Si Yunqin returned to her Eternal Peace Palace. Once inside, she shed her heavy regalia, changed into a light tunic, and retrieved her sword. She warmed up in the back garden until her entire body felt comfortable.
While she practiced swordplay, the palace maids and eunuchs quietly gathered to watch. Perhaps life in the palace was boring—everyone lived strictly by the rules, and seeing someone as unrestrained as Si Yunqin for the first time stirred a hint of envy in them.
After an hour of practice, Si Yunqin was drenched in sweat. She went back and took a bath. Her hair wasn’t even fully dry when her head palace maid came to tell her that the Empress Dowager had ordered Grand Consort Yuande to deliver all the accounts of the Imperial Harem, and from now on, the Empress would be responsible for them.
The head maid had just finished speaking when she saw Si Yunqin’s face twist in pain. Si Yunqin sighed deeply, as if she was extremely reluctant to take on the task.
“I understand. Please ask the Grand Consort to wait briefly in the Main Hall. I will go after changing clothes. Do not neglect her.” Si Yunqin was unwilling but had to accept. She had already agreed at the Empress Dowager’s palace today, so she couldn’t just refuse outright.
As for what happened next, she would first have to see whether this Grand Consort Yuande was easy to get along with.
Si Yunqin didn’t hide her reluctance in front of her head palace maid. Since this maid was the head of her palace, she would have to handle tasks for her; she couldn’t be on guard against her every step of the way. She was also testing whether this maid was a plant of the Empress Dowager.
Si Yunqin admired Shen Yanxin, but she didn’t want everyone around her to be Shen Yanxin’s people. That would make her somewhat uncomfortable.
The head maid went to deliver the message. Si Yunqin quickly grabbed her clothes and dressed, letting Si Yin do a simple hairstyle for her—just enough to avoid being rude.
Hurrying to the Main Hall, Si Yunqin saw an elegant, gentle woman seated there.
The woman looked slightly older than Shen Yanxin, about thirty-something years old. When she saw Si Yunqin enter, she raised her eyes and looked over.
Si Yunqin had never seen a woman so tender as water. Her mother had been a noble lady, but after so many years with her father, her temperament had taken on a bit of a martial edge.
Shen Yanxin was beautiful, yes—but her beauty was like a sharp blade, carrying an edge. The woman before her, however, truly let Si Yunqin understand what it meant to be “tender as water, brows like distant mountains.”
“Greetings, Grand Consort.” Si Yunqin stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
Although she was the Empress and nominally the ruler of the harem, the Grand Consort was her elder and held a higher honorary rank. Ritually, it was appropriate for Si Yunqin to bow.
Yuande quickly helped her up. “The Empress need not be so courteous.”
Her voice was pleasant too. Si Yunqin instantly liked her much more, and even her smile became more genuine.
How could anyone not like a beautiful, gentle elder sister?
“I heard long ago that the Empress was a delightful person before she married. Now that I see you, you truly live up to your reputation.” Yuande looked at the young face, still showing signs of childishness. Though immature, it could not hide her elegance—even before fully blossoming, she was already a peerless beauty, with clear eyes and a bright smile.
Just looking at such a person filled one with joy. Thinking that she had to enter the palace at such a young age, and that marrying an emperor was supposedly a great honor—but when she remembered the emperor was only three years old—she couldn’t help but feel pity.
Si Yunqin heard her words and knew they were just polite pleasantries, but she still replied obediently, “The Grand Consort flatters me. I dare not accept such praise.”
Si Yunqin just let those words pass through her ears; she didn’t think anyone truly meant them.
“No need to be so modest.” Grand Consort Yuande beckoned to a palace maid behind her and stated the reason for her visit.
Si Yunqin thought for a moment and invited her to the study room.
“Your Subject has just taken over the accounts. If there is anything I don’t understand, I will need to seek the Grand Consort’s guidance,” she said to Yuande as they sat side by side.
“Of course. Since the Empress is new, I will naturally assist you as much as I can. This is also what the Empress Dowager instructed. The Empress need not worry.” Yuande explained gently, afraid that Si Yunqin would be too anxious.
At the study, Si Yunqin invited Grand Consort Yuande to sit. The palace maids placed the account books on the table.
Si Yunqin sat across from Yuande, ordered tea to be served, and opened one of the account books.
Looking at the various items and figures listed, Si Yunqin’s head ached.
She had never liked arithmetic. That was why she had studied liberal arts in her past life. She never thought that after escaping advanced math in university, even after dying and being reborn, she would still have to deal with numbers.
Yuande had a good temperament; patiently and meticulously, she explained many things to Si Yunqin.
Before they knew it, half a day had passed.
Seeing that it was time for the noon meal, Si Yunqin kept Yuande to dine together.
Over the following month, Yuande came to Eternal Peace Palace every day to help Si Yunqin manage the affairs of the harem.
After getting familiar, Si Yunqin learned exactly how many people there were in the harem.
In total, there were thirty royal consorts. Besides herself, they were all the late emperor’s consorts. Seeing that number, Si Yunqin felt a strong disgust toward the late emperor. At his age, he had married so many women, wasting their youth for nothing, trapping them in the palace to waste their lives meaninglessly.
“After the late Emperor passed, the Empress Dowager dismissed many of the palace maids and eunuchs, letting them leave the palace. That’s why there are so few people in the palace now,” Yuande explained to Si Yunqin.
Si Yunqin had also heard that originally, all these consorts were supposed to be buried alive with the deceased emperor. But the Empress Dowager had begged an imperial decree from the late emperor while he was still alive, excusing them from the burial ritual.
According to normal protocol, if these consorts of the late emperor were not to be buried alive, they should have followed the princes to their fiefs and not remained in the harem.
But the reason the three-year-old little emperor could ascend the throne was precisely because the late emperor had struggled to produce heirs. In his vast harem, he had only produced this single male heir. Besides him, there was only Grand Princess Yuwen Qiyue, born of the late emperor’s first empress.
Thinking that over, Si Yunqin felt that the Empress Dowager was actually pretty decent—at least she wasn’t someone who killed indiscriminately.
Once she got the hang of things, the daily tasks weren’t too many. When Yuande saw that Si Yunqin could manage on her own, she stopped coming every day.
Instead, Si Yunqin herself grew bored.
After some thought, she ordered her head palace maid Lin Feng to prepare some gifts, intending to give them to all the consorts in the harem.
But there were thirty consorts in total. Visiting each door in person would be exhausting—impossible. She only planned to deliver gifts to the few who held the title of Grand Consort.
There were only three Grand Consorts. Besides Yuande, there were two left.
One was titled Xi, the other Shu. Both had been Noble Consorts in their day, deeply favored by the late emperor.
Though they were older now, their charm remained. Grand Consort Xi loved qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Si Yunqin couldn’t really converse with her about these things. Although she had studied them, she had only scratched the surface, barely knowing the basics. She could talk a little, but if the conversation went deeper, she would reveal her ignorance.
But perhaps the deep palace was so boring that Grand Consort Xi didn’t mind Si Yunqin at all. In fact, she seemed quite eager to teach her.
Si Yunqin wasn’t unwilling to learn; she simply lacked the talent. Most of the time, she only half understood. After spending some time in Grand Consort Xi’s palace, Si Yunqin felt that she had been thoroughly imbued with an artistic atmosphere.
As for Grand Consort Shu’s palace, Si Yunqin was even less inclined to go there. Grand Consort Shu had already entered the Buddhist path. Listening to her chant sutras held no interest for Si Yunqin. She was still young and not ready to become free from all worldly desires.
Shen Yanxin had been extremely busy for a month. When she finally had a little free time, she rarely asked about Si Yunqin’s recent situation.
Her close personal attendant, Lan Xi, told her how Si Yunqin had been getting along since entering the palace.
She was either practicing martial arts in the palace or drifting around the various consorts’ palaces.
“I heard that all three Grand Consorts are very fond of Her Majesty the Empress.”
Shen Yanxin put down the memorial she was reading. “Oh?”
“Grand Consort Xi is that kind of person. Can she actually get along with Si Yunqin?” Grand Consort Xi had always been known as aloof and proud back when the late emperor was alive. With Si Yunqin’s temperament, she couldn’t be very skilled in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. So Shen Yanxin was a little curious.
Lan Xi replied, “I heard that Grand Consort Xi has recently given the Empress many fine gifts. It seems she likes her.”
Shen Yanxin was somewhat surprised to hear that.
But as long as Si Yunqin was well-behaved, she didn’t mind what the little empress did in the palace.
“Forget it. Let her be. This palace is boring; it’s not bad for them to keep each other company.” She had kept these women in the palace to protect their lives, but she absolutely could not let them leave. The years in the palace were long, and if Si Yunqin was willing to interact with them, that wasn’t a bad thing.
“Where is His Majesty?” she asked. She bore the entire Zhao Kingdom on her shoulders alone. Outside, the northern nomadic tribes were eyeing them covetously, and the small southern states were no pushovers either. Inside the court, there were naturally those who bullied the young emperor for his youth and took advantage of the imperial clan’s weakness. The Zhao Kingdom had just been established; the people’s livelihood had not yet recovered. All of these were burdens weighing on Shen Yanxin.
How could she care about who Si Yunqin got along with in the palace?
The young emperor was still a child and needed education. Trusting the Grand Tutor entirely made Shen Yanxin uneasy.
Every few days, she would find time to check what the young emperor had learned.
“His Majesty is taking a walk in the back garden. He has just finished his morning lessons,” Lan Xi answered Shen Yanxin.
“The hundred flowers in the back garden have bloomed recently. His Majesty likes them, so the wet nurse accompanies him for a stroll.”
Shen Yanxin glanced at the pile of memorials in front of her, sighed, and didn’t have the heart to grade them right now. “Let’s go take a look.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
Shen Yanxin went all the way to the back garden. It had been so long since she had walked there that she saw everywhere was vibrant and blooming with a profusion of flowers.
From afar, she saw a group of people in the garden. Palace maids and eunuchs stood by, and a woman in a pink dress was playing with a young child.
She thought it was just simple play, but then she heard the child tugging at the woman’s sleeve and asking, “Empress Sister, is this what you called ‘the scent of flowers and the songs of birds’ that day?”
Si Yunqin heard the young emperor’s soft, childlike voice, smiled, and crouched down to wipe his sweat. “Yes, Your Majesty. Can you hear the birds?”
“I can.”
Shen Yanxin hadn’t seen Yuwen Luo so cheerful in a long time. She stayed in the distance, watching without approaching.
Si Yunqin sensed her arrival, looked up, and their eyes met. For some reason, Si Yunqin felt guilty. Would the Empress Dowager think she was leading the young emperor astray with frivolous pursuits?
Just standing there silently watching them was a bit terrifying. Although Si Yunqin privately felt the young emperor was still too young to be rushed, children grew slowly.
But he was the emperor after all, not an ordinary child. The Empress Dowager was his adoptive mother, and how he was educated was not for Si Yunqin to decide.
Seeing that Si Yunqin had already spotted her, Shen Yanxin simply walked over.
