Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Concubine Jing lived up to her name-gentle and quiet.

The only time she ever overstepped was when she tactfully mentioned before the Empress that she had not attended the Emperor’s bedchamber in a very long time.

The Empress smiled with practiced grace, but what she said was vicious. “At your age, Concubine Jing, you could already be a grandmother. How is it you still think about bedroom pleasures?”

Concubine Jing’s face flushed so hard it hurt. She only lowered her head meekly, tears shimmering in her eyes.

I couldn’t bear to watch anymore. “Does Your Highness know the saying among the common people? There is no field plowed barren, only oxen worked to death.”

“The ox isn’t even too tired to walk yet, so why can’t the field still be plowed?”

The Empress was left speechless for quite a while.

“Impudent! You-you-Noble Consort Chen! How dare you compare His Majesty to-to- How vulgar can you be!”

I stayed perfectly calm. “People outside can barely afford to eat anymore, and right now the authorities are urging the common folk to hurry with the spring plowing. After all, the whole year’s work depends on spring. How is it that Your Highness can turn everything into bedroom pleasures?”

The Empress’s hand slipped, and she dropped a teacup.

The other consorts leaped to their feet in alarm and all knelt down.

I picked up my cup and sipped my tea.

If I was going to be arrogant, then I should at least look the part.

My knees only bent for people worth kneeling to.

The Empress couldn’t do anything to me, so she simply went to tattle to the Emperor.

The Emperor didn’t get angry after hearing about it. He merely took away my Green Token.

That was probably the first time I lost favor.

I say probably because I didn’t care in the slightest.

I had no desire to be summoned in the middle of the night to a man’s bedchamber and end up in his bed.

But Concubine Jing felt terribly guilty.

“Your Highness only lost favor because you were dragged into this on my account.”

If Concubine Jing hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t even have known.

I said, “It’s fine.”

She was quiet for a while, then said, “Your Highness and His Majesty share deep feelings. That’s why you’re so confident.”

I thought there was nothing wrong with her except that she had read too many melancholy poems and too little history.

Later, the Emperor got over it on his own, and Concubine Jing became even more convinced that there was a unique bond between him and me, something no one else could intrude upon.

I was at my wit’s end, so I suggested that the Emperor pay Concubine Jing a visit.

He fell silent. “You really don’t care who I go to, do you?”

I looked at the Emperor in silence.

Brother.

We’ve actually only known each other for a short time.

What possessiveness could I possibly feel toward you?

I’m not like you, wanting the whole world under your control.

I’m just an ordinary woman.

The Emperor really did go to Concubine Jing’s place, and when he came back, he asked me, “Who else do you want to recommend I go to?”

His expression was completely calm, like he was handling some routine errand.

I said no.

The Emperor nodded, and after that he started sending me gifts.

When I first entered the palace, I could only be counted as favored. There were still others who rivaled me for attention. It was nothing like now, when I alone stood out among all the women of the harem.

And Concubine Jing was the only one I had ever recommended to the Emperor.

The people who wanted to curse me had probably meant to accuse me of forming a faction for personal gain, but after looking around and seeing there was only this one person, they never pinned that charge on me.

I became Concubine Jing’s only friend.

She trusted me a little too much. Whatever was in her heart, she said aloud.

Especially now, faced with the mountain of rewards piled up before us, she opened her mouth and asked at once,

“You don’t seem very happy.”

I pressed my fingers to my temple. “How did it feel the last time you saw the Emperor?”

She froze for a moment. “I was quite happy.”

“But… not all that happy either.”

She thought I was hinting at something and hurried to explain, “My feelings for His Majesty have faded now. Your Highness doesn’t need to trouble yourself trying to promote me.”

I gave her a long, meaningful look.

Her mouth denied it, but her feelings were honest.

But I didn’t say that.

I had been behaving myself more these days, not for any other reason, but because my brother had returned.

By all rights, he would come into the palace once.

I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to keep me from seeing him.

Even the Emperor was surprised. “Why have you been so quiet lately?”

I ignored him. I only held back the tears gathering in my eyes as I watched my brother walk toward me step by step.

There was no weapon at his waist.

Although the Emperor permitted him to appear before him bearing a blade, he always removed his gear long before entering the hall.

I forced a smile. “Seeing how respectful my brother is toward His Majesty makes me feel that I truly never behave as I should.”

He kowtowed with utmost respect and even formally paid his respects to me.

The Emperor granted us a banquet. Though it was called a family feast, we were still separated by a great distance.

My brother hardly touched his chopsticks. He remained standing the entire time, serving dishes to the Emperor.

Even when the Emperor told him it wasn’t necessary, he still did not dare sit.

I remembered how, in the past, whenever my brother came back, he would first drink bowl after bowl of wine with me in great gulps, then eagerly discuss military strategy with me.

I was his younger sister, and also his strategist.

But now.

My brother no longer seemed like my brother, and the general no longer seemed like a general.

Once the banquet was over, my brother had to hurry out of the palace.

No man from outside the imperial family was permitted to stay overnight in the palace.

When Concubine Jing came across my sedan chair, she deliberately stopped to chat with me for a few moments and said with sincere feeling, “As long as Your Highness and His Majesty are living in harmony, I am satisfied.”

She wore a serene smile, but I said nothing.

Living in harmony?

Because of him, my brother-who had always cared for me in every possible way, who had taught me martial arts hand in hand-now could not even speak a few extra words to me.

How could I fall in love with the man who had torn me away from my family?

He held the fate of my entire household in his hands. With a single command from him, my whole family could lose their heads.

How could I possibly fall in love with a headsman’s blade hanging over my neck at all times?

I said, “I really don’t have the energy to indulge this anymore.”