“What a sharp tongue!” A woman in bright red brocade embroidered with peacock patterns suddenly emerged from behind a screen. This woman was only twenty-five or twenty-six years old, wearing gorgeous clothing with her hair in cloud-like coils, her eyebrows painted beautifully. She sneered: “I’ve known countless people, but I’ve never seen a woman like you who acts so arrogantly before even gaining power. If you truly soar to great heights in the future, would you even acknowledge the legitimate mistresses of the three palaces and six courts?”
Qingxia remained completely unmoved. She had long heard sounds from this room—clearly a palace woman who had come to watch her humiliation. Regarding these psychologically twisted palace concubines, Qingxia had never had any good impression. Since the other party had clearly shown their intent to make things difficult for her, blindly retreating would only invite bullying. Better to resolve this endless trouble once and for all. Thinking this, she suddenly stood up and shouted sternly: “How dare you! In this rear palace, the only true legitimate mistress is Empress Chunyu. Where are these legitimate mistresses of three palaces and six courts? Your own words are confused and disorderly, showing no respect for hierarchy. What qualification do you have to bare your fangs here? I’ve often heard that women in the imperial household are virtuous, benevolent, magnanimous and generous, gathering the finest of women under heaven, serving as models of feminine virtue for common folk. How can there be such trash here?”
“You!” The woman flew into rage, pointing at Qingxia with her pale finger: “What is your status to dare speak to me like this?”
“Then what is your status?” Qingxia said coldly: “Your fingers are pale and white, but your fingertips have thin calluses, clearly from daily zither playing. Your figure is graceful, but unfortunately your steps are unsteady and your calf muscles are robust, obviously from frequent dancing. Though your rouge and powder are thick enough, a small hole can still be seen on the side of your nose, clearly from having worn a nose ring. You’re wearing red palace attire, attempting to disguise yourself as a high-ranking concubine, but unfortunately the silk is coarse and lacks luster, with threads coming loose at the phoenix tail, and the shoulders are too broad—it doesn’t fit properly. Your shoes bulge at the front—even your shoes don’t fit. Your hairpins are indeed of high quality, but unfortunately positioned incorrectly and all hanging down, showing you walked here yourself rather than arriving by sedan chair. I truly cannot imagine which palace mistress qualified to wear second-rank concubine brocade robes would be so diligent as to practice zither daily and dance as a skill, and like common women wear nose rings, with ill-fitting clothes and disheveled hair and pins, walking on foot to these outer three halls to hide behind screens and spy on me, a mere common citizen?”
“You… you… you have such audacity…” The woman breathed rapidly, her face pale as she shouted loudly.
Qingxia slowly sat back in her chair, picked up the nearby tea bowl, gently stirred the tea leaves inside with the lid, lightly blew on it, and without raising her head said indifferently: “You’re merely an ordinary dancing girl in the palace, and moreover from common origins. You haven’t been in the palace long and haven’t even learned basic principles of conduct, yet you dare so rashly run before someone you don’t know to bare your fangs and roar rudely. Do you know what a grave crime it is to disregard rank and wear concubine robes carelessly? Killing you several times over wouldn’t be excessive. The tallest tree catches the most wind—if you don’t even understand such principles, how do you expect to survive here?”
Qingxia flicked her hand, and with a splash, all the hot tea in her hand spilled onto the bamboo-woven screen. The scalding water poured fiercely through the gaps, immediately causing several shrieks from inside. Qingxia acted as if she heard nothing, smiled faintly as she stood up, and said to the dumbfounded matrons: “This tea tastes terrible. You matrons are of precious status—how can you drink such things? After this common woman returns to the mansion, I’ll have someone send over several packages of fresh Dragon Well tea as tribute.”
She glanced at the pale-faced woman in red and smiled: “Dogs that don’t bark may still bite, and places without flags often hide enemy ambushes. Go change your shoes—your feet will be squeezed badly.”
“Honorable matrons, this woman is impersonating a consort, which surely violates palace prohibitions. You must be busy dealing with her, so this common woman will withdraw first.” With that, she turned and walked out of the room, following the eunuchs toward Consort Yao’s Shuiyao Hall.
Before she had gone far, chaotic commotion arose behind her. The corners of Qingxia’s mouth curved coldly as she thought to herself that she wanted to see what other tricks this group of women could play. With a cold snort and icy gaze, she continued forward.
Over the past three years, Zhuang Qingxia, this beauty who brought disaster, had repeatedly caused disputes among nations. Even the transcendent Prince Xuan, who controlled Great Qin’s military power, hadn’t escaped, naturally arousing the interest of the palace women. Women were presumably natural enemies of each other, especially regarding a woman like Qingxia who lacked a solid family background, had a tarnished reputation, was fickle in loyalty, and had defected from Qi to Qin—naturally she wouldn’t have any good reputation. The moment Zhuang Qingxia entered the palace, she had instantly become a thorn in the side of all the palace women who considered themselves extraordinary, sending servants to intimidate her and show off their power.
Originally Qingxia hadn’t wanted to cause more trouble to avoid affecting Qin Zhiyan’s career. Unfortunately, keeping daggers in her boots had become a habit—even in Nanchu’s imperial palace, she never went without weapons. If she had obediently removed her shoes earlier, it would probably have caused great chaos. Better to make a scene deliberately and put an end to these women’s endless probing.
The rest of the journey was smooth. After passing through three courtyards, they reached the entrance to Shuiyao Hall. A row of palace eunuchs waited at the door—about thirty people, including low-ranking serving girls and medical officials carrying medicine boxes. Qingxia raised an eyebrow, knowing the second trial had arrived.
According to palace rules, commoners entering the palace must have certificates from medical halls under the Internal Affairs Office proving they had no contagious diseases. Qingxia had been summoned suddenly with no time to visit medical halls for pulse diagnosis, so naturally she had no such certificate. Consort Yao had been quite thorough, actually dispatching palace medical officials to diagnose her outside the hall. Though Qingxia’s heart burned with fury, she had to suppress all her thoughts. Qin Zhiyan’s gentle face melted the resentment and anger in her heart like snow water in early spring.
The low-ranking serving girls erected layers of canvas and placed a large wooden tub inside. Due to the long delay earlier, the water inside had long lost its heat, emitting a chilling coldness in the crisp air of early spring. A wooden-faced serving girl stepped forward and said gravely: “Remove your clothes. Wash clean first, then you can be examined by the medical officials.”
Qingxia walked to the center of the canvas to find four more matrons inside, all looking at her with hostile expressions. Qingxia took a deep breath, slowly removed her clothing, and while bending down, deftly hid her dagger under the wooden tub, then stepped naked into the tub.
Since being poisoned, Qingxia’s body had become increasingly frail. The water was bone-chillingly cold, raising goosebumps all over her body. Qingxia clenched her fists, straightened her back, and sat in the wooden tub with a pale face drained of all color. Several matrons sneered as they approached, each holding a brush, rolling up their sleeves to reach into the water and scrub vigorously at Qingxia’s chest and back. Red marks appeared on Qingxia’s fair skin, slowly seeping thin traces of blood that dispersed in the cold water.
The water grew colder and colder. Qingxia’s face had turned as white as paper, with red marks covering her entire body. She could no longer feel pain, her body numb from the cold air. After about an hour, the washing finally ended. The several matrons sneered and walked out. Qingxia’s limbs were stiff as she stood up from the wooden tub, nearly falling. After dressing properly and concealing her dagger, she walked out.
The palace eunuchs immediately burned the wooden tub and towels Qingxia had used, as if she truly had some disease.
Seven or eight medical officials approached. Since Qingxia’s status was inferior to these fourth and fifth-rank medical officials, she had to kneel on the ground to receive their examination. After observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking, with officials taking turns one by one, another hour passed before they finally agreed on a prescription. Qingxia knelt on the stone slabs waiting for them to prepare medicine. After half an hour, she drank a bowl of bitter herbal medicine, then was told that if no rash appeared on her body after three hours, it would prove she had no contagious disease and could enter the palace.
Then all the medical officials and eunuchs withdrew, leaving only two gate guards to watch over Qingxia, who needed to kneel and wait quietly for three hours.
The sky gradually darkened, and rows of palace lanterns were lit. From the front hall came faint sounds of strings and wind instruments. Qingxia knew this was a banquet being held in the main hall to welcome Qin Zhiyan, probably just beginning now. The night wind grew colder, blowing on her thin, weak shoulders. Her face was pale as snow, like a solitary chrysanthemum in the night. The hard stone slabs had already made her legs lose all sensation. The two protocol eunuchs at the gate stared at her without blinking, waiting for her to collapse from exhaustion so they could whip her for the crime of great disrespect. From the distant palace gates came noisy sounds—Qingxia knew these were idle palace attendants coming to watch the spectacle.
She paid them no mind, kneeling there quietly. Though her clothing was thin and her figure gaunt, she stood like a monument, motionless.
She knew this was only the beginning. The real crisis lay within that seemingly warm and magnificent palace ahead. They were taking advantage of Qin Zhiyan’s return to the capital, when he was summoned by the Qin King to attend a banquet with no time to spare or send messages, using this opportunity to exert full force against her. Their goal was nothing more than to brand her as a dissolute, unvirtuous woman who didn’t know propriety—a country bumpkin—so they could justifiably drive her away from Qin Zhiyan’s side. If earlier she could still find their weak points and bite back, now facing these palace rules passed down through generations, she had no grounds for rebuttal whatsoever.
She lifted her head slightly, gazing coldly ahead with steely eyes, kneeling there resolutely without the slightest wavering.
Throughout history, the struggles between princes and nobles involved such bloody combat, with treacherous undercurrents more terrifying than modern politicians. One careless step could lead to death without burial. That night in Bailu Plains camp, she had already seen everything clearly. Since she had voluntarily entered Xianyang City, she had already prepared the courage to bear everything. If she couldn’t even enter this small palace gate, what qualification would she have to stand beside him?