What was once eagerly anticipated pregnancy had become a nightmare. How many consorts envied Li Jiubao beyond measure, yet Li Jiubao wanted sterilization.
Sterilization medicine absolutely could not be brought into the palace. Wei Caiwei would have to return home to prepare the medicine, then secretly smuggle it in. Wei Caiwei wrote a menu and instructed Chen Jingji to gradually add meat to Li Jiubao’s diet according to her physical condition. Remembering the strong women of the grasslands, she required Li Jiubao to drink a cup of warm milk morning, noon, and evening.
After finishing her instructions, Wei Caiwei boarded a blue-curtained carriage to leave the palace. She had entered in early summer but was leaving in peak summer. The weather was muggy and overcast, pressing the swallows to fly low, holding back a storm.
The carriage had just left the Eastern Six Palaces when someone was waiting at the intersection—a eunuch from the Empress’s side, saying the Empress summoned her.
The Empress was sovereign, so Wei Caiwei left her carriage and went to Kunning Palace.
When she first met Empress Chen, she was still a poor princess secretly pawning jewelry to maintain Prince Yu’s household. Now as Empress, she still dressed simply with no more than three types of hair ornaments—this was to please her husband Emperor Longqing.
Emperor Longqing had always been frugal. When his dragon robes tore, he’d mend them and continue wearing them since one dragon robe cost ten thousand taels of silver—he couldn’t bear to waste it.
When the King of Chu favored slender waists, the entire kingdom showed signs of hunger. When the King of Wu favored swords, his subjects made light of death. Emperor Longqing wanted frugality, and following her husband’s lead, Empress Chen had to be even more frugal than Emperor Longqing for the sake of her virtuous reputation.
Wei Caiwei bowed, and Empress Chen was fairly polite to her, granting her a seat and dismissing everyone else. She clearly had private words to speak but delayed opening her mouth. With only the two of them present, Empress Chen didn’t need to play the virtuous empress—her tranquil eyes revealed an intimidating aura, attempting to overawe Wei Caiwei.
You’re too meddlesome. Without you, Li Jiubao wouldn’t survive this summer.
Women’s methods in the harem killed without blades. Li Jiubao’s womb had given the imperial family two healthy heirs—that was enough. She wouldn’t allow a breeding tool the future opportunity to rise above her.
During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chenghua’s birth mother Dowager Empress Zhou had completely suppressed Dowager Empress Qian. When Dowager Empress Qian died, she even encouraged her son Emperor Chenghua not to allow Dowager Empress Qian to be buried with her husband Emperor Yingzong, saying she would be buried with Emperor Yingzong in the future.
After Emperor Yingzong was captured by Mongol Tatars at the Tumu Crisis, his brother ascended the throne. Empress Qian knelt and begged the new emperor to rescue her husband, crying until she went blind and kneeling until her legs were crippled, becoming disabled. Finally, Emperor Yingzong miraculously returned and successfully restored himself to power. The court ministers greatly respected the disabled Empress Qian.
With her body ruined and unable to bear children, Noble Consort Zhou’s eldest son was made Crown Prince. When Emperor Yingzong died, Noble Consort Zhou’s son ascended as Emperor Chenghua. Two months later, Dowager Empress Qian died of excessive grief, yet Dowager Empress Zhou refused to allow her burial with Emperor Yingzong, saying the position beside Yingzong should be reserved for herself.
This enraged the ministers, who protested unto death—how could a concubine push aside the legitimate wife for joint burial? Where were the ancestral laws? Having just ascended, Emperor Chenghua had to compromise, opening two burial chambers on either side of Emperor Yingzong’s mausoleum for the three to be buried together.
Dowager Empress Zhou still wasn’t satisfied. She actually had the passage between Dowager Empress Qian’s chamber (originally for joint burial with Emperor Yingzong) and Emperor Yingzong’s chamber sealed as a dead end, making the chambers unable to connect, eternally separating their souls. The chamber she prepared for herself had a passage wide enough for a carriage to Emperor Yingzong’s chamber.
This tampering with tomb passages was later exposed, causing an uproar at court. Everyone despised Dowager Empress Zhou’s actions, but opening a passage between Dowager Empress Qian and Emperor Yingzong would damage the feng shui and dragon veins, so the matter was dropped. Dowager Empress Qian’s soul could never meet Emperor Yingzong.
Moreover, in the ancestral hall where emperors and empresses were worshipped, Dowager Empress Zhou removed the portrait and tablet of Dowager Empress Qian from beside Emperor Yingzong. The dignified legitimate wife, empress, and dowager empress was denied even the right to receive incense from descendants.
With Dowager Empress Zhou’s suppression of Dowager Empress Qian as precedent, Empress Chen, who also couldn’t bear children, naturally viewed Li Jiubao as a hidden rival. She struck when Li Jiubao was weakest postpartum, using expensive tonics to literally supplement her to death.
With her rival dead, she would also gain a virtuous reputation—killing two birds with one stone. Empress Chen swore she would never follow Empress Qian’s path.
But all this was ruined by Wei Caiwei’s arrival. Li Jiubao not only survived but grew stronger, transforming from a gentle, compliant little rabbit into someone spoiled by favor. Empress Chen could no longer manipulate her easily.
Because Emperor Longqing still had expectations for Li Jiubao’s womb, he indulged everything about her. Those palace sycophants also flocked to curry favor. Chengan Palace showed signs of rivaling Empress Chen’s Kunning Palace.
Empress Chen had to endure even if she couldn’t, because she was the virtuous empress who must be tolerant. Once the mask of virtue was worn, it couldn’t be removed.
Wei Caiwei drank tea. If Empress Chen didn’t speak, she wouldn’t either. Having lived two lives, she’d seen every kind of scene. Wei Caiwei wasn’t afraid of Empress Chen’s intimidation—making her kneel and beg for mercy was impossible!
The overcast sky rumbled with thunder, and a breeze carrying the earthy scent of rain blew in. Empress Chen finally spoke: “A storm’s coming. Doctor Wei needs to find shelter from wind and rain. They say it’s good to rest under a big tree, but if heaven sends a storm, big trees can’t protect Doctor Wei—you need a solid roof.”
Another tired old tune about wise birds choosing good trees to roost in, forcing Wei Caiwei to choose sides.
Wei Caiwei set down her teacup. “Since rain’s coming, this subject must hurry out of the palace to return home. Speaking plainly, this subject won’t beat around the bush with Your Majesty. Everything this subject does is merely fulfilling a physician’s duty to heal the sick and save lives. If Your Majesty fell ill, this subject would also do everything to treat you.”
“This subject understands Your Majesty’s concerns. After all, there’s the precedent of Dowager Empress Qian’s tragic end. As legitimate Empress, Your Majesty must prevent problems before they arise to avoid following in Dowager Empress Qian’s footsteps. But speaking honestly, does Your Majesty think Noble Consort Li is the kind of unreasonable, domineering person Dowager Empress Zhou was? Your Majesty’s methods this time… this subject dares say they were truly inferior.”
Wei Caiwei was a woman who had grown tired of the suspicion and fighting between women in her previous palace life. Fighting like black-eyed chickens, all the scheming amounted to nothing in the end—it still depended on the heart of the one man in the Forbidden City. Why should women make things difficult for women?
“Impudent!” Empress Chen angrily scolded. “What does a mere female doctor understand? I’ve read the court records. When Dowager Empress Zhou was still Noble Consort Zhou, she was gentle and compliant like Li Jiubao, not daring to be disrespectful to the disabled Empress Qian. The moment Emperor Yingzong died, Dowager Empress Zhou’s status rose through her son and she immediately changed face. Dowager Empress Qian was blind and crippled—two months later she was dead. Heaven knows whether she died of excessive grief or was tormented to death by Dowager Empress Zhou!”
“Now I’m Empress, mistress of the harem, with four children raised in my palace. Of course she doesn’t dare do anything to me. But can you guarantee she won’t become a second Dowager Empress Zhou in the future? Humiliating me in life and death!”
Wei Caiwei stood to respond: “You can know a person’s face but not their heart. This subject dares not guarantee anyone’s character. But this subject believes everyone has both bright and dark sides. Your Majesty is like this, and Noble Consort Li is too. Whichever side Your Majesty chooses to treat Noble Consort Li with, Noble Consort Li will treat Your Majesty with that same side. Today, Noble Consort Li has changed appearance—this is what Your Majesty personally molded her into.”
Empress Chen snorted coldly. “It’s her true nature. The fox’s tail can’t be hidden anymore. Why blame it on me?”
Wei Caiwei didn’t want to be caught between Empress and favored consort. Helping either side was women making things difficult for women. She advised: “This subject now immensely misses the impoverished Prince Yu’s mansion. Back then, Your Majesty pawned your own jewelry to host banquets celebrating Noble Consort Li and the eight beauties who arrived. Everyone knew Prince Yu’s mansion’s difficulties then—Yan Shifan had withheld the mansion’s stipend for three consecutive years.”
“Even if Your Majesty hadn’t done those things, no one would have criticized Your Majesty for not knowing propriety. But Your Majesty still did it, risking mockery to pawn jewelry and give Noble Consort Li and the eight beauties face. Noble Consort Li also worked constantly at needlework, sewing until midnight without complaint, sharing hardships with Your Majesty. Prince Yu’s mansion then was content in poverty.”
Recalling the past, Empress Chen’s gaze flickered, but she still said: “It’s always easy to share hardship but difficult to share prosperity. Noble Consort Li now wants to ride on my head and compete with me.”
Wei Caiwei said: “Noble Consort Li bore five children in six years. No one understands the dangers better than this subject as a physician. If her luck had been slightly worse, the grass on her grave would be as tall as a person. She survived nine near-deaths, only to nearly be supplemented to death by the tonics Your Majesty sent daily. The four children she bore at risk of her life have also grown distant from her. Your Majesty, even a mud Buddha has some earthy nature. You want Noble Consort Li to die—anyone with backbone would resist. Since it’s death either way, better to fight for it.”
Empress Chen angrily said: “She’s forgotten her place! She’s just a concubine! All children born to concubines are my children! I’m borrowing wombs to bear children, treating four concubine-born children as my own, caring for them without a day’s rest. Am I harming the children? I’m clearly elevating them! Noble Consort Li only carried them in her belly for ten months. I provide good food and care, and after birth, I’ll care for them their entire lives. Foster grace exceeds birth grace—what right does Li Jiubao have to compete with me! As a breeding tool, this is her fate. She must accept it whether she likes it or not.”
Wei Caiwei said: “Your Majesty views Noble Consort Li as a breeding tool, feeling you naturally have power of life and death over her. But Your Majesty, when you were originally selected as Prince Yu’s secondary consort, weren’t you also just a breeding tool in the eyes of the late Emperor and Prince Yu? Why should one tool make things difficult for another?”
Empress Chen said: “I’m the secondary consort, I’m the Empress. How dare you compare concubine Li Jiubao to me!”
Wei Caiwei said: “The Empress is a breeding tool of higher status. It’s just that the Empress’s position, given your inability to bear children, grants you the right to plunder others’ wombs. Except for the Crown Prince, Noble Consort Li’s four children are all in the Empress’s hands, all close to the Empress. If Your Majesty isn’t satisfied and insists on taking this to extremes, there are no walls without cracks. Someday someone seeking fame and profit will tell the Crown Prince and the other four children that you killed their birth mother. When that time comes, how will Your Majesty continue?”
Empress Chen’s eyes flashed dangerously.
Wei Caiwei remained calm. “If Your Majesty wants to keep this secret, hardening your heart to silence everyone and completely block the future five children’s ears, you’d need at least ten thousand lives on your hands to take this to extremes. But Your Majesty, you currently lack such means. Since you can’t do it, don’t start from the beginning. Leave room in your actions for future meetings. If Your Majesty wishes to reconcile with Noble Consort Li, this subject is willing to serve as mediator.”
“What if I’m unwilling?” Empress Chen said. “You’re threatening me.”
Wei Caiwei said: “Your Majesty has been a wise person since marrying Prince Yu as secondary consort. Even in the most difficult times, you never mistreated subordinates—everyone endured poverty together. This subject admires Your Majesty’s character. Wealth blinds the eyes. After becoming Empress, Your Majesty became anxious about the future and temporarily took the wrong path. But it’s not too late to mend the fold after the sheep are lost. Whether east wind and west wind fight in darkness or pass like light clouds; whether it’s mutual destruction or shaking hands with a smile to forget grudges—it all depends on Your Majesty’s single thought.”
“Extreme cases like Dowager Empress Zhou are rare after all. Given Noble Consort Li’s character, if people respect her one foot, she’ll respect them one fathom. This subject hopes Your Majesty will consider carefully.”
Wei Caiwei left the Forbidden City in heavy rain. Why should women make things difficult for women? Were the children Li Jiubao bore Empress Chen’s? No, they were all children of the Zhu family.
If Li Jiubao was a breeding tool, then Empress Chen was a child-rearing tool.
Both women were Emperor Longqing’s tools. They had no power to choose whether to bear children or raise them.
They could only bear, could only raise, because for thousands of years, all women had lived this way. They couldn’t refuse.
The root of women’s conflicts actually lay with men. Men wanted to reproduce offspring, especially when there was a throne to inherit. Emperor Longqing’s throne needed healthy heirs. For this, he expected wives and concubines to divide labor—some to bear, some to raise.
But polygamy itself violated human nature. Men only cared about heirs, offering small benefits while letting women fight over them.
Wei Caiwei hoped Li Jiubao and Empress Chen could reconcile. Both were tools—why should tools make things difficult for tools? After all their fighting, the children didn’t belong to them. If the tools destroyed each other, Emperor Longqing had plenty more tools behind him ready to replace them. Why benefit others?