Chapter 30: Virtuous Consort Xian Plays the Melody of a Fallen Kingdom
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When news arrived that Prince Qian had seized the Western City Gate, Qinghe was paying her respects to the Empress Dowager with her imperial sister-in-law, imperial brother, and the others. She saw shock and disbelief spread across her brother’s face.
Like a madman, he sent men out of the palace to investigate. He stood rigidly in place, and only after an unknown length of time did he collapse into a chair, his face so ghastly that it was frightening to look at.
Qinghe felt only desolation.
That villain, Chu Yan, was about to storm the palace. He would not only seize the imperial palace and the entire realm, but also cast her whole family into the Imperial Prison, leaving their lives and deaths at his mercy.
Today, she was still a princess of the Great Shun Dynasty, a daughter of the imperial house. Tomorrow, she would be reduced to that villain’s prisoner.
“Qinghe.”
Her imperial sister-in-law suddenly called to her. “Why not marry today? You and the Marquis of Anyuan’s son already have a wedding date. This would merely be an early marriage. The Marquis’s family has no high-ranking officials, so Prince Qian is unlikely to take notice of them. And you are only a princess. Once you marry, you will no longer have any ties to the imperial clan. You may be able to escape this calamity.”
Qinghe’s heart tightened. Her sister-in-law wanted her to marry that very day?
“Can that really be done?” the Empress Dowager asked, breaking her silence.
“Qinghe is only a princess.”
Empress Zhang gazed at her with affection. Qinghe was deeply moved. Her sister-in-law had truly gone to such lengths for her.
“What do you think, Your Majesty?” the Empress Dowager asked Emperor Yongning.
The emperor said nothing. He merely sat there woodenly, his eyes empty and ashen.
Empress Zhang said, “Then let it be done. Shouzhong, send someone to tell the Marquis of Anyuan—tell him… ask him whether the wedding can take place today.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Xia Shouzhong hurried away. Before stepping through the palace gates, he looked back once more at the emperor.
This concerned his own life and fortune. He had to keep a close eye on things.
The atmosphere within the palace was oppressive. After sitting for a while, Empress Zhang took Qinghe away and told her, “Go back, bathe, and change into your wedding clothes. Your dowry will remain as originally prepared.”
Qinghe was at a loss. Only after her sister-in-law gave her a gentle push did she leave with the palace maids, looking back again and again, tears in her eyes.
Back at the Palace of Nurtured Celebration, she bathed and changed.
Before her bath, the maids there had still known nothing of Prince Qian’s seizure of the city gate. They served her as usual, preparing everything she needed.
But once the kitchen had heated the water and the eunuchs carried buckets of it into the palace, the news of the city gate’s fall spread like an explosion. Every maid was stunned. They no longer even wished to attend to Qinghe’s bath. It was only when Shuyu invoked the emperor’s authority that they were subdued. She told them that even if the emperor abdicated, Prince Qian would make him a duke or marquis, and that the palace would not descend into chaos.
Only then did the palace servants calm themselves and resume attending to Qinghe.
Qinghe had rarely rebuked her servants and had never acted haughty or relied on her status as a princess. Seeing them behave this way now, she merely bathed in silence and let them be.
Half an hour later, Qinghe looked at her reflection in the mirror. Dressed in an elaborate bridal crown and gown, she found the turmoil in her heart somewhat eased. For a woman, marriage was the most important event of her life. As her sister-in-law had said, once she left the palace to marry, the affairs within it would no longer involve her. She could only pray that Prince Qian would not slaughter everyone after entering the palace.
“The princess looks beautiful,” Shuyu praised.
The palace maids gazed at her. Her skin was white as snow, her features delicate and graceful. They all joined in, saying that the princess was learned and accomplished, and that the young master of the Marquis of Anyuan’s household must have cultivated blessings for eight lifetimes to be able to marry her.
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Qinghe had always preferred quiet to activity. She had learned to read at the age of three. Yet at that moment, she would rather have been an ignorant woman, spared the remembrance of all those sorrowful poems about fallen kingdoms.
“Suddenly, a thunderous drumbeat rends the sky, and splendor dies. Dragons and tigers scatter; wind and clouds fade. The grief of a thousand ages—who is left to tell it?”
“The court officials have already written the surrender memorial. Your servant-wife signs it together with them—Xie Daoqing.”
She was not the empress dowager of a fallen nation, yet she felt keenly the sorrow and helplessness Xie Daoqing must have endured when she left the city to surrender after the destruction of her country and home.
She had left the palace. What would become of her imperial father, her mother, and her sister-in-law?
After she departed, who knew when she would see her family again?
“Princess, this is your wedding day. Please do not cry,” Shuyu urged softly.
The other palace maids came to comfort her as well. Seeing the princess silently weeping before the mirror, they too felt the anguish of it. By tomorrow, this vast imperial palace would have a new master. No one knew what sort of temperament the new ruler possessed. He had raised an army in rebellion; if he proved cruel and merciless, they would have nowhere to flee.
“Her Majesty the Empress has arrived!” a eunuch called from outside the palace gate.
Qinghe hurriedly wiped away her tears and went out to welcome her sister-in-law, but Empress Zhang had already entered. She looked at Qinghe as though she wished to speak but could not bring herself to begin.
“Sister-in-law, whatever it is, tell me. I can bear it.”
Qinghe had guessed that something was wrong. Her expression was resolute.
Empress Zhang had no choice but to say, “The eunuch who went to the Marquis of Anyuan’s residence has returned. The marquis refused to open his doors. He said that now is not the time for a wedding, and that even next month, it might be difficult to arrange…”
Qinghe stood frozen.
Shuyu was shocked at first. Then she looked at the princess and could not restrain herself from cursing. “How can there be such a despicable man in this world? Everything was perfectly fine before, and he even sent gifts to the palace several times. Now he has turned into a heartless jackal!”
“Shuyu, enough.”
Qinghe turned and went back into her bedchamber. Her eyes reddened as she stripped off her wedding gown. Then she ordered Shuyu to fetch the marriage contract. Under the gaze of everyone present, she took a pair of scissors and cut the marriage contract, betrothal document, and gift register into shreds.
She forcibly held back her tears.
At that moment, another eunuch came to report, “Your Majesty, Prince Zhongshun has returned from negotiating with Prince Qian. Prince Qian has sent a message to the palace.”
“What message?”
“Prince Qian commands the Retired Emperor, the emperor, and all the court officials to leave the city tomorrow and surrender according to the rites of Zhou. The emperor is to bare his upper body and bind his hands, lead a sheep in his left hand, carry a bundle of reeds in his right, and have members of the imperial clan follow behind carrying the imperial jade seal and the map of the realm.”
“What?”
The elegant, radiant face of Empress Zhang changed color. Qinghe was equally shocked. She completely forgot her broken engagement. Her eyes filled with sorrow as she looked toward her sister-in-law.
Empress Zhang’s face had gone deathly pale, and her body swayed. Qinghe hurried forward to support her.
The palace maids and eunuchs fell utterly silent.
Gradually, they withdrew beyond the palace gates.
Empress Zhang gripped Qinghe’s hand tightly and said in a trembling voice, “Your imperial brother will not leave the city to surrender and suffer Prince Qian’s humiliation. Tonight, he…”
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Qinghe’s heart trembled. She understood what her sister-in-law meant, and she heard the fear in her voice.
“Sister-in-law, Qinghe will stay with you.” She clasped Empress Zhang’s hand in return.
Empress Zhang managed a faint smile.
Not long afterward, Emperor Yongning sent for Empress Zhang, and Qinghe went with her.
She watched her sister-in-law enter the study. After a while, she seemed to hear the sound of the two of them arguing inside. Then Empress Zhang emerged, covering her face. Her eyes were red, and one of her hairpins had been knocked loose.
Qinghe was about to go to her when her imperial brother stepped out of the study. He stopped upon seeing her.
His eyes were dark and sinister. He stared at Empress Zhang for a long while before tossing out a single sentence:
“Come to me tomorrow morning.”
Empress Zhang lowered her head and led Qinghe away.
At dusk, they went with the Empress Dowager to visit the Old Imperial Consort and told her what had happened beyond the palace walls.
“Is that so? Then Prince Qian will storm into the city tomorrow…”
The Old Imperial Consort spoke slowly, her clouded eyes turning toward them. “I am nearly ninety years old. I have long since grown muddled with age, and there is nothing left for me to fear. I need only remain here in the palace and wait for the late emperor to summon me below… But I pity you all. I pity Yuzhen, and all you children.”
The young princes and princesses began to weep.
No one in the imperial palace would sleep well that night.
It was not until the second watch that Qinghe returned to the Palace of Nurtured Celebration from her mother’s residence.
The palace maids carried lanterns for her, while a line of eunuchs followed behind in silence.
As she walked through the depths of the palace, towering walls rose on every side. Seeing the moonlight shining brilliantly across the ground, Qinghe raised her head toward the night sky. Countless stars glittered overhead, promising fair weather the following day.
Was Heaven itself taking that villain’s side?
As they passed a certain palace, Qinghe suddenly heard the sound of a zither. It wailed like a cuckoo crying through the night, sorrowful enough to bring tears to the eyes.
“Who is playing?” she asked.
One of the palace maids glanced several times toward the source of the music before replying, “It is probably Consort Jia. She is skilled at the zither and has played for His Majesty before. Princess, shall we have someone knock on the door and warn her?”
Not only was playing in the middle of the night forbidden; even during the day, no palace was permitted to make disorderly noise at will.
“No need.”
Qinghe stood listening for a while. Then, with a long sigh, she said in her tender, clear voice, “I never knew Consort Jia possessed such skill. That is plainly the music of a fallen kingdom.”
All around her, the palace maids and eunuchs remained silent.
Qinghe returned to the Palace of Nurtured Celebration and sat alone within it. Holding a book beneath the lamplight, she read through the night and waited for dawn.
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