Chapter 18: You Two, Stop This at Once!

Shen Zhiyi noticed their glances but paid them no mind. Only one thought filled her head: she was exhausted.

She had risen before dawn, gathered at Kunning Palace, gone to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, returned to Changchun Palace for an herbal bath, and hurried to Chongyang Palace. She had been busy all morning without even stopping for water. Now that she was seated, fatigue caught up with her: her back and waist ached, her legs felt weak, and her stomach was unsettled.

The feast began. The Empress Dowager raised her cup and offered a few auspicious words. Everyone raised their cups in response, then sat down to eat.

Zhiyi picked up her chopsticks and took a piece of five-creature cake. Before she could put it in her mouth, a familiar voice came from across the table.

“First Attendant Shen.”

Zhiyi looked up. Attendant Liu had come over holding a cup of wine. She stood before Zhiyi with a smile that looked excessively warm.

“It’s the Dragon Boat Festival; we should drink calamus wine. May I offer you a toast, Sister?” Liu’s words were polite, but her tone left little room for refusal.

Zhiyi glanced at the cup. The clear calamus wine carried a strong smell of herbs and alcohol, noticeable from several paces away. As it reached her nose, her stomach lurched.

She was nearly three months pregnant. Though the system had reduced her morning sickness to a minimum, it had not eliminated it entirely. Mild food usually gave her no trouble, but the strong smell of wine set her stomach rebelling. Her face went pale for an instant. She pressed her lips together and fought down the surge of nausea.

Liu held out the cup, waiting for her to take it. More and more eyes turned their way. At the neighboring table, First Attendant Qian rose with a cup of her own and came over smiling. Her voice was gentle, but she pressed relentlessly. “Sister Shen, it’s the festival. Everyone should celebrate together. Let me offer you a toast too.”

The two stood on either side of Zhiyi, as if they had planned it. She looked from Liu’s calamus wine to Qian’s realgar wine. Held side by side before her, the mingled fumes made her temples throb and her nausea worse.

She knew what they intended. Drinking calamus and realgar wine was a festival custom. To refuse would be to slight them, to set herself apart and spoil everyone’s enjoyment. Reject them publicly, and she would be accused of bad manners and failing to appreciate a kindness. But she was pregnant; she could not force herself to drink.

Liu’s smile deepened. Qian remained gentle in appearance, but the hand holding her cup was steady, with no intention of withdrawing it. The women around them were watching.

Zhiyi took a deep breath. The fumes rushed in again, and her stomach churned. Covering her nose, she spoke in a muffled voice, her discomfort plain. “Attendant Liu, First Attendant Qian, could you move the wine farther away? It’s not that I don’t want to drink. I’m truly unwell today.”

The herbal scent and alcohol together seemed to bore into her temples like an invisible needle. Her stomach heaved; it took all her self-control not to retch on the spot.

Liu and Qian exchanged a look. Zhiyi did look ill: her lips were white, fine beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead, and even the vermilion mark between her brows seemed duller. But Liu thought, *Isn’t this perfect?* If Zhiyi was unwell and refused the wine in public, she would be disrespecting the Empress Dowager and the emperor. It would be a waste not to take advantage of the opportunity.

At the innermost table, the Empress Dowager was speaking with the empress while the Noble Consort joined in. Li Xuandu sat in the principal seat with several dishes of rice dumplings before him, but plainly had little appetite; he picked up his chopsticks only to put them down again. His gaze wandered across the hall and came to rest toward the back of the middle section.

Two women surrounded Zhiyi, two cups of wine before her. She didn’t look well. He frowned slightly, set down his chopsticks, and spoke in a low voice that nevertheless carried through the hall. “What is happening?”

Liu immediately turned toward the innermost table and raised her voice, sounding aggrieved. “Your Majesty, today is the Dragon Boat Festival. In the presence of the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty, First Attendant Shen refuses even a cup of calamus wine. Isn’t that a grave disrespect?”

Qian followed at once, her tone gentle but every word pointed. “Yes, Sister Shen. However unwell you are, you should have a cup. We can’t break the festival custom for one person.”

Before the emperor and Empress Dowager, the two women put even more effort into their performance.

The Noble Consort had disliked Zhiyi from the day of the selection, looking down on the village head’s daughter. She set down her cup and spoke lightly, with lofty impatience. “It’s only a cup of wine. Drink it. Why make such a fuss?”

With that, she lifted her own cup and drained it in one decisive movement. Liu and Qian took the words as a royal warrant, their confidence swelling. Liu straightened and raised her voice another notch. “The Noble Consort has drunk hers. What is First Attendant Shen making a fuss about?”

The two exchanged another look and stepped forward together, bringing the cups closer. The herbal scent of calamus and the sharp fumes of realgar mingled, striking Zhiyi like a blow to the face. Her stomach clenched. Before she could cover her mouth, sour liquid rose in her throat. She doubled over involuntarily and let out a suppressed retch.

The sound wasn’t loud, but it cut through the lively feast. Conversation and laughter stopped. Every eye turned to Zhiyi. Some people froze, some stared wide-eyed, and some held their chopsticks suspended in midair. Dozens of gazes fixed on the woman bent over, hand over her mouth, face deathly pale.

None of the women in the harem had borne a child, and for the moment they didn’t think of that possibility. Some assumed she had eaten something bad; others thought she was feigning illness to avoid the wine. Still others waited gleefully for her to make a spectacle of herself.

Li Xuandu was startled too. He was about to speak up for Zhiyi when a sound came from beside him, before he could get the words out.

The Empress Dowager sprang to her feet so quickly that no one had time to react. On her well-preserved face, her usually steady eyes suddenly lit up. She stared toward Zhiyi, her hands trembling slightly.

“You two, stop this at once!”