The Southern Bough - Chapter 2

News arrived from the palace as the lamps were being lit.

By the Empress’s decree, the golden fox taken on the Crown Prince’s autumn hunt was an auspicious sign. With the Empress Dowager’s birthday approaching, all the young ladies of official households were to prepare a performance for Changhua Hall in ten days’ time.

Sure enough, Yao Huanyi could no longer sit still. She came to the rear courtyard with Changqing.

Looking full of concern, she helped me up.

“A-Jing, when I said you should kneel for four hours, I didn’t mean it. You’re too literal. Come, get up and let me look at you.”

She led me, stumbling, into the side room where the servants lived, then ordered Changqing to bring hot tea for me to warm myself.

I acted overwhelmed by her kindness. She was delighted.

“A-Jing, Lady Qin, who choreographed dances for Noble Consort Xiao, was your mother, wasn’t she? You spent so much time with her back then. You must have learned quite a bit.”

Her gaze settled on me. “I know you’ve always wanted to repay me, A-Jing. This is your best chance.”

In my previous life, I had volunteered the truth about my family and offered to choreograph a dance for her.

Only now did it strike me: Yao Huanyi had known my background all along.

Yet she had still kept me, the daughter of a convicted criminal, by her side.

My feelings were complicated.

She smiled. “What would you like, A-Jing? Name it, and I’ll do it for you.”

She surveyed me casually, speaking in her usual condescending tone.

I remembered how deeply those words had moved me in my previous life. Choking back tears, I had told her, “I only want Miss to be safe. I ask for nothing else.”

She had been so pleased, praising my loyal heart.

But what was loyalty, really?

All I knew was that my ridiculous loyalty had left me without even a place to be buried.

Every quarter hour I had spent nailed inside that coffin, waiting for the flames, had made my hatred burn hotter.

I looked at Yao Huanyi and pulled my lips into a faint smile.

“I would be glad to serve you, Miss.”

But, my dear mistress, that dance at Changhua Hall wasn’t the only reason you managed to marry into the Eastern Palace.

Six months earlier, the Southern Kingdom had suffered defeat after defeat against Northern Yu at Pingshayi.

The loss had become a torment to the Emperor.

Defeating Northern Yu and uniting the realm was his cherished ambition.

And Yao Huanyi was the Grand General of Zejing’s daughter.

At court, the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince were locked in a bitter struggle. Both factions had been trying to win General Yao over.

During earlier wars with Northern Yu, both princes had volunteered to go to the front. Everyone at court knew that whoever gained control of the neutral Yao army would leave his rival with no hope of competing.

It did not matter how coarse the people of Shangjing thought Yao Huanyi was.

To secure his position as heir, the Crown Prince needed only to marry her. At minimal cost, he would gain the formidable support of his new father-in-law.

The celebrated dance that supposedly won the realm’s heart merely made the marriage more palatable to him.