The Lonely City Closed

Chapter 29

"You admit it?" I asked her, worried about the consequences if she weren't in such a good mood. I didn't even need to hear her answer to know she was incapable of lying and would admit it sooner or later.

Qiu He whispered, "I just lowered my head, so embarrassed I wanted to disappear into the ground. The Empress comforted me, saying it was alright, and that I should tell her if anything happened, and she would try her best to help me. So I told her a few things, and it turned out she knew Cui Bai. As soon as she heard it, she smiled and said, 'That man is indeed talented, and he is a good match for you.'"

I was still a little uneasy: "Knowing that you had dealings with Zixi, the Empress didn't say much?"

Qiu shook her head and said, "Later, she didn't speak for a long time, silently lost in thought. When she looked at me again, she was smiling and said, 'The rarest thing in this world is mutual affection without any reservations. You're a good child, and I will support you.'"

Hearing this, I breathed a sigh of relief for her: "If that's the case, she has already agreed to let you leave the palace, right?"

“Agreed, but not now,” Qiuhe said. “The Empress said that since I am not yet of age to leave the palace as a palace maid in the past, and there is nothing major happening at home, if I am the only one to leave the palace now, it would break the rules and there would be rumors in the palace. It would be better to wait until the Qian Yuan Festival next year, when the Emperor originally planned to release another batch of palace maids. She will explain to the Emperor before then, mention the promise she made back then, and ask him to include my name in the list of those leaving the palace.”

The Qian Yuan Festival falls on the 14th of the fourth month, which is also the Emperor's birthday, just five months away. Several years have passed, so waiting a few more days shouldn't matter. I congratulate Qiu He, but I feel that her marriage is now settled, and I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my heart. All I need to do now is take the opportunity of sending Lantern Festival gifts to the Prince Consort's family to deliver the good news to Cui Bai.

"Huaiji, what does it look like outside the palace?" Qiuhe suddenly asked me with a smile, and then said, "I entered the palace when I was four years old. Apart from the red walls and green trees I could see from behind the curtain of the palace carriage when I went to a few gardens from the palace, I had no idea what the city and streets of Tokyo looked like."

I didn't know where to begin, nor did I want to tell her that my previous trip outside the palace was actually like a sleepwalking experience. Those scenes of everyday life and human prosperity were like a long scroll painting, which I saw with my own eyes, but I felt as if my soul was detached from it, as if I could no longer return to it.

"Go and see for yourself after you leave the palace," I finally replied. "With Zixi by your side, it won't be difficult for you to go wherever you want."

Every year on the Lantern Festival (January 15th of the lunar calendar), the night in Tokyo is always particularly lively. Emperor Taizong once issued an edict to light lanterns for five nights before and after the festival. Nowadays, the lantern display lasts for far more than five nights. Starting from the first day of the lunar calendar, the lantern market outside Donghua Gate begins to be set up, with hundreds of lanterns of various sizes.

The most spectacular lantern market scene is in front of Xuande Tower, where large-scale lantern displays are set up. The lanterns are painted with scenes of immortals and mythical beasts, and the puppets, shaped like deities and mythical beasts, have fingers that can spout water and arms that can move. When the lanterns are lit, the gold and green light reflect off each other, creating a dazzling and dynamic spectacle. On the left and right city gates, straw bundles are bound into the shape of dragons playing, covered by green curtains containing tens of thousands of lanterns that wind along the dragons' bodies. When the lights reflect off each other, it looks as if two dragons are flying away. There are countless other giant dragon lanterns and flower-shaped lanterns, attracting a constant stream of tourists and vehicles, making it impossible to stop and admire them.

On the Lantern Festival, the current emperor led his palace ladies to Xuande Tower to view the lanterns. Phoenix candles and dragon lanterns were hung in the palace, which were as bright as a painting and as magnificent as the lantern festival outside the palace.

The eighth year of the Qingli era was a leap year, with an extra first month. The current emperor was quite interested in watching lanterns during the first month and wanted to hang lanterns in the palace again on the fifteenth of the extra first month to recreate the grand scene of the Lantern Festival. So he mentioned it to the palace ladies at the first banquet at the beginning of the month.

Lady Zhang was the first to applaud, and the other ladies also expressed their agreement. Even the princess clapped her hands and laughed, "Great! I haven't had enough of the lanterns from last month!"

The Empress rose solemnly and bowed to the emperor, saying, “The Lantern Festival is an annual festival, and there is no need to celebrate it twice a year. Moreover, the cost of lanterns is enormous each time. If we hold it again, it would be an extravagant act. Your Majesty has always warned us against extravagance. If news of the lantern-lighting event spreads outside the palace, it will set an example for the people, causing hardship and wasting money. Wouldn’t that be even more contrary to Your Majesty’s wishes? Therefore, I dare to ask Your Majesty to rescind your decree.”

The Emperor's smile seemed to freeze at the Empress's few words, his expression stiffening slightly. After a long silence, he smiled again, took the Empress's hands in his hands, and said, "Thank you for your frank advice, Empress. My idea was ill-considered. There's no need to mention the matter of lighting lanterns again."

On the fifteenth day of the intercalary first month, there were indeed no special celebrations or outings in the palace. The emperor only summoned the empress, the princess, and a few close concubines to the Funing Palace to appreciate the flying white calligraphy written by the calligrapher Li Tangqing.

Flying White is one of the eight styles of calligraphy, originating with Cai Yong, mastered by Wang Xizhi and his son, and Xiao Ziyun, and flourishing in this dynasty. Its strokes are flat, with fine white lines interspersed in the middle, like strands of hair peeking out, and the brushstrokes are dynamic and free-flowing. To achieve Flying White with a dry brush, one must strictly control the pressure during the writing process; too sparse or too thick a white area is undesirable. Among the strokes, the dot is the most difficult to master.

The Emperor has little interest in horseback riding, archery, polo, or other such activities. He prefers calligraphy and painting, especially the "flying white" style. Upon seeing Li Tangqing's "flying white" calligraphy, which consisted of three hundred characters with dots, each written differently and each dot possessing its own unique form, the Emperor couldn't help but show his approval. Pointing to Li's "flying white" calligraphy, he asked the Princess, "Huirou, how is this calligraphy?"

The princess exclaimed in astonishment, "So there are so many ways to write Fei Bai's dots! Fei Bai uses dots to depict the shapes of objects. By writing these three hundred dots, he has exhausted all the depictions of objects."

The Emperor smiled without speaking, ordered a brush and ink, and then personally wrote the character "清" (Qing, meaning clear/pure). It was still written in the flying white style, vigorous and simple, with three particularly outstanding dots that surpassed Li Tangqing's three hundred dots. All the onlookers were full of praise.

After writing this character, the Emperor did not put down his brush, but instead held the brush between two fingers and sent it to the Empress, his eyes conveying an invitation.

The Empress gladly accepted the brush, picked up the ink, and wrote the character "净" after the character "清". The strokes were graceful and vigorous, yet the two dots were different.

Everyone was impressed and exclaimed in unison, "Well done!" The Emperor did not speak, but walked behind the Empress with a smile, leaned down slightly, and took the Empress's hand holding the pen with his right hand, guiding her to move her wrist. Their cheeks touched lightly at that moment. When the onlookers came to their senses, there was an extra dot between the two dots of the character "净" on the paper.

That point was swift and swirling, even surpassing the previous five points.

After making this stroke, the Emperor did not immediately let go, but instead held the Empress's hand, turning his head to look at her tenderly. The Empress also turned to look at him, and the couple smiled at each other.

The way His Majesty gazed at the Empress at this moment was something I had never seen before. In my memory, he had never looked at Consort Miao or any of the other concubines with such eyes. The word "gentle" was not enough to describe this scene. When he looked at the Empress, his eyes were clear and bright, as if they could see into each other's hearts. Their smiles were so tacit, as if so many profound meanings were unspoken.

So, recalling what the princess said about the empress in her nighttime conversation, I couldn't help but think that the empress might not actually be so "poor".

But then I remembered the matter of the current emperor taking Miss Fan as his concubine, and his question to Lady Miao, "Do you really want all the relatives of the emperor to be surnamed Cao?" I was confused again and couldn't understand his attitude towards the empress.

It seems that the Empress has never been favored, and she was not even the Empress whom the Emperor initially wanted to appoint. This is no secret in the palace.

Empress Guo, the current emperor's first wife, was chosen by Empress Dowager Zhangxian, and the emperor did not particularly favor her. At that time, the emperor favored another concubine, Zhang, but after Zhang's death, he favored two concubines, Shang and Yang. Empress Guo was resentful and frequently argued with the two concubines. On one occasion, Concubine Shang made disrespectful remarks to the empress in front of the emperor. The empress was furious and stepped forward to slap the concubine's cheek. The emperor shielded the concubine, and Empress Guo, unable to stop in time, accidentally struck the emperor's neck. By then, Empress Dowager Zhangxian had passed away, and the emperor, having no further scruples, angrily deposed the empress and issued an edict bestowing upon Empress Guo the title of Pure Consort and Jade Capital Immortal Master, granting her the name Qingwu, and sending her to live outside the palace.

The court officials opposed the current emperor's decision to select a successor from among his existing concubines, arguing that treating a concubine as a wife would reverse the proper order of legitimate and illegitimate children, which was absolutely unacceptable. Shortly after the deposed empress, the current emperor summoned Cao Bin's granddaughter to the palace, but did not immediately appoint her as empress. At that time, the current emperor favored a stunningly beautiful woman, the daughter of a tea merchant surnamed Chen from Shouzhou, but the officials repeatedly submitted memorials prohibiting the current emperor from "placing a woman of low status in the empress's palace."

The daughter of the Chen family was known by the title "Zicheng," and "Zicheng Shi" was originally the title of an official in the government offices. At that time, Yan Shiliang, a eunuch in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy, sought an audience with the current emperor and asked him if he knew what the Zicheng Shi was. The emperor said he did not know, so Yan Shiliang said, "Zicheng Shi is the title of a servant in the household of a high-ranking official. If Your Majesty were to take the daughter of a servant as your empress, wouldn't you be ashamed before the high officials?" The emperor realized his mistake, ordered the daughter of the Chen family to leave the palace, and finally chose a woman from a noble family, Cao, as his empress.

"The Empress only learned the flying white style after entering the palace," Miao Shuyi later told me. "Whenever she had the chance to serve the Emperor while he wrote, she would watch him silently with wide eyes, and then practice repeatedly day and night in her own room. One day, the Emperor passed by her residence and saw her practicing the flying white style in her room. Her writing was so free and lovely that the Emperor became interested and taught her by hand. A few days later, he issued an edict to make her Empress."

The emperor and empress's affection was born from the flying white brushstrokes, so in the eyes of the current emperor, the empress's most touching moments were when she wielded her brush.

For the next three days, the Emperor kept the Empress at the Funing Palace.

Hearing this news, I was actually quite happy.

Since the current emperor is willing to accept the empress's advice and is growing closer to her, he should not refuse when the empress mentions Qiuhe leaving the palace in the future.

Before the Lantern Festival, I conveyed Empress Cui Bai's reply. It seems that everything is progressing smoothly and perfectly in the predetermined direction.

But for some reason, while I was still thinking like this, my heart suddenly started pounding a few times for no apparent reason.

(to be continued)

The Lonely City Closes (The Princess Who Fell in Love with a Eunuch) The Waters of Canglang Wash My Tassels 23. Palace Turmoil

Chapter word count: 4625 Update time: 08-09-13 15:36

23. Palace Turmoil

In the middle of the night, I suddenly woke up, sat up abruptly, and felt my heart pounding, just as restless as it had been during the day. As I was wondering if I had had a nightmare, a strange, chaotic noise rushed in from outside the window like a tidal wave.

The sound... it was like water boiling in a copper kettle, just about to boil. Upon closer listening, the noise could be divided into several layers: the distant clamor of many people, the rapid footsteps outside the wall, and occasionally, the sound of galloping hooves...

The sound of horses' hooves? I immediately became alert. This was the inner palace; normally even carriages and sedan chairs were not allowed inside, and riding through on horseback was strictly forbidden.

I quickly put on my clothes and got up, putting on my turban and leather belt as I went out the door. I went straight to the cabinet door, opened it slightly, and looked outside.

Flames flickered in the direction of the Funing Palace to the east, and shouts and commotion arose. The sounds were chaotic and indistinct from a distance. Eunuchs in different colored robes passed by from time to time, all carrying knives and clubs. Among them, some rode horses hastily toward the Funing Palace. Occasionally, I overheard two or three people talking, seemingly about something like "the Empress has summoned the heads of the two provinces."