Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 46: Night Meeting

   The brush tip left ink marks on the snow-white paper; the young girl’s posture as she bent over writing was graceful and beautiful. After watching for a while, the Empress frowned and said: “Yingluo, is something weighing on your mind?”

Wei Yingluo was slightly startled. The words Qingxi had spoken surfaced in her mind: “I’ve found out the true cause of Yingning’s death. Tonight at the third watch, I’ll wait for you in the Imperial Garden. Don’t be late!”

She shook her head and answered: “Reporting to Your Majesty, no.”

The Empress walked up to Wei Yingluo, gently took the brush from her fingertips, and said softly: “If your heart isn’t in it, you won’t write well. Are you feeling unwell?”

A thought stirred in Wei Yingluo’s heart. She took two steps back, curtsied, and said: “Your Majesty, this servant does indeed have something to attend to and must request leave from you!”

At the third watch, moonlight like gauze and mist draped over the tips of the flowering branches.

Qingxi walked along the pebbled path and spotted a familiar figure—it was Wei Yingluo. Seeing that she had come as promised, Qingxi felt relieved, but at the same time a wave of contempt rose in him: After all, she’s just a young girl—letting emotions override reason. Too foolish. He stepped forward and said: “Wei Yingluo!”

The girl turned to look at him, her gaze as cold as a blade. For some reason, Qingxi felt a sudden chill. Then he heard her cry out in feigned panic: “Help! There’s a thief!”

A group of eunuchs rushed out from all directions and immediately pinned Qingxi to the ground. Furious, Qingxi shouted: “How dare you! I am a guard of the Qianqing Gate! Wei Yingluo, have you lost your mind?”

Wei Yingluo ignored him and spoke to the other eunuchs: “Don’t be afraid of him. This man abandoned his post and sneaked into the Imperial Garden in the dead of night with wicked intentions. As long as you don’t beat him to death, you won’t be held accountable!”

Emboldened by her words, the little eunuchs really did beat Qingxi until his face was swollen and bloody. Though he had martial skills, two fists cannot defeat four hands. He could only keep cursing nonstop.

Not far away, lanterns flickered as a group of people hurried over. The leader was dressed in luxurious robes, his expression arrogant and overbearing—it was none other than the haughty Prince Yi, Hongxiao. He strode forward, kicked aside one of the eunuchs, and roared in fury: “Are you blind? Who dares lay a hand on him!”

Wei Yingluo caught sight of Prince Yi, and a faint, cold smile curved her lips.

The group of eunuchs dropped to their knees in a row, trembling as they chorused in unison, “This humble servant greets Prince Yi!”

Wei Yingluo also performed a proper curtsy and offered her greeting, imitating them perfectly.

Hongxiao shot Wei Yingluo a fierce glare, yanked Qingxi over by the collar, and demanded, “What’s going on here?!”

Qingxi was in agony all over, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He pointed accusingly at Wei Yingluo and spat hatefully, “It’s Wei Yingluo! She secretly arranged to meet me in the Imperial Garden—she wanted to seduce me!”

Wei Yingluo gave Qingxi a contemptuous once-over and asked with amusement, “Have you never looked in a mirror your whole life?”

Qingxi touched his grotesquely swollen cheek, hatred burning even hotter in his chest. “Wei Yingluo, I never imagined you could be so vicious. Tonight I came here intending to advise you not to misplace your affections, yet you flew into a rage out of shame, gathered a group of people, and had them beat me! Your Highness, the fact that she arranged to meet me has already been reported to you—you must severely punish this shameless palace maid!”

Hongxiao had been waiting for exactly this moment. He waved his hand and ordered, “Take her!”

Two guards stepped forward to seize her. Wei Yingluo had already prepared herself and was about to speak when a clear, resonant male voice cut through the night:

“What are all of you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Wei Yingluo froze for a moment. She looked toward the source of the voice. Through the path the crowd parted to create, Fuheng walked forward, bathed in moonlight that flowed like water.

Fuheng was looking at her. Instinctively, Wei Yingluo wanted to frown and turn her face away, but she could not afford to arouse his suspicion. She had to meet that irritatingly concerned gaze and return it with a warm, intimate smile of familiarity.

And so she did smile—just like that.

Hongxiao couldn’t quite decide which one he detested more: Wei Yingluo or Fucha Fuheng. His brows knitted tightly as he asked in an unfriendly tone, “Fucha Fuheng, today is not your duty shift. Why are you here?”

Fuheng shifted his gaze away from Wei Yingluo, gave Hongxiao a gentle smile, and replied, “His Majesty was in an excellent mood tonight and decided to enjoy the moonlight in the Imperial Garden. He summoned me for a game of chess. I never expected that, just when things had quieted down, I would hear this commotion disturbing the peace, so I came to see what was happening.”

Hongxiao’s expression changed slightly. “His Majesty is here as well? There’s a palace maid who secretly arranged a rendezvous with a guard. I caught them in the act and was about to hand her over to the Careful Punishment Division. We won’t disturb His Majesty’s enjoyment any longer—take her away!”

Fuheng subtly positioned himself in front of Wei Yingluo. With the same warm, spring-breeze smile still on his face, he said, “His Majesty is just ahead in the pavilion. Prince Yi, since this has already disturbed the imperial presence, it would be best to let His Majesty decide.”

In front of the elegant pavilion knelt a dense crowd of people. Hongli sat on a stone bench cushioned with brocade, placed a black piece on the chessboard, then slowly turned his face and asked in a calm voice, “Well? What’s all this commotion about?” His gaze swept across Wei Yingluo, and his brow furrowed slightly.

There is an old saying: The villain files the complaint first.

   Wei Yingluo watched with perfect composure as Hongxiao hurriedly spoke up: “Your Majesty, this palace maid is outrageously bold. She privately tried to seduce the palace guard Qijia Qingxi. Qijia Qingxi refused her again and again, yet she still arranged to meet him here in the Imperial Garden at the third watch tonight! This slave received the report and could not tolerate such a base person who pollutes the palace with debauchery. The earlier noise was us apprehending this woman. We unintentionally disturbed Your Majesty’s enjoyment—truly a crime deserving ten thousand deaths.”

Hongli looked at Wei Yingluo and asked, “Do you admit your guilt?”

When Fuheng heard Hongli open with a direct question of guilt toward Wei Yingluo, his heart jolted. His hand clenched tightly into a fist inside his sleeve.

Wei Yingluo also felt a chill in her heart. She took a deep, secret breath, raised her head slightly, and answered, “This slave knows nothing of what the Prince has said. I do not know on what basis I should plead guilty.”

Qingxi clutched his swollen face and accused, “If you weren’t here to meet me in secret, why were you in the Imperial Garden at midnight?!”

Wei Yingluo lifted the flower basket at her side with an innocent expression. “The weather is growing warmer, and my mistress does not like the smell of mosquito-repellent herbs. I came to gather night-blooming jasmine. Who would have thought I would run into this lecherous scoundrel? Fortunately, the Empress was considerate and specially assigned several young eunuchs to accompany me to the garden. If this were truly a secret rendezvous, why would I bring so many people along?”

Qingxi argued back, “You brought so many people so you could take revenge on me for rejecting you! You lured me to the Imperial Garden and had them beat me like a thief—that was deliberate retaliation!” At this point, Qingxi swiftly pulled a sheet of rice paper from his bosom and held it high. “Your Majesty, this slave has evidence. This is the letter Wei Yingluo sent someone to deliver to me. Please examine it.”

Hongli, clearly losing interest in the farce, said languidly, “Present it.”

Li Yu unfolded the paper and respectfully offered it to Hongli.

On that snow-white rice paper was written a single line:

“Tonight at the third watch, east gate of Qiongyuan in the Imperial Garden. No seeing, no parting. —Yingluo.”

Hongli read it and flew into a rage. He violently flung the paper into Wei Yingluo’s face:

“What else do you have to say for yourself!”

The paper fluttered lightly down from Wei Yingluo’s face and landed on her knees. The characters were crooked and indeed looked like her handwriting.

Wei Yingluo’s expression was extraordinarily calm. She picked up the paper and said:

“The handwriting does indeed resemble that of this servant, but this servant also has evidence proving this was not written by my hand.”

With that, she took out a stack of papers from her bosom and continued:

“Reporting to Your Majesty: thanks to the gracious favor of the Empress, who personally taught me how to write, though I’m is slow-witted, I dared not disappoint Her Majesty’s painstaking efforts. Over this past month, I have tried every method to practice calligraphy. To compare progress, I deliberately numbered every sheet of practice paper in sequence. This afternoon, this servant discovered that page twenty-eight was missing! Therefore, someone must have stolen my calligraphy…”

Her gaze swept across Qingxi and Hongxiao. She spoke each word distinctly:

“…and framed me with it!”

Qingxi uncomfortably avoided Wei Yingluo’s eyes. Hongxiao gave a sneer:

“You say it’s missing, so it’s missing? I could just as easily say you hid it yourself!”

Wei Yingluo asked calmly and politely:

“May I ask Prince Yi—what kind of paper did I use to write the letter?”

Hongxiao answered impatiently:

“Of course it’s the rice paper you practice on!”

Wei Yingluo replied with utmost respect:

“Your Majesty, Yingluo’s salary is limited; I dare not waste fine rice paper, so I use toilet paper instead—oh, that is to say, plain white cotton paper.”

A faint smile flickered in Fuheng’s eyes. He took the secret letter provided by Qingxi as well as the papers Wei Yingluo had brought out, and respectfully presented them to Hongli for inspection:

“Your Majesty, the paper in the letter provided by Qingxi is pure white, thick, and finely textured—the highest grade of raw Xuan paper produced in Jing County, Anhui. But the sheets Wei has here are merely the most ordinary white cotton paper used in the palace.”

Hongxiao’s face grimed. He still tried to argue:

“This woman is full of cunning. Who’s to say she didn’t deliberately choose a sheet of top-grade raw Xuan paper just to avoid suspicion!”

Wei Yingluo gave a soft sigh, as though somewhat helpless:

“It is not for Yingluo to boast, but Her Majesty the Empress once said that in these one hundred and fifty sheets I have practiced, there has been progress every single day. They feared I would notice, so they dared not touch the most recent ones and instead pulled one from the middle. The twenty-eighth sheet happens to be from exactly one month ago. If we simply compare it with my writing from the last two days, the truth will be immediately obvious.”

The ironclad evidence was overwhelming; further denial was impossible.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Qingxi’s forehead. His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Suddenly Hongxiao kicked Qingxi hard and roared:

“You filthy cur! How dare you deceive me! Your Majesty, this servant never imagined Qingxi would lie like this. It must have been him—”

“It must have been that Qijia Qingxi tried to seduce me and failed, so he deliberately framed me—is that what you mean, Prince Yi?”

Wei Yingluo smiled sweetly at Qingxi. “Guard Qijia, did you hear clearly? You tried to seduce me and failed, then framed me. If you still don’t know what’s good for you, no one is going to save you.”

The last sentence carried deep meaning.

Qingxi’s face turned deathly pale. Hongxiao was ready to sacrifice the chariot to save the general—how could he not understand? Gritting his teeth, he kowtowed repeatedly:

“Your Majesty! It was Prince Yi who threatened this servant into framing Yingluo! This servant doesn’t know why he wanted to do it, but everything was at his direction. This servant swears to Heaven!”

Hongxiao kicked Qingxi in the chest again, furious:

“Filthy slave! How dare you throw mud at me!”

Wei Yingluo pretended to be astonished:

“It was Prince Yi who ordered you? This servant lives deep in the inner palace and has never even met the Prince. I cannot fathom why His Highness would want to frame this lowly servant. My status is humble; the only thing worth the Prince’s notice is my position as a palace maid of Changchun Palace… Could it be that His Highness the Prince Yi actually intended, by framing this servant, to—”

“Enough.” Hongli suddenly spoke. His voice carried suppressed anger.

The wrath of the Son of Heaven was like thunder. Everyone instantly fell silent.

Hongli said:

“Qingxi has falsely accused a maid of Changchun Palace. He is unfit to serve as a guard of Qianqing Palace. He shall receive one hundred strokes of the cane, be stripped of his post, and investigated! Gag him and drag him away! This matter ends here.”

Before Qingxi could utter another word, the guards stuffed his mouth and hauled him off. Hongxiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The four words “this matter ends here” landed on Wei Yingluo like a thousand pounds each. Unwilling to accept it, she opened her mouth to speak again—but Fuheng reached out and firmly pulled her back, seriously shaking his head at her.

“This matter ends here.” The golden words of the Emperor—who could defy them?

Hongli had seen the little exchange between Wei Yingluo and Fuheng. His displeasure deepened. He said coldly:

“Wei Yingluo, you dare call that terrible scribble of yours calligraphy? And you have the face to claim daily progress! I feel sorry for the Empress on your behalf. Go back and practice one hundred more sheets. If you don’t finish, you’re not allowed to rest!”

Wei Yingluo clenched her teeth, bowed her head, and answered:

“…Yes.”

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