Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was useless.
At first, I had overestimated myself and tried to stop it.
In the end, I only lost more disgracefully.

Song Liangyin was Pei Xingzhi’s beloved and also his savior.
He had gone hunting at the summer palace and accidentally fallen off a cliff.
Song Liangyin happened to pass by carrying a flower basket and saved him.
It was love at first sight for him.
The two relied on each other for survival and lived as husband and wife in the forest for three days.

At first, I was grateful to Song Liangyin.
Considering that she had no family background to rely on, as soon as she entered the palace, I sent her some gold, silver, and jewelry.
But to my surprise, these were returned through Pei Xingzhi.
He rubbed his brow: “She is easily embarrassed and has a weak background. She knows she can’t compare to you all. Why did you have to send these coarse things as a display of dominance?”
“You’ve always been prone to jealousy. Next time, don’t make things difficult for her like this.”

I was stunned.
A sense of helplessness mixed with bitterness washed over me.

Pei Xingzhi and I became husband and wife in our youth and had supported each other all the way till now.
He doted on me, and I was a bit proud as well.
But in all these years by his side, I had never made things difficult for any consort without reason.

Probably afraid that Song Liangyin would feel wronged,
as soon as she entered the palace, Pei Xingzhi gave her the rank of Consort.
Li Pin, who came from a noble background, felt indignant and went to the Empress Dowager to complain.

When the news came, Pei Xingzhi was dining in my palace, and the hand holding his chopsticks paused slightly.
I picked some food for him and advised: “Sister Liangyin is inexperienced. She should gain more experience first.”
Pei Xingzhi responded with a nonchalant “Hmm.”
But he never touched the food I had served him.

After a while, he lifted his eyes indifferently and stared at me: “Li Pin is not the type to compete for favor out of jealousy, and you have always been on good terms with her.”
“If you can’t stand Liangyin’s rank, you could have just told me directly; there’s no need to use Li Pin.”

I believed I was different from others in Pei Xingzhi’s heart.
I accompanied him from the Eastern Palace to the Dragon Throne.
In the years I loved him most, I drank poison for him and blocked hidden arrows.
At that time, Pei Xingzhi was not an emperor, but my husband.
My heart and eyes were full of him.

So later on, Pei Xingzhi casually told me: “Liangyin is so delicate. That day, to save me, she carried me for a long time.”
“All the consorts in the harem come from official families. Being sent to the palace to serve me, they more or less have selfish motives.”
“I have never experienced such pure love without any impurities.”

I stared at him in a daze.
With all my strength, I held back the tears that were about to burst forth.

Song Liangyin and I were both on the same consort rank, evenly matched.
We instantly became mortal enemies in everyone’s eyes.

Pei Xingzhi, fearing that I might bully her, soon found an excuse to promote her rank to Noble Consort.
In the end, he made her one step above me.

Song Liangyin loved pearls.
The Imperial Household Department thus supplied all the best oriental pearls to Changchun Palace.

But three months ago, for my birthday, Pei Xingzhi ordered skilled artisans to make me a pearl hairpin worth a fortune.
The pearl on the hairpin was a gift from the Late Emperor in the year I entered the Eastern Palace, dazzling and stunning.
But when I sent someone to fetch it,
the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department said with a tearful face: “The Noble Consort took a liking to it. Three days ago, she ordered a palace maid to take it away. How would I dare to stop her?”

I suppressed my anger with difficulty: “That was a birthday gift His Majesty prepared for me. How dare you take it to curry favor with the superior?”
The eunuch smiled apologetically: “Although it was made for your birthday… after all, it is His Majesty’s thing, and it is up to him who to give it to.”

Every word felt like a slap on my face, burning with pain.

I flicked my sleeve and left, heading straight for the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Pei Xingzhi chuckled and wiped away the tears from the corners of my eyes: “Liangyin looks good wearing pearls. She wanted it, so I agreed.”
“It’s just a hairpin. Is it worth you getting so angry?”

I stared at him blankly.
The bitterness in my heart became even more pronounced.

After a while, I still couldn’t help but speak: “Does Your Majesty mean… as long as the Noble Consort is happy, I must offer everything with both hands, is that it?”
“Then if someday the Noble Consort finds me displeasing and wants my head, should I give it to her as well?”

Pei Xingzhi’s expression turned cold.
He lowered his eyes, placed the brush on the brush rest, his tall, slender frame leaning back slightly, expressionless: “Kneel.”

I looked at him in disbelief for a few seconds.
Biting my lip, I knelt without a word.

Pei Xingzhi walked slowly to me, lowered his brow, and coldly lifted my chin: “It was my excessive favor in the past that made you forget your duty as an imperial consort.”
“Convey my decree: Pure Consort has defied authority. She is confined to her palace and shall not leave without an imperial decree.”

On the third day of my confinement,
Li Pin got into an argument with Song Liangyin.

I don’t know exactly what happened.
I only remember the shock and lingering fear the moment I heard the news that Li Pin had been beaten to death.

I fell seriously ill for three months.
Every night, I dreamed of the days in the prince’s former mansion when Li Pin and I embroidered nightclothes for Pei Xingzhi together.
Candlelight flickering, Pei Xingzhi looked at me with smiling eyes, playing with the pouch I had embroidered.

But in the next moment,
Li Pin, with her lower body torn and bloody, slapped me: “Do you still consider him your husband?”
“He is the emperor! He is the emperor!!”