Xie Yuzhang saw Li Gu again the following day and asked him about the herbal medicine.

Li Gu said, “Stop drinking it. Let nature take its course.”

Xie Yuzhang fell silent.

Li Gu took her hand and held it in his palm, saying, “Don’t worry about the future. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

Xie Yuzhang did not know what he was “promising,” and assumed he was only offering comfort. Since Li Gu was no longer fixated on having a legitimate heir, a weight lifted from her heart.

Yet she had no desire to bring up the matter of the selection of imperial consorts. She waited for Li Gu to raise it himself.

She was the Empress. When the day came that the Emperor proposed selecting consorts, she would not object.

Only her husband never brought the matter up again.

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, summer passed and autumn arrived.

Li Gu continued to live with Xie Yuzhang in Danyang Palace, which had long since become their home. He toiled in Zichen Hall, but the moment he returned to Danyang Palace, he could shed everything and be simply a man with a wife, living the life of a man with a household.

Liang Chen was often at Li Gu’s side, and Xie Yuzhang saw him frequently. She always felt that this quiet, steady young man had somehow grown even quieter.

In better times, he would smile along with the mood around him, and when speaking with her, his eyes and brows would often carry an easy lightness.

But now, the brow of this young eunuch grew darker with each passing day.

Xie Yuzhang suspected that Li Gu had not noticed. For Li Gu was not an all-knowing man, and his authority had grown so weighty of late that eunuchs spoke to him with bowed backs, wearing expressions of rigid solemnity.

One day, while watching the young attendants play cuju in the imperial garden as the autumn colors spread around them, Li Gu stepped away to change his clothes. Xie Yuzhang looked up and caught Liang Chen staring at her.

This was a deeply improper and presumptuous act. Liang Chen, as careful and composed as he was, should never have made such an error.

A thought stirred in Xie Yuzhang’s heart. She asked, “Is there something on my face?” As she spoke, she touched her cheek, offering Liang Chen a way out.

Liang Chen startled and came back to himself, quickly lowering his eyes and bowing.

Xie Yuzhang asked, “Liang Chen, you haven’t seemed yourself lately. Is something the matter?”

Liang Chen bent low at the waist and replied, “I am grateful for Your Highness’s concern. I have merely had more duties of late and am somewhat tired, nothing more.”

Xie Yuzhang said, “Do take care of your health.”

Liang Chen replied, “Please take care of your health as well, Your Highness.”

He continued, “Palace affairs are many and complex, and the registers are numerous. Your Highness must remember to rest.”

Then he added, “If Your Highness grows too fatigued, it is easy to lose sight of what matters and overlook certain things. Some registers and records should not go unread for too long. If left unmonitored, accidents may occur.”

His bow was extremely deep. Xie Yuzhang could see only his curved back and the rear wings of his ceremonial headpiece.

Xie Yuzhang stared at that black headpiece for a long while.

By the time Li Gu returned, Xie Yuzhang was slowly eating a piece of fruit, and Liang Chen stood to one side attending them, as though nothing had occurred.

Yet that night, Li Gu fell into a deep sleep while Xie Yuzhang lay with her eyes open.

In the days that followed, her maids noticed that Xie Yuzhang would often fall into a daze, sitting on the couch for an entire day at a stretch.

On the third day, the maids grew uneasy and could not help but gently ask whether she felt unwell somewhere.

Xie Yuzhang was silent for a long moment, then finally lifted her head and said, “Go. Bring me the Tong Shi to look at.”

The maid stood dumbfounded.

The Tong Shi was the record of the Emperor’s visits to the ladies of the palace. Imperial bloodlines could not be left in doubt, and every day, every location, every hour that the Emperor visited someone, along with the names of those who bore witness, had to be recorded in clear and complete detail.

If someone were to become pregnant without any entry in the Tong Shi, that bloodline would be considered suspect, and even a child born of it would not be recognized.

Since becoming Empress, Xie Yuzhang had managed palace affairs with clarity and order. If there was one register and one record she had gone “too long without reading,” it was precisely the Tong Shi.

For Li Gu’s Tong Shi had little worth reading. Xie Yuzhang had reviewed it once a month when she first became Empress, persisting until several months after Li Gu returned from his first southern campaign. After that, she felt there was nothing to read, and since she had remained unable to conceive, looking at it only affected her mood, so she set it aside and paid it no more attention.

Now that Xie Yuzhang had suddenly said she wished to read the Tong Shi, a profound unease rose in the maid’s heart, and she said, “What made you think to look at this…”

Xie Yuzhang said, “Go and fetch it.”

The maid dared say nothing more and turned to leave.

The register sat on the low table before Xie Yuzhang for a long while before she quietly opened it.

Page after page of red entries, all bearing her name. She kept turning back, and at last reached what Liang Chen had wanted her to see.

Xie Yuzhang stared at those pages in a daze.

The people of Danyang Palace began to move, going to various quarters, and soon returned to report their findings.

Xie Yuzhang listened to their reports, then after a long silence said, “Bring me my formal ceremonial robes.”

The palace attendants went to fetch the great garments and helped Xie Yuzhang change.

In the front hall of Zichen Hall, Li Gu was in the middle of receiving reports when word came that the Empress had arrived. Quite surprised, he said, “Let her in at once.”

Xie Yuzhang entered through the main doors. She wore her ceremonial robes, and between her brows there was only nobility and cool composure — no trace of emotion.

This was not how Xie Yuzhang usually was. She ordinarily dressed comfortably, and whenever she saw him, her brows and eyes carried a smile, gentle and charming.

Li Gu froze, then quickly stepped out from behind the writing desk. “Yuzhang, what’s wrong?”

Xie Yuzhang sank into a deep curtsy: “This consort has come to confess my failings.”

Li Gu pulled her up. “If you have something to say, say it. Don’t do this.”

Xie Yuzhang said, “This consort has been negligent in her duties and is truly filled with trepidation. I have come especially to confess my failings.”

Li Gu frowned. “What failing could you possibly have?”

Xie Yuzhang raised her eyes to look at him, and after a long pause said, “This consort, as Empress, searched through all the rear palace and could find no trace of Hu Yue’e, Xiao Meiniang, and Niu Min’er. I am truly filled with trepidation.”

Li Gu asked, “Who are they?”

Xie Yuzhang was taken aback. For a brief moment she was lost for words, and then said, “They are the three new ladies whom Your Majesty visited in the third and fourth months.”

The air inside Zichen Hall suddenly grew still.

Xie Yuzhang watched Li Gu steadily.

It was all there — written in red ink with a vermilion brush, clear as could be. Liang Chen had even risked everything to send her a veiled warning.

Xie Yuzhang did not know why she still harbored hope, why she still wished Li Gu might tell her it was all a misunderstanding.

Yet reality always shatters hope.

Li Gu pressed his lips together and was silent for a long time, then said, “Those three — I will handle them myself. Do not concern yourself with them.”

Xie Yuzhang felt something inside her chest shatter and scatter across the ground.

She felt profoundly weak and powerless. Yet in her heart she mocked herself: You married an Emperor. Sooner or later, a day like this would come. Why did you still harbor such naive hope?

Had this not been something she had foreseen long ago?

Such was the extent of a man’s affection.

Xie Yuzhang raised her chin. “Your Majesty speaks wrongly. Your Majesty entrusted the rear palace to my care. The affairs of the rear palace are my responsibility, and I must oversee them. Your Majesty tells me not to ‘concern myself’ — very well. But Your Majesty must first depose me as Empress, and then naturally I will concern myself with nothing. Otherwise, as long as this consort holds the Phoenix Seal, I cannot allow anyone to show contempt for this seal.”

“I have never shown contempt for you, nor do I wish to strip you of your power as Empress,” Li Gu said. “Only these three women — I do not want you to see them. What purpose would it serve for you to meet with them, except to bring you unhappiness?”

Even at this point, Li Gu would not relent. He was still insisting on keeping those three women hidden.

Was he pleased that she was jealous, yet also afraid of her jealousy? He would not even allow her to be the gracious Empress.

Xie Yuzhang seethed with fury.

“Let me go,” she said. “There are many people outside. Let me leave with some dignity.”

Zichen Hall was indeed no place for a husband and wife to quarrel. Ministers were still outside waiting for an audience.

Li Gu hesitated and said, “Leave through the rear hall then.”

Xie Yuzhang grew even more enraged. She broke free from his hand, wiped away her tears, and refused: “I am the Empress, and I came openly and properly to present myself in the front hall of Zichen. How could I slink away through the rear? Am I someone who must hide from sight?”

“Yuzhang!” Li Gu called out.

Xie Yuzhang swept her sleeves and walked away.

Li Gu, in his agitation, kicked over an incense burner.

“Liang Chen!” he bellowed.

Liang Chen entered at the sound, bowing. “Your Majesty.”

Li Gu said, “Find out for me who leaked this news to the Empress.”

Liang Chen replied, “Yes.”

But he did not immediately obey and withdraw. He paused, then said, “Would it not be better to explain the situation clearly to the Empress—”

Li Gu snapped, “Silence!”

Liang Chen lowered his head and said nothing more.

Li Gu had not expected that less than an hour later, the people of Danyang Palace would send back all of his customary personal belongings that had been kept there.

Xie Yuzhang’s maids did not dare raise their heads, and said, “Her Highness said she feared Your Majesty might find yourself lacking for things in Zichen Hall and suffer inconvenience. She has therefore instructed us to return them.”

Li Gu’s expression darkened like the night sky.

He said nothing. The maids were so frightened they dared not move. Liang Chen said quietly, “You may go.”

The maids fled as though pardoned.

Li Gu did not go to Danyang Palace immediately. Xie Yuzhang was at the height of her anger at this moment, and since he had no intention of telling her of his plans, going would only result in another quarrel.

He wanted to let her cool down first.

Liang Chen returned to report: “The matter has been looked into. It seems the Empress was reviewing the registers of the various offices and came across the Tong Shi in the course of doing so.”

Li Gu said, “Understood.”

Liang Chen simply kept his eyes lowered.

Li Gu remained in Zichen Hall alone until evening, watching the deep night settle around him, until it was nearly the hour when Xie Yuzhang would retire for the night. He murmured to himself, “She should have calmed down by now.”

Liang Chen said, “Her Highness has always been composed and self-possessed, magnanimous and gentle, with a generous capacity to accommodate others.”

Li Gu said, “Indeed.”

Encouraged, he finally rose to his feet. “Come, let us go to Danyang Palace.”

But at the doors of the Danyang Palace bedchamber, Xie Yuzhang’s most trusted maid stood guarding the entrance and knelt on the ground, saying, “Her Highness says that the dignity and authority of the Empress cannot be allowed to be treated with contempt — not even by Your Majesty. If Your Majesty will not grant her the honor befitting an Empress, then from this day forth, there will be no Empress in the inner palace.”

The Emperor was silent for a long while, and did not vent his anger on the Empress’s maid. He only said, “Understood. Tell her to sleep early. Make sure she eats.”

The maid pressed her forehead to her hands. “Yes.”

Once the Emperor had gone, the maid was drenched in cold sweat.

She returned to the bedchamber, where the underfloor heating made the room warmly comfortable. Xie Yuzhang was sitting on the couch, lost in thought.

When she saw the maid enter, she asked, “What did he say?”

The maid lowered her head. “He told you to rest early and eat well.”

Xie Yuzhang was silent for a long time, then suddenly said, “Help me think — what exactly happened in the third month?”

How was it that he had suddenly gone to visit other women?

The maid thought for a moment, and her expression changed. She knelt down.

Xie Yuzhang watched her. She said in a trembling voice, “In the third month, Your Majesty asked me who had taken your pulse and regulated your health before you entered the palace. I told him it was Doctor Bao.”

Xie Yuzhang asked, “Do you remember when that was?”

The maid said, “It was the first day of the third month — the new moon day. Because it was the first of the month, I remember it clearly. Your Majesty told me not to tell you, and so I… I did not…”

Because it had been the new moon day, Xie Yuzhang also remembered it clearly. That night, Li Gu had been so tender with her.

Given Li Gu’s way of doing things, he had likely gotten the name from the maid during the day, and by evening had already met with Bao Zhongxin.

Xie Yuzhang murmured to herself, “So that is how it was.”

Before entering the palace, Bao Zhongxin had told her only that it was “possible.” Xie Yuzhang had harbored hope in her heart as well, wishing she could carry a child herself. But as time passed, it only confirmed that the “possible” was true — a truth that left one in despair.

Li Gu must have learned of it. That was why he had told her to stop drinking the medicine, saying she was only making herself suffer needlessly.

He treated her with tenderness, but the emotions he suppressed within himself had found release elsewhere.

He was someone who, once thoroughly done with a person, became utterly done with them. Ever since Qing Que had died, the four Ladies-in-Waiting had never been visited again. And so he had gone to other women.

Xie Yuzhang turned her face away and let her tears fall.

The maid was overcome with sorrow. Still kneeling, she shifted forward and tugged at the hem of Xie Yuzhang’s robe. She tried to console her: “Your Highness, Your Highness — His Majesty truly does cherish and love you dearly. Please do not quarrel with His Majesty any longer.”

Xie Yuzhang said, “You don’t understand.”

“He still wants me to be his wife, and so he hid those three women away and kept them from me. But now that he has others, I can only be his Empress.”

“If you do not guard the power in your own hands, your boundaries will retreat step by step. By the time you realize it, the Phoenix Seal will have lost all its authority.”

“Since this position as Empress is all I have left, I cannot allow him to treat that seal with such disregard.”

“This man of mine — he is far too greedy.”