Hao Jinyan and several other implicated palace servants were escorted back to the palace by the Imperial City Department and handed over to Female Official Wei, the Palace Justice who was responsible for palace discipline, investigations, supervision, and punishment of violations. Palace Justice Wei ordered a search of all shoes belonging to Hao Jinyan and Ling Feng Xian. Indeed, as Zhenzhen had said, the outer sides of the rear parts of Hao Jinyan’s shoes all showed varying degrees of wear, while Ling Feng Xian’s were all normal with no abnormalities. Combined with their previous conversation, the Palace Justice had determined that Hao Jinyan was guilty.
After some interrogation, Hao Jinyan and several palace servants successively confessed their crimes. They said that last year when a Food Preparation position became vacant in the Royal Kitchen, Hao Jinyan was originally the most likely person to be promoted to Food Preparation, but unexpectedly Feng Jing, who had no qualifications, suddenly descended and forcibly seized this position. Hao Jinyan harbored resentment, so she united with several palace servants who similarly disapproved of Feng Jing to design this incident, attempting to frame Feng Jing and cause her downfall.
Palace Justice Wei repeatedly questioned whether anyone had instructed them from behind the scenes. They all insisted it was their own doing, with no manipulation, and there was no witness or physical evidence indicating other people were involved in this case. Palace Justice Wei then ordered them to be whipped according to palace regulations and intended to expel them from the palace to become Taoist nuns. Because the matter concerned the Crown Prince, Palace Justice Wei requested instructions from the Eastern Palace regarding this ruling. The Crown Prince replied that although their intentions were malicious, they had not caused serious consequences after all. Since they had been whipped, expelling them from the palace was sufficient – there was no need to force them to become nuns and ruin their entire lives.
Witnessing this incident, Zhenzhen consulted some female officials and gradually understood that the palace had its own system for disciplining palace servants, different from the outside world. Ordinary palace servants who committed crimes were judged by the Palace Justice; only those who committed extremely serious crimes would involve the Censorate, Ministry of Justice, and Court of Judicial Review.
Zhenzhen remembered that County Magistrate Cui had previously said her mother was an escaped palace servant. She assumed that escape should fall under the Palace Justice’s jurisdiction, so she inquired among the palace servants whether the Palace Justice had punished any palace servants who had escaped in the past six months. All the answers she received were negative. Many people said: “The palace lacks nothing in food and clothing, and there are many opportunities to rise up. No matter what, it’s better than outside. Moreover, His Majesty is now benevolent, Consort Li is indifferent to worldly affairs, and the currently favored Liu Jieyu treats people kindly. Palace servants live extremely well and no one wants to escape. Even if someone really wanted to leave the palace to marry, after waiting two or three years, His Majesty would always issue edicts to release palace servants. So in recent years, no one has heard of palace servants escaping, let alone being punished for it.”
Several days later, news came from the palace: Vice Premier Shen Han was recruiting Tanhua Fu Junyi as his son-in-law. Fu Junyi’s wedding with the young lady of the Shen family was about to be held. Both the Emperor and Empress Dowager bestowed treasures upon the Shen family to enrich her dowry, and ordered the Royal Kitchen to handle the wedding banquet.
Granting the Shen family such rare honor naturally had its reasons. Shen Han had served as tutor in the Emperor’s princely residence before the Emperor ascended the throne, not only teaching and imparting knowledge but also frequently providing guidance on the then Prince’s words and actions.
The late Emperor’s biological son had died young, and afterward, having been unable to have children, he selected two boys from the imperial clan to raise in the palace, one of whom was the current Emperor. When they were somewhat older, they were each enfeoffed as princes and left the palace to establish their own residences. When the time came to choose one to establish as heir, the late Emperor wanted to test the character of his two sons, so he granted ten beautiful young palace servants to each. Seeing this, Shen Han immediately advised the current Emperor not to approach these ten palace servants and to treat them with the courtesy due to a stepmother. The current Emperor understood and, as his tutor had taught, was respectful and courteous to the beauties while keeping his distance. After some time, the late Emperor indeed summoned back the twenty palace servants and ordered physicians to examine them. He discovered that those granted to the current Emperor were still virgins, while those granted to the other adopted son were no longer chaste. From this, the late Emperor made up his mind to have the current Emperor inherit the throne.
The Emperor remembered his teacher’s kindness and after ascending the throne, he promoted Shen Han extensively. Now Shen Han had reached the position of Vice Premier. The young lady of the Shen family to be married this time, Shen Rouran, was Shen Han’s youngest daughter. He had quite a few children, but Rouran was the youngest, intelligent and clever, so he treasured her immensely and was determined to choose a perfect husband for her. After being picky for many years without satisfaction, this year he finally approved of the Tanhua: Fu Junyi was young and handsome, outstanding in talent and learning, extraordinary in conversation, and having passed as Tanhua, his future was naturally limitless. So after the Wenxi Banquet ended, he immediately invited Fu Junyi to his residence to discuss the marriage. Fu Junyi also had long admired Shen Han’s reputation and readily agreed. They hit it off immediately, and the marriage was thus settled.
Under the Emperor’s instruction, Consort Li summoned Madam Shen and Shen Rouran to the rear garden to inform them of the gifts from the Emperor and Empress Dowager, and had Pei Shangshi meet with the Shen mother and daughter to discuss wedding banquet details.
That day the morning light was clear and beautiful, with gentle pleasant breezes. Consort Li invited the Shen mother and daughter to appreciate peonies at the pavilion “Yiluo Garden’s Fragrant Heritage” beside the small West Lake in the rear garden. She summoned the Immortal Music Academy’s strings and woodwinds for entertainment, along with fruits and tea snacks, just like a small palace banquet.
Li Dianshan selected several palace servants by name to bring food items to Yiluo Garden’s Fragrant Heritage, including Yun Yingge. However, Yun Yingge again hesitated and was unwilling to accept the task. Li Dianshan immediately became angry and scolded her: “Are you again saying you’re afraid of seeing nobles and your hands and feet go weak? Who enters the palace if not to serve nobles? Did you work so hard to pass the examination not to work, but to wait to become a noble yourself?”
Yun Yingge didn’t argue, but tears immediately welled up and she sobbed pitifully.
Zhenzhen saw that Yun Yingge seemed to have unspeakable difficulties, so she stepped forward to volunteer to replace her in bringing food items to the rear garden. Li Dianshan sighed and waved for Zhenzhen to go.
The Royal Kitchen was in the southern part of the palace, quite far from the rear garden in the north. This was Zhenzhen’s first time entering this imperial garden. She saw the small West Lake with its clear blue water in the center, about ten mu in area. Beside the lake, imitating Lingyin’s Flying Peak, rocks were piled to form mountains – this must be the “Ten Thousand Years Mountain” that palace servants often mentioned. In the garden, plum blossoms, peonies, peonies, camellias, sweet osmanthus, osmanthus, oranges, bamboo, pine, and others each had their dedicated areas, with pavilions, terraces, towers, and galleries for imperial visits and flower appreciation. Strange rocks were arranged beside the flowers and bamboo, presenting their beauty and excellence. Compared to the elegant and understated style of Lin Hong’s Wenqiao Station garden, this appeared much more luxurious and magnificent.
Zhenzhen walked slowly toward the pavilion beside the peonies, following the sound of strings and woodwinds drifting from Yiluo Garden’s Fragrant Heritage. Consort Li, seated in the main position, was a woman in her thirties. Different from what Zhenzhen had previously imagined, her appearance was not very beautiful. Although she wore a loose outer robe, it still couldn’t hide her rather full figure. Her cheeks were loose, and any passerby could see how excessively harshly time had repeatedly swept across her skin. She maintained a constant smile, but her eyes occasionally revealed weariness and fatigue, as if she might collapse and fall into deep sleep at any moment.
Zhenzhen presented the fruits she carried, then used her peripheral vision to observe the others present. Madam Shen was dignified but appeared somewhat frail, while her daughter was tall and upright with bright eyes and spirited glances. Pei Shangshi sat upright at the lowest seat, head slightly lowered, maintaining an attitude of patient listening, serious and unsmiling. Across from her sat a eunuch… Zhenzhen couldn’t help but widen her eyes: after half a year, she still recognized him at a glance – this was the eunuch from the capital she had seen at the village drinking ceremony.
At the village drinking ceremony, County Magistrate Cui had not introduced this eunuch’s name or identity to her, and afterward had only vaguely said his surname was Cheng. After entering the palace, Zhenzhen had not found news of her mother and had also tried to look for this eunuch surnamed Cheng. But there were hundreds of eunuchs in the palace, and she didn’t even know his full name – looking for him was like finding a needle in a haystack. She hadn’t expected to encounter him here.
Cheng Yuan had come to convey the Empress Dowager’s edict and blessings to the Shen mother and daughter. He was laughing and talking, very gentle and refined. He also sensed Zhenzhen’s bright-eyed gaze, looked at her indifferently for a moment, but acted as if he hadn’t seen her, then turned his head and smiled as he conversed with Madam Shen, no longer looking at Zhenzhen afterward.
Zhenzhen withdrew outside the door and waited quietly for the banquet to end like the other Royal Kitchen palace servants. Finally, the music ended and people dispersed. Consort Li, the Shen mother and daughter, and Cheng Yuan left one after another. Pei Shangshi stood up and instructed the palace servants to enter and clean up. Zhenzhen accepted the order and entered, quickly cleaned up some cups and dishes, finished her assigned tasks, then hurriedly rushed outside, wanting to catch up with Cheng Yuan who had left earlier.
The flower paths in the rear garden were winding, and the caves were deep and secluded. After chasing for a while, Zhenzhen not only couldn’t find any trace of Cheng Yuan but also got lost among the jagged rocks, unable to find the way she had come. Just as her worry was burning like fire, she suddenly felt something round and smooth hit her shoulder lightly, then fall beside her feet and roll away.
Zhenzhen looked down and discovered it was a small green peach. Looking toward the direction from which the green peach had been thrown, she was startled to see Zhao Ai standing among the strange rocks and shifting lights and shadows, squinting his eyes with a smile toward the sun that gilded his eyelashes with a layer of gold.
“It’s been a long time since we met. Are you well? Is this palace as you imagined?” Zhao Ai asked.
But Zhenzhen’s mind was full of thoughts about the disappeared Cheng Yuan. Without answering Zhao Ai’s question, she stepped forward and asked him: “Do you know Mr. Cheng from the Empress Dowager’s palace?”
“Cheng Yuan?” Zhao Ai said. “Of course I know him. He’s been a senior official in the palace for three reigns.”
“I heard my mother was brought back to the palace by him,” Zhenzhen asked urgently. “Have you heard of my mother being punished or anything like that?”
Zhao Ai shook his head: “Actually, after hearing about your family’s situation in Pujiang last time, I inquired about your mother’s whereabouts. Since your mother was taken away by Cheng Yuan, she must have been a palace servant of the late Emperor and is now under Cifu Palace’s management. The Palace Justice in the palace has no authority to intervene. And in Cifu Palace, I’ve never heard of escaped palace servants being punished.”
Zhenzhen said bewilderedly: “Then is my mother in Cifu Palace or not?”
Zhao Ai said: “I haven’t heard of any palace servants who escaped and were captured and brought back to Cifu Palace in the past six months, but I haven’t investigated carefully either, because I don’t have the qualification to check Cifu Palace’s palace servant roster, and even His Majesty cannot go and check. Cifu Palace is not within the inner palace. His Majesty has always been filial to the Empress Dowager and won’t interfere in Cifu Palace affairs. So Cifu Palace can decide rewards and punishments for palace servants on its own without reporting to the inner palace, and the inner palace doesn’t know everything about Cifu Palace’s people.”
“That is to say,” Zhenzhen frowned, “if Cifu Palace punishes its own palace servants, or even orders executions, it doesn’t need to notify the Palace Justice in the inner palace?”
Zhao Ai nodded: “Yes. According to dynasty precedent, palace servants of the Grand Emperor and Empress Dowager are not under the management of the Inner Palace Bureau. The Palace Justice can only discipline and judge palace servants in the inner palace… There have been female officials in history with the authority to control all palace servants in both palaces, but since the late Emperor ascended the throne, this position has no longer been established.”
“What is such a powerful female official called? Why is it no longer established now?” Zhenzhen pressed.
“Such a female official is called Director of the Palace Kitchen,” Zhao Ai answered. “Fourth rank, above all female officials. She manages all palace affairs and has disciplinary authority over the Six Departments’ affairs and all palace servants. The late Emperor was extremely filial to the Empress Dowager and didn’t want to interfere in the Empress Dowager’s palace affairs, so he didn’t establish the position of Director of the Palace Kitchen. The current Emperor also follows the late Emperor’s example, not establishing this position. Palace affairs are divided among the Six Departments and the Palace Justice, and he doesn’t involve himself in Cifu Palace’s internal affairs.”