Chapter 4
Princess Mingzhen had only fainted from fright.
The Imperial Physician gave her acupuncture.
When she awoke, she clung to Consort Liu, crying and screaming that she did not want to go to the Northern Di.
Consort Liu soothed her daughter, saying, “We won’t go, we won’t go.”
Princess Mingzhen trembled in her arms. With reddened eyes, Consort Liu glared at the Empress, disregarding all decorum and status, and shouted hoarsely, “Empress Your Highness, you have seen for yourself-Zhen’er is frail, how could she possibly endure the harsh winds and frost of the Northern Di?”
The Empress’s expression did not change as she asked, “If Mingzhen cannot bear it, do you think Wanning, Yongping, or Changsheng could?”
Consort Liu pretended not to hear and did not respond.
The Empress would not indulge her: “The Lottery Drawing was done by Mingzhen herself. Since she drew the lot, we must follow the rules.”
“Even if she had only one breath left, the one to go to the Northern Di must be her!”
That night, Princess Mingzhen attempted to hang herself. Consort Liu held her and wept the whole night.
At dawn the next day, Consort Liu brought Mingzhen to kneel outside Guang’an Palace.
The Empress refused to summon them.
Consort Liu called out outside Guang’an Palace, “Empress Your Highness, Mingzhen is my only daughter. If you do not see us today, I will take her and dash our heads against the walls of Guang’an Palace!”
In the end, they were invited into the hall.
The Empress could have refused to see them, but in the end, she softened.
I was afraid-afraid that things were not yet settled and could still be reversed.
As soon as I heard that Consort Liu had entered Guang’an Palace, I immediately went to Wuxia Palace to request an audience with Consort Qi.
Unexpectedly, the Third Prince was there as well.
It was strange-every time we met by chance, it seemed I was always kneeling before him and his mother, begging for help.
I recognized his shoes more than his face.
I addressed Consort Qi, “Mother Consort.”
“Yesterday you said that if I drew the lot, I should accept Heaven’s will and you would not plead for me.”
“Now, the one who drew the lot is not me. Mother Consort, are you willing to plead for me?”
Consort Qi sighed helplessly.
“Let’s go,” she said. “Consort Liu is truly going too far!”
As soon as we entered Guang’an Palace, we heard Consort Liu’s loud cries.
“Why should Zhen’er be the one to go to the Northern Di? The Sixth Princess is the elder sister-such a Marriage Alliance should not fall to my Zhen’er!”
Upon hearing this, Consort Qi snorted coldly before leading me into the hall.
The Empress sat at the main seat, her face calm and her bearing cold.
When she saw us, she granted us seats.
As soon as we sat down, Consort Qi did not even glance at Consort Liu, who was kneeling limply on the floor, sobbing.
Instead, she faced the Empress directly: “Empress Your Highness, the candidate for the Marriage Alliance was decided by Lottery Drawing, a rule you set from the beginning. Now that the result is out, there is no reason to change it at will, is there?”
The Empress nodded and cast a faint glance at Consort Liu.
Consort Liu was born charming, and now tears hung in her eyes.
She had been clutching a brocade handkerchief, looking delicate and weak, but upon hearing this, her gaze turned sharp as needles toward Consort Qi: “Consort, what does this have to do with you?”
“Nothing to do with me?” Consort Qi chuckled twice. “Just now outside the hall, I heard everything clearly-some people can’t bear to part with their own daughters and are scheming to push my Sixth Princess into the fire pit!”
“Your Sixth Princess, huh!” Consort Liu raised her voice, sharp and mocking. “Consort, do you really think Zhao Changsheng is your own flesh and blood? Don’t forget, her real mother was drowned in Taiye Pond with your Third Prince’s foot on her head!”
“Silence!”
“Insolence!”
Consort Qi and the Empress rebuked her, one after the other.
But Consort Liu was not cowed.
She raised her hand, and the maids helped her up from the floor.
She no longer cried, but stood there prettily, her expression tinged with a reckless madness: “Anyone can say nice words, but do you think I have the mind to play riddles with you now?”
“Consort Qi, are you really going to fall out with me over the Sixth Princess, who was born of a Cairen?”
Consort Liu’s momentum was astonishing.
Consort Qi was momentarily taken aback by her question.
Seeing this, Consort Liu softened her expression and began to sob again.
She dabbed at her tears with her brocade handkerchief, her voice mournful: “Empress Your Highness, you have Princess Jinghe and the Crown Prince. Consort, you have the Third Prince. I beg you to understand a mother’s heart and spare my Mingzhen!”
She completely changed from her previous aggressiveness, broke down in tears, and knelt on the floor again.
Behind her, Mingzhen called out for her Mother Consort and knelt down to cry as well.
Watching everything unfold before me, I felt an indescribable dull ache and a vague sense of fear.
I looked at Consort Qi.
She did not notice my cautious gaze, her eyes fixed on the weeping mother and daughter, brows furrowed, and there was clearly a trace of pity in her eyes.
She pitied them.
As a mother, she empathized with the pain of mother and child being separated.
She sympathized with Consort Liu’s madness for her daughter’s sake.
But… what about me?
Just because I have no mother to weep for me, should I be the one sent to the Northern Di?