When Zhou Liu-lang rushed over upon hearing the news, he saw only his mother’s carriage pulling away. He hurriedly turned back and ran inside.
“What on earth happened?”
He strode straight through the door and asked.
But inside the room were only two young maids cleaning up, and they were startled when Zhou Liu-lang burst in.
“Where is she?” Zhou Liu-lang demanded.
“Miss and Ban Qin went out,” one of the maids replied.
Went out?
Running off again!
Zhou Liu-lang frowned in exasperation and turned around.
“Where did they go?” he asked, though he knew asking was useless – the servants never dared inquire into that girl’s affairs. If no one asked, she naturally would not volunteer anything.
“To the winery outside the city,” the maid answered.
Zhou Liu-lang’s steps faltered slightly.
What was that girl doing, changing her mind again and again!
Right. She must have said it on purpose for him to hear, surely?
Zhou Liu-lang bounded out the door and down the steps in just a few strides. Grinning broadly, he strode off, leaving the two young maids staring after him in mild astonishment.
“What?”
Meanwhile, the Emperor also received the news and immediately frowned.
“Th–this won’t do at all!”
“Your Majesty, Madam Zhou has already entered the palace,” the eunuch whispered.
The Emperor set down the memorial he was reading.
“Your Majesty, should we go over there?” the eunuch asked hastily.
…
In the Empress Dowager’s palace, Madam Zhou rose after completing the full ceremonial bow.
“I summoned you today to speak about Cheng Jiao-niang’s marriage,” the Empress Dowager said bluntly, dispensing with courtesy – there was no need for it.
Madam Zhou promptly answered.
“Yes, thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern,” she said, though the hands resting on her knees trembled slightly.
As a low-ranking noblewoman, she was always placed at the very end of the line during New Year or seasonal court greetings. This was the first time she had ever been this close to the Empress Dowager. She had once imagined that if she ever had the honor of being granted an audience, she would be overwhelmed with excitement and nerves.
But reality was completely different. She was nervous, yes – but not because of the most exalted woman in the empire sitting before her.
“If I didn’t keep an eye on things, how could it work? Just look at these children – their courage is really something. What a mess they’ve made,” the Empress Dowager said.
Yes, yes – this girl truly was…
Madam Zhou nodded repeatedly in agreement.
“I am at fault,” she said, bowing with a trembling voice.
“It’s not really a matter of fault or not. One could even call it fate,” the Imperial Consort said with a smile. “They wouldn’t have known each other if they hadn’t quarreled. Even mischief has its own threads of destiny. And now, hasn’t the young master of the Gao family taken a liking to your Jiao-niang? If this marriage comes to pass, it would be quite a delightful story.”
“Yes, let these two troublesome children be put together. Better that than letting them wreak havoc elsewhere,” the Empress Dowager said.
“Your Majesty, this isn’t havoc – it’s a perfect match,” the Imperial Consort said, still smiling.
They spoke cheerfully, then turned and saw Madam Zhou still sitting with her head bowed, silent and trembling ever so slightly.
Such narrow, timid bearing – clearly someone unused to court.
The Empress Dowager frowned in displeasure.
The Imperial Consort, however, only gave a small, knowing smile.
“Madam Zhou, what do you think?” the Empress Dowager asked, her expression darkening.
I don’t think it’s good at all. I don’t want to know what will happen. This has nothing to do with me in the first place!
Madam Zhou screamed inwardly.
What should she do? What should she say?
Refuse the Empress Dowager? That would be an act of shocking audacity – tantamount to rejecting an imperial order.
But accept?
They had dragged her into the palace, even breaking Second Madam Cheng’s leg just to force her to come – obviously not for the purpose of asking her opinion on this matter.
Second Madam Cheng’s leg was already broken. If she did not act according to that girl’s will, then her own consequences would surely be far worse than a broken leg.
Refusing an imperial decree and offending the Empress Dowager would not necessarily cost her life – at worst, she could flee the capital and return to her ancestral home.
But if she offended that girl… she feared she would not escape with her life!
“Your Ladyship, in reply… this marriage, I fear, will not do,” Madam Zhou said, bowing, her voice trembling.
Not do?
The Empress Dowager paused in surprise, while the Imperial Consort wore an expression of as expected.
Second Madam Cheng’s leg was broken, so she could not enter the palace to give her answer. Naturally, the person sent in her stead must have come to refuse.
“And why will it not do?” the Empress Dowager asked, her voice turning cold.
Standing behind the hall, the Emperor chuckled softly upon hearing this.
Why would it not do? That Cheng girl is no fool. Well… perhaps she used to be a fool, but she certainly isn’t one now. How could she not know what it means when the Empress Dowager proposes a match?
The master who taught Cheng Jiao-niang must be a proud person – just like the upright, principled scholars of today. They can be tempted by power, but they cannot be coerced by it. Starving to death is a small matter; losing one’s integrity is the true calamity.
This girl dared come argue with me for the sake of a few sworn brothers – if the Empress Dowager now tries to use imperial power to force her into a marriage, the real surprise would be if she meekly obeyed.
But what method will she come up with?
The Emperor listened with a hint of curiosity.
Why not?
Because that girl refuses!
Madam Zhou screamed this in her heart, but such words could never be spoken aloud. Then how should she answer? How could she answer without getting her legs broken?
“Because… because she has already formed a marriage agreement with my son,” Madam Zhou blurted out in a moment of panic.
My child… I have no choice but to drag you into this…
Using a marriage to counter a marriage was the simplest and most convenient reason. The Emperor nodded, made a small gesture to the eunuch, and turned to leave, when the Imperial Consort’s voice drifted across the hall.
“Madam Zhou, what a coincidence this is. The Empress Dowager summoned Second Madam Cheng, and she conveniently broke her leg just before leaving home. Then you were summoned instead, and the moment the match is mentioned, this Cheng girl has suddenly entered a marriage discussion with your son? How is it that we’ve never heard a single whisper of this before? This agreement of yours – surely it wasn’t just made now, was it?”
Madam Zhou trembled even harder.
Yes, yes, Imperial Consort, Your Ladyship, you know perfectly well it’s all because of that girl. It has nothing to do with me.
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager could no longer contain her anger.
“Madam Zhou, is this truly the case?” she demanded.
“N–no, it is so,” Madam Zhou said quickly. “In fact, the marriage was discussed long ago – two years ago, we were already planning to arrange it…”
She wasn’t lying. Back then, when they fought over dowry and talk of marriage was used as leverage, Master Zhou had indeed considered having Zhou Liu-lang marry her.
“Discussed for two whole years, yet still not married. Was the match never settled? Or was there… something else?” the Imperial Consort interrupted with a smile.
Madam Zhou’s heart lurched.
Wrong! She had said the wrong thing! She was finished – finished!
My legs! My poor legs!
Exactly!
The marriage had supposedly been under discussion for two years and still hadn’t happened – yet now, the moment she mentions it to the Empress Dowager, suddenly it’s miraculously settled. Wasn’t this clearly slapping her own face?
That girl really was willful, defiant, utterly unreasonable!
Did she truly think no one in this world could control her?
On the other side, the Empress Dowager also realized what was going on, and her anger deepened at once.
“That’s enough, Madam Zhou. You need not say another word,” she said coldly. “Whether the match was arranged or not, with all this chaos going on, I will take it upon myself to settle the matter. For your good, for the Gao family’s good, and even more for that Cheng girl’s good, I will make the decision: the marriage between the Gao and Cheng families is hereby set. Go back and inform the Cheng household. Spring is a fine season – let the two families invite a matchmaker and formally negotiate the marriage.”
“N–no, Your Ladyship, this cannot be!”
Madam Zhou was so terrified by these words that her soul nearly flew out of her body. Forgetting entirely that she was standing before the Empress Dowager, she cried out in panic:
“This will cost lives!”
How rude this woman was! Truly the family of that insolent girl!
The Empress Dowager grew even angrier and slapped the table.
“Stand down!” she commanded.
“No, Your Ladyship – this marriage, I cannot accept!” Madam Zhou shouted.
The Imperial Consort let out a soft, mocking laugh.
“Cannot accept? Madam Zhou seems very bold indeed,” she said with a smile.
“Throw her out! Throw her out!”
The Empress Dowager could no longer restrain her fury. At her command, the surrounding eunuchs rushed forward and dragged Madam Zhou out of the hall, half pulling, half hauling her away.
Watching the noisy crowd depart, the Emperor’s expression was somber.
“Your Majesty, shall we go in?” a eunuch softly inquired.
The Emperor shook his head, turned around, and strode away.
The eunuch hastily gestured to the surrounding attendants before quickly following the Emperor. The entire group withdrew in complete silence.
“Grandfather, what about the Empress Dowager’s side…”
Only then did a young eunuch, who had remained as silent and unnoticed as a blind man near the Empress Dowager’s palace, dare to whisper to an older eunuch beside him.
The old eunuch shook his head.
“Neither our mouths nor our eyes belong to us. We can only see what we are permitted to see and say what we are allowed to say,” he said.
No sooner had his words fallen than the Empress Dowager’s voice was heard from inside.
“See? Now we can see, hear, and speak,” the old eunuch remarked.
The young eunuch found the Emperor in Consort An’s palace.
Consort An’s pregnancy was already showing. The imperial doctors had checked her pulse twice and confirmed repeatedly that it was a prince, which made the Emperor even more delighted. He spent his days in Consort An’s palace.
Normally, the emperor shouldn’t stay overnight since Consort An could no longer serve him in bed. The Empress Dowager had reminded him two or three times, but the Emperor continued as before.
“I just want to keep her company. The older I get, the more I adore children,” the Emperor said.
Consort An sat across from him, giggling softly.
“Your Majesty, the child is still too young to be aware of your company. You’re keeping him company too early,” she said.
The Emperor pretended to be annoyed and displeased.
“Nonsense. Even at this age, he knows,” he said, gently poking Consort An’s belly with his finger. “It’s your mother who’s speaking ill of you. Your father would never do that.”
Consort An laughed, her entire body trembling with mirth as she clung to the Emperor’s arm.
“Your Majesty and the Empress are alike – both of you adore children,” she said.
The Emperor was taken aback for a moment.
He knew that the Empress’s health was said to have improved a lot lately.
“Does the Empress often come to visit you?” he asked.
“No. The imperial doctor advised me to take more walks. I’ve run into Her Majesty a few times in the imperial garden. She was also advised to walk more for her health. But I never got close – the Empress kept her distance and exchanged a few words with me from afar,” Consort An explained.
“She avoided you?” the Emperor asked.
Consort An nodded.
“Her Majesty said she hasn’t fully recovered yet and didn’t want to risk passing any illness to the child,” she said. “The doctors have assured her it’s not possible, but she still keeps her distance.”
The Emperor smiled with a trace of understanding.
The women in the palace…
“Not at all,” Consort An said, seeing through the Emperor’s thoughts as she shook his arm. “Her Majesty isn’t avoiding me in that way. She’s just… afraid.”
“Afraid?” the Emperor asked, puzzled.
“Her Majesty said children are fragile. She loves them, but she’s also afraid,” Consort An explained, then let out a soft sigh. “Though she didn’t say much, I could tell – when she looked at my belly, her expression was a mix of joy, worry, and tension. It made me feel rather sad to see it.”
The Emperor fell silent for a moment.
“The Empress carried two children of her own. Neither survived – one was lost before birth, the other lived only three days. After that, she could no longer conceive, so she adopted the Second Prince. And now…” he said slowly.
Now, even that former Second Prince was gone.
For a woman to endure such repeated blows…
The Emperor sighed softly.
“The Empress… truly does love children,” he said.
Consort An nodded.
“Your Majesty…” she murmured, pressing closer to him with a mix of coquettishness and unease.
“Don’t worry. The imperial doctors have assured me that both you and the child are perfectly well,” the Emperor said with a smile, understanding her unspoken fears as he reached out to soothe her with a gentle caress.
Just as the moment grew tender, a young eunuch entered to relay a message from the Empress Dowager.
Before the eunuch could finish speaking, the Emperor interrupted with a light laugh.
“Regarding these marital matters for the children, if the Empress Dowager enjoys deciding them herself, she may do as she pleases. I shall not interfere,” he said.
The young eunuch acknowledged the order and withdrew. Consort An, however, looked surprised.
“Your Majesty, this is about the marriage of that Lady Cheng,” she could not help saying.
The Emperor smiled faintly.
“What of Lady Cheng? Is she not permitted to marry?” he replied with a chuckle.
Consort An shook his arm with a hint of playful reproach.
“Your Majesty, you know what I mean. Is this… appropriate?” she asked.
The Emperor’s smile remained calm.
“Appropriate or not hardly matters. This may not necessarily be a bad thing,” he said.
