Night Banquet

Wen Chan: "I suddenly have a bad feeling."

Pei Rusong met her gaze and murmured, "It can't be."

Logically, the imperial retinue had just arrived at the temporary palace, weary from the journey; the Emperor should have been in no mood to host a banquet. But the current scene was clearly one of clamorous music, with the urgent sounds of pipes and bustling strings—who had stirred up such great interest in him?

"That person," Wen Chan recalled uncertainly, "I remember she was supposed to have been sent into the palace only after arriving in Pingjing?"

Pei Rusong replied with a bitter smile, "Your Highness, we've both been reborn, and you're still talking about this."

If one person is reborn, certain things might be changed through deliberate guidance; if two people are reborn, it means events related to both of them will become unpredictable; if three people are reborn, it's best to act as if you've come into the world for the first time. In this pot of porridge, everyone is the same kind of rice grain; no one is any nobler than anyone else.

Wen Chan stood in the mountain wind that was growing increasingly cold, exhaling a long, icy breath from her lungs. Her expression was somewhere between resigned and gloomy as she said in a low voice, "Let's go. We'll head back and see."

The storied pavilion built into the mountain within the temporary palace was called Qingyun Tower. As Wen Chan passed by the outside of its garden, the sounds of pipes and stringed instruments drifted out, accompanied by a man's melodious singing. The candlelight cast the shadows of dancing girls onto the paper doors—slender waists, long arms, cloud-like hair, and fluttering sleeves. They were like graceful algae at the bottom of the water, or like the fox spirits from legends that had taken human form.

Palace maids and attendants moved endlessly through the garden. Upon seeing her, they all curtsied in greeting. Wen Chan raised a hand to stop one she recognized, "Why is His Majesty hosting a banquet tonight?"

The servant girl was not a maid from a consort's palace but a female attendant from the Bureau of Imperial Cuisine. Knowing this was someone she could not casually fool, she reported softly, "In reply to Your Highness, I heard that the Prefect of Pingjing sent people to the temporary palace with tributes, including several performers. Among them is a pair of siblings, the Prefect's adopted children. The brother plays the flute well, and the sister is skilled in dancing and is exceptionally beautiful. His Majesty was very pleased upon seeing them, so he ordered a night banquet to enjoy the music. He also invited Imperial Prince Dan, Imperial Prince Fan, Minister Yuan, and other ministers to drink with him."

Wen Chan's heart tightened. She was eighty percent certain, but she still asked, unable to give up hope, "What are the siblings' names?"

The servant girl was taken aback. After thinking carefully for a moment, she answered hesitantly, "This servant was standing far away and didn't hear clearly. I only caught their surname. It should be Xu, or perhaps Xu..."

It really was her.

The Princess's expression was hidden in the night, making it impossible to tell if she was pleased or angry; she simply felt very distant. The female attendant nervously glanced up at her. Wen Chan beckoned behind her, and Feixing stepped forward, handing a small scented pouch to the attendant through her sleeve. She smiled politely, "Thank you for your hard work tonight."

The servant girl hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise. Tightly clutching the firm pouch, she curtsied to the Princess and said softly, "Many thanks, Your Highness." With that, she quickly returned to the line of palace maids.

Back at their separate courtyard, the palace servants had already tidied up the rooms. Wen Chan dismissed her maids, and Pei Rusong confirmed, "It really is her?"

Wen Chan let out what must have been her tenth sigh of the night. "Her surname is Xu, there's no mistaking it."

Both of them knew full well what would happen next; Pei Rusong just didn't know how to comfort her. This concerned the father-daughter relationship between the Princess and the Emperor. As a complete outsider, anything he said would seem presumptuous. He could only squeeze her hand tightly. "What's done is done. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's just wait and see."

Wen Chan was well aware that no matter how far she extended her reach, she could not interfere in her own father's private affairs. But that person alone made her feel it was a thorny issue. She had even been weighing whether to intervene on the journey here to prevent her from meeting the Emperor. Who knew that man's plans were no match for heaven's? Before she could make up her mind, an unknown variable had already acted ahead of her, pushing that person into the Son of Heaven's tent.

It was said that because her mother was a devout Buddhist who dreamt of a bodhisattva bestowing upon her a treasured necklace, she became pregnant upon waking and thus named her daughter Yingluo.

Of course, this was the beautified version told to the Emperor. The reality was far from dreamlike, even cruel. Yingluo's mother, Lady Song, was an embroideress for the Meng Clan of Pingjing. She had an affair with a young master of the Meng Clan and became secretly pregnant. She was kept outside the manor and even bore him a son and a daughter. But the Meng Clan was a century-old noble family with deep roots. When that young master had a marriage arranged by his family, he feared his new wife of high birth would be picky and unhesitatingly threw the mother and her children out. Left with no choice, Lady Song fell into a life of entertainment and became a songstress, and her children also became performers.

Yingluo had an older brother named Song Wei, who made a living performing in song houses. On one occasion, the Prefect of Pingjing, Xu Zhaoyun, was hosting a banquet and had summoned a troupe of musicians to entertain. Because Song Wei's skills were outstanding and he was handsome, he caught Xu Zhaoyun's attention and was called forward to speak. Song Wei, intending to use the Prefect as a stepping stone, took the opportunity to tell Xu Zhaoyun that he had a stunningly beautiful sister and wished for her to perform for the Prefect.

Xu Zhaoyun had Yingluo summoned for a viewing, and indeed, she was a celestial beauty. However, he did not, as Song Wei had imagined, hastily take Yingluo as a wife or concubine. Instead, he annulled their lowly status, welcomed them into his manor as his adopted children, and even hired tutors to teach Yingluo poetry, classics, rites, song, dance, and music. He raised her as meticulously as if she were his own daughter, cultivating this wildflower from the mud into a peony in a golden basin.

A man consumed by lust is no good thing, but a man not blinded by lust is not necessarily a great saint either; he might just be better at hiding his wickedness.

From the first moment he saw Yingluo, Xu Zhaoyun never intended to possess her for himself. He decided to use this beautiful, almost precious, woman as a bargaining chip in a gamble for immense wealth and power. For an official like him, who was not from a high-ranking family, whose clan was in decline, and who had no powerful backing in the court, being the Prefect of Pingjing was the limit of what he could achieve through his own efforts. To advance further, he had to resort to some unorthodox methods.

He was not a lecher, nor a romantic, but an ambitious gambler.

In the Twelfth Year of Yanshou, the Son of Heaven visited Pingjing. Xu Zhaoyun had his adopted daughter, Xu Yingluo, present a dance before him. From this, she gained favor, was first enfeoffed as a Consort, and later promoted to Noble Consort, her favor surpassing all in the six palaces. Xu Zhaoyun was promoted to Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, and was hailed by all in the court and country as the "Imperial Father-in-law." Song Wei became the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, and Xu Yingluo's mother was made a Commandery Madame. The Xu Clan leaped to become the new nobility of Zhaojing, so much so that even ducal and marquis clans like the Han and Gu had to yield to their prominence and humble themselves before them.

But there was one deficiency. Although Consort Xu received overwhelming imperial favor, she remained childless. The Fifth Prince, Wen Rui, had lost his birth mother early and was raised in Virtuous Consort Xiao's palace. Later, when Duke of Xu, Xiao Dingfang, was convicted and demoted, Consort Xiao lost favor and became a nun, leaving Wen Rui as a pitiful child nobody wanted. He did everything he could to curry favor with Consort Xu. It was unknown what agreement the two reached, but the entire Xu Clan seemed to have placed their bets on Wen Rui. After Wen Rui came of age, left the palace, and was enfeoffed as the Prince of Jin, he openly regarded the Xu Clan as his maternal family. Relying on Consort Xu's favor, he competed with the Crown Prince and even frequently whispered suggestions of deposing and replacing the heir into the Emperor's ear.

First, there was the Fu Clan wreaking havoc on the Imperial Guard, and then the Xu Clan pressuring the Crown Prince. Even if Wen Chan's heart were as vast as the sea, she could not endure such attrition. Although the Emperor still doted on her, she always felt a thorn in her throat, which caused her attitude to become increasingly firm later on. Even when the Emperor showed his bias toward the Prince of Jin, she risked incurring his wrath and unhesitatingly suppressed Wen Rui's faction.

Consort Xu's opinion of her was likely not very good either. If Wen Chan had been a prince, she probably would have been driven out of Zhaojing by Consort Xu's machinations long ago. However, Wen Chan's status was special, and the Emperor felt guilty towards the only daughter born to Empress Yuan. Thus, a delicate balance was always maintained between the two.

"What happened later?"

Pei Rusong let out a soft "Hm?"

"She... Consort Xu, what happened to her later?"

"After the palace coup, His Majesty abdicated, and she remained by his side to serve him. After the Emperor Emeritus passed away, the Prince of Jin submitted a memorial to the New Emperor, expressing his willingness to support the Dowager Consort. The New Emperor had no intention of stopping him, but the Dowager Consort was unwilling and took vows at Huayan Temple."

His expression suddenly turned a little strange. Though there was no one else in the room, he felt compelled to lean close to Wen Chan and whisper, "The New Emperor once discussed this with me in private. Although Consort Xu was called Dowager Consort, she was actually the same age as us, only in her early thirties at the time. She wasn't the Prince of Jin's birth mother, yet the Prince of Jin... If he had really taken her out of the palace, it would have been a bit awkward no matter how you looked at it."

Wen Chan looked up and nearly kissed him, moving back two inches. "Even if there was something between them, it's their business. Why are you getting embarrassed?"

Pei Rusong guiltily lowered his eyes and cleared his throat. "I've never been one to speak of others behind their backs. I'm ashamed."

Wen Chan: "..."

"Compared to a life of austerity with a green lantern and an ancient Buddha, or a lifetime spent in the sunless depths of the palace, living with the Prince of Jin would certainly be much more comfortable. But since she refused, she must have had her own concerns." Wen Chan said, "The more beautiful and precious a flower, the more likely it is to attract covetous eyes. If it is unwilling to be plucked, it can only reside in a secluded valley. These things cannot be helped."

Pei Rusong suddenly fixed his gaze on her, the bright candlelight flickering in his eyes. Wen Chan tapped the tip of his nose. "What kind of look is that?"

"I thought... that Your Highness hated her."

"Do I hate her?" Wen Chan paused for a moment, seriously considering the question. She mused, "I suppose I used to."

"And now?"

"I haven't even met her yet. How can I hate her?" Wen Chan smiled. "I once felt that she had stolen my father from me. Only later did I gradually come to understand that as long as he didn't want to be stolen, no one could take him. My Imperial Father has legs; he walked over there himself. My hating Consort Xu was purely displaced anger. It served no purpose other than to upset myself."

For no reason, Pei Rusong recalled her expression under the lamplight that night when she said, "I still want to make him a little happier."

"Then... does Your Highness hate His Majesty?"

"People change," Wen Chan answered calmly. "It's like walking along a river. The upstream water is clear, the downstream water is murky. It's still the same river, but the upstream water is drinkable, while the downstream water can only be used for boating and irrigation."

"Perhaps I'll still miss the clear water upstream, but not being able to drink it won't make me die of thirst. As long as the river is still there, it's enough. Having something is better than having nothing."

"As for Consort Xu," she casually trimmed the wick of the lamp, a little lost in thought, "I wouldn't have even realized she was so young if you hadn't mentioned it."

It was unknown which string had been plucked incorrectly in the grand scheme of things, but Pei Rusong suddenly had a bad premonition.

"Such a beauty meeting a bitter fate is truly a pity. After all, of all the people I've ever met, the only one more beautiful than you is her."