….
“Shiyi, how did you get hurt?” My sixth sister-in-law asked as she stood out of the room where I was being treated.
“Just a rebellion attacked me, if not for your soup that made me energetic, I would have not been able to defend,” I replied trying to bring up this matter of soup, making a connection so that it would be easier for me to meet her sister in the disguise of gratitude.
“Soup? I did not send any soup,” she spoke in a more concerned voice than the last time. Madam Sui whispered in her ears something and she took a breath of relief, “Don’t mind it, she was just concerned about the Crown Prince’s health, if he gets sick, I would be worried. She knows the crown prince shares the suffering and fortune with his brothers and subjects, hence, deliberately cooked more.”
She replied, trying to distract my attention from her sister, and I had to let it go for a while. My brother had sent me home. Instead, I came to his house and bothered my pregnant sister-in-law.
“May your highness go back, and do not exhaust yourself.” I politely asked her to leave as I did not wish her to treat me like a guest
“Okay! Since you say so, you are no outsider, feel free to command the servants if you need anything. You have no one to care for you back at your Mansion. It would be better if you recuperate under my care.” She replied and left the courtyard I was staying in, it was my usual place, more like my home where I had no restrictions and responsibilities, my mansion was more lavish and luxurious because my grandmother bestowed gifts every second day, and I had no worries like my brothers and no wife who would be scolded for being a spendthrift, so I accepted everything from the Empress Dowager sent me. I was too shameless to send her return gifts, but my mansion did not have that warm atmosphere that my brother’s home had.
I used to fight wars frequently and had hardly stayed in the capital, but this time my father had decreed that I won’t be allowed to go on the battlefield until I give him a grandson.
I don’t even have a wife, how am I supposed to give him a grandson? Frustration! Only frustration! accompanied me as I hated people bossing me around, as the sixth prince it was fine for me to obey my elder family members.
I hated people like Official Cao and the revenue minister, claiming to be my superior. In fact, as the prince of the first rank, I should be respected, but those old people didn’t let the crown prince breathe peacefully, I could not expect much from them.
….
“Did you find out?” I asked my eunuch who usually serves me in the crown prince’s Mansion. He was a loyal servant and I could trust him. Meeting an unmarried lady privately was a crime among commoners, and it would not only be a moral but a capital sin because the lady I was risking to meet was the crown princess’ only sister who came several days ago to the capital. It may sound as if it’s not a big thing, but I loved my reputation the most.
I did not want to get into an embarrassing and awkward moment where I would have to take her responsibility just because I exchanged a few words with her.
It did not happen with any of my brothers but I have seen young men complaining, about how they were manipulated or seduced or they had just exchanged a few words, for the punishment they were forced to marry the girl who they met.
“Replying to Your Highness, Lady Hualing is staying in the Peony Courtyard, it is completely opposite of our courtyard,” he whispered, I looked at his face which seemingly mocked me. I poked his forehead and asked, “Why so?”
“Her Highness was worried that she might disturb the noble guest and thus made her stay in the most remote courtyard,” he replied with an explanation.
Should I believe it? no! it’s not true. She was afraid that I might encounter her during my frequent visits and then be attracted to her.
As my sister-in-law, shouldn’t she try to matchmake me with her sister, why was she acting weird and overprotective to the point that she didn’t even trust me? I felt wrong but she can’t help it either, I would do the same if I were in her shoes.
However, at that time I wasn’t, so I could only do what a person in need would do.
…
“Your highness, you shouldn’t! please be afraid of heaven! you cannot enter the peony courtyard, Lady Hualing lives here!” the same eunuch tried to grab my attention with his whispery screams, I ignored him and went straight to the inner chamber, surprisingly I found not a single soul on my way.
I should have come across some guards or servants, but none of them were present there. Even when I entered the inner chamber, no maid was attending Lady Hualing who herself could not be found.
“shh….You stay outside, I have something to discuss with Lady Hualing,” I mumbled to the eunuch, as my eyes fell on the shadow of a girl, sitting on the balcony which was built on a small pond.
I silently walked towards her, the edge of the door carved with beautiful peony flowers, and the end of one edge looked like it was in the middle of the process. The tools were kept aside in an orderly manner but it was not the place they should be kept.
I tilted my body and leaned to inspect her position. Sitting beside that small pond on a cushion with a tea table before her, she was making Jasmine flower tea elegantly. A graceful charm accompanied her as she kept glancing at the water lilies that grow in the pond.
“The aroma of tea pulls the string of my heart,
Wanting to stay longer I wish time could slow down,
Will you pour me another cup, a pretext to admire your charm?” I thought in my heart but could not bring these poetic words to my mouth as they would startle her and make me look like a bad person.
“Ahem…Seems like the servants are slacking off because my sister-in-law is pregnant,” I said, stepping onto the balcony, revealing my presence.
She turned pale to see me and immediately stood up and greeted me with a bow, “May you live a thousand years,” her voice could not hide the bafflement.
“Rise!” I immediately asked her to drop the formality.
“Your highness, I wonder what brings you here?” She asked, trying to regain her mental posture.
“Are you not going to scold me?” I asked her, it was strange that she did not question me for entering the inner chamber of an unmarried lady guest, let alone the courtyard.
As a prince, I was even forbidden to enter my mother’s inner chamber, as many young daughters of officials would accompany her for mentoring.
“Your highness is the son of heaven’s son, how dare I scold you for no reason,” she replied, all this while her eyes glued to the furnished rosewood floor, preventing me from taking a look at her face.
“It’s not right for me to enter the courtyard of an unmarried girl, yet I broke the rule and even came to your inner chamber. I disturbed your personal time, and you are not mad.” I felt a little upset and annoyed and thought her behavior was pretentious, for some reason the lady I encountered last night flashed through my eyes. I wondered if she would have beaten me out if she was in place of Lady Hualing.
“The Crown Prince’s Mansion is His Highness’s brother’s house, naturally you can freely roam around with no restriction,” she answered politely which left me stunned.
I was dumbfounded by her answer which seemed familiar to me. I had said these words to that mysterious lady before, I doubted if Lady Hualing was the same person.
“Your Highness, Why are you looking for me?” She asked in a beautiful voice, lowering her gaze, she seemed to be the most gentle woman I ever come across.
Then, the mysterious lady again came to mind, her crudeness was highly unacceptable.
It was impossible that she would be the same person as Lady Hualing, I shouldn’t judge her with a few words. But her kind gesture like cooking the exotic dish and sending miraculous soup earned my respect for her. Judging from the carvings on the edges of the door and the statue she made it look like she was talented in her craft.
From the poem recited by the mysterious lady last night, she must be talented in literature. Two different people with different personalities cannot be one person, then why does my heart keep on comparing the two ladies?
“I…the soup!” I wanted to mention the statue but blurted out the soup, as I felt it would sound too weird for me to ask for a favor straight away without thanking her for consideration.
She looked puzzled as if she didn’t know what a soup as if I was not one of the people who tasted it. I would doubt that it was sent by her.
“Oh….the soup I sent? Your Highness, I am glad that it was effective. I see you still had no sleep. Morning assembly must be going on right now, I wonder if the Crown Prince sent his gratitude,” she finally remembered and said with a little laugh hidden in her tone.
“No, he sent me back for some rest. I mean he is grateful for the soup as it saved a lot of trouble today. He might even reward you later. But, I am here for something other than the soup,” I immediately explained.
“I guess the soup was not of your liking, from Madam Sui, I heard that His Highness accompanied the Crown Prince in the late night discussion. The Crown Prince retired to sleep but you instead were dragged to the Seventh Prince’s residence and then went straight to the morning assembly while the seventh prince retired to sleep. They had a few hours of rest while you were constantly disturbed, so I was worried that it may harm your health. I, thus, took the risk to send the soup to the Imperial Palace,” she spoke in one breath, seemingly panicked. Her reason made me think that she admired me, I was dumbfounded and could not speak.
“Please take a breath! The soup was delicious, as I said, it was liked by everyone who tasted it. Even, the Prime minister praised you.” I explained, and she started calming down.
“Were you worried about me? why?” I curiously asked, I must humble myself down and seek forgiveness if she was one of those ladies who often mobbed before me when I victoriously returned from my first battle. My seventh brother said that they admired me, then shouldn’t they admire me from a proper distance?
“I wonder why you are looking for me?” she asked, figuring out that I had something else to say.
From her behavior, she did seem one of them, so I decided to drop the topic and get to the real business.
I went out and brought the statue to her from the receiving hall.
At first, she was perplexed to see the broken statue and then asked, “I don’t understand, what’s wrong?”
What was she? Blind? Can’t she recognize her own creation and it was broken? Obviously, I would want her to get it fixed. However, knowing the crucial nature of the moment, I took a long breath and replied, “The statue you gifted to your sister accidentally broke and I want you to fix this.”
“Not possible!” She instantly spoke in a cold tone, completely opposite to how she was talking before, she lifted her eyes and inspected the statue in my hand from that distance.
And I? was flabbergasted by her beauty and the frowning face which looked rather cute and attractive, her alluring charm igniting the split personality she possessed. With her double eyelid, chubby cheeks, high bridge nose, and sharp brown eyes, her fair skin looked too natural to have any make-up covering her face. Her thin lips were however dry and from another sight, I could tell, she was not feeling well.
“The statue is fake!” she commented a while later, I snapped back when she looked up straight into my eyes.
“How can it be? The Crown Princess gifted this to the seventh consort, she won’t make a replica and give it?” I was bewildered to hear her say that the statue is fake.
“Your Highness, as a close relative of Imperial Family member, I am fully aware that people from noble classes who go around with a fake smile plastered on their face and calmness that even surpasses Buddha is maintained because they vent all their anger on precious things, throwing the workmanship and hard work to feel better. Thus, I made the statues in such a way that they would never break. This statue is fake, I say this because it was made through several processes, while the ones I made are carved from a single stone.
My sister is not someone who would spend so much money to make a fake statue and gift it to her childhood friend who is also her sister-in-law. It looks like it was stolen by a lady official.” She explained.
“Hmph…Aee… how can you say it was stolen by a lady official?” I asked curiously, her behavior was irking me.
“Number of reasons, how can I tell what her purpose might be? The four statues I carved as a gift for the honored consorts are worth enough to feed ten villages for a year. After the craftsmanship I put into it, the value must have risen. Knowing that it once belonged to the Imperial family, the price must have skyrocketed in the black market.
I say that a lady official stole it because only she would dare to do so, the palace maids and eunuchs are carefully chosen and have their families registered in the records, they are continuously taught and given strict lessons, adding the constant warning of implicating their clan, they wouldn’t dare to act capriciously and greed over a statue. Even if a maid or eunuch has no family, they would steal money and food but not an item which is difficult to get rid of.” Her reasons made me shiver, she was decisive, and her words all made sense.
“However, you have no evidence,” I said, trying to push her to say more.
“It doesn’t concern me, I thought narrowing down the suspects will help you out,” she spoke in a cold manner and sat down, it was completely against the rule to sit comfortably while a higher rank person was standing.
She took a sip and ignored my presence as if I was invisible, “You are such a double-faced person! Pretending to be concerned about me for no reason and then acting rudely.”
“Your Highness helped me, it was natural for me to repay your kindness.” She said again in a gentle manner, what an unpredictable lady! I was too upset to stay and speak to her any further.
“Will you fix this fake statue at least?” I asked for the very last time, losing my temper.
“I am not obliged to,” she replied and I decided not to waste my time with her and immediately inform my seventh brother about this. I headed out, stomping my feet and she didn’t even bother to send me off.
“Yao Hēishì!” She spoke when I was about to step out of her inner chamber, the sound of her sipping tea came as I felt she had no further words to speak.
The Souls of Black Folk
Completed