Chapter 2 Don't worry, I won't bully you.

The wind and snow rushed in through the narrow windows of the double-shafted wagon, making it difficult for Lin Yuan to open her eyes.

Longshou Mountain has become a vast snowfield, and it is no longer possible to distinguish between Weiyang Palace and the desolate winter forest.

She left the palace without encountering any questions or obstruction.

We really owe him a lot.

Lin Yuan lowered her head and glanced at the silk in her hand.

The silk she sent to the Xuan Shi Hall the day before looked the same.

Even the textures are similar.

This one, however, has an extra red seal of the Emperor's Seal.

Seven days ago, Xiao Xun dealt with Qu Yang's remaining followers in the court and issued an edict granting the position of Prime Minister to Su Dan, the Marquis of Yangxin, who had been secretly murdered by Qu Yang and sent to his fiefdom in Shangjun.

Su Dan was an important minister in two dynasties.

Unlike Qu Yang, he was indifferent by nature and somewhat aloof, which enabled him to protect himself during the turmoil of the three years of Tian Shou.

Along with his wife, Princess Yangyi, who was close to the deposed crown prince, they were spared from this calamity.

After Xiao Xun was made crown prince, Su Dan served as the crown prince's tutor, teaching him classics and history.

In the third year of the Jiaping era, when the emperor turned fifteen, Grand Tutor Su, together with some court officials and princes of the Xiao clan, strongly advocated for His Majesty to assume personal rule. They also impeached Qu Qingchuan, the eldest son of Qu Yang, for bullying a married woman, which led to her committing suicide out of shame and indignation.

Su Dan's efforts had some effect.

Memorials that previously only reached the Grand Marshal and General would later appear on the desk in the Xuan Room.

Qu Qingchuan was imprisoned in Qu Yang's mansion for half a year on the grounds of "failing to properly educate his son" and "personally disciplining him." It is said that he was personally beaten by Qu Yang.

Xiao Xun's mentor, however, resigned from his post due to some trivial matters in the year Xiao Xun came of age and "personally assumed power," and returned with his wife and daughters to his fiefdom of Yangyi, far north of Shangjun.

This has always been a hidden pain in Xiao Xun's heart.

Lin Yuan had heard about these things while in the palace.

That day, Xiao Xun, unusually, drank a few cups of wine during the meal and pulled her to drink with him.

The wine is sweet, but has a strong aftertaste.

Lin Yuan drank it down in one gulp, choking and tears welling up in her eyes. She remembered that as she drank, snow began to fall outside.

She pushed open the straight-lattice window, and the north wind swirled snowflakes that landed on her brow.

Then a warm hand reached out, and her body quickly felt warm and cozy.

It was the same snow.

Lin Yuan sighed softly, straightened her clothes, and tightened the curtains on the carriage windows.

Xiao Xun reached out and closed the straight-lattice window, then handed her a roll of silk: "This is for you."

Lin Yuan went from being full of anticipation to being filled with surprise.

She held the silk scroll, examining it repeatedly before her eyes. Then she placed it beside the lantern and looked at it through the light. After a long while, she managed to utter a few words: "Give me the wordless book of heaven?"

Xiao Xun chuckled: "Take another look?"

Lin Yuan said listlessly, "There's nothing up there."

"Why is there nothing here?" He lightly tapped Lin Yuan's forehead with his finger, then pointed to the very end of the silk, where a bright red seal was stamped.

“Write down what you want, and I’ll grant you whatever it is,” he said, his hands behind his back.

Looking through her hazy, drunken eyes and the lamplight, Lin Yuan felt that Xiao Xun was different from half a year ago. He seemed to have gained more confidence and ambition, and even his laughter was much more hearty.

Today, the inscription on this silk reads: "Lin Yuan, a palace maid of the Jiaofang Palace, has been granted permission by the Emperor to leave the palace and return to her hometown."

When Lin Yuan entrusted Li Shun to place the letter, which was similar in size and texture, under the heavy bamboo slips on the imperial desk, Xiao Xun, along with the chief craftsman, the stone storekeeper, the master of the East Garden, and others, arrived at the Jiaofang Palace.

Half a year before the edict to depose the empress was issued, Qu Qingru went to live in seclusion at Shanglin Villa under the pretext of recuperating from illness.

Everything in Jiaofang Palace remains as it was.

However, Xiao Xun did not like the furnishings here.

The investiture and wedding ceremony of the new empress① will be held on an auspicious day in the autumn of the following year, as selected by the Grand Master of Ceremonies.

Xiao Xun initially felt it was a bit late, but with Qu Yang's downfall, there were numerous matters, both large and small, left to be handled in the court, leaving him with no time to spare.

The wedding robes were made by hundreds of skilled women from Qi County, Xiangyi, and Julu County, who were summoned to the Three Garments Office. Even with the best efforts, it would take half a year to complete.

This free time is perfect for a major overhaul of the Jiaofang Palace, which is good.

In the cold winter, stepping through the doors of the Jiaofang Palace is a very comfortable experience.

The warmth that greeted us carried a faint fragrance, unlike the somewhat intoxicating aroma emanating from the incense burner inside the Hongyu tent of the Xuan Shi Hall.

The walls of the pepper-lined room were painted with pepper, symbolizing the warmth of the peppercorns and, of course, the wish for many children.

Unfortunately, the reason why Empress Qu was deposed and announced to the world was that "the empress had been in power for six years but had no children."

This decree was drafted by Xiao Xun himself, without having an imperial censor or a minister write it on his behalf.

Just like when she was made empress.

Qu Yang tucked his hands behind his back and stood in front of him. The dark shadow blocked half of the light, then folded twice more, falling on the desk in the Xuan Room and on the fifteen-year-old Xiao Xun.

It was heavy and made it hard to breathe.

That was the day after Su Dan proposed in court that Qu Yang should return power to His Majesty.

Qu Yang said, "Your Majesty has inherited the mandate of Heaven and succeeded to the great cause for seven years. According to ancestral rules, before assuming personal rule, Your Majesty should undergo the coming-of-age ceremony and establish an Empress, so as to announce to the world that Your Majesty has come of age."

He dictated the edict word by word: "The Empress's status is equal to that of the Emperor... The daughter of the Qu family, named Qingru, is virtuous and gentle, and has long been known for her exemplary conduct. She is suitable to rule the inner palace. The Grand Commandant and the Minister of the Imperial Clan are hereby dispatched with imperial insignia to present the Empress's seal and ribbon."

According to the Imperial Clan Minister who returned with the imperial edict, Qu Qingru accepted the decree to depose her very meekly. She looked at the handwriting over and over again, and finally thanked the emperor for his grace without uttering a single plea, just like...

At this point, Zongzheng lowered his eyes and fell silent.

Yes, just like that year when she received the imperial edict to be crowned empress.

There was only Qu Qingru in the harem.

Because of her father, Qu Yang, no one in the court dared to say anything about allowing the emperor to fill the harem and have more children.

However, in the first year of Jinghe, when Xiao Xun was eighteen years old, a Confucian official who had just been promoted from the Imperial Academy to the outer court quoted the Book of Rites and compared the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers to the Three Consorts and Nine Concubines of the Imperial Harem, saying that this was the way to govern the inner court and cultivate the outer court, to achieve harmony between Yin and Yang, and to follow the principles of Heaven and Earth.

Qu Yang twitched his lips, remaining expressionless, and granted the request, allowing the Imperial Household Department's subordinate, the Imperial Palace Attendant, to widely select respectable young women of marriageable age in Chang'an to enter the palace.

At the next grand court session, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, the Grand Master of Rites, and the Grand Historian all submitted a memorial stating that the emperor and empress are like the sun and the moon, yang and yin. Harmony between the emperor and empress is the proper balance of yin and yang, and the principle of heaven and earth.

As a result, the women who were to enter the palace to be selected as family members were given a new title and all became palace maids in the inner palace.

That inexperienced Confucian scholar was soon discovered by the censor to have bribed the Five Classics Doctors at the Imperial Academy with a thousand taels of gold. He was imprisoned and later exiled to a malarial land thousands of miles away.

The Imperial Academy Doctor, the Grand Master of Ceremonies responsible for selecting the sons of Imperial Academy Doctors to enter the court, and the Chief Scholar of the Imperial Academy of the prefectures and kingdoms who recommended them to enter the Imperial Academy were also implicated and dismissed from their posts.

But time flies, and the Empress has been in power for many years without producing an heir, which makes Qu Yang anxious.

He and his wife Qu Yan had the imperial physician examine the empress's pulse every day, and also sent people to seek medical treatment and medicine among the common people, looking for folk remedies to help her conceive.

Qu Yang also privately used the late emperor as an example to advise Xiao Xun, saying that the late emperor ascended the throne at a young age and had no son for many years. Various princes and nobles of the same surname were eyeing the throne with covetousness. All these unstable factors disappeared when the late emperor was twenty-seven years old and had his eldest son.

With the Grand Marshal and General in charge at court, who would dare to be restless?

Xiao Xun looked at Qu Yang's anxious expression, as if he wished he could take Qu Yang's place, and a barely perceptible sneer appeared on his lips.

Qu Qingru is indeed gentle and kind.

She drank bowl after bowl of her medicinal soup without saying a word.

Thinking this, Xiao Xun sighed softly and stepped into the main bedroom of Jiaofang Palace.

Behind a curved screen adorned with Lantian warm jade, red silk curtains draped gracefully down.

A warm breeze arose from nowhere, causing the dust to stir slightly, and the jade pendants and jade ornaments attached to it jingled softly.

Aside from his wedding at the age of fifteen, he had never set foot here again.

Qu Qingru was a year younger than Xiao Xun.

On her wedding day, the crimson gold inscription and the nine-flowered wine cup seemed to weigh down her slender figure.

When drinking the nuptial wine, he was so drunk that his ears turned bright red.

Xiao Xun couldn't help but recall his first time attending court when he was eight years old. The front hall stood on a platform twenty feet high, and he, a small child, walked alone down the seemingly endless imperial steps.

Looking down from that high place, the vast sea of ​​court officials reminded him of the dark, murky Weak Water in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

He then rose and stood in the bright red candlelight, saying to the young empress who was helplessly unbuttoning her inner garment, "Don't be afraid, I won't bully you."

He slept on a narrow couch outside the screen that day.

As the moon's shadow slowly sank behind the window screen, he vaguely heard weeping from the other side of the screen.

He didn't know how to comfort her. Should he comfort himself, or comfort her?

The crying gradually became more and more obvious, seemingly initially suppressed under the covers, but then turning into unstoppable sobs.

He turned his head and saw the figures waiting outside the Yanqin gate, indistinct and vague. It was Wang Fu, the eunuch beside him. In addition, there was Tong Shi Ling, Chang Yu, and Nu Shi. They must all be Qu's people. So he thought, that's fine. Cry, cry.

However, amidst such cries, he vaguely returned to the end of the third year of Tian Shou.

His mother held him in her arms, and suddenly he disappeared. He was not in the Phoenix Palace, but in the North Palace.

The vast palace, once night falls, becomes empty and eerie. The apricot wood beams seem as if charcoal-black ghosts might hang down at any moment…

More than six years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The layout of the main room was exactly the same as what he remembered.

Xiao Xun pondered for a while, but the bird and animal patterns on the window and the plain-colored window screen were both inappropriate.

The bed naturally had to be changed, and the curtains were embroidered with mandarin duck patterns, twelve colorful feathers, so gaudy they were garish.

The folding screen was old, and the carved phoenix and a hundred birds paying homage to the emperor and empress were appropriate for the wedding scene, but it couldn't escape being vulgar.

She likes landscapes, so let's change it to a landscape screen.

In the Shaofu warehouse, there is a glazed landscape screen, which was recently presented as tribute by the craftsmen of Yizhou. It is dazzling and colorful, like red plum blossoms in winter snow.

Seeing that the master craftsmen behind him had noted down all his instructions, Xiao Xun turned around and went to the side hall.

Qu Yang's earnest advice was not without merit.

Although he had already "returned power" after the emperor and empress's wedding and said things like "Your Majesty has grown up, and the late emperor should be pleased," he also said in public and in private that once the county and state schools and the salt and iron regulations he advocated could be implemented without hindrance, he would have fulfilled his promise and would be content to be a wealthy and idle person, returning to his hometown to live out his days in peace.

However, the prefectural and national schools were extended to the prefectures and counties, salt and iron were taken over by the government, the horse administration was changed, the border military farm system was abolished, the tax system was changed, and new agricultural decrees were issued every year.

His eldest son, Qu Qingchuan, weathered the impeachment unscathed and continued to serve in the inner palace as a general.

Most of the court officials came from the Qu family.

The imperial harem, too.

Despite his reluctance, Xiao Xun could only step into the Jiaofang Palace on the 5th and 10th of each month, and at countless auspicious times calculated by the newly appointed Grand Master of Ceremonies under Qu Yang's instruction, when the yin and yang align.

Qu Qingru would greet him in the main hall and then personally help him remove his crown and the fox fur coat.

The two walked towards the sleeping quarters one after the other, while the scribe, the head clerk, the female scribe, and a group of servants who followed stopped in front of the heavy curtains.

The Empress was young and always somewhat shy. These were the words the Empress Dowager spoke to Qu Yang and Qu Yang's wife, Qu Yan, after the incident.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Yanqin Palace, Xiao Xun turned west and went straight to the side hall, Zichen Pavilion, along the long inner corridor.

There are many books placed under the southwest window of Zichen Pavilion.

It was Qu Qingru's idea at first.

"If any palace maid notices anything amiss when I change my clothes in the morning, I can say that Your Majesty rises early and retires late, diligently studying poetry and books. I am usually a light sleeper, and Your Majesty has shown me compassion, which is why I left the main palace late at night and stayed in a side hall."

With her eyes lowered, she hesitated for a moment when she uttered the word "compassion," and her cheeks flushed slightly.

She fawned over Xiao Xun almost humbly.

Although the empress was "of equal status with the emperor," and there were even rumors in the court and among the common people that the emperor was able to ascend the throne at such a young age mostly because Qu Yang had a very favored young daughter.

Xiao Xun had also heard such words, but he thought they were nonsense.

Qu Yang's support for his ascension to the throne was merely a matter of choosing one of the few surviving sons of the late emperor who was easy to control after the death of the former crown prince for treason.

Who could be more suitable than a young, orphaned person from a humble family with declining relatives?

As for Qu Yang's favor towards Qu Qingru—if it were favor, if it were love, would he send a fourteen-year-old girl into the deep palace?

Xiao Xun knew about the long nights in Fengluan Palace.

The Jiaofang Palace is different from the Fengluan Palace; it is much taller and more secluded.

It's just a pity for Qu Qingru.

As she grew older, she came to understand the undercurrents between her father, the powerful regent, and the young emperor.

It was also clear that Xiao Xun was unwilling to have a child with Qu family blood, especially his eldest son.

She was perfectly clear-headed, yet she still wanted to beg for some "sympathy".

When Xiao Xun heard her say those words, his nose also felt a little sore.

He merely nodded slightly, casually opened a book, and pretended to hold it. Qu Qingru pursed her lips, gracefully performed a curtsy, and then took her leave.

He still remembers that the book he turned to that day was about etiquette.

It's an old book by Qu Qingru, with several places marked with circles and underlines, such as, "Trust is a virtue of women...and should not be changed throughout life." Further down, there's, "Men precede women...Heaven precedes Earth, and the ruler precedes the subject."③

The books on the shelves gradually filled up, eventually covering half the wall and then the entire wall.

Even the desk gradually became piled high with books and memorials.

The chief craftsman asked, "The repairs to the Jiaofang Palace will take quite some time, and the bricklaying will inevitably produce dust. Your Majesty, should these books be moved to the Tianlu Pavilion?"

He looked closely and noticed two dents in the fine paved floor tiles beside the bed, old marks from sharp objects, and a noticeable patch of wear on the window frame; both needed to be replaced.

"Send it to the west side hall of the Xuan Room," Xiao Xun said.

The master craftsman promised to record all of this on his official tablet.

Suddenly, there was a "thud".

With a flick of the pen, thick black ink dots fell onto the tablet.

The burrs on the bamboo slips pricked Xiao Xun's hand.

An old book, its knot broken, lay scattered on the ground.

"That's enough." Xiao Xun rubbed an old scar on his palm, feeling a sudden emptiness in his heart for some reason.

He looked down at the scroll of gifts, somewhat absentmindedly.

The small, clump-like annotations, resembling mottled medicine stains or tear stains, read, "Send it back to the Tianlu Pavilion's storeroom."

A note from the author:

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① Wedding Ceremony

②Sanfu Guan: Sanfu Guan was an official textile institution established in Linzi, Qi Commandery (present-day Zibo City, Shandong Province) during the Western Han Dynasty. It was under the jurisdiction of Shaofu and was responsible for making crowns, robes and silk fabrics for the royal family.

③From the Book of Rites

④ Tianlu Pavilion: A place in the Western Han Dynasty mainly for collating, compiling, storing, and reading books.