The Moon in the Palace (The Empress of Bright Moon Duology)

by Weina Dai Randel

  “Well, then.” The Emperor straightened. “We shall devote the rest of the morning to discussing foreign affairs.”

  I went to sit in a corner. I had to tell the Noble Lady of the Secretary’s proposal. How had Jewel won such support from a powerful ally? And most importantly, what should I do now?

  After the Emperor finished the audience, we headed back to the Inner Court. I finished my midday meal quickly and went to the Noble Lady’s bedchamber.

  “I’ve heard.” She nodded. “What a surprise. Most Adored has been busy making friends, and what a powerful ally she has obtained. You said the Emperor asked the other courtiers’ opinions too?”

  “Yes. Several.”

  “What did the Emperor look like when he listened to their suggestions?”

  “He didn’t seem to object to Jewel.”

  The Noble Lady rubbed her chest nervously. “So we must stop her.”

  “We need more time.” The Emperor liked me, but I was not Most Adored yet. I would need to spend more nights with him to solidify my status. “Or we could forge alliances.”

  We needed a champion who would suggest the Noble Lady or even me. But I could not speak that thought openly, even with the Noble Lady. And we needed to find an ally fast. Secretary Fang would not stop pressing the Emperor until he succeeded, and we would not have the astrology chart to help us next time.

  “The Duke has only his own welfare in mind,” the Noble Lady said. “He will not agree to have his late sister’s position replaced by another woman. Besides, he hates me.” She sighed. “His late sister was not fond of me.”

  “How about the Uncle?”

  He did not have the Emperor’s favor, for the moment. But he was still influential in the court. Then I realized he must have been the one who was behind the empress proposal. He resented the Duke. If he succeeded in making another woman the empress, he would gain a powerful ally and possibly crush the Duke.

  “He’s from the older generation,” the Noble Lady said. “Proud and conceited. He was the one who aided Emperor Gaozu during the war. I hardly know him.”

  “What about the Grand Chancellor?”

  “It’s difficult to say. He is a great statesman, a well-known historian, but also a traitor.”

  “Traitor?”

  “He used to serve my father.”

  I frowned, feeling lost. The intricate court relationships were more complex than I had ever imagined. Everyone had a history, a purpose, and a stance to maintain, but I had no history, no supporters, and my purpose led me nowhere.

  “Then why did the Secretary support Jewel? Could it be possible that she is a relative of his?” I asked.

  The Noble Lady shook her head again. “I know him. He is not related to Most Adored.”

  “But she must have known him somewhere or some time ago,” I said. “Is she meeting him in secret? How does she get to know him?” I wished I could ask her in person, but it had been a few months since I talked to her in the stable. Suddenly, I recalled Jewel’s odd behavior there. It seemed she had known Pheasant when he was young, but she had denied she was exiled. She had been lying to me. She was trying to hiding her past. “My Noble Lady, are you aware that Jewel was exiled?”

  “Exiled?” She looked at me in surprise. “Where did you hear that?”

  “I met her in the Yeting Court years ago. She told me.”

  “I did not know. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  “It did not seem important.”

  “I have never heard that she was exiled. I thought she was one of the old Selects from the Yeting Court. Are you certain?”

  “She told me a few years ago, before she won the Emperor’s favor, but then more recently, she tried to deny it.”

  The Noble Lady looked pensive. “If she had been in the Inner Court before, shouldn’t I or someone else know her? When was she in the Inner Court?”

  Jewel had waited in the Yeting Court for seven years, and it had been two years since she told me her past. “That would be at least nine years ago.”

  “Nine years ago? What was her title?”

  “She didn’t mention it so she could have been a minor concubine.” I stared at the Noble Lady with hope.

  “Nine years ago, a minor concubine named Jewel… Let me think… A minor concubine… I would not see her often.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember. But with her cunningness, and her returning to the Inner Court for the second time, she would certainly know how to manipulate the ministers.”

  “Including the Secretary.” I sighed.

  “Now I’m very curious.” The Noble Lady stroked the box filled with spiders. “Why was our Most Adored exiled from the Inner Court?”

  I had asked Jewel the same question, and I had heard no answer. But all the same I was excited. Jewel had a secret, and that would be her weakness. If I found out what it was, I would be able to strike back. I could even stop her from taking the crown.

  I bid the Noble Lady a good day and then left her bedchamber.

  The master’s words came to me: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

  What was Jewel’s secret?

  • • •

  I began with Jewel’s maids. I stopped in front of her house more often. To make myself less conspicuous, I dropped the things I carried, a candle or a handkerchief, so I could get an idea of the activities inside Jewel’s house. But Jewel’s maids noticed me and they drove me away. I changed my strategy, bribing them with my allowance, sending them sweet dates and rice cakes. The maids ate them but never had the grace to say thank you.

  I began to talk to the food delivery eunuchs, the laundry ladies, and then the eunuchs working in the kitchen. None of them knew of Jewel’s past.

  Eunuch Ming. Would he know about Jewel’s history? I found him near the entrance to the Yeting Court. He caught sight of me and followed me as I led him to a quiet bamboo grove near a pavilion.

  I put out my palm, where a gold ingot sat. I had five of them, which I had saved for moments like this. “Tell me about Most Adored. Why was she exiled?”

  His small rat eyes fixed on the gold. “Exiled? I did not hear of that.”

  I closed my fingers on the gold. “Well then, I will give this to someone else who will be more helpful.”

  “Well, it must have happened many years ago. Who would remember?”

  I turned.

  “Wait, wait! Come back! I don’t know why she was exiled, but I know she is not who she claims to be.”

  “What?” I turned around.

  “She is not called Jewel. I remember some old eunuch mentioned it once. He died years ago. A sick man, you know what I mean. Yes, Most Adored. She was in the Yeting Court for years, always alone too. She had a different name then, but somehow she told people her name was Jewel. No one really cared then…”

  She had changed her name? How clever! It was easy to do in that forgotten court where no one knew her. “What is her real name?”

  He frowned, scratching his head. “It’s…Slender Willow? No…Silver Lotus? Wait…Snow Blossom!”

  I handed the gold ingot to him.

  My heart racing with excitement, I walked fast to tell the Noble Lady. She would be shocked, and pleased, to hear Jewel’s real name.

  “Snow Blossom?” The Noble Lady’s eyes were wide. “Her real name is Snow Blossom?”

  I nodded. That was why few people remembered her. She had been a minor concubine in the Inner Court nine years before, and she had changed her name. After so many years, with her white hair just like the other old Selects in the Yeting Court, everyone just assumed she was one of them.

  But why was she banished? What was she trying to hide?

  • • •

  “Mei, there you are!” Plum put down a handful of roasted sunflo
wer seeds on the table and pulled me to the corner as I entered our bedchamber. “I must tell you something. Most important news! Very shocking indeed.”

  “What news?” I asked.

  “They found a body this afternoon, buried in the leaves under a bridge near the Archery Hall. A body! A guard’s body!”

  “Who’s the guard?”

  Plum popped a sunflower seed into her mouth and spat out the shell. “He was the head of the ninth Gold Bird Guards division. His nickname was Fifth Girl.”

  Traditionally, when a boy was born, his parents addressed him as a girl to avoid evil spirits snatching his life, and that nickname usually stayed with the person well into adulthood.

  “How did he die?”

  “Some said he was drunk and involved in a brawl, so he was killed by accident,” Plum said, her face pink with excitement. “But some people also said there was no brawl, and Fifth Girl was not drunk, because he never drank, so they said he was killed for no reason.”

  I frowned. “So how did he really get himself killed?”

  She went to the door to make sure that no one was coming to our chamber and lowered her voice. “It is because of the prophecy, Mei. Everyone is talking about it.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yes! You should listen to them! No one has ever died in the palace before, they said, but ever since the shooting stars, two guards”—she put up two fingers—“not one, died without a reason. What else could it be?”

  She reminded me of the other guard, nicknamed Black Boy, who was shot for stealing horses. Something told me that what Plum said was true, but I did not want her to keep talking and get into trouble.

  I picked up a handful of seeds from the table. “These smell good. How do they taste? ”

  Plum did not appear to hear me. She looked around to assure no one was eavesdropping on us, even though we were alone. Her face pink with excitement again, she said, “Here’s another thing, Mei. Have you heard of the ballad?”

  “What ballad?”

  “They said the children on the streets are singing this, and the grocery eunuchs heard it. It goes:

  “This morning, a crooked branch grows on my mulberry tree,

  It dips low to my well and begins to sing a story, that I must tell thee.

  Once upon a time a phoenix shed hot tears in the mountain of flame,

  the fire burns a young crane that flies over, leaving no name.

  Now the old dragon shuts his eyes and sleeps under a stone,

  and the crow sings on his throne.”

  I sucked in air. Of course. That was why the Emperor made those cryptic comments about lies and truths when he’d summoned me that night.

  “You said the children on the streets are singing this?”

  She nodded. “If the Emperor finds out who started it, he will—” She made a gesture of slashing her neck with her hand.

  My mouth was dry. Whoever started the ballad could also be the man predicted in the prophecy, the man who would end the dynasty’s reign.

  “So do you think the Emperor knows who his foe is, Mei?”

  I shook my head. He did not. If he had known, there would have been only one death, not two.

  “You don’t think Fifth Girl is the one?”

  “He could be.”

  “I don’t understand, Mei.”

  “Me neither.” I sighed. “I just hope this will be over soon.”

  Or was that only the beginning? I thought of the reports of violence that had broken out on the street lately. In one particular case, a group of rebels had stolen two transportation boats that carried grains from the Grand Canal. The Emperor’s uncle went to arrest the rebels, but when the Gold Bird Guards arrived, the rebels had all fled. The Duke, who took advantage of the Uncle’s failure, accused him of letting the rebels escape deliberately. The Uncle was furious and claimed the Duke had planted a spy among his men and sabotaged his mission.

  In any case, the damage was done, and the outlaws from nearby towns, even those in the south, were encouraged by the rebels’ success and attacked the imperial delegations that transferred horses, grain, silk, and gold.

  Plum popped three sunflower seeds in her mouth. Her mouth wiggled for a while, and then she spat out all the shells and swallowed the kernels. I watched her, fascinated by her skill.

  “How long have you been in the court now, Plum?” I put a seed between my teeth and cracked it open.

  “Almost five years.”

  So Jewel had arrived in the palace before Plum. There was no way she would know Jewel’s true identity.

  “Why did you ask, Mei?”

  “Perhaps it’s time to prepare for your five-year anniversary,” I said, carefully picking out the small, cream-colored kernel with two fingers.

  “What are you not telling me?” She stood nose to nose with me. “I heard the Secretary’s proposal in the Audience Hall. It doesn’t look good for the Noble Lady, does it?”

  “I don’t wish to drag you into this.”

  “What do you need to know?”

  I did not speak.

  She nudged me with her shoulder. “Out with it.”

  I chewed the kernel. “Do you know that Most Adored’s name, Jewel, is not her real name?”

  Her eyes widened. “Then what is her real name?”

  “Snow Blossom.”

  “Why did she change her name? I thought she was a lady from the Yeting Court, an old Select.”

  “No. She is not a Select either. She was exiled to the court years ago.”

  Plum raised her pained eyebrows. “Are you certain? Why was she exiled?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Well, well, well.” She smiled, showing her bucktooth. “It’s my skill to unearth the hidden secrets. I’ll let you know as soon as possible.”

  27

  The next day, when the Emperor came to the Audience Hall, I waited in the antechamber. Secretary Fang championed Jewel again. Just as I feared, the Duke and Wei Zheng could not find another excuse to stop the discussion, and the Uncle remained quiet. The Emperor appeared to consider Jewel seriously. The following day, she appeared in front of the advisers during a meeting and gave them bolts of silk and lavish gifts. When they took a break between meetings, she brought out trays of delicacies for them: roasted quail, poached pig ears, and stewed bear paws as their snacks. The ministers looked pleased. They devoured the food and soon sang a song of praise to Jewel.

  “Indeed, Most Adored is the most virtuous woman I have ever seen,” they said.

  The Emperor laughed. He walked together with Jewel and the ministers while I trailed behind. None of the men noticed me.

  Despair grew inside me like a spring seed. I needed to work harder and quicker.

  But Plum found nothing, and I still did not know the reason why Jewel had been exiled.

  • • •

  The Noble Lady raised her head as I entered her bedchamber. “Sit, sit,” she said, fingering her necklace as she went to a painted stool near the window.

  “You wished to see me, my Noble Lady?”

  “I don’t know how to begin, Mei. But I believe you must know this.” Her hand left the necklace, and she faced me. “There is a rumor that you sold the Emperor’s night robe for money.”

  “What? I did not.” I clenched my fist. “You don’t believe that, do you?”

  “Of course I don’t. You would never do such a thing. I talked to some eunuchs and paid them to quiet the rumor. I assure you this won’t get to the Emperor’s ears.”

  “It’s Jewel’s trick again,” I said. “She should have played something new.”

  “You’re wrong about this, Mei.” She shook her head. “The sources said it was not from her, but she definitely heard it and fanned the rumor.”

  “Who started it then?”
>
  “They said it was a female minister.”

  I inhaled deeply. Rain. I had almost forgotten about her.

  “Do you know who she is?”

  I nodded.

  “Is there anything I should know, Mei?”

  I could not lie to her. “Teacher Rain had an affair with Prince Zhi. She thinks the prince is interested in me.”

  “Prince Zhi.”

  I glanced at her, uncertain if she was angry with me.

  “The Emperor adores him, I told you before, and when Wende lived, Zhi stayed in her bedchamber, and she raised him like a pearl. People still treat him differently. The girls lose their heads when they see him. I don’t understand why the Emperor keeps him in the Eastern Palace. Perhaps he doesn’t know about Zhi’s dalliances. But Prince Zhi is trouble. You’ll stay away from him, won’t you?”

  “I will.”

  “Good. I have faith in you. You’re not like other girls, who are easily fooled by him.” She went to her spindle wheel. “I’m happy you discovered Most Adored’s real name, Mei. You did excellent work. Have you found out anything else about her?”

  I shook my head. Plum had bribed the eunuchs, the teachers from the etiquette schools, and even the scribes from the Outer Palace. Soon, she said, she would hear something about Jewel. But by then, it might be too late.

  We did not have much time. Since the ministers had approved of Jewel, it depended on the Emperor. Once he decided, she would become the Empress. He could announce his decision any moment.

  “She hasn’t come out of her bedchamber,” the Noble Lady said, beginning to spin her spindle wheel.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  Doors squeaked open in the courtyard. I looked through the latticed window. Jewel’s maid, the one with freckles, came out of her bedchamber with a tray of food.

  “What is it?” the Noble Lady asked.

  “It looks like she didn’t like the meal.” The food was untouched, and I could see a plateful of chicken. “She didn’t eat it.”

  “My maid said she has had a poor appetite lately.”

  “Perhaps she’s sick.” I hoped.