In the blink of an eye it was the eighth month — late summer.
The osmanthus trees of the capital were nearly ready to bloom. In the Prince’s residence pavilion of the Fragrant Osmanthus Pool, the evening sun slanted down, and on the wind there was faintly the sweet, heady breath of their fragrance.
Xiao Yuxiu came to visit me, carrying her daughter who had just turned two years old.
Across from me, Qinzhi held a cup of locust-blossom honey cake and, mimicking the manner of an adult, spooned it into the little one’s mouth bite by bite.
The little one was quite greedy — her rosy little lips were dusted with white cake crumbs, and still she waved her small hands, demanding more without end.
Qinzhi watched and laughed with delight.
This child, compared to when she had first arrived at the residence three months ago, had filled out considerably — no longer as slight and thin as on that first day, and had grown even more delicately lovely. Though still quiet and reserved, she had gradually grown closer to me, only still unwilling to change how she addressed me.
Xiao Qi had given her permission not to change her surname, to continue being called Mou Qinzhi. I, too, never pressed her, and let her call me Princess Consort as she pleased.
I shook my head with a smiling sigh. “Qin’er, if you keep feeding the little one like this, you’ll have her looking like Nanny Lu.”
Nanny Lu was a senior palace servant in the kitchen administration. Her culinary skill was extraordinary, and she was also particularly stout and plump — remarkably, almost comically overweight.
“Plump is good — plump people are blessed! Little Master must be like our little one — grow up round and white, and mustn’t be delicate and frail like the Princess Consort!” Xiao Yuxiu said with a hearty laugh.
Lady Xu and Qinzhi both burst out laughing.
“Little Master will certainly take after our Prince,” said Lady Xu with a smile.
I lowered my eyes, smiled without speaking, a soft ache rising in my heart, and yet sweetness threaded through it.
Xiao Yuxiu gave a small exclamation and clapped her hands. “I heard the Prince just captured three garrison towns in a row two days ago, and has already driven the rebel forces that had entered Hulu Ridge back to — what’s it called — past some pass…”
“Beyond Waji Pass,” I said with a faint smile.
“That’s the one! Those place names are so peculiar — I can never remember them.” Her cheeks flushed with excitement, her eyes sparkling. She gestured expressively as she spoke: “In that battle at Waji Pass, our three thousand iron cavalry pierced straight into the enemy’s rear, closed in from both flanks, and drove right into the rebels’ face — fought from noon until dusk, killing until the sky darkened and the sun and moon lost their light…”
The more she spoke, the more animated she became, as if she had witnessed it all herself. Her face shone with pride.
Everywhere inside and outside the palace, the valiant exploits of Prince Yuzhang were being spread and celebrated. Everyone looked up to him and sang his praises.
Since Xiao Qi had personally taken to the field, the front lines had completely reversed their previous defeats. In a great turn of events, he swept across a thousand miles, blocking the rebels head-on north of the He-Shuo region. Pressing forward step by step, he recovered lost territory along the route. Rumor had it that rebel forces garrisoning towns, when they saw Prince Yuzhang’s battle banner from a distance, would abandon their city walls and flee without waiting to confirm whether it was genuine — only to discover afterward that Xiao Qi had not even been in camp. Other rebels had fought stubbornly, holding fortified cities with the lives of the city’s entire civilian population as leverage. Xiao Qi cut off the water supply, surrounding them for seven days until the water ran out and both soldiers and civilians were on the verge of peril. Then our forces launched a night assault, broke into the city, swiftly beheaded the rebel commanders, and rescued the civilians inside. Within a span of under two months, the rebel forces and the Turks were driven back beyond the frontier. Wherever Prince Yuzhang’s commander’s banner appeared, even the ferocious Turkic generals fled at the sight of it.
“In any case, our Prince is invincible beneath all Heaven!” Xiao Yuxiu made a sweeping gesture, her words landing with weight and spirit — the bold manner of a general’s household mistress — and all the serving maids around her listened with rapt admiration.
I listened in quiet contentment. Though every single word she said was something I had known long since and had turned over in my heart countless times, each time I heard it spoken, my heart still surged, turning over and over in a hundred ways.
That indomitable figure people spoke of — like a deity who could not be defeated — that great hero whom all the world celebrated — was my husband, my beloved, the father of my child. What could be more worthy of pride than this?
Every day, battle reports arrived from the north in a steady stream, passed through Song Huai’an’s hands and then placed in mine.
Every night, just before sleep, I would recount the latest news from the front to the baby. I wanted him to know how his royal father was so valiant and invincible, how he was defending hearth and homeland, how he stood as a pillar between Heaven and Earth.
Before long, my baby would come into this world.
Aside from the war at the front, and the safety of Xiao Qi and my brother — this was the matter of greatest importance to me.
Xiao Yuxiu had talked at a stretch for quite a while, until finally she ran dry and reached for her tea.
“Has General Xie also won battles?” Qinzhi, who had been listening quietly the whole time, suddenly interjected, asking in a small, soft voice.
I was briefly taken aback, then smiled warmly. “General Xiaohe has led the vanguard to capture several key rebel strongholds — a successful start indeed.”
On hearing this, Qinzhi’s whole face lit up with delighted brightness. But then she immediately dimmed again. “Then many people must have died again… Xiaohe-gege must be very unhappy.”
Her words left all those nearby in sudden silence.
Indeed — every victory also meant death and pain. It meant wolves of war burning across fertile land, beacon fires consuming homes.
How many more had been displaced? How many more had lost their dearest ones?
“Some people’s deaths are exchanged for peace in the days ahead — so that more people may live on.” I gently took Qinzhi’s hand. “Our homeland and territory, precisely because the blood of these soldiers has been shed over it, passes life on from one generation to the next, allowing our descendants to flourish.”
These words I spoke to Qin’er, and I also spoke them to the baby — whether the children could understand them now or not, someday they would surely come to understand. All that the generation of their fathers was doing now was for the sake of their future, for the future of all the world.
I raised my head and gazed toward the distant northern sky. For a moment my heart swelled, moved beyond measure.
“Oh, yes — Princess Consort, yesterday the Relief Administration reported back that they had taken in nearly a hundred more elderly, weak, and orphaned people, and I’m afraid the funds and grain are strained again.” Xiao Yuxiu spoke up with some unease.
“There will only be more and more people…” I furrowed my brows and sighed, the weight in my heart growing heavier. “As long as the war goes on for a single day, the number of refugees will not decrease.”
“At this rate, I’m afraid the Relief Administration cannot sustain itself much longer.” Xiao Yuxiu sighed deeply. “If all else fails, let Huai’an divert a bit from the military provisions…”
“Nonsense!” I cut her off sharply. “The military grain and provisions — not a single fraction may be touched. How can you even think of that?”
Xiao Yuxiu grew urgent as well. “But those are lives too — all those mouths still need to eat! We can’t just watch people starve to death! We went to all that trouble to establish the Relief Administration, and now so many refugees are counting on it as their only lifeline. How can we abandon it halfway?”
“Yuxiu!” Lady Xu called out, reining her in. “What kind of talk is that? Do you know how much effort the Princess Consort has put into building this Relief Administration…”
“Enough — stop arguing.” I reached out and sank tiredly onto the brocade couch. My mind was troubled, and all at once I felt a cold sweat seep out on my back, my vision blurring.
Both of them fell silent, not daring to bicker any further.
When the Relief Administration had first been established, I had not anticipated it would reach such a scale.
Under original regulations, local government offices in every district had designated personnel to relieve disaster victims. But after years of war, the flow of displaced people had been unending, and the offices were overwhelmed. The duty of relief had long since fallen into neglect. Now, with the northern frontier in turmoil, vast numbers of refugees were fleeing southward with nowhere to turn. Young and able-bodied people could still find a place to settle, but a crowd of the elderly, the weak, and the helpless had no choice but to collapse by the roadside and leave their lives to fate.
After consulting with Song Huai’an, I had him issue an order to establish five Relief Administration stations along the main roads, distributing water, grain, and medicine and taking in the elderly and young children. The grain and funds to establish the Relief Administration initially came from the public treasury, and we had all initially believed there would be enough. But to our surprise, once the Relief Administration was established, refugees poured in from every direction in such numbers — in under two months, it had nearly exhausted all supplies.
If things continued this way, the Relief Administration could likely not hold out much longer.
To address the Relief Administration’s immediate urgency, I decided to first use the Prince’s residence’s treasury funds as emergency relief, then raise the remaining funds from the royal kin and wealthy households.
But when I called the household steward in to ask, I learned that the Prince’s residence’s treasury held barely one hundred thousand taels of silver.
That night, Lady Xu, A’Yue, and I sat together by candlelight until deep in the night, reviewing the account books of the Prince’s residence.
From childhood I had been raised by my father as though I were a boy, and had no interest in household management or finances.
After the wedding, there had been much upheaval. By the time I returned to the Prince’s residence, Lady Xu and the senior household steward managed the daily affairs, and I had been entirely ignorant of the treasury’s expenditures.
By lamplight, looking at book after book that was nearly blank, I could only press a hand to my forehead and smile bitterly.
This husband of mine, the illustrious Prince Yuzhang — he did not merely live with clean sleeves and not a copper coin to his name; he was, quite simply, extremely poor.
He had fought through years of war, and nearly all the gifts and gold silk generously bestowed upon him by the imperial family had been given away to his subordinates and soldiers. Though he held a high and important position, he was rigorous and frugal, and not a single coin had ever flowed into his personal pocket.
What remained of his salary after daily expenses left no surplus whatsoever.
Now, even if we scraped the entire Prince’s residence bare, we could only gather one hundred and sixty thousand taels.
These meager one hundred and sixty thousand taels were a mere drop in the bucket for the tens of thousands of starving refugees in the north.
The candle flame swayed. I stared blankly out the window for a while, then turned to Lady Xu with a furrowed brow and asked, “How much might the Zhenguo Duke’s household have in its treasury?”
Lady Xu shook her head. “There is some, but not a great deal either. And besides, the Wang family’s branches are numerous and complex…”
“I understand,” I said, sighing heavily. I knew what she meant.
The Wang family’s tradition valued an elevated and aloof character, and they had always disdained the pursuit of material gain. Though they had inherited rank and salary for generations, they were accustomed to generous spending, and with a large clan to support, the expenses were substantial. A single family’s inheritance had to sustain an entire kinship network, and it could not truly be called well-off.
“This concerns the lives of the people, and there is no other way.” I turned back with resolution. “Moreover, if we are to gather funds from the capital’s wealthy households, the Wang family must set an example.”
The Wang family’s act of contributing funds earned boundless praise from the court and the common people alike.
Yet the great households of the capital remained unmoved, with very few following suit. Among them were certainly many whose family fortunes had declined and whose resources were genuinely strained. But there were also no small number of clans who in ordinary times hoarded wealth and spent lavishly, yet when it came to spending money for the common people, they resisted as if being flayed alive — they refused until the very last. They must have calculated that with the frontier in turmoil, Xiao Qi absent from the capital, and myself unwilling to cause more trouble, I would have no means to deal with them.
Xiao Yuxiu made a rough count — over the past few days, the silver gathered from the royal kin and aristocratic families amounted to under eighty thousand taels.
She threw down her writing brush dejectedly. “Each of them is perfectly righteous in ordinary times — all talk of the people and the masses. But moments like this reveal their true hearts.”
“It’s all right. The silver gathered now is enough to tide the Relief Administration over for two or three months,” I said, closing my eyes with a faint smile. “No matter how tightly they guard their wealth, I always have a way to loosen their grip.”
“Then that would be wonderful!” Xiao Yuxiu’s face brightened with delight.
I shook my head with a smiling sigh. “Now is not yet the time.”
Just as I was about to explain further, a serving maid came in and announced, “Your report to the Princess Consort — Right Chancellor Song requests an audience.”
I was briefly taken aback, and exchanged a glance with Xiao Yuxiu.
“He’s come early today — I take it affairs of government are not pressing.” Xiao Yuxiu smiled.
Just as she spoke, Song Huai’an entered in full court attire, his expression somber, looking as though he were burdened by weighty thoughts.
Seeing Xiao Yuxiu, he gave only a faint nod of greeting.
Observing his manner, my heart sank. Without time for pleasantries, I went straight to the point: “Huai’an, has something happened?”
He nodded. “I have been presumptuous, and ought not to disturb the Princess Consort. But this matter is of no small consequence, and I did not dare handle it on my own authority.”
I straightened up from the brocade couch. “There is no need for formality between us — speak freely.”
Song Huai’an raised his thick brows, his face grave and solemn. “When conducting a routine check two days ago, I discovered what appeared to be minor discrepancies in the grain and military provisions — seemingly ordinary, yet suspicious. I investigated through the night, and had no idea this matter runs so deep.”
This news was no small matter.
It is said that in the clearest water no fish can live. Military provisions and expenses had always been complex and varied, and for subordinates to use a bit of ingenuity to take small gains for themselves was something tacitly understood by all. Accumulated old habits were not something that could be changed overnight.
Yet if this were such a trivial matter, why would the sitting Right Chancellor be alarmed? If Song Huai’an, in his capacity as Right Chancellor, wished to punish a corrupt minor official or two, why would he need to report to me at all?
Unless there was a particular figure behind this matter.
My heart immediately tightened. I fixed my gaze on his eyes, pressing my lips together, and said not a word.
Song Huai’an’s face was iron-gray. “Since the war began, someone has been secretly tampering with the grain and military provisions. Not only diverting military supplies, but also substituting inferior goods — switching choice refined rice for coarse grain before sending it to the front lines.”
“What!” Xiao Yuxiu cried out in furious shock.
Under the blow of that revelation, I was momentarily struck speechless — unable to distinguish between urgency and rage, my body involuntarily beginning to tremble faintly.
“Not only that — of the silver disbursed multiple times to the Relief Administration, nearly half has been intercepted.” Song Huai’an’s thick brows knit tightly together.
“What audacity! No wonder they kept saying the funds and grain were strained — half of it has been going into the mouths of corrupt rats all along!” Xiao Yuxiu was so furious she nearly laughed. She struck the table with a fierce slap and cried out in fury, “The Prince is fighting for his life at the front — and behind his back, someone is pulling this kind of scheme! Who in the world has such colossal nerve?”
Song Huai’an was silent, turning to look at me without saying a word.
There was no need for him to say another word — I already understood.
That answer, in an instant, sent me plunging as if into an icy abyss, chilled through to the bone.
— The official managing the military provisions was Hu Guanglie’s younger brother, Hu Guangyuan. And the official overseeing the relief supplies was Zidan’s great-uncle, the Old Marquis Xie.
Hu Guangyuan was clearly an upright and straightforward young man, deeply trusted by Xiao Qi — how could it have been him who committed this foolish act?
As for the Old Marquis Xie, he was Zidan’s only remaining relative. When the Xie family was drawn into the struggle for the throne, Marquis Jingcheng had been destroyed and executed, and the entire Xie clan had been implicated, nearly wiped out in that disaster. Only this Old Marquis Xie had been on sick leave at the time and had not participated. Moreover, as a senior official who had served three dynasties and had merit in service to the realm, he had narrowly escaped that disaster. But from that day he had been set aside and cast out from public life, unused for many years. After Zidan ascended the throne, out of regard for his mother’s family’s dignity, he had given the Old Marquis Xie an official post — one without real power, yet with abundant perquisites — so that he might spend his final years in comfort and ease.
Zidan — why, again, was it Zidan? These two men, though not particularly close to him, were in the end his brother-in-law and his elder relative. Now that both were implicated in this sordid affair, what face would it leave for him? What position would it place me in?
“Is the evidence solid?” I slowly opened my eyes, fixed them on Song Huai’an, and asked word by word, each one forced out with difficulty.
“The evidence is ironclad. These are the confessions of the subordinate officials and the account room staff of the Marquis’s household.” Song Huai’an withdrew a small black silk booklet from his sleeve.
If tried by law, the Old Marquis Xie could not escape a grave charge and would be sentenced to be executed by cutting at the waist; Hu Guangyuan could escape the death penalty, but would likely not escape being branded and exiled to the frontier for life.
A long silence followed — a silence so heavy it nearly suffocated.
I spoke with weary deliberateness: “A prince who breaks the law is guilty just as a commoner. Whatever must be done — go and do it.”
Song Huai’an looked silently at me, something unsaid in his gaze, deep with feeling.
I averted my eyes from his and let out a long sigh. “His Majesty is far away at the detached palace and need not be petitioned. Immediately take the Old Marquis Xie and Hu Guangyuan into custody and transfer them to the Court of Judicial Review for sentencing. At the same time, confiscate the Marquis’s residence — all property to be catalogued and placed into the national treasury.”
“Your subject obeys!” Song Huai’an bowed his head.
“Furthermore,” I said slowly, “spread word that this case involves matters of great consequence, and that I intend to conduct a thorough investigation of all officials implicated. Any and all who have engaged in corruption, or whose family wealth cannot be accounted for, will be tried with the full severity of the law.”
I deliberated a moment, then continued: “Since the Hu family is implicated, and the matter involves the imperial in-laws, it is inevitable this will cause unrest within the palace. As these are extraordinary times, I order the Inner Guards to seal off the central palace immediately — the Empress must not be permitted to learn of this matter for the time being.”