Chapter 3
Not long after the Empress and the Countess left, I took the ring I had “found” on the ground to the Empress’s tent and requested an audience.
As I returned it, I pressed a small ball of paper into her palm.
Her gaze paused. She concealed the paper in her sleeve and casually asked about the calluses on my hands.
I knelt to answer.
“My birth mother came from the martial world. She taught me riding and archery from childhood.”
The Empress’s smile faded.
When His Majesty had entered the capital as Crown Prince, Father had escorted him a thousand miles with his army. Everyone knew the Marquis of Jingwu possessed extraordinary prowess.
Yet I had deliberately mentioned the mother everyone regarded as a stain on his name.
The Jingwu household was no united fortress.
Neither were the Empress and Emperor. The couple who had climbed to the throne side by side had long since grown secretly estranged.
I had written only two sentences.
The Marquis of Jingwu has advised His Majesty to kill the mother so that her son may rise.
The maid Jinxin has His Majesty’s secret orders to poison the Empress through the incompatibility of false hellebore and ginseng.
I had learned these secrets as a ghost, listening to the new emperor’s decree condemning Father.
The Empress was strong, the Crown Prince weak. His Majesty disliked it.
But he feared for his reputation and dared not depose the wife who had shared his hardship.
That was when my father offered his poisonous scheme.
In my former life, the Empress had shown symptoms the following spring. After three years bedridden, she died.
Her closest maids had all “followed their mistress in death,” one after another. Not one survived.
Father had stepped over that sea of blood to become His Majesty’s most trusted confidant.
Nothing was more poisonous than a faithless heart.
The Empress was no fool. She simply had not been ruthless enough to suspect that her loving first husband would murder her.
“You have never accompanied your mother to the palace, Huaiyu. Today is the first time I have seen you,” she said.
I straightened beneath her scrutiny.
“Your Majesty decreed that accompanying officials bring all their daughters aged ten and above.
“I owe this opportunity entirely to Your Majesty’s grace. I am deeply grateful.”
The Empress intended to select noble daughters to raise at the palace. She had come to choose them.
This was the opportunity I wanted.
Back at our tent, Nanny Xu and my stepmother glared at me with venom.
As though I had been the one to beat them.
“Your wild talk before Her Majesty nearly implicated Her Ladyship!”
Nanny Xu’s face was swollen like a steamed bun as she raged.
Unfortunately, she had lost two teeth. Air whistled through the gaps, destroying her usual authority.
I closed my eyes briefly. When I raised them again, two clear tears slipped down my cheeks.
“Nanny Xu, Mother was so badly hurt and so exhausted. I feared Her Majesty might misunderstand. I was only explaining on her behalf!
“Mother treated them so well, and they repaid kindness with cruelty. I was indignant for her!”
Nanny Xu stared, unable to answer.
My parents gave me no extra presents or money. I lived on an allowance of two taels a month.
How could twenty taels fail to seem a fortune to me?
My stepmother gripped the quilt and gave a smile that never reached her eyes.
“I know you meant well. But a girl should be modest and gentle. Before important people, speak and act cautiously. Do not betray a petty upbringing.”
“Yes, Mother.” I lowered my head.
She was hardly going to let me off.
Pleading her injuries, she made me attend her.
She insisted on drinking medicine fresh from the pot and had me hold the bowl. It blistered my hands.
Before company, the slightest clearing of her throat was followed by a look telling me to fetch her spittoon.
At night she wanted water, then the privy, then her legs massaged. Each time I climbed from my bedding on the floor and served her without complaint.
She could find no fault with me. Instead, visitors grew more convinced that she abused her husband’s illegitimate daughter.
“We’ve all seen daughters care for their mothers. Who torments a child like this?”
She ground her teeth but had to smile before others.
“I was not blessed with a daughter of my own. Luckily, Huaiyu is so thoughtful and dutiful.”
She could hardly call herself unfortunate.
Soon came news of Father’s great victory over the rebels and His Majesty’s personal praise.
When more visitors came, she wiped her tears and aired her grievances.
“His Lordship has fought for years. Every spare coin goes to his soldiers. The silks and jewels I wear are all gifts from Their Majesties.
“Twenty taels has always been the household’s fixed compensation. How could I go against it?”
Those rules had been laid down by an ancestor a hundred years ago.
Under those old rates, her monthly allowance would not even cover her snacks.
But who cared now?
The Jingwu tent bustled again. Everyone hurried to flatter them. Father was incorruptible; my stepmother frugal. The guards had taken advantage of Father’s absence to neglect their duty.
As for me, her friends declared without blinking:
“Miss Ye is so sensible and dutiful. Lady Ye has brought her up beautifully.”
Power was a wonderful thing.
Her abuse of an illegitimate daughter and theft from the guards were lightly brushed aside.