Changliu and Ye Feisheng - Chapter 5

Once we had left the Imperial Noble Consort’s residence, my mistress asked me to take her to Hanzhang Hall.

The princes and princesses studied there.

She had barely reached the door when a tiny figure flung herself at her.

“Teacher!”

An adorable little girl wrapped her arms around my mistress’s waist. “You haven’t come for so long!”

My mistress stroked her hair. “Why aren’t you studying? What are you doing out here?”

As she spoke, her fingers found something hard in the girl’s hair.

She parted it. A small stone.

She gently picked it out.

“Does it hurt?”

The girl buried her face against my mistress’s stomach and shook her fluffy little head.

Just then, a whole group of children came running out.

The eldest prince led them.

“Where did that little bastard go? Come out, you little bastard! You little—”

The shouting stopped dead at the sight of us.

They hid what they were holding behind their backs and stood rigidly upright. “Y-Young Mistress Ye!”

She glanced at them and said nothing.

The little girl trembled with fear, burrowing into her arms as though she wanted to hide inside her body.

My mistress remained silent.

Children were children, after all. It took only a brief silence before they cracked.

The eldest prince forced an awkward smile. “Young Mistress Ye, we were only playing with her…”

My mistress returned the courtesy with a smile of her own.

It was so cold that he shivered.

Even a reckless fool like him could tell she was truly angry.

—

“Help!”

“Put us down!”

“Mother! Mother!”

“Mother! Waaah!”

“Father! Father, save me!”

Their wailing shook the sky.

I had tied up every child who had threatened the little girl and hung them in a tree.

To stop anyone from easily taking them down, I’d hung them especially high.

High enough…to look out over the entire palace.

Ordinary people could never reach such a fine vantage point.

I was so kind.

Palace servants knelt everywhere, trembling as they watched, not daring to make a sound.

My mistress held the girl in her lap and covered her ears against the little brats’ shrieks.

As soon as the consorts heard, they rushed over.

Powerful officials outside the palace hurried in too.

Even the emperor abandoned the ministers meeting with him in his study and came running.

The children’s parents, especially, raced ahead without a thought for their dignity.

At the sight of their children dangling high among the birds, the consorts’ knees gave out. They collapsed onto the servants behind them.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!”

Terrified attendants supported them while shouting, “Fetch the physicians!”

By the time the emperor arrived, everything was chaos.

He first looked at the children hanging in the treetop, then at my mistress enjoying the shade beneath another large tree.

Dismissing his attendants, he approached alone.

“Young Mistress Ye, what has made you so angry?”

She gently stroked the back of the girl’s head.

The emperor glanced at the treetop again.

The children were not only screaming but twisting furiously. The branches didn’t look particularly thick. They swayed and shook as though they might snap at any moment.

A fall from that height would turn them to pulp.

“Darling, stop moving! Don’t move!”

The consorts shouted up at their children to stay calm and stop wriggling.

But these children were so spoiled that they didn’t hear a word.

They were used to getting anything they wanted by throwing a tantrum.

Now, terrified out of their wits, their minds had stopped working, and their bodies acted on their own.

Several consorts fainted on the spot.

The ministers arrived, saw their own children hanging up there, and nearly lost the use of their legs too.

Only by supporting one another did they avoid embarrassing themselves in public.

Their wives wailed like pigs being slaughtered.

No parent who raised children like these was innocent.

They all carried that same overbearing sense of superiority.

Only the presence of my mistress and the emperor kept them from exploding.

Sweat gradually appeared on the emperor’s forehead.

My mistress still said nothing. She merely closed her eyes and enjoyed the breeze beneath the tree.

He watched the children hanging nearby, frantic but unable to say anything.

He stood before her like a child being punished.

I sat in the crown of the tree among the dangling children, who hung like gourds. Every so often I slapped a bottom. “What are you crying for? Shut up. You’re making a racket.”

“Waaaaah!”

The pampered little brats didn’t obey after being hit. They cried even harder.

I didn’t particularly mind.

In fact, it made me curious enough to keep smacking them. How loudly would they have to scream before their voices gave out?

Hearing me slap their bottoms, my mistress couldn’t help laughing.

She opened her eyes and looked at the emperor.

“Your Majesty, what did you promise me?”

Remembering his words, his face darkened.

She held the little girl without looking at him.

“You refused to name Zhongli Feng your heir,” she said, each word clear. “You told me she was too young. We needed to wait a few years, until she was old enough for you to judge her character and decide whether she was fit to succeed you.”

“You also said that, although her mother had died young, you would take good care of her.”

“And this is how you care for her.”

She held up the little stone. “You allow the princes to bully her and throw stones at her.”

She lifted the girl’s arm. The sleeve was visibly too short. “You’ve cared for her so well that she doesn’t even have clothes that fit.”

At last, she raised her eyes to the emperor.

Her gaze scraped across his face like a blade. “You’ve done it deliberately. You mean to ruin her, to raise her into someone timid and cowed, until she can no longer become heir even if she wants to.”

“How very calculating of you.”

The emperor’s face drained of color, inch by inch.