Chapter 1
The year Baojun Palace became a cold palace, Ah Jie was seventeen, Ah Xiong was thirteen, and I, the youngest, was only eight.
Mother Consort had been Imperial Father’s favorite consort, so I, his youngest princess, had grown up somewhat spoiled, overbearing, and foolish.
All the palace maids vanished overnight. Eunuchs guarded the gates and refused to let us take even one step outside. Yet I still thought I was the pampered princess I had always been. I demanded the finest clothes and the Imperial Kitchen’s sweetest osmanthus-honey milk pudding.
Auntie Tao had come with Mother Consort as part of her bridal household. She was the only palace maid left in Baojun Palace. Holding me, she said, “Sixth Princess, we only need to endure a little longer. In a few days, your imperial father will remember you.”
But Imperial Father did not remember us.
Our food grew worse and worse, until I could hardly swallow it and began throwing tantrums. “Waaah! Mother Consort is gone, and now even you mistreat me! I haven’t had milk pudding for a whole month. I want my osmanthus pudding!”
Auntie Tao had raised me from infancy, and my tears broke her heart. Once the most dignified senior attendant in the palace, she actually went to steal food from the Imperial Kitchen.
When they carried her back, she was covered in wounds inflicted by the same eunuchs who had once fawned over her most eagerly.
We could not summon an imperial physician, and we had no medicine. Ah Jie shouted at me, “Why must you be so greedy? If Auntie Tao dies, how am I supposed to answer to Mother Consort?”
It was the first time Ah Jie had ever yelled at me. I pressed my lips together, too afraid to cry. I did not want Auntie Tao to die.
Ah Xiong hung his head in despair. “Ah Jie, don’t scold her. It’s my fault for being such a useless older brother. I can’t even keep our little sister fed.”
Ah Jie wiped away her tears. That was the last time she ever cried.
She put on the last outfit Mother Consort had made for her, painted her lips a vivid red, then knocked on the gates of Baojun Palace and told the eunuchs outside, “Tell your Chief Eunuch I want to see him.”
The eunuchs who refused to let us out began twitching at the mere words Chief Eunuch. Without a single protest, the one with the longest legs ran off to deliver her message.
Xu Cong came to fetch Ah Jie himself.
He was a remarkably handsome eunuch, tall and imposing, with a face as fine as carved jade.
He had been in the palace for three years. At first, every palace maid dreamed of taking him as her palace companion. Later, with a flexible sword hidden at his waist and ruthless verdicts falling from his lips, he made everyone in court and harem alike fearfully call him the living King of Hell.
Even though I was Imperial Father’s most beloved young daughter, Mother Consort had always told me to stay far away whenever I saw him.
Only one person had ever struck him: my Ah Jie.
They said he had dirtied her shoe. Young General Xie had given her that pair before leaving for the frontier. Ah Jie claimed Xu Cong had done it on purpose, lifted her chin, and slapped him.
I was terrified he would mistreat her.
Instead, he merely held out his hand and smiled. “Xiao Baozhu, I told you. One day, you would come to me of your own accord.”
Ah Jie’s expression was ice-cold, but no matter how cold it was, she still took his hand.
She walked out, and no one dared stop her again.
When she returned, the rouge was gone from her lips, but Auntie Tao had medicine.
Not only that, I had milk pudding too—fragrant and sweet. I was so ravenous that I swallowed nearly half the bowl in one gulp.
Ah Jie stroked my head and murmured, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have scolded you earlier. Our Baoqiong deserves to remain the most innocent child in the world. Don’t worry. Ah Jie will never let you go hungry again.”
She kept her word. She went out every day, and every day we received food as exquisite as before.
The young eunuchs at the gate stopped making trouble for me. Sometimes, when the wait grew too long, I wandered over and squatted by the entrance to watch for her.
One night, it grew terribly late and she still had not returned. Even Ah Xiong came to squat beside me.
From our corner, we watched the living King of Hell pursue Ah Jie and say coldly, “He is about to marry a princess. You can run your legs off, but once the edict is proclaimed tomorrow, he will still be your brother-in-law.”
Ah Jie spun around and slapped him hard. The blow only seemed to make him hungry. He stared at her like a wolf, then seized her and gnawed hungrily at her mouth.
Ah Xiong was awful. He covered my eyes so I could not watch, while he himself watched every last detail.
I kicked him angrily. “Why are you allowed to watch when I’m not?”
His teeth ground together. “Of course I have to watch. If I don’t remember today’s humiliation, how will I know whom to flay and grind to dust one day?”
Ah Xiong had always worn a smile and been unfailingly considerate. If one of the maids or eunuchs in his palace so much as scraped a patch of skin, he would send them away to rest.
But from that day on, he was different. His eyes were never gentle again.
Ah Xiong was acting so strangely that even a fool like me knew what that eunuch had done to Ah Jie was no good thing.
But Ah Xiong would not let me ask about it. He said it concerned Ah Jie’s dignity.
Fine, then I would not ask. I would simply squat by the palace gates every day. If he dared devour Ah Jie again, I would run up and kick him to death. My legs were very strong.
Xu Cong never devoured Ah Jie again. Instead, Ah Jie slapped him many more times.
The first time, he came carrying a food box and said only one thing: “Eat. If you don’t, no one in Baojun Palace gets to eat.”
Ah Jie glared at him and slapped him. “Xu Cong, don’t you dare threaten me with my family!”
But in the end, she still forced all the food down. She was terribly thin in those days.