Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I was only eight years old when I first entered these heavy palace walls.

My mother was originally a courtesan at the Qingyin Workshop, skilled in the water sleeve dance. While the women of the Qingyin Workshop were not like those in common brothels who had to receive guests every day, they would occasionally serve the powerful and wealthy. My mother, however, did not have to.

Everyone said she was protected by a high-ranking official.

That lasted until the Qixi Festival that year.

My mother was sent into the high pavilion of the Qingyin Workshop, a place that was usually kept closed. Outside the pavilion, a gentle and refined man patted my head.

“Do you want to leave this place with your mother?”

I had been guarded since I was a child, so I didn’t say a word. But in truth, I wanted to. I wanted to see the free and vast world outside.

The fate of the women in the Qingyin Workshop was rarely good. I had seen the wanton humiliation and brutality the powerful inflicted upon the girls. I had seen the workshop’s runners toss the bodies of girls who had been tormented to death into the latrines like they were nothing but trash. I was terrified that my mother would eventually meet the same end.

However, before I could give my answer, an inconspicuous sedan chair quietly carried my mother and me through a side gate and into the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night.

My mother wept and laughed the whole way, clutching me and murmuring, “Shan Que, he didn’t break his word. He’s really going to give us a good life.”

I didn’t understand. “Who is he? Is he Father?”

My mother remained silent.

But later, I found the answer.

…

The Son of Heaven had taken a courtesan as his lover. Worse, she was a courtesan who had already given birth to a child. It wouldn’t sound good if the word got out.

He Yu, who was then a fourth-rank official, solved Emperor Ling’s problem by suggesting that I be enrolled as a female official. I was to serve in the Imperial Embroidery Workshop under the guise of being my mother’s distant niece.

From then on, I was no longer close to my mother. I could only catch news of her through palace rumors. Even if I encountered her Phoenix Sedan in the palace thoroughfares, I had to retreat to the side, bow low, and respectfully address her as “Consort Yao, Your Highness.”

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

I studied under Aunt Peihua, the head of the Imperial Embroidery Workshop, and became a premier embroideress. Starting with Consort Yao, many of the consorts in the various palaces wore garments made by my hands.

Then came the day the first winter snow fell.

I was delivering a bestowed fox-fur coat with a newly embroidered pattern to the Empress Dowager. However, the path was slippery, and I took a tumble. Muddy water splashed onto the fur.

Staining a bestowed imperial item was a crime punishable by death-especially since this fox fur was a one-of-a-kind piece sent from the Tianshan Mountains. Tears began to fall from my eyes in my desperation.

Suddenly, a splash of wine hit the garment, making the fox fur even wetter. I looked up indignantly.

A bright youth dressed in silver-moon robes held a jar of wine, sitting lazily atop the palace wall. Although I didn’t recognize him, I guessed his status was extraordinary. Unwilling to cause more trouble, I swallowed my anger and turned to leave.

Seeing me walk away, the youth jumped down from the wall and followed behind me at a leisurely pace.

Outside Shouning Palace, I stopped him with reddened eyes and sobbed quietly, “Stop following me. When the Empress Dowager blames me later, I won’t tell her it was you.”

He looked at my pathetic state and laughed.

“You’d better tell her it was me. Otherwise, you might not be able to keep that little life of yours.”