Noble Consort Guo should have been made Empress long ago.
Through diligence compensating for her shortcomings, Guo Shi’s hard work over the past six years continued Empress Xiaoci’s style of using the six bureaus and one department to balance palace power and delegate authority. After experiencing violent upheaval, the harem restored tranquility. Whether in the inner palace or outer court, everyone regarded her as an uncrowned empress and showed respect.
No one wanted constant deaths.
Noble Consort Guo had solid background, powerful family support, loyal household, mediocre talent but good at accepting advice, treating others kindly—generally acceptable. Her minor faults instead made her seem charmingly vivid and harmless.
She wasn’t perfect like Empress Xiaoci, nor did she ever think of reaching or surpassing Empress Xiaoci, often laughing: “If I can learn even the surface of Empress Xiaoci’s ways in this lifetime, I’ll be content.”
Guo Shi’s frank, affable, down-to-earth performance reversed Emperor Hongwu’s initial pessimism about her. She wasn’t perfect, but she was so real, never deliberately hiding desires and thoughts. Plus the entire Guo family’s contributions and loyal devotion to the Great Ming gave Emperor Hongwu security.
For an emperor, what was more important than security? With Noble Consort Guo managing the harem, Emperor Hongwu could exhaust himself governing in morning court and sleep peacefully upon returning to the palace, not worrying about fires in the backyard—truly precious.
Without an empress, a nation must cancel many sacrificial activities and ceremonies for receiving court ladies—like the personal silkworm ceremony encouraging agriculture and sericulture, and the three great palace festivals symbolizing imperial majesty where court ladies paid homage.
Not to mention the empress’s role in balancing court politics. The power of a nation’s mother shouldn’t be underestimated—she was also the emperor’s helper in governing the country.
Therefore, no matter how reluctant Emperor Hongwu was to let go of Empress Xiaoci, he had to look forward, elevate Noble Consort Guo to empress, making her the succeeding empress. For this, he’d ordered repairs to the dilapidated Kunning Palace six years ago, preparing to welcome its new occupant.
But six years passed, and Guo Shi remained a noble consort. Why?
Readers might not believe this—the reason was so simple it was hard to execute: because Kunning Palace still wasn’t finished being repaired.
Why wasn’t it finished after six years?
This was truly a motherless child’s long tale, all objective reasons—after all, this was the imperial palace, and no developer dared create an unfinished building.
Imperial capitals and palaces of previous dynasties were basically built as regular squares, but Nanjing city was a twisted, irregular polygon, and the palace was the same—it wasn’t even on the city’s central axis.
This wasn’t due to Emperor Hongwu’s aesthetic problems. When Emperor Hongwu selected the palace site, he followed geomantic stars. If you were a bird flying in the sky, you’d discover that Nanjing’s outer city walls built along undulating mountains connected together formed exactly the pattern of the Big Dipper’s seven stars and Southern Dipper’s six stars!
The Big Dipper and Southern Dipper had thirteen stars total, corresponding exactly to Nanjing city wall’s thirteen gates. The palace location was positioned on the Purple Forbidden Star representing imperial constellation—heaven and earth, terrain and stars achieving unity of heaven and humanity.
Now the problem came: according to astronomical measurements, the location corresponding to Nanjing city and the Purple Forbidden Star was Yanque Lake… a lake.
Emperor Hongwu was ruthless. He was the Son of Heaven and must live at the location corresponding to the Purple Forbidden Star. What was a lake? Fill it up!
The founding emperor dared command seas to become mulberry fields.
Nanjing city began its most arduous lake-filling palace construction project in history. Towering ancient trees were felled from Yunnan’s primeval forests thousands of miles away, thrown into the Yangtze River, floating downstream to Nanjing, dragged in and planted one by one into the lake bottom’s silt, laying foundations with stones.
When the palace was completed, the first dozen years were fine. But since the seventeenth year of Hongwu when Empress Xiaoci died, the lake-filling land creation’s defects gradually emerged. The palace’s ground level sank and collapsed every year, forming terrain high around the edges and low in the middle. The timber and stone used to fill the ground couldn’t withstand time’s erosion.
Once heavy rains continued, the central inner palace would accumulate water. Due to high terrain all around, accumulated water couldn’t drain out. Foundations soaked in water collapsed even faster.
When foundations sank and deformed, buildings above would twist, deform, or even collapse. Three years ago, Kunning Palace was newly renovated and Noble Consort Guo was about to be made empress and move in. At the crucial moment, on a stormy night, Kunning Palace developed ground subsidence and deep pits in many places, with beams and pillars tilting.
A eunuch on night duty heard sounds and went to investigate. Suddenly a black hole opened under his feet—the eunuch fell in! The pit was too deep, thunder roared, rainwater rushed torrentially, covering the eunuch’s cries for help. Result: this eunuch drowned alive inside!
With a death, the newly built Kunning Palace needed renovation and reconstruction again. Noble Consort Guo’s empress enthronement had to pause, waiting for Kunning Palace’s foundation and building repairs.
Everyone pitied Noble Consort Guo, but she didn’t mind. She ordered proper burial for the eunuch and suspended Kunning Palace restoration work, having craftsmen first inspect the Eastern and Western Six Palaces and Eastern and Western Five Residences’ buildings and foundations. Upon finding leaks or tilted beams, they immediately found ways to repair them quickly, preventing more accidents.
Investigation revealed shocking results—the palace had over ten black hole traps large and small. Once encountering severe weather like torrential rains, soaked in accumulated water, if passersby stepped on them, they’d instantly disappear into collapsed sinkholes.
Noble Consort Guo’s action earned praise from both outer court and inner palace. Female Instructor Shen Qionglian wrote commemorative poetry. Even Emperor Hongwu, who rarely praised people, heavily commended his beloved consort’s selfless deed, saying the noble consort had compassionate heart and great love—truly the bearing of a nation’s mother.
Actually, empresses and consorts throughout history commonly had such benevolent actions. But Noble Consort Guo’s previous blunders were so numerous that people had extremely low expectations, thinking she’d eventually self-destruct. But after Noble Consort Guo’s “three visits to the thatched cottage” at Xiaoling Mausoleum brought Hu Shanwei back to the palace, her handful of bad cards instantly became royal flush.
The smaller the hope and lower the standards, the greater the surprise.
How much people formerly disliked Noble Consort Guo—disgusting!
Now they loved Noble Consort Guo equally—so fragrant!
Noble Consort Guo said frankly: “Upon hearing Kunning Palace’s accident, I thought: if Empress Xiaoci were still here, what would she do? She definitely wouldn’t lament over residential disasters. Empress Xiaoci would certainly care about people, so I ordered craftsmen to inspect the harem—no need to rush Kunning Palace repairs.”
Mentioning his first wife Empress Xiaoci, Emperor Hongwu sighed endlessly, transferring some sentiment to Noble Consort Guo. That night he stayed at Zhongcui Palace, arranging protective sleeping quarters, properly compensating Noble Consort Guo.
This year Emperor Hongwu was sixty-one with good health—several new babies born in the palace proved it. Noble Consort Guo was forty-five. Middle-aged passion was like an old house catching fire—unstoppable once started.
Emperor Hongwu increasingly respected Noble Consort Guo, and the harem regarded her as empress. When Kunning Palace reconstruction was completed would be Noble Consort Guo’s empress enthronement time.
Palace Manager Cao and Palace Supervisor Fan and others all thought Hu Shanwei advised Noble Consort Guo to do this. From then on, Noble Consort Guo’s position was solid as rock.
But Hu Shanwei repeatedly denied: “Not me, never said it, don’t talk nonsense.”
“I really never mentioned it. Noble Consort Guo thought of everything herself. She reads ‘Records of Empress Xiaoci’s Daily Activities’ almost daily—it detailed Empress Xiaoci’s words and actions during seventeen years in position. Initially she indeed copied to fake virtue, but pretending long enough made it real. The noble consort is completely different now—no longer needs my daily warnings and constant reminders.”
Three more years passed to the current twenty-fifth year of Hongwu. During this period, another palace woman was promoted—Eastern Palace Side Consort Lu was elevated to Crown Princess.
When the original Crown Princess Chang died, the Crown Prince was only in his early thirties. Everyone thought the Crown Prince would marry another noble lady, but the Crown Prince and Side Consort Lu were harmoniously matched with deep affection. Side Consort Lu bore three sons and three daughters, extending the Eastern Palace lineage. The Crown Prince didn’t remarry and requested Emperor Hongwu elevate Lu Shi to primary wife.
Side Consort Lu came from ordinary scholarly family with insignificant clan power. Emperor Hongwu felt that compared to noble daughters from military families controlling heavy troops, gentle and low-key Lu Shi better suited the soft-natured Crown Prince. He agreed to the Crown Prince’s request, elevating Lu Shi as Crown Prince’s succeeding consort.
Palace Supervisor Cui presided over Lu Shi’s enthronement ceremony. Hu Shanwei and Shen Qionglian together presented the gold册 symbolizing Crown Princess status to Lu Shi—the gold册 was made from one hundred taels pure gold (about six modern pounds), two leaves connected by red silk cord, wrapped in red gauze.
With Lu Shi elevated, the Eastern Palace had a new mistress. Kunning Palace also completed foundation and building reconstruction, ready and prepared. Everyone thought the next elevation would be Noble Consort Guo—the Bureau of Ceremonies even began preparing empress enthronement ceremony.
However, something caught everyone completely off guard—Prince Lu died from taking pills in his early twenties, blinding his eyes.
Hu Shanwei sought audience in the middle of the night. Noble Consort Guo was immersed in joy over imminent empress status, completely unaware of approaching tragedy. She hadn’t even gotten up, half-reclining in bed, waiting for Hu Shanwei’s report before continuing her nap. Since her brief fainting from extreme joy six years ago, Noble Consort Guo always paid attention to cherishing fortune and maintaining health. Over six years, her appearance hadn’t changed with no signs of aging—staying up late was impossible.
“What matter? Middle of the night, still so cold—bring Official Hu a bowl of stomach-warming soup.”
Current Noble Consort Guo knew how to care for people.
The more Noble Consort Guo acted this way, the sadder Hu Shanwei became. Seeing Pharmacist Liu already entered carrying medicine box, she had to say: “Urgent report from Yanzhou Prince Lu’s residence—Prince Lu Zhu Tan died three days ago from taking pills, beyond treatment.”
The sleeping chamber fell silent, seemingly able to hear fine snow falling outside windows.
After a while, Noble Consort Guo got out of bed barefoot, tightly gripping Hu Shanwei’s hand: “I’m dreaming, right? Quick, quickly pinch me awake, or—”
Noble Consort Guo raised Hu Shanwei’s hand high, slapping it hard toward her own face with a sharp sound—very painful.
Noble Consort Guo still didn’t believe it. She raised Hu Shanwei’s hand again: “Slap me again until you wake me up. I forgive you of any offense.”
At this time, Emperor Hongwu also heard news and rushed from some Western Six Palace consort’s quarters. He was sixty-four now—the older he got, the more he liked fresh, tender, delicate bodies. To eliminate future troubles like Consort Dading, those gaining favor were mostly tribute maidens from Goryeo with no foundations or threats, unable even to speak the language, incapable of stirring up storms.
These three years, he’d gained three more sons.
Learning the terrible news, Emperor Hongwu pushed away the Goryeo tribute maiden whose skin was smooth as moss from his embrace, coming to Zhongcui Palace just in time to see Noble Consort Guo wanting Hu Shanwei to slap her.
Hu Shanwei helped Noble Consort Guo sit on the bed. Palace servants quickly put shoes and socks on her: “This is real. Your Ladyship, please accept condolences.”
Pharmacist Liu had dissolved a pill and fed it to Noble Consort Guo.
Seeing Emperor Hongwu enter, Noble Consort Guo pushed away Pharmacist Liu. Wearing only one shoe, she ran over and threw herself into Emperor Hongwu’s arms crying: “Your Majesty, Official Hu says our son is dead—pure nonsense! Your Majesty, quickly tell me this isn’t real. Tan’er is only in his early twenties, still a child. We’re not dead yet—how dare he go die?”
Emperor Hongwu aged a year overnight. Prince Lu had been a troublemaker since childhood, but he was biological—no matter how naughty, his heart still ached. Moreover, Prince Lu was like his birth mother Noble Consort Guo—having many small faults but no major ones, never competing for power or harboring crooked thoughts due to his maternal uncle’s powerful position.
Prince Lu was fundamentally a kind, filial child with only the pill-taking problem, induced by deliberate temptation when he was thirteen or fourteen and still underage.
Emperor Hongwu deeply felt Noble Consort Guo’s pain—white-haired sending off black-haired. He held Noble Consort Guo tightly: “It’s all true. Tan’er is gone. This troublemaker relapsed, blindly trying to make pills himself and ate himself to death. Daughter-in-law Tang Shi sent people to report, discussing how to handle Tan’er’s funeral. You must be strong, hold several religious services for him, pray for salvation and blessings—may he not be so confused in the next life.”
Hearing her husband say this, Noble Consort Guo accepted reality. She buried her head in Emperor Hongwu’s embrace, sobbing: “Tan’er left too early. Coffins and tomb site selection—nothing was prepared. As his mother trapped in the inner palace, I cannot travel to Yanzhou. Of all I trust most, none exceeds Official Hu. Let her go to Prince Lu’s residence to help handle Tan’er’s funeral affairs—don’t let him have no resting place in the underworld.”
According to regulations, princely funerals were handled jointly by the Imperial Clan Court and Ministry of Rites—palace female officials didn’t participate. But grieving Noble Consort Guo made such requests. Emperor Hongwu couldn’t bear refusing: “Good, I approve.”
The Imperial Clan Court specialized in managing imperial family members from cradle to grave, handling all marriage and funeral matters. Eastern Palace Crown Prince Zhu Biao was the Imperial Clan Court’s Administrator. As elder brother and Administrator when his younger brother died, he naturally had to go to Yanzhou Prince Lu’s residence for funeral arrangements—his unshirkable duty.
The Ministry of Rites selected a young vice-minister to rush to Yanzhou—called Huang Zicheng from Jiangxi, third place in the eighteenth year of Hongwu imperial examination, personally selected by Emperor Hongwu as Third Scholar.
The Crown Prince had the most precious status, serving as Prince Lu’s funeral committee chairman. Third Scholar and Ministry of Rites Vice-Minister Huang Zicheng, plus Bureau of Palace Attendants Official Hu Shanwei assisted the Crown Prince.
They had to depart once palace gates opened at dawn. Noble Consort Guo took calming medicine and fell asleep crying, but even in sleep she gripped Hu Shanwei’s hand unwilling to let go. Hu Shanwei had to let her, sitting beside waiting for the noble consort to sleep deeply before leaving.
The sleeping chamber was quiet again. Noble Consort Guo’s breathing gradually steadied. Hu Shanwei quietly withdrew her left hand, but Noble Consort Guo grabbed her again. Hu Shanwei startled—Noble Consort Guo was looking at her with clear, bright eyes. Where was any sleeping appearance!
Noble Consort Guo covered her mouth, whispering: “Just now I was half grief, half acting—otherwise His Majesty wouldn’t agree to my request. Official Hu, don’t spread this around. I’m giving you a task—investigate the truth of Tan’er’s death. Thousands and millions take pills—why did Tan’er die so young?”
“Whatever the result—accidental poisoning or murder—I accept it. I trust your investigation results. I have only one son. The only result I refuse to accept is my son dying without clarity.”
With that, Noble Consort Guo rose from bed, straightened her clothes, knelt on the ground: “I beg Official Hu’s help—let my child be a knowing ghost.”