Chapter 5

Life seemed to return to the way it was before. Pei Qi and the Imperial Consort remained inseparable, and I was still stationed outside the hall. Only this time, I wasn’t kneeling; I was standing, quietly listening for any movement inside, for fear of missing a command from my mistress.

When the palace doors opened, I lowered my head, not daring to cast even a single glance at the person walking out.

Pei Qi left in a hurry again, but this time it wasn’t for official business. Feng Luan Palace had caught fire, and a frantic maid from that palace had come to report it.

This made life difficult for those in the Imperial Consort’s palace. With her beloved leaving so abruptly, the beauty was so enraged she smashed everything in the room. In the end, she even claimed illness to decline several of Pei Qi’s invitations.

I picked up a porcelain vase with a chipped corner. Because I never lost my temper with the subordinates, the maid cleaning up felt bold enough to chat with me. “Auntie, I heard this porcelain was a rare piece accidentally fired in the imperial kiln-one of a kind and priceless. What a pity. But if we send it back and find a skilled master, it can surely be fixed.”

I let out a faint smile, tracing the crack with my finger. “Yes, it can surely be fixed.”

But no matter how well it’s repaired, the crack will always be there, won’t it?

She looked at me, stunned for a moment, and whispered, “Auntie, you look so beautiful when you smile. You don’t usually seem this way…”

Though she called me Auntie, I was actually only a few years older than her. At the end of the day, I was just a young bride whose husband had died after only a year of marriage.

I didn’t reply. I ordered the cleaners to leave and gently closed the door to avoid disturbing the Imperial Consort’s rest.

Heavy, feathery snow began to fall again. The plum blossoms in the courtyard bloomed vibrantly. I had grown accustomed to standing outside the hall, keeping watch day after day.

The maids, fearing something might happen to me-because if I fell ill, no one would be there to bear the brunt of the Imperial Consort’s temper-draped a cloak over my shoulders. Following my gaze, one asked curiously, “Does Auntie like plum blossoms?”

I chuckled softly. “No, I like peach blossoms.”

“Winter is too cold. I don’t like things that bloom in the winter.”

But the Imperial Consort liked them. She loved the sight of red against the white snow in winter. Sitting in her warm hall, she could see them just by looking up.

She didn’t know that in such heavy snow, the soldiers far away at the border could not survive in their thin cotton clothes.

The maid didn’t reply. Instead, she suddenly dropped to her knees.

I instinctively turned around. At the entrance stood the Emperor, dressed in bright yellow robes, looking at me.

I froze for a second, then lowered my eyes and knelt as well.

Boots made of Shu brocade and the hem of a bright yellow robe appeared before my eyes.

Pei Qi asked, “What is your name?”

I answered, “Fuling.”

“This servant is Cui Fuling.”

This time, I knew he had remembered my name.