Chapter 3
Su Qing’s legs gave way. She fell to her knees, her voice shaking. “Your Majesty, I didn’t! I didn’t! She is slandering me…”
Perhaps terror had robbed her of her wits. Beyond denying it, she could find nothing to say.
“I beg Your Majesty to judge fairly,” the candidate said.
Disappointment crossed the faces of both the emperor and the empress dowager. Before either could speak, I knelt as well. “Your Majesty, might I ask this young lady a question?”
“What do you wish to say?”
I turned to the girl beside me. “May I ask who this poet was?”
She hesitated. “I happened to hear someone reciting it as I passed. I liked it and asked her to teach me the whole poem. I do not know who she was.”
“Then how do you know she wrote it, rather than Miss Murong?”
“Because she knew it first, of course.”
I turned back to the emperor. “But I saw Miss Murong compose this poem last year. Like this young lady, I loved it and learned it by heart.”
Then I recited the entire poem.
“Had I not already known it, how could I repeat it after hearing it only once?”
The girl objected. “Perhaps you have a perfect memory!”
I smiled a little. “I am merely the daughter of a county official. It is the greatest honor of my life to appear before His Majesty today. Had I such a memory, my family would surely have made my name as a talented young scholar long ago. How could I have remained unknown?”
“Well…” For a moment, she had no answer.
Indeed, once a girl had come to compete for a place in the palace, why would she conceal her talents?
“I beg Your Majesty to judge fairly.” I bowed again to the emperor and the empress dowager.
Su Qing had recovered herself by now. She hastily prostrated herself beside me. “Please clear my name, Your Majesty.”
The emperor’s voice deepened as he addressed the other candidate. “Where is the person you spoke of?”
She shook her head. “I do not know, Your Majesty.”
After a short silence, he said, “Since this matter cannot be settled, you may withdraw for now. We will decide once the witness has been found.”
“Ah Yun, what do we do? What if they really find her?”
Su Qing’s face was full of worry. Fear still lingered in her lovely eyes.
“Don’t worry. Even if they do, there’s nothing to fear. We both know she copied it, too,” I reassured her.
Only when she understood did Su Qing breathe easier. “You’re right. I was so scared I almost forgot. She copied it, too.”
We had no choice but to remain in Chuxiu Palace.
I thought the matter would soon be settled. But more than a month passed, the selection ended, and still we heard nothing.
The emperor had probably forgotten us.
Of course he had. The sovereign of an entire country had countless matters to attend to. Why would he remember two insignificant candidates?
Su Qing could bear it no longer. She insisted on going to seek an audience.
I hurried after her, trying to persuade her to stay calm.
But at the gates of Chuxiu Palace, we blundered into the path of a high-ranking lady’s sedan.
“Insolence! How dare you obstruct Lady Qin!” a eunuch shouted.
We looked up. An exquisitely dressed young woman sat in the sedan. It was none other than the girl we had argued with on selection day, Qin Yanran.
She had since been made a jieyu, a palace consort, and was said to be much favored by the emperor.
“Will you not pay your respects?”
Qin Yanran looked down at us from above.
“Our respects, Lady Qin.” As I curtsied, I tugged Qing’er’s sleeve to tell her to do the same.
But Su Qing stood stiff-necked and muttered, “A petty little nobody with a taste of power.”
Qin Yanran gave a cold laugh. “An insignificant candidate who does not know her place. She deserves a beating. Slap them!”
“Yes, my lady.”
We were still stunned when two eunuchs stepped forward and, with practiced ease, struck each of us twice across the face.
Slap! Slap! The sharp sounds rang out along the palace path.
Su Qing clutched her face, her eyes reddening. “You dare hit me? Not even my parents have ever hit me! I’ll kill you!”
Humiliated and furious, she screamed and tried to rush forward, but the eunuchs pinned her to the ground.
I hurriedly knelt. “Qing’er doesn’t know the rules. Please forgive her for offending you, my lady.”
“Get up, Ah Yun! Don’t kneel to her!” Su Qing shouted.
“If she doesn’t know the rules, I’ll teach her. Keep hitting her until she learns!” Qin Yanran ordered with a smile.
The eunuch’s hand fell across Su Qing’s face again and again.
Su Qing clenched her teeth and made no sound, only staring fiercely at Qin Yanran.
Before long, her face was badly swollen. Blood stained the corners of her mouth.
“Stop! Please, I beg you, stop!” I threw myself toward her, but the others held me back.
When pleading did no good, I turned to Lady Qin. “My lady, if you keep this up, you may kill her. Surely that would be difficult for you to explain.”
She was newly arrived herself, and her position was not secure. Beating a candidate to death would not be easy to account for.
She snorted. “Enough. Send them both to the Imperial Laundry. Let the matrons there teach them their manners properly.”
She put particular weight on properly.
I knew our time at the Imperial Laundry would be hard.