The entire capital was instantly abuzz with excitement. Just as the ambitious high-ranking families were eagerly preparing, Xie Linzhuo made another announcement during the morning court. He would only select daughters of officials of the fifth rank and below to enter the palace.
Naturally, some objected, but Xie Linzhuo said, "You wanted a draft, and I have agreed. What else are you dissatisfied with? Could it be that your concern is not the lack of imperial offspring, as you claim, but rather that you wish to gamble for immense wealth and power?"
No one dared to respond, and so the first draft since Xie Linzhuo's ascension to the throne was decided.
Having just finished my postpartum confinement, I could not overexert myself, so Xie Linzhuo personally checked off a few names from the submitted portraits of the candidates. The ministers were not entirely satisfied, so they selected a few more, bringing the total to ten. Xie Linzhuo then granted a special favour, allowing the chosen ladies to celebrate the new year at home before departing for the palace.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was an auspicious day. The ladies entered the palace, and were all granted the rank of Baolin. Xie Linzhuo seemed to forget about them entirely. In his daily routine, he would either come to Changle Palace or occasionally visit Jiaofang Palace to see my elder sister. It was said that my sister was now sometimes as innocent as she used to be, and sometimes as mad as a demon. Every time Xie Linzhuo visited Jiaofang Palace, he would remain in low spirits for days.
The ten newly entered Baolin were very well behaved. When they came to my palace to pay their respects, they were very well behaved indeed. It seems they have learned the rules well from their instructing mamas. I gently asked them to be seated and had tea and pastries served. At first, they were still formal and reserved, but seeing how kind and gentle I was, they became less afraid of me. After only a few days, we were sitting together playing card games.
I noticed one of them, Lady Qiao, who was lively, sweet and charming, with watery eyes like a young deer in the forest, innocent and simple-minded.
I asked her, "Do you want to see the emperor?"
"Yes, I do," she replied bluntly, but suddenly remembering that I was the noble consort, she nervously tensed up.
"You don't need to fear me. Since you have entered the palace, we are sisters. Naturally, we must all rely on the emperor for our livelihood," I reassured her.
That night, after coaxing Mu'er to sleep, I took off my earrings and instructed Chuju to go and give her a helping hand.
A few days later, Lady Qiao was playing on a swing in the imperial garden, her crisp laughter carrying far and wide. That very night, she became the first of the new ladies to attend to the emperor. The next day, Xie Linzhuo promoted her to Lady of Handsome Fairness and bestowed upon her Bixiang Palace as her residence. She came to thank me, and I congratulated her with a face full of smiles.
After that, Xie Linzhuo spent most of his time lingering between her Bixiang Palace and my Changle Palace, gradually visiting Jiaofang Palace less often.
But on a summer afternoon filled with the endless chirping of cicadas, my eldest sister somehow managed to slip out quietly. She happened to see Xie Linzhuo boating on the lake with Lady Qiao. He was picking lotuses and peeling lotus seeds for Lady Qiao, rowing the boat and enjoying the breeze just to win her smile. Things he had done countless times with my eldest sister were now being done with someone else.
When they reached the shore, Xie Linzhuo carried Lady Qiao off the boat in his arms, only to meet my eldest sister's tear-filled eyes.
"Linzhuo, didn't you say you only loved me and only wanted me? Why did you break your word?"
Xie Linzhuo fell into a rare silence, but he dared not admit his love for my legitimate elder sister had gradually withered away. So he simply had her escorted back to Jiaofang Palace. That night, with Consort Qiao in his arms, he called for bathwater three times.
Hearing of this, I actually felt an inexplicable sense of melancholy, grief for the genuine affection I had once given him. But sister, do you finally understand what jealousy feels like? Does the pain and anger of being betrayed by the one you love feel the same as what I went through? A husband who could be snatched away by you back then can now be snatched away by someone else. Once a boundary is crossed, it will be crossed countless times more.
For my sister's sake, Xie Linzhuo crossed the line for the first time by demoting me from wife to concubine. To ease tensions between the emperor and his officials, he crossed it a second time by agreeing to the imperial selection. To vent his frustration over his white moonlight going mad, he crossed it a third time by finding a substitute.
I had realized long ago that he loved no one but himself. That was why he lived so comfortably. But how could I possibly allow that? Human desire can never be satisfied, whether it is for wealth, power or women. Even with a substitute for his white moonlight by his side, once the floodgates of desire are open, one will only want more. I understood this truth, and the ministers who wished to send their daughters into the palace understood it even better.
From the fifth to the tenth year of Yuan'an, prompted by the petitions of his ministers, Xie Linzhuo held two more imperial selections. Now the palace had not only gained two more imperial concubines, five beautiful ladies and seven talented ladies, but also a Lady of Bright Deportment. The former Consort Qiao was now the Lady of Bright Deportment, the head of the nine consorts. Basking in Xie Linzhuo's immense favour, she was arrogant and full of herself. For a period, she provoked me both openly and secretly, and even spoke insolently about Jiaofang Palace.
I simply sent an elderly maid to Bixiang Palace to re-educate Consort Qiao on palace etiquette. Yet Xie Linzhuo neglected her entirely for three whole months. It wasn't until the next batch of younger ladies entered the palace that Consort Qiao finally reflected and understood her place. Although Jiaofang Palace no longer held its former glory, there would never be another mistress of Jiaofang Palace.
After that, Lady Qiao became that pure, innocent and naive Consort Qiao once again. Even as more and more women gradually entered the palace later on, she remained Xie Linzhuo's most favoured Consort Qiao. I had not chosen the wrong person back then, and I was quite satisfied.
In the first year or two, Xie Linzhuo still frequently visited Jiaofang Palace to see my elder sister. But after losing her child and suffering Xie Linzhuo's betrayal, her mental state became increasingly unstable. Sometimes she was as quiet as water, but other times she was driven to madness. Once the young and delicate draft girls entered the palace, with new faces to coax and accompany him every day, Xie Linzhuo simply stopped setting foot in Jiaofang Palace.
As for my Changle Palace, Xie Linzhuo did come often. When he came, I welcomed him with joy, talking, chatting and playing with the young child at our knees, just like an affectionate couple in the ordinary world. When he did not come, I was even more at ease, playing with my Mu'er and reading books on my own. I cannot say how happy I was.
Xie Linzhuo often said that he felt most relaxed here with me. I smiled in silence. He had either just come from another consort's palace, or was about to turn around to boat on the lake and admire flowers with this beauty or that consort. Coming to my place was merely because he was tired of the beauties fighting for his favour.
By the time Xie Linzhuo held his fourth imperial draft, Mu'er was already ten years old. He studied under the great scholar Master Gu, and learned martial arts from the heir of the Prince of Ying. He respected his teachers and valued their teachings, acted with propriety and restraint, and was magnanimous and polite. He received unanimous praise from both the court and the public.
After all, over these ten years, there was no telling how many women Xie Linzhuo had favoured. Yet not a single one had ever become pregnant.
At first, Xie Linzhuo did not mind. Mu'er was naturally intelligent, composed and sensible. To have such a son was enough. But not wanting children and being unable to have them are two different things. As time went on and no consort became pregnant, he spent more and more of his time lingering in the imperial harem, until one night at midnight, he suddenly went to the long-silent Jiaofang Palace.
The next morning, upon returning to Xuanzheng Hall, he immediately decreed that all servants in Jiaofang Palace be beaten to death. Jiaofang Palace was sealed and locked, with all entry and exit forbidden. Everyone in the Jiang household was thrown into the imperial prison to await sentencing.
So it must be that what my legitimate elder sister did many years ago, when she infected him with the lovesickness gu, had finally been discovered.