The Empress Dowager is Terrifying
It was only the third quarter of the You Hour1 when Yao Xi arrived at Jingling Palace. The sun had not yet fully set, and the desolate, lonely Jingling Palace shimmered with a golden light in the afterglow of the sunset. From a distance, it didn’t look like a Cold Palace, but rather a holy temple for people to worship at. The terrifying legends about the Cold Palace that circulated through the palace were also driven away and scattered by the dazzling sun.
A eunuch from Ning’an Palace stood at the entrance. Seeing Yao Xi arrive, he greeted him with a smile. “Why have you come so early? Isn’t it still before your watch begins?”
Yao Xi walked over, smiling back. “I was afraid I’d get lost again and be late. Is Gonggong2 also on duty here tonight?” Yao Xi felt much more at ease seeing someone else there. She was a timid person, afraid of the dark. Having someone to stand watch with and bolster each other’s courage would make the long night less difficult to endure.
“The Empress Dowager has an order for Eunuch Yao, and commanded me to wait here.” The eunuch cleared his throat and addressed Yao Xi. “Her Majesty has hidden a painting scroll tied with a red tassel here in Jingling Palace. As long as you can find that painting before the third quarter of the Chou Hour, Her Majesty will allow you to return to your post at the Bureau of Imperial Gardens. If you fail to find it by the appointed time, you can forget about keeping your life.”
Yao Xi hastily knelt to receive the order. She had thought she was just coming to the Cold Palace3 for a normal night watch. How had it suddenly turned into a treasure hunt? Fortunately, Jingling Palace wasn’t large, with only about twenty rooms in total. With most of the night to search, finding a painting scroll, let alone a needle, wouldn’t be a difficult task.
Yao Xi gave her thanks for the order and rose, about to push the gate open. She wanted to take advantage of the remaining daylight to quickly find the scroll and report back to Ning’an Palace, saving herself from a whole night of fear and anxiety in Jingling Palace. This place was incredibly eerie, exuding a bone-chilling cold that gave one goosebumps.
The eunuch stood firm, guarding the main gate. He reached out and blocked Yao Xi. “You can only go in at the Hai Hour.4 Eunuch Yao, please be patient.”
As she watched the sky darken, Yao Xi’s heart began to pound. Jingling Palace was the place in the entire imperial palace where the most people had died. It looked fine during the day under the sun, but once night fell, it was as if unclean things crawled out from every corner, sending a chill straight up one’s spine.
From the Hai Hour to the third quarter of the Chou Hour5 was, at most, less than three shichen.6 The Empress Dowager certainly wouldn’t have placed the painting somewhere obvious. Perhaps it was buried underground, hung from a roof beam, hidden in a water vat, or even sewn into a quilt? This wasn’t a test of intelligence, but of physical stamina! If the painting was on the roof, she was basically sentenced to death. She didn’t know any lightness kung fu; even if she knew the painting was on the roof, she couldn’t reach it!
Yao Xi took out a packet of exquisite pastries from her sleeve. Zheng Dayun had ordered someone to deliver them to the Bureau of Imperial Gardens, worried she might get hungry during her night watch. Yao Xi wanted to ask the eunuch from Ning’an Palace about the scroll’s whereabouts, so she offered him the pastries. “I hope Gonggong might offer this little one some guidance. I wonder, is the painting scroll in the front courtyard or the rear courtyard?” If the eunuch just told her whether it was in the front or rear courtyard, she could eliminate half the search area at once.
The gate-keeping eunuch glanced sideways at the packet of pastries in Yao Xi’s hand. They were exquisite, certainly, and not something an ordinary servant could afford. But he was, after all, a man of Ning’an Palace. Even if he couldn’t serve the Empress Dowager directly, a servant’s status depends on their master’s prestige.7 His standing was much higher than that of the palace maids and eunuchs from other palaces. He had seen and eaten plenty of fine things in Ning’an Palace. Forget a packet of pastries; he wouldn’t be tempted even by a packet of small yellow croakers.8
Besides, Yuanqian-gugu9 had personally hidden the painting scroll on the Empress Dowager’s order. No one knew where it was except for the Empress Dowager and Yuanqian-gugu.
“Eunuch Yao will know as soon as you look,” the gate-keeping eunuch said, his face stiffening as he looked away from Yao Xi.
“Will Gonggong be leaving at the Hai Hour?” Yao Xi asked uneasily. Finding the painting was now a secondary concern. The darker it got, the more her hair stood on end. She had heard that many deposed concubines lived in the Cold Palace, but she had been standing at the gate for a long time without hearing a single human sound.
The eunuch’s smile was somewhat eerie. “But of course.”
After standing foolishly at the gate for a long time, the drumbeat for the second watch10 sounded in the distance.
“There we go! It’s the Hai Hour! After you, Gonggong!” The eunuch grinned at Yao Xi, then turned and hurriedly left Jingling Palace.
Before Yao Xi could even react, she was the only one left before the dark and deserted palace gate.
Wan Bi was seated in a pavilion beside Jingling Palace, admiring the lotuses. There were many mosquitoes by the lake, so the four sides of the pavilion were hung with light gauze curtains. On the table were candied fruits, fragrant tea, pastries, and fermented rice wine.
“Is that the second watch?” Wan Bi had also heard the drum. The slight weariness on her face from her reversed day-night schedule vanished in an instant. She was like someone sitting before a stage who perks up at the sound of the gongs and drums. The sound meant the good show was about to begin, and the star was about to make their entrance.
Except tonight, she wasn’t listening to a famous opera singer, but to the miserable screams of that little castrated donkey, Yao Xi. It was just a pity Wan Bi didn’t have an infrared camera;11 she could only listen to the commotion, not see the live scene.
“Why is there no sound? Don’t tell me that slave was late again?” Wan Bi pricked up her ears with great interest, listening for any movement from Jingling Palace. After waiting a while, there was nothing.
“The young eunuch who delivered the order came back and said that Yao Xi arrived at Jingling Palace very early,” Yuanqian said, pouring Wan Bi a cup of fragrant tea.
Just as Wan Bi was wondering why there was still no noise, a wail came from Jingling Palace.
“Ahhhhhh!!!!! What is this thing!!!!” Yao Xi screamed, scrambling and crawling out of the soft patch of ground beneath her feet. She collapsed onto the hard stone slabs, gasping for breath.
There wasn’t even a single lantern at the entrance, and the Empress Dowager had only given her three shichen. After the eunuch from Ning’an Palace left, Yao Xi had hesitated for a long time before finally steeling herself and pushing open the gate to Jingling Palace. There were oil lamps lit inside. Though the light was dim, it was much better than the pitch-black darkness outside the gate. Just as Yao Xi let her guard down and strode inside, the ground beneath her suddenly gave way, and both her feet sank into a soft, mushy mass…
It was a hair-raising sensation. Her feet were suddenly enveloped, as if two hands in furry gloves had seized her ankles. Just as Yao Xi finally managed to recover and was working up the courage to use the light from the oil lamp on the stone wall to see what that soft pile was, the oil lamp suddenly went out!
Yao Xi’s little heart lurched violently.
Then, something even stranger happened. There were two rows of stone lanterns lining the path from the entrance to the main hall of Jingling Palace. The faint light within them began to extinguish, one by one, from the outside in, as if a mysterious force was guiding her deeper inside.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh—”
Yao Xi shrieked and scrambled up from the ground, rushing toward the light inside the building before the stone lanterns in the courtyard went completely dark. The horror stories about the Cold Palace she had heard from the old eunuchs surfaced one by one. Yao Xi was about to go mad. She, an atheist,12 was wavering in the face of all these bizarre phenomena.
The painting! Yao Xi threw open the doors to the main hall, intending to quickly find that life-saving painting and escape this godforsaken place.
Ding-a-ling-ling—
A string of bells suddenly rang. Yao Xi had only pushed the door; she hadn’t touched anything. If she hadn’t touched the bells, could it be…
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………” Yao Xi clutched her head and charged out of Jingling Palace without a second thought.
“Ahhhhhh…” She stepped through that soft patch of ground by the entrance again.
Yao Xi’s legs gave out, and she knelt before the palace gate, sobbing quietly in the darkness as she looked at the lights of the other palaces. Her face was smeared with cold tears. How could the Empress Dowager be so merciful? How could she!!! Yao Xi curled up on the ground, weeping bitterly. She had two choices before her.
Choose death—leave the haunted Jingling Palace immediately and let the Empress Dowager deal with her.
Choose a life worse than death—turn back and go inside to find that damn painting.
“That’s more like it.” Wan Bi smiled and picked up her fragrant tea, taking a slow, delicate sip. She had heard the bells and knew Yao Xi had only just pushed open the main hall doors. The poor little castrated donkey, he still had a long way to go!
“Your Majesty. The Emperor is here,” Yuanqian suddenly whispered, leaning close to Wan Bi’s ear.
Wan Bi’s expression changed. What was the Emperor doing here at this hour, spoiling her fun? She looked back and saw that Emperor Ming Cheng had already entered the pavilion.
“We went to Ning’an Palace twice today, but the Empress Dowager was not there.” Emperor Ming Cheng walked into the pavilion and sat down across from Wan Bi, waving his hand to dismiss the servants from Ning’an Palace. Emperor Ming Cheng’s Chief Eunuch, Tang Huaili, knew full well that the Empress Dowager disliked eunuchs, so he tactfully led his men to wait outside the gauze curtains.
“Is something the matter?” Wan Bi shot Emperor Ming Cheng a glare. “Even if there is, we can talk about it tomorrow. This bereaved one is busy right now and has no time for idle chatter with the Emperor.”
“It seems the Empress unintentionally offended the Empress Dowager today?” Emperor Ming Cheng was used to Wan Bi’s arrogant attitude and wasn’t angered.
“Unintentionally? Not necessarily.” While speaking with Emperor Ming Cheng, Wan Bi had to keep an ear out for any commotion from Jingling Palace. She had ordered people to prepare for half a day just to listen to this little bit of noise. She had no idea what that Yao Xi was doing now. After a few consecutive screams, there was silence again. Could he have been scared to death?
“Whether intentional or not, for Our sake, can the Empress Dowager not hold it against her?” Emperor Ming Cheng wasn’t entirely worried that something would happen to Empress Zhu. As crazy as Wan Bi was, she still had that much sense; she wouldn’t easily take a life. He was afraid that to get back at Empress Zhu, Wan Bi would stir up something even bigger than a matter of life and death.
Wan Bi laughed. “This bereaved one was not aware that the Emperor and Empress were so deeply in love.”
“No matter her faults, the Empress is still Xin’er’s mother. Besides, doesn’t the Empress still call the Empress Dowager ‘Mother Empress’?” Emperor Ming Cheng coaxed her with gentle words. He never called Wan Bi ‘Mother Empress’. He simply couldn’t bring himself to say it to a bratty girl so much younger than himself.
“You would have been better off not mentioning Xin’er. This bereaved one thinks that child doesn’t even look like you,” Wan Bi said lightly.
Emperor Ming Cheng was handsome and refined, but the Second Prince, Feng Xin, was burly and robust. He didn’t resemble Empress Zhu, and he resembled Emperor Ming Cheng even less. There were rumors in the palace that the Second Prince was not Emperor Ming Cheng’s son, but as it concerned the Empress’s reputation and the honor of the imperial bloodline, speculation remained just that. No one dared to spout such nonsense with their head on the line.
With no one else in the pavilion, Wan Bi had fewer scruples. She truly thought Feng Xin didn’t look like Emperor Ming Cheng. Feng Xin was already a teenager, and the older he got, the more brutish his features became. He looked less like imperial offspring and more like a mountain bandit.
“Wan Bi!” Emperor Ming Cheng finally grew angry. “It’s one thing for the slaves to spread baseless rumors, but you’re spouting nonsense too? So what if Xin’er doesn’t resemble Us? Every Son of Heaven has Three Palaces and Six Courtyards13 and is surrounded by children. With so many princes and princesses, must they all look the same? Speaking of which, We don’t look like the Late Emperor, either. Does that mean We are not the Late Emperor’s biological son?”
Wan Bi raised a delicate eyebrow and smiled wickedly. “If the Emperor is worried, you could send someone to investigate your parentage. Who knows, you might find a surprise?”
“We think you’ve truly gone mad.” Emperor Ming Cheng was so angry he was speechless. If such a joke, which damaged the Grand Consort’s reputation, had come from anyone else’s mouth, even the extermination of the nine relations14 would not have been enough to quell his rage. Unfortunately, the one who said it was Wan Bi, and he was already used to her speaking without a filter. Everyone thought he tolerated Wan Bi because of the Late Emperor’s testamentary edict, but that wasn’t it. Even without the edict, he would not harm Wan Bi.
The world called the current Empress Dowager a Demon Empress. Only Emperor Ming Cheng knew that if not for Wan Bi, his throne might not be so secure. Many of Wan Bi’s actions, which seemed lawless to outsiders, were actually done for his sake. He had to be a wise and enlightened ruler in public, but someone had to do the dirty work that offended people. Wan Bi did all of those things for him.
And so, he became the wise ruler, and Wan Bi became the Demon Empress.
It had started with the matter of executing the Speaking Official.15 Wan Bi hadn’t executed that Censor because he had impeached her before him, but to establish his authority. At the time, he had just ascended the throne, and the Speaking Officials and Censors were attempting to use their right of remonstrance for personal gain, daring to say anything because of the tradition of not executing them. Wan Bi had directly charged into the throne room with a sword and killed that foul-mouthed fool. From then on, the civil and military officials all felt as if a sword was hanging over their heads and never dared to act so recklessly again.
The night Wan Bi executed the Speaking Official, Emperor Ming Cheng went to Ning’an Palace to see her. He asked her why she had committed such a great taboo under heaven16 by killing a treacherous official with her own hands.
Wan Bi had said, “This bereaved one’s reputation has been ruined since the day I entered the palace, so I might as well ruin it completely. From now on, this bereaved one will handle any matter that troubles the Emperor. Consider it repaying the Late Emperor’s years of care.”
“As for the Empress’s matter, this bereaved one knows what to do.” Wan Bi also felt she had gone too far just now. It was one thing to tease the Emperor, but she really shouldn’t have dragged the deceased Grand Consort into it. So, she said with a serious expression, “The Zhu family also needs to be knocked down a peg.”
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