Chapter 308 – A Change In Fate (1)

There was a pile of palace memorials lying on the table in the imperial study, each more important than the previous. Holding a document in hand, Mo Rongzhan began reading like always- utterly focused. However, even after an hour had passed, he had yet to finish.

Today, the emperor was especially waiting for an arrival. He needed to meet up with his old friend, Huangfu Chen, before he could see the empress dowager. But despite waiting for an entire hour, Eunuch Fu still hadn’t returned to report. He put down his documents and tasked a palace servant to check if the man had entered the palace.

After a while, the palace servant gingerly walked into the imperial study. “Your Imperial Majesty, Eunuch Fu was summoned by the empress dowager into Cining Palace ….”

Mo Rongzhan frowned and put down the palace memorial in his hand. It looked like his mother knew what he wanted to do, so she had ordered Eunuch Fu away before he could even start.

What would Huangfu Chen say to Imperial Mother?

♚

Cining Palace

The empress dowager smiled as she looked at the Huangfu Chen standing before her. They were meeting after many years now, but he was as charming as ever. His handsome jade-like face, long willow-like brows, standing as graceful as a jade tree against the wind, no gesture suggested anything but elegance and nobility. He was a living proof that a person of imperial lineage, even if a branch of the erstwhile imperial family, was no ordinary man.

“Mr. Chen, it has been a long time, have you been well?” the empress dowager smiled and asked.

Huangfu Chen bowed but didn’t kneel. He hailed from the Huangfu Family, a part of the erstwhile imperial clan. As a mark of respect, even the late emperor would never make him kneel in ceremony. “Thanks to your providence, I have been well these years.”

“Hurry and sit,” the empress dowager said cheerily. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Chen, that year, she would have already lost one of her sons. And it was also fortunate that he was present, or the emperor’s blindness would’ve never been cured.

“Was there a reason that Your Imperial Highness requested that I enter the palace?” Huangfu Chen gracefully sat down. Despite being in the presence of the empress dowager, his attitude was no different than when faced with anyone else.

The empress dowager said, “Thank goodness you were there that year that A’Yi was able to survive. Aijia has always remembered.”

Huangfu Chen lightly smiled. “Your Imperial Highness thinks too much of it. I am a scholar of medicine. To cure and care for the sick is part of my duties.”

“No matter what, I still have to thank you, Mr. Chen.” The Empress Dowager said, “The reason I requested for your presence today … there is actually something I wish to ask of you, Mr. Chen.”

Huangfu Chen slightly nodded in acknowledgment. “Please, Your Imperial Highness.”

“That year … you once told me that if A’Yi didn’t meet that noble person of his, then he wouldn’t be able to live for long, possibly not even over the age of fifteen. As of today, he is already ten. He has constantly been able to find fortune among the dangers. Is it that he has already met his noble personage?” she asked.

“What dangers did A’Yi encounter?” Huangfu Chen quietly asked.

The empress dowager recounted all the perils Mo Rongyi had encountered lately. Right from being trapped in the hunter’s ditch in the forest, to his near brush with death due to poisoning and the recent assassination attempt. “— Every time, he has been saved by the same person. So I couldn’t help think back to what you had told me.”

Huangfu Chen smiled and asked, “Does Your Imperial Highness wish me to divinate again for A’Yi?”

“Correct.” The empress dowager nodded and ordered Aunt Cheng to give Huangfu Chen two birth details. “Aijia must trouble you with this, Mr. Chen.”

“Then I will try my best.” Huangfu Chen was not without suspicions. Why did Empress Dowager suddenly think back to what I had said before? When Aunt Cheng gave him the birth details, he was slightly taken aback.

These birth details….

Huangfu Chen brought out his occultation yarrow, and first divinated for the two records. He found that Mo Rongyi’s hexagram was clearly different from what it had been years ago. It was clear that his destiny had been changed.

There was really someone that could change another person’s destiny.

A surprised Huangfu Chen picked up the other record and started divinating. This time results greatly astonished him.

The empress dowager had been watching him anxiously. “Mr. Chen, what’s wrong?”