Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Pei’er’s deduction was entirely correct.

Consort Bi was idle during her pregnancy and was precisely in the mood for some amusement.

When I intercepted her sedan chair, she was just returning from the Imperial Study.

Looking down at me from her high vantage point, Bi Tao flashed a flamboyant smile. “Oh, if it isn’t Noble Lady Qi. From what I can see, your complexion doesn’t look very good at all.”

I lowered my gaze and bowed with humble submissiveness. “Your Highness, my palace has run out of charcoal. If Your Highness has any surplus in your palace, could you find it in your heart to bestow some upon me?”

Bi Tao laughed loudly. She pointed a finger at me and said to the eunuchs flanking her, “Do you know? Back then, this Sister Qiluo of mine was the number one beauty in the capital. She was the most cold, reserved, and arrogantly noble person you’d ever meet. Seeing her so low and subservient now is truly delightful.”

The eunuchs joined in with mocking laughter.

Bi Tao was in an excellent mood. She looked down at me and said, “Noble Lady Qi, it’s not that I don’t want to give you any, but that charcoal represents His Majesty the Emperor’s affection for me. How could I possibly give it away?”

I lowered my head in disappointment. “In that case, I shall take my leave…”

“Don’t be in such a hurry. If you can resolve the worries in my heart, that would be a great service in protecting the imperial heir. His Majesty the Emperor would surely be willing to reward you with charcoal then,” Bi Tao said with a beaming smile.

“What worries?”

“Ah, it’s like this. My earring fell into the Thousand Carp Pond. Noble Lady Qi, help me find it,” Bi Tao said. “That earring is very precious and shouldn’t be touched by just anyone, so I must ask Noble Lady Qi to personally fish it out for me.”

…

The water of the Thousand Carp Pond was bone-chillingly cold, with shards of ice floating on the surface.

As I stepped forward, Fu Shouqian quietly pulled at my sleeve.

I looked back at him, seeing the pity in his eyes.

I curled my lips into a slight smile. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Master Fu, we’ve discussed this-it is the only way.”

Fu Shouqian’s eyelashes trembled slightly as he let go of me.

In the distance, Bi Tao’s voice rose. “Hurry up, Noble Lady Qi. I’m in a rush to return to my palace to rest.”

I jumped into the Thousand Carp Pond.

The cold submerged me instantly. The hair on my forehead was soaked, clinging to me in a pathetic mess. The silt from the bottom of the pond filled my clothes. I moved with great difficulty, soon losing my footing and falling backward into the water.

Bi Tao’s loud laughter drifted from afar. “The number one beauty has turned into a drowned rat!”

The freezing cold enveloped me, and I could barely hold on. But I bit my tongue and silently recited the historical allusions I had read as a child.

Han Xin enduring the humiliation of crawling between someone’s legs; King Goujian sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall.

Bi Tao knew nothing of these stories. If she had bothered to read more books, she would know that the more arrogant a person is at their peak, the closer they are to their downfall.

…

In the end, I fainted in the pond.

When I woke up, Pei’er was helping me wipe my body down.

Seeing me awake, she let out a loud wail and began to cry.

Through her intermittent sobbing, I learned that Fu Shouqian had jumped into the Thousand Carp Pond to rescue me.

Looking at my unconscious form after I was fished out, Bi Tao had merely raised an eyebrow in boredom. “Fine, then. If the earring can’t be found, so be it. Considering Noble Lady Qi’s hard work, give her a few pieces of charcoal.”

However, the charcoal Bi Tao sent emitted nothing but smoke when lit. Even after burning for a long time, the room remained like an ice cellar.

In such an environment, I predictably fell ill. I had a persistent high fever, my body was terrifyingly hot, and I kept crying out in my delirium, saying I couldn’t bear to leave the palace and would return as a ghost even if I died.

When the news reached Bi Tao, she grew frightened.

Bi Tao summoned many monks and Taoist priests to discuss how to prevent my vengeful spirit from affecting her and the child after my death. The final conclusion was-I could not be allowed to die in the palace.

Resentful spirits in the palace possess the heaviest yin energy and are difficult to dispel. But if one dies outside, there are many more ways to make the soul dissipate.

Thus, Bi Tao went to see His Majesty the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, Noble Lady Qi is my closest sister. She is now gravely ill, and the physicians are at their wits’ end. I am truly sick with worry and cannot eat or sleep in peace!

“I have learned that the wife of the former Head of the Imperial Medical Academy, Physician Wu, is still practicing medicine outside the palace. Her clinic is located near the capital, but she is too old to travel into the palace. Therefore, I thought it would be better to send Noble Lady Qi to her for treatment.”

And so, a carriage left the palace with only three people on board.

Me, Pei’er, and Fu Shouqian.

Huddled in Pei’er’s arms, I didn’t forget to confirm with Fu Shouqian: “Did you bring the Ganjiang-Moye Sword?”

Fu Shouqian nodded steadily. I finally felt at ease and wiped the pearl powder from my lips. My pale, sickly lips immediately looked much more flushed.

Yes, I did have a cold, but I was nowhere near as ill as I appeared.

Everything, from beginning to end, was a plan.

Bi Tao thought she was calculating every move, but in reality, every step she took was exactly as I had predicted.

I knew she would pass that road when returning from the Imperial Study.

Next to that road was either the Thousand Carp Pond or the Imperial Menagerie. Given Bi Tao’s malice, she would certainly find a way to torment me.

After being tormented, I would naturally “fall ill” and shriek about becoming a vengeful ghost.

By then, the monks and priests I had arranged would be found by Bi Tao.

This series of events had only one purpose-to get me out of the palace and to Physician Wu’s place.

The reason was simple: after Pei Ning, the commander of the Northern Frontier, returned to the capital to report on his duties, he had been receiving treatment for old injuries at Physician Wu’s clinic.

I was an imperial consort. Meeting an outside man in the palace was the capital crime of adultery. Fu Shouqian and I had pored over all of General Pei’s itineraries and found that only Physician Wu’s clinic was a place where I could safely meet him.

This was my only chance.

And I had finally won my gamble.