Jade Fan Pendant
Xi Chun had no interest in Yan Zhongyou's affairs; she stayed in her room embroidering a handkerchief. Pingting, having learned from the other palace maids that Consort Mei had served the Emperor for three days, rushed back to tell Xi Chun, wanting her to follow Consort Mei's example and dress up to meet the Emperor in the Ziguang Palace. She talked to Xi Chun for several days without any response, and finally, she herself became annoyed, saying, "Fine, Your Majesty, I can't persuade you anymore. Aren't you afraid of living like this without the Emperor's favor in the future?"
Seeing Pingting storm out of the room, Xichun wasn't annoyed. She glanced at her indifferently before lowering her head to continue embroidering the handkerchief in her hands. She truly felt that things were alright now. As long as the Emperor didn't favor her, she could still hold onto a sliver of hope. She still remembered Wei Qiao's words from that night. Regardless of whether he could rescue her or not, her feelings for him hadn't been in vain. She knew he cared about her too.
Unable to summon his concubines to his bedchamber, Yan Zhongyou would find Wei Qiao in the Ziguang Palace to play chess with him. Wei Qiao was a highly skilled chess player, yet he always managed to draw with him.
"Minister Wei, I cannot take those two pills from Master Zhang. I am fond of beautiful women. Go and find Master Zhang to find another way. Tell him that if I can give birth to a prince, he will be richly rewarded."
A few days later, Yan Zhongyou felt that his health had recovered well. After dinner, he reviewed memorials for an hour before having Michide lead him to the courtyard where Xichun lived. She had been his concubine for some time, and he had been much more patient with her than with anyone else. Tonight, he was determined to have her.
Miched led the way for Yan Zhongyou with a lantern, saying, "Your Majesty, Consort An's Lotus Breeze Garden is just ahead."
Xi Chun's cold attitude towards the Emperor had somewhat affected Ping Ting, who had been sullen for the past few days, spending her days embroidering in her room, just like Xi Chun. When Mi Qide knocked on the door, Ping Ting assumed it was a maid from another room coming to see her, and impatiently rolled her eyes before slowly putting down her embroidery and getting up to open the door.
Upon opening the door, she saw Yan Zhongyou, dressed in bright yellow robes, standing in the doorway. She gasped in surprise, "Your Majesty...Your Majesty."
Miched gave her a cold glance. "Is Consort An inside?"
"Yes, Master is embroidering in the room." Pingting came to her senses and replied politely.
As Miched was wondering whether to send Pingting to inform them, Yan Zhongyou had already stepped past him and entered the house.
"You all wait outside, you don't need to come in."
Upon hearing this, Miched quickly stopped Pingting, who was about to step into the room, and then personally closed the door.
Xi Chun felt dizzy after embroidering half a handkerchief. Since it was still early before bedtime, she simply placed the embroidery frame on the table and dozed off on the chaise longue, propping her head up with her hand. At this moment, she had no makeup on her face, her hair was half-loose, and she was wearing a pale white jacket and skirt.
When Yan Zhongyou entered, he saw Xichun asleep. He tiptoed to her side, and the candlelight illuminated her fair face, making her appear like a jade beauty. He reached out and stroked her face, the smooth texture making him want to caress it repeatedly.
Xi Chun dreamt that a bear was chasing her. She suddenly woke up and found that Yan Zhongyou had come to her room. Xi Chun opened her eyes wide in horror and looked at him. She felt Yan Zhongyou's hand still on her face. Xi Chun immediately sat up from the chaise longue, took a few steps back to distance herself from him, and then bowed to him.
"Your Majesty, I have come to pay my respects," Xi Chun said, her voice trembling.
Yan Zhongyou saw the fear in Xichun's eyes just now. He didn't understand why she was so ungrateful for his kindness and dared to avoid his affection in front of him.
He looked up at Xichun, who was bowing her head in front of him. She was only acting arrogantly in front of him because she looked like Xueyi. He liked her a little, but he would never allow her to repeatedly disrespect his dignity as an emperor.
Yan Zhongyou glanced around the room, then grabbed Xichun's hand, trying to pull her behind the beaded curtain to the bed. Xichun saw Yan Zhongyou pulling her towards the inner room and immediately understood his intention. She struggled to pull her hand away, attempting to escape.
Yan Zhongyou noticed her struggling, so he suddenly increased the strength in his hand and threw Xichun onto the bed in a few steps.
Xichun's head hit the bedpost. Ignoring the pain in her head, she struggled to get out of bed.
Yan Zhongyou looked at her with displeasure and said coldly, "Consort An, I have given you enough time. Don't test my patience any further. Tonight, you have no choice but to obey." After saying that, he bent down to pull at Xichun's clothes.
His hands moved on Xichun's collar, and he quickly tore open her thin clothes, causing the jade pendant around her neck to fall out.
Yan Zhongyou stared at the familiar jade fan pendant, momentarily stunned. He gasped for breath, looking at Xichun's face and then at the pendant. Suddenly, everything connected in his mind—no wonder she looked like her.
Yan Zhongyou got out of bed, pointed at Xichun who was covering her clothes with her hands, and asked, "Who gave you this pendant?"
Xi Chun looked at Yan Zhongyou in fear, his eyes filled with deep despair. She hesitated for a moment, then touched her jade fan pendant and said timidly, "My mother, this is what my mother left me."
Hearing the expected answer, Yan Zhongyou's hand, which had been pointing at Xichun, slid down limply. She was her daughter; he should have known. Who else but Fei Xueyi could give birth to a girl who looked so much like her?
He and Fei Xueyi fell in love at first sight. Prime Minister Fei, who only had one daughter, didn't want her to become an imperial concubine, so he severed all ties with her. It was Fei Xueyi who knelt before Prime Minister Fei, pleading desperately, that allowed them to continue seeing each other. He had originally envisioned a lifelong commitment with her. Later, his teacher learned of his relationship with Fei Xueyi and suggested that he use her to bring down Prime Minister Fei, a staunch supporter of the Crown Prince's faction; to seize power, they needed to eliminate him.
For the sake of the throne above all others, he heeded his teacher's advice. Fei Xueyi became a pawn in his game. He begged Fei Xueyi to steal Prime Minister Fei's private seal, using it to forge letters accusing the deposed prime minister of embezzling disaster relief grain after the Zhijiang dike breach. That year, the dike breach displaced hundreds of thousands, and tens of thousands starved to death because of the embezzlement of disaster relief grain. The displaced people beat the Dengwen Drum, enraging the emperor. All the people he had bribed beforehand insisted that Prime Minister Fei had ordered it, and that all the letters bore his private seal.
To appease public anger, all male members of the Fei family were executed, and the female members of the Fei family were forced into prostitution.
Yan Zhongyou secretly went to the prison to see Fei Xueyi one last time. She was wearing dirty prison clothes and locked in a small cell, with iron chains on her hands and feet. Her usual bright smile was gone. She was curled up on a straw bed, staring blankly at the small window on the wall.
"Xueyi, I will get you out of here, don't be afraid," he said, squatting down in front of her and holding her cold hand.
She disgustedly shook off his hand and turned her head away, refusing to meet his gaze.
"Yan Zhongyou, you're a liar, you disgust me." After saying this coldly, she didn't speak again.
The teacher told him to stop associating with the Fei family's daughters, saying that once he ascended the throne, he could choose any woman in the world. He avoided her cold words, trying hard not to think about her, and once again believed his teacher. He never asked anyone where she went after that. He couldn't accept that she had become a prostitute, nor could he accept the resentful look in her eyes.
He never expected that years later he would take her daughter into his harem. If it weren't for the jade pendant that he had carved and given to her, her daughter would have become his woman.
A tear welled up in Yan Zhongyou's eyes. He looked up at Xichun and asked the question that had frightened him: "How is your mother?"
Xi Chun had already tidied her clothes and was standing by the bedside. She didn't know why Yan Zhongyou suddenly asked about her jade pendant and then about her mother. She was about to say that her mother had passed away.
Looking at Xi Chun's slightly parted lips, Yan Zhongyou roared, "No need to say anything more." Then he turned and left.
Xi Chun breathed a heavy sigh of relief, touching her jade pendant. It was her mother who had saved her this time.
"Your Majesty, why has the Emperor left? Your Majesty, you should pay more attention!" Pingting watched the Emperor leave with a displeased expression, feeling a pang of disappointment. Her mistress truly couldn't even hold onto the favor that was offered to her. If it weren't for the fact that she hadn't yet received the money she had previously given as tribute, she would have quit working for Xichun long ago. Being a head palace maid when her mistress had no respect for her was pointless.
Xichun ignored Pingting's complaints. She straightened her clothes and walked out of the room. Pingting was angry that Xichun ignored her and deliberately ignored her. She didn't even light a lantern, and watched Xichun leave the room with a cold snort.
The spring night breeze was gentle. Xi Chun left the Lotus Breeze Garden and strolled slowly through the palace grounds. The moonlight shone on the earth, and she felt no fear even without a lantern. She walked until she reached a pond; she remembered passing by here the day she entered the palace. Several frogs croaked in the pond, and the evening breeze ruffled the green lotus leaves. Xi Chun slowly walked to the pond's edge and stopped.
Looking at the lotus leaves covering the pond, she recalled Xiaopeng's fourteenth birthday. She had begged her grandfather to rent a small boat and take her, Xiaopeng, and Lanxiang to the small West Lake south of the county for a boat ride. It was the height of summer, and the lake was filled with ripe lotus pods. The three of them sat in the boat, picked dozens of pods, peeled out the tender lotus seeds, and ate them with a bottle of plum wine that her grandfather had brought. Her grandfather, steering the boat, taught them his favorite songs from his youth. The summer sun was strong, but their spirits were high. Only when everyone's faces were flushed, the sun had set, and the sky had turned into a radiant sunset, did they reluctantly leave the small West Lake.
Memories are as beautiful as aged wine. Xichun didn't drink tonight, but she already felt a little drunk. If only there were wine, she could drink herself into oblivion and forget all the troubles of the world.
As Xichun gazed at the lotus pond, a tiny firefly suddenly came into her view. It fluttered its wings, dancing around the lotus leaves, and finally landed on a lotus bud. Xichun unconsciously moved closer, wanting to get a better look at it, but just as she took a step, a powerful force suddenly wrapped around her waist.
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