Chapter 4
Chapter 4
With the Empress pregnant, the rear palace grew even quieter.
The Emperor issued a special decree:
The consorts and concubines no longer needed to go to Phoenix Brocade Palace to pay their respects, lest they disturb the Empress’s rest.
Because of that one sentence, everyone began taking detours whenever they came near Phoenix Brocade Palace.
They were all afraid that if the imperial child came to any harm one day, they would become the unlucky scapegoat who died with grievances unredressed.
Autumn dragged on, and I too kept my doors shut.
All day, I stayed in my hall, reviewing the palace accounts, calculating monthly stipends and salaries, fulfilling my duties as Noble Consort.
When the parasol tree in Qining Palace shed its first autumn leaf,
Worthy Consort Ye walked in with the tabby cat Ruyi in her arms.
She had always been dazzlingly beautiful, but today she wore plain blue-green palace robes, with only a single silver-patterned white jade hairpin in her hair.
When she spoke, her voice seemed veiled in mist:
“Old General Lu of Lu Mansion passed away yesterday…”
All at once, the cup of Peach Blossom Wine in my hand tilted, spilling over my skirt.
I waved a hand. Only after the palace servants tactfully withdrew did I force down my emotions and fill two cups to the brim.
“The palace gardens are thick with peach blossoms, but the wine they make is always bitter. The peach blossoms at Lu Mansion were better.”
That was what she said, yet she drank cup after cup.
Yes. The peach blossoms at Lu Mansion were better.
I must have been ten that year. I had gotten into trouble by accident and was afraid my ever-stern father would punish me.
So I cried the whole way and ran to the Lu Family.
Seeing me like that, Old General Lu hurriedly gathered me into his arms and coaxed me:
“Ah Nian, don’t cry. Ah Nian, don’t cry. When you grow up, you can become Uncle Lu’s daughter-in-law.”
“My eldest son is steady, my second son is clever. Take your pick…”
That day, nine-year-old Ye Ruwan poked her head down from a peach tree and pleaded with her mother, Grand Princess Yanghua:
“When I grow up, I want to be Uncle Lu’s daughter-in-law too.”
Children spoke without restraint, and everyone present burst into laughter.
So the things that still seemed vivid before my eyes
had already been gone for so long.
Perhaps because her worries weighed too heavily on her, the Empress’s pregnancy was not very stable.
At four months, she nearly miscarried.
The Emperor was beside himself with anxiety. That very night, he summoned every physician from the Imperial Hospital to Phoenix Brocade Palace to attend her.
From the physicians to the palace maids, and then to the Emperor himself, everyone revolved around the woman he held in his heart, bustling back and forth for her sake.
And as they bustled, everyone forgot that there was still a Consort Shen in the rear palace who was about to give birth.
The year was drawing to its end. Another heavy snow fell over the palace walls, so white it was startling.
On the night when the wind and snow stilled, Consort Shen went into labor.
This lowly woman with neither power nor influence endured from deep night until the first pale light of dawn.
Only after blood soaked the bed did she give birth to Great Zhou’s first little prince.
Yet this child she had risked her life to bring into the world-she refused to so much as look at him.
Pale-faced, she kept her eyes fixed on the doorway from beginning to end.
“This servant’s hometown is in Cangzhou. If a girl is born, the family buries a jar of Daughter’s Wine. If a boy is born, the courtyard is planted full of peach trees.”
As she spoke, she smiled weakly.
“Your Highness, do you know why peach trees are planted?”
I pressed down the grief filling my chest and nodded.
I wanted to speak, but not a single sound would come.
Consort Shen, lying on the bed, no longer looked at me. She continued staring fixedly at the doorway.
Only when her breathing had weakened until it was almost imperceptible did a smile finally rise on that pale face.
“At last… I’m home.”