The Moon in the Palace (The Empress of Bright Moon Duology) (12 page)

the
Fifteenth Year
of
Emperor Taizong’s Reign
of
Peaceful Prospect

WINTER

I rather liked my routine. Each morning, I prepared the Emperor’s clothing for the day, dusted the chamber, and changed the mothballs in the chests. At noon, I counted the garments and linen sheets the laundry ladies delivered and finished dusting the chamber. After that, I strolled through the courtyard and went to walk around a small garden at the back. My bedchamber was located on the other side of the wardrobe chamber, and it required half an hour’s walking from one side to the other. Usually, when I returned to my bedchamber, it was already dark, time for bed.

One day, while waiting for the laundry women to deliver clean linens, I made a mortuary tablet for Father out of a piece of wood I found near the lake. I had always wanted to honor him with my silent thoughts, as I was unable to visit his grave in Wenshui each year on the Day of Qingming. It had been three years since he’d died. He must have learned of my new title in the other world, and I wished to tell him I would restore my family’s fortune and perhaps even make his dream for my destiny come true.

I put the tablet at the bottom of a chest and covered it with my clothes.

I thought of Mother. How I missed her. It had been more than two years since I’d left her. I prayed she stayed healthy. I wished I could tell her how close I was to the Emperor, and soon, very soon, I would meet him and tell him about my family’s situation.

A month after my appointment in the wardrobe chamber, I received my first allowance as a Talent, which contained ten
jin
of rice and two boxes of facial tincture and rouge. I did not use the beauty products. When I received the second allowance, I saved them as well. Once I saved enough of them, I would trade them to the other Talents for a silver ingot and send it to Mother. She needed money. I did not know if Qing offered her food or warm clothes. With the silver I sent, she would at least have one good meal. She would also understand that I had not forgotten her, and she would be greatly comforted. And even if Qing stole the money, it would be all right. At least he would know I was doing well in the palace. With his greedy nature, he would hope I could do something good for him in the future, and then at least he would treat Mother more kindly.

I also befriended Daisy, the Emperor’s dress maid, although she was hard to talk to at first. People often joked that she had a rock where her brain was supposed to be, but Daisy failed to comprehend even that. Words seemed to reach her in delayed echoes, and she always responded a few moments slower than normal.

I made excuses to visit her in the Emperor’s bedchamber, which was located far away in Ganlu Hall. Every time I went there, I hoped he would notice me, but he was always surrounded by an array of physicians, guards, and servants. They ordered me to stay one hundred paces away from the Emperor.

His recovery had been slow, even with the help of the great physician, Sun Simiao. The physician had famously declined the invitation of the Sui Court but now accepted the task of overseeing the Emperor’s health. He suggested
citragandha
, a wonder drug that contained tamarisk manna, pine resin, and licorice, and had the Emperor take it with grape wine at noon and two hours before bedtime. He also prescribed drugs such as mica and cinnabar, which were said to be two important ingredients of Taoist’s elixir, with careful doses administered by a team of physicians and food provosts.

The Duke, the man who suspected me of assisting the killer in the Altar House, was always around, sniffing, frowning, inspecting the medicines before they were delivered to the Emperor. He was the Emperor’s most trusted man, clearly, and I thought it best to stay out of his sight.

The rumor of Heaven’s withdrawal from the Emperor died off slowly as he recovered. In time, I believed, the appearance of the comet would become a distant memory to everyone.

Day and night, the thick fragrances of the Emperor’s medicinal herbs floated in the Inner Court, sometimes even drowning out the scent of plum flowers. But I breathed it in. As long as the Emperor was in good health, I would see him soon.

• • •

Despite my preoccupation with the Emperor, I thought of Pheasant more and more. His face came into my mind when I swept the chamber or folded tunics. I knew I should stop thinking of him, and that Father would not have approved. But the more I tried, the harder it was to rid my mind of Pheasant. I could still feel his finger on my lips. What if I met him once more? Just once?

There were watchful eyes everywhere though. A few times, I caught two maids peering at me through the wardrobe chamber. I had never seen them before, and when I went to confront them, they pretended they were only passing by. I wondered if they had been sent by Jewel. Who else would be spying on me?

One time, Jewel visited before midday mealtime. “I’m helping the Emperor pick up his outfit,” she said, strolling between the rows of chests. But she did not seem to be interested in the Emperor’s garments. Instead, her hands flipped through the piles of the late Empress’s belongings, her old clothes and her jewelry. Jewel did not take anything in the end and left without a word.

I was wary. After she left, I moved those chests to a far corner.

In time, the opportunity to see Pheasant came. I made certain no one was around and slipped out of the court. I did not know where to find him, so I went to the polo field again. He was there with Taizi, and when he saw me, he gestured to the mulberry groves, where I waited until he could join me. Then we went to a beautiful wooded area behind a vast lake and a long corridor, named A-Thousand-Step Corridor. I admired the intricate lattice works on the sideboards near the bridge, while he whistled and told me about his horses, and then we climbed atop the garden rocks and watched the falcons fly by. Afterward, we raced each other down the hill. The time dribbled like honey flowing from a secret comb, lazily but full of flavor.

One day when I went to see him again, he was in the mulberry grove waiting for me. Together, we went to the back of the Inner Court again and arrived at a garden with high walls. Thick bushes and twisty vines had overgrown the front gate, and a pair of heavy, rusty locks barred the arched entrance.

Light as a lark, Pheasant flipped over the wall with ease. A moment later, his voice wafted from the other side of the garden. “Are you coming?”

I looked around to make sure we were alone and climbed onto a rock. My feet slipped, and my skirt caught my foot. I freed myself, grabbed the bricks on the top of the wall, and heaved. After a few failed attempts, I landed on the other side of the garden.

“Are you all right?” Pheasant looked at me from the grass-covered path. Behind him was a pavilion with a broken roof and moss-covered pillars.

“I’m fine.” I looked down at my dress. An ugly patch of mud had stained the back hem. I groaned; the last thing I wanted was untidiness. “You seem to know the palace so well. What is this place?”

“It’s abandoned. No one comes here anymore. Come.” He went to sit on the pavilion’s windowsill and leaned against the latticed panel. The woodwork on the panel was broken, and the pavilion’s ground was covered with fallen leaves. “I want to show you something.”

I sat across from him, keeping my distance, although I yearned to be close to him.

“Here.” He took my hand and left something in my palm. Carved out of opaque green jade, the beautiful piece had onyx eyes, minute gold feet, an elegantly curved back, and a smooth, supple belly.

“Silkworm!” My eyes widened. Silkworms were precious enough, but a jade silkworm was priceless. “Where did you get this?”

“It’s my gift to you. Do you like it?”

I adored it. Stroking its smooth surface, I could not take my eyes off it. It was true what people said about jade. It calmed the nerves and brought tranquillity to the bearer. “Why do you want to give me a gift?”

“It was my mother’s. She loved silkworms. She said the jade silkworm would bring skillful weavers good fortune. If you were a weaver with poor skills, it would transform you into a capable one.”

His mother must have been a weaver in the silkworm nursery. The palace often recruited weavers, as well as their family members who possessed certain skills. That was, perhaps, how Pheasant ended up working in the stable. “Are you certain about this? It’s your mother’s.”

“Yes, it’s worth a lot of money.” He grinned.

He had a knack for making me smile. “You know I don’t mean that. Why do you want to give it to me?”

“Because I like you.”

Did he mean that? Happiness bloomed in my heart. “But what about your mother?” I stroked the silkworm. “She’ll be mad if she discovers it went missing.”

“She died years ago.” His head drooped, and a cloud of sadness covered his face.

I reached for his hand. His mother had died, and mine remained unreachable. In a way, we suffered the same hollowness, where the absence of motherly affection settled in our hearts like a wound.

“I cannot accept this.” I returned the jade silkworm to his hand.

“What’s wrong, sweet face?”

“A Talent is not allowed to possess precious gifts, you know that.”

“But you won’t tell anyone.”

Of course I would not, and I would keep it close to my heart and never let it leave my sight. “But I still think you should keep it yourself.”

“If my mother were alive, she would be happy I gave this to you.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “This is the silkworm; only the most worthy should keep it. If anyone should have it, it’s you. Besides”—he stuffed the jade silkworm back in my hand—“I stopped seeing Rain. Well, I’ll see her in the court. I can’t avoid her. It’s just you won’t catch me with her in the haystacks anymore. And”—he hesitated—“I never cared for her. She came to me.”

I closed my fingers on the jade, my heart swelling with delight. He had given me the precious jade as a token of his promise.

But even if he had given me a rock, it would have been more valuable than any gem. But I could not let him know that.

“I don’t want to lie to you.” I opened my scent pouch and placed the silkworm there, my fingers lingering on the pouch’s opening as if it were a gate to happiness. “I can fetch a nice gown with this.”

He looked dismayed and then realized I was teasing him. He caught my arms. “If I see this silkworm anywhere other than your pouch, I swear I’ll never talk to you again, you sour girl.”

I struggled to free myself, but he was stronger than I thought. “Get away from me.” I giggled. “I’m not your girl, or one of your girls.”

“If you say so.”

He lowered his head, and his chin brushed my forehead. It pricked me with a strange sensation. I met his gaze. His arms, so hard and solid, were like nothing I had ever touched. I wished to stay there forever, to be close to him and feel his heart beating next to mine, but I also felt like a fish caught in a net, terrified about what awaited me.

His lips fell on mine. Gentle, like a breeze. Soft, like smooth silk. Sweet, like a summer’s dream.

“Will you come here next time?” he whispered.

I thought of Father and Mother. And the Emperor, who had hanged the maids for putting him in the wrong dress. Would he whip me to threads if he knew about Pheasant and me?

But I whispered back. “Yes,” I said. “Yes.”

the
Sixteenth Year
of
Emperor Taizong’s Reign
of
Peaceful Prospect

EARLY SPRING

I was ordered to go to the Chengxiang Hall to receive my apples, the first fruit allowance of the year. I was excited. I had not tasted fresh fruit for months, as Talents did not have a fruit allowance in the winter. The ladies of third degree and above, however, received fruit every month, which came from the imperial ice pits where many fresh fruits—pears, melons, oranges, and berries—were stored.

But I was also excited because I would finally meet the Four Ladies, who would distribute the apples to us.

I waited in the corner of a corridor with Plum and the other Talents. On the other side of the corridor stood the seventh-degree ladies, the eighth-degree ladies, and the ninth-degree ladies. The Ladies-in-Waiting, Beauties, and Graces were ahead of us in the courtyard. I looked around. I did not see Jewel. I wondered why she was absent. Being Most Adored, she could have anything she wanted.

The courtyard became quiet when four ladies in splendid gowns appeared near the gates, followed by a group of eunuchs carrying barrels of apples. They placed the barrels in the center of the yard, and the ladies sat on the arranged stools in front of the barrels.

I identified the Noble Lady right away. She was in her thirties and carried an air of confidence and loftiness that none of the others had. She wore a golden phoenix headdress and a necklace with pearls as big as quail eggs. She was also plump. Her cheeks bulged like ripened apples, and when she nodded, every part of her body seemed to shake, the layers under her chin, the long, golden tail of her phoenix headdress, as well as the two strings of jade earrings dangling from her thick earlobes.

“Remember what I said about her?” Plum whispered to me as a eunuch called the Ladies-in-Waiting, who knelt before the Four Ladies to receive their apples.

I nodded. The Noble Lady was clearly the one in charge. The eunuchs picked up apples, turned to her for consent, and then bowed and put the apples in the basket. “People revere her.”

“They do.”

“Who’s the lady with pale skin on the right?” That lady appeared to be obsessed with her looks. Sitting on the stool, she did nothing except stare into a bronze mirror held by her servant. Even with all the noise and confusion around her, she did not seem distracted.

“She’s Lady Virtue. She was Most Adored once.”

“I see.” She was undoubtedly the most beautiful of the four ladies.

“The Emperor grew tired of her. She likes to eat chickens’ feet and pork skin because she believes they improve her complexion. They are her beauty diet. She also drinks only morning dew because it’s purest and won’t tarnish her fair skin.”

That sounded extreme to me. “Who is the one next to her?”

“Lady Obedience. She’s a dancer.”

No wonder she wore a dancer’s costume, a low-cut red dress that exposed her bosom and a shawl that draped to the floor. Only a dancer would walk around in an immodest gown like that.

“She doesn’t have a chance to compete with the others. She’s also sick.”

The Ladies-in-Waiting bowed and left with their baskets of apples, and the Beauties moved to the courtyard to take their place. The people ahead of us began to step forward in the corridor. I moved forward as well. “What kind of sickness? Anything serious?”

“Hemorrhoids.”

I stifled a laugh. But perhaps having hemorrhoids was deadly when one’s business was to attract the Emperor. I stared at the last lady, who was stroking a white cat in her lap. She was very thin, wearing a silver gown, and like the Noble Lady, she looked to be in her thirties. “And that’s the Pure Lady?”

As if hearing me, the lady looked in my direction. Her stare was cold, unfriendly, sending a chill down my back. I lowered my head instinctively. Just then the Beauties left and the Graces walked to the courtyard. I was relieved to follow them.

“I just heard this.” Plum cupped her hand around my ear, and her voice was so faint I strained hard to hear. “Remember the assassination plot? It is rumored she planned it.”

I sucked in air and looked around, glad no one was behind me. The three groups of seventh-degree ladies, eighth-degree ladies, and ninth-degree ladies were on the other side of the corridor and whispered among themselves. But a eunuch in the courtyard turned around and glanced at me. I lowered my head. Plum and I fell silent.

“She? This can’t be true,” I said when the eunuch looked away. “Why would she do that?”

“The Emperor wasn’t the target.” Plum’s breath moistened my earlobe. “The target was Taizi, but for some reason he left the Altar House early, and the killer stumbled on the Emperor.”

The Pure Lady wished to murder Taizi so her son would replace him? I could hardly believe it. “Where did you hear this?”

Plum shielded her mouth with her hand and coughed as though to dislodge something in her throat. “Where? Many people are gossiping about this. Remember the court recorder? He was poisoned, dead, when the Gold Bird Guards tried to interrogate him.”

“You think she ordered that?” I dared not lift my head in the Pure Lady’s direction.

“That’s what people say.”

I thought hard. “Does the Emperor know this?”

Plum shook her head. “No. He believes Taizi plotted it.”

Of course. If the Emperor died, Taizi would have his throne. “So the prince is in trouble then.”

“That’s why the Emperor is sending him away.”

“Where is he going?”

The crowd moved again, and we walked toward the barrels, but I lagged behind to widen our distance from the other Talents.

“One of the Four Garrisons on the western border.” Plum shrugged. “The Emperor said the assassination plot spurred revolts from other peaceful tribes. Even the Eastern Turks are getting restless. But it is just an excuse to send Taizi away.”

“It may not be.” With the war against the Western Turks, the Emperor needed a strong man to boost his army’s morale. Taizi, with his muscles and his history in the military camp, was a good candidate.

“Well, the real reason is,” she said, “the Emperor dislikes Taizi now. He does not trust him, and the Pure Lady thinks this is a good opportunity to further weaken the heir so her son, Prince Yo, can gain the Emperor’s favor.”

“I see.” According to the traditional rule of succession, Prince Yo, the fourth son, could not take precedence over Taizi, whose mother, Empress Wende, was the legitimate wife. But if Taizi lost his right to inherit the throne because of the assassination plot, and if the Pure Lady became the Empress, then everything would change. “But I don’t think Prince Yo has a chance.”

“You don’t think so? The Pure Lady invited some ministers to the court for the Lantern Festival months ago. Even the Chancellor joined. I am telling you she is working hard to gain support and win the Emperor’s trust.”

I glanced at the Noble Lady. Her cheeks shining like two red apples, she was smiling kindly at a Grace. “What about the Noble Lady?”

She had two sons. Her older son, Prince Ke, was only a year younger than Taizi. If Taizi fell into disgrace, Prince Ke, senior of Prince Yo, was more eligible.

Plum sighed. “I would rather she becomes the Empress, Mei. You see, she has been managing the Imperial Silkworm Workshops since Empress Wende’s death, and the silk has been very productive. I also heard she is kind to her maids. One time her maid broke her jade comb. The maid was worried to death, but the lady did not even raise her voice to her…”

Two servants came to stand behind me, eyeing us furtively. I could not tell whose servants they were, perhaps the Pure Lady’s. I tugged Plum’s sleeve, and she shut her mouth.

The eunuch called me, and I bowed to the ladies. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I felt the Pure Lady’s cold gaze on my back. Did she really plan the assassination? Did she want to be the Empress that badly?

In haste, I received the apples and left with Plum. I told her to take my basket to our bedchamber, and I hurried to the wardrobe chamber. There was no laundry delivery scheduled that afternoon. I just wanted to make sure everything was in order before I went to meet Pheasant. I went down the corridor and pushed open the doors.

The sight inside sent a jolt through me. For a while I was unable to process what had happened. Then my knees weakened, and I almost collapsed.

All the wardrobes and the chests were wide open. Piles of robes, capes, bejeweled girdles, and silk slippers were scattered across the floor.