After the Empress Dowager left, Fu Xinghe asked Xia Mian to bring out the sweet soup. She had cooked a whole pot and served everyone a bowl.
Fu Xinghe liked having everyone sit together to eat. It felt lively. The palace maids could barely be persuaded, but the eunuchs absolutely refused to sit at the table. They would rather squat at the doorway, holding their bowls and slurping noisily.
Fu Xinghe did not force them.
Xia Mian drank the sweet soup until she nearly cried. Deep down, she felt as though she had betrayed her mistress. When the Empress Dowager came, the Noble Consort had not served sweet soup at all. Even His Majesty’s own mother did not get to drink it. The Noble Consort had saved it for them instead.
Fu Xinghe had no intention of showing filial piety to her “mother-in-law,” especially when the Empress Dowager had come to hold her to account. It might very well turn into another Xiao Fengfeng incident.
Before meeting the Empress Dowager, Fu Xinghe had assumed she was the ultimate winner of palace intrigue from the previous generation. Now she felt that Meng Dongting had relied entirely on his own efforts.
The tyrant emperor was actually quite impressive.
The soup had just been distributed, and it was still not time for the midday meal, when someone came to summon the Noble Consort to copy sutras in the Buddhist hall.
The Empress Dowager had issued an edict, so the confinement order could only be set aside for now.
Li Xiaojing was waiting in the Buddhist hall. She explained how the copying needed to be done to meet the abbot’s requirements, then left behind an elderly palace maid for Fu Xinghe, saying it was in case she did not understand and needed guidance.
Li Xiaojing was busy preparing the birthday banquet. She was not truly doing everything herself, but merely conveying the Empress Dowager’s preferences. Even so, that alone kept her occupied.
“The Buddhist hall values purity and tranquility. Only one person may remain. You wait outside,” Li Xiaojing instructed, pointing Xia Mian toward the door.
Xia Mian followed Fu Xinghe. Although the Noble Consort held the highest rank present, Li Xiaojing carried herself as though she controlled the entire inner palace. It was quite an affront.
Under another’s roof, one had no choice but to bow one’s head. Fu Xinghe had long anticipated that once the Empress Dowager returned, her days would not be easy.
There were advantages to a mad tyrant.
Since she was already here, Fu Xinghe knelt down, pressed her palms together, and silently prayed for the safety and well-being of her parents and brothers outside the palace.
She hoped her father would no longer be troubled by Meng Dongting. She hoped her mother would be healthy. She hoped her elder brother would have his wishes fulfilled.
Finally, Fu Xinghe murmured, “This believer is willing to gain ten jin in weight in exchange for the tyrant forgetting what happened that night.”
After finishing her devout prayer, Fu Xinghe picked up her brush and began copying carefully, treating it as something she was doing for her parents. As for the Empress Dowager, with so many daughters-in-law, she would not miss one more.
In the past, to perfect her etiquette in dealing with others, Fu Xinghe had long trained herself to maintain the same posture for extended periods to build muscle memory.
She thought copying sutras for an afternoon would be effortless. Unexpectedly, after copying only two pages, her waist began to ache.
This body was truly delicate. Fu Xinghe straightened her back. What she lacked least was perseverance and endurance, and those were things she could not afford to lose just because she had been confined in Wenhua Hall for so long.
To her, copying sutras was not cultivation for the Buddha, but cultivation of her own will. I can do this.
Snap.
Fu Xinghe’s waist ached so badly she could not straighten up. She set down the brush. This palace mistress needed to rest for an hour.
Xia Mian stood guard outside the door. From afar, she saw His Majesty pass by. She instinctively glanced toward the Noble Consort. Seeing Fu Xinghe constantly rubbing her waist, hesitation flickered in Xia Mian’s eyes. Should she trouble His Majesty with harem matters.
The sound of the brush being set down came from inside. Xia Mian thought Fu Xinghe was so exhausted she could not even hold the brush anymore. Gritting her teeth, she rushed to His Majesty and reported, “The Empress Dowager has issued an edict. The Noble Consort has left Wenhua Hall.”
Meng Dongting frowned. “For what purpose?”
Xia Mian explained the matter of copying sutras. “It may require three consecutive days. The Empress Dowager issued the order. This servant did not dare stop Her Highness from leaving Wenhua Hall.”
Meng Dongting glanced toward the small Buddhist hall and vaguely saw a blue figure kneeling inside.
“Mm. I understand,” Meng Dongting said, giving a slight nod. He walked past Xia Mian and, as he went, emphasized to the commander of the imperial guards that security in the inner palace was to be reinforced.
Xia Mian dared not ask His Majesty to show leniency for the Noble Consort. She could only watch helplessly as her master’s figure disappeared.
In truth, His Majesty bore a little responsibility in this matter, did he not. The Empress Dowager was angry because the Noble Consort had not gone to pay her respects. The Noble Consort had been at fault because His Majesty had not allowed her to leave. Once the Empress Dowager returned, His Majesty immediately discussed reinforcing the guards with the imperial troops. In His Majesty’s eyes, the Empress Dowager was naturally a hundred times more important than the Noble Consort. Having the Noble Consort copy sutras to show filial piety was only proper.
Xia Mian lowered her head in dejection and returned to stand guard at the door of the Buddhist hall.
Inside, Fu Xinghe rested her elbow on the offering table and yawned. When she set down her brush, ink splattered onto the bright yellow hanging drapery beneath the table. The elderly palace maid frowned slightly.
Only two pages copied, and already disrespectful to the Buddha.
Fu Xinghe said, “This palace mistress is shallow in learning and needs time to comprehend the scripture. Otherwise, it would not be sincere.”
“Come here. Help this palace mistress turn the pages and explain them.”
The elderly palace maid choked on her words and could only step forward. She talked until her mouth went dry, yet the Noble Consort still looked like rotten wood that could not be carved.
A quarter of an hour later, Fu Xinghe felt she had rested enough. She said to the elderly palace maid, “I think I’ve understood a few lines. Mm. I’ll copy up here for now. Teacher, rest a bit.”
The elderly palace maid fixed her gaze on the spot Fu Xinghe indicated. There were only about two hundred characters. She nearly fainted from anger.
Fu Xinghe picked up her brush. The curtain stirred. Xia Mian happily lifted it and came in. “Your Highness, you don’t need to copy anymore. Let’s go back.”
The elderly palace maid: ???
“Is that so?” Fu Xinghe took the hint and got up smoothly. “Then this palace mistress will take her leave.”
Xia Mian supported Fu Xinghe as they left. Fu Xinghe asked curiously, “Has the Empress Dowager shown mercy and allowed me to return to eat?”
That seemed unlikely.
Could it be that Li Xiaojing’s filial piety had suddenly overflowed, and she decided to copy the entire text herself.
It was not that Fu Xinghe did not dare clash with Li Xiaojing. She simply understood the weight carried by the identity of “Li Xiaozheng’s sister.” If things escalated, Meng Dongting would most likely stand on Li Xiaozheng’s side.
Xia Mian said, “It was His Majesty who spoke.”
Fu Xinghe said, “Oh. What did he say.”
Thinking of the scene Fu Gonggong had described to her, Xia Mian cleared her throat.
At the time, when Meng Dongting had just taken his seat and a palace maid served him a bowl of rice, he took the bowl and chopsticks and casually said, “I heard the Empress Dowager had Qian Consort copy sutras.”
The Empress Dowager was puzzled. “What. Everyone in the harem is copying. She cannot?”
Meng Dongting sneered. “Don’t let her copy. The Buddha can’t read the sutras she writes.”
Xia Mian relayed this tactfully.
Fu Xinghe. “…”
She knew he was helping her, so why did his words have to sound so unpleasant.
Five days later was the Mid-Autumn Festival. The tyrant emperor and the Empress Dowager would reunite as mother and son. The day after Mid-Autumn was the Empress Dowager’s birthday.
The palace was fitted with a new batch of bright red lanterns. On the southern side of the Imperial Garden, the osmanthus grove sent waves of fragrance drifting into Wenhua Hall. Unfortunately, there were no osmanthus trees within Wenhua Hall itself. Otherwise, she could have picked the flowers by hand to make pastries and pass the time.
Fu Xinghe inhaled gently and found the scent especially pleasant.
There were sounds at the gate of Wenhua Hall. Wu Qi was changing the lanterns.
Fu Xinghe lifted her head to look at the lanterns swaying with their tassels and suddenly missed her family outside the palace even more.
Although the time they had spent together was not long, every member of the Fu family was vivid and real, a warmth carved deep into her bones.
“How has my natal family been recently?”
Xia Mian said, “They are surely all well.”
Fu Xinghe heard the vagueness in Xia Mian’s reply and smiled helplessly. How could she have forgotten? When it came to news inside and outside the palace, the tyrant emperor’s eyes and ears would never tell her anything.
“The Grand Preceptor has fallen ill. Does Your Highness truly not know,” Yu Feng said as she slowly emerged from around the palace wall, seizing the initiative.
Li Xiaojing was with her, followed by two lines of palace maids carrying the colorful dance costumes and hair ornaments prepared for the Mid-Autumn banquet.
“Your Highness, the wind is picking up. Let us go inside,” Xia Mian said sharply, glaring at Yu Feng.
Fu Xinghe steadied herself and asked calmly, “How does Consort Yu know this.”
Yu Feng smiled. “The Grand Preceptor has taken leave for three days. Almost the entire harem knows by now. What. Does Your Highness truly know nothing at all.”
Li Xiaojing looked surprised. “My brother even went to visit him on His Majesty’s behalf the day before yesterday. His Majesty has sent imperial physicians to the Fu residence. Your Highness need not worry.”
Fu Xinghe braced herself against the vermilion gate beside her and closed her eyes. As far as she knew, Fu Han had been diligent in office. Over more than twenty years, the number of times he had taken leave could be counted on one hand.
Mi Dinglan had complained more than once that Fu Han went to court even with a high fever. Taking leave for three consecutive days meant he must be seriously ill.
Fu Xinghe worried about Fu Han’s illness and worried even more about scheming villains causing trouble. At the very least, she needed to see him and let the system check whether there was any residual poison in his body.
She said clearly, word by word, “I am returning to my natal home.”
Xia Mian said softly, “His Majesty likely will not agree.”
Fu Xinghe said, “If my father’s condition were ordinary, why would you hide it from me? What exactly is happening outside.”
Li Xiaojing could not hear what the two of them were saying and advised, “Lord Fu is probably ill at heart. Even if Elder Sister Fu goes to see him, it will not help. Sister Yu, I heard the Ji Qinggou case was handled by your father.”
Yu Feng nodded, chin lifted arrogantly, as if she had seized the Noble Consort’s fatal weakness. She said hypocritically, “Court affairs are not something we should discuss.”
Hearing the unfamiliar name “Ji Qinggou,” Fu Xinghe did not react immediately.
Where had she heard it before?
Fu Xinghe clenched her fingers. On the day of the selection, when she left the palace to return home, there had been a man standing beside her father. Fu Yunxiao had told her that man was “Uncle Ji.”
Surname Ji. Fu Han’s last disciple. Nominally a fellow disciple of the deposed crown prince.
If he were investigated, it would certainly be inseparable from the deposed crown prince.
She did not know whether Meng Dongting had fabricated false charges to suppress the Grand Preceptor’s faction, or whether Ji Qinggou had truly committed crimes and implicated his teacher.
Either way, with students meeting disaster one after another, Fu Han would not feel at ease.
Fu Xinghe asked Xia Mian, “Can I see His Majesty.”
Xia Mian’s face showed difficulty.
Fu Xinghe looked up at the blue sky framed by deep red palace walls. She raised a smile toward Yu Feng and Li Xiaojing. “Thank you both for informing me. I am deeply grateful. Within the deep palace, I have nothing with which to repay you. Only before entering the palace, my natal family had some jewelry made. I shall present it as a gift. Please wait.”
Since the Noble Consort said she would give gifts, even if Yu Feng and Li Xiaojing looked down on them, they could not refuse.
Fu Xinghe strode into the storeroom and overturned her dowry chests one by one.
Jewelry boxes of all sizes were stacked together. Fu Xinghe rummaged through them, searching for what she needed. Before long, she was sweating and sneezing.
Xia Mian offered to help, but Fu Xinghe told her to wait outside.
Xia Mian withdrew with a bitter expression, thinking the Noble Consort was angry with her.
Fu Xinghe moved quickly, searching through earrings and ornaments. What she wanted was a matching piece to the earring she had accidentally left behind in the thatched hut.
Since she could not go see the tyrant emperor, she would make the tyrant emperor come see her.
Fu Xinghe clearly remembered the style of that earring. Beneath a golden flower hung a jade bead.
Jewelry made by wealthy households usually came in matching sets, especially in Mi Dinglan’s case. Fu Xinghe remembered that her mother often wore earrings, hairpins, and necklaces as a complete set.
She had once indirectly asked Ming Xu where that set of earrings had been purchased. Ming Xu said it was a gift Fu Yunqi had brought back from his travels in Shu. She had rarely worn them.
Fu Xinghe had not paid attention at the time. Now that she thought about it, her second brother was not a stingy person. She should be able to find the matching pieces in her dowry.
Sure enough, when she was nearly discouraged, she finally saw two identical earring settings. The golden flower patterns were exactly the same. Then, on a necklace, she discovered four slightly larger jade beads.
Fu Xinghe tore off the original beads from the earrings with her bare hands and forcefully fitted the jade beads from the necklace onto them.
The sharp metal pierced into her fingertip. Fu Xinghe wiped the bloodstain on her clothes and, gritting her teeth, finished modifying all four earrings. She could not linger here any longer, lest Xia Mian grow suspicious.
It was a risky move, but she could not stay in Wenhua Hall forever as a deaf and blind figure who did nothing and knew nothing.