CH 8

The hougong rank one was assigned had a lot to do with one’s family background. In this age, martial artists were effectively the nobility, thanks to the strong influence they had in all areas of life. The mainstream sects were divided into the Sword Alliance and the Qi Confederate, and the factions in the hougong were similarly split alone these lines. The Empress was the daughter of the Sword Alliance’s leader, and the Guifei was the granddaughter of the Head of the Qi Confederate.

People like Chang Er, who was not from any martial arts sect but managed to immediately be bestowed the title of Jieyu, were extremely few and far between.

“Ah, the granddaughter of the Leader of the Qi Confederate…” Chang Er sucked in a breath through her teeth after listening to Biyv’s explanation.

The sect that her brother, Chang Sheng, was in – the Jingang Sect – was one of the small satellite sects of the Jiyang Sect. The Jiyang Sect was one of the four main sects in the Qi Confederate, and the Leader of the Qi Confederate was effectively also the leader of all the four sects… Chang Er’s low birth was painfully obvious when compared to these people.

As they talked, the palanquin arrived at Qingyun Palace. Chang Er jumped off with Chen Ziqi in tow, then looked up at the nameplate hanging above the door.

“How do you pronounce these three words?” Chang Er had been too overjoyed earlier to pay attention to what the Emperor said the name of the palace was.

“Qingyun Palace,” Chen Ziqi said, pointing at the three words in turn.

A poem was engraved on the carved stone pillar at the door. I feel not the cold wind that blows in my face / I pass through the moon and clouds to the fairy palace.

Most palace entrances had carved stone pillars like this. The top was shaped like a bowl and would collect rainwater, attracting birds to stop by and quench their thirst. There had been one in Qingping Palace as well, and the poem on that one read, “To drink clear water at the Clearwater River / To sing of peace and prosperity in a golden age”.

Fuxi said these pillars were called “Pillars of God”, and they were built for the divinity that this dynasty worshipped to rest its legs. Chen Ziqi didn’t believe that something like this would attract any kind of god – it looked like a bird bowl. What kind of god would rest on a bird bowl?

Qingyun Palace was smaller than Qingping Palace, but was a lot more exquisite. There were little streams with ornamental bridges over them, lush green trees and brilliant red flowers. As Chang Er was now a Jieyu, she was also given more attendants. In addition to the two eunuchs and two palace maids she already had, was given a few more eunuchs and maids to do the chores and other coarse labour in the palace. There were no higher-ranked concubines in the Qingyun Palace at this time, so Chang Er was the mistress of this place. She lived in the main residence, and appointed Fuyuan as the Head Eunuch of Qingyun Palace.

Fuyuan had been assigned to serve Chang Er and Chen Ziqi at the same time as Fuxi. He was sixteen years old, and was a man of few words. He didn’t have much of a presence, but was responsible in carrying out his tasks; the day they moved to Qingyun Palace, Fuyuan immediately went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with Fuxi to get Chang Er’s monthly allowance.

The next morning, Chen Ziqi woke Fuxi up at daybreak, washed up, got dressed, and went to greet the Empress.

The concubines all had to pay their respects to the Empress every morning. That particular day, the Empress had required all the new princes and princesses to go as well. Chen Ziqi caressed the jade pendant hanging from his belt, which was carved with the word “Seven”, and followed his mother into Fengyi Palace.

Practically all of the other concubines were present. Guifei sat to the right of the Empress below the dais, supporting her chin with one hand, a mysterious smile playing about her lips. The Empress did not say much. She sternly explained the palace rules they had to abide by, and also allowed the newly arrived concubines to introduce themselves.

“Gege…” Ah Mu pulled at a corner of Chen Ziqi’s sleeve.

Chen Ziqi turned to look at him. The plump little pumpkin was in good spirits. As he didn’t have a mother, he had originally thought that he would be the subject of a fierce fight between concubines who wanted to adopt him, but that turned out not to be the case. The princes whose mothers were not high ranking enough to raise their own children all lived together in Chaoyang Palace. Brown Berry lived with his mother Cheng Jieyu, but he looked to be in a worse state than Ah Mu.

Cheng Jieyu wore a gosling yellow outfit as usual. She was very weak after just having her martial arts ability dispersed, and looked like she was about to collapse any minute.

“In the afternoon, I will be in the Imperial Gardens. If you have time, you can come and accompany me.” The Guifei said suddenly said this after they left Fengyi Palace. “Cheng Jieyu and Chang Jieyu, you must come, I will introduce you to our sister concubines then.”

The concubines who were close to Guifei immediately smiled and agreed. “Maybe they should bring the Sixth and Seventh Princes along as well,” a few of them suggested.

“Why not?” Guifei said, smiling at Chen Ziqi and Berry Brown.

“Certainly…” Cheng Jieyu answered weakly, her face white and pinched.

Chang Er really didn’t want to go, but there was no way to decline in the circumstances, so she agreed as well.

[Afternoon, the Imperial Gardens]

Guifei and five concubines of the Jieyu rank and above were sitting in a shaded pavilion, chatting and enjoying little tea cakes.

“We are all sisters from the Qi Confederate, so if you run into any problems in the palace, come look for me,” Guifei said, picking up her teacup and swirling the dregs. Her fingernails were painted red with dankou.* “This palace is dangerous – one wrong move and you’re dead. Especially so if you have children. Do you two understand?”

*T/N: Dankou is a red stain, often used to stain noble women’s fingernails red.

What she meant was, you all came from families in the Qi Confederate, and my grandfather holds sway there. Accordingly, all of you naturally also have to obey me. If you obey me, you’ll live comfortably; if you don’t, there’ll be a high price to pay.

“Understood,” Chen Jieyu said in frail voice.

Chang Er plastered a smile on her face. “I’m just an ignorant bumpkin, so of course I’ll listen to Niangniang.”

“Nn,” Guifei said in approval. She gestured for Chen Ziqi to go over to her, and gave him a tea cake. “Xiao Qi has such an adorable face. No wonder the Emperor favours him, and immediately made his mother a Jieyu.”

“Truly, just look at this little face,” the concubine in purple said. She was sitting next to Guifei, and she reached out to take hold of Chen Ziqi’s face.

Her fingers looked slender and feminine, but her grip was like a vise. She clamped down hard on Chen Ziqi’s soft jaw, and tears immediately welled up in his eyes. He looked up at the woman gripping his face.

Chang Er saw that her son was in pain, and wanted to pull him away, but one of the concubines blocked her. “Don’t worry about it. Li Pin just likes to pinch little children’s faces.”

Li Pin’s heavily made up eyes stared unblinkingly at Chen Ziqi, observing his expression. “Look, Seventh Prince looks like he’s going to cry! You still have to go and pay his respects to the Emperor this evening, my dear. If his Majesty sees that you’ve been crying, he’ll get angry, you know?” she said, a note of sadistic glee in her voice. As she said this, she tightened her grip on Chen Ziqi’s face, and raised her hand to touch the back of Chen Ziqi’s head, so that her wide sleeves would block what she was doing from view.

This viselike grip was definitely not normal. Chen Ziqi felt like the bones on his face were about to crack, and tears fell unbidden from his eyes.

“Fuck you!” Chang Er pushed aside the concubine who was restraining her, and smacked down hard on the back of Li Pin’s hand.

“SLAP!” The sound reverberated in the air. The concubines in the pavilion were all stunned. Chang Er pulled her son into her arms, and on seeing that his face wasn’t bruised at all, her heart missed a beat. However, she recovered quickly. “You little bastard, what are you crying for? You’re so useless!”

“Chang Jieyu, you watch your mouth!” Guifei said, furrowing her brows. If Chen Ziqi was a bastard, what did that make the Emperor?

“You’re going to meet the Emperor in a bit, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Chang Er scolded loudly. She made her apologies to Guifei, then went off with her son in tow, saying that she needed to change his clothes as he had cried all over them.

It was indeed nearly time to pay respects to the Emperor, so Guifei didn’t stop them from leaving. She instead glared at Li Pin. “She smacked you, and all you do is stare into space?”

“Pinqie*… didn’t have time to react.” Li Pin stuttered. Chang Er had hit her in such a matter-of-fact manner, and then had immediately started yelling at Chen Ziqi – too much had happened too fast.

*T/N: Pinqie is how concubines refer to themselves. It means “I”.

Chen Ziqi had nearly fainted from the pain earlier. He touched his jaw, and was unable to speak for some time. Chang Er scrutinized his face anxiously for some time, checking for injuries. Strangely, there were none; his face was as fair and rosy as usual, with no trace of injury.

Li Pin likes to play this trick,” Fuxi explained quietly. “She often asks the princes and princesses to go to her, and then she’ll squeeze their faces until they cry. The Emperor hates crybabies, and if the Emperor sees that Dianxia was crying, he will definitely get angry. We should get Dianxia’s facecleaned up.”

Chen Ziqi slowly regained his mental faculties. He rubbed at his face, thinking hard. It was useless to complain about her, because there was no evidence she had done anything. However, this Li Pin must have practiced some kind of martial arts before in order to cause pain without leaving bruises…

Chen Ziqi looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was dressed in a new set of clothes, and his eyes were red from crying. He clenched his fists, and refused to let Fuxi do anything about his appearance. He got on the palanquin just like that, red eyes and all.

Life in the palace had a fixed routine. The princes had to greet the Empress in the morning and the Emperor in the evening.

“Hey – are you okay?” Chen Ziqi ran into Brown Berry just outside Zichen Palace, and Brown Berry actually took the initiative to speak to him.

Chen Ziqi’s tear-filled eyes were even redder now. He looked like he was about to burst into tears any second. He didn’t pay any heed to Brown Berry’s sudden expression of concern, and followed the older princes into the main hall.

This was the first time Chen Ziqi saw the original seven princes, but he wasn’t in the mood to get to know them today. He looked straight at the Emperor seated on the dais, tears falling down his cheeks.

“Seventh Prince, why are you crying?” the Zhenlong Emperor asked the teary little boy. Chen Ziqi looked cute even when he was crying, with his peach blossom eyes and well-defined brows. The Zhenlong Emperor was also fondly reminded of Chang Er when he looked at Chen Ziqi, and so asked this question.

The other princes all turned to look at Chen Ziqi.

“He really has no regal bearing, crying like this at his age,” the original Seventh Prince, now currently the Ninth Prince, sneered softly. He found Chen Ziqi annoying.

“Boohoo…” Chen Ziqi’s lips curled as he sobbed out loud. “Li Pin niangniang, she… she…”

The other princes immediately knew what he meant, and their expressions became sympathetic. They’d all suffered from Li Pin’s Pincers of Steel that caused injury without bruising. None of them had dared to complain given the lack of physical evidence.

“Li Pin? What did she do?” the Zhenlong Emperor asked, his brows knitting together.

“She touched me!” Chen Ziqi looked as if he had mustered up his courage with great difficulty to say this, and because he was overwhelmed by anxiety and nerves, spoke a little too loudly. His clear, crisp voice resonated through Zichen Palace, startling everyone. Before anyone could react, he immediately continued his tearful remonstrance. “Mother said before, that place isn’t to be touched by anyone.”

“Oh my…”

The jaws of everyone present promptly hit the floor.

“She- Where did she touch you?” the Zhenlong Emperor asked with some difficulty.

Chen Ziqi opened his robes and quickly pulled down his pants, revealing a patch of bruised skin on his legs near his crotch. The little chicken between his legs was also red and swollen.

“Squawk?!” The little red bird perched on the rafters of Zichen Palace lost its balance and fell over in shock.

Author’s Note: Mini-scene

Birdie Gong: How dare you let your bird be seen by other people!

Qiqi: No, I only wanted to let them see my thighs

Birdie Gong: … I’m gonna use my body to block your bird from view

Everyone: Whoa, it’s so red, and it’s even grown some hair! These Pincers of Steel are truly savage!

Birdie Gong: ……

Beansprout: This evil Li Pin! How dare she pinch little Qiqi! Rarrrrghhhhh