Yu Wanyin was writing a note to the Prince of Duan.
The best thing about the cold palace was that it spared her from having to see him in person. The guards outside looked like they were keeping her confined, but in truth they were protecting her, an invisible wall that blocked every prying eye. Inside the gate there was another layer of hidden guards, making the place as secure as the old Noble Consort's palace had once been.
Ever since that bloody magic trick, the Prince of Duan seemed to have decided she was a useful tool, and every few days he sent notes in to her.
His notes were elegant, the handwriting refined, the phrasing carefully chosen, always full of tender, lingering words. Yu Wanyin read between the lines and found that the whole page really just said "get to work."
Her Heaven's Eye sometimes opened quite eagerly, doing its best to help him fight the Empress Dowager's faction. Drawing on the notes Xu Yao had left behind, she could give him precise predictions about his moves, along with a few auspicious lines like "I foresee your total victory."
Other times it opened onto strange places: "Last night I dreamed of Xie Yong'er weeping alone, her belly swollen. I don't know what omen this is."
Perhaps her probing had been too obvious, because he never responded to that one.
And sometimes she also had to help the Prince of Duan undermine Xiahou Dan.
According to the notes Xu Yao had left, if the Prince of Duan continued on schedule, he would soon finish off the Empress Dowager's faction and turn his attention to the throne.
But Yu Wanyin still couldn't act rashly.
As they had agreed before, she really only had one chance to betray him. Once she used it, win or lose, she would never be able to influence the Prince of Duan again.
Every exchange of notes was a move in a game of careful maneuvering, and once a piece was placed there was no taking it back. Her reactions were far slower than his; she often had to think for a long time before making a move. In the old days, trading barbs with him face to face, her hair used to stand on end from the tension every single time. Now, with a thick palace wall between them, the pressure had eased considerably.
The cold palace had another advantage: it kept the whole harem at bay.
Ever since Xie Yong'er's shocking outburst, the harem had been in an uproar, and the palace intrigue plot had long since bolted like a runaway horse, never to return to its original script.
Yu Wanyin kept out of the gossip, knowing full well she wasn't cut out for that kind of drama, and to avoid getting dragged into the fallout, she figured it was best not to set foot outside at all.
As it turned out, the thing she feared most came looking for her anyway.
She wasn't looking for a fight with the harem, but the harem was looking for one with her.
Yu Wanyin had just finished writing her note when a sharp voice rang out beyond the door. "I am going in. What right does some demoted concubine have to stop me?"
Yu Wanyin: "..."
That voice sounded familiar. Who was it again?
Every harem drama had one or two pitiful concubines who truly, sincerely adored the emperor and could never have him.
In this story, that role belonged to Consort Shu.
Consort Shu had been in high spirits for some time now.
Ever since Yu Wanyin, once so favored and insufferable, had tried to poison her and instead ended up banished to the cold palace herself, Consort Shu had taken to powdering her face and rouging her lips every day, jewelry chiming with every step, gliding past the other consorts with the bearing of a woman who owned the place.
And yet, no matter how long she waited, the summons from Xiahou Dan never came.
Consort Shu grew confused. Consort Shu grew anxious.
Xiahou Dan had gone so far as to punish Yu Wanyin on her behalf. Why, then, would he not grant her even a single audience?
Consort Shu pulled out every trick she had. She bribed An Xian and arranged, while Xiahou Dan was passing through the imperial garden, to engineer a chance encounter. When that long-awaited, long-legged figure appeared along the covered walkway, she turned in feigned surprise, eyes shimmering, and bowed to him with all the grace she could muster.
Xiahou Dan said, "Move aside."
And walked on.
Consort Shu was left utterly deflated.
She finally understood: from beginning to end, this story had nothing to do with her. Xiahou Dan had punished Yu Wanyin because he resented Yu Wanyin, and Consort Shu didn't even rate his anger.
If she wasn't going to have a good time, then neither was Yu Wanyin.
As the days passed, this Consort Yu remained trapped in the cold palace, her chances of regaining favor apparently gone for good.
Consort Shu had come today to settle the score.
The long-shut gates of the cold palace let out a teeth-grating creak as Consort Shu strode into the courtyard with several attendants in tow.
Yu Wanyin went out to meet her, one hand behind her back giving a small wave to signal the hidden guards to hold steady. There was no need to expose their existence over a petty harem squabble like this.
Consort Shu looked her up and down, seeming almost surprised, then said with a curled lip, "Well now. After all this time in this wretched place, little sister's foxy little face has only grown more tender."
Yu Wanyin said, "Thank you for the compliment, sister."
Consort Shu snapped, "You see me and you don't bow?"
Yu Wanyin gave a proper, formal bow. "I overstepped. I beg my sister's forgiveness."
Consort Shu shot a glance to the side, and a young eunuch stepped forward, his voice shrill. "If you're going to apologize, apologize properly. On your knees."
Yu Wanyin went still for two seconds.
In those two seconds, she did the math: if this turned physical, the hidden guards would have no choice but to show themselves. And once Consort Shu learned the secret of this place, she would become a liability. The living don't stay quiet, and Yu Wanyin had no wish to experience the taste of killing again.
"What, you don't want to kneel?" The eunuch raised his hand high and advanced on her, full of menace.
Yu Wanyin dropped to her knees with a thud.
But the eunuch didn't hesitate for even a second. He swung his palm at her face anyway.
The hidden guard's blade was already out of its sheath.
Yu Wanyin suddenly threw up her arm, barely blocking the blow, then scrambled to her feet and ran.
Her bolting caught everyone off guard, even the hidden guards froze for a moment. It seemed like running away simply wasn't an option in these harem dramas.
Consort Shu shrieked, "Stop right there!"
Eunuchs and maids swarmed after her, chasing her down.
Cornered and desperate, Yu Wanyin found speeds she hadn't known she had, blowing into the building like a gust of wind, slamming the wooden door shut behind her, and hissing to the guards, "Quick, quick, brace it!"
Outside, Consort Shu was practically breathing fire. "Well, push it open then!"
The attendants surged forward, throwing their weight against the door, then their hands and feet too, kicking and pounding, but the wood held firm as if reinforced with steel.
Consort Shu paced back and forth like an enraged lioness and said, "Fetch an axe. Chop the door down."
Yu Wanyin thought, She's really going all out. This is a bid for my life.
The hidden guard said, "Your Highness, please take shelter in the tunnel."
Yu Wanyin said, "Then remember to conceal the entrance properly afterward. Don't let the tunnel be exposed."
The hidden guard said, "His Majesty has given orders. Anyone who discovers the tunnel is to be killed on the spot."
Yu Wanyin laughed grimly. "So this is what they call walking straight into a slaughter."
A loud crack sounded against the wooden door. The axe had come down.
Just then, a voice rang out from beyond, dripping with mockery. "Consort Shu, what game are you playing at here?"
Consort Shu turned. It was An Xian.
The mere appearance of the senior eunuch seemed to strike her like a blow. She swayed on the spot, all her bluster draining away. "Eunuch An?"
An Xian said, "His Majesty has given orders that no one is to visit the cold palace. Perhaps Consort Shu would care to take her walk elsewhere."
Once back in her own quarters, Consort Shu summoned her circle of allies and wept and railed at them.
"That shameless little vixen, out of favor and still with tricks up her sleeve, actually managed to charm Eunuch An into protecting her!"
Xie Yong'er sat in the farthest corner, looking pale and unwell, listening in silence.
She had once been Consort Shu's most trusted confidante, but ever since her suspected pregnancy had sparked the other woman's jealousy, she had been pushed hard to the fringes of the group.
She listened to the others take turns cursing Yu Wanyin for a good while before finally speaking up. "Sister, something about this is strange."
Consort Shu glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
"An Xian always goes with whichever way the wind blows. If a consort had truly fallen from grace, he wouldn't spare her a second glance, so why would he rush all the way to the cold palace? The fact that he stood up for Yu Wanyin means he still thinks she has value."
Consort Shu was stunned. "You mean that wretched concubine could still regain favor?"
Xie Yong'er lowered her head. "I don't know. But for now, it would be wisest not to provoke her further."
At the same time, Yu Wanyin was hard at work trying to talk Xiahou Dan out of something. "You can't keep dragging this out with Consort Shu."
"I can."
"If you drag it out, the Prince of Duan will realize I haven't actually fallen from favor. All that acting will have been for nothing!"
"If I don't drag it out this time, what's stopping the next person from showing up at your door with an axe?"
"...I'm not that unpopular."
Xiahou Dan said seriously, "Wanyin, the whole point of the cold palace is to protect you. If it stops working, you'll have to move out."
Yu Wanyin's heart warmed at that, but she shook her head firmly. "It took so much effort to fool the Prince of Duan..."
"I've already worked it out." Xiahou Dan smiled. "Here's how we play it: I have a change of heart. I decide I still need your Heaven's Eye after all, so I restore your rank and humble myself, begging you to reconsider. But you've suffered too much. You've grown estranged from me, and from now on your heart belongs only to the Prince of Duan."
"A widow-making vengeance play?" said Yu Wanyin, who had read enough novels to sum it up precisely.
Xiahou Dan: "...What?"
Xiahou Dan: "Ah, right."
Only belatedly did Yu Wanyin realize what she'd said. Her face warmed, and she added quickly, "That could work too, I mean. Knowing the Prince of Duan, he'd never believe you'd just leave me sitting unused. This version would seem more plausible to him."
Xiahou Dan let out a breath and got up to leave.
Yu Wanyin stared blankly at his retreating back. "Where are you going?"
"To drag her out of this."
Yu Wanyin had no particular fondness for Consort Shu, but she called after him anyway, "Just don't kill anyone."
"I won't." Xiahou Dan's tone was light, masking the flash of bloodlust that had crossed his eyes.
Yu Wanyin became Consort Yu again and moved back into the palace she had lived in when she first arrived in this world.
By the time she left the cold palace, Consort Shu had already been locked away in another, even smaller and shabbier cold palace. Because of this, she never actually saw what state Consort Shu was in when she was taken inside.
All she knew was that when other consorts looked at her now, there was a trace of wary fear in their eyes.
Xiahou Dan began performing his widow-making vengeance act, sending clothes and jewelry to her palace every few days. Yu Wanyin, in turn, remained frosty and cold, going without makeup all day, wearing an expression of a woman whose heart had died of grief.
A few days later, the Longevity Festival arrived.
At the Longevity Banquet, Yu Wanyin gathered with the other women in a side hall for the meal.
She was now just an ordinary consort, and since the Empress Dowager disliked her, she had been seated toward the back, conveniently near a window.
To show her coldness toward Xiahou Dan, she had worn a pale robe of light blue-green, her hair decorated with nothing but a plain silver hairpin, an outfit so out of place at such an occasion it bordered on defiance. And yet, on her face, it took on a striking, cold elegance instead.
Countless eyes, open and furtive alike, drifted toward her. She ignored every one of them.
Since she couldn't see what was happening in the main hall anyway, she simply focused on the food in front of her. Even though the cold palace had its own small kitchen, a feast this lavish was something she hadn't had in a long time.
From far off came the announcement: "The envoys of the state of Yan have arrived!"
Yu Wanyin turned to look out the window.
The delegation numbered more than thirty, men and women both, with high-bridged noses and deep-set eyes, unmistakably not of Central Plains descent. The men were all sturdily built and dressed in fur robes; the women were lovely, graceful of figure, adorned head to toe in elaborate jewelry that chimed with every step, clearly dancers.
At the head of the group was a middle-aged man, somewhat portly, smiling amiably.
But Yu Wanyin's gaze was drawn to the man beside him.
He was dressed the same as the other attendants, but he was by far the most powerfully built, with a heavy beard covering most of his face, leaving only a pair of deep-set eyes visible.
As Yu Wanyin craned her neck at the window, the man suddenly raised his head slightly, his gaze sharp and menacing, cutting straight toward her.
Even at that distance, a chill ran through her whole body, as if she were prey caught in a hunter's sights, a cold dread settling over her heart.
Yu Wanyin hastily ducked back inside.
By the time she looked again, the envoy delegation had already entered the main hall.
The portly middle-aged man was presenting his birthday gift to Xiahou Dan, speaking in a rapid, heavily accented stream: "The Yan envoy Haqina wishes His Majesty the Emperor of Great Xia a life as long as the heavens."
Xiahou Dan accepted the gift graciously and gestured for them to be seated.
Haqina continued, "We have also brought dancers from Yan, who wish to offer His Majesty a performance of song and dance."
Xiahou Dan said, "Excellent."
Several Yan attendants borrowed instruments from the court musicians, and after a few plucked notes, music rich with foreign flavor began to flow through the hall.
The drums struck up, the music swelled, and the beautiful dancers made their graceful entrance.
Just then, a shrill voice rang out. "Having these beauties perform is certainly a fine thing, but for His Majesty's safety, shouldn't they be thoroughly searched first, just to be safe? After all, it hasn't been so long since the last time a Yan beauty entered the palace!"
The music cut off abruptly. You could have heard a pin drop in the hall.
Everyone understood the reference at once, to the failed assassination attempt by the beauty Shanyi.
Officials throughout the hall exchanged furtive glances, some sneaking looks at the Empress Dowager seated beside the emperor. The one who had spoken up to make trouble was clearly a member of her faction.
The loose flesh on Haqina's face twitched oddly, clearly suppressing his anger.
Xiahou Dan said, "How dare you."
The official dropped smoothly to his knees. "This humble servant speaks at the risk of his life, purely out of concern for Your Majesty's safety!"
But Haqina waved a hand at this point. "No matter. We came only to offer birthday wishes, not to stir up conflict. Since this is the custom of the Great Xia palace, then let them be searched."
The side hall was full of women only, and the atmosphere was fairly relaxed. The Empress Dowager and the Emperor, the two people everyone feared, were both absent today, so everyone behaved with a bit more ease than usual. A group of young women ate and chatted, much like an ordinary gathering.
Faint music drifted over from the main hall. The consorts turned their heads with interest to listen, but the music cut off just as abruptly as before.
Everyone exchanged glances.
For something to go wrong at the Longevity Banquet like this was genuinely odd. Several women immediately left their seats to peer out the window, while the rest murmured amongst themselves.
Only two people sat perfectly still.
One was Xie Yong'er. She sat wilted like an eggplant hit by frost, seeming to glance once toward the main hall before quietly looking away again.
The other was Yu Wanyin. But she was watching Xie Yong'er.
Sensing eyes on her, Xie Yong'er suddenly looked up, and upon finding it was Yu Wanyin, she didn't look away again, simply staring back at her, dazed.
A few breaths later, she rose, carrying her wine cup over. "Sister, allow me to offer you a toast."
Yu Wanyin said, "Oh... I should be the one toasting you. I heard you were the one who told Consort Shu to leave me be. I'm grateful."
Xie Yong'er fell silent, then gave a bitter smile. "I understand what you meant now. We're all just pitiful people here."
Her mind clearly heavy with worry, she raised the cup to drink, but Yu Wanyin stopped her. "Wine isn't good for your health. Have some tea instead."
Xie Yong'er caught the implication in her words, her movements freezing, her body tensing like a wary mother cat.
Yu Wanyin tried to ease her guard. "It's all right. You can trust me..."
But Xie Yong'er had no interest in continuing the conversation. She drained her cup in one go and hurried back to her seat.
A moment later, she suddenly knocked over her wine cup.
Yu Wanyin turned in surprise to look, but Xie Yong'er had already risen with her maid and was slipping out through the side door of the hall, bent slightly at the waist.
Whatever excuse she gave, she slipped past the guards and vanished into the night in the blink of an eye.
Yu Wanyin blinked hard.
She hadn't imagined it. There had been a trace of blood seeping through Xie Yong'er's skirt.
Belatedly, Yu Wanyin rose to her feet.
Oh no. Was she really miscarrying?
And where was she running off to?
Yu Wanyin knew perfectly well how dangerous a miscarriage could be in this era. It could easily cost a life. If the Heaven-Chosen Daughter died, wouldn't that ruin everything? Surely this book wouldn't get cancelled over this?
Without stopping to think further, she abandoned her own maid and ran out after her. The guard outside the door eyed her suspiciously. "Does Your Highness have urgent business?"
Yu Wanyin forced a laugh. "...Nature calls."
She looked around, but Xie Yong'er was already nowhere in sight.
Music was drifting out from the main hall again.
The music rose, drowning out the whispers. The dancers had passed inspection and begun their performance.
Xiahou Dan lifted his wine cup and took a sip, his eyes sweeping over the hall above the rim. Some sneered, some looked puzzled, and one man's face was tight with anxiety.
That anxious man seemed to sense something and glanced up nervously.
His eyes met the emperor's directly. He flinched, startled, and abruptly stood, then after a two-second pause cried out, "Oh... oh no! Where has my jade pendant gone?"
Those around him chimed in, "Don't worry, Lord Wang, keep looking."
"I've already looked. It's nowhere nearby. I was clearly wearing it when I took my seat..." Lord Wang, as he spoke, turned his gaze toward the Yan envoy seated beside him.
The insinuation in that look was unmistakable.
The Yan man's face darkened, and he muttered something in his own language.
Haqina walked over as well and said coldly, "If you suspect him, then search him."
Lord Wang, facing the towering Yan man, reached out with trembling fingers toward the man's collar, forcing himself through it.
When he drew his hand back, a jade pendant was pinched between his fingers.
Lord Wang said, "How could this be on this envoy?"
The Yan man looked utterly stunned, then flew into a rage and hurled his wine cup to the ground.
Smashing a cup like that was an extremely dangerous signal. The palace guards nearby swarmed in at once, surrounding the group, weapons pointed straight at the Yan delegation.
Haqina, hands shaking with fury, turned to Xiahou Dan. "You... you people..."
Someone pressed a hand to his shoulder.
It was the unusually broad-built attendant who had done it. Haqina turned to look at him, and the two exchanged a swift glance.
Haqina drew a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and bowed. "We are people of a rough and distant land, unused to such splendor. He may have let greed get the better of him for a moment. Please forgive him."
The moment he finished speaking, the burly attendant swung a backhanded punch at the man accused of theft, knocking him flat to the ground.
Haqina said, "Deal with him as you see fit."
The Empress Dowager, who had been watching the whole scene unfold, finally spoke, unhurried. "Well, since the envoy is so fond of jade pendants, just give it to them. No need to let such a small matter damage relations between our two nations."
Lord Wang, smiling, tossed the jade pendant onto the ground beside the fallen man.
The Yan delegation's faces all changed color, pale with fury.
The man didn't even glance at the pendant. He rose slowly to his feet, letting it slip from where it lay with his movement, and it shattered in two with a sharp, clear crack.
The atmosphere in the hall had grown taut as a bowstring pulled to its breaking point.
Xiahou Dan spoke. "Lord Wang, where exactly did you find this jade pendant?"
Lord Wang startled, then bowed. "Reporting to Your Majesty, it was inside his... collar."
Xiahou Dan asked, "Was it? Where exactly?"
Everyone had watched Lord Wang's search just now, so he had no choice but to push through and say, "It seemed to be near the chest."
Xiahou Dan said, "Looking at the clothing these Yan people wear, it doesn't seem to fit as snugly as ours. For something this small, tucked into the collar, to somehow stay fixed at the chest? How fascinating. Go on, demonstrate it again."
Lord Wang: "..."
Haqina rattled off a few instructions, and the accused man bowed, picked up the broken half of the pendant, and tucked it into his own collar.
Another clear crack rang out, and the pendant fell straight to the floor, shattering even further.
Lord Wang had already gone pale as ash. "This... perhaps there's been some misunderstanding..."
Xiahou Dan said, "Looking at your own sleeve cuffs, they seem like they could hold a jade pendant in place just fine. Why don't you tuck it in there and let us all have a look?"
Lord Wang no longer dared move at all, only kowtowing repeatedly.
Xiahou Dan said, sounding bored, "Fine. Take him away."
Lord Wang was dragged out.
Haqina immediately looked moved, praising the wisdom of the sovereign again and again. Xiahou Dan, for his part, wore an apologetic expression and personally offered a cup of wine to the man who had been wrongly accused.
The music started up again.
No one in the hall spoke.
Everyone present had received the same message: the emperor had thoroughly broken with the Empress Dowager.
If looks could turn solid, the Empress Dowager would have already shot Xiahou Dan full of holes.
Xiahou Dan, seemingly oblivious, said respectfully, "Mother, allow your son to offer you a toast?"
Just then, a eunuch hurried over and whispered something in the Empress Dowager's ear.
The Empress Dowager paused, her angry expression fading, and a faint smile rose at the corners of her lips. She said to Xiahou Dan, "I hear two consorts suddenly left their seats and slipped out of the side hall, and from the direction, it seems they ran into the grove in the imperial garden. Who was it, again?"
The eunuch bowed. "Consort Yu and Consort Xie."
Xiahou Dan's brow twitched faintly.
"And it seems one of the consorts had blood on her clothes..." the Empress Dowager said with feigned reluctance. "I'll go take a look. My son, please continue hosting the birthday banquet."
The Empress Dowager swept out with a flick of her sleeves.
The entire hall of officials was secretly watching the imperial family's drama unfold, all except for one person, who kept his eyes fixed on the Yan delegation.
As the Yan people gradually returned to their seats, the Prince of Duan rose as well.
He seemed to be heading over to offer the emperor a toast, but as he passed by the Yan delegation, he stumbled and his wine cup slipped from his hand.
It fell toward someone's foot.
That person's toes reacted instantly, tilting and catching the cup steadily, without spilling a single drop.
But that lasted only an instant.
A moment later, the cup rolled back off his foot along its original path after all, splashing wine across the floor.
"My deepest apologies," the Prince of Duan said, looking up with courteous grace at the burly attendant.
The attendant said, "...It's nothing."
The Prince of Duan opened his eyes wide as if surprised. "Your Mandarin is really quite good."
The attendant gave a bow and stepped away.
The Prince of Duan turned instead to watch the beautiful women dancing on the floor, their jewelry chiming, and murmured as if to himself, "Truly a beauty beyond compare. A pity, though, still not quite the equal of the beauty Shanyi, back in the day."
He didn't bother to watch for any reaction from the Yan delegation, instead putting on the look of a man regretting a careless slip of the tongue, shaking his head and falling silent.
Back at his seat, he gave a subtle glance to the confidant beside him, along with an elegant hand gesture.
Only that confidant understood what the gesture meant: send someone to follow them.
At this moment, with every important figure gathered at the Longevity Banquet, the area around the imperial garden was only lightly guarded.
Yu Wanyin wandered through the pitch-dark grove for what felt like ages before her ears finally caught the sound of ragged, labored breathing.
"Sister? Xie Yong'er?" She followed the sound.
Xie Yong'er lay slumped against a tree, breathing hard, leaning on the trunk. By the moonlight and the faint glow of distant lanterns, Yu Wanyin could see the mottled bloodstains on her skirt.
Yu Wanyin said, "You're..."
She looked around anxiously but didn't see anything horrifying on the ground, and let out a breath of relief.
Footsteps sounded in the distance, several palace lanterns swaying, as if a group of people were approaching this way.
Too frantic to think it through carefully, Yu Wanyin said, "Can you still stand? Go back and change your clothes. I'll hold them off."
Xie Yong'er stared at her, eyes glazed with confusion.
Yu Wanyin could see she was at the end of her strength. "Whatever it is, we can talk about it later. Go, now."
Xie Yong'er didn't move.
She gave a bitter smile. "I can't stand up."
The approaching group had already arrived.
The Empress Dowager said, "What are you two doing out here? My, why is there blood in a place like this?" She lifted her sleeve to cover her face and turned her eyes away, as if she couldn't bear to look at something so unclean.
Yu Wanyin forced herself to explain. "This servant doesn't know either. Perhaps she's injured?"
But Xie Yong'er, on the ground, seemed to have lost her senses, murmuring, "It was that cup of wine, just now..."
She took a short, shallow breath, her head lolling to one side, and passed out.
When Xie Yong'er had first discovered she was pregnant, she could hardly believe it.
The whole thing had started from a bit of passion in the heat of the moment, a bit of jealousy, and one carefully staged bout of drunkenness. She had wanted to bind the Prince of Duan's heart to her. She'd thought she'd already taken the contraceptive tonic, that she'd be perfectly safe.
Who could have guessed that wretched thing wouldn't work on her?
When the Prince of Duan found out, he'd been remarkably calm about it, even comforting her gently. "It's fine. My appearance isn't so different from the emperor's. No one will notice anything strange when the child is born."
Xie Yong'er said, panicked, "But the emperor never..."
"Never what?"
Xie Yong'er stopped herself. In that instant, she felt something dangerous stirring in Xiahou Bo's eyes.
She couldn't let the Prince of Duan know the emperor had never touched her, because he would certainly force her to abort the child.
As a modern person, she knew exactly how dangerous abortion methods were in this era.
But she still had one option: before she started showing, she could quickly seduce Xiahou Dan and get the child properly accounted for.
This should have been a fairly simple task, if Xiahou Dan weren't such a strange case.
Xie Yong'er simply couldn't understand it. She had thrown herself at him, and somehow Xiahou Dan remained as unmoved as a monk, completely unaffected.
Could he really be impotent? That wasn't how it went in the original text.
As time passed, the situation slid steadily toward despair.
A poorly timed bout of vomiting had drawn the Empress Dowager's attention, and things had gone downhill from there.
The Empress Dowager began scheming to drug her.
At first, Xie Yong'er assumed it was because the Empress Dowager had discovered her affair with the Prince of Duan. But on further thought, if that were the case, she would have simply been put to death outright. The Empress Dowager didn't actually know the truth, yet she'd still made her move.
There was a reason no prince had been born in the harem in all these years: the Empress Dowager would only allow a single young crown prince to exist.
Which meant that whether or not the child was ever properly accounted for, it was doomed either way.
Xie Yong'er finally gave up that plan and turned instead to finding a scientifically safe way to end the pregnancy.
As the Heaven-Chosen Daughter, she had certain special advantages, for instance, a gifted apprentice in the Imperial Physician's office who was fond of her. She had been steadily working to win his favor, hoping to get him to secretly prepare a safe medicine for her without anyone knowing.
At the same time, she had to stay constantly alert around every bit of food and water, to avoid falling victim to the Empress Dowager's schemes. She'd read the original novel and knew the Empress Dowager kept nothing but the most vicious poisons on hand; if she consumed one, her odds of survival would be next to none.
Just as the safe remedy was finally about to be ready, it had all come apart at the Longevity Banquet, of all places.
After drinking that cup of wine, she'd felt a sharp, twisting pain in her stomach, her vision going dark, and she'd forced herself to flee the side hall, only managing to stumble into the trees before collapsing.
Throughout that nightmarish ordeal, only one maid had been with her.
She was grateful, at least, that it had been too dark to make out the shape of the fetus. She'd sent the maid off alone to bury the remains somewhere else.
And then Yu Wanyin had arrived.
When Xie Yong'er woke again, she was already back in her own bed.
An imperial physician was taking her pulse.
Standing by the bed were the Empress Dowager and a thoroughly aggrieved Yu Wanyin, who had simply had the misfortune of being caught at the scene and dragged in for questioning.
The Empress Dowager asked, "Well?"
The physician said, "This... there was heavy bleeding, the pulse is weak and floating, it does resemble a miscarriage, but there's no sign of a fetus..."
The Empress Dowager said at once, "If it's a miscarriage, that's a serious matter. Go inform His Majesty immediately."
Xie Yong'er's eyes snapped open.
Xiahou Dan couldn't be allowed to find out! If he found out, she was dead!
She struggled to sit up. "Mother, please allow this servant to explain. I was never actually pregnant! I only... I only had some stomach trouble that day and vomited in front of others. Someone must have mistaken it for a sign that I carried the dragon's seed and poisoned my wine..."
The Empress Dowager said, "So you're saying someone poisoned you to cause a miscarriage, and although there was no child in your womb, you still bled and fainted?"
Xie Yong'er said, "Yes."
The Empress Dowager blinked. "And who poisoned you, then?"
Xie Yong'er slowly raised her head, not daring to meet her eyes, staring instead at her chin.
The Empress Dowager's deep red lips parted and closed. "If Consort Xie knows something, she must name the culprit."
Xie Yong'er's sluggish mind finally caught up.
She couldn't name the Empress Dowager, not unless she was tired of living.
But the bleeding was real, and real facts needed someone to take the blame.
By the bed, Yu Wanyin watched, wide-eyed, as Xie Yong'er slowly turned toward her.
Yu Wanyin: "?"
The Empress Dowager said, delighted, "It seems Consort Yu isn't entirely uninvolved in this matter after all."
Yu Wanyin dropped to her knees at once. "It was Consort Xie who offered this servant a toast. This servant never touched the cup in her hand!"
The Empress Dowager said, "Then why did you chase after her when she ran out?"
Yu Wanyin said, "...This servant was only worried..."
The Empress Dowager had no interest in hearing explanations. "Guards, confine these two consorts here. No one leaves without my order."
She swept out, and the door creaked shut behind her.
If looks could catch fire, Yu Wanyin would have already burned Xie Yong'er's entire bed to ash.
She did that on purpose. This woman absolutely did that on purpose.
She'd known the pregnancy had to be terminated, that the poisoned wine had to be drunk, and so at the last moment she'd decided to drag Yu Wanyin down with her. Offering that toast had been bait, plain and simple.
There was no telling how things had gone on Xiahou Dan's end, and here she was, stuck in this room unable to leave, with no idea what charge the Empress Dowager would try to pin on her when this was over.
Xie Yong'er avoided her gaze, an unprecedented flicker of guilt crossing her face.
But Yu Wanyin had already given up on her completely.
Sure, she was just a paper character, but she was still supposed to have a modern mindset. How could her moral compass be pointed so low?
Between exhaustion and fury, Yu Wanyin made an impulsive decision.
It was time to abandon the gentle approach.
The Prince of Duan had nearly finished off the Empress Dowager and would soon turn his full strength against Xiahou Dan. They didn't have much time left.
A palace maid approached carrying a bowl of medicine. "Your Highness, please take your medicine."
Xie Yong'er had already developed a deep aversion to any liquid handed to her by palace attendants. "No need. I'm fine..."
Yu Wanyin said, with pointed sarcasm, "Little sister isn't well. You really should drink your medicine properly. No sense being penny-wise and pound-foolish."
Xie Yong'er lowered her head and said nothing.
Yu Wanyin said, "It's like this: say one day you're riding a horse and you get lost deep in the mountains. You have no food on you. You search and search, and finally you find a river. There are fish in the river, and you want to go fishing."
Xie Yong'er said, "...?"
Yu Wanyin said, "But you have no bait, so you look over at your horse."
Xie Yong'er stared at her, utterly blank.
Yu Wanyin said, "You kill the horse and chop it up for bait. You catch your fish, but now you have no horse. Was any of it really worth it?"
Xie Yong'er went completely rigid.
She had no idea when the maid had left the room, or how long she and Yu Wanyin had been staring at each other.
It felt like a century had passed before she finally opened her mouth. "You... you are..."
"Is there really any other possibility?" Yu Wanyin walked over to the bedside and looked down at her, saying quietly, "I'm tired. Let's just speak plainly, shall we?"
Xie Yong'er's eyes lost their focus, her vision blurring.
She tried hard to bring things back into focus, and beyond Yu Wanyin, she caught sight of a tall shadow cast against the door.
Xie Yong'er's hair stood on end, and she tried to stop Yu Wanyin. "Don't say any more."
But Yu Wanyin ignored the warning in her eyes. "Running from this won't help. You already know exactly who I am."
Xie Yong'er broke into a cold sweat. "What do you mean, who you are? I don't understand at all..."
"I think you understand exactly what I mean."
Seeing that Xie Yong'er was still stubbornly dodging the subject, Yu Wanyin's patience began to fray. She'd originally planned to simply say "how are you" in English, but remembering there was a guard stationed outside the door, she changed course, walked to the table, grabbed a brush, and wrote the phrase out in bold strokes across a sheet of rice paper instead.
She was carrying the paper back to the bedside when she paused mid-step and turned to look at the door as well. "Your Majesty?"
The shadow shifted, and Xiahou Dan pushed the door open and walked in.
Xie Yong'er had already been through so many emotional swings that night that she was on the verge of losing her mind entirely, and before Yu Wanyin could say anything, pure survival instinct made her blurt out, "Your Majesty, Consort Yu has been saying strange things this whole time, and scribbling nonsense on paper. This servant is a little frightened!"
Yu Wanyin: "..."
Xiahou Dan set one hand on Yu Wanyin's shoulder and asked Xie Yong'er, "You already knew I was outside the door, and you deliberately provoked her into talking and writing?"
Xie Yong'er: "?"
Xiahou Dan said, "'You catch your fish, but now you have no horse. Was any of it really worth it?'"
Xie Yong'er: "..."
Xie Yong'er: "............"
While Xie Yong'er remained frozen like a statue, Yu Wanyin waited patiently for her to come back to herself, and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"
Xiahou Dan said, "I heard someone was framing you. I came to fish you out."
"And the Empress Dowager..."
"She had someone test the cup of wine Xie Yong'er drank before she left the hall. It had a miscarriage-inducing drug in it. Then she claimed Xie Yong'er said outright that you were the one who poisoned her, and brought people to arrest you. I stopped her."
"And then?"
"Then I said I'd interrogate Consort Xie myself. She accused me of trying to force a confession, of pressuring someone into changing their story. So I said, since we're getting to the bottom of this anyway, we might as well do a thorough investigation while we're at it."
Xiahou Dan's brow furrowed, and he launched right into a reenactment. "'Mother, treating the symptom is never as good as treating the root cause. All comings and goings in the palace are supposed to be recorded, and consorts aren't supposed to leave the palace without cause, yet somehow this poison found its way in. Such carelessness in our defenses is simply outrageous!'"
Yu Wanyin played along. "'And what does my son mean by that?'"
"'In my humble opinion, we should start by putting every eunuch and maid who served at today's banquet through rigorous questioning. If no one confesses, we widen the net step by step, checking every guard at every gate, until we find out who brought in this drug. Guards!' Then I pointed at the senior maid standing beside the Empress Dowager," Xiahou Dan narrated, "'If I'm not mistaken, weren't you also at the Longevity Banquet today?'"
Yu Wanyin arched a brow, doing her best impression of the Empress Dowager. "'Hmph. Is my son insinuating something?'"
Xiahou Dan said, with an air of worry, "'Please calm yourself, Mother. Your son only fears that someone treacherous might be hiding close to you, putting you in danger.' And that was the end of it. The Empress Dowager's already got three thousand grudges against me on the books, so what's one more."
He said it all so casually, but Yu Wanyin listened with her heart pounding.
"You really are something, Xiahou Dan." A little shaken, she added, "You don't get stage fright at all, do you?"
"Of course not. She's the one with the guilty conscience, so if it comes down to a standoff, she'll be the one to break first." Xiahou Dan noticed the paper in Yu Wanyin's hand with the English writing on it, took it from her, and held it to a candle flame until it burned to a thin wisp of smoke.
Seeing him treat the English words as if they were nothing unusual at all, Xie Yong'er, still frozen off to the side, finally let go of her last shred of hope. "So the two of you, like me, are also transmigrators?"
Yu Wanyin thought to herself that there was a subtle difference in her own case compared to Xie Yong'er's, but didn't say so out loud. "Yes. Since we're all the same kind—"
Xie Yong'er's face turned ashen, and she cut in. "I've been out in the open while you two lurked in the shadows. You've had your eyes on me the whole time. I never stood a chance from the very start, did I?"
Before Yu Wanyin could answer, Xiahou Dan jumped in first. "That's right. Watching you cheat on me the whole time was quite the thrill."
Yu Wanyin choked and started coughing, hastily shooting him a look: enough, don't provoke her further.
Xie Yong'er fell silent for a moment, then gave a hollow laugh. "In that case, why reveal yourselves to me now? Wouldn't it be easier to just have me killed outright and tell everyone I died in childbirth? That wouldn't even raise the Prince of Duan's suspicions."
Xiahou Dan jumped in again. "Honestly, I find it strange too. Wanyin, why did you tell her? Might as well just get rid of her."
Yu Wanyin: "?"
Are you trying to sabotage me here? Yu Wanyin shot him an even harder glare, then turned back to Xie Yong'er, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "We've already reached the point of abortion and false accusations. If we don't lay our cards on the table now, it's going to become a fight to the death between us. We're all the same kind here. Have you considered another possibility?"
Xie Yong'er wrapped her arms around the blanket and gave a cold laugh. "I accept my loss, no need to put on an act for my sake. You didn't tell me at the start, but you watched me sink deeper and deeper into the mud step by step, and now that I've fallen this far, you come calling me 'the same kind'? Don't you find that laughable?"
She sat there now, drained of all color, wrapped in the blanket, looking as fragile as a willow reed in the wind, only her eyes still burning with defiant, unyielding anger. Seeing that stubborn look in her eyes, Yu Wanyin felt an endless, helpless weariness settle over her. "If we'd told you the moment we arrived, would your first reaction have been to cooperate?"
Xie Yong'er: "..."
Xie Yong'er had no answer to that.
Back then, she had felt with her whole heart that heaven had granted her a second chance, that she could cast off her dull, unremarkable old life and make a name for herself in this new world.
She had foreseen Xiahou Dan's certain death, so without hesitation she'd thrown her lot in with the Prince of Duan, who had naturally accepted her. She'd been full of ambition, every step of hers on a path she was certain would lead to victory.
Had she discovered back then that Xiahou Dan had become a variable, her first reaction would probably have been panic, fear that he might retaliate against her, followed swiftly by reporting it to the Prince of Duan, to eliminate the threat while it was still small.
Yu Wanyin's question had struck a nerve. "What are you trying to say? I just wanted to survive to the end. Is that so wrong? Don't tell me you don't want the same thing?"
Yu Wanyin said, "I do want that."
She softened her tone. "Honestly, I don't think this is all your fault. The real problem is this whole wretched situation we're in. If it were possible, I'd want you to survive to the end too. All of us together, sharing a hot pot, playing a few rounds of cards..."
She meant it as reassurance, but Xie Yong'er took it as an insult, glaring furiously at the two of them. "Winners and losers, spare me the saintly act. If our positions were reversed, you wouldn't have made any different choices than I did."
Xiahou Dan gave a scornful laugh. "The difference is enormous, actually."
He seemed determined to keep sabotaging things all night. "If Wanyin were anything like you, would you even still be alive right now?"
Yu Wanyin said, "No, no, that's not right, actually Yong'er isn't as ruthless as she thinks she is, really. Before you came in, she wasn't trying to trap me into talking, she was trying to warn me."
Xie Yong'er choked, her expression darkening unreadably.
But Xiahou Dan just shook his head and took Yu Wanyin's hand. "I don't think there's anything more to say to her. Let's go."
Yu Wanyin looked at him in bewilderment, but he tightened his grip and pulled her firmly out the door, calling back over his shoulder, "Bring in more guards. While Consort Xie recovers, keep this door sealed. No one goes in or out."
Once they'd reached a spot with no one around, Yu Wanyin slowed her pace. "What was that about? Xie Yong'er is still useful. She's emotionally fragile right now, and I wanted to use pressure and persuasion together to turn her to our side."
Xiahou Dan said, perfectly calm, "I know. I was playing along with you."
"That's what you call playing along?"
"Yes. I do the pressuring, you do the persuading. I've already been cheated on, so it only makes sense that I'd want to punish her a little, doesn't it? You can sneak back in later, bring her food, tend to her, wear down her defenses that way."
Yu Wanyin said, "...Punish her?"
Xiahou Dan nodded. "Trust me, words alone won't do it."
"Just hold off a moment, at least let me try first."
Xiahou Dan shrugged. "Knew you'd say that. Fine, try whatever you want. If it works, great, if not, forget it. She's a genuine villain. Even if you did turn her, you'd still have to watch for her putting on an act. More trouble than she's worth."
Yu Wanyin hesitated.
"Actually, what I said back there was mostly sincere. Thinking about it now, maybe what she did tonight wasn't calculated at all, just a panic response. And wanting her to live, honestly, that's partly out of fear this book might get cancelled. In the end, it's about protecting myself too..."
Xiahou Dan stopped walking.
Yu Wanyin didn't notice and kept going. "I'm not that different from her."
"You are," Xiahou Dan said flatly.
Yu Wanyin turned back. "?"
Xiahou Dan stood where he was, watching her with a strange look in his eyes. "Has it never occurred to you that there's more than one way to let someone live? Cut off her legs, lock her away for life, as long as she doesn't die, hasn't the goal still been achieved?"
"..." The hair on the back of Yu Wanyin's neck suddenly stood up.
"You didn't even think of that, and you still call yourself a villain?" Xiahou Dan seemed to find this amusing. "Xie Yong'er would have thought of it in a heartbeat. Let me remind you again, she's a paper character. The plot needs her to be as vicious as it requires, and she will be."
Yu Wanyin stared blankly at Xiahou Dan.
He was still in his formal robes from the banquet, though he'd removed his crown, his hair falling slightly to one side. There was no telling how many toasts he'd been made to drink, and a faint trace of wine still lingered on him. Perhaps that was why he'd said more than usual tonight, more freely too.
Freely enough to leave her faintly uneasy.
Yu Wanyin said, "You—"
"Hm?"
Stay alert, she told herself. Don't let this character rub off on you.
"You—" Yu Wanyin pressed her lips together. "Back at the banquet, did you notice anything off about that group of Yan envoys?"
Xiahou Dan said, unconcerned, "Of course something's off. The Empress Dowager provoked them that blatantly, and they just took it, not a single flare of temper. Seems like they're brewing something bigger."
Yu Wanyin nodded absently.
"But the Longevity Banquet is when security is at its tightest. If they wanted to make a move, they wouldn't pick today. More likely they're waiting to make demands when we're negotiating privately. Don't worry about that for now. It's cold out here, let's head back."
But as she turned to go, Xiahou Dan caught her hand.
Yu Wanyin's heart gave a sudden lurch, and she turned back to look at him.
At the touch of skin, Xiahou Dan's fingers twitched abruptly, as if some instinct urged him to let go, but in the end, he didn't.
His long, pale fingers, already naturally cool, felt cold as a snake's touch in the night wind.
Yu Wanyin shivered.
Xiahou Dan let go this time. "You left in such a hurry earlier. Did you get enough to eat?"
"...Huh? It's fine, I'll have the servants heat something up for a late snack when I get back."
Xiahou Dan pulled a few pastries wrapped in a handkerchief from inside his robe. "They're still warm. Eat something now."
Yu Wanyin took the pastries, dazed. They really were warm, having been kept close against his body, still holding a trace of his own warmth.
Here he was, sparring with the Empress Dowager on one hand and matching wits with the Yan envoys on the other, and he'd still remembered that she might be hungry.
"No way, this is way too easy to be touched by, you big villain." Xiahou Dan smiled as he watched her.
Yu Wanyin took a breath. "Walk with me a bit. I'm worried the Empress Dowager might try to corner me."
"Sure." Xiahou Dan urged her on. "Eat up, or I brought these for nothing."
Yu Wanyin took a bite of the pastry, barely tasting it. "So, come to think of it, what did you actually look like, originally? After staring at this tyrant's face for so long, I can hardly picture your real one anymore."
A half step behind her, Xiahou Dan narrowed his eyes, trying to recall.
"Just... ordinary, I guess. Not bad-looking."
"Ordinary?" Yu Wanyin laughed. "Weren't you an actor?"
"Which is exactly why I never made it big," he said, smooth as anything. "What about you?"
"Me? Just an ordinary office worker. With makeup on, I could just about pass for cute. Without it, that's a different story."
"Don't sell yourself short. I'm sure you're good-looking too."
Xiahou Dan walked Yu Wanyin all the way back to her quarters before returning to his own chambers. In public, they were still performing the widow-making vengeance act, so once they came within sight of the palace staff, Yu Wanyin's face cooled over, and she said flatly, "Your Majesty may go now."
Xiahou Dan, whether or not it was still an act, said gently, "Rest well, then."
Yu Wanyin lowered her head and walked through the gate.
"Uncle Bei?" she said in surprise.
"Dan sent me over just now. I'll be keeping close watch over you from here on out," Bei Zhou said in a low voice. "What happened on your end tonight?"
"It's a long story. Quite the roller coaster, really..."
"I can tell," said Bei Zhou, nodding. "Your face is still flushed."
At that very moment, the Empress Dowager's faction was holding a private meeting of their own.
Everyone wore heavy, solemn expressions, saying nothing. The Empress Dowager sat with her head bowed, picking tea leaves out of her cup in silence.
Since she wasn't speaking, one official finally stepped forward to offer a self-criticism. "This humble official was incompetent, failing to anticipate that His Majesty would make such a public challenge at the Longevity Banquet. I didn't know how to salvage the situation in time, and it cost Lord Wang dearly..."
"Brother Wang panicked and fumbled at the crucial moment. He simply wasn't up to the task, and landing in prison was no injustice." This came from someone who had never gotten along with Lord Wang and was seizing the chance for a dig.
"It seems His Majesty is growing older and developing ideas of his own. We officials have failed in our duty. We must ask the Empress Dowager to think of the dynasty's future and take firmer measures to guide His Majesty's heart." This one was clearly fanning the flames, stirring up trouble.
The Empress Dowager finally looked up. "Guide him?"
She gave a faint smile. "It's plain he has no intention of being guided anymore."
"In my humble view, though they are father and son, the Crown Prince is intelligent and generous, quite befitting a wise future ruler." This one was hinting that the Empress Dowager should switch to a new puppet.
The young Crown Prince sat off to the side, eyes lowered, the picture of meek obedience.
The Empress Dowager didn't lose her temper tonight, her voice tinged instead with something bleak. "The moment has passed."
They had missed their best opportunity. The Prince of Duan's momentum had grown too strong, and he now held a firm advantage over them. To kill the emperor now would only hand the Prince of Duan an even easier path to the throne.
As the officials went on debating whether to deal with the emperor first or the Prince of Duan, the Empress Dowager set her teacup down with a sharp clack, cutting them off. "Judging by the emperor's performance, he's determined to see the peace talks through. If we make peace with Yan, securing the border for good, the Prince of Duan's position becomes unshakeable."
The border forces had to be tied down, one way or another.
She made up her mind and said, almost lightly, "Those Yan people can barely speak proper Mandarin. Walking around the capital, friction with our own people is bound to happen. A band of barbarians, quick to raise their fists over the smallest disagreement, wouldn't that be natural? And when swords come out, accidents happen. Someone might get hurt."
The officials fell silent.
The ones who'd been sniping, the ones fanning flames, the ones calculating their own angles, all of them stopped talking at once, staring blankly at the woman seated above them.
What the Empress Dowager wanted wasn't simply for the peace talks to fail. That alone wasn't enough for her.
If she was going to act, she wanted to go all the way: wipe out the entire Yan envoy delegation right here, on this soil. For one nation to slaughter another's envoys mid-negotiation was about as grave an insult as existed, and she wanted to provoke the Yan army into seeking vengeance, sparking a whole new war.
A true villain. This was a real villain.
Infighting was one thing. Dragging Yan into it was an entirely different order of magnitude.
One official wiped away a cold sweat. "But... the safety of our territory..."
Another quickly fell in line. "What, are you all afraid the central army might actually lose if it comes to real fighting? Even if the central army fails, we can still send in the right-flank army. Then Yan and the Prince of Duan wear each other down, and we come out ahead either way."
With one careless remark, the lives of countless soldiers had been reduced to chips on a gambling table.
The official who'd broken into a sweat glanced furtively at the young Crown Prince beside him, as if hoping the boy might speak up. The Empress Dowager noticed and asked outright, "What does the Crown Prince think?"
The young Crown Prince considered for a moment. "If Grandmother says to fight, then we should fight."
The Empress Dowager laughed heartily. "What a good, obedient grandson. Far better than the one currently sitting on the throne."
Even the most ambitious officials in the room felt a chill at that.
The thought that the future of Great Xia might one day rest in the hands of a child like this was enough to send a shiver down anyone's spine.