For the imperial princes, the New Year passed in a flurry of chaos, while the palace concubines carried on as usual, occasionally dressing in red and green to add festive cheer. At first, the harem was thrown into disarray when the Eldest Prince was reprimanded and Consort Hui was demoted to the rank of concubine, but soon enough, harmony and peace were restored. Noble Consort Wen, Noble Consort Yi, Concubine Cheng, Concubine Jing, and Concubine Liang—familiar faces among the imperial consorts—would gather when they had time to play cards and share their worries about their children. And so, the days slipped by.
Yunxiu held Yinzi in her arms as he sweetly mentioned his "Ninth Brother," and it suddenly occurred to her that Yintang hadn’t come to pay his respects in days. She sent someone to inquire, and word came back from the Western Five Compounds that the Ninth Prince had been diligently practicing calligraphy lately, seeking guidance from the Fourth Prince with great enthusiasm. But then he had been roped into some task and couldn’t free himself for the time being.
Relieved, Yunxiu didn’t press further. It was good that Yintang was willing to improve himself. If he could let go of past grudges, she, as his mother, would be at ease.
At that moment, Yintang was sprawled on a couch, whimpering and complaining to a stern-faced Yinzhen about the Crown Prince’s "tyranny." Once a treasure became shared, it was no longer a treasure. After returning to the palace, the Crown Prince had hardened his heart for the first time, turning a blind eye to the Ninth Prince’s reddened backside and coldly walking away, instructing the Fourth Prince to keep a closer eye on him.
Having been both beaten and scolded, Yintang wilted in shame, too embarrassed to show his face. While recuperating, he tried to find out who had betrayed him, but after days of fruitless inquiries, he had no choice but to swallow the injustice and stay holed up indoors.
Without him and the Tenth Prince’s usual mischief, the Eldest Prince enjoyed an unusually peaceful stretch of time. Yet though his surroundings were calm, his mind was anything but. Pressures from all sides weighed on him, and the stress even caused blisters to form on his lips.
His consort treated him with gentle care, but Yinti could sense the distance between them—they were no longer as close as before. Then there was the sudden shattering of his dreams of succession. Many officials were eager to meet with him, and he knew exactly why.
His second daughter’s weak cries still lingered in his ears, and his consort’s complexion had yet to regain its rosy glow. He couldn’t bring himself to plead for Consort Hui’s reinstatement. At this point, he thought, with hopes so slim, there was nothing left to fight for.
"In the future, I’ll live well with you," the Eldest Prince murmured.
The Eldest Princess Consort gave a faint smile in response and lowered her head to continue sewing a small garment. Yinti opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words to speak, a wave of defeat washing over him.
He had so much he wanted to say, but habit kept him from swallowing his pride and speaking his heart.
On the fifteenth day of the month, Liang Jiugong arrived bearing an imperial edict. The Eldest Prince was momentarily dazed—before him lay something he had once desperately desired. No, something he had longed for long ago.
He had gotten his wish, yet he felt little joy.
The punishment wasn’t over—what was the Emperor’s intention?
With trembling hands, he opened the first page and froze, his eyes widening. Stripped of disbelief, he sat in stunned silence, torn between laughter and tears. "Like finding a treasure" didn’t quite capture the swirl of emotions in his heart.
What his mother and he had been trying to uncover was nothing more than the Emperor’s fatherly concern—his wish for them to live in harmony.
The Emperor, pitying his son’s inability to express himself, had even set aside his dignity to write a manual on how to win back his wife.
He no longer resented the Crown Prince for receiving the edict first. Instead, he found his past self utterly ridiculous. What had he been chasing, with all that paranoia and scheming?
After studying the manual through the night, the Eldest Prince felt as though a veil had been lifted from his eyes. With dark circles under his eyes, he stood before the Eldest Princess Consort, wiped his face, and choked out, "Consort, I was wrong. Forgive me."
Not far from the cradle, the wet nurse’s rattle fell to the ground with a thud.
Under the Eldest Princess Consort’s astonished gaze, the Eldest Prince gritted his teeth, recalling the manual’s advice, and forced himself to swallow his pride. "I was lost before, never considering your suffering. I promise to live well with you from now on, to never let you endure such hardships again. My mother’s talk of taking a secondary consort—it’s void. If I break this vow, you may scold or strike me, but don’t shut me out."
He meant every word. The Emperor had shown him the way, but the life ahead was his to shape. He could only gamble that what his consort truly cared about was action, not empty promises.
The Eldest Princess Consort stared at him, silent for a long moment, before reaching out to touch his forehead.
It was warm—no fever, no chill.
"You’re not delirious?" Her voice was slightly hoarse as she spoke.
Yinti’s eyes brightened. Suppressing the urge to blurt out a response, he said solemnly, "You must oversee me. Shall we set a trial period of one month?"
Yunxiu wasn’t Lady Irgen Gioro’s mother-in-law by blood, and in her dreams, they had little interaction. But the more she saw of her, the more she admired and pitied her.
The Emperor had chosen the princes’ consorts with great care—their virtues were beyond reproach. Managing households, balancing the inner court, sharing their husbands’ burdens—they excelled in every way. She faintly recalled how the Eighth Princess Consort, too, had been universally praised as a model wife when she first entered the palace.
The Fifth Prince’s consort, Tatara, came from a lesser background—her father was only a fifth-rank official, and Yinqi had been awkward about it for a time. Back then, the Emperor still doted on Yunxiu and gently explained that Tatara was kind, generous, and lively—a perfect match for the Fifth Prince. In a few years, he would promote her father, so there was no need to worry.
Yunxiu had been reassured, but the more she interacted with Tatara, the more she marveled at what a fine young woman she was. There was no reason Yinqi shouldn’t have loved her.
But it was already too late.
Secondary Consort Liu had entered the household early and borne children one after another, while Tatara’s womb remained barren. Human hearts are partial, and with the whispers of the inner court, Yinqi and his consort grew increasingly distant. Yunxiu had tried to gently mediate, but to little effect.
Raised by the Empress Dowager, Yinqi was stubborn by nature. Yunxiu worried the Emperor might see her interference as overstepping, so though she fretted, she dared not meddle too much in their marital affairs. With neither the Empress Dowager nor the Emperor stepping in, she could only offer Tatara more care, though she rarely saw her smile anymore.
The Fifth Prince was honest but obstinate; the Ninth Prince was mischievous but at least open to advice. In his younger years, Yintang had doted on his concubines until Yunxiu scolded him harshly, sending him scurrying back to Lady Dong'e. Over time, the two grew to rely on each other, and when Yintang was confined, his consort resolutely followed him into the Imperial Clan Court.
If there was one regret from her dreams, it was that neither of her sons had granted her the wish of holding a legitimate grandson. The Crown Princess Consort, too, had suffered the same fate.
Long ago, Yunxiu had resolved that in this life, even at the risk of displeasing the Emperor, she would ensure the legitimate consorts entered the household first—for the Crown Prince, the Fifth Prince, and the Ninth Prince alike.
As a mother, she only wished for their marital happiness.
In her dreams, she had longed to be buried alongside the Emperor, to become the one who held his heart captive. For this, she had yearned and schemed her entire life, entangled in the ruthless struggles of the harem, only to find it all amounted to nothing in the end. Now, devoid of such aspirations, she instead hoped that their children would cherish their princess consorts. Call her sentimental or delusional, but in the end, the one who remained by a man’s side was his lifelong wife.
Speaking of husbands and wives, her thoughts inevitably turned to the Eldest Prince and the Eldest Princess Consort. As for Yinti’s past actions, Yunxiu held them in contempt. Yet a woman as virtuous as the Eldest Princess Consort should never have been wronged, nor should she have wasted her life bearing heirs in vain.
But in the imperial family, there was no divorce, no separation.
Now, upon hearing Ruizhu’s report that the Eldest Prince and his consort seemed to have broken through their estrangement and reconciled in an instant, Yunxiu was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.
Could it be the result of the Emperor’s reprimand?
After a brief laugh, she was reminded of the prophetic dream that had overturned her life many years ago. With a soft sigh, she murmured, "This consort has grown rather sentimental."
Ruizhu’s brows furrowed slightly before relaxing again. Exchanging a glance with Nanny Dong, she waited until the imperial physician arrived to take the consort’s pulse, then cautiously inquired, "Has there been any irregularity in Her Highness’s condition?"
One moment she was laughing, the next inexplicably melancholic—her moods shifting unpredictably, much like the symptoms of pregnancy.
But it had been five years since the consort gave birth to the Eleventh Prince, with no further signs of conception.
Suppressing her excitement, Ruizhu asked the physician outright whether it was a slippery pulse—a sign of pregnancy. The physician’s eyes widened as he stroked his beard, pondering for a moment before conceding it wasn’t impossible.
With a slight shake of his head, he refrained from a definitive answer. "Her Highness’s health remains robust, with no signs of internal distress. If she is with child, it is still too early for me to confirm."
Ruizhu understood this well—another month or two would be needed for the pulse to reveal the truth. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Zhang Youde entering with a letter. Was it correspondence from the consort’s elder brother?
But for now, the possibility of a pregnancy took precedence. Concealing her hope beneath a composed smile, she escorted the physician out before steadying herself, preparing words of comfort, and stepping behind the curtains to the inner chamber.
To her surprise, Noble Consort Yi had already shed her melancholy, her spirits now bright and eager. Spotting Ruizhu, she smiled and asked, "Ruizhu, unless my memory fails me, tomorrow marks the first grand court assembly of the new year, does it not?"
Ruizhu was momentarily taken aback but quickly gathered her thoughts. The Emperor had resumed official duties yesterday, and the civil and military officials had returned to court.
"Your Highness is correct," she replied.
Yunxiu’s smile deepened as she rose slowly, turning her gaze toward the window. The biting wind brushed against her jade-like cheeks, her rosy lips pressing together with a hint of solemnity.
"Madam Tong the Second has fallen ill with a chill and remains bedridden. I had intended to summon her recently, but her condition forced me to postpone," Yunxiu said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "After repeated inquiries, I finally uncovered the reason—Longkodo has brought Li Si’er back to the estate."
Ruizhu, already aware of the consort’s close watch on the Tong family and somewhat familiar with Longkodo’s disgraceful deeds, was still startled. "He flaunted it so openly, without even attempting to conceal it?"
Yunxiu’s smile turned icy. "The entire lane belongs to the Tongjia clan—what does he have to fear? His parents, furious but helpless, could only yield to his whims. In a few more days, he’ll seize the estate outright, committing an absurdity for the ages."
After a pause, she added softly, "Since he is pleased, I shall be pleased as well. Tomorrow, I shall gift him a grand surprise—may his joy endure."
Ruizhu shuddered. There was something chilling in the consort’s smile.
The next day, at the grand court assembly.
With the New Year celebrations over, the backlog of affairs was immense. After addressing each item on the agenda, a drawn-out announcement echoed from the jade steps: "Those with matters to present, step forth."
Left Censor-in-Chief Fucha Maqi smoothed his sleeves, his expression grave as he stepped forward and bowed. "This servant has an impeachment to submit."
"I possess irrefutable evidence that Tongjia Longkodo, Commander of the Imperial Guard, has seized his father-in-law’s concubine and indulged her without restraint. A mere lowly concubine entered through the main gate, humiliating the principal wife—this is a blatant violation of moral order!"
His words sent shockwaves through the assembly. Longkodo, standing among the officials on the right, paled, but before he could intervene—it was already too late.
