Chapter 154: Consort Yun Makes Her Entrance

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Updated: August 16, 2013

“Oh? Then was your little aunt ever bullied in the palace?” The Empress Dowager drew Qiao Ke into her arms and lightly tapped his forehead with the jade-inlaid, gold-trimmed armor protecting her fingernails. The deep affection in her voice was wholly undisguised.

Lianyue had not expected Qiao Ke to stand up for her. She glanced toward Lianyu for guidance, only to see Lianyu press her lips together and give her a slight shake of the head, signaling that everything was fine and she should simply wait and see what happened. Lanshui, however, glared a warning at Lianyue from beside them. The moment she was not kept under watch, this girl would somehow manage to stir up trouble.

Lianyue wrinkled her nose at Lanshui in wounded protest, silently insisting, It was not me who provoked her. She came looking for trouble herself.

Qiao Ke paid no attention to their exchange. Blinking his bright, limpid eyes, he pouted sweetly at the Empress Dowager seated above them. “Of course she was.”

“Oh?” The surprise on Empress Dowager Han Lianyan’s face was clearly feigned, but Qiao Ke played his part perfectly as a five-year-old child, beginning his accusation with an indignant expression.

“It was the Eleventh Imperial Elder Sister. She insulted Little Aunt in front of so many people. I had never heard those words before, but they must have meant something bad. Then the Eleventh Imperial Elder Sister tried to pinch Little Aunt, and that was when a black-clad uncle wearing a mask injured her.”

In the innocent, childish voice unique to young children, he recounted the cause, the course, and the outcome of the incident with perfect clarity.

Lianyue noticed that only a handful of people showed no change in expression after Qiao Ke finished speaking. They must already have known what had happened. Most of the others, however, wore looks of sudden realization. After Nurse Li had returned just now, she had quietly reported the incident to the Empress Dowager, who had then ordered Consort Wan to go to the Rain Flower Pavilion and look in on the ill-tempered Eleventh Princess.

The Empress Dowager had originally intended to suppress the matter. But now that Qiao Ke had brought it up, everyone connected it with Qiao Yu’s earlier initiative in inviting Lianyue. They immediately understood that the arrogant princess had deliberately sought trouble with Miss Yue—and had ended up injuring herself instead.

Lianyue struggled to hold back her laughter. Her nephew was truly devious. At the same time, warmth filled her heart. She knew that he was defending her in his own way.

Since the matter had been voiced by a five-year-old child like Qiao Ke, no one would question it. His expression had been so perfectly convincing. Besides, even if anyone did question him, everything he had said was true.

The Empress Dowager looked meaningfully at Qiao Ke, who still wore an expression of complete innocence in her arms. Her doubts dispelled, she turned kindly toward Lianyue. “Miss Yue, the Eleventh Princess has indeed been spoiled by everyone in the palace. I shall apologize to you on her behalf.”

The moment the Empress Dowager finished speaking, ripples spread throughout the entire hall. By apologizing personally, she had effectively deprived Lianyue of any reason to demand an explanation.

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Lianyue laughed coldly inwardly. She had come to attend a birthday banquet, after all, and had suffered no real loss. Besides, her mood was quite good today. She would simply regard the whole affair as a show put on by a troupe of monkeys. Looking directly at the Empress Dowager, she replied, “Your Majesty is too gracious. It was all a misunderstanding. I am the one who feels apologetic for accidentally injuring the Eleventh Princess’s precious person.”

And so the matter was put to rest.

The Empress Dowager’s attention then shifted to Yaoyao, who had not spoken a word since entering the hall. “I am rather unaccustomed to seeing you so quiet, Yaoyao.”

Yaoyao had not intended to say anything. The princess had plainly been at fault, yet the Empress Dowager had protected her at every turn. When Yaoyao had first met the older woman, she had offered a few flattering remarks only because the Empress Dowager had treated them fairly well. Pleasant words cost nothing, so she had said them.

But the Eleventh Princess had been entirely unreasonable, and the Empress Dowager was still shielding her. Yaoyao no longer felt any goodwill toward her. In a stiffly formal tone, she answered, “I was tired after playing just now.”

The Empress Dowager seemed not to notice the distance in her voice and continued warmly, “Then sit down and rest properly. The luncheon being prepared by the empress should be ready soon.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The reply was notably perfunctory.

Lianyue pulled Yaoyao over to sit beside Eldest Sister. Lianyu was not particularly pleased with the Empress Dowager’s handling of the matter either. The moon of the Yue family, whom they guarded so carefully, had been repeatedly harassed by Qiao Yu. That was indeed going too far.

Yet after nearly ten years of life within the imperial palace, Lianyu also understood that the Empress Dowager had acted to preserve the dignity of the royal family. It seemed the Yue family had kept too low a profile in recent years.

As she was thinking this, she felt a hand cover her own where it rested upon her knee. At the same time, Lianyue’s whisper sounded beside her ear.

“Don’t worry, Eldest Sister. When has your little sister ever suffered a loss?”

Lianyu turned and met Lianyue’s sly almond-shaped eyes. Her heart eased considerably. Perhaps she and her younger sister had been separated for too long; she had nearly forgotten her sister’s usual way of doing things.

For the rest of the time, the hall was filled mostly with the Empress Dowager’s gentle voice and Qiao Ke’s childish replies. The old woman and the little boy asked and answered one another, creating a remarkably harmonious atmosphere.

A quarter of an hour before noon, the entrance to the hall darkened. A magnificently dressed woman was ushered inside by a crowd of palace attendants, who surrounded her like a mass of colorful flowers.

At the foot of the dais, the woman in court attire bent her knees before the Empress Dowager seated in the place of honor. Her gentle and gracious voice echoed through the hall.

“Your daughter-in-law greets Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. May Your Majesty enjoy prosperity and lasting health.”

“Rise.”

The moment the woman straightened, everyone in the hall bowed in unison.

“Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress. May Her Majesty live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand years.”

“Greetings to Mother Empress.”

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The Empress smiled with stately dignity and, with the assistance of her palace maids, raised one hand slightly. “Everyone, rise.”

Only then did Yunqing lift the hem of her skirt and stand. She gazed at the woman in the center of the hall, dressed in a magnificent crimson phoenix robe. Its splendid satin flowed like a pool of blood. Nine phoenix tails adorned her lofty coiffure, while a red floral ornament rested against her brow. Every detail proclaimed the supreme majesty of the imperial household.

The empress was nearly forty and the Emperor’s first and only wife. Though she had given birth to the Eldest Princess, the Fourth Princess, and the Sixth Princess, she had preserved her beauty remarkably well. Even so, the pallor of her face could not be concealed. Her brows and eyes were sharply raised, and whenever she looked at Qiao Ke in the Empress Dowager’s arms, Lianyue always sensed a trace of sorrow at the corners of her eyes.

No doubt her inability to bear a prince had long been a source of resentment for the empress.

Lianyue’s guess was correct. What weighed most heavily on Empress Wei’s heart at that moment was the matter of a male heir. In the past, none of the women in the inner palace had given birth to a prince, so none posed a threat to her position. Although she had been deeply disappointed when the Emperor made Qiao Ke, the son of the Prince of Nanping, crown prince, she understood that he had no other choice.

But ever since Consort Yun had given birth to the Emperor’s eldest son, the empress’s position had become precarious. Relying on the Emperor’s favor and the merit of her son, Consort Yun often threw her weight around in the empress’s presence.

Just as she had today. As empress, she had risen early to make arrangements in the Palace of Compassionate Tranquility for the Emperor’s birthday banquet, while Consort Yun had not appeared in the hall even now. It was truly excessive, yet the Empress Dowager had shown not the slightest intention of asking about it. One’s position was truly secure only when one had a prince to rely upon.

“Mother Empress, the midday meal is ready.”

“Then let us go.”

With Nurse Li supporting her, the Empress Dowager rose. Taking Qiao Ke by the hand, she stepped down from the seat of honor. The consorts and noblewomen below followed suit, rising one after another. Empress Wei moved forward two steps and took her place at the Empress Dowager’s side, replacing Nurse Li. Everyone was just about to head toward the door when—

“It seems your daughter-in-law has arrived late.”

A delicate, coquettish voice drifted into the hall, bringing everyone’s steps to a halt.

A woman in peach-colored court robes appeared at the entrance, surrounded by attendants. Her gown extended all the way to the floor, while a cloud-patterned sash cinched her slender waist, making it seem almost too delicate to encircle with one hand. A seven-jeweled coral hairpin gleamed among her locks, reflecting against a face as lovely as a hibiscus blossom. Her features were breathtaking, her phoenix eyes naturally seductive, and her dark hair was arranged in a lofty cloudlike coiffure. Pearls the size of little fingernails shimmered like snow, sparkling here and there among her hair.

She advanced with extraordinarily graceful steps, then bowed to the Empress Dowager with a winsome smile.

“Bo’er began fussing early this morning. I only just managed to soothe him, and then I hurried over. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me.”

“Rise. How is Bo’er? Has the imperial physician examined him?”

The concern in the Empress Dowager’s voice was unmistakable. She showed not the slightest displeasure at the woman’s late arrival.

“Thank you for Your Majesty’s concern. The imperial physician has already examined him. There is nothing serious.”

With smiling phoenix eyes, she cast a provocative glance at Empress Wei, yet she made no gesture of greeting whatsoever.