chapter 2
chapter 2
At the Hour of the Goat, a eunuch invited me outside to observe the execution.
Buzhen had been baking under the fierce sun and was already showing signs of heatstroke.
[Poor Zhenzhen! When will that bitch, the Princess of Qishan, finally leave the story?]
[Hold on a little longer. Help is almost here!]
Sure enough, Ningzhuang, one of Mother’s senior palace maids, arrived.
She ordered me to release the prisoner. I asked, “Where is Mother’s decree?”
“Her Majesty delivered the command orally,” Ningzhuang said.
I was blunt. “And your word alone makes it true? Mother’s oral commands are always carried by three palace maids so they can corroborate one another. Do you not even know the rules?”
Ningzhuang had not served Mother at close quarters for very long.
Mother’s previous dressing maid had been severely punished for a drunken indiscretion. Because Ningzhuang was skilled with cosmetics and mild and discreet by nature, Mother had made an exception and promoted her to the senior rank.
Many people were jealous and waiting to seize upon one of her mistakes.
When conducting Mother’s business, she would never be this careless.
“Who actually sent you?” I demanded.
Ningzhuang’s expression shifted. She hurried to mend her story.
“Your Highness’s guards feared someone might die, so they wanted to ask Her Majesty to decide. Unfortunately, Her Majesty and His Majesty had gone to the garden to escape the heat.
“This servant feared a delay, so I came here first on my own authority. Please forgive me, Your Highness.”
Chuncao wanted to summon Mother and confront her. I shook my head.
No doubt, as soon as I detained Buzhen, someone had arranged to lure Mother away and have Ningzhuang deliver a false oral command.
They simply had not expected me—always perfectly obedient to Mother, and well acquainted with Ningzhuang—to question it.
Ningzhuang smiled gently. “Your Highness is mischievous, but you must not make Her Majesty worry. That punishment staff looks very thick. It could easily kill someone.
“This musician belongs to the Imperial Music Bureau, and the grand sacrificial ceremony is only days away. If a single stroke should… What an unlucky mouth I have. I shall say no more.”
I glanced at Buzhen while the comments gloated.
[Ningzhuang really is the male lead’s capable confidante. She’s a little ungrateful, though—she thinks she can rise in rank, but the male lead loves only Zhenzhen.]
[With such a vicious instrument, the Princess of Qishan can’t escape the charge of abusing palace servants. Even if she never strikes Buzhen, she’ll never clear her name.]
I ordered Buzhen returned to the Imperial Music Bureau.
Then I smiled. “Ningzhuang, that mouth of yours is truly vile. I sentence you to one stroke.”
Before she could react, Chuncao—who had long been itching to begin—raised the staff, thicker than a man’s arm, and smashed it down on Ningzhuang’s head.
Ningzhuang screamed, “The Princess of Qishan is killing someone! Your Highness, save me!”
She covered her head and trembled all over, still lost in terror.
She had yet to realize that it was not her skull that had shattered, but the staff.
Chuncao dropped the sticky remains, plucked a fragment from Ningzhuang’s hair, and laughed.
“How did a hollow fake staff made of cotton batting and hot sugar frighten Sister Ningzhuang so badly? You know how Her Highness loves a joke. Surely you won’t blame her?”
Ningzhuang gradually recovered her composure. “Even if the princess misunderstands me, she has no authority to punish me privately. We must ask Her Majesty to decide.”
At my signal, Chuncao kicked her to her knees, seized her by the throat, and pressed her forehead to the floor.
“Misunderstanding?” I said slowly. “I am trying very hard to remember who kept praising your skill with cosmetics until Mother came to value you so highly.”
She was certain she could save herself if she saw Mother. Did she believe that seeing the empress would also let her see someone else?
“Now I remember. You are young and your future is bright. Why risk everything in his service?”
Rise in rank?
If one wished to make a person admit to one crime, one first accused her of another crime too terrible to bear.
Ningzhuang had been held in that position for a long while. Starved of breath, blood pooling in her head, she was prone to act rashly.
She would certainly try to shield the man behind her.
What accusation between an imperial prince and a palace maid could ruin the prince most completely?
I covered my mouth as though overcome by shock. “Ningzhuang, you will turn twenty-five next year, won’t you? By rule, you must leave the palace, yet you mean to stay for his sake. How bold of him to exchange secret pledges with you!
“Did you arrange for Mother to visit the garden at this hour so that the two of you could commit your filthy liaison while she was gone?
“Faithless, unjust, unworthy, and unfilial—he has violated the personal maid of his principal mother! It is a crime of the gravest disrespect. You adulterous pair—”
Ningzhuang’s face was red as boiled meat.
At last, she snapped. “How could His Highness, seated where he is, make such a terrible mistake? How can the princess slander His Highness’s reputation?”
Excellent. Now I knew who he was.
Ningzhuang realized what she had done. Her speech slowed, then she asked in a trembling voice, “The princess tricked me?”
Chuncao proclaimed, “As expected of my princess!”
I clapped and laughed. “So it is my eldest imperial brother, the Prince of Qi, who imagines the crown prince’s seat already secure beneath him.
“Ningzhuang, I would like to complete my brother’s happy union. Would the rank of noble concubine satisfy you?”
Ningzhuang shook all over, then collapsed like mud.
If she entered the Prince of Qi’s household now, it would confirm that he had carried on an affair with the maid of his principal mother.
The Prince of Qi was nearly thirty, far beyond the age at which the empress might arrange a chamber maid for him. Such a stain was enormous, and he would never let Ningzhuang live.
Noble concubine or base concubine, she would be nothing but bones.
Her voice choked with tears. “This servant is at the princess’s disposal.”
I wiped away her tears. “Why cry? You are a clever woman. Your days of comfort lie ahead.”
Anyone condemned by the comments as ungrateful could become my ally.
“Does the princess want this servant to deceive the Prince of Qi and conceal what happened to the musician?” Ningzhuang asked.
I shook my head.
“No. Quite the opposite.
“Report to the Prince of Qi that the musician’s hands have been ruined beyond any hope of playing, and that no other wuqin musician can be found within a hundred li.
“Tell him that the Princess of Qishan is arrogant and rude. Instead of seeking a remedy, she declared that it hardly matters if mere ritual music lacks one player, for she is the legitimate princess and will never be punished.”
“The princess should take care not to burn herself while playing with fire,” Ningzhuang said.
Chuncao’s face also said, As expected of my princess, but this servant has something to add.
I pinched her cheek and laughed. “The Prince of Qi has lain low for years. I must sell him this opening and tempt him to act.”
“This matter is not as simple as the princess imagines,” Ningzhuang said. “I have said all I can.”
She wanted to defect, yet still told only half the truth. That was not a good habit.
“Buzhen will not be made a princess,” I said coolly. “She will remain a musician forever. No one can attack me for defending imperial dignity today.”
The Prince of Qi considered himself the eldest son and desired the throne with all his heart. Marrying his own sister would be a grievous offense against human morality. He would never let Buzhen be acknowledged by the imperial clan.
Ningzhuang stared in shock. “So the princess knows…”
She no longer dared hold anything back and told me everything she knew.