How had things come to this?
In the blink of an eye, the man before her was gone— replaced by the sound of Caiwei’s footsteps approaching.
“Your Majesty, it’s time to rest. You should sleep in the front room tonight, the air by the bamboo grove is too damp… Huh? What happened to your lips?”
Meng Guqing pressed her lips together, annoyed. “Just now, a wild cat came out of nowhere and scratched me. You scared it off when you came.”
“A wild cat? Could it be Consort Shu’s white one? Really, some people can’t even watch their pets. Running around scratching others in the rain! Next time I see it, I’ll kill it. Any cat that claws people isn’t a good one.”
“Exactly. Next time I see it, I’ll kill it myself…”
Their voices faded into the distance. From the shadows, a figure emerged silently, eyes dark as ink fixed on her retreating silhouette swallowed by rain. Through the narrow crack of the door, a thin shaft of light fell upon the faint curve of his lips, thinking of something entirely different. She truly didn’t know martial arts; there was no such thing as some mystical “qi technique” that repelled water. The real reason he appeared bone-dry before her was simply that he had arrived long before the rain began at noon.
When Meng Guqing woke the next morning, she had already put the forced kiss behind her because there were more important things to handle.
Fusang, seeing her sitting up pale-faced in bed, grew worried. “Your Majesty, are you ill? I’ll fetch the Imperial Physician right away.”
Meng Guqing’s head was spinning slightly, but she stopped her. “No other physicians. Call for Physician Liu.”
Fusang didn’t understand. Physician Liu was skilled, yes but he specialized in treating children. The Eldest Prince’s plump health was thanks to him, but he wasn’t known for curing chills. Still, the Empress must have her reasons. Soon, Imperial Physician Liu arrived, faster than most dared approach Fengyi Palace these days.
He took her pulse. “It’s nothing serious, just a slight chill. A dose or two of dispersing herbs will do.” He wrote a prescription and was about to leave when the Empress stopped him.
She took out a small green porcelain vial and handed it over calmly. “Physician Liu, this is a tonic I often take. My palace is short on medicine, please have some more of this prepared for me.”
Physician Liu accepted the bottle, poured out a single pill, and sniffed it. His expression changed slightly, but he pocketed it and bowed himself out.
Meng Guqing watched him leave, her expression serene. By nightfall at the latest, the Emperor would know the name and use of that medicine. Only one person’s reaction truly mattered.
Noble Consort Xu… don’t let me down.
Her timing had been a bit early. By late afternoon, the rain stopped; sunlight pierced the clouds, gilding the wet earth. The air was fresh and clear, the world reborn in green. But the light was already fading, soon the sun slipped toward the west.
Meng Guqing ordered the windows opened for air and sat at her desk with a book. Then came hurried footsteps, and Fusang rushed in to kneel. Before she could speak, it was followed by a man’s voice, low and sharp: “Leave us.”
Fusang stayed kneeling, not daring to move. Meng Guqing was afraid she’d really anger the emperor and lose her life, so she quickly said, “Go brew a pot of good tea. Come in when I call for you and close the door.”
At last, only the two of them remained in the room. It was her private chamber, the place where they’d spent the most time together. Facing the young emperor, who had come here in anger, Meng Guqing felt uneasy, not knowing how to respond, so she stayed silent. It was he who broke the quiet. “Mingzhu’er, I’m so tired.”
Even now, he still called her by that name, just as he always had. Meng Guqing couldn’t ignore the hand he extended toward her. She went over quietly and took it. He pulled her into his arms, his voice low and hoarse at her ear.
“Actually, I’ve long known what medicine you’ve been taking. I’m with you every day. Every time we finish… I never fall asleep right away. I was curious, so I secretly hid two pills and gave them to an imperial physician to examine. You don’t want children, I know. I just didn’t understand why… until now.”
So, in the face of absolute honesty, every scheme became meaningless. She used to mock Noble Consort Xu for having that servant with sores deliver her fruit, calling it disgusting. But now, what about herself? Meng Guqing felt a true pang of guilt for the first time.
“I was just too tired,” she said softly. “And I know you’re tired too. From the very beginning, we weren’t suited for each other. Things have become what they are now, and… I’m sorry.”
“Empress, are you leaving me?”
They both knew the answer, but the desolation in his tone made her unable to say it. “No. I’m only… stepping aside, to make things better.”
Zhao Donglin knew she was trying to soothe him. When she was his Empress, she never gave him her true heart. Once she no longer held that title, knowing her temperament, she would never look back. When he first entered, he had been so furious he wanted to destroy everything. She wanted to leave him and to do so, she had even exposed a secret he’d hidden painfully deep inside himself. Did she ever care for him at all? How could she be so cruel?
Yet the moment he touched her, amid all the pain, there was still that lingering tenderness. Even betrayed like this, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt her, couldn’t even bear to speak harshly. He thought bitterly: I’m hopeless.
She was right. Clinging on, refusing to accept, what was the point? So exhausting. Why keep fighting alone?
Zhao Donglin held the Empress tightly, so tightly she thought he might crush her into his body. After a long moment, she felt the fabric on her shoulder grow damp. The man buried in her shoulder finally lifted his head. His reddened eyes fixed on hers as he said, “Empress, if this is what you want, I’ll grant it.”
The tightly shut doors opened. The palace maids outside held their breath, expecting a fierce quarrel, but none came. They only saw the emperor stride out of Fengyi Palace, leaving behind the Empress who, for the first time, performed a formal bow to send him off.
Everyone looked at one another, stunned. Meng Guqing merely stood up and smiled faintly. “Caiwei, Fusang,” she said, “pack our things. We’ll be moving soon.”
On the twentieth day of the eighth month, the thirteenth year of Jingtai, five days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Emperor Zhao Donglin of Wu finally issued the edict deposing the Empress.
There were seven charges in total. Yet if one looked closely, none were truly serious.
“Monopolizing the emperor’s affection”? The emperor wasn’t a corpse; if he didn’t wish to visit others, how could she monopolize him?
“Extravagance and waste”? She’d come with a rich dowry, how she spent it was her business. Even if she liked tearing silk ribbons apart like Xia Jie’s consort Moxi of the Xia Dynasty, that was still her own property.
As for the rest—mere trifles.
The so-called deposition edict was almost laughably gentle. The court thought so; even the harem felt sour. So tender, even in deposing her, the emperor really does dote on her.
Still, once fallen, one seldom rises again. They weren’t dead, after all, Meng Guqing was now past tense, and none intended to give her another chance.
Meng Guqing thought the same. If one is only a passerby, one should pass by properly, no more entanglement.
Yet even holding the decree in her hands, she couldn’t stay calm. Because before he left that day, Zhao Donglin had whispered in her ear that he would never let her go. Surely he didn’t mean… even deposed, she’d still be kept in the capital? Would he really refuse when her father came to fetch her?
The thought made her uneasy. Even after being moved to the Imperial Park next to the harem, away from the crowd, she couldn’t feel happy.
Another autumn came. All the bustle of summer had faded. The small courtyard in the Imperial Park was newly built earlier that year, tiny, but complete. For her and her two maids, it was more than enough.
When Fusang first received the decree deposing the Empress, she thought the sky was falling. Yet what followed puzzled everyone. Instead of banishment to the desolate Cold Palace, Her Niang Niang had even volunteered to move to the temple at the foot of Baima Mountain to chant for the empire, the Empress Dowager, and the emperor. The emperor refused and instead relocated them here, to the Imperial Park, with the same provisions as before.
Oh yes, she was no longer Empress, but Consort Jing. A concubine in title, but treated with the Empress’s honors. The emperor truly wasn’t heartless.
Though there were fewer servants than in Fengyi Palace, the cleaning and laundry were still properly managed. Life was quiet. They spent their days idly swatting mosquitoes. As autumn deepened and the insects vanished, Fusang thought: Isn’t this peaceful life exactly what Her Niang Niang always wanted? Why does she seem so downcast now?
Meng Guqing merely glanced at the withering phoenix trees outside and gave Fusang a look that said, You wouldn’t understand.
Because even Fusang didn’t know everything, like that unexpected kiss, the day before the edict came.
She had been furious then, secretly swearing that if she ever saw Xiao Shuo again, she wouldn’t speak a single word to him. And she kept her word.
The night they moved into the Imperial Park, the two maids were fretting over how to arrange the mountain of belongings brought from Fengyi Palace. While Meng Guqing inspected the new quarters, he silently climbed in through the window.
She shot him a glare and turned away, pretending not to see. He was as thick-skinned as ever, seemingly oblivious to his unwelcomeness. Wherever she went, he followed. Within a quarter hour, he had accompanied her on a full circuit of the back courtyard.
Meng Guqing could endure a lot; if she said she wouldn’t speak, she truly didn’t. But he lingered like a door god. The moment she stopped talking, he refused to leave. Later, when Caiwei came in to ask how she wished to arrange her bedroom, he gave that familiar, unsettling smile and reached for the door first.
Startled, Meng Guqing hurried to press his hand down, blocking him at the doorway. He only stared at their overlapping hands, and when she finally dismissed Caiwei, he gave a cold snort.
“So you don’t think I’m air anymore?”
She suddenly realized, with his martial skill, if he truly wanted to go inside, she couldn’t stop him. He’d been teasing her. But this time teasing could easily turn into something real.
Helpless, she said, “What exactly does Shizi intend to do? We still have some… acquaintance, don’t we? What good would it do you to get me killed?”
“How am I ‘getting you killed’?” He frowned at her wording. “And what do you mean, some acquaintance?”
Since they’d known each other, he’d helped her more than once, never asking for reward. To call that “some acquaintance” was unfair. But as for her first question, she stood by it.
“Even if I’m a deposed Empress, I’m still Consort Jing of Wu. If people find out a man’s coming in and out of my quarters, how could that end well for me?”
Given the times, with all the strict expectations on women and her still delicate standing, it really would hand her enemies the perfect excuse.
But he latched onto one thing she’d said. “So you still think of yourself as Zhao Donglin’s consort?”
Seeing the misunderstanding, Meng Guqing hastily explained, “That’s not what I meant.” She wasn’t pining for old love. She’d finally escaped; no matter what, she wouldn’t go back.
“Then there’s no problem,” he said, lips curving into a rare smile.
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Even if you still see yourself as his consort, it doesn’t matter. You’re with me now. Sooner or later, this place will hold only me.”
He tapped her chest twice as he spoke. Meng Guqing felt like lightning struck her. W–what? What does that mean—‘with him’? Since when?
Flustered, she sputtered, “When did I ever get ‘with you’? I don’t remember that!”
Xiao Shuo calmly pointed at his own lips. “I’ve never kissed anyone before. You think you can just play dumb?”
Meng Guqing was speechless, on the verge of tears. He was infamous for being cold and ruthless who knew he could also be so domineering and shameless?
He was right, she had been planning to play dumb. But the moment he gave her that cool, cutting smile, she couldn’t even utter a single word of denial.
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