Chapter 3

Now that I no longer hoped for him, he began coming to the side courtyard often.

I replied, “This concubine has surrendered the phoenix seal. The Six Palaces are now managed by Consort Gu.”

I neatly stacked my sutra pages. “Who receives favor and who is neglected—those are no longer matters for this concubine to manage.”

Pei Yan suddenly stood and gripped my hand tightly. “I only asked Yunshu to share the burden with you.” His knuckles pressed down until the back of my hand hurt. His voice lowered. “I never told you to abandon everything completely!”

I looked up at him. “Besides, I wasn’t exactly fair before.”

His brows knitted together. “What do you mean?”

I said, “At least in Your Majesty’s eyes, this concubine was always harsh toward Consort Gu.”

He laughed in anger and flung my hand away. “When did I ever say that? Gu Wanning, you’ve become quite sharp-tongued lately.”

I asked calmly, “Has Your Majesty truly forgotten?” I pulled my hand from his palm. “It was when Elder Sister fell in the imperial garden.”

8

It happened not long after Gu Yunshu entered the palace.

Pei Yan gave her authority to assist in managing the Six Palaces. He told me, “Yunshu was the legitimate daughter from childhood and knows these rules well. Let her help you. It will ease your burden.”

A few days later, I discovered that the eunuchs at Zhaohua Palace had been skimming the monthly allowances of the lower-ranking palace servants. So I brought the ledger over to question her.

Elder Sister’s expression changed as she read it.

She didn’t explain. Instead, she picked up her teacup and smashed it on the floor at her feet, then kept backing away until her waist struck the jade railing.

She fell to the ground. Tears appeared at once. “If Little Sister can’t stand me, she could just say so. Why push me with her own hands?”

Before I could speak, Pei Yan strode in.

The palace attendants in the courtyard all fell to their knees. “Your Majesty, save Consort Gu! The Empress pushed Her Ladyship down!”

I pointed to the broken porcelain and looked straight at Pei Yan. “I never touched her. Everyone outside the door saw it. She backed into the railing herself.”

Pei Yan’s gaze moved between us. In the end, he passed right by me and pulled Elder Sister into his arms.

He turned and rebuked me harshly. “Wanning, Yunshu is pregnant. How far do you intend to push her?”

I stood there, stunned.

I had thought he would at least hear me out first.

My voice trembled. “Your Majesty didn’t even ask a single question.” My throat was so tight it burned, but I pressed on. “You’ve already decided I did it?”

He answered coldly, “If you hadn’t used the ledger to pressure her, why would she have fallen?” Then he pressed me further: “Would she risk her own life?”

He ordered me to kneel for two full hours outside Zhaohua Palace.

The stone steps were freezing. Before long, it began to rain.

Rainwater struck my eyes, stinging and burning.

Through the palace doors, I heard Pei Yan gently comfort Elder Sister. “The imperial physician will be here soon. Don’t be afraid, Yunshu…”

I knelt outside, chilled to the bone. He stayed inside the doors for the child in another woman’s womb.

Qiu He stood in the rain, pleading for me. From inside came only his cold, hard reply: “The time isn’t up. Anyone who pleads for her will be punished alongside her.”

Only later did I learn that I had been pregnant then.

Perhaps the rain had seeped cold into my bones. My health was ruined, and in the end, I lost the child.

My thoughts returned to the present. Pei Yan still stood in the side courtyard, his face now deathly pale.

I smiled faintly. “Has Your Majesty not always been like this?”

I looked at him. “When Gu Yunshu sheds a tear, I’m automatically at fault. When I present evidence, it becomes an excuse.”

His expression darkened. “I never said you were harsh to Yunshu.”

I turned my gaze away. “Your Majesty didn’t have to say it.” I looked at the steps outside, still wet with the night dew. “But what you did that day proved everything, didn’t it?”

He stared at me, then suddenly kicked over the stool beside him.

It struck a wooden pillar and shattered at once. He turned and left.

Qiu He came in to clean up the mess and advised softly, “Your Majesty, the Imperial Household Department is skilled at reading the wind. If you refuse to yield to His Majesty, I fear life will become difficult.”

I looked at the candlelight and remembered the night I miscarried.

Qiu He had run through all Six Palaces, yet couldn’t find a single imperial physician willing to come.

Zhaohua Palace had been brightly lit. Pei Yan stayed with Elder Sister and refused even to see the person I sent to beg for help.

9

Half a month later, Gu Yunshu oversaw the monthly allotments to the palaces for the first time.

She kept the finest tribute brocade for her own palace and distributed old bolts of cloth that had been stored for years to the lower-ranking consorts.

When the palace maids came to collect the allotments and saw that the good fabric had all been taken to Zhaohua Palace, they argued at the storeroom door.

Consort De was furious. She led a group to Zhaohua Palace to demand an explanation.

The matter grew so serious that Pei Yan had no choice but to send for me.