Your Majesty is Poisonous – Chapter 58
by Little PandaThe Empress Dowager is So Wicked
That her father had been able to send a daughter into the palace to serve as a princess’s reading companion1 suggested Yao’s father had been a highly regarded official at the Late Emperor’s court. And Noble Lady Lan’s bearing did indeed mark her as a daughter of the official class.
That the Yao family was a Beijing official household made things easier β a single inquiry to an old eunuch who had spent decades in the yamen2 would settle the matter. What she feared most was that Noble Lady Lan had married into the capital from some distant province, leaving her with nowhere to ask.
“By the way, what did you and she say at the spirit wall3 last night?” Last night Longyi had been too far away to hear their conversation clearly.
Yao Xi smiled foolishly. “The Noble Lady was kind. Seeing that I was of the same clan, she gave me some well-meaning advice. That embrace was an accident too β I mentioned that both my parents were dead, and she was comforting me. Her Majesty happened to pass by and misunderstood.”
At the mention of Wan Bi, Longyi suddenly recalled something. “The Empress Dowager does value you. She knew the truth and still let someone else take the blame for you.” She really had never seen Wan Bi care about anyone like this.
“This slave is also grateful to Her Majesty.” Yao Xi felt a little embarrassed. The Empress Dowager had truly shown her great kindness.
“Gratitude cannot be expressed with words alone.” Longyi smiled meaningfully. “Since you are Noble Lady Lan’s clansman and have a connection with this palace, this palace will prepare your gift of thanks to the Empress Dowager! You can take it back and say it is your own offering.”
“This slave dares not accept. Her Highness the Princess also saved this slave’s life. This slave cannot thank Your Highness enough β how could this slave accept a gift from you?” Yao Xi hastily refused the Princess’s offer.
No matter how greedy she was for silver, no matter how much she wanted to save money, she could not take advantage of Princess Longyi’s kindness and generosity, shearing the Princess like the only sheep in the flock. Besides, this morning at Qianqing Palace, it was not only the Empress Dowager who had shown her kindness β the Princess had too.
“Those few things mean nothing to this palace. Take them when this palace tells you to take them. You serve at the Empress Dowager’s side. If you can keep her happy, your own days will pass more easily.” Longyi called a palace maid in and gave some quiet instructions. After a while, the maid returned carrying a brocade box.
Longyi pushed the box toward Yao Xi. “Remember this well. It is you presenting it to the Empress Dowager. Do not mention this palace. You have heard, surely, that the Empress Dowager and this palace are like fire and water. If she knew the thing came from me, she would think this palace was using you to send messages β who knows how she would mock me then.”
Yao Xi had no choice but to accept the brocade box. But were Princess Longyi and the Empress Dowager really at such odds? She truly had not known. Had Her Majesty not just sent several large chests of gifts to the Princess? The enmities within the palace were truly complex.
On the way back, Yao Xi grew cautious. The Princess’s relationship with the Empress Dowager was so poor β was the Princess trying to use her hand to harm the Empress Dowager? It was not that she did not trust the Princess’s character, but traps were everywhere in the palace, and she had to be on guard. One careless move and she might become someone’s catspaw.
With this thought, she glanced around her and secretly opened the box to look.
She really had been petty. Inside the box was an exquisitely carved wax block, the size of a seal, its surface a delicate openwork of mountains and rivers, flowers and birds, villages and fishermen β utterly magnificent. And not only beautiful, but fragrant: the moment she lifted the lid, a rich scent wafted out.
Yao Xi had watched her share of palace intrigue dramas, and she had a natural wariness of anything with an unusual fragrance. Whether this scented wax was poisonous or not, it was safest not to give it to the Empress Dowager. The Princess would never know whether she had presented it or not.
She tucked the brocade box into her robe and walked uneasily toward the main hall. She wondered if Her Majesty had finished speaking with Gugu Yuanqian, and whether she was still angry about the incident with the calligraphy test.
Wan Bi had already sent Yuanqian back to Ning’an Palace. She sat alone at the writing desk, gazing at the characters she had written while holding Yao Xi’s hand β her own name.
The idea of peeking at Yao Xi’s body, even for a Wan Bi accustomed to acting without restraint, was mad.
Not only mad, but also sordid and low.
She considered herself a dignified, respectable person. She had never done anything truly vile. The most forbidden thing she had ever done was glance at two scrolls of erotic paintings β and that was only out of curiosity. But peeking at Yao Xi was different. Wan Bi knew what desire lurked in her heart. If she could once accept Yao Xi’s wounded body, she would very likely make Yao Xi serve her in bed, reenacting once, twice, three times, four times the soul-stealing scene from her dreamβ¦
She felt she had fallen.
From making eunuchs serve her, to enjoying it when eunuchs served her, to dreaming of doing that with a eunuch, to wanting to actually do that with a eunuch, to wanting to peek at a eunuch’s body through such an indecent method just to determine whether she could truly accept it.
Everything pointed toward the same goal β to possess Yao Xi.
But even with the desire in her heart, the question remained: how to peek?
Yao Xi was so ashamed of her body that she even brought water into her room to bathe in private.
Drugs? Of course not. That child had already been drugged twice; she was already dazed and slow-witted β any more and she would be ruined.
While sleeping? That would not work either. She did not know whether Yao Xi slept deeply. What if she woke at the slightest touch?
Getting her drunk? That seemed to be the only way.
Wan Bi’s face suddenly flushed. Her mind was entirely occupied with how to strip off Yao Xi’s trousers without anyone noticingβ¦
She, the Empress Dowager, was actually thinking about pulling down a eunuch’s trousers? Wan Bi, tormented by shame and self-disgust, suddenly wanted to give up. Whether she succeeded or failed in peeking at Yao Xi, it might leave her traumatized for life! She would probably never forget that she had once plotted to strip a eunuch’s trousers.
While Wan Bi struggled alone in her turmoil, Yao Xi returned.
“You went to Longyi’s place again?” Wan Bi irritably crumpled her own name into a ball and threw it aside, looking up at Yao Xi, who stood cautiously at the entrance, not daring to come inside. Every time Yao Xi grew close to someone else, jealousy rose in her β and once jealousy rose, her possessiveness toward Yao Xi grew stronger.
Had Wan Bi not killed people and set fires, deceived sovereigns and threatened officials? Could she really be stumped by a little eunuch?
If she did not fear the little castrated donkey would die of shame and seek death, she would dare to order him right now to stand still while she stripped him clean. Or she could simply issue a decree and order him to strip himself.
But she could not. She cared about the little castrated donkey, so she had to take a roundabout approach. Fortunately, going around had its pleasures β trying something a bit sordid was actually rather stimulating.
Wan Bi’s shame and hesitation at her own degeneracy were swallowed by jealousy.
“This slave heard that Her Majesty was speaking with Gugu Yuanqian⦔ Yao Xi knelt obediently to beg forgiveness. “This slave deserves death.” In front of her master, one did not argue β one had to admit fault unconditionally and let the master’s anger subside.
Wan Bi looked at Yao Xi’s flushed little face, and her own expression grew darker. “You drank with that wine-madwoman Longyi again?”
“This slave deserves death.” Yao Xi said the words, but she was not cowed in her heart. Her Majesty had already done something as serious as deceiving the sovereign for her sake β how could she punish her over something so small?
Hmm? Where did this feeling of having nothing to fear come from?
“There is no wine in our palace? You have to go beg from Longyi like some beggar?” Wan Bi ordered the palace maid standing guard outside the hall, “Go bring two jars of wine for Eunuch Yao. If that is not enough for Eunuch Yao to drink, move the entire contents of Ning’an Palace over here.”
Yao Xi felt an inexplicable sweetness at hearing Her Majesty say “our palace.” But then she immediately worried β the tragic scene of last time at Ning’an Palace, when she had painfully choked down bowl after bowl of strong liquor, was still vivid in her memory! Her Majesty was still the same Her Majesty β the moment she grew angry, she would torment her.
Her tolerance for alcohol had improved a tiny bit, but not enough to drink jar after jar! Fine, she would drink two mouthfuls to show willing and then pretend to be drunk and fall asleep. Better than drinking herself to death. Her Majesty could not tell real drunkenness from fake anyway. Work in hell long enough and you become a little demon yourself β she could not survive without lying.
“This slave thanks Her Majesty for the wine.” Yao Xi kowtowed in thanks.
“Rise. Come sit. This bereaved one will teach you how to keep accounts.” Wan Bi took out a blank ledger and handed it to Yao Xi. “Each day the palace’s income and expenses are presented by those below. Your task is to organize the scattered accounts into registers, then verify whether the reported figures have any errors or omissions.” The little castrated donkey’s handwriting was ugly, but she was quick and attentive when recording things.
“This slave obeys the decree.” Yao Xi sat down in the chair beside the Empress Dowager again. This time she would stay alert β if Her Majesty tested her again, she had to do well and not be so foolish.
Wan Bi suddenly frowned and sniffed in Yao Xi’s direction. “What is that scent? Are you carrying a perfume sachet?”
The Empress Dowager was curious β she might ask to see it. Yao Xi did not dare lie and could only confess honestly. “Replying to Your Majesty. It is not a sachet, it is fragrant wax.”
She had already prepared herself to take out the brocade box. Sure enough β
“Show this bereaved one.” Wan Bi held out her hand toward Yao Xi.
Yao Xi presented the brocade box with both hands. In her heart, she prayed that the fragrant wax was not poisoned! She thought it over carefully and decided it probably was not β setting aside Princess Longyi’s character for a moment, there was no reason to use such a stupid method to poison someone. If it really was poisoned, she would certainly name the Princess before she died.
With this thought, Yao Xi felt reassured.
Wan Bi opened the box and picked up the wax block. She did not even pause to admire the exquisite carving before her expression changed. “What did you intend to do with this fragrant wax?”
Yao Xi saw that Her Majesty’s expression was wrong and said, “This slave bought it for personal use.”
“Personal use?” Wan Bi saw the little castrated donkey playing dumb and did not have the heart to expose her. She smiled and closed the brocade box.
The fragrance in this wax was called Yimeng, an ancient scent. It was harmless to people but had a rich, seductive aroma. According to legend, in the old days when men and women could not easily speak of such things, if one had feelings for another, one would bring Yimeng fragrance to a meeting, using it to express one’s intentions.
This morning she had touched the little castrated donkey’s hand, and when the little castrated donkey returned, she carried this scent on her body. If that was not seduction and suggestion, what was it?
Did she really think this bereaved one did not know her little schemes? Wan Bi smiled gently at Yao Xi. “After you finish the accounts, drink a few cups with this bereaved one.”
Empress Zhu sat pale-faced in her round-backed chair, several pages of a letter in her hand. The paper was densely covered with writing.
Chun Yang, the maid who had accompanied her into the palace from her maiden home, had sent the other palace servants away and closed the door. She asked worriedly, “Your Majesty, what did the Lord State Uncle say?”
Chun Yang had served Empress Zhu in the Zhu household since childhood. The two kept no secrets from each other, and many matters that Empress Zhu could not handle openly in the rear palace were managed by Chun Yang.
“Father said⦔ Zhu’s gaze was hollow as she looked at Chun Yang. “He sent someone to kill the Empress Dowager.”
“Why would the Lord State Uncle want to kill the Empress Dowager? Just because she rejected Her Majesty’s proposal to reduce the rear palace’s expenses?” Chun Yang did not understand. Everyone knew the mistress of Ning’an Palace was not to be trifled with β there was truly no need to take such a risk over something so small. Assassinating the Empress Dowager was a capital crime. One slip and the entire Zhu family would be executed.
Empress Zhu shook her head. “Do you remember how His Majesty has always complained about the treasury’s deficit, yet recently produced over two million taels to build river dykes?”
Chun Yang nodded. “This slave remembers. Her Majesty said the Empress Dowager filled it from her private treasury.”
Empress Zhu shook her head again and smiled bitterly. “Father conspired with others to embezzle river transit taxes. The Empress Dowager found out and used it to blackmail Father for three million taels. He was afraid of being under the Empress Dowager’s thumb forever, so he decided to kill. He thought that once the Empress Dowager was dead, not only would he no longer be blackmailed, but the rear palace would also be entirely under my control.”
“But this slave heard the assassin named Grand Secretary Yang as the culprit β it had nothing to do with the Lord State Uncle.” Chun Yang saw her mistress’s pale face and offered her tea.
Empress Zhu pushed the tea aside. “The assassin had evidence in Father’s hands, so he deliberately named Grand Secretary Yang. Father had no intention of harming Grand Secretary Yang β he simply thought that given the Yang family’s power, even if the Empress Dowager and His Majesty wanted to investigate, they would have to consider Grand Secretary Yang’s standing in court. Who would have guessed Wan Bi would be so brazen? Her methods so high? She strode into the throne room sword in hand and ordered Grand Secretary Yang to find the true culprit within three days. Grand Secretary Yang’s students fill the realm β this matter will be impossible to suppress.”
“Then the Lord State Uncle sent a letter to the palace β to ask Her Majesty to plead for the Zhu family before the Emperor?”
“No.” Zhu reached out with ice-cold hands and tightly gripped Chun Yang’s hand. She looked up at her with desperate eyes. “Father wants me to kill the Empress Dowager.”
Zhu Xiangchang reasoned that once Wan Bi was dead, the Empress and her daughter would dominate the rear palace. Even if Grand Secretary Yang had concerns, he would not dare speak out if he discovered anything.
“Ki-ki-killβ¦ the Empress Dowager?” Chun Yang stammered in terror.
Footnotes
- BΓ ndΓΊ (δΌ΄θ―») β a young noblewoman selected to accompany an imperial princess during her education, serving as both study companion and confidante.
- YΓ‘men (θ‘ι¨) β a government office or official residence in imperial China, where administrative and judicial affairs were conducted.
- YΗngbΓ¬ (ε½±ε£) β a spirit wall or screen wall, a traditional Chinese architectural feature positioned at the entrance of a courtyard to block direct views into the interior, often decorated with carvings.
0 Comments