Xiao Qi, half reclining upon the bed, and Han Ruifeng, seated beside her, both turned at the sound. They froze at first, their expressions turning ugly, before rising as though nothing were wrong and kneeling to pay their respects.
“This humble subject pays respects to Your Majesty the Empress. May Your Majesty be blessed with peace and good fortune.”
“This concubine pays respects to Your Majesty the Empress. May Your Majesty be blessed with peace and good fortune. This concubine failed to welcome Your Majesty and begs forgiveness.”
Nalan Xuan raised a brow at the maid who had hurried after him and still refused to give up. Amused, he asked, “Didn’t you say your mistress hadn’t risen yet and couldn’t receive visitors? Then who is that inside?”
The maid immediately began sweating profusely. Her mistress had not risen and was supposedly in no condition to receive visitors, yet she had allowed Noble Lord Han into the bedchamber while forbidding anyone else to approach. Now Her Majesty the Empress had suddenly arrived and caught them red-handed. The maid instantly began trembling, stammering without knowing how to explain herself. “Th-this maidservant… this maidservant…”
“Enough. Stop repeating ‘this maidservant’ over and over. Leave us. I have something to discuss with Noble Concubine Xiao and Noble Lord Han.” Nalan Xuan had canceled the morning observances, calculated the timing, dismissed the servants who ordinarily followed him, and come directly to Donghua Palace to catch them in the act. Perhaps Han Ruifeng truly had been frightened out of his senses to cooperate so perfectly by rushing straight here first thing in the morning. In any case, making trouble for a mere servant was never Nalan Xuan’s purpose. He waved his hand and dismissed her.
The maid had received the empress’s order but did not dare decide for herself. She kept her head lowered and secretly glanced toward Xiao Qi, who was still kneeling beside the bed. Only when Xiao Qi gave her a slight nod did she dare retreat. The concern on her face as she closed the doors behind her was unmistakable.
“Enough. Stop kneeling. If I made a pregnant woman kneel, wouldn’t that make me far too cruel?” Nalan Xuan had not come here specifically to torment them. He merely wanted to tell a story and watch a good show along the way. He had once suffered the agony of losing a child himself. Now, with the old nightmare returning before him, there was an indescribable satisfaction in it.
That single sentence struck the two people kneeling on the floor like thunder. Their bodies went rigid as a chill shot from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads, even their fingertips beginning to tremble. He knows. At that moment, Xiao Qi and Han Ruifeng shared only that one thought.
As though his first phrasing had not been accurate or vivid enough, Nalan Xuan corrected himself. “Oh, no. That isn’t quite right. She is no longer a pregnant woman. She is a woman who is about to miscarry.”
Smiling, he walked over with almost excessive attentiveness and gently helped Xiao Qi, who seemed ready to merge with the floor, back onto the bed. “Since this is Noble Concubine Xiao’s first pregnancy, perhaps you don’t know. A woman’s body is very delicate, especially when it comes to giving birth. It is practically a trip through the gates of death. Whether one actually delivers a child or suffers a miscarriage, the body must be cared for properly and nothing can be neglected. If you mishandle it and leave behind some lasting illness, that can follow you for the rest of your life. You really should be more careful.”
Xiao Qi was frightened into silence, but Han Ruifeng had already recovered. Since Nalan Xuan knew everything and still had not immediately told His Majesty and handed them over for punishment, he naturally had his own purpose. “If Your Majesty has something to say, you may as well say it directly.”
“What? Noble Lord Han is already impatient?” Nalan Xuan laughed softly and casually found a comfortable place beside the bed to sit. “I merely had nothing to do recently and happened to visit His Majesty’s imperial study to look through some old court records. I unexpectedly came across an interesting story and was just thinking how unfortunate it was that I had no one to tell it to. Since both of you have some free time, why not keep me company and chat for a while?”
Perhaps the saffron had already begun taking effect, because Xiao Qi frowned at the faint ache in her abdomen. Yet she did not regret her decision. Once she survived this crisis, the worst outcome was merely becoming one of Nalan Xuan’s pawns. At least she would remain alive, and at least she could preserve the wealth and status of her entire clan. She could bide her time and accumulate strength. When Nalan Xuan someday lost power, that would be the moment she rose again. The process did not matter. Only the final result mattered.
“It’s still the same old subject. Noble Lord Han, do you remember what I said to you when you all came to Fengyi Palace to pay respects after I had ‘recovered from my grave illness,’ and I deliberately kept you behind alone?”
Han Ruifeng’s heart tightened, though his face remained unmoved. Calmly, he replied, “This humble subject remembers Your Majesty’s teachings at every moment.”
Nalan Xuan gave a derisive laugh and did not bother with the obvious insincerity. Part of this performance had been arranged by him, while another part was an unexpected gift from Heaven. He had endured and accumulated his plans for months. To Nalan Xuan, who had spent all that time twisting in hatred and torment, those months had felt as long as decades. Now that the fruit was finally ripe, naturally he intended to savor it slowly and thoroughly.
“In the eighth month of Emperor Huawen’s thirty-fifth year, Han Ke, then a Secondary Second-Rank Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, was impeached for taking former-dynasty officials into his circle, praising the former dynasty’s achievements while disparaging the laws of the current one, extolling the former dynasty’s culture and poetry, and composing the seditious poem On Past and Present. He was arrested and imprisoned. Emperor Huawen was furious. The entire clan was imprisoned pending investigation, and soldiers were sent to search the residence. More than seventy seditious poems were discovered, along with one surviving adherent of the former dynasty. The evidence was conclusive and impossible to deny. Without further investigation, the family was sentenced to death and the nine clans implicated, while everyone associated with them was likewise punished, exiled to the frontier, and forever barred from office…” Nalan Xuan spoke slowly, as though immersed in memories, or perhaps merely reciting what had been written in the old records.
“I remember saying before that even the most airtight punishment can leave cracks. Money can make even ghosts turn millstones, after all. Spend enough silver, and one can always preserve a single branch of the Han family. But a condemned official’s son who survived that way would probably either end up homeless in the streets or reduced to an official slave and sold wherever people pleased. Life must have been rather difficult.”
The words stirred memories sealed away many years ago, memories of the most innocent and naive version of himself.
Back then, Nalan Xuan had lost his memories. When he opened his eyes, it was already late at night, and he was sitting alone by the roadside. Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps some ill-starred entanglement. By sheer coincidence, human traffickers seized him to make up their numbers and sold him into Prince Rong’s Residence as a servant. The person sold into the residence alongside him was Han Ruifeng. Only at the time, Nalan Xuan had called himself Ning Xuan, while Han Ruifeng had been Mo Qi.
Nalan Xuan knew how they had survived those days and nights in Prince Rong’s Residence. Han Ruifeng knew even better. There had been countless contemptuous looks, endless ridicule and sarcasm, countless people sharpening their heads to claw their way upward, and countless others beaten to death after having fabricated crimes pinned upon them for no reason at all.
Nalan Xuan had been both fortunate and deliberate. He had approached the man he once believed was certain to become emperor. Han Ruifeng, still trapped at the very bottom then, had probably lived a life worse than a dog’s. How could someone with such ambition possibly remain content and obediently spend the rest of his life that way?
“But as for exactly how many brothers and sisters the Han family had back then, Noble Lord Han probably knows that better than I do, doesn’t he?” The past was the past, and the present was the present. The past could not serve as an excuse, but the present still had to pay the price for it.
“This humble subject does not understand what Your Majesty means.”
Han Ruifeng kept his head lowered, concealing his expression. Xiao Qi, lying on the bed, had already gone deathly pale. When she looked toward Han Ruifeng now, there was even more contempt and mockery in her eyes. She had originally thought he was merely lowborn. Now it seemed he was simply the son of a condemned criminal. That gave her yet another piece of leverage.
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