Chapter 4

As soon as I entered, Elder Sister covered her face with a handkerchief and began to cry. “Little Sister, please help me persuade them.

“You used to know all the affairs of the Six Palaces so well. I’ve only just taken over, and I’ve already upset all the other consorts.”

I took the storeroom ledger that had just been delivered to the hall and checked the entry and exit records from the beginning.

Two days earlier, someone from Zhaohua Palace had transferred two chests of the finest Yanluo silk without permission, claiming it was for autumn clothes for the palace maids.

The Imperial Household Department feared her favor and no one dared stop her.

I laid out the ledger before her and said first, “It’s not that I don’t want to help.”

Then I pointed to the vermilion mark beside the entry. “The Imperial Household Department follows rules for issuing goods. There is no authorization for these two chests of Yanluo silk, so the debt cannot be written off.”

I pushed the brush toward her. “Since Consort Gu has accepted the imperial appointment, please sign your name and take responsibility, so the Imperial Household Department can reconcile its books.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She turned to Pei Yan. “Your Majesty, why must Little Sister force me into such a position? It’s only a few bolts of cloth…”

I closed the ledger. “I’m not forcing Consort Gu. She chose to take charge of the Six Palaces herself.”

“The rules are right here. Either Consort Gu signs, or she returns what is missing from the storeroom.”

I tapped the page. “This isn’t a minor matter that can be waved away with a single sentence.”

Pei Yan scolded me with a dark expression. “Wanning, why must you be so calculating? Yunshu doesn’t understand these things yet. You could stay and teach her. Must you humiliate her in front of everyone?”

I placed the imperial appointment edict back in its box and pushed it toward him. “The harem’s expenses have fixed limits. If two chests of tribute silk can be diverted privately today, tomorrow someone will dare touch the money in the storeroom.”

I met his eyes without looking away. “Then, Your Majesty, please revoke your order that I assist her.”

I pressed the blank authorization slip beneath the ledger and bowed. “This concubine has no authority to apply the seal, nor will I pay out of pocket to cover Consort Gu’s shortfall. I cannot help with this.”

With that, I left Zhaohua Palace, ignoring the sobbing behind me.

10

By the time of the Mid-Autumn palace banquet, the weather had turned cold.

The Empress Dowager issued a special decree saying that the Empress must attend the reunion feast.

I could no longer refuse. I changed into formal robes and went to the main hall.

The hall had been filled with music and chatter, but the moment I entered, the sound dimmed.

Eyes drifted toward me throughout the banquet. Everyone was waiting to watch the disgraced Empress make a fool of herself.

Pei Yan sat on the imperial dais. Gu Yunshu sat close beside him, in the seat below on his left.

After a dance ended, he suddenly ordered an eunuch to bring him a brocade box. He personally took out a phoenix-carved buyao hairpin and set it in Elder Sister’s hair.

He admired it with a smile. “My beloved consort’s dress today matches this hairpin perfectly.”

Then he looked toward everyone and announced, “The Mid-Autumn allotments for the palaces will be managed by Consort Gu on my behalf.”

Everyone understood: he was humiliating me in public.

By regulation, only the Empress could wear a phoenix-carved buyao. More ridiculous still, Pei Yan had designed it himself, and personally chosen the jade.

He had once told me that I was the only one in the world worthy of it.

No one at the banquet dared comment, but every averted gaze knew this reward had gone beyond the rules.

Now the buyao swayed in Elder Sister’s hair, dazzling beneath the lanterns.

I didn’t make a scene. I simply lifted the teacup before me and took a sip.

The tea had long gone cold.

After the banquet ended, I returned to the side courtyard. I hadn’t even changed out of my outer robe before sitting alone before the candle.

A feast named for reunion had brought no one together.

The door suddenly swung open, and cold wind rushed into the room.

Pei Yan strode in with a dark expression. He came straight to me and seized my wrist. “You clearly wanted that buyao more than anything before. Why didn’t you even look at it tonight?”

I tried to pull my hand free. “It’s only a worldly possession. If Consort Gu likes it, let her have it. Your Majesty may give whatever you wish to whomever you please.”

He refused to let go and repeated through gritted teeth, “A worldly possession?” Then he pressed me. “What about me? In your eyes, am I also just some insignificant worldly possession?”

I countered, “Has Your Majesty not already chosen the answer for me?”

His brow twitched. “What do you mean?”

I looked up at him. “Your Majesty has already given Elder Sister everything you could.”

I rubbed the bone of my wrist where his grip had hurt. “The phoenix seal, the buyao, your favor—even the physicians who should have saved my life on the night I miscarried all went to her. Your Majesty pushed me to this point, step by step. Why ask now what you mean to me?”

I looked deep into his eyes and told him clearly, word by word, “Your Majesty no longer means anything to me.”

Pei Yan looked as if I had stabbed him. He staggered back a step and stared at me, unable to say another word.

11