J'ai passé mon bras autour de la taille fine de l'homme fort

Chapitre 6

A small cloth figure with writing on its body, and several shiny needles deeply inserted between its head and chest.

This was a form of witchcraft that had always been strictly forbidden in the palace. Upon seeing Consort Zhang suddenly throw out the doll, the palace servants all looked alarmed.

The Empress glanced at the doll but said nothing, her expression unchanged. Then Consort Zhang continued, "The night before last, Lady Feng witnessed Huirou praying to the moon by the lake in the rear garden. And coincidentally, yesterday someone found this object under a large rock by the lake. Lady Feng has already reported this to the Empress, so why is the Empress ignoring it? I just went to question Huirou myself, and she readily admitted to going to the rear garden the night before last!"

Huirou? The name surprised me even more than the doll with the needle stuck in it. I pondered Zhang Meiren's words again and quickly understood that she meant Huirou—the girl who prayed under the moon—had gone to the back garden the night before to practice witchcraft to curse her daughter, Youwu.

I hesitated, unsure whether, given my lowly status, I should presumptuously intervene in the conversation between these two noble ladies and reveal what I had witnessed.

The Empress hesitated, remaining silent. The palace servants also held their breath. Only Consort Zhang's angry and sorrowful voice, demanding severe punishment for Huirou, echoed in the hall: "The evidence and witnesses are all there. Why hasn't the Empress ordered her punishment to maintain order in the palace?"

Finally, my worry for Huirou's impending doom outweighed my consideration for my own situation. The girl's frail figure and the few words she uttered through tears gave me a strange kind of courage. I stepped forward slightly and bowed to the Empress: "Your Majesty, I have a matter I wish to verify with Lady Zhang."

My sudden interruption surprised the Empress and everyone else in the hall, but the Empress nodded and allowed me to speak.

I turned to face Lady Zhang, bowed, and asked, "May I ask, Lady Zhang, is the girl you are referring to named Huirou?"

Before Lady Zhang could answer the Palace Attendant, she shouted, "Insolence..."

The Empress raised her hand to stop her from continuing, but He Yan gestured for me to go on.

Zhang Meiren looked at me coldly, a strange smile on her lips that seemed to have a hidden meaning: "That's right, this girl is called Huirou."

I asked her again, "When Lady Feng saw her praying to the moon by the lake in the back garden, was it at midnight the night before last?"

Zhang Meiren thought for a moment and then said yes.

I turned to the Empress and said, “The night before last, I delivered the painting to the Kunning Palace. When I left, it was already late at night. Because I was not familiar with the inner palace, I mistakenly went to the inner garden. I unintentionally saw a little girl in white with bare feet praying to the moon. She called herself Huirou… Before that, I vaguely heard the sound of the night watchman’s drum, which should have been midnight.”

"Oh?" the Queen asked, "What did she say in her prayer?"

I told her the truth: "She said her father was ill, and she had repeatedly prayed to heaven, willing to take his place."

The Queen smiled faintly: "You did not practice witchcraft or curse anyone, did you?"

I shook my head and answered definitively, "No. Because she was spied on, Huirou left the rear garden immediately after praying, and I did not hear her cursing anyone." Looking at the doll that Consort Zhang had thrown on the ground, I added, "I also did not see her take this with her, so it should not have been placed under the stone in the rear garden by her."

"Nonsense!" Zhang Meiren's anger, which had just subsided slightly, was reignited by my words. "Who else could it be but her? Who else would worry as much as she does about Youwu losing the Emperor's favor?"

My thoughts were disrupted by her question, and I began to vaguely sense that Huirou's identity was not as simple as I had previously thought.

"You were clearly acting under orders to disregard the Emperor's authority and dare to give false testimony!" Consort Zhang approached me step by step, raising her hand with her slender fingertips almost poking my face, yet a cold smile lingered in her eyes as her gaze casually swept over the Empress: "Tell me, who ordered you? Was it Huirou, or someone else?"

Her overwhelming presence made me slightly uneasy, so I took two steps back, but still insisted, "I dare not speak presumptuously. Every word I have spoken is true."

A slap landed on my cheek like lightning, the sound sharper than her voice. She withdrew her hand, hugged her daughter tighter, raised her chin arrogantly at me, and smiled contemptuously: "And now? Still everything you said is true?"

I bowed my head indifferently. Similar humiliations were not uncommon in my years in the palace, and how to subtly dispel the shame and anger at such times was part of our education. As for forbearance, I am not yet the best practitioner; I cannot smile and offer the other cheek when the master slaps my left, but at least I can maintain a calm expression and a silent posture.

"Enough," the Empress said. "To lay a hand on a court official is beneath your dignity."

Zhang Meiren curled the corners of her lips, looking utterly disdainful.

The Empress glanced at me and then told Consort Zhang, "He is Liang Huaiji, a former provincial official. He entered the inner palace for the first time the other day and didn't even know that Huirou was Princess Fukang's given name. Who could he be acting on his orders?"

Princess Fukang. The eldest daughter of the current emperor, and the most honored woman in the palace besides the empress.

The doubts settled, but a sense of bewilderment remained. The Empress's words, like the wind, suddenly stirred the white figure of the little girl from my memory, sending her drifting gracefully to the highest heavens.

Coming to my senses, I prostrated myself on the ground and begged the Empress to forgive my ignorance of the taboo.

Zhang Meiren, standing to the side, still smiled coldly, and said through gritted teeth, "What a wonderful performance, both in singing and acting!"

The Empress said that ignorance is no excuse, and ordered me to rise. She then instructed the Palace Attendant to bring Princess Fukang here.

A moment later, the sound of jade pendants rang out, and two adult women strode into the hall. Both wore high-coiffed buns and short-sleeved, double-breasted jackets made of exquisite materials. One was made of blue crepe gauze from Qiao County, and the other was made of dark peony-patterned gauze from Xiangzhou. They were different from ordinary female officials and palace women, and should belong to the imperial concubines.

They hurriedly bowed to the Empress, then unanimously defended Princess Fukang, all saying that the princess could not have done such a thing. Among them, the one wearing a blue crepe-colored jacket looked particularly anxious and sorrowful. After bowing, she knelt for a long time, repeatedly saying with tears in her eyes, "Huirou is young, how could she know about such witchcraft! Besides, she has always cherished her younger sister, she would never do such a thing. We beg the Empress to take charge and restore her innocence."

The Empress ordered the Palace Attendant to help her up and gently advised her, "Since Consort Miao trusts Huirou, there is no need to worry." She then gestured to those around her, "Grant seats to Consort Zhang, Consort Miao, and Consort Yu."

The latter two ladies were also favored concubines of the current emperor, and both had given birth to princes, so I had heard of their names before. Consort Miao was the daughter of the current emperor's wet nurse and the birth mother of Princess Fukang. She had a close personal relationship with Consort Yu. Unfortunately, the princes they gave birth to died young one after another, and the current emperor has no heir. Even the little princesses have passed away one after another. Now the emperor only has two daughters: the eldest daughter, Princess Fukang, and the eighth daughter, Master Baoci Chongyou, born to Consort Zhang.

Miao Zhaorong's anger subsided slightly, and she and Yu Jieyu sat down one after the other. Zhang Meiren also reluctantly sat down after being persuaded by her wife, but she still looked unwilling to compromise and just sneered at Miao Zhaorong.

At this moment, a palace attendant announced that Princess Fukang had arrived. The princess then slowly entered, her eyes slightly red and still bearing traces of tears, but her clothes were neat and her braided hair was combed without a single strand out of place. As she approached under the watchful eyes of everyone, her eyelashes were slightly lowered, but her head was not bowed. Especially when she passed in front of Consort Zhang, she even slightly tilted her face up, her chin and neck arched upwards, her eyes fixed straight ahead, her expression indifferent.

Upon approaching the Empress, the princess solemnly raised her hand to her forehead and bowed deeply to the Empress. She then bowed to her mother and Consort Yu, offering her deepest respects. Afterward, she stood with her hands at her sides, showing no regard for Consort Zhang and completely ignoring her.

The Empress smiled and said to her, "Huirou, greetings to Consort Zhang."

The princess softly agreed, but remained motionless, showing no intention of bowing. Consort Zhang glared at her and said coldly, "Enough, enough, this isn't the first time... I, a lowly person, am unworthy of such a bow from the princess. If the princess were willing to reveal the truth about the inner garden today, I would be eternally grateful."

Princess Huirou remained unresponsive to Consort Zhang's words, so the Empress asked her, "Huirou, did you go to the rear garden the night before last?"

She nodded in acknowledgment: "I've been there."

"Going to do what?"

The princess hesitated, not answering for a moment. The empress asked again, and after a moment of silence, she spoke again, but softly asked, "Father... is he feeling better?"

The Empress turned to look at the Palace Attendant, her eyes showing relief. The Palace Attendant smiled and bowed, presumably indicating that the princess's words matched his testimony and proved her innocence.

So the Empress asked the princess again, "Did you go to the back garden to pray to the moon and pray for your father's well-being?"

The princess was surprised and blurted out, "How did you know, Auntie?"

In the imperial dynasty, princes and princesses addressed their father as "Daddy" just like commoners, and their stepmother as "Niangniang." Their birth mothers who held the rank of concubine were addressed as "elder sister."