Chapter 61: Praying for blessings

Today, on the Mid-autumn Festival, Jiang Changbai had changed into court dress early in the morning, and gone to stand outside the Cining Palace's doors. According to the previous traditions, today, every member of the core imperial family were to ascend the Liuli Tower^[1] at the outermost of the Imperial Palace, and pray for blessings together with the citizenry.

The situation now wasn't as before—those who could ascend the Liuli Tower could be counted on a single hand, but what had to be done still had to be done. This was the reason Jiang Changbai was here now, as well.

The messenger maid called out a great number of times, and only then did the doors of the Cining Palace finally open. Though she'd guessed that Lu Pingwan would likely not see her, when she looked in the direction of the voice, her gaze still held some hope.

What if? Jiang Chanbgai thought.

But this time, there wasn't any what if; the doors to the Cining Palace were pushed open, and from within, An Lian, who waited upon Lu Pingwan, emerged slowly. An Lian's expression was hesitant, as if she was somewhat embarrassed. "Bixia, you'd better go back; the Empress Dowager says she won't see you."

This again, bitter laughter at herself rose as Jiang Changbai heard what was said. She didn't understand why, the day before Song Juguang had led soldiers into the city, the two of them had been on equally good terms, without the slightest omen of a conflict between mother and daughter—so how was it that, with merely a change of location, her mother was no longer willing to see her?

If it were a normal day, Jiang Changbai would stand here a bit and then leave. But today they were to pray for blessings—if she stood atop Liuli Tower by herself, who knew what sort of rumours would flow from the streets. So, Jiang Changbai gave her reason for coming, and asked An Lian-gugu to please go inside and help persuade her mother.

But An Lian remained unmoved. She knew why Lu Pingwan wasn't willing to see Jiang Changbai—it was just that, in her eyes, the reason was far too unyielding, and far too absurd. But in the end, Lu Pingwan was her master, and An Lian couldn't say anything to mediate. But Jiang Changbai had grown up under her watch as well, and An Lian truly couldn't bear to tell her the reason. She thought for a bit, and said, "Bixia, you'd better go back. Taihou-niangniang caught a cold, and her health really isn't suitable."

Jiang Changbai had heard such words countless times; if not for the fact that the imperial physicians called to check her pulse had, day after day, reported to her the condition of Lu Pingwan's health, Jiang Changbai might truly have believed that Lu Pingwan had caught some sort of difficult to treat chronic illness.

Jiang Changbai sighed, a faint amount of dejection visible on her face. On the Mid-autumn Festival, even the common people would have reunions, but she couldn't even see her own mother's face. Knowing that she had invited a rejection, and remembering the upcoming ceremony, Jiang Changbai was once more in a tangle; she gazed deeply into the Cining Palace through the wide open doors, and then turned and left. But she didn't know that, hidden in the shade of a tree, Lu Pingwan was watching her.

How could there be a mother who wasn't willing to see her own child? And more than that, as Emperor, there was no one whose achievements could surpass hers. If it were anyone else, with this sort of child, they'd feel proud. But this title had been conferred illegitimately, and Lu Pingwan couldn't get past this point in her mind.

Jumping back to that day the city walls had been breached, in the spacious Prince Ling's residence, the only one remaining who could make decisions were her and Jiang Changbai. From childhood, Jiang Changbai had been a decisive person; Lu Pingwan knew this clearly. As a result, she'd only hidden in her room, praying, and left everything outside to Jiang Changbai. After all, as long as she was there, the servants in the residence wouldn't resolutely implement Jiang Changbai's orders. In actuality, Lu Pingwan hadn't believed that the two of them would be able to survive after the city walls were breached; fleeing South a few years before had made her understanding of the rebellion even more distinct. So, she'd prayed continuously, merely praying to the Supreme Yuanhe to bless the two of them with a death that was simple.

Lu Pingwan had been able to hear the clamour outside, and was shocked by the tranquility that followed after the noise—until the door behind her was pushed open, and the one who entered, following the light, was Song Juguang. At first, she hadn't even recognised Song Juguang, only vaguely felt she looked somewhat familiar—up until Song Juguang spoke, and and then the remnants of memory were roused.

At the time, she'd been shocked shocked at it, such that she couldn't pay any mind to the dignity she'd maintained for so many years. "I'd thought you'd died."

Facing dozens of bandits alone, Lu Pingwan had truly never imagined that Song Juguang could have survived. Afterwards, when the situation had been stabilised, Jiang Changbai had sent people to look all over for her, and she'd merely taken it as a child playing house. Anyone could be a study companion. More than that, when Jiang Changbai had insisted on wanting to bring Song Juguang back to act as her study companion, Lu Pingwan hadn't agreed. Because, though according to the rules, a study companion had to be chosen from the common people, the difference between an commoner from within the capital city and a refugee whose origins were unknown was as stark as the heavens and the earth.

Song Juguang hadn't grown angry because of these words of hers, either, merely smiling at her. But the expression mixed in with that smile wasn't consistent was entirely inconsistent with Song Juguang's age, as if she'd drifted about on the battlefield for countless years. "The Princess has yet to ascend the throne—how could this minister dare to die, hm?"

The moment before she'd thought she would die for her country, but the next moment, she'd become Empress Dowager. The sharp contrast of before and after struck against her, and for a long while, Lu Pingwan couldn't emerge from her daze. By the time she'd come to herself, she'd already been sitting in the Cining Palace.

Song Juguang was someone who Jiang Chanbgai had been determined to have by her side, and the first thing she'd done after disappearing for so many years was to aid Jiang Changbai in ascending the throne. On top of that, aside from Prince Ling, who'd been scared to death, and the couple of maids who'd furtively fled, almost no one in Prince Ling's residence had been injured or killed.

Naturally, Lu Pingwan had assumed that all of Song Juguang's actions had been incited by Jiang Changbai. Committing patricide and regicide to obtain the title of Emperor, when she arrived in the Nine Springs,^[2] how would Jiang Changbai be able to face her ancestors? So, day after day, she'd knelt in the hall, praying that her prayers could cleanse her daughter's sins.

Jiang Changbai didn't know of the absurd notions within Lu Pingwan's mind, nor did she know that she was hidden in a concealed place, furtively watching her; she merely headed away with a tight, constricted chest. But she'd only made it a few steps, when she saw Liang Jiwen and Bi Yushuang heading towards her, carrying kites.

"Bixia!" Liang Jiwen was the first to see Jiang Changbai, and she came to her side, earnestly making obeisance. Yet Jiang Chanbgai, seeing this, was somewhat shocked. After all, the last time she'd seen Liang Jiwen, her expression had still been gloomy, and she could barely speak the language of the Great Li. But in barely a month's passing, when she spoke, she didn't have the slightest hint of an accent.

Bi Yushuang followed after her. "Aren't you praying for blessings today? How come Bixia's still here?"

Jiang Changbai didn't reply, but it was Liang Jiwen who spoke. "There's still half a shichen left; can't her majesty relieve her boredom a bit?"

Jiang Chanbgai smiled at her. "You know even that?"

"Of course," Liang Jiwen said, some pride on her face. "Now I know quite a lot; even the Master boasts that I'm bright."

As it turned out, after that night when Liang Jiwen had roused Bi Yushuang with the clamour of the search party, the discord between the two had led to them more or less becoming friends, and every day, they would accompany each other to the school to look for the teacher to study. The school had been specially set up by Jiang Changbai in the Rear Court.

Now, the usefulness of the Rear Court was different from the previous regime's; in the past, the Emperor's consorts had lived in the Rear Court, and they'd all been a family. But now, besides Lu Pingwan, the only ones who lived in the Rear Court were the consorts the Tai Emperor had left behind in the capital who'd had nowhere to go. By familial hierarchy, they were Jiang Changbai's seniors, but by age, the ones who were younger than Jiang Changbai, like Bi Yushuang, were a dime a dozen.

Jiang Changbai wasn't willing to let them fade away in the four walls of the Palace in the future dozens of years, and with Xun Zhu's suggestion, she'd called for a scholar, to use the place that the princes had studied as a school for the dowager consorts and dowager concubines remaining in the Rear Court. Having studied and become literate, even those with fewer goals would have something that they'd yearned for.

It seemed as if Liang Jiwen had earned a great sense of achievement in school, and without sparing her, asked Jiang Chanbgai whether, as someone who wasn't a citizen of the Great Li, she could participate in the next month's qualifying exams for the imperial exams. This was an exam which had been established ad-hoc, carried out in the entire nation, only open to women. With such a diversion, the talent who passed the exams had the qualification to participate in the metropolitan civil service exams held in at the start of the spring in the coming year.

Jiang Changbai watched her. "If you'd like to, then you can go try. But all the topics are written in the the Great Li's literary language; if you wish to participate, the remaining month, you'll need to study diligently."

"Don't look down on me," Liang Jiwen said, patting herself. "I can even write poetry now! What is it, gilded spears and armoured horses, and in the air regret—"

Jiang Changbai laughed without meaning to when she heard that; though the style in which Liang Jiwen spoke the words was appropriate, the contents of it were as incongruous as a donkey's lips on a horse's mouth. But today was a festival, and she wasn't willing to strike at others' enthusiasm. After all, that Liang Jiwen was so eager to participate in the preliminary exams was exactly what Jiang Changbai had wished to see.

Song Juguang approached from a distance, and saw them gathered together, the atmosphere quite good. She thought of how, when she and Jiang Changbai were alone together, they'd either not speak, or they'd discuss some political affairs; there'd never been such a relaxed ambiance, and an inexplicable sting emerged in her heart. Her pace sped up unintentionally, and before she'd even come to them, her voice carried over. "Bixia, the ceremony in the Liuli Tower is more or less fully prepared; you ought to go."

The mild sunlight spilled across the Liuli Tower, as if plating it with the shine of a faint layer of gold. Its frame was made of red wood, its roof tiles glazed, the corners of its eaves rising upwards, and each roof beam and pillar was exquisitely fine. Jiang Changbai had just been about to ascend the steps, when she saw Yang Zhuofei approach, clad in rich attire. First she made obeisance to Jiang Changbai, and then immediately afterwards, she explained her reasons for coming. "On previous Mid-autumn Festivals, it was always the Emperor, the Empress, the Empress Dowager, and the princes who would ascend the Liuli Tower to pray for blessings. This year isn't like the past ones; the imperial family's withered away. This servant feared that, with only your majesty in the Liuli Tower, it would incite murmurs in the citizenry, and so I rose early especially to adorn myself, and ascend the Liuli Tower to take a look, and keep up appearances for your majesty."

Jiang Changbai's gaze swept across Yang Zhuofei, and could only read earnestness on her face. It was as if she truly had thought of Jiang Changbai with attentive earnestness, and hadn't the slightest bit of disloyalty. But how could Jiang Changbai be so easily deceived by her? There had only ever been the core of the imperial family who would ascend the Liuli Tower to pray for blessings during the Mid-autumn Festival. If she were to let Yang Zhuofei stand behind her today, tomorrow, the carriages at Prince Yu's manor's gates would increase by dozens.

Knowing what Yang Zhuofei was thinking, Jiang Changbai wasn't willing to avoid propriety with her, either. "Traditions are rigid, but people are adaptable. In the past, when there were many, there was the ways of the many; now that there's few, naturally there's the strategy of the few. The ways of our ancestors aren't entirely unchanged, either. Everyone knows that the imperial family has withered, so for this occasion, never mind support."

Having finished speaking, she lifted up her skirts and headed up the tower, not turning her head to take a glance even once. It was just that, as she walked, she felt that only Xun Zhu was following after her, and she paused once more. With an aloof voice, she said, "What are you doing dazed; come on, follow me." She didn't turn her head, nor did she clarify who it was she was speaking to—because the person who was meant to understand always would.

Song Juguang had originally stopped at the foot of the tower, reclining against the wall as she watched Yang Zhuofei. On suddenly hearing Jiang Changbai's voice come from above, she and Yang Zhuofei raised their heads at nearly the same time, and the emotions that flashed in their eyes in that split second were dissimilar. Yang Zhuofei knew that the one Jiang Chanbgai was calling out to wasn't her, but she still lifted her skirts, about to head upwards. But she'd only taken half a step when she suddenly felt a tremendous external force fall on her legs, so painful she could only retreat backwards. But on looking, she found that Song Juguang had only just waved a sleeve.

In a few steps, Song Juguang followed after Jiang Changbai, as if it were the position she'd ought to have been in from the start.

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Translator's notes:

[1]: 琉璃楼, literally "Glazed Tower".

[2]: 九泉 (Jiu Quan), also known as the Diyu/the Underworld (地狱) or the Yellow Springs (黄泉, Huang Quan).