After the Emperor left, Jiang Lingye endured the soreness of her body in the Hibiscus Forest as she redressed herself. Only after ensuring that others would not notice anything unusual did she force herself to leave the forest. The noisy revelry at Linde Hall continued, the sounds of music reaching her ears. The Emperor must have returned to Linde Hall. Jiang Lingye gazed at the magnificent Linde Hall, imagining how lively it must be inside. At this moment, her figure in the moonlight appeared especially forlorn. She looked for a while, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly, then endured her disheveled state and slowly made her way back to Qifeng Pavilion.
Afterward, the Emperor seemed to forget her existence, making no mention of giving her a position, as if she were a prostitute from Pingkang District—favored once and forgotten, not worthy of a title. Thinking of his roughness that day, wasn’t he treating her exactly like a prostitute? Nevertheless, though the Emperor didn’t grant her a title, she didn’t go asking for one. She continued serving Consort Xian at Qifeng Pavilion as before, not telling anyone about being favored by the Emperor.
Another month passed quickly. Consort Xian accompanied the Empress Dowager to Famen Temple to worship Buddha, giving Jiang Lingye and the others a welcome respite. But on this day, the Emperor came to Qifeng Pavilion.
Facing a hall full of prostrating servants, the Emperor feigned surprise: “Oh, Consort Xian isn’t here.”
He was about to turn and leave when suddenly dark clouds gathered outside, and it looked like rain would fall at any moment. The Emperor smiled: “It seems Heaven wants to keep Us here.”
As he said this, his eyes remained fixed on Jiang Lingye, but she kept her forehead touching the backs of her hands, never raising her head.
Then the Emperor went to the inner chamber to sit for a while, waiting for the rain to stop before returning to Shenlong Hall. He sat by the rosewood table, casually flipped through a book, and said: “We don’t need so many servants attending Us. Just one will do.”
The servants of Qifeng Pavilion looked at each other, none daring to serve him. Finally, Jiang Lingye calmly knelt and said: “This servant will attend to Your Majesty.”
The inner chamber was quiet, with only the sound of raindrops hitting the ground. Jiang Lingye knelt nearby, grinding ink for the Emperor. The Emperor picked up a teacup, took a sip, then set it down and asked: “Why haven’t you come to ask Us for a position?”
Jiang Lingye was startled for a moment. The Emperor glanced at her with an enigmatic smile: “Or are you playing hard to get?”
“This servant wouldn’t dare…”
“You wouldn’t dare?” The Emperor sneered. “What wouldn’t you dare do?”
“This servant truly wouldn’t dare.” Jiang Lingye lowered her head, quietly grinding the ink. “A position is something Your Majesty gives. Only then would this servant dare accept it. If Your Majesty doesn’t give it, this servant wouldn’t dare ask for it.”
The Emperor said nothing more. He only stared at Jiang Lingye’s pristine wrists as she ground the ink. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his embrace. Jiang Lingye was caught off guard. She was about to cry out in surprise, but quickly glanced outside the window and bit her lip, remaining silent.
With her soft body in his arms, the Emperor’s frustrations of the day vanished. He caressed her delicate chin and smiled: “You are indeed clever.”
He said: “Empress, four consorts, nine concubines, twenty-seven wives, eighty-one imperial women—where along this path to the clouds do you wish to go?”
Jiang Lingye replied: “That isn’t determined by this servant, but by Your Majesty.”
“Oh? I thought you believed man could triumph over heaven.”
Jiang Lingye looked up at him and said, “Your Majesty may not know that this servant comes from a merchant family.”
She explained eloquently: “Merchants must invest capital before doing business. This servant doesn’t even have initial capital—how could she dream of making a fortune?”
The Emperor’s hand continued to caress her chin, but his eyes grew thoughtful. Perhaps he was thinking of himself, facing his mother’s murderer, hating her to the bone, yet powerless without authority or soldiers, forced to be falsely filial to her every day.
Jiang Lingye seemed to perceive his thoughts. She nestled in his embrace and whispered: “However, if Your Majesty is willing to provide the initial capital for this servant, this servant… could help Your Majesty earn a fortune.”
As she spoke, her eyes revealed her irrepressible ambition—ambition she was willing to show only before the Emperor.
The Emperor stared into her eyes for a long while, then smiled: “Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are exceptionally beautiful?”
Jiang Lingye was slightly taken aback. The Emperor said, “We like your eyes.”
He gently stroked her eyes. “The capital you need, we shall provide.”
The Emperor promised to give Jiang Lingye a position, but before he could do so, misfortune struck first.
This was the first time Jiang Lingye had been framed. She didn’t know that while she was serving the Emperor in the inner chamber, a servant from Qifeng Pavilion named Chun Ran had been peering in. Although the imperial guards at the door prevented her from entering, this was enough for her to devise a way to bring about Jiang Lingye’s demise.
In truth, Jiang Lingye and Chun Ran had no grudge between them, but sometimes, even without enmity, one might still be framed. Chun Ran wanted to survive under Consort Xian’s authority, so she had to report this secret to curry favor with her.
Early the next day, Consort Xian returned from worshipping at Famen Temple. Chun Ran went to see her and stayed in the inner chamber for a long time. When she came out, she happened to meet Jiang Lingye coming to serve tea. Perhaps due to a guilty conscience, Chun Ran didn’t chat with Jiang Lingye as usual but turned her head away, avoiding her gaze.
This momentary guilt made Jiang Lingye sense trouble immediately. She turned around, abandoning the tea service, and hurried back to her room. She gathered all her gold and silver, all exchanged from the jade cups, vases, and other items Consort Xian had smashed, and gave everything to Yu Wan: “Yu Wan, please give all this to His Majesty’s eunuchs. Ask them to pass a message to him: the fortune is about to disappear.”
Yu Wan was bewildered: “Give… give it to His Majesty’s eunuchs? Say… the fortune will disappear? What does that mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Jiang Lingye said urgently. “Go quickly—if you’re late, it will be too late.”
“But I still don’t understand…”
“You don’t need to understand. You only need to know that my life is in your hands.” Jiang Lingye pushed Yu Wan: “Go quickly!”
Though confused, Yu Wan hurriedly left Qifeng Pavilion. As soon as she left, several eunuchs came to Jiang Lingye’s room. Without explanation, they stuffed a rag into her mouth and took her to the inner chamber where palace servants were punished.
Jiang Lingye was first strung up and severely whipped. Her entire body was covered with bloody marks. Consort Xian sat before her and asked languidly: “Yesterday, when His Majesty came to Qifeng Pavilion, what did you say to him?”
Jiang Lingye refused to admit anything: “Nothing… nothing.”
Consort Xian sneered: “Nothing? What a coincidence that the last time His Majesty came to Qifeng Pavilion, you helped him dress, and this time, you attended to him while he rested. Why is it always you?”
“Because… because others didn’t dare serve His Majesty… this servant was bold enough to serve him…”
Consort Xian didn’t believe a single word. She scrutinized Jiang Lingye. Though covered in blood with disheveled hair, the young woman’s exceptional beauty remained undimmed. Jealously, Consort Xian said: “From the moment you came to Qifeng Pavilion, I knew you, you lowly servant, were a vixen!”
A woman’s intuition told her that something must have happened between Jiang Lingye and the Emperor. She commanded: “Come, verify her chastity!”
Fierce old palace women surged forward. Jiang Lingye bit her lip, her eyes filled with tears. Seeing this, Consort Xian said with satisfaction: “Confess now, and you’ll be spared such humiliation.”
Yet Jiang Lingye, though tearful, still insisted: “Nothing happened.”
Such firm denial made everyone present, except Consort Xian, wonder if Jiang Lingye might be innocent. But Consort Xian didn’t believe it. Out of patience, she ordered: “Verify!”
The result of the chastity verification, naturally, was that Jiang Lingye had lost her virginity. Consort Xian trembled with rage. She grabbed the whip and lashed it at Jiang Lingye: “Worthless slave! Nothing but lies! Didn’t you say nothing happened? Then what is this?”
The whip fell on Jiang Lingye like raindrops, leaving bloody marks across her body. If this continued, she would be beaten to death before the Emperor could save her.
Jiang Lingye gritted her teeth, enduring the pain. She raised her head and looked at Consort Xian: “This servant confesses. This servant confesses.”
Consort Xian stopped whipping: “Stubborn wretch! Won’t confess until beaten!”
She raged: “Speak! When did you seduce His Majesty?”
“It was… it was the last time His Majesty came to Qifeng Pavilion…” Jiang Lingye seemed extremely frightened. Stuttering and crying, she detailed how she had seduced the Emperor.
Consort Xian’s face turned green with anger: “You slut! It’s true that one can guard against outside thieves day and night, but not against those within! Tell me, when did you lose your chastity?”
“It was on the day of the Double Ninth Festival…” Jiang Lingye described the events of that day in detail.
Consort Xian, enraged, whipped her several more times: “Debased slave! Are you a prostitute? No, you’re even more debased than a prostitute!”
She lashed Jiang Lingye again: “And yesterday, what did you do with His Majesty?”
“Yesterday… nothing much… only, His Majesty said this slave’s eyes were exceptionally beautiful…”
Consort Xian froze.
Overwhelming jealousy surged within her: “His Majesty said your eyes were exceptionally beautiful?”
Consort Xian suddenly laughed maniacally: “Good! I’ll gouge out your eyes and send them to His Majesty!”
A sharp knife was handed to Consort Xian. Gripping it, she approached Jiang Lingye, grabbed her chin, and gradually positioned the knife tip toward her eye: “Let’s see if your eyes are still so beautiful once they’re gouged out!”
Just as the knife tip was about to touch Jiang Lingye’s eye, Consort Xian suddenly heard an angry shout: “Stop!”
Consort Xian froze. Outside the inner chamber stood the Emperor.
The Emperor had already strode forward. He looked up and down at Jiang Lingye, whose clothes had been torn apart by the whip, his lips pressed together. In her daze, Jiang Lingye thought she saw anger in his eyes.
Perhaps he was angry about almost losing someone who could earn him a fortune, she thought. It couldn’t be that he cared about her life.
Consort Xian stammered: “Your… Your Majesty!”
The Emperor ignored Consort Xian and pushed her aside. He took off his bright yellow dragon robe and wrapped it around Jiang Lingye, then untied the ropes binding her wrists. Jiang Lingye’s body immediately went limp, and she fell into his arms.
Knowing she had lost her composure before the Emperor, Jiang Lingye tried to support herself. The Emperor asked her in a deep voice: “Can you walk?”
Jiang Lingye nodded weakly: “Yes…”
“We won’t let you walk.” The Emperor lifted her in his arms and strode out of the inner chamber. “We’ll take you to be treated.”
From behind came Consort Xian’s voice: “Your Majesty! This slave…”
Before she could finish, the Emperor turned his head and said, “Consort Xian, she is no longer a slave. From this moment on, she is the Imperial Concubine of the Third Rank.”
Only after the Emperor had left did Consort Xian come to her senses. The initial adamant denial, followed by the detailed confession—it was all this servant’s ploy to buy time until the Emperor came to rescue her.
After realizing this and recalling the servant’s previous tolerance of beatings and scoldings, along with her cautious demeanor, a chill ran from Consort Xian’s spine throughout her body.
Such scheming was truly terrifying to the extreme.
None of the consorts in the palace, including Empress Zheng, would be a match for this slave.
And everything that happened afterward confirmed her thoughts.