2
The empress dowager’s sixtieth birthday banquet was grand and lively. All princes currently at court were required to present gifts and ascend the steps to show their filial piety. On occasions like this, the few powerful princes would usually engage in a quiet contest of one-upmanship. For someone as lazy, food-loving, and utterly inconspicuous as Zhang Zhao Changnian, simply presenting some decent antique as a formality was more than enough.
Accepting a gift box from a palace attendant nearby, Zhao Changnian trotted into the side hall and found that all the princes had indeed already arrived. Even the crown prince, who always liked to make an entrance at the very last moment, was already inside exchanging pleasantries with everyone.
“Seventh Brother, why are you so late?” The crown prince glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and casually asked.
Zhao Changnian adjusted the jade coronet on her head and answered with a smile, “I ate something bad yesterday.”
The Crown Prince nodded and didn’t say anything more. The others also gave her polite nods and then went back to their own conversations.
Zhao Changnian was long used to this kind of scene. When her mother was still alive, she had always discouraged her from playing with these imperial brothers. In her younger, more ignorant days, Zhao Changnian has asked why. Later, when she grew a bit older and realized that she lacked something between her legs that her brother all had, she learned to behave herself.
Compared to fitting in, keeping her life was far more important.
“The time has come. This way, please, Your Highness.”
A palace attendant had come to announce them. The Crown Prince shook out his robes at once, held his gift box properly, and led the group outside.
The current emperor indulged his desires freely. In his younger years, he had quickly fathered seven princes. Three of them had now been sent to their own fiefs. Of the four who remained, aside from Zhao Changnian, the rivalry was fierce. Even though the position of the Crown Prince was already taken, they still couldn’t resist competing against one another on such public occasions.
Zhao Changnian’s greatest annual pleasure was watching her imperial brothers flaunt their treasures. If one presented a jade Guanyin, another had to present a jade Buddha of even better quality. One year, the Crown Prince even offered a coral tree from the East Sea, only to be outdone by the Fourth Prince, who present a phoenix-shaped red coral that firmly overshadowed the Crown Prince’s gift, giving everyone a great laugh at the Crown Prince’s expense.
Of course, because of that incident, the Fourth Prince’s fate was not a good one. Within two months, he had been granted a royal title and sent off to a very remote fief, where no one would answer his cries.
Zhao Changnian walked silently at the very back of the procession toward the main hall, thinking to herself that this year, she wondered which unlucky fool’s gift would clash with the Crown Prince’s.
The air was thick with palace incense. The lead attendant parted the embroidered gauze curtains left and right. The noble ladies who were standing or sitting rose and bent their knees when they saw the princes. Zhao Changnian walked quietly with her head down, and then she heard the head palace maid announce in a clear voice: “His Highnesses have come to show their filial respect to the Empress Dowager!”
The person seated on the phoenix throne at the innermost part of the hall looked up, her eyes full of kindness.
The Crown Prince stepped forward, held out his gift box, and smiled. “Your unworthy grandson searched heaven and earth for this little trinket for you, Grandmother. I hope that in light of my sincerity, you will forgive me.”
“You silly child.” Knowing that the Crown Prince was always smooth-tongued, the Empress Dowager smiled and had someone take the box, then open it in front of everyone.
“Oh!”
As soon as the lid opened, a soft, lustrous glow emerged. The head palace maid looked down and exclaimed with delight, “Her Highness has been talking about pearls lately, saying the palace pearls this year are poor quality. Look here, His Highness the Crown Prince has found a fine one for you.”
A pearl the size of an infant’s fist. Pinched between fingers, it shone translucently in the lamplight. The Empress Dowager took it, held it in her hands, and examined it, nodding repeatedly. “Cheng’er truly knows how to be filial.”
“A pearl that large must have come from a clam over a hundred years old, don’t you think?” a noble lady nearby flattered. “It’s not easy to find at all.”
“I once saw a pearl only half this size, and it was worth a thousand gold, not easily obtained. The Crown Prince must have gone to great expense this time.”
“Indeed. And it’s not even something money alone can buy.”
The women chattered enviously. The woman seated at the very top was surely pleased inside. Seeing everyone’s reactions, the Crown Prince puffed out his chest, though his mouth still feigned modesty: “How I found it doesn’t matter. As long as Grandmother likes it.”
The Empress Dowager’s eyes crinkled with joy. She pulled him over, patted the back of his hand, and had him sit beside her. Then she continued to watch the gift boxes brought by those behind him.
With the Fourth Prince’s lesson in mind, the others, wanting to outshine the Crown Prince, made sure not to choose similar categories of gifts. But Zhao Changnian observed that the Third Prince’s offering of famous calligraphy and paintings and the Fifth Prince’s cleverly crafted wine vessels, while fine, did not please the Empress Dowager as much as the Crown Prince’s century-old East Sea clam pearl. No matter how venerable, the Empress Dowager was still a woman at heart, and women tended to love beautiful ornaments. Ten scrolls of calligraphy and painting could not compare to half a pearl.
As a prince who only wanted to coast through life doing nothing, Zhao Changnian’s prepared gift was perfectly average: a presentable antique vase. Nothing flashy, just something to get through the formalities.
Thinking this way, when her turn came, Zhao Changnian obediently stepped forward, knelt down, and presented her gift.
The head palace maid also knew the nature of this Seventh Prince and didn’t have high hopes. She had already prepared a few polite platitudes ready in her mind to casually get through it.
However, the moment the box opened, a brilliant fluorescent glow burst forth, reflecting off the head palace maid’s face until it was deathly pale.
“…” The words she had prepared all died in her throat. She looked at the contents of the box, didn’t know what to say anymore, and simply presented it with trembling hands directly under the Empress Dowager’s nose.
The Empress Dowager, not understanding what was happening, lowered her gaze to take a look and was also startled.
“…What is this, Nian’er?”
Zhao Changnian had been lowering her head, counting the number of petals on the peonies in the carpet, and hadn’t noticed what was happening at all. Hearing the Empress Dowager seem about to ask her something, she quickly said, “Your grandson didn’t know what you liked, Grandmother, so I just had to take a guess. If you don’t like it, then… then I’ll think of something else.”
The inner hall gradually fell silent. Even the sound of the noble ladies whispering to each other disappeared completely.
She waited a long time, but no one spoke again. The eerie silence was deeply unsettling. Zhao Changnian’s eyes darted around, and she finally mustered the courage to look up.
It would have been better if she hadn’t looked. One glance nearly made her wet herself in terror.
The Empress Dowager was holding her gift box, and from inside the box, she pulled out a string of century-old giant pearls from the East Sea.
That’s right—a full string. Each pearl was the same size as the one the Crown Prince had given, and there were eighteen of them in total.
The Crown Prince was no longer sitting. He stood up and stared at her, his face as green as a fresh cucumber in the imperial kitchen.
Zhao Changnian: “…?”
This wasn’t her gift!
“Seventh Prince’s extravagance… is truly excessive,” said one of the noble ladies who had earlier flattered the Crown Prince, her expression sour as she forced a smile. “The border is currently facing warfare and funds are tight. Even the Crown Prince knows how to exercise restraint. How could Your Highness go overboard like this?”
No, she couldn’t go overboard even if she wanted to! Zhao Changnian was beside herself with anxiety. She was not favored, held no power, and had little monthly allowance. Where was she supposed to get such a big string of pearls? Besides, given her cowardly, survival-obsessed nature, all she ever dreamed of was avoiding clashing with the Crown Prince’s gift. How could she possibly throw herself so recklessly into the line of fire?
“Grandmother…”
“You are thoughtful.” The Empress Dowager placed the pearls back into the box, her face still wearing a kind smile. “Grandmother likes them very much.”
No, please don’t like them! Zhao Changnian’s face was ashen. She looked at the strange expressions on the faces around her, then at the stiff smile on the Crown Prince’s face beside her. Only two words echoed in her mind.
I’m! Doomed!
**