Chapter 76
Proofreader : Mim
When Li Zhi returned to the Palace Administration Bureau’s prison, Director Ma was already holding a written confession, attempting to force Lu Yao to sign it with her fingerprint.
Lu Yao, tied to the wooden frame, was covered in fresh blood. Her consciousness had begun to waver, but she still clenched her hands into tight fists, refusing to give the Palace Administration Bureau any chance to forcibly extract her confession.
Under Director Ma’s orders, another judicial officer was struggling to pry open her fists.
Li Zhi entered with two eunuchs from Ziwei Palace in tow.
“You…” Director Ma froze, seeing her return with these menacing eunuchs.
Li Zhi got straight to the point.
“Director Ma, His Majesty has ordered me to take full charge of the investigation into the witchcraft case at Jinglan Pavilion.”
“Li Zhi, you are overstepping your authority!” the other judicial officer shouted angrily.
“The Emperor’s decree has been issued. If the two of you have no other matters, perhaps you should return to the office and handle your regular duties,” Li Zhi said with a calm face and a faint smile.
Director Ma glanced at the two eunuchs behind Li Zhi, realizing that the matter had been settled. Her expression darkened as she said coldly, “Fine, if you insist on involving yourself in this mess, I can only wish that you continue to have influential patrons. Liu Sizheng, let’s go.”
Liu Sizheng snorted heavily, casting a glare at Li Zhi before following Director Ma out of the prison without looking back.
Once the two had left, Li Zhi immediately untied Lu Yao from the wooden frame.
Lu Yao’s glazed-over eyes barely opened to look at Li Zhi. It was unclear if she even recognized her. Gently brushing the blood-matted strands of hair behind the girl’s ear, Li Zhi softly reassured her.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s over now.”
After repeating this a few times, Lu Yao finally closed her eyes, her breathing weak but steady.
Li Zhi had Lu Yao carried to another clean room and instructed one eunuch to head to the Imperial Medical Bureau to summon a physician. The other eunuch she kept at her side, using his presence to bolster her authority.
The eunuchs serving in Ziwei Palace were familiar faces within the palace. Leveraging their reputation, Li Zhi quickly mobilized the resources of the Palace Administration Bureau. Before long, the two maids from Jinglan Pavilion were brought to the prison.
Li Zhi had them separated for questioning, interrogating them one at a time.
The first to appear before her was Chunmei.
The interrogation room, equipped with hanging torture tools, bore the dark stains of dried blood along its walls and the straw-covered floor. A faint, lingering scent of blood hung in the cold, damp air.
For all palace servants, the Palace Administration Bureau was their worst nightmare.
Rumors among the palace servants often claimed that the torture methods used by the Palace Administration Bureau were learned from the imperial dungeons. Those who entered its prison rarely left whole.
Having served in the palace for many years, Chunmei must have heard such rumors before.
Upon entering the room, she feigned composure, but her pale face betrayed her unease.
Li Zhi invited her to sit but asked no questions, instead offering her a pot of tea.
She smiled in silence, observing Chunmei, whose discomfort grew by the moment.
“Li Sizheng… may I ask what you wish to know?” Chunmei cautiously probed.
“Have some tea,” Li Zhi said, still smiling.
Chunmei ended up drinking the entire pot of tea, forced to endure the oppressive silence. When the incense stick on the table burned out, Li Zhi signaled for her to be taken away and replaced her with Chunlan.
While Chunmei had waited in an ordinary room, Chunlan had been deliberately placed in the blood-stained interrogation room where Lu Yao had been tortured.
The lingering fresh scent of blood in that room must have been unsettling. When Chunlan entered, her face was deathly pale, her eyes darting nervously around as she took in the torture devices lining the walls.
Li Zhi invited her to sit on the room’s only chair, a round-backed armchair. The eunuch with a stern expression stood directly behind the chair, making Chunlan feel trapped between a wolf in front and a tiger behind. She shrank into herself as much as possible, her eyes flitting between Li Zhi in front and the eunuch behind her.
While Chunmei had been served tea, Chunlan was made to watch Li Zhi drink tea.
Li Zhi calmly lifted a steaming teapot and poured herself a cup.
The tea stove nearby burned brightly, the blackened coals glowing red. The heat steamed through the cold air, intensifying the faint, ancient scent of blood that seemed to seep from the walls.
The eunuch who had gone to fetch the physician returned. Li Zhi glanced at the stove’s glowing coals and nodded toward them. Understanding her unspoken instruction, the eunuch retrieved a branding iron from the wall and placed it over the stove, slowly turning it in the flames.
The branding iron darkened as it heated, gradually glowing red.
Chunlan could no longer sit still. Li Zhi, however, remained unperturbed, calmly sipping her tea.
“Li Sizheng… why have you called me here? I’ve already told you everything I know…” Chunlan stammered nervously.
The fragrance of the tea filled Li Zhi’s mouth, washing away the metallic tang of blood in the air.
Ignoring Chunlan’s protest, Li Zhi finally raised her gaze, smiling faintly:
“Not necessarily.”
In an environment so saturated with fear, silence itself became a weapon.
Chunlan’s willpower was already eroded by the oppressive atmosphere. The moment she lost her composure, the cracks in her story would not be far behind.
“Li Sizheng, what does this mean? I’ve already told you everything I know…” Chunlan said nervously. “Could it be that you suspect me of cursing Noble Consort Yi? I’m just a lowly palace maid. I bear no grudge against Noble Consort Yi, and I have no reason to curse her. It doesn’t make sense!”
“Being the maid of an unfavored consort must be difficult, isn’t it?” Li Zhi suddenly remarked.
Chunlan froze for a moment, unsure of what she meant by such a question.
“In the palace, people are always stepping on the weak and flattering the powerful. An unfavored consort has no choice but to wear cast-off clothing rejected by others, and the meals she’s served are often the leftovers from the imperial kitchen. For their maids, it’s even worse—they’re looked down upon wherever they go,” Li Zhi said calmly. “I’ve read your records. Just six months ago, you were working in Yaohua Palace. To have gone from serving a consort favored above all others to working in the neglected Court of Talents… Your fate has certainly taken a sharp turn.”
“What… what does that have to do with anything?” Chunlan stammered.
“Last time, I caught you sneaking out of Jinglan Pavilion. You’d just returned from Yaohua Palace, hadn’t you?” Li Zhi asked slowly.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chunlan replied, panic evident in her voice.
“Then let’s talk about something you do know,” Li Zhi continued, her tone turning colder. “The wooden doll buried under the tree—did you notice anything interesting about it?”
“What…?”
“The birth date carved onto it, which was supposed to be Noble Consort Yi’s, was wrong,” Li Zhi said, her voice sharp. “Isn’t that curious? Someone went to all the trouble of making a wooden doll for a curse, but didn’t even get the target’s birth date correct. That doesn’t quite make sense, does it?”
“I… I don’t know… You should ask the other court ladies about the doll…” Chunlan stammered, her words disjointed.
“So you’re saying you know nothing about the doll at all?” Li Zhi pressed.
“Of course—”
“Even when you’re at death’s door, you still refuse to tell the truth!” Li Zhi slammed her teacup down on the table, her cold laugh sending chills through the room. “Chunmei has already testified that she heard the sound of carving coming from your room late at night. The Office of Palace Administration bureau has already searched your room—”
Chunlan’s eyes widened.
“It was very clean,” Li Zhi said. But before Chunlan could breathe a sigh of relief, she added, “Except for the crack beneath the door.”
Chunlan’s face immediately turned ashen.
“In the crevice of the doorframe, we found shavings from the very same paulownia wood used to make the doll buried in the ground,” Li Zhi said, her tone ice-cold. “At this point, what else is there for you to deny?”
Chunlan’s lips trembled. Her face was void of all color as she opened her mouth to offer one last defense, but no words came out.
“Bring the instruments of torture,” Li Zhi ordered. “Perhaps the smell of scorched flesh will loosen her tongue.”
A eunuch stepped forward, holding a branding iron pulled fresh from the flames of the tea stove, its tip glowing red-hot as he approached Chunlan.
“No, no… I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” Chunlan cried, collapsing to the floor. She knelt and kowtowed desperately, her forehead hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Li Zhi gestured for the eunuch to stop and wait.
“I… I used to serve in Yaohua Palace,” Chunlan began, her voice trembling. “But after I broke one of Noble Consort Yi’s vases, I was sent back to the Servants’ Yard. Later, I was reassigned as a maid to Consort Lu… But Consort Lu lost the Emperor’s favor, and everyone in the palace treated her like a joke. Consort Lu had no good days, and we maids suffered even more—starving, freezing… I… I just wanted to… find a way to return to Yaohua Palace.”
“And the way you came up with was the paulownia doll?” Li Zhi’s voice was frigid.
“I knew that Noble Consort Yi disliked Consort Lu, so I thought… if I could get rid of Consort Lu, Noble Consort Yi might forgive me and let me return to Yaohua Palace…” Chunlan confessed, sobbing.
“Did Noble Consort Yi know about this?” Li Zhi asked sharply.
Chunlan shook her head and let out a bitter, hollow laugh. “If Noble Consort Yi were willing to see me, if she were willing to forgive me… I wouldn’t have resorted to such desperate measures…”
Li Zhi didn’t immediately believe Chunlan’s words. She questioned her carefully, verifying every detail until she finally understood the full picture.
It turned out that Director Ma had wrongly assumed that Chunlan was acting under the orders of Noble Consort Yi and had therefore been determined to convict Consort Lu.
In reality, everything had been Chunlan’s doing alone.
If Li Zhi hadn’t stepped in, the truth would have been buried forever, and the innocent Consort Lu would have been unjustly punished.
“Li Sizheng, there’s something I don’t understand…” Chunlan said after a moment.
“Speak,” Li Zhi replied.
“Was there really paulownia wood shavings in my doorframe?” Chunlan asked.
Li Zhi didn’t answer.
Chunlan understood. After a moment of silence, she let out two despairing laughs. Suddenly, she stood up and ran toward the wall, attempting to smash her head against it.
“Stop her!” Li Zhi commanded, her face darkening.
The eunuch standing behind Li Zhi reacted quickly, grabbing Chunlan just before she could hit the wall. Chunlan’s body went limp and collapsed. The eunuch pressed a hand to her nose and looked up. “She’s fainted.”
“Lock her up and assign someone to keep a close watch over her,” Li Zhi ordered.
The witchcraft case had finally been resolved.
Because she had cleared Consort Lu’s name and restored order to the inner palace, Li Zhi was promoted to the rank of fifth-grade Palace Director. Director Ma and Liu Sizheng, however, were stripped of their assets and exiled from the palace for their negligence and inaction.
It was said that on the day Director Ma left the palace, she lingered in front of the gates for a long time, her eyes glistening with tears. Unlike Liu Sizheng, who stormed off with a face full of resentment, Director Ma appeared lost and melancholic, saying nothing as she turned her back on the palace that had consumed the prime of her life.
Now that Li Zhi had ascended to the position of Palace Director, she found herself surrounded by informants eager to curry favor. Her network of spies extended throughout the palace.
Everywhere she went, palace servants lined up to flatter her. Though there were still many imperial relatives and nobles ranked higher than her, Li Zhi had, in less than a year, climbed to the very top of the palace hierarchy for someone of her status.
And yet, she felt no joy.
Was everything in the world already fated? Was this all predetermined?
Consort Lu had entered the palace as a fresh face, only to anger the Emperor and be cast aside.
And now, Li Zhi’s intervention had brought Consort Lu back into the spotlight. The Emperor, feeling sympathy for the wronged Consort Lu, visited her several times at Jinglan Pavilion. A week later, he stayed there overnight.
The next day, the Emperor, in high spirits, promoted Consort Lu four ranks in one go, elevating her to the status of a fourth-grade Consort and moving her to Jiangxue Palace.
Though technically placed in the side hall, with the main seat unoccupied, Consort Lu was, in effect, the mistress of Jiangxue Palace.
Li Zhi couldn’t make sense of it. Had everything she done been to save Consort Lu, or to harm her?
Without realizing it, Li Zhi had already found herself standing outside Jiangxue Palace.
She couldn’t bring herself to step inside. She didn’t know what expression she should wear when facing Consort Lu. Just as she was about to turn and leave, the sound of Consort Lu’s palace maids interrupted her.
Lu Yao’s palace maid, Chunmei, walked out.
Chunmei bowed respectfully to Li Zhi.
“Director Li, Her Grace knows you’ve been waiting outside. She invites you in to speak.”
“…”
Li Zhi herself wasn’t sure how she managed to drag her heavy legs forward, step by step, until she reached Lu Yao’s bedside.
Lu Yao seemed to have recovered significantly. She was dressed in ornate robes, half-reclining on a luohan bed, idly playing with a plate of translucent amethyst-like purple grapes on the table beside her.
When she saw Li Zhi approach, she broke into a delighted smile and extended her hand toward her.
Li Zhi instinctively reached out to hold it, and Chunmei swiftly brought over a small round stool for her to sit on.
“How… is Your Grace doing?”
“I’m doing well. Why did it take you so long to come visit me?” Lu Yao asked with a smile.
Her cheerful demeanor caught Li Zhi completely off guard.
“The Palace Administration Bureau has many responsibilities, and this servant is still new to the position. I’ve only managed to sort things out enough today to come pay my respects to Your Grace…”
“Sister Li, there’s no need to call yourself a servant in front of me. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be alive, let alone have the life I do now.”
Lu Yao raised her smooth silk sleeve, glancing at the crimson robes she wore and the delicate winter fruits laid out on the table. Her tone turned meaningful.
Li Zhi’s chest tightened, as if it had been clawed by a cat. She almost blurted out the truth about how Lu Yao had been brought into the palace.
“If it weren’t for me—”
Lu Yao gripped her hand tightly, cutting her off.
“Last night, I went to the Emperor willingly,” Lu Yao said calmly.
“…Why?” Li Zhi was stunned, momentarily speechless.
Lu Yao didn’t answer immediately.
She lifted her unusually bright eyes, glistening faintly as if they could shed tears at any moment, and gazed out the window.
Outside, the sky was pale and bleak, confined by the rigid frame of the window.
“When Noble Consort Yi’s maids yanked my hair, forcing me to kneel and bow to her, I only felt sorrow and fear,” Lu Yao said softly. “Later, when the Head of the Palace Administration Bureau ordered someone to whip me, I began to feel anger.”
She turned to look at Li Zhi with eyes as dark as the abyss.
“She was just a servant—why did even she have the power to humiliate me so freely?”
Li Zhi had no answer for her.
“Then, I finally understood,” Lu Yao continued. “In this cannibalistic harem, you can’t survive by simply hiding in your room and avoiding people.”
“Sister Li, I want to live. I don’t want to be beaten anymore,” Lu Yao said quietly.
For Lu Yao, one imperial decree had changed her entire life.
Once, she had lived under the loving care of her parents. She had thought that matters between men and women were far from her concern. Compared to the scholarly neighbor who had passed the imperial exam as a top scorer, she preferred playing games, lying in the grass until her face was smeared with dirt, or competing with her friends over who could win at tossing flower petals.
Even after entering the deep palace, she had dreamed of waking up one day to return to those carefree times.
But when she woke, she was still here. Within these towering palace walls.
Lu Yao looked up at Li Zhi and smiled brightly. “Sister Li, I’ve realized that saying a few kind words can make the Emperor happy. If I just treat him like I used to treat my grandmother—indulge him in everything, act coquettish, and play the fool occasionally—I can win his favor.”
“I don’t regret it one bit,” Lu Yao said. “I only regret not realizing sooner that waiting for someone else to save me would never solve anything. Sister Li, you’re the only person in the palace who’s been kind to me.”
Li Zhi couldn’t say anything. She was afraid that if she spoke, she would start sobbing uncontrollably.
“My rank is higher than yours now. From now on, I’ll protect myself—and I’ll protect you too,” Lu Yao said with a smile. “I want to write a letter to my father and mother and tell them that I’ve grown up… They’ll definitely be proud of me. Mother always said Father worked his whole life as a low-ranking official. Now that I’ve reached the fourth rank, they’ll surely be proud of me… Don’t you think so, Sister Li?”
Li Zhi could only nod.
Like a puppet on strings, she could only go along with Lu Yao’s self-soothing words. She had no better way to respond.
She couldn’t bring herself to say anything comforting, nor did she feel she had the right to.
“Thank you, Sister Li,” Lu Yao murmured, clutching Li Zhi’s cold hand tightly and leaning her head against her shoulder. “As long as I’m not alone… I’m not afraid of anything.”
When Li Zhi stepped out of the side hall, a cold and indifferent red sun hung in the sky.
The struggling evening light flooded the courtyard. The carefully tended delicate flowers and grass were still in full bloom, even in the heart of winter.
Chunmei escorted Li Zhi to the gate of Jiangxue Palace.
Li Zhi stopped, not leaving immediately. Chunmei looked at her with a hint of confusion.
Li Zhi turned and met Chunmei’s gaze.
“Why did you give false testimony?” Li Zhi asked.
“…What does Director Li mean by that?”
Li Zhi spoke slowly. “Jinglan Pavilion was renovated a year ago. The wall between your room and Chunlan’s is a three-inch thick earthen wall. Not even the faintest sound of a dropped object could carry through, let alone the noise of furniture being dragged.”
“You fabricated your testimony to shift suspicion onto Chunlan. Why?”
For a long while, Chunmei didn’t speak.
Li Zhi waited patiently until she finally responded.
“Director Li, including this year, I’ve served in the palace for eleven years,” Chunmei said with a bitter smile. “My parents are farmers in the countryside. They wanted to sell me to a hunchbacked blind man for three taels of silver. It was only because the palace recruitment offered a higher price that they sent me here instead, to buy my brother a wife.”
“When I entered the palace, I swore to myself that I’d make something of myself. I refuse to leave the palace at thirty-five, cast out with nowhere to go. I’d rather die than return to the family that sold me like a commodity.”
“If Consort Lu had died because of the witchcraft accusations, the other concubines would see you as unlucky, and your chances of advancing in the palace would be slim,” Li Zhi said. “So you were desperate for a scapegoat.”
“Jinglan Pavilion is small. If I knew it wasn’t me or her, then it had to be Chunlan,” Chunmei replied. “If Director Li had arrested the wrong person, I doubt you’d still be this calm.”
“But you still fabricated evidence and misled the investigation,” Li Zhi said.
Chunmei let out a bitter laugh. “I accept the consequences of my actions. Director Li, take me away.”
“I’m not here to arrest you,” Li Zhi said.
Chunmei froze.
“If you answer my question, I’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”
“What question?” Chunmei asked urgently.
“Four years ago,” Li Zhi said, “who was the person you saw delivering the secret message in the rain?”
