This must be a demon spirit.
Noble Consort Zhang desperately wanted to tear off Consort Quan’s eternally unchanging painted skin and see what her heart was truly made of.
Noble Consort Zhang, who had claimed to be ill yesterday, refused to drink the medicine. “I’m not sick. I won’t drink medicine.”
Consort Quan didn’t force her, instead bringing over a bowl of clear porridge. “Noble Consort must be hungry. Please eat something first.”
They say a fallen phoenix is worse than a chicken, but Noble Consort Zhang was an exception. Her pride was overwhelming – the more setbacks she faced, the less she wanted to bow her head before her rivals or show weakness.
Noble Consort Zhang took the porridge bowl and set it down heavily on the table, sneering coldly. “You’ve come to mock me, haven’t you? Wanting to see me bow my head, cry, and beg you to speak well of me before His Majesty. Hmph, you’ve miscalculated. I’d rather starve to death than eat anything you’ve sent.”
Consort Quan said, “This was sent by Hu Shanggong’s orders.”
Noble Consort Zhang was truly hungry now. She drank the porridge – she needed strength to quarrel with Consort Quan properly. Throughout Noble Consort Zhang’s life, she had never been willing to fall behind others. Having lost harem authority, she was still a Noble Consort and couldn’t show weakness before Consort Quan.
Consort Quan said, “Your Ladyship need not worry. This sister is only temporarily managing harem authority. When Your Ladyship recovers from illness—”
“I’m not ill.” Noble Consort Zhang interrupted. I am His Majesty’s woman, a Noble Consort. Wanting a child or to become the new empress are normal thoughts for a woman. What wrong have I done?
Consort Quan went along with Noble Consort Zhang. “Very well, Noble Consort isn’t ill. When Noble Consort comes to her senses, His Majesty will naturally lift the confinement of Yanxi Palace and release Your Ladyship. This palace will still belong to Noble Consort.”
Noble Consort Zhang said coldly, “When that time comes, will you bear to return it to me?”
Consort Quan said, “This sister merely serves His Majesty and shares His Majesty’s worries. What this sister seeks is simply to be a woman useful to His Majesty. Wherever His Majesty places this sister, there this sister will go.”
Noble Consort Zhang naturally didn’t believe this. “You’re a person, aren’t you? Not a chess piece to be manipulated by others. Don’t you have any feelings?”
Consort Quan sighed, looking at Noble Consort Zhang with envy. “Your Ladyship, not everyone has Your Ladyship’s good birth. Your Ladyship doesn’t want to be an emotionless chess piece, but doesn’t know how many people would fight tooth and nail to become such a chess piece.”
“This sister is a tribute woman from Korea. Though father was a yangban noble, birth mother was a commoner, a concubine. Korea differs from Great Ming – in Great Ming, children’s status follows their father. Whether legitimate or concubine-born, their surface status is the same, all can take imperial examinations to become officials. But in Korea, status follows the mother. Whatever the birth mother’s status, that becomes the child’s status, with no crossing boundaries. Children of the same father – some are masters, others like servants, never able to rise their entire lives.”
“Fortunately, Great Ming doesn’t distinguish between legitimate and concubine-born. During Great Ming’s selection process, any yangban noble’s daughter could participate. This sister was blessed with better looks and fortunately passed layer upon layer of selection to travel thousands of li to Great Ming’s imperial palace.”
“Because this sister became His Majesty’s consort, birth mother was exceptionally granted the title of Lady, and brothers could attend Seonggyungwan (Korea’s equivalent of the National Academy), with futures as yangban nobles.”
“His Majesty changed this sister’s and family’s destiny, so this sister must be His Majesty’s good chess piece. This sister came today to speak plainly with Your Ladyship – no mutual suspicion. This sister harbors no ill will toward Your Ladyship. Everything is His Majesty’s arrangement. Everything this sister does is solely to share His Majesty’s worries.”
Noble Consort Zhang still didn’t believe. “Such eloquence – what a fine understanding flower you are. You’re in your prime years and primary occupant of the Western Palace. You only want to bury your head in work, with no desire for children? No desire to become the new empress?”
Consort Quan pointed to heaven and swore, “Truly. This sister merely treats the Consort position as work, just like Hu Shanggong being Shanggong – no other improper thoughts. If this sister does her job well, His Majesty grants fine clothes, and family gains wealth and honor. This is this sister’s compensation. This sister is completely satisfied. Compared to other women who marry as wives, this sister feels this is already very happy. Being His Majesty’s woman without children, someone will still care for me in old age, with many fewer troubles.”
In Consort Quan’s view, Noble Consort, Consort, and Shanggong were all working for the emperor. Do the job well, receive proper compensation, don’t have other thoughts, and life could go quite smoothly – look at Hu Shanggong, with above-average beauty, serving three dynasties as Shanggong, having no romantic thoughts about three emperors. How stable her position, how dignified when she goes out!
Consort Quan felt Noble Consort Zhang demanded compensation too high, making the boss unhappy and replacing her with another subordinate. If you won’t do it, others will.
Noble Consort Zhang loved Emperor Yongle, hoping to bear children with her beloved, hoping to be legitimized and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him as his principal wife. These were all very normal, natural thoughts.
From love comes worry; from love comes fear.
But Consort Quan didn’t love Emperor Yongle. She just treated Emperor Yongle as a boss. Do the job well, and the whole family could secure iron rice bowls, with chickens and dogs ascending to heaven. Good benefits, high salary, amazing bonuses – the only drawback was being far from home. But closer to home, there wouldn’t be such good work.
Those without love have no worry or fear.
Consort Quan’s perfect mask was dedication to work, doing her job well – just not loving the emperor.
Consort Quan felt being a favored consort who played flute was enough. She was skilled at this, but now Emperor Yongle had entrusted harem authority to her. She felt the pressure was too great, responsibilities and abilities mismatched, fearing chaos would emerge. She had no powerful maternal family like Duke Yingguo’s mansion to rely on! If things went wrong, her life and her whole family’s wealth would be buried here.
Consort Quan hoped Noble Consort Zhang would soon come to her senses, pull herself together, and reclaim harem authority, so she could hand over the burden and peacefully play her flute.
Noble Consort Zhang’s gaze swept over Consort Quan’s flat abdomen. “When you hold real power, your thoughts won’t be so simple.”
Seeing Noble Consort Zhang still didn’t believe her, Consort Quan grew anxious. “His Majesty has always cared for Your Ladyship. This sister, a vassal state consort, dares not think of bearing children.”
Children were Noble Consort Zhang’s obsession. Hearing Consort Quan’s words, she grabbed Consort Quan and whispered in her ear, “When you attend His Majesty, has he… has he really touched you?”
This question was finally asked!
Consort Quan’s body stiffened. She vaguely guessed the reason for Noble Consort Zhang’s confinement. Regarding such secrets, even without others present, Consort Quan whispered her reply: “From entering the palace until now, this sister… remains a virgin.”
Noble Consort Zhang’s body shook, hardly believing it. “You… impossible.”
Everyone knew that in the harem, Noble Consorts were most honored, Consorts most favored. Consort Quan was His Majesty’s beloved favorite.
Consort Quan loosened her skirt’s waistband. The horse-face skirt fell to the ground, revealing the horse-hair woven underskirt frame inside. Consort Quan untied the frame’s straps. With a clang, the wide frame crashed to the floor, leaving only thin pants underneath, her jade-like legs faintly visible like silver ribbons.
“If Your Ladyship doesn’t believe, one examination will prove it.”
A hundred earnest words from Hu Shanwei weren’t as effective as Consort Quan’s on-the-spot disrobing for inspection.
Without seeing the Yellow River, one won’t give up; without seeing the coffin, one won’t shed tears. This Consort Quan was a human-shaped “Yellow River” and “coffin.”
Noble Consort Zhang murmured, “His Majesty… how could His Majesty be so heartlessly cruel?”
Consort Quan said, “His Majesty is a generation’s supreme ruler, loving the realm more than beauties. His only bit of romantic sentiment was given entirely to Empress Renxiao long ago. Winter approaches, and we fear Oirat border violations affecting Great Ming’s capital relocation to Beijing. His Majesty will head north for another campaign in a few days, gone for at least a year, staying in the palace only briefly. What woman in this palace could bind His Majesty’s steps? This sister cannot, Your Ladyship cannot. In His Majesty’s heart, there is only his nation.”
What Hu Shanwei couldn’t accomplish, Consort Quan achieved.
Noble Consort Zhang’s heart turned to ash, then was reborn from those ashes.
Consort Quan put on her underskirt frame and outer skirt. “When His Majesty returns from campaign and sees Noble Consort has reformed and come to her senses, harem authority will naturally return to Your Ladyship’s hands.”
Consort Quan left Yanxi Palace. Noble Consort Zhang watched Consort Quan’s retreating figure – she wore Great Ming clothing, no different from Great Ming women, except the expanded horse-hair frame under her skirt hinted at her origins.
With the frame’s modification, Consort Quan’s body appeared narrow above and wide below, like a beautiful, fragile walking vase.
His Majesty wanted a superficially normal harem – needing vase-like favored consorts like Consort Quan, needing high-ranking Noble Consorts like herself, Zhang.
All harem women were chess pieces. His Majesty only wanted obedient chess pieces, wouldn’t love them or want them to bear children and continue bloodlines.
His Majesty wasn’t opposed to children – he just only loved children born to him and Empress Renxiao.
However deep His Majesty’s devotion to Empress Renxiao, that’s how heartless he was to other harem women.
Previously, Noble Consort Zhang felt that given her birth, status, and contributions to the harem, in His Majesty’s eyes she shouldn’t belong to the category of “other harem women.” She should be different.
But after revealing her cards last night and failing in her declaration of love, His Majesty unhesitatingly confined her and stripped away harem authority. This revealed a cruel truth:
All along, she had been deluding herself with romantic notions. Actually, in His Majesty’s eyes, she was just one among the “other harem women,” no different from the rest.
Consort Quan conscientiously played the vase role, so His Majesty appreciated her and wanted her to temporarily assume Noble Consort Zhang’s role too.
Noble Consort Zhang realized she could either become a chess piece like Consort Quan, or stubbornly persist in her views and remain out of favor like now, becoming a discarded piece. She actually had no third path to choose.
Be a living piece with “life rough, must I bow down,” or abandon pride and love to become a discarded piece? This was the question.
Noble Consort Zhang had over a year to answer this question.
What did it feel like to have your boss changed overnight?
Hu Shanwei’s answer: I have something I don’t know if I should say.
Last night’s earnest persuasion, presenting facts and reasoning – Hu Shanwei thought she’d performed normally. Noble Consort Zhang was so intelligent, she should have listened, abandoned her obsession, achieved immediate enlightenment, with love’s sea boundless and turning back being the shore.
But waking up the next day, Great Ming Venture Group Chairman Emperor Yongle told her: he’d replaced the company CEO. Consort Quan was the new CEO, and she, the chief assistant, must properly assist the new boss. He was optimistic about her!
Then Emperor Yongle patted his bottom and ran off, taking his army and precious Crown Grandson north for campaign, preparing various matters for Great Ming Venture Group’s registered location change.
Simply inhuman work. This old lady quits.
But Emperor Yongle, that old fox, was wickedly cunning. Predicting Hu Shanwei’s dissatisfaction, he quickly greased his feet and ran to Beijing.
Hu Shanwei was helpless, cleaning up the mess and starting fresh coordination with Consort Quan.
Consort Quan’s humble birth and foreign origins left her lacking confidence, far inferior to Noble Consort Zhang. For every matter large or small, she first called Hu Shanwei over. Her catchphrases were “What does Hu Shanggong think?”, “What is Hu Shanggong’s opinion?”, “How should Hu Shanggong handle this matter?”
Hu Shanwei: I deeply miss Noble Consort Zhang.
However, Consort Quan had her good points – modest and amiable, never stubborn, speaking gently, giving people a spring-breeze feeling.
The thirty-seven Korean tribute women in Chuxiu Palace completed etiquette training and passed the palace rules examination, graduating collectively.
Consort Quan, as CEO temporarily managing harem authority, gave a speech at the graduation ceremony, emphasizing the harem’s “civilized harmony, patriotic dedication, virtuous goodness, chaste and friendly” feudal socialist core harem values.
On stage, Consort Quan was outstandingly beautiful, dignified and elegant in manner, more magnificent in dress and bearing than even Korea’s queen. The Korean consorts below watched with shining eyes – this was a woman from their homeland!
She’d done so well, becoming Great Ming harem’s mistress. If we just work hard, we can climb as high as her.
She could do it, so can we. I heard Lady Quan was just a lowly concubine’s daughter.
Pairs of eyes full of desire and ambition gazed at Consort Quan.
One Noble Consort Zhang falls, countless Noble Consort Zhangs rise.
Human nature’s desires for power and lust, plus jealousy and unwillingness, were like uncontrollable whirlpools. The harem would welcome baptism by bloody storms.
Author’s Note:
Hu Shanwei: Persist in scientific, sustainable development. Not sleeping with the emperor ensures safety.
Consort Quan: I’ll strip to show you.
Noble Consort Zhang: Life is rough – must I bow down?
Korean Girl Group: I want to climb step by step. There can only be one favored consort in the harem – that’s me.