Chapter 562: On Comforting Others: Not My Strong Suit
Yu Chongshan nodded repeatedly as he gazed at the “purse” on the table. In the end, he still couldn’t stop his tears from falling. Yue Fuguang handed him a handkerchief and comforted him softly. “Grandfather, all good things must come to an end. Your granddaughter has completed her mission and is returning to Heaven to enjoy her blessings. You should be happy for me.”
As he took the handkerchief and wiped away his tears, Yu Chongshan nodded again and again. “Fuguang is right. I was thinking too narrowly. My granddaughter is going to enjoy her blessings. As her grandfather, I should be happy.”
He raised his head, clearly intending to prove that he really was happy. Unfortunately, he failed rather spectacularly. The smile on his face was more sorrowful than a cry.
【Host, aren’t you asking a little too much? Who could possibly be happy in a situation like this?】
The System had watched everything from the sidelines over the past few years. Its host had suffered only a little hardship at the beginning; after that, her days had been nothing but sweetness.
Although she was the Yu family’s greatest support, according to the System’s data, the Yu family’s feelings toward her were completely genuine.
Its host was truly lucky. After spending these years together, the Yu family regarded her as their pride. They had never abused her influence to throw their weight around, nor had anyone in the household schemed against her. Even Yu Ningrong, who had opposed her at first, had not turned out to be ungrateful.
It was easy to see how heartbroken the Yu family would be upon learning that Yue Fuguang was leaving. The System almost wanted to tell its host that the members of the Yu family, who claimed they were going to bed, had all secretly cried themselves hoarse in their rooms.
Yue Fuguang sighed. 「You know comfort isn’t exactly my strong suit.」 Speaking without having experienced another person’s suffering was easy—it would only sound like empty advice from someone standing outside the problem. Besides, she was the reason this had happened in the first place.
At that moment, she even indulged in a rather narcissistic thought: If she had a relative who treated her so well and was also an invincible source of support, only to leave her one day, she would probably cry herself to death too!
The next day, Yue Fuguang acted as if she hadn’t noticed the Yu family’s swollen eyes. She spent five “pleasant” days with them at the estate before finally setting off for the capital.
In those few days, news of her departure spread throughout the upper echelons of Dayan as well. Emperor Mingxi and his ministers waited for her return with eager anticipation.
“Your Majesty the Dowager Empress, Your Majesty the Empress, Fuguang will be leaving in a few days. I’ll have to trouble the two of you to look after the Yu family in the future.”
On the second day after returning to the capital, Yue Fuguang attended court and announced her departure before the assembled civil and military officials.
According to the System, the scene at the time was nothing short of a grand funeral.
When old men cried, women truly had no chance of competing with them. The senior officials had completely abandoned their dignity. Knowing that no matter how desperately they pleaded, they could not keep Dayan’s strongest backing—the thickest, most powerful support in existence—one by one, they were overcome with grief. They cried with complete sincerity, every tear representing genuine sorrow.
The military officers were especially emotional. Grown men wept silently, and Yue Fuguang found the sight almost unbearable.
The entire court was filled with sobbing. With Yue Fuguang and Emperor Mingxi seated above them, they looked almost like two memorial tablets awaiting worship. Even Emperor Mingxi, who was crying along with everyone else, failed to notice how... inauspicious the scene was.
After calming the civil and military officials of Dayan, she hurried straight to the inner palace.
The Dowager Empress and the Empress had both treated her well over the years. Naturally, she had to come in person to say goodbye before entrusting the Yu family to their care.
The Dowager Empress and the Empress each took one of her hands, tears streaming down both their faces. Yue Fuguang couldn’t help remarking, 「Little Zhu, I’ve lived for so many years, yet in these past few days I’ve seen more tears than I did in all the thousands of years before them combined!」
【That’s because everyone loves my master so much that they can’t bear to part with her. When you left Lingxu Mountain and descended into the mortal realm to suffer, the Divine Venerable secretly shed tears too.】
“Fuguang, those people have made you suffer.” The Dowager Empress squeezed her hand, speaking with heartfelt sincerity. Yet Yue Fuguang felt her face grow slightly warm.
In her previous life, she had also been born into a wealthy family. But if one truly compared the quality of their lives, aside from the conveniences of modern society, she had actually lived more comfortably here.
She had lacked neither material comforts nor emotional care.
She couldn’t let her carefully maintained persona collapse!
I must not break character! I must not break character! Yue Fuguang repeated to herself as she comforted the Dowager Empress. “Fuguang doesn’t feel that she has suffered. I’m simply returning home to the Upper Realm. Your Majesty needn’t be so sad.”
The Dowager Empress nodded slowly. “You’re returning to the Upper Realm to enjoy your blessings. I should be happy for you.”
She wiped the tears from her face. “But whenever I think that I’ll never see Fuguang again, my heart aches terribly.”
She pressed a hand to her chest. It genuinely hurt—not just at that moment, either. The dull ache in her heart had begun five days ago, when she first learned that Fuguang was leaving.
The imperial family understood better than anyone how different the world and the court would be with Yue Fuguang here—and without her.
The Empress nodded repeatedly. “Mother is right. My heart...” Empress Xu pressed a hand to her chest like the sorrowful beauty Xi Shi, tears glistening in her eyes. The sight was enough to make anyone’s heart ache.
Yue Fuguang produced two exquisite wooden boxes. She handed one to the Dowager Empress and the other to the Empress, who had begun crying again. “Please don’t cry. When you miss me in the future, just look at what’s inside these boxes.”
After ending the morning court session, Emperor Mingxi hurried over with Crown Prince Xie Zhiyan. He had barely stepped into the Dowager Empress’s Palace, the Palace of Benevolent Peace, when he saw his mother and the Empress crying while Fuguang comforted them and placed gifts in their hands.
Emperor Mingxi, whose eyes were still slightly red, strode in. Before he had even sat down, he asked hoarsely, “Fuguang, what treasures did you leave for Mother and the Empress?”
【Exactly, Master. You didn’t leave anything for the Yu family, so why are you acting like a gift-dispensing immortal in the palace?】
「They’re just little trinkets. I’ve already given the Yu family protective items before, which is why I said I wouldn’t leave them anything else after I departed.
But...」
【But what?】
「But everyone looked so miserable today that I changed my mind. I decided to leave the Dowager Empress and the Empress a few little trinkets to remember me by.」
“Your Majesty, they’re nothing more than little trinkets.”
“Mother, open it and let your son have a look.” Although Emperor Mingxi said this to the Dowager Empress, he had already taken the small box from the Empress’s hands, unable to contain his curiosity.