Chapter 3

# Chapter 3

Unfortunately, when marriage was a political duty, one wedding would always be followed by another.

Six months later, a new Senior Concubine entered the Eastern Palace. Her name was Shen Yunshang, and she was the Empress’s niece. I heard she had loved the Crown Prince for many years.

The day Senior Concubine Shen arrived fell on the fifteenth of the month, an auspicious date. I had taken a hot bath and was preparing to turn in early when the Crown Princess unexpectedly came to see me.

She carried a box of game pieces and said she wanted to play chess.

Her face was calm, but I knew she was probably hurting that night.

Sure enough, despite having learned chess in a mere two months, I routed her across the board.

The Crown Princess abandoned her pieces and turned toward the moon outside the window. For a long while, she said nothing.

At last she murmured, “Ah Zhu, we have a saying in the Central Plains: when flowers bloom and the moon is full, may those we love remain together forever.”

“You and His Highness are deeply devoted to each other. Naturally, your flowers will bloom, your moon will be full, and you will remain together forever.”

I gave her the prettiest answer I could and followed her gaze to the moon in the sky.

It was perfectly round.

Everyone cherished the full moon and the reunions it symbolized. Yet a month had thirty days, and the moon remained full for only two or three.

What in this world truly lasted forever?

Much later, Feng Yueshang asked me, “You and His Highness still have not consummated your marriage, have you?”

The cup of hot tea slipped from my hand. Ignoring my drenched sleeve, I sprang to my feet.

To have such an intimate matter dragged abruptly into the open left me mortified and angry. A thousand thoughts tangled in my head, and I had no idea where to begin.

The Crown Princess took out a handkerchief and wiped my sleeve. Her voice was as gentle as ever, but not a trace of light remained in her eyes.

“This is His Highness’s fault. You have been wronged. I will speak to him.”

Women of the Central Plains truly were magnanimous. Who else would push her own husband toward another woman? But even if she was willing, I was not. What would that make me, caught between the two of them?

Besides, the Crown Prince did not desire me. Was I supposed to strip naked and present myself to him?

I pulled my hand from hers and said coldly, “Mingzhu traveled a great distance to preserve peace between our realms. I care nothing for other matters. I fear I must disappoint you, elder sister.”

The Crown Princess sighed. She said nothing more and rose to leave.

After Feng Yueshang departed, I suffered a rare sleepless night.

I tossed and turned. One moment I wondered whether the Crown Princess had spent my wedding night awake like this. The next I wondered how the Crown Prince and Shen Yunshang had slept-had they also lain beneath a quilt and done nothing but talk?

Shen Yunshang loved him. Surely she would not be content to remain a pretty ornament in the Eastern Palace. Her family was every bit as powerful as the Crown Princess’s. The days ahead would not be peaceful.

My thoughts churned until dawn, when I finally met Shen Yunshang. She was a delicate young woman like a hibiscus blossom, with a round, luminous face.

As she offered tea to the Crown Princess, one hand drifted almost imperceptibly to her waist.

I saw the Crown Princess tighten her grip on her handkerchief without betraying a flicker of emotion.

I wondered whether she regretted the move she had made.

But once she chose to marry the Crown Prince, she must have known this day would come.