Chapter 1
Edward Quan ·
I woke up as the youngest empress dowager in the Great Yong dynasty. The imperial physicians were kneeling all over the floor, saying I had been dead for an hour.
Beside my bed stood the little emperor, thin as a reed. His nurse held a bowl of bitter medicine and coaxed him, “Be good, Your Majesty. If Her Majesty were still here, she would make you memorize your books until midnight too.”
I knocked the bowl aside, sent the physicians out, and put a piece of warm chestnut cake into the little emperor’s hand.
Thanks a lot. I hadn’t even worked out what was happening yet, and now I had a child to look after!
1.
The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the overpowering smell of medicine.
Clusters of clouds embroidered in gold thread covered the canopy overhead, oppressive enough to make my chest feel tight. Several maids in white knelt beside the bed, their sobs muffled as though they were afraid of disturbing something.
A white-bearded imperial physician had his fingers on my wrist. Suddenly he shook from head to foot and collapsed onto the floor.
“The Empress Dowager… has returned to life!”
His cry was so loud that everyone outside immediately dropped to their knees.
It took me a long while to accept what had happened. I had been an office worker who died from working too much overtime. Now I was Shen Jianwei, Empress Dowager of Great Yong.
I was only eighteen. The late emperor had just died, leaving me an eight-year-old stepson. A few days earlier, this body’s original owner had fallen into the water in the Imperial Garden and developed a persistent high fever. The palace had already begun quietly preparing white mourning banners.
“Everyone out.” My voice was hoarse.
The physician hastily kowtowed. “Your Majesty has only just awakened and must rest. I shall prescribe a restorative draught to calm your nerves at once.”
I pushed myself upright. “What medicines have I been given over the past two days?”
He paused, then listed several ingredients.
Most meant nothing to me. I remembered only his final words: “Three bowls of ginseng soup a day, as well as a sedative.”
“Who decided on the sedative?”
“Nurse Lu of Cining Palace. She said Your Majesty was frightened and unable to sleep, and specifically requested it from the Imperial Dispensary.”
A woman’s gentle voice answered at once from beyond the curtain. “I was only worried about Your Majesty. His Majesty is still so young. If anything happened to you, ten thousand deaths could not atone for my failure.”
I looked up.
The woman was about forty, dressed so neatly that there was not a crease in her clothes. A plain silver hairpin sat at her temple.
She carried a bowl of medicine, her expression kindly. A thin little boy followed her.
His nightclothes were bright yellow, but the sleeves had grown too short. Clutching the hem, he stood outside the threshold, afraid to come in. His eyes were red, as though he had been crying for a long time.
Fragments of the original owner’s memories came flooding back.
His name was Xiao Yan, the little emperor of Great Yong. Nurse Lu had looked after him since birth. The late emperor, absorbed in state affairs, had been both strict and distant with his son. The original owner had entered the palace only recently and was timid and frail. In practice, that had left Nurse Lu in charge of Xiao Yan’s life.
She controlled what he ate, when he slept, what he studied—even whom he spoke to.
I beckoned. “Come here.”
He did not move. First he glanced at Nurse Lu.
She smiled. “Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has only just awakened and is still weak. You must not tire her. Memorize today’s passage from the Classic of Filial Piety first. You can pay your respects this afternoon.”
Xiao Yan lowered his head immediately. “Your son takes his leave.”
As he turned, anger flared inside me.
An eight-year-old saw his mother wake up, and his first instinct was to check his nurse’s face. That was not discipline. It was conditioning.
“Stop.”
Xiao Yan froze.
Nurse Lu stepped forward with the medicine. “Your Majesty, His Majesty’s lessons—”
“I called the emperor. Not you.”
Her hands stopped in midair.
I spoke to Xiao Yan again. “Come here. Right up to me.”
This time he approached, very slowly, his footsteps almost soundless. At the bedside he knelt with perfect formality, pressing his forehead to the backs of his hands.
“Your son prays for Mother’s recovery.”
I looked at the cold tiles beneath his knees and pulled him to his feet.
He was so bony that holding him hurt my palm.
“Who told you to kneel?”
His face went white with fright. “Have I… have I done something wrong?”
“No.” I settled him on the edge of the bed. “I’m happy you came to see me. When we’re alone, you don’t need to kneel at every little thing.”
He stared, bewildered, as though he could not understand.
Nurse Lu finally brought the bowl over. “Your Majesty, it is time for your medicine. And Your Majesty should return to his books. Grand Tutor Ge will be arriving soon.”
I took the bowl and sniffed it without drinking.
“How long has the emperor been studying today?”
Nurse Lu smiled. “His Majesty is exceptionally gifted. He rises at the hour of the Hare and begins with the Classic of Filial Piety, then practices large characters for half an hour. In the afternoon he studies the Analects, and in the evening he reviews the policy essays explained by the Grand Tutor. A little hardship in childhood will prepare him to shoulder the realm.”
I looked at Xiao Yan. “When do you go to sleep?”
His lips moved. “At the hour of the Rat.”
“And when do you get up?”
“The hour of the Hare.”
Eight years old, sleeping fewer than eight hours a night, with someone watching him memorize books and practice his writing all day.
Back in the modern world, the neighbors would have cornered a parent like that in the hallway and given them an earful.
“From tonight on, lights out at nightfall. He gets up after sunrise.”
A crack appeared in Nurse Lu’s smile. “Your Majesty, when the late emperor was alive, he placed the greatest importance on His Majesty’s diligence. The Grand Tutor also says—”
“The late emperor studied diligently and worked himself ill by thirty-three, leaving an eight-year-old son and a treasury half empty.”
I set the medicine on the table. “Is that still the example you want him to follow?”
The hall fell so silent I could have heard a pin drop.
Nurse Lu turned ashen. “I would not dare.”
“Then do as I say.” I pointed to Xiao Yan. “From today on, he eats regularly and sleeps at night. Half of each day is for the study. The rest is for moving about, getting some sun, and discovering new things.”
“His Majesty rules over all his people. How can he indulge in play?”
“This eight-year-old ruler can start by finishing his meals.”
I rubbed Xiao Yan’s icy hands. “Are you hungry?”
He shook his head instinctively. His stomach betrayed him with a growl.
Nurse Lu’s expression darkened at once. “Your Majesty, a gentleman must guard his conduct even when alone. How can you behave so improperly before the Empress Dowager?”
I picked up the medicine and poured it straight into the spittoon.
“I have just come back from the dead. I cannot bear to listen to this nonsense.”
I turned to the head maid. “Have food brought in. A bowl of shredded-chicken congee, two small side dishes, and a plate of chestnut cakes. The emperor will eat with me.”
The maid stared, then answered loudly.
Nurse Lu tried to speak again. I leaned back against the cushions.
“Cining Palace has no shortage of servants, Nurse Lu. If you think my rules offend the late emperor’s, you are welcome to keep vigil over his coffin.”
“Do not stand here and tell me how to raise my child.”
She lowered her eyes, fingers tightening around her handkerchief, and finally withdrew.
Xiao Yan stole a look at me. There was fear in his eyes, but a little brightness too.
I broke a chestnut cake into small pieces and put them in his palm. Powdered sugar clung to his fingertips. He stared at it, as though he had touched something that was never meant to belong to him.
“Eat.”
He did not move.
“What is it now?”
“Nurse Lu says emperors shouldn’t eat sweets. They get in the way of studying.”
“Do you want to?”
He nodded, then quickly shook his head.
I popped a piece into his mouth.
His cheeks bulged. His eyes flew wide.
“Sweet?”
“Yes,” he mumbled.
“Remember how it tastes,” I told him. “If anyone ever makes you afraid even to say what you want to eat, come and tell me.”
2.
I spent three days recovering, and three days watching Cining Palace.
Outwardly, Nurse Lu never challenged me. She was patient and did whatever I said. The moment my back was turned, however, she steered Xiao Yan back into his old routine.
If I allowed him an hour of play in the afternoon, she brought a stack of cards inscribed with maxims for imperial self-examination. Sitting beside him with a sigh, she explained that he could memorize them while he played.
If I said not to push him too hard, she told him about the refugees in the north during dinner. His Majesty was letting his people down by taking so long over a meal.
Xiao Yan had begun to improve a little. After supper he would run to me and describe every cat, cloud, and ant he had seen that day. Then, halfway through, a soft cough from Nurse Lu would silence him.
That afternoon I had a low table moved into the covered walkway. I was going to teach him to put together a wooden puzzle.
He had only just laid down the first piece when Nurse Lu arrived with a bowl of soup.
“His Majesty has been feeling the cold lately. I have stewed chicken with ginseng and astragalus to build up his strength.”
Xiao Yan’s little face screwed up, but he accepted it.
A cloying sweetness reached my nose. I stopped him at once. “Wait.”
Nurse Lu smiled gently. “You need not worry, Your Majesty. The Imperial Kitchens supervised the cooking.”
“Bring a silver needle.”
Her expression changed. “Your Majesty suspects me?”
“I suspect anything being put into his mouth.”
The needle arrived quickly. Dipped into the soup, it did not change color.
Nurse Lu relaxed. Her lips had barely begun to move when I called a young eunuch over.
“Bring the list of every ingredient delivered from the Imperial Kitchens to Cining Palace today. And summon Eunuch Sun, who manages the storerooms.”
Nurse Lu stared at me. “The silver needle detected no poison, Your Majesty. Why make such a fuss?”
“A silver needle cannot detect everything.” I pointed to the soup. “You say His Majesty feels the cold. Why, then, is there so much deer antler and ginseng in this chicken soup? He has been sweating at night. The imperial physician’s prescription specifically says to avoid warming tonics. Does his nurse know better than his doctor?”
Xiao Yan set the bowl down in fright. “Nurse says I have to build up my strength so I won’t get sick.”
My face darkened.
Too many tonics might not kill him at once, but they could certainly give an already frail child a fever, sleepless nights, and nosebleeds. Nurse Lu could then blame his illness on playing too much, eating too freely, and insufficient discipline.
Eunuch Sun arrived with the list. By the time he reached the last page, sweat had broken out on his forehead.
“Your Majesty, the Imperial Kitchens received a basket of ‘earth pears’ this morning, a new food from the south. Nurse Lu said His Majesty liked them and took some for the soup.”
My heart sank. “Bring the rest.”
They had yellow skins and white flesh. Several had sprouted.
Not earth pears. Potatoes.
“Who ordered sprouted ones to be served?”
The eunuch in charge of stores dropped to his knees. “I did not know they were poisonous. The southern merchant said they kept well and could be eaten once the sprouts were cut away.”
“Send them to the Imperial Medical Academy for examination.” I turned to Nurse Lu. “And find out exactly who handled this soup and who watched it cook. Question every one of them.”
For the first time, genuine panic appeared in her eyes. “Your Majesty, I would never harm His Majesty!”
“I have not said you harmed him.”
She went rigid.
I stood. My body was still weak from the illness, but my voice was perfectly calm.
“You are the emperor’s nurse. The ingredients passed through your hands. You brought the soup yourself. You did not know whether sprouted food was safe. You did not know he was forbidden warming tonics. You did not know to ask his physician first.”
“What gives you the right to claim you act for his good?”
Nurse Lu shuffled forward on her knees. Tears came on command.
“I have served His Majesty for eight years. If I have ever had a selfish thought, may Heaven strike me dead!”
“Eight years?” I gave a short laugh. “Eight years to raise a child who checks your expression before facing anyone, who dares not say he is hungry and must endure his exhaustion. What devotion.”
She tried to protest. I gave her no chance.
“Guards. Lu has neglected the emperor’s care. Strip her of her position as nurse and take her to the Palace Tribunal for investigation. Question everyone in her household separately. Statements, movements, supplies requisitioned—I want it all examined.”
Nurse Lu jerked her head up. “Empress Dowager! The late emperor entrusted His Majesty to me himself!”
“He entrusted you with his child. Not his throne.”
Guards came in and dragged her away. She struggled violently, her kindly mask finally shattered.
She shrieked at Xiao Yan, “Your Majesty! Will you just watch the Empress Dowager frame me? I am your nurse!”
Xiao Yan was deathly pale, his fingers knotting the fabric of his robe.
I crouched in front of him. “Do you think I am falsely accusing her?”