In Fengyi Palace, Empress Dowager Wu stood before a full-length bronze mirror, carefully examining her reflection.
"Ying'er, am I beautiful?"
The maid Ying'er didn't hesitate with her flattery: "Your Majesty is peerless in beauty, radiant beyond compare..."
The other maids nearby immediately joined in, each adding their own praises, elevating Empress Dowager Wu to the status of a celestial fairy.
Though she knew their words were exaggerated, Empress Dowager Wu couldn't help but smile. "You all..."
As she gazed at her reflection, she too found herself quite striking. The Late Emperor had passed, leaving her as a dowager—yet she was still in the prime of her youth.
Though she had given birth to Tai An, after proper postpartum recovery, her beauty remained undiminished, save for a slight fullness in her figure. Recently, she had been watching her diet and playing shuttlecock to slim down, and now she felt even more graceful than before childbirth—her charm enhanced with a touch of maturity.
Back when the Late Emperor was alive, he had adored her beauty, favoring her above all other consorts in the harem.
Otherwise, she would never have had the chance to slip him that medicine...
The drug had come from an unorthodox practitioner.
At the time, Empress Dowager Wu had been skeptical. Yet after administering it, she indeed conceived!
Knowing the Emperor had been childless for years, she realized she would become a target of envy among the harem. She carefully concealed her pregnancy, intending to announce it only after the first three months, when the pregnancy would be more stable.
But then, the Emperor suddenly died!
Empress Dowager Wu was terrified. The Emperor had been in excellent health—how could he have died so abruptly?
Could it... could it have been because of the medicine she gave him?
Yet everything that followed made her feel no regret. Because she carried the imperial heir, she was the only consort spared from burial with the Emperor... Later, she learned there was one other—Jiang Yunshu.
She safely delivered her son, and with the Grand Secretary's support, her child ascended the throne. She became the Empress Dowager!
Empress Dowager Wu would take the secret of the Emperor's poisoning to her grave.
Though she missed the Late Emperor's favor, compared to the power of the dowager, his affection meant little.
Her only concern was whether Tai An, conceived through forced means, might have health issues.
At birth, Tai An had been tiny and frail, prone to crying and frequent illness, keeping Empress Dowager Wu in constant worry.
But after months of care, he grew stronger.
In the quiet of night, she sometimes wondered—perhaps the Late Emperor was fated to have no heirs, and she had defied destiny with that unorthodox drug. The Emperor had shared his imperial vitality with their son, leaving himself weakened... and thus, he perished.
Tai An, despite his small size, had a fierce temper. The slightest displeasure would send him into a wailing fit... Her son was truly born to rule!
And she—she was the youngest and most beautiful Empress Dowager of the Great Qi Dynasty.
If Xie Lin failed to see her allure, then he was blind.
Then again, what would a eunuch know of a woman's beauty?
Empress Dowager Wu summoned her trusted maid Ying'er and whispered instructions.
If Xie Lin favored a woman like Jiang Yunshu, then she would find him another just like her!
In this vast world, there was only one Empress Dowager—but women who relied on their looks to please men were everywhere. How hard could it be to find one resembling Jiang Yunshu?
Sparing no expense, she soon located a girl with seventy percent resemblance to Jiang Yunshu, purchased her, and registered her as a palace maid.
Upon seeing the girl, Empress Dowager Wu was pleased.
"What is your name?" she asked.
The girl murmured her given name, but the Empress Dowager found it unrefined. After a moment's thought, she smiled. "From now on, you shall be called Yunque."
Her personal maids—Ying'er, Huamei—all bore names of birds. "Yunque" (Cloud Sparrow) would mark her as one of the inner circle.
And just like Jiang Yunshu, the name carried the character for "cloud." When Yunque won Xie Lin's favor... how bitter Jiang Yunshu would feel!
The thought filled Empress Dowager Wu with anticipation.
But Yunque couldn't be sent to Xie Lin immediately. New to the palace, she was still timid and hesitant.
Jiang Yunshu, after all, was a marquis's daughter—albeit a neglected one—and carried herself with an innate poise.
Empress Dowager Wu tasked her attendants to train Yunque in Jiang Yunshu's mannerisms.
Her clothing, makeup—everything was to mimic Jiang Yunshu.
Yet before Yunque could be fully prepared, before she could be presented to Xie Lin, news suddenly broke—
Xie Lin was taking Jiang Yunshu out of the palace!
Empress Dowager Wu was startled. "Leaving the palace? Where to?"
Ying'er reported, "To Black Mountain."
"Black Mountain..." The Empress Dowager relaxed. "Not too far."
The round trip would take only two days—plenty of time to still introduce Yunque to Xie Lin.
An idea struck her. This excursion might present another opportunity...
She immediately ordered Ying'er, "Find out who the Grand Secretary is taking with him."
She speculated, "For attendants, he'll surely bring those from Weiyang Palace."
"But the junior maids and eunuchs there won't manage all the work outside the palace—he'll need senior servants too."
"And the kitchen staff. Weiyang Palace's private kitchen can't handle large meals—he'll have to take cooks from the main kitchens."
"Investigate along these lines. See if any of our people are among them."
Ying'er bowed. "As you command."
---
When Jiang Yunshu learned Xie Lin was taking her out of the palace, she was equally shocked.
"Black Mountain? Why suddenly go there?"
Was this... a spring outing?
Xiazhi informed her, "My lady, Lichun secretly told me the Grand Secretary visits Black Mountain every May."
"Around that time, his mood tends to be... somber."
Jiang Yunshu: "Somber as in... the kind where he kills anyone who annoys him?"
Xiazhi: "What kind do you mean, my lady?"
Jiang Yunshu: "The 'glare at someone and they drop dead' kind."
Xiazhi: "........."
The silence spoke volumes.
A spring outing had just turned into a trip through the gates of hell.
Jiang Yunshu collapsed onto the bed, pulling the covers over her head and rolling around. "Can I not go...?"
Even without the maids answering, she knew—if she dared refuse Xie Lin, death would come swifter.
Suddenly, she sat up. "He goes every May?"
"Wait, he didn't go last year!"
Last May, she had already been living in Weiyang Palace. She remembered clearly—throughout that entire year, Xie Lin had never spent a night away.
Every evening, they had shared the same bed.
Xiazhi explained, "In past years, the Grand Secretary rode out alone with just his guards. He would leave at dawn and return by nightfall."
Jiang Yunshu froze—so Xie Lin had also gone to Mount Wu last year, only she hadn’t known. Then again, Xie Lin often left early and returned late, so Jiang Yunshu hadn’t found it strange at all.
As for whether Xie Lin had been in low spirits around that time, Jiang Yunshu couldn’t recall. After all, his moods were always as changeable as the weather.
Jiang Yunshu sighed repeatedly.
Why had Xie Lin rushed to Mount Wu alone last year, only to insist on taking her along this time?
