After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 30: The Virtuous Concubine Plays the Music of the Fallen Nation
When the news came that Prince Qian had captured the west gate, Qinghe was paying her respects to the empress dowager with her sister-in-law, brother, and others. She saw the look of shock and disbelief on her brother's face.

He sent people out of the palace to inquire about the news like a madman. He stood there motionless for an unknown amount of time before he fell into a chair with a face so ugly that it was frightening.

Qinghe only felt desolate.

The thief Chu Yan was about to break into the palace. He not only wanted to occupy the palace and the world, but also wanted to throw her entire family into the sky prison and have the power of life and death over them.

Today she is still a princess of the Dashun Dynasty, but tomorrow, she will become a prisoner of that thief.

"Qinghe."

Her sister-in-law suddenly called out to her, "How about you get married today? You and the son of Marquis Anyuan have already set a wedding date, and now it's just a matter of moving it up a little. Marquis Anyuan's family doesn't have any high-ranking officials, so it won't attract Prince Qian's attention. And you're just a princess, so once you get married you'll have no ties to the royal family anymore, so you can avoid this disaster."

Qinghe's heart tightened. The Empress Dowager wanted her to marry today?

"Will this work?" The Queen Mother, who had been silent, spoke at this time.

"Qinghe is just a princess."

Empress Zhang looked at her with loving eyes, and Qinghe was deeply moved. The emperor's sister-in-law really took great pains for her.

"What do you think, Your Majesty?" the Empress Dowager asked Emperor Yongning for his opinion.

The emperor said nothing, just sat there woodenly, his eyes filled with despair.

Empress Zhang said, "Let's do it. Shouzhong, send someone to tell Marquis Anyuan and ask him... to ask him if the marriage can be completed today."

"It's the empress!"

Xia Shouzhong hurried there, and before leaving the palace, he looked back at the emperor again.

Since it concerns his own life and property, he has to keep a close eye on it!
The atmosphere in the palace was oppressive. After sitting for a while, Empress Zhang took Qinghe away and told her: "Go back and bathe, change into your wedding clothes, and the dowry will be prepared for you as originally prepared."

Qinghe was at a loss and was pushed by the emperor's sister-in-law. He looked back every step of the way and walked away with the palace maid with tears in his eyes.

Return to Yuqing Palace, take a bath and change clothes.

Before her bath, the maids in Yuqing Palace did not know that the city gate had been occupied by Prince Qian. They still helped her bathe and prepared everything for her as before.

But when the kitchen boiled hot water and the eunuchs came to Yuqing Palace with buckets of hot water, the news of the city gate's fall spread like wildfire. The palace maids were all shocked and didn't even want to serve her in bathing. It was Shuyu who suppressed the rebellion by bringing up the emperor and telling them that even if the emperor abdicated, Prince Qian would still make him a duke, and there would be no unrest in the palace!

Only then did the palace maids and eunuchs calm down and help her take a bath.

Qinghe rarely scolded the servants in the past, and never acted arrogantly because of her status as a princess. Now seeing them like this, she just bathed quietly and let them do as they pleased.

Half an hour later.

Qinghe looked at herself in the mirror wearing a phoenix crown and a red robe, and her confusion was lessened. For a woman, the most important thing in life is to get married. As the emperor's sister-in-law said, if she married out of the palace, she would not be involved in the palace affairs. She only hoped that Prince Qian would not go into the palace and start a massacre.

"The princess is so beautiful." Shuyu praised.

The palace maids looked at the princess and saw her fair skin and gentle features. They praised her for her knowledge of poetry and literature and said that the son of Marquis Anyuan would have to be blessed for eight lifetimes to marry her.

Qinghe prefers quietness to movement, and she learned to read and write at the age of three. But now, she would rather be a foolish woman than think of the sad poems about the loss of a country that she had read in this situation.

"Suddenly, a drum beats the sky, and the prosperity ends. The dragons and tigers disperse, and the wind and clouds disappear. Who can tell the eternal hatred?"

"The ministers have already written a letter of surrender, and I, your concubine, hereby sign my name to thank Daoqing."

She was not the queen mother of a country, but she deeply felt the sadness and helplessness of Xie Daoqing when he surrendered the city when his country was destroyed and his family was killed.

She left the palace. What would happen to her father, mother, and sister-in-law?

Now that she is gone, she doesn't know when she will see her family again.

"Princess, today is your big day, so don't cry."

Shuyu advised softly.

The palace maids also came to persuade her. The scene of the princess crying silently in front of the mirror made them feel the same. Tomorrow, this huge palace will have a new owner, and they don’t know what the new king’s temper is like. If he rebels and is cruel and inhumane, they will have nowhere to escape.

"The Queen has arrived!" a eunuch shouted outside the palace gate.

Qinghe hurriedly wiped away her tears and walked out of the palace to greet the emperor's sister-in-law, but Empress Zhang had already come in and looked at her with a look of wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"Sister-in-law, if you have something to say, just tell me. I can handle it!"

Qinghe guessed something and said it with a resolute look.

Empress Zhang could only say, "The eunuch who went to Anyuan Hou's house came back and said that Anyuan Hou would not see anyone behind closed doors. He said that now is not the time for marriage and that it might be difficult to find someone next month..."

Qinghe was stunned. Shuyu was shocked at first, then looked at the princess and couldn't help cursing, "How could such a damned person exist in this world? She was so kind before, and even sent gifts to the palace several times, but now she has become a cruel jackal!"

"Shuyu, no need to say more."

Qinghe turned around and went back to the bedroom. With red eyes, she took off her wedding dress and ordered Shuyu to get the things sent by Anyuanhou's family. Under the gaze of everyone, she cut them all into pieces with scissors.

I tried hard to hold back my tears.

At this time, another eunuch suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, Prince Zhongshun who went to negotiate peace with Prince Qian has returned. Prince Qian has something to say to the palace."

"What words?!"

"Prince Qian ordered the Emperor, the Retired Emperor, and all the officials to surrender from the city tomorrow according to Zhou rituals. He was to be naked and face bound, with a sheep in his left hand and straw in his right. He was to have the imperial clan members follow behind, holding the Imperial Seal and a map of the Jiangshan Mountains and Kunyu.

"what?!"

The color on Empress Zhang's dignified and bright face changed. Qinghe was also shocked and completely forgot about his marriage. His eyes turned sad as he looked at the emperor's sister-in-law.

Her sister-in-law's face turned pale and her body swayed. Qinghe hurried forward to support her.

All the palace maids and eunuchs fell silent.

Gradually, the palace maids and eunuchs left the palace.

Empress Zhang held Qinghe's hand tightly and said to her in a trembling voice: "Your royal brother will not leave the city to surrender and be insulted by Prince Qian. Tonight..."

Qinghe's heart trembled. She understood what the emperor's sister-in-law said, and she also heard that the emperor's sister-in-law was very afraid.

"Empress's sister-in-law, Qinghe is with you!" She also held the Empress's sister-in-law's hand tightly.

Empress Zhang forced a smile.

Not long after, Emperor Yongning sent someone to call Empress Zhang, and Qinghe followed.

She watched the emperor's sister-in-law enter the study. After a while, she seemed to hear the two people arguing inside. Then she saw the emperor's sister-in-law walking out with her face covered, her eyes red, and her hairpin knocked off.

Qinghe was about to step forward when she saw her brother coming out of the study. He stopped after seeing her.

Her brother stared at his sister-in-law with a sinister look in his eyes for a long time before saying, "Come to my place tomorrow morning!"

Empress Zhang lowered her head and took Qinghe away.

In the evening, they and the Queen Mother went to the old concubine and told her what had happened outside the palace.

"Really? Then Prince Qian will storm into the city tomorrow..."

The old concubine spoke slowly, looking at them with cloudy eyes: "I am almost ninety years old, and I have long been confused and senile. I am not afraid of anything anymore. I am just waiting in the palace for the late emperor to call me down... I just feel sorry for you, Yuzhen, and you children."

All the young princes and princesses started crying.

No one in the palace can sleep well tonight.

Qinghe did not return to Yuqing Palace from his mother until the second watch.

The palace maids held lanterns for her, and a group of eunuchs followed behind in silence.

Walking in the deep palace, surrounded by high palace walls on all sides, Qinghe saw the bright moonlight on the ground, so he looked up at the night sky. The sky was full of bright and dazzling stars, indicating that tomorrow would be a good day.

Is God also on the side of that thief?

When passing by a palace, Qinghe suddenly heard the sound of a piano, which sounded like the cry of a cuckoo at night, making people cry.

"Who's playing the piano?" she asked.

The maid glanced at the direction of the music and said, "It's probably Consort Xiande. She's an expert at playing the zither and has performed for Your Majesty before. Princess, would you like someone to knock on the door and give them a warning?"

Not to mention playing the piano in the middle of the night, even during the day, no random noises were allowed in the palace.

"No need."

Qinghe stood and listened for a while, then sighed in a delicate and beautiful voice, "I didn't know Concubine Jia had such great skill in playing the zither. This is clearly the music of a nation's demise!"

The palace maids and eunuchs around were all silent.

Qinghe returned to Yuqing Palace and sat alone in the palace, reading a book by lamplight at night, waiting for dawn.

(End of this chapter)