, suspicions that she must have somehow aided the Emperor also rose. But there were some rumors that she got hurt in a fight with the Empress dowager, although no one really believed that as it sounded too absurd.

The Emperor also graciously never blamed the Chen family for sending Chun Hua, an enemy of the state to the palace. Chen You's banishment to Fen Li temple also seemed to be dropped.

It had been over a week since Chen madam had been buried but no order had been made to send Chen You away yet but neither was there one calling her back to the palace.

Therefore, Chen You was in limbo and had been spending her time in bed or blankly staring into space at home.

Her father had been badgering her about returning to the palace, telling her that this was an opportunity that she should not waste. The Emperor clearly felt bad about her mother's death, she could use this sympathy to wheedle her way into the Emperor's heart.

Chen You was not as optimistic as her father and just ignored him most of the time. This whole thing was mostly her fault for letting Chun Hua play her, but she honestly blamed her parents a bit as well for sending Chun Hua to her.

But then the thoughts of blaming her deceased mother made her feel even more horrible. Now she barely talked to anyone or did anything other than sleep and stare into space.

After several days of her father constantly telling her not to make her mother's death pointless, Chen You finally could not stand it anymore. So one morning, after her father had left for Court she dragged herself to the palace. She intentionally waited until her father left because she was trying to avoid another lecture about all she had done wrong and how to fix her mistakes.

As soon as she stepped out of her manor she was greeted with decorations on the street in anticipation of the Empress's, Lei Xing's ascension ceremony which was only a few days away now.

Chen You thought she would have been upset but she honestly did not feel much of anything as the carriage rolled along.

She did not feel much of anything these days.

She arrived at the palace and was made to wait outside because the guards were not sure about granting her entry. After all, the last order that was given regarding her was that she was banished to Fen Li temple.

Apart from that, she was also not assigned a palace considering she had been demoted and immediately cast out. So the servants were also not sure what to do with her.

Since the Emperor was in the middle of court, the servants decided to go inform Lei Xing to ask her what they should do with Chen You. Lei Xing was actually already awake, she had actually been waking up quite early most days recently. Not as early as the Emperor, but at least she was up before noon.

Today Lei Xing was already over at Li Ru's palace practicing on the qin when an eunuch came over to inform her of Chen You's arrival.

Lei Xing blinked at the eunuch, she was also not sure what to do with Chen You. She knew that the Emperor was feeling guilty over Chen You's mother's passing. Lei Xing also felt sorry for Chen You given the situation but she was really not comfortable with Chen You being back either.

So, Lei Xing's default reaction was to tell them to go ask the Emperor but she knew the Emperor was busy which was why they probably came to her. Lei Xing inwardly sighed and ordered for the eunuch to go find Ming Shu to get Chen You settled in a random courtyard for the meantime.

Sending Chen You back was not an option and having her wait by the palace gates until the Emperor was free did not look good. So this was the best option at the moment.

As for what would actually become of Chen You, she would talk to the Emperor about it later. Lei Xing had honestly forgotten about Chen You and she suspected that it was the same for the Emperor as well.

***

That evening after they had dinner, Lei Xing brought up the issue of Chen You, and the Emperor's response was very simple, ”...She will be sent to Fen Li temple as planned.” He curtly responded and then proceeded to continue sipping his tea.

Lei Xing blinked at him and went, ”Oh, okay...” She was surprised, considering that he gave her mother a posthumous title, Lei Xing thought that he intended to pardon Chen You.

But apparently, she was completely wrong on his thoughts.

The Emperor glanced at Lei Xing to find her with her eyebrows slightly knit, ”Did you have something else in mind?” He asked raising an eyebrow at her.