Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I deliberately dug out the gray uniform of the Ceremonial Bureau and put it on. As Yan Sizan helped straighten my lapels, she said, “Look at you. After all those major banquets at the start of the year, last year’s clothes hang loose on you now. Your belt has an extra half-finger’s width to spare.”

“Really? I thought I’d gained weight.” I studied my face in the bronze mirror and poked at the flesh on my cheeks, feeling that it was no longer as firm as before.

Women from official families my age had long since married and had children. Some of their children were already engaged. Time really did fly. I felt old.

Yan Sizan set my headdress in place and flicked the sapphire on it with her finger. “The headdresses for you fifth-rank officials really are pretty.”

“Once you reach the fifth rank, I’ll have the Shangfu Bureau make you your favorite jade headdress.”

“Don’t try to sweet-talk me. Hurry up and go. If you’re late, the Emperor might return to his study.”

I jogged to the imperial garden at the fastest pace palace rules allowed, then pretended to “run into” the Emperor while strolling leisurely about. I had learned that from the consorts competing for favor. And let me tell you, old-fashioned as it was, it worked better than anything.

In the pavilion in the imperial garden, the Emperor spotted my gray figure from afar, different from ordinary palace servants, and had Xue Shiqing call me over.

On the way to the pavilion, I sounded Xue Shiqing out. “Uncle Xue, the weather is truly fine today, don’t you think?”

Asking directly whether the Emperor was in a good mood counted as prying into the imperial mind, and if anyone found out, it was a serious crime. So I could only ask whether the weather was good. Naturally, Xue Shiqing understood what I meant and said with a smile, “Yes. A rare sunny day.”

When I reached the Emperor, I was dumbfounded. He was dressed in informal robes, drinking tea and listening to the zither, while a very tall man stood beside him talking. I had no idea what the Emperor had said, but the tall man had his lips pressed together, looking thoroughly displeased. Anyone who dared show unhappiness in front of the Emperor was ruthless indeed.

That ruthless tall man was none other than my unknown former husband, Hang Lanque.

What terrible luck!

“This humble official greets Your Majesty.”

“I was wondering how long you could hold out before coming to find me. I did not expect that after becoming Shangyi, your self-restraint would improve. You actually waited a day and a half.”

I hadn’t held out for a day and a half. I had been trying to catch the Emperor all over the palace the entire time. It was only today that you finally came to the imperial garden.

I smiled awkwardly and said, “Your Majesty, this humble official is dull-witted. Without Your Majesty’s guidance, I truly do not know how to properly carry out the task you assigned me.”

“Did your Imperial Consort say nothing to you?”

“Your Majesty’s words put this humble official to shame. Since entering the palace, Yuan Ci has had only Your Majesty in her heart, not the Imperial Consort. This humble official is merely Your Majesty’s subject and would never heed the Imperial Consort’s words.”

The Emperor said to Hang Lanque, “See how well she speaks? You keep saying ‘my sister’ this and ‘my sister’ that, as if afraid others won’t know the Empress and you both bear the surname Hang. If someone with ulterior motives impeaches you for gross disrespect, what will you do? It is only because I know what sort of man you are. Were it anyone else, would they not suspect you and grow wary?”

Hang Lanque said in a muffled voice, “This subject is slow-witted. I do not understand these things, nor can I learn them.”

Slow-witted, my foot! Back in Xian Capital, he could take mountain goods bought for eight wen and, with a silver tongue, sell them for fifteen. In a single winter, he earned enough to buy me a fox-fur vest that only Xian Capital nobles could afford, and even Su Doudou’s little knapsack got replaced with a scented sachet made of colored silk. And he called that slow-witted?

I understood now. The image he had crafted for himself before the Emperor was that of a military man ignorant of worldly subtleties, just as the image I had crafted before the Emperor was that of a young girl without much opinion of her own, but very good at reading the room.

The Emperor smiled helplessly and waved for me to rise. “Sit. What has the incident at the Eastern Palace that night turned into by now?”

“Your humble servant has not left the palace these past few days, so I know little of the situation outside. Inside the palace, nine attendants have already been punished, and three were sent to the Bureau of Palace Punishments for interrogation. All three insisted to the end that they had not spread the rumors on purpose. For now, no one in the palace dares gossip about it anymore.”

The Emperor offered no comment on my report. Instead, he called to Xue Shiqing, “All of you, withdraw.”

Xue Shiqing led the other attendants out. Only then did the Emperor say to me, “What happened with the late emperor is still vivid in my mind. I will never allow the same thing to happen to the Crown Prince, and I will tolerate even less anyone with ulterior motives maliciously framing the Eastern Palace.”

“Yes. Yuan Ci understands.”

By “what happened with the late emperor,” he meant the Emperor’s elder brother, Zheng Hao. Zheng Hao had doted excessively on Ruan Liu’er, the eunuch presented as tribute by Xian Capital. Not only had he granted Ruan Liu’er high office and generous rank, he had even taken Ruan Liu’er’s younger sister, Ruan Yun’er, as a consort, allowing the Ruan Siblings to murder concubines and imperial heirs at will. In the end, he had even intended to brave the condemnation of the entire realm and make the prince born to Ruan Yun’er the Crown Prince, which was no different from handing the empire over to Xian Capital on a silver platter.

Consort Cui had entered the palace at that time-the Grand Empress Dowager had wanted a woman of noble birth and exceptional beauty to pull the late emperor back onto the proper path, and she had chosen her. Unfortunately, Consort Cui had failed to wrest the late emperor’s heart away from that castrated man, Ruan Liu’er, leaving the Grand Empress Dowager deeply disappointed.

Later, Zheng Hao died suddenly. The Ruan Siblings were killed during the palace coup, and Consort Cui risked her life to obtain the Edict of Succession, allowing the current Emperor, Zheng Chun, to ascend the throne. After Zheng Chun took the throne, he immediately made her an Imperial Consort, which only made the Grand Empress Dowager despise her even more.

Now, the Crown Prince had become entangled with a pipa player before his wedding. It inevitably reminded people of Zheng Hao and Ruan Liu’er back then-and by sheer coincidence, this pipa player, Li Yan, also had a birth father from Xian Capital.

As a member of the Cui Family, I understood the Emperor’s worries all too well.

Then the Emperor dropped a bombshell on us. “The pipa player from the Music and Dance Pavilion has half Xian Capital blood. I have had Xue Shiqing settle him somewhere. Yuan Ci, you will personally interrogate him and find out exactly what is going on between him and the Crown Prince. As for matters outside the palace, if you lack the manpower, have Lanque assist you from the side. At the latest, within half a month, this matter must be cleaned up completely. It cannot be allowed to affect the Crown Prince.”

Sure enough, when the Emperor spoke of rectifying palace discipline, he had never meant something as simple as suppressing the rumors inside the palace. He wanted to find out whether someone was deliberately targeting the Eastern Palace, and then eliminate the problem in one stroke.

On the surface, having me investigate removed the Empress and the Crown Prince from the matter, making it appear impartial and free of favoritism. In secret, he had given Hang Lanque the authority to clear away obstacles for the Crown Prince, which was the equivalent of placing a protective shield over the Empress and the Crown Prince-Hang Lanque was the Crown Prince’s maternal uncle, and he would absolutely never harm the Crown Prince.

The Emperor was still as watertight as ever. There was truly no point trying to play games with him. In any case, no one could outplay him.

I ran through every possible obstacle in my mind and felt even more strongly that this assignment was a hot potato.

I glanced again at Hang Lanque, who sat across from me. His face was expressionless as he stared at some point in empty air, as if everything the Emperor had just said had nothing to do with him.

Fine. You sure can act.

But I could not act at all. Unwilling to the tips of my toes, I accepted the imperial command.

I did not want to work with Hang Lanque at all!