Nurtured with the blood of a southern Yunnan woman, the parasite grows to maturity in three months. Once planted inside the husband, only the woman who raised the parasite can ever bear his children.
A chilling silence fell over the palace. Those who usually vied fiercely for his favour had all gone quiet these past few days. Yet Xie Linzhuo was busier than ever. Aside from holding court, discussing state affairs and reviewing memorials, he neither visited any consort's palace nor summoned anyone for the night.
While I was keeping Mu'er company as he practised calligraphy, Chuju came in and whispered to me that my legal mother had been moved to the inner prison.
In the dead of night, I disguised myself as a eunuch and went to the inner prison. My legal mother's hair was dishevelled, though her clothes were still relatively clean. Seeing me, she lunged forward as if I were her saviour.
"The empress wasn't implicated, was she? What on earth did the emperor lock up our entire household for?"
I stared at her for a long moment before letting out a soft chuckle. "Does Mother truly not know? You treated the emperor as my legal sister's personal possession. Have you forgotten even the evil deeds you committed?"
Just as my legal mother was about to argue, she suddenly recalled something. Her face turned pale in an instant and she began to tremble all over.
"No, that is impossible. The grandmaster said no one would ever find out."
I paced slowly outside the prison bars. "Under the wide heaven, all land belongs to the emperor. Southern Yunnan is also the emperor's territory. How could that grandmaster you knew be the only one? Besides, it is merely the lovesickness gu. I could easily find ten or eight more of them for you if needed."
Back then, after my legal sister lost her child, I became pregnant with Mu'er. My legal mother often came to Changle Palace, using threats and promises to force me to give Mu'er to my legal sister.
It was I who deliberately used my words to provoke my legal mother. "If you have the ability, Mother, make it so that in the emperor's harem, only my eldest sister can get pregnant."
It was I who sent someone, while my legal mother was secretly searching for a secret medicine, to pose as a gu master from southern Yunnan and sell her the lovesickness gu. As for where the gu came from — during the first few years of my marriage to Xie Linzhuo, when I secured his rear and raised provisions for his army, he was not the only person I saved.
My legal mother was struck as if by lightning. She lunged forward in an instant, only to be blocked by the iron bars.
"It was you. You wretched wench. If I had known, I should have drowned you when you were a child. You have ruined my Ying'er. Oh, my Ying'er. The noble and esteemed empress. You rotten-hearted, wicked wench."
I looked at her coldly. "Mother, you are mistaken. The one who ruined my eldest sister was clearly you. If not for you, how could someone as simple as my eldest sister covet her brother-in-law and insist on becoming the empress? If not for you, how could she have treated the emperor as her personal possession, not even allowing Xuan'er to receive a single embrace from his father? If not for you, how would Nanny Wang and Lanniang have dared to ignore my pounding on the door for help, refusing to release even a single imperial physician? How would my Xuan'er have died from a severe illness without treatment on that rainy night?"
My legal mother's lips trembled, her face pale, and fear finally appeared in her eyes.
"You are taking revenge on me? Revenge on my Ying'er? What are you planning to do? What do you want to do to—"
I looked at my legal mother, who used to stand high above, always looking at me as if I were a mere plaything. She desperately wanted to know what I would do to her Ying'er. Seeing that, I remained silent. She fell to her knees, begging me to spare my eldest sister, tears and mucus flowing down her face.
With nearly half of the long-harboured resentment in my chest finally venting out, I finally felt a sense of relief. Back then, when my Xuan'er died in my arms, no one could understand my pain.
With a wave of my hand, an attendant carrying poisonous wine stepped forward and placed the tray right before my legal mother.
"I suppose Mother doesn't want to experience it either."
With that said, I turned and walked out of the inner prison.
Waking up the next morning, Chuju told me that my legal mother had committed suicide in prison. She had left a letter written in blood before she died, stating that the first meeting between the emperor and the empress was entirely orchestrated by her, and that the empress's intense possessiveness over the emperor was also due to Nanny Wang, whom she had instructed to instigate the empress night and day to cast the love curse. It was all because she desperately wanted to help the empress secure a lifetime of glory, which is why she resorted to this plan. She took all the blame upon herself, only hoping that for the sake of the empress's innocence and her deep devotion to the emperor, he would not implicate the empress.
I fell silent for a long time. There was joy and relief, but also melancholy and sadness. I wondered if my elder sister had learned of this news yet.
Up until now, my elder sister has lost everyone who truly loved her. A child without protection has no right to remain innocent and naive.
When Mu'er returned from school and saw me still lost in thought, he asked me what was wrong. I stroked his head, and as I smiled, tears began to fall.
"Mother is fine. I just miss your elder brother."
"Don't cry, Mother. Mu'er will stay by your side in place of big brother."
I stopped my tears and smiled with genuine comfort. "Mu'er, you don't have to shoulder your brother's responsibilities. As long as you live a good life, both Mother and your brother will be happy."
A few days later, Xie Linzhuo issued an imperial edict declaring that Madam Qin, the mother of the empress, had used insidious means to harm imperial offspring, and had been bestowed with poison. The court and the public were in an uproar, and rumours spread like wildfire.
That very night, my father submitted a memorial from the prison, admitting his negligence, expressing in fear and trepidation that he had failed to manage his household and instruct his wife, leaving him with no dignity to remain in the imperial court. He begged the emperor to allow him to resign and return to his hometown.
However, Xie Linzhuo stripped both my father and elder brother of all their official posts, but he allowed my father to keep his empty title of Duke Chenzhen, and their residence was not confiscated either. I speculated that perhaps, for my eldest sister, Xie Linzhuo still had one last shred of tenderness left.
But Mu'er was already ten years old. It was time to start preparing for certain things.