During the Grain in Ear season, the Forbidden City was shrouded in relentless rain. Water droplets condensed on the banana leaves of the Yanxi Palace, sliding along their veins into the cracks between the bluestone slabs, like the chill in Concubine Shu's eyes. She stared at her haggard face in the makeup mirror, her gold-inlaid jade comb slamming against the mirror, sending rouge and powder flying and staining the lotus pattern on the table edge red.
"That bitch Su Jinli!" She grabbed a jade hairpin and snapped it in two, sending shards of jade flying onto the moon-white silk handkerchief. "Why did she manage to gain the Emperor and the Empress Dowager's favor? She's just relying on her clever tricks!"
Lu'e, the personal maid, knelt on the ground, not daring to look up: "Your Majesty, please calm down. What if the pregnancy is disturbed?"
"Fetal gas?" Concubine Shu sneered, stroking her still flat belly. "If I don't do anything now, not only will I lose the fetus, but I'll even lose my position as a concubine! Look at her now, flaunting her big belly in public. The Emperor wants to give her his heart!"
The rain grew heavier, pounding against the window frames with a dense clatter. Concubine Shu suddenly stood up, her brocade skirt sweeping across the messy floor. A sinister glint flashed in her eyes. "Go," she leaned over and whispered in Lu'e's ear, "find a few gossipy eunuchs, and have them go around the side halls of the palace and tell them...that the child Su Jinli is carrying might not be Jiang Yan's."
Lu'e shuddered, her forehead hitting the bricks as she kowtowed. "Your Majesty! This... this is a capital crime! If it's proven, we..."
"Idiot!" Concubine Shu kicked her on the shoulder, the gilded armor scratching Lu'e's collar. "Do it secretly! Just say you heard it from a gossipy eunuch somewhere else. Who can trace it back to us? When the rumor spreads throughout the six palaces, we'll see if Su Jinli can still hold on to her position as the top scholar's wife!"
Three days later, rumors spread through the Forbidden City like poison ivy. Su Jinli was drinking a pregnancy-maintaining medicine in Lanyue Pavilion. Just as the silver spoon touched her lips, she heard Lingge's exclamation and the servant's scolding outside the window. She set down the white porcelain bowl, feeling a surge of nausea. The warm medicine splashed onto her clothes, leaving a dark brown stain.
"Madam!" Jiang Yan rushed in from the outer room, the sleeves of his dark formal attire creating a draft. "Have you heard the rumors in the palace? They're simply slanderous!" He was holding a secret report in his hand, the paper wrinkled from being crumpled.
Su Jinli took the secret report, her fingertips trembling as they touched the word "Dragonborn." The rain outside the window had stopped at some point, and a sparrow flew against the window paper, leaving a faint claw mark. "They say I'm pregnant with the Emperor's child?" She suddenly laughed, her laughter tinged with disbelief and absurdity. "This rumor is so poorly made."
"Poor?" Jiang Yan slammed the secret report on the table, and the black jade paperweight slipped and fell on the "Pepper Planting Chapter" of "Qimin Yaoshu". "But those palace servants who don't know the truth have already believed it about 70%! Just now, when I was in the Imperial Garden, a young eunuch pointed at me and laughed!"
As he was speaking, the gate of the courtyard was slammed open with a clang, and Young Marquis Su rushed in carrying a gilded sword. The red tassel on the tassel swept away the cobwebs under the corridor: "Sister! Brother Jiang Yan! Who is talking nonsense without a care in his life? I'm going to cut off his tongue and eat it with wine!" The veins on the young man's forehead bulged, and it was obvious that he had run all the way from the training ground. There were still spots of mud on his armor.
Prime Minister Su followed in, stroking his trembling beard, his peacock-blue official robe buttoned twice incorrectly. "What a rebellion! Do you really think there's no one left in my Su Mansion? Spread my words: Anyone who dares to say a word about the young lady again will have his family sold off to a cold and bitter land!"
Su Qingyao walked in carrying a lacquer box containing a freshly brewed "Waste-Repelling Incense." She placed the incense cake in the incense burner and said coldly, "How could anyone believe such a rumor? The other day, the Emperor met with my sister and said he wanted to give the child the title of 'Chili Captain.' The look in his eyes was as if he was looking at one of his own children."
Before he could finish his words, the bronze bell at the palace gate rang urgently. Eunuch Li ran in, his hair dripping with water, the pearl pendant on his whisk dripping with moisture: "Madam Jiang, Lord Jiang! The Emperor sent me to come and fetch you, saying that he has an urgent matter waiting for you in the Palace of Heavenly Purity!"
The sedan chair passed through the rain-soaked palace corridor, its wheels rolling over puddles, the splashes wetting the curtains. Su Jinli caressed the gently kicking fetus in her belly, remembering her father's indifference and disregard when her stepmother spread the rumor that she was a "mother-killer" in her previous life. The warmth she felt on her palm now made her take a deep breath and lift the curtain.
The bright yellow curtains of the Palace of Heavenly Purity hung low. The emperor stood before the throne, his hands behind his back, his dragon boots rolling over the golden bricks, leaving wet marks. When he turned around, his face was darker than the inkstone on his desk: "Jinli, Jiang Yan, do you know what dirty rumors are spreading in the palace?"
When Su Jinli bowed, the fetus in her belly moved suddenly, as if to speak up for her: "I heard it, thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."
"Worried?" The emperor slammed his fist on the imperial desk, causing the teacup to jump and spill scalding tea onto the rubbing of the "Open and Honest" plaque. "This is slander! They're trying to pin the blame on me and Jiang Yan!" He pointed at Jiang Yan, "Don't worry, I'll find that gossiper even if I have to turn the Forbidden City upside down!"
Jiang Yan bowed and said, "I believe Madam is innocent, but this rumor..."
"No, that's not all!" the Emperor interrupted, grabbing a confession from his desk. "The Empress Dowager has already sent someone to investigate, and they say it was... the eunuchs in Concubine Shu's palace who first spread it!"
Just as she finished speaking, the Empress Dowager came in, supported by a palace maid, the sandalwood Buddhist beads in her hand clasped so tightly that they made a creaking sound. "Your Majesty, how is the investigation going? I have sealed off the small kitchen in the Yanxi Palace. Let's see how she can act like a demon!"
Su Jinli looked at the two men in front of her, their faces filled with anger, and her nose suddenly felt sore. The grievances she had suffered in her previous life, which no one had defended, were now burned to ashes by the wrath of these two men. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I, your concubine..."
"Stop talking!" The Queen Mother grabbed her hand, the jade armor on her fingertips scratching her wrist bone. "I know you want to clear your name, but this dirty water can't be thrown in vain!" She gestured to the maid behind her, "Bring the person up!"
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