Chapter 2

In the end, I entered the palace with Qin Yiyi. She was granted the rank of Lady Qin on arrival. I remained the maid who washed her feet.

Father disliked me, but his love for Qin Yiyi was sincere. He had hired the finest teachers to instruct her in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Her accomplishments were praised throughout the capital.

The emperor liked talented women, and he favored her. She attended him for three nights in a row. Everyone in the palace knew Lady Qin was his darling.

On the fourth day, word came that the empress’s headaches had returned. Only then did he visit the empress’s palace, ending Qin Yiyi’s run of nights in his bed.

When I carried the water for washing her feet into the room, she was sitting on the couch with a furious expression. I hastily lowered my head and approached with care, afraid the slightest noise would give her an excuse to lash out.

To outsiders, she was a gracious, well-educated young lady from a distinguished family. Only I knew how vicious she had been since childhood.

“My lady, the Imperial Medical Office has prepared a quince decoction for your footbath today. It improves circulation and warms the knees…”

I had barely set down the basin when she kicked it over. Scalding liquid splashed all over me. I trembled with the pain but dared not cry out, dropping to my knees at once.

“Are you mocking me because His Majesty isn’t coming tonight? Saying my feet and knees will be cold without him?”

She stared at me, her eyes venomous.

“I deserve to die. Please forgive me, my lady!”

I confessed and begged at once. I was used to her unreasonable outbursts. Apologizing was the safest course; anything else would only bring more torment.

After venting for a while, she calmed a little. She planted a foot on the back of my hand and ground down hard several times. “Remember your place!”

I bore the searing pain. “I know my place.”

Satisfied by my obedience, she finally lifted her foot. I fetched fresh water, washed her feet, helped her to bed, and replenished the incense burner.

The emperor liked this fragrance, so Qin Yiyi had ordered that it burn without interruption, day and night. I followed that order faithfully. Not for her sake, but because that incense was my hope of escaping this life.

I did not know what the empress had said to the emperor. Afterward, he still summoned Qin Yiyi often, but never again for three consecutive nights.

She flew into a terrible rage over it. Yet she dared do nothing to the empress, so she tortured me to relieve her anger.

I endured it all. I was waiting. Father and Madam Qin could not have sent me into the palace merely to wash her feet.

Three months later, Qin Yiyi finally conceived an imperial child. Delighted, the emperor rewarded everyone in our courtyard. Even I received a strand of pearl flowers for my hair.

In all those three months, I had never seen him. Qin Yiyi would not allow it. Whenever he came, she drove me into the rear courtyard.

On the third day after the pregnancy was confirmed, Madam Qin presented her admission token and entered the palace.

She spoke with Qin Yiyi in her room for two hours before leaving. Meanwhile, I began preparing lunch. Once everything was ready, I made to leave for the rear courtyard, because the emperor was coming to eat with us.

This time, Qin Yiyi stopped me. “Qin Yao, do you know why Father sent you here with me?”

The opportunity I had been waiting for had come. I quickly knelt, arranging my face into an expression of fear. “I don’t know, my lady!”

Seeing me tremble all over, looking so terrified, she clearly thought me hopeless. Contempt filled her eyes.

“You’re stupid, timid, and lowborn. You can’t be presented in decent company. Your only virtue is that pretty face…”

A trace of jealousy entered her voice.

“I’m carrying an imperial child now. I can’t share his bed during the first three months. So you will serve His Majesty in my place. Make sure no other slut lures him away.

“Remember your position. And remember that your simpleton of a mother is still at home. If you want her to live, behave yourself. You’re only my substitute. Should you entertain any improper ambitions, I’ll make you and your mother wish you were dead…”