The Southern Bough - Chapter 5

Over the next few days, Yao Huanyi secretly hired a dancer to perform the steps in my diagrams.

She rehearsed with her, practicing hard for several days.

On this date in my previous life—the evening before the Empress Dowager’s birthday—Qiushu had died without a sound in Zao’en Tower.

That night, I threw out the food sent by the private kitchen.

Qiushu had made a good point a few days earlier. A person wouldn’t starve from going without food for one day.

I stayed away. Yao Huanyi, however, went to Zao’en Tower that evening.

Late at night, she burst into the servants’ room with no concern for appearances.

She ordered me outside to speak with her.

There was a wildness in her eyes I had never seen before.

“I hear you’ve been taking Qiushu’s place delivering food to Zao’en Tower. Why didn’t you go today?”

I heard the probing note in her voice and chose my words carefully. “That place is so bloody. Qiushu frightens easily. I’m not afraid, but it was terribly cold today. Besides, I thought missing one meal…surely wouldn’t kill him.”

I deliberately made myself sound entirely justified.

Yao Huanyi stared into my eyes for a long time. Then a satisfied smile appeared. “You’re right. Missing one meal won’t kill a person.”

As she had in my previous life, she told me to accompany her to the Changhua banquet the next day.

Naturally, I thanked her profusely.

The following morning, she ordered Changqing to bring out the clothes she had prepared.

Changqing held up a dance dress that shimmered like light on snow.

It had been scented with incense.

Just as in my previous life, the sight dazzled me.

Yao Huanyi smiled at me. “What do you think of this dress, A-Jing?”

“It’s beautiful. If you wear it to the palace banquet, you’ll outshine every other woman there.”

She laughed. “Even a dull thing like A-Jing knows how to say something nice. I’ll wear it to Changhua Hall, then.”

The banquet took place as planned.

I accompanied her to Changhua Hall.

The women and the ministers sat in separate rows. Amid the crowd, I immediately spotted the Empress, seated just below His Majesty in all her exalted dignity.

The Southern Kingdom’s empress was composed, virtuous, and gracious—a model for all women.

Noble Consort Xiao, who had died so young, had instead become the bewitching temptress condemned by the imperial censors.

For three years, she had enjoyed the Emperor’s exclusive favor. For those same three years, the Empress had been neglected.

According to the stories, Noble Consort Xiao had performed Seeking Blossoms Through the Snow in Fangfei Pavilion, leaving the Emperor utterly entranced.

This virtuous empress had not dared strike at his beloved at once.

It was my mother who had taught the consort to dance.

Our entire family had been implicated. The Empress invented a charge, had us reduced to penal slaves, and sent us into exile on the snowfields.

Noble Consort Xiao had pleaded for us, to no avail.

The Emperor was willing to lavish affection on her, but he would never embarrass the Empress over such a trivial matter.

Then, six months earlier, General Shen of Northern Yu had routed the Southern Kingdom at Pingshayi. The Emperor consulted his senior ministers that very night and proposed sending a prince to Northern Yu as a hostage.

But the Empress and Empress Dowager secretly ordered the envoy to change the diplomatic letter. The hostage had not yet been named; they made it the Seventh Prince, Noble Consort Xiao’s son.

Everyone knew how deeply the Emperor favored her. Once, while drunk, he had even admitted that he wanted the Seventh Prince to inherit the throne.

Northern Yu’s emperor readily agreed.

For the Empress, only sending the Seventh Prince away under cover of their defeat could put her mind at rest.

Most of the senior ministers’ interests were bound up with her natal family.

Without needing to consult one another, they united to force the Emperor to surrender the Seventh Prince as a hostage.

While he was on his way to Northern Yu, his mother died deep within the palace.

I glanced around unobtrusively.

In my previous life, the Empress had been unrivaled at the Changhua birthday banquet.

She had personally chosen Yao Huanyi as the Crown Prince’s bride.

The Crown Prince himself was among the guests exchanging cups of wine.

Then came the young ladies’ performances.

Most presented poetry or other literary pieces. The Empress Dowager kept smiling, offering neither praise nor criticism.

The Empress cheerfully instructed the eunuchs to reward them one by one.

When Yao Huanyi’s turn came, the Empress regarded her with encouragement.

She lowered her head shyly. “Please allow me to change into my dance dress.”

The young ladies in the women’s seats whispered among themselves.

“She’s already been chosen as Crown Princess. Why put on this show of dancing?”

“Does someone that coarse really expect to become a model for the realm as empress?”

Yao Huanyi ignored their taunts.

She had complete confidence in that dance.

And she knew their mockery would only set the stage for her dazzling triumph.

Just as it had in my previous life.

In the side hall, she changed into the dress and seized my hand in excitement.

“A-Jing, I’m going to be Crown Princess.”

I nodded and straightened her skirts, watching her walk into Changhua Hall, step by step, certain of her victory.