Chapter 4
# Chapter 4
At first, I expected Senior Concubine Shen to cling to the Crown Prince.
In storybooks, women like her suffered headaches, backaches, and aching feet the moment their men left. Every part of them hurt, and only the man’s presence could cure them.
Yet aside from that almost imperceptible hand at her waist on the first day, Senior Concubine Shen did nothing.
She treated the Crown Princess with the utmost respect and never made matters difficult for the Crown Prince.
When she heard that the Crown Princess admired Suzhou embroidery, she hired an embroiderer to teach her. She meant to stitch a pair of mandarin-duck sachets for the Crown Prince and Crown Princess with her own hands.
Eight times out of ten when I visited her courtyard, I found her working on those sachets. Senior Concubine Shen was intelligent in every other respect, but embroidery escaped her. The needle pricked all ten of her fingers until they bled, yet she never once complained.
I told the Crown Princess what I had seen. She dismissed the servants, leaned back against her couch, and released a long sigh.
“I underestimated Senior Concubine Shen.”
The woman had put on a flawless performance.
By lowering herself so completely, she had set the Crown Princess over a fire.
The Crown Princess now had no choice but to treat her with even greater care. Otherwise, people would accuse her of jealousy and intolerance.
She already looked unhappy, so I kept one thought to myself.
She had not yet seen those sachets. If she did, they would only hurt her more.
Speckled with blood, even mandarin ducks-the finest omen of marital devotion-looked inauspicious.
Senior Concubine Shen often paid her respects to the Crown Princess. The Crown Princess apparently disliked being alone with her for long and frequently summoned me as well. For a time, the three of us were nearly inseparable.
In truth, I did not think Senior Concubine Shen sincerely wished to visit the Crown Princess. She came because the Crown Prince did, and by following him there, she could speak with him every day.
Even if all she said was good morning or farewell, the weather is cold, put on another robe, sleep early, do not drink too much-those same few pleasantries over and over-
they were enough to make her happy.
The day she finished embroidering the mandarin ducks, the imperial physician discovered that the Crown Princess was with child.
When I went to congratulate her, she was reclining against the bed. Joy shone on her face at the prospect of becoming a mother. She winked at me and said regretfully, “Ah Zhu, I will not be able to compete with you in archery for a while. The physician says I must at least wait until the fourth month, when the child is secure.”
Unfortunately, the Crown Prince entered just in time to hear her. His expression darkened.
“You cannot go even after four months,” he gently scolded. “You are carrying a child. How could you possibly go sparring at the training ground?”
The Crown Princess visibly wilted.
The Crown Prince immediately softened his tone and coaxed, “Be patient for a little while. Once the baby is born, we will take the child riding with us. Hmm… we should choose a little foal too.”
Watching their happy family of three, I found an excuse to withdraw.
Just before I stepped out, however, I glimpsed a brocade box that had not yet been put away. Inside lay the finished pair of sachets.
Senior Concubine Shen had already visited.
The bloodstains had been washed away. From a distance, one saw only a pair of mandarin ducks-an omen that could not have been more auspicious.
I glanced back. The Crown Prince was still murmuring sweetly to the Crown Princess.
They had married young, loved each other deeply, and now had a child on the way.
Their flowers were in bloom, their moon was full, and their family was whole.
Yet as I looked at the mandarin ducks that had once been stained with blood, I inexplicably remembered a verse my etiquette matron had taught me:
The finest things are seldom made to last; bright clouds disperse, and colored glass shatters.