Chapter 1

Synopsis

My father hanged himself, and the Marquis’s household was stripped of its property.

My grandmother asked Master Juekong to show our family a way to survive.

The master raised his hand and pointed at me.

“She has an unusual destiny. Find a way to send her into the palace.”

My mother was overjoyed. “Could Mingyue be destined to become Empress, ruling all under Heaven?”

Master Juekong was silent for a long time before answering slowly:

“She will be the person most cherished and beloved by the Emperor in this lifetime.”

Half a month later, my family set out for exile in Lingnan.

And I, only sixteen years old, was sent to Yiyou Court.

01

Master Juekong had been an old acquaintance of my grandmother’s.

Long ago, just before their wedding, he had abruptly and adamantly broken off the engagement to become a monk. It damaged my grandmother’s reputation, and she had no choice but to marry into the Marquis’s household as his second wife.

Master Juekong felt guilty and promised that whenever she needed him, he would grant her one request.

For decades, my grandmother managed the Marquis’s household while Master Juekong devoted himself to Buddhist practice. That promise was gradually buried by the passing years.

Until a month ago, when the Marquis’s household was implicated in a major corruption case. My father hanged himself in prison, and the rest of us were exiled to Lingnan.

My grandmother sent a letter to Jiming Temple. By dusk, Master Juekong had arrived.

My grandmother’s face was weary. “I’ve heard the master can perceive the secrets of Heaven. Please show our household a way to survive.”

Master Juekong was over sixty, yet his face was smooth and unlined.

He studied the people in the main hall. His gaze passed over my two elder brothers, then finally settled on me.

He said I would be the person most cherished and beloved by the Emperor in this lifetime.

My mother was beside herself with joy and hurried forward to ask, “Is Mingyue destined to be Empress? Or a Noble Consort?”

Master Juekong did not answer her. Before he left, he only said, “Go with the tide of events. Do not force what is not yours.”

My mother excitedly took my hand. “Mingyue, I knew it. You’re so beautiful—surely you were born for a reason.”

“Whether the Cheng family can regain its status, whether your two brothers have a future—all of it depends on you.”

I stared blankly at her. Even if we were exiled to Lingnan, as long as the family stayed together, we could still carry on.

But enter the palace?

As the daughter of a convicted official, the only place I could go was Yiyou Court.

I looked to my grandmother for help. She had always loved me most.

But she only said calmly, “You are a daughter of the Cheng family. You must shoulder this responsibility.”

Half a month later, the Cheng family set out for Lingnan.

And I entered Yiyou Court.

02

I spent half a year doing laundry at Yiyou Court. My hands, once used to playing the zither and practicing calligraphy, soaked in water day after day. Before long, they had grown rough and stiff.

I did not understand how a convicted official’s daughter like me could become the person most cherished and beloved by the Emperor in this lifetime.

I had not even seen His Majesty’s face.

Still, those six months were not entirely miserable.

My roommate, Wu Zhenzhu, was the daughter of a former Imperial Physician Director. She was two years older than I was, gentle and kind.

She often looked after me. She taught me to recognize medicinal herbs, make salves, and embroider sachets.

She made a foot ointment herself, then carefully rubbed it into my hands beneath the lamplight at night. Before long, the itching and burning pain disappeared.

She also taught me to apply angelica juice to my face. After half a day in the sun, red spots would appear on my skin.

“Mingyue,” she said, “a face like yours isn’t safe in the palace.”

We squeezed beneath the same quilt, dreaming that if we were ever allowed to leave the palace, she would open an herbal shop and I would help her manage it.

But two days later, Wu Zhenzhu was dead.

That morning, she had still been smiling as she delivered charcoal to Consort Chun at Zhongcui Palace. She reminded me to save her a plate of fried spring rolls. But when she returned, she was a cold corpse, covered in blood.

She had been given fifty strokes at Zhongcui Palace and beaten to death.

The palace maid who brought her back only muttered, “She tried to seduce His Majesty. Her Highness caught her.”

Zhenzhu was wrapped in a grass mat and carried out through the back gate. I had no idea where she would be buried.

I said numbly to the head matron, “Zhenzhu wouldn’t seduce His Majesty. She was always looking forward to the day she’d be pardoned and allowed to leave the palace.”

The head matron’s face immediately went pale. “How dare you gossip about a noble! Do you have a death wish?”

“Be careful. If a noble wants you beaten to death, it’s no different from crushing an ant.”

03

Unexpectedly, the next day Consort Chun came to Yiyou Court in person.

She wanted to choose a maid to serve her by washing her feet.

Consort Chun had once been a wine seller’s daughter whom the Emperor met in Jiangnan. After she was brought into the palace, people constantly mocked her low birth. Even after bearing a prince and being made a consort, she was still looked down on by noblewomen from distinguished families.

So she wanted to choose the daughter of a high-ranking official to wash her feet.

In the courtyard, we knelt in a long row.

At last, a pair of deep-red embroidered shoes with phoenix-beak tips stopped in front of me. Two large pearls were set on them.

“Cheng Mingyue, legitimate eldest daughter of the Marquis of Dingyuan?”

A cold nail guard lifted my chin, forcing me to look up. Before me stood a woman in palace dress, her head adorned with jewels, her face beautiful and innocent.

Consort Chun’s lips curled in a contemptuous smile. “Your father was a high-ranking official. You’ll do.”

I lowered my eyes and kowtowed in thanks.