Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Consort Shen, who had given birth to the eldest imperial prince of Great Zhou, passed away quietly, just like that.

She had lived her life as lowly as an ant, leaving behind not even a full name.

All she had ever wished for was to live-to live long enough to see the man she loved again.

Yet in the end, this was how she left the depths of the palace, going to keep that promise made in youth.

When we were arranging her funeral, we discovered a Peach Blossom Comb clutched tightly in her hand.

It had been carved by the man she loved with his own hands.

A comb as a token, a vow to bind their hair and hearts as one.

“If it is a boy, the courtyard must be filled with peach trees…”

“Your Highness, do you know why peach trees must be planted…?”

I knew.

I had always known.

They were meant for brewing Peach Blossom Wine, so he could marry the woman he loved on an auspicious day.

And they were also so he could carve a peachwood comb with his own hands, promising her a lifetime of love, to grow old together and never part in heart…

With the first stroke of the comb, husband and wife live in harmony. With the second, they fly side by side like paired wings.

Once, there had also been a high-spirited young man who came to me blushing, offering me a peachwood comb he had carved himself.

He said, “Ah Nian has already come of age. I must hurry and have my father come propose…”

He and I waited and waited, hoped and hoped.

We secretly drank several jars of peach blossom brew.

But in the end, what came was an imperial decree:

Yun Nian, daughter of the Shen Family, gentle, virtuous, quiet, and graceful, is hereby granted the title of Noble Consort…

The past drifted by with the snow swirling beyond the window.

People always said that when white snow greets the new year, another good harvest will come.

But I only felt that my heart was nothing but ruins.

Not another blade of grass could grow there. Not another flower could bloom.

In the late spring of Mingde 4th Year,

the Empress, whose pregnancy had been unstable all along, was also about to give birth.

Inside Phoenix Brocade Palace, the emperor never left her side.

Basin after basin of hot water was changed. Bowl after bowl of ginseng soup was fed to her.

At last, deep into the night, the Empress safely gave birth to a pair of twins.

When the midwife announced the happy news, the emperor’s gaze went faintly blank. He held the Empress tightly, his voice full of tender distress.

“Zhenzhen, I will give our children the very best of everything.”

But just as the entire hall of palace servants was about to breathe a sigh of relief, one of the little princes stopped breathing.

The elderly imperial physician said, trembling,

“Her Majesty the Empress went into labor prematurely. The infants were extremely weak. The surviving prince will require even more meticulous care from now on.”

Upon hearing the terrible news, the Empress wept bitterly. The emperor was heartbroken.

In his fury, he banished the midwives and imperial physicians who had attended the birth from the palace for dereliction of duty.

Without an imperial summons, they would never be allowed to enter the capital again for the rest of their lives.

The surviving prince was given the name Yilin by the emperor.

The lin of ruling all under heaven.

Everyone in the palace knew this was how deeply the emperor cherished his legitimate son.

As for the eldest imperial prince born to Consort Shen, he was given the name Yi’an.

The an of knowing one’s place and keeping to it.

And he was placed in the care of me, the Noble Consort who also knew her place and kept to it.