Chapter 7

Merchants traveling back and forth sometimes spoke of the court’s troubles. They said there was unrest both inside and outside the palace. Some even quietly wondered whether Great Sheng was on the verge of a new order.

When our daughter was three, my sister was deposed as Empress and demoted to Consort Li.

She was too young to understand. She looked up at me and asked, “Aunt… why won’t Uncle let Auntie be Empress anymore?”

I stroked her back.

“Uncle says your aunt is jealous and not virtuous enough.”

Mother rarely wrote me such a long letter, but this time she did, telling me how hard my sister’s life had become.

“She was proud from childhood. Now she’s been deposed and has to bow to other people. Isn’t that as good as killing her?”

In this life, the Noble Consort was still the Noble Consort. The only difference was that there was no Empress above her to keep her in check.

Mother said my sister had never done anything truly wicked. She was only a little foolish, a little extravagant, a little bad-tempered, and not capable of managing the imperial harem.

For that alone, Xiao Chengjun had deposed her.

My sister wept day and night inside the palace. Mother wanted me to return to the capital and help her.

Father was pushed aside at court, and people who had once been close to Mother now treated her coldly.

After Shen Yan read the letter, he asked if I wanted to go back.

I shook my head.

If I went, I would only be one more person suffering there.

By then, my pregnancy was already showing, and our daughter was asleep in bed.

Looking at her peaceful sleeping face, my heart did not stir.

I had a family of my own now.

12

Over ten years, Shen Yan and I had two sons and a daughter.

We had agreed long ago that our eldest daughter would find a husband to marry into our family and inherit the business. If our sons wanted to become officials, they could study; if they wanted to go into business, they could learn from us.

Each of our three children should be free to choose their own lives.

As for Xiao Chengjun, ten years later he had become Prince of Ren.

Two years earlier, he had yielded the throne to Prince Yong. The new Emperor praised him for his benevolence and bestowed the title “Ren” upon him.

It was said that after abdicating, Xiao Chengjun had asked only for Liangzhou as his fief. The new Emperor could not bear to send his own elder brother far away, and insisted he remain in the capital to enjoy his honors and riches.

The Noble Consort of my previous life became Consort Shu to the new Emperor, while the chancellor’s daughter was made Princess Consort of Ren.

As for my sister, rumors mentioned her only now and then.

The new dynasty had just been established, and everything required money. The treasury was painfully short.

As in my previous life, Shen Yan donated half of his fortune.

The new Emperor not only granted him a special exemption to take the civil service examinations, but also ordered revisions to the laws that governed women choosing husbands to marry into their families.

From now on, perhaps more women would be able to welcome their husbands into their own households.

At thirty-six, Shen Yan placed first in the palace examinations. Our two sons placed second and third in the same examination.

Three successful candidates from one family, all students of the Son of Heaven—it caused a sensation throughout the capital.

The people praised the new Emperor for looking beyond family status and truly valuing talent.

After Shen Yan became an official, I accompanied him to a palace banquet. To my surprise, I met my sister there.

She, too, had become one of the new Emperor’s consorts.

My sister was still very beautiful. But in the imperial garden, among a hundred blossoms, even the most dazzling crabapple was no longer the only one.

As Prince of Ren, Xiao Chengjun sat below the new Emperor.

He had aged considerably. The confidence of the Crown Prince he had once been was gone from his face.

When I left the banquet to get some air in the corridor, Xiao Chengjun followed.

When he saw me instinctively step away, he gave a bitter smile.

“Someone is always with me now. You don’t need to be wary of me.”

People were never careless around a former Emperor who had been forced from the throne.

Under the moonlight, he looked at me for a long time, then sighed softly.

“In my previous life, you were only thirty, yet you already had fine lines at the corners of your eyes. Shen Yan treats you well in this life, doesn’t he?”

In my previous life, there had been something to worry about every single day.

Even after I became Empress, I rarely had a moment’s peace.

That was precisely why the harem had always remained calm.

“Shen Yan treats me very well. I no longer neglect myself, either.”

Xiao Chengjun stared at me for a moment.

“I thought you would resent how badly I treated you in our previous life.”

“I told you long ago. I don’t resent you.”

He was not irredeemably wicked. He had simply failed to fulfill his role as Emperor. Since I had married him, I had taken on those burdens for him.

Then he spoke of my sister.

“Mingzhu and I have been apart for ten years.”

“She’s too foolish and too selfish. She’s nothing like you.”

“You married me, so you should have given me the honor I deserved.”

My sister stepped out from behind the side door, her expression cold.

“That year, to suppress the factions of the Noble Consort and the Virtuous Consort, you deposed me as Empress. You thought the realm would be peaceful after that.”

“But the people who truly refused to accept you were not angry about a deposed Empress. They rejected you, the deposed Emperor.”

More than ten years inside the palace had taught my sister a few things.

That was hardly surprising.

After all, we were sisters born of the same mother. If our parents had not spoiled her from childhood, she might not have stayed so foolish and arrogant for so long.

The moment he saw her, Xiao Chengjun could no longer hold back his anger.

“You were extravagant and willful. If only you had shown more restraint and generosity…”

My sister shot back at once.

“If you’d truly been capable, you would have been a Crown Prince strong enough to shoulder your own burdens. Then I wouldn’t have had to endure things, yield to others, or rely on taking concubines to stabilize the realm. You’re the one who was incompetent!”

They quickly fell into another bitter argument, neither willing to give way.

While they were distracted, I returned to the palace banquet.

Moonlight illuminated the palace path, and the past had taken a different course.

Shen Yan had been waiting for me in the corridor for a long time.

“The night wind is cold. Don’t catch a chill.”

He took off his cloak and carefully wrapped it around my shoulders.

The argument continued behind us, then faded into the night wind.

Those old grievances had long since ceased to have anything to do with me.

This time, I had truly lived a life of my own.

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