Chapter 5
Chapter 5
After that, he used me several more times to pass messages to the former pushe officials of Prince Yi’s Residence outside the palace.
Mother had been right when she said he was not an honest man.
But they were wrong to try to make him into a dog.
Great Wei had been founded by Emperor Taizu from the back of a horse, a realm won through conquest. It had once known the Reign of Kangning, an age of Haiyan and Heqing.
Now that he had ascended the throne, it was only right and proper that he wished to hold power in his own hands.
That road was difficult. So at critical moments, anyone could become a piece on his board.
He used me time and again, and each time I obediently took the bait, utterly guileless.
Because of that, he actually began to feel some pity for me, and his attitude toward me improved considerably.
On the tenth day of the ninth month, Zhao Ling came to Jiaofang Hall for the first time in ages.
He quietly accompanied me through the meal, listening as I chattered on in high spirits. Then, suddenly, he said, “The Empress has been in the palace for two years.”
“That’s right. Today is the tenth day of the ninth month, the very day Your Majesty and I were wed two years ago. Is Your Majesty going to reward this consort with something?”
I propped my chin in my hands and looked at him, beaming.
He looked back at me, his eyes dark and unfathomable. “With Prince Liang and the Hu and Xu families as your backers, the Empress should have anything she desires. Why would you need to ask Us for anything?”
“That is where Your Majesty is mistaken. Since I have married Your Majesty, only Your Majesty is my true backer. And the things this consort wants can only be given by you.”
“What do you want?”
“A lock of Your Majesty’s hair.”
I said, “On the night of our wedding, Your Majesty was in a poor mood, so the hair-joining ritual was never completed. This consort has always taken it to heart. It isn’t too much to ask Your Majesty for a lock of hair today, is it?”
I stared at him with a smile, my expression playful. At last, his face softened slightly. “We are no good husband to you.”
“But we are already husband and wife. Your Majesty has no road back, and neither do I.”
Hu Minrong was obedient and candid, but she was not a fool.
I thought he would understand. In conspiracies carried out again and again, there would always be omissions. That day, when Inner Attendant Cui wanted to personally count the members of the acrobat troupe, I was the one who found an excuse to call him away.
Cui He had always been one of Prince Liang’s men.
Zhao Ling was sharp-minded and intelligent. He must have sensed something. Yet he said nothing, which proved he still did not trust me.
In the end, he never gave me that lock of hair.
I was a daughter of the Hu Family, but in truth, I was all alone.
Since I was young, Mother had taught me filial piety, respect for my elders, propriety, and righteousness. She taught me to turn loyalty into filial devotion. Quietly, imperceptibly, all of it was telling me the same thing: obey the Hu Family, obey Father.
The honor and propriety of the great noble clans amounted to sending me into the palace to be a piece that was easy to control.
They loved me, so my wishes had never mattered. Who my husband was did not matter either.
On the night I came of age at fifteen, Prince Liang Zhao Cui appeared in Jiaofang Hall. When he discovered I was still untouched, I could still remember the delight and brute possessiveness in his eyes with painful clarity.
Terrified, I stabbed him with a hairpin, but I had no strength to truly resist.
Inner Attendant Cui was already his man. The wet nurse and the others guarding the hall were all trembling, too frightened to make a sound.
Afterward, I bathed and scrubbed until my skin turned red.
When Mother heard the news and hurried over, the first words out of her mouth were to blame me for wounding Prince Liang, because my father was about to be appointed to the post of chief minister.
In that moment, I finally understood.
So she had known all along.