Jinzhong forcefully pulled Ruyi away from Achu, who was pinned beneath her, and said with a false smile, “Your Highness, be careful. This servant will help you up.”
Ruyi could not care less about a servant overstepping his place. Her hands were clenched tightly into fists, and her face had already turned ashen the moment she heard His Majesty’s voice.
Hearing Jinzhong’s familiar voice, Achu burst into tears of grievance. They fell one after another, like pearls from a broken string, making her look utterly pitiful.
Nearby, Jinbao saw that the girl’s eyes were red from crying, her hair disheveled, and traces of blood stained the corners of her mouth. Yet even in such a wretched state, she remained breathtakingly beautiful, like a piece of flawless jade that had been shattered—desolate and fragile.
His heart ached for her, though he also felt slightly relieved. Fortunately, they had arrived in time, and she had not suffered any serious injuries. He stepped forward and gently supported Achu, whispering close to her ear, “Lift your head and cry in front of His Majesty.”
Achu stared at him blankly and instinctively shook her head. She was not foolish. She knew what lifting her head would mean.
Jinbao sighed and said with certainty, “If you die, he will die too.”
Achu’s body stiffened. Their exchange lasted no more than a fleeting moment, yet those few brief sentences changed the course of Achu’s entire life.
The Emperor’s tone was so calm that it held not the slightest ripple. “What are you doing, Ruyi?”
There was no man who could witness such a scene without growing furious, much less an emperor seated upon the throne, a man with an exceptionally strong sense of possessiveness.
The dark crimson robe he wore was embroidered with a ferocious five-clawed coiling dragon. Its claws had been painstakingly stitched in gold thread, sharp and gleaming, as though they held boundless strength and were about to tear into her flesh, one claw after another.
Ruyi gave a bitter laugh. She did not know how to explain herself. Was she supposed to say that jealousy had arisen in her heart and that she had forced a young palace maid to marry? Or should she say that she did not believe in the childhood affection between herself and the Emperor? No matter how she put it, she would only appear hateful.
Li Yu’s sharp eyes caught sight of Achu’s palace-maid attire. “Your Majesty, she is a young palace maid.”
The Emperor looked over. At that single glance, his gaze came to a halt.
Her eyes were steeped in tears—so dark, so bright, so sorrowful, and so helpless. She was beautiful. The fury filling his chest abruptly went out beneath that gaze. He simply stared at her, dazed, and asked involuntarily, “Don’t cry. Who bullied you? Tell me.”
His voice was so gentle that it seemed he feared even the slightest harshness might frighten her.
Li Yu was utterly stunned. He could not believe that the emperor who had been furious only moments ago could change his tone so quickly.
He instinctively studied the young palace maid who had brought about the Emperor’s change, and then he remained lost in thought for a long time.
The sky of the imperial harem was about to change. Li Yu had never been so clearly aware of that fact.
Ruyi, however, was not surprised in the slightest. She quickly accepted the reality before her.
With only one glance—just one glance—the eyes of her young lover could no longer contain anyone else. She was kneeling on the ground in such a humiliating state, yet her young lover had walked toward another woman. His gaze was filled with such pity, such heartache.
Even during the years when their feelings had been at their deepest, her young lover had never looked at her that way: as though she were precious, singular, and held by a profound and unwavering affection.
His warm, generous palm possessed an indescribable strength as he gently brushed away the tears at the corners of Achu’s eyes. Light seemed to flow between his brows, as though gentle moonlight veiled them. He was unimaginably tender. Combined with his handsome, distinguished appearance and exalted position, he was enough to make any woman in the world fall for him.
Achu instinctively glanced at Jinzhong. Separated by the crowd, he stood there smiling at her and silently shaped two words with his mouth.
Achu opened her misty eyes and carefully made them out. It was “Don’t be afraid.”
Her nose stung, her eyelashes trembled lightly, and before she knew it, tears rolled down her cheeks again. Even her sobs were silent.
Jinzhong’s heart broke for her. He wished he could pull her into his arms and coax and dote on her as he always had, but he no longer had the right.
The most exalted person in the world was personally wiping the tears from the girl’s face. The look in his eyes, as though he had found a priceless treasure, was enough for Jinzhong to understand that His Majesty was determined to have Achu.
Yet Jinzhong was not sad. That person was also the one in the world most capable of shielding her from wind and rain. Whenever he recalled the news that Achu had been taken away by Consort Xian, Jinzhong could still remember the dread and heart-pounding fear that had seized him in that instant. Compared with the consequence of losing her, Jinzhong would rather Achu remain alive—living well, living freely and as she pleased, never again bullied or wantonly trampled upon by anyone.
And only His Majesty could do all that for her.
That did not mean Jinzhong did not hate Consort Xian, however. He cast an unobtrusive glance at Ruyi, who was also shedding silent tears. If not for her, Achu would not have shed a single tear.
Jinzhong, who was exceptionally prone to holding grudges, fiercely marked this down against Ruyi in his heart. There was still a long road ahead.
Everyone in the imperial harem remembered that it had been nothing more than an ordinary day. The weather had been fair, and everyone had gone about their duties in the usual manner.
Yet on that perfectly ordinary day, a little palace maid from the Flower House suddenly emerged and leaped to the position of consort. She was bestowed the title Consort Baochen. Even Consort Xian had been defeated by her and demoted to Concubine Xian, confined to her palace for three months.
Once the news spread, it was like a huge stone thrown into a lake, stirring up a thousand layers of waves. The entire imperial harem boiled over.
Never mind that a little palace maid without a child had been made a consort, which was contrary to all reason. Just the two-character title alone revealed the Emperor’s extreme favor and regard for her.
“Bao” had been part of His Majesty’s title when he was Prince Bao, and it was not a character bestowed upon others lightly. What was more, it had been combined with the character “chen,” which carried an implication of nobility. Such favor was no exaggeration to call a single step into the heavens.
Some rejoiced, while others despaired.
When the Empress Dowager heard the news, she did not mind making matters worse as she laughed. “Hahaha! There’ll be quite a show to watch in this imperial harem. Let them make a fuss, let them make a fuss. The bigger the commotion, the more entertaining it’ll be.”
As the Empress Dowager grew older, the Emperor became increasingly difficult to control. She frequently offered beautiful women to him because she naturally knew that this son was not her own flesh and blood. He certainly would not treat her as he would his birth mother. Thus, she wanted to place a few people around him so that she could better sound out the Emperor’s thoughts and whisper into his ear.
However, the Emperor had no particular liking for the women she selected. The only one who had stood out was Noble Lady Shu several months earlier, yet even a beauty as graceful and lovely as her, with such an illustrious family background, had merely been initially granted the rank of Noble Lady.
In the end, the Empress Dowager was filled with curiosity. “Still, I would like to see just how beautiful this woman is to make the Emperor go to such lengths. He made her a consort despite her having no child and even gave her the title Bao. Ruyi could not resist her in the slightest.”
The Empress Dowager had spent many years with the Emperor and considered herself to know him well enough. He was immensely talented, yet insecure and suspicious. A man like that would not easily give his feelings to anyone. One only had to look at the way he treated Ruyi.
After so many years of childhood affection, he had ultimately done nothing more than entrust two guards with protecting her life. Everything else had been left alone. If Ruyi had not been extraordinarily fortunate, and if she had not suddenly awakened three years later and acted decisively, sacrificing her own life as the price, it was uncertain whether she would even have made it out of the Cold Palace alive.
Now, things were even worse. Ruyi had only just emerged from the Cold Palace and desperately needed dignity and standing. Yet once news of her demotion to Concubine Xian came out, the authority she had established over the course of only a few days vanished completely.
Men truly were fickle creatures.
At the Empress’s Changchun Palace—
The consorts seemed to have reached an unspoken understanding and had gathered early at the Empress’s palace. For a time, the hall was filled with their sweet voices and glittering pearls and jewels. Even the faint, elegant incense that had originally permeated the palace was overwhelmed by the fragrance of rouge and powder wafting from the consorts, becoming intermittent and difficult to detect.
The Empress sat quietly before her dressing table and did not hurry outside. She gazed deeply at her reflection in the mirror.
The face in the mirror remained dignified and beautiful, but the traces of age had already crept quietly onto the corners of her eyes and brows.
She adjusted a gilded phoenix hairpin at her temple and asked Sulian, “Am I old?”
Sulian hurriedly replied, “Your Highness, why would you say that? You are still as captivating as ever, and no one can compare with you.”
As the Empress’s trusted confidante, she naturally understood that her mistress was not in a good mood. Or rather, no one in the entire imperial harem was in a good mood.
She comforted her, “Your Highness is already the mother of the empire, one of the most exalted women beneath the heavens. Naturally, there is no woman in this world worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as you.”
Empress Fuca laughed. Her smile was both mocking and sorrowful. “The Ulanara clan thought the same in the past. Yet you saw what became of her in the end.”
Back then, the late Emperor had originally intended to depose the Empress. However, because of the dying wish of Empress Chunyuan and the testament of Empress Xiaogong, he had been unable to do so. He could only issue an edict confining her permanently to Jingren Palace and reclaiming the Empress’s seals and credentials. He had also sworn that they would “never meet again in life or death.”
Thus, after her death, she could only be buried in the consorts’ mausoleum, and even the official histories never recorded her.
Sulian’s eyes filled with heartache. “Your Highness…”
Empress Fuca withdrew from her thoughts and clenched her handkerchief tightly. Her gaze turned cold. “I absolutely will not allow myself to follow in the footsteps of the Ulanara clan. If Consort Baochen is a good person, then so be it. I will treat her kindly. But if she is like Ulanara Ruyi and oversteps her authority to meddle in matters beyond her station, I will not allow her to remain.”
Meanwhile, the consorts sat around drinking tea and discussing the newly emerged Consort Baochen with great animation.
Consort Jia was the first to be unable to hold back. “I hear we have another younger sister now.”
Noble Consort Hui held her teacup and slowly skimmed away the foam with the lid. With a light laugh, she said, “Oh? Consort Jia, you’re calling Consort Baochen your younger sister? Her rank is higher than yours. According to the rules of the palace, you should be calling her Elder Sister.”
Consort Jia let out a contemptuous cold laugh. A strand of scarlet crystal tassels hanging from her hair swayed like a streak of flowing fire as she spoke, shimmering lightly beside her exquisitely powdered forehead.
“Her rank is higher, so what? In this imperial harem, she is still nothing more than a newcomer. She still has much to learn about the rules of the palace.”
She had climbed to her current position step by step, from the Emperor’s residence before he ascended the throne all the way to the present. Yet overnight, she had been made to look like a complete joke.
Consort Chun said worriedly, “I heard that Consort Baochen was originally a palace maid from the Flower House, and that she was even granted her title on the spot at Consort Xian’s palace. No—at Concubine Xian’s palace, I suppose. I wonder what happened that day.”
Some time ago, she had driven away the little palace maid who served at the First Prince’s side. Consort Chun was mild-tempered, and it had been the only time she had ever dismissed anyone. She had done so because she saw that the girl’s intentions were impure and that she wanted to seduce His Majesty, so she had sent her to work at the Flower House.
If that woman really was Wei Yingwan, then she had undoubtedly offended a favored consort whose influence was rising by the day. Even Ruyi, whom the Emperor had personally brought out of the Cold Palace, had met with such a fate. Although Consort Chun had a son to protect her, she was still terrified.
Hailan’s heart was with Ruyi, so she naturally stood on Ruyi’s side. Unable to hold back her disgust, she said, “A little palace maid with no child is made a consort—she must have relied on some disreputable means to seduce the Emperor and rise in rank. Such a person must be devious and scheming. Sisters, you should all be careful.”
Everyone could hear the incitement hidden in Hailan’s words. After spending so many years in the palace, none of them were fools. Whoever wanted to stick their neck out could do so. At any rate, the Emperor was currently still enamored with Consort Baochen. If he became displeased and demoted them as well, they would not even know where to go to cry.
After all, in the Emperor’s heart, they ranked below even Concubine Xian.
Noble Consort Hui cast Hailan a sidelong glance. “You are merely a Noble Lady, yet you dare discuss a consort-ranked mistress? Noble Lady Hai, you are pregnant. It would be better to accumulate some virtue with your words.”
Noble Consort Hui did not dislike Consort Baochen. In her eyes, anyone capable of dealing Ruyi such a heavy blow was a truly remarkable person. Her favorable impression of Consort Baochen had increased considerably.
Yihuan frowned. She could not stand hearing Hailan secretly call the Emperor foolish. She waved her round fan and, with a cool air that seemed untouched by worldly concerns, echoed Noble Consort Hui. “His Majesty naturally has his reasons. Noble Lady Hai, please be careful with your words.”
“Yes, Noble Consort Hui. Consort Shu.” Hailan gritted her teeth as she answered, deeply unwilling.
Of all the consorts, only Noble Lady Shen was sincerely happy. She could not hide the smile on her face. Toward the legendary Consort Baochen, she was so grateful that she nearly wept with gratitude.
She wished Consort Baochen would remain favored forever and hold Ruyi firmly beneath her, never allowing her to rise again for the rest of her life. Only then could Noble Lady Shen’s life, honor, and prosperity be secured.
As everyone discussed the matter openly and covertly, a crisp sound of jade pendants suddenly came from the inner hall, accompanied by a thread of cool fragrance.
Everyone knew the Empress was about to come out. They all fell silent and rose to welcome her.
Supported by Sulian, the Empress walked with calm elegance. An air of composure surrounded her, instantly soothing the restless atmosphere in the hall.
The Empress took her seat in the chair at the center. Once everyone had settled into their seats, she gave a slight nod and said quietly, “I have heard what all of you sisters said.”
The consorts exchanged glances. In the end, the outspoken Consort Jia was unable to contain herself. She said aggrievedly, “Your Highness, it is truly against all reason for a little palace maid to be suddenly made a consort! The consorts in the palace either have rendered merit by giving birth to a child or possess prominent family backgrounds, and even then, they must be favored for many years before barely reaching consort rank. Now a mere palace maid has climbed over all of us. I refuse to accept this!”
The Empress smiled faintly. “His Majesty has already made up his mind. There is no room for doubt.”
It was not that she had never discussed the matter with the Emperor. But even now, the Empress still remembered the utterly cold look in his eyes, as though he were looking at a stranger rather than the wife who had shared his life.
Whenever she thought of it, an unending chill rose in her heart, making even breathing unbearably difficult. Since then, the Empress had not dared to say a single word about the matter.
Seeing that even the Empress, who had always valued order and observed the palace rules, had accepted it, Consort Jia knew that there was no possibility of reversing the decision. She could only return to her seat sulkily.
How useless the Empress truly was!
Although she appeared outspoken, Consort Jia cursed her inwardly. Where had this woman even come from? Could it be that the Emperor had truly encountered genuine love?
The thought flashed through Consort Jia’s mind and vanished just as quickly, leaving behind only an aftertaste so absurd and ridiculous that even she found it laughable.