Before making this choice, Zhou Donglin never anticipated its consequences. On his way out of the palace, he was still puzzled. Why was Song Jiaye acting so strangely today? When he was leaving, Song Jiaye said something like, "You are my most trusted friend. I even want to entrust the world to you. So, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you."
Such words seemed to come out of the blue.
Just as Zhou Donglin walked into the long alley that was the only way out of the palace, he suddenly heard a noisy sound of footsteps. Who dared to make such a racket in the palace? Curious, Zhou Donglin turned around. But before he could see who those people were, a sack was thrown over his head. He was beaten with a few sticks and then passed out.
When he woke up again, he was tied tightly to a table. He didn't know when his clothes underneath had been taken off, and he felt chilly.
He suddenly had a bad premonition and struggled desperately.
At this moment, an old eunuch walked in with a knife and a brazier. Along with the old eunuch came Song Jiaye's personal attendant.
Seeing this attendant, Zhou Donglin understood everything. He roared, "What do you want! What does Song Jiaye want!"
"Master Zhou, this is the palace. You'd better watch your words."
After saying that, he pulled out a chair and sat beside Zhou Donglin, persuading him, "Master Zhou, actually I don't want to see such a situation either. You are the only son of the prime minister, and the Zhou family is counting on you to carry on the family line. If you just give in to the emperor now and accept the imperial marriage arrangement, you can leave the palace unscathed."
Zhou Donglin understood.
He thought he had chosen a relatively easy path, but the price of this path was that he would never be able to love a woman again.
Zhou Donglin closed his eyes in despair. This was the palace, and he knew he couldn't escape.
If he accepted the imperial marriage, he would not only face a painful life that seemed to last forever but also drag an innocent woman into hell with him.
Loving someone was his own business. He couldn't let an innocent woman get involved.
Moreover, if the emperor could issue an imperial edict to urge marriage today, he could also issue one to urge having children in the future. In fact, the emperor would never trust him.
Zhou Donglin asked despairingly, "If I choose to establish my career, can I enter the court as an official after that?"
The personal attendant was at a loss seeing that Zhou Donglin was so stubborn. He mumbled a few words. Seeing that Zhou Donglin was unmoved, he could only say, "The emperor has always admired your talent. As long as you can make the emperor feel at ease, you will surely be able to enter the court as an official in the future."
After all, he was the one who served Song Jiaye. Song Jiaye cared so much about the relationship between Zhou Donglin and Li Qiyu. The chief attendant couldn't have been unaware of it. So he added, "In the future, you can see the person you want to see openly."
Zhou Donglin lay on the wooden board. At this critical moment of life and death, many pictures flashed through his mind, all about one person.
He knew that making this decision was unfilial. If his parents knew, they would surely disown him immediately.
But...
The feelings were so deep, and the situation was so hopeless. He had no other choice.
Seeing that Zhou Donglin had made his choice, the personal attendant shook his head and walked out of the room. Before leaving, he couldn't bear it and said to the old eunuch who was going to perform the operation, "Give him a bowl of Mafeisan and let him sleep."
After giving the order, he walked out of the castration room and headed towards the inner palace with heavy steps.
On the way, he kept thinking about the emperor he served. Compared with the previous emperor, this emperor was more scheming and more ruthless. There were several times when even the experienced personal attendant couldn't stand it.
Take Master Zhou and the empress for example. The two had never done anything out of line, and the empress had never shown any affection for Master Zhou. But the emperor had been suspicious and had never let it go. In order to feel at ease, he even took action against the only son of the Zhou family.
If Prime Minister Zhou knew about this, the old man would surely fight the emperor to the death.
But he was just an attendant. He could only think about it.
The personal attendant shook his head and walked towards the inner palace step by step.
Zhou Donglin was also arranged to stay in the palace, in a remote palace near the cold palace. Song Jiaye only said that he had a pleasant conversation with Zhou Donglin and invited him to stay in the palace for a few days. In fact, it was to give Zhou Donglin time to recover from his wounds.
Prime Minister Zhou was extremely worried when he knew that his son was detained in the palace. He expressed his loyalty and even said that he was willing to resign from office. But the emperor just said lightly, "Are you still not at ease leaving your son to me?" and that silenced him.
Now that Zhou Donglin had accepted castration, the only one who was happy was Song Jiaye. He even pretended to visit Zhou Donglin several times and said that since Zhou Donglin had never been in the palace before, he could wander around the palace at will when he got better.
Anyway, Zhou Donglin was no different from an eunuch now.
Zhou Donglin was heartbroken. He didn't care about Song Jiaye's so - called "privileges". However, he did ask to go to a place - the Star - Picking Tower.
The Star - Picking Tower was the highest place in the palace. Only the people from the Palace of Grand Chamberlains would occasionally come up to observe the stars at night and divine the secrets of heaven.
Song Jiaye thought that he was in a bad mood and wanted to relax, so he ordered the attendants to carry him to the Star - Picking Tower. At the same time, he secretly told the attendants, "Keep an eye on him and don't let him do anything stupid."
The attendants were puzzled. Song Jiaye had imposed the most cruel punishment on a man on Zhou Donglin. Didn't he hate him? Now he was so concerned about him. What on earth did he want?
But the emperor's words were like imperial edicts. Although the attendants were puzzled, they didn't dare to disobey. They resigned themselves to carrying Zhou Donglin up to the Star - Picking Tower.
It was true that Zhou Donglin really liked the Star - Picking Tower. He would stay there for most of the day and often be reluctant to come down even at midnight. He just seemed to be enjoying the scenery and showed no signs of suicide. Gradually, the palace servants became lazy. After all, the tower was high and the wind was strong. While Zhou Donglin didn't seem to be afraid of the cold, they were shivering with cold.
So, when Zhou Donglin was "enjoying the scenery", they would hide in the leeward side on the back of the tower to keep a bit warmer.
Only when the palace servants left did Zhou Donglin dare to let his eyes follow the person he had been longing for.
Her life in the palace was more desolate than he had thought. Although she was the empress, the concubines didn't respect her at all. When they came to pay their respects, they were lazy, looking as if they didn't want to come but had to do it as a formality.
And she hardly ever left her own palace. Especially at night, as long as there was no rain or snow, she would sit in the yard, light a lonely lamp, and sit there all night long.