Chapter 10

The winding Imperial Garden was quiet. I saw Lu Zhaozhao in a brilliant red dress standing outside a pavilion, facing Zhao Yining, whose smile was gentle.

I slipped behind a decorative rock, but their conversation still carried clearly to me.

Zhao Yining spoke softly. “Elder Sister Virtuous Consort, have you heard? His Majesty threw the memorial requesting that Cheng Mingyue be made a Beauty right in the face of Chief Palace Attendant Li. He even demanded to know how many heads she had to dare insult her like that.”

Lu Zhaozhao did not respond.

Zhao Yining continued without minding. “A disgraced official’s daughter, without title or status, has now been granted residence in Jingren Palace, where the Empress Dowager once lived. Her clothes and provisions exceed the regulations. Don’t you find it laughable?”

“She did give birth to a princess, but the little princess is His Majesty’s first child. I hear that when the little princess wakes at night to nurse, even His Majesty has to get up.”

“She does not even have to pay her respects to the Empress and Empress Dowager.”

Only after a long pause did Lu Zhaozhao reply. “She once helped His Majesty when he was in the Cold Palace.”

“Still, she can’t appear before the world openly and properly. Just keep her in the palace.”

My whole body turned cold. I slid slowly down the rock face and sat on the ground.

Zhao Yining gave a soft laugh. “You’re very generous, Elder Sister. The position of Consort Shu, first among the Four Consorts, is still vacant. Aren’t you afraid someone will climb over your head one day?”

Lu Zhaozhao was losing patience. “If you want to fight for something, go fight for it yourself. I’m not interested.”

I waited until the two of them had gone far away before bracing myself against the rock and slowly returning to Jingren Palace.

Zhao Yining was sharp-tongued, but her words proved that Zhou Hui still cared about me. It was Lu Zhaozhao’s indifference that was the most truthful—and the cruelest.

She represented both the court and the harem, embodying the most direct contempt for the “love and cherishing” I had treasured: Just keep her in the palace.

28

That evening, after Lingzhi carried the sleeping Wangshu away, I quietly asked Zhou Hui, “Has the court settled down? Can we begin investigating the Cheng family case?”

I had brought it up just after he ascended the throne, but the court was in too much turmoil then, and Zhou Hui had told me to wait.

It seemed that ever since I left the Cold Palace, I had done nothing but wait.

“If Father truly was guilty, I would have nothing to say. But there were many suspicious details in the case.”

Zhou Hui hesitated briefly. “I can pardon the Cheng family and bring everyone back to the capital. Your elder brothers and younger brother could also enter official service again.”

I shook my head. “Those are not the same thing.”

“One is clearing the names of people who suffered a wrongful accusation.”

“The other is granting an exception for the sake of a woman in the harem.”

“People will say I bewitched the ruler with my beauty, that you were blinded by desire. Then the Cheng family couldn’t stand firm even if they returned to the capital.”

“Even if the evidence eventually proved that the Cheng family’s crimes were real, it would still be better for them to remain in Lingnan forever than for you to force a favor on my behalf.”

It had been a long time since I had spoken so firmly to Zhou Hui.

He was silent for a moment. “All right. I’ll order the Court of Judicial Review to investigate.”

The case had been closed ten years ago, and almost all the Ministry of Revenue officials had changed.

I knew the investigation would be difficult, but at least this was clear, with right and wrong delineated. It was not like love, where the truth was hard to discern and people’s hearts wavered without resolution.

I kept Wangshu by my side and tried not to leave Jingren Palace, waiting intently for news of the case.

For more than half of every month, Zhou Hui stayed overnight at Jingren Palace. When the bright moon hung high and the palace gates were closed, he and I would gently soothe Wangshu to sleep, then lie together beneath the same quilt as though nothing had ever changed.

29

I waited another three months.

One day, Lingzhi secretly told me that the Emperor and Empress had had a terrible argument at Yikun Palace, then gone together to the Empress Dowager’s Cining Palace to continue fighting.

That evening, Zhou Hui came with an exhausted expression and told me the Cheng family case had to stop here.

I asked him why.

He held me, weariness thick in his voice. “Too many people are implicated. Elder Sister, I’m tired.”

I let him hold me without moving.

I did not tell him that three days earlier, I had gone for a walk in the Imperial Garden and met Pei Zhuo, Vice Director of the Court of Judicial Review.

The first thing Pei Zhuo said when he saw me was, “Mingyue, I’m sorry.”

Before the Marquis’s household fell, Pei Zhuo and I had been engaged. We had met at a spring banquet, and once arranged to go see the Lantern Festival together.

After the disaster, a letter ending the engagement arrived at once.

There was no point bringing it up now. At the time, he had only been a teenager.

I went to see him because he was leading the investigation into the Cheng family case.

He told me the trail had led to the Ministry of Revenue’s Vice Minister at the time—the same Minister Chen who now served as Minister of Revenue.

Every sign suggested that Father may have been made to take the blame for Minister Chen, then silenced in prison.

Yet at the crucial moment, the Court of Judicial Review suddenly received an order to withdraw all its people. All the files and evidence gathered were sealed away.