Chapter 3 Sleeves Without Hands
I opened my eyes. The red candles were burning bright.
The pain of suffocation was clear and deep. I gasped and knew this was no dream. I was dying and waking again.
That paper no longer seemed so snow-white. The edges had yellowed a little.
I put it away. With a creak, the Crown Prince pushed the door open.
The veil lifted. Wine. Clothes and sash loosened. All of it was the same.
I made no sound. I watched the sleeping Crown Prince with open eyes until dawn.
The next morning.
After I watched the Crown Prince leave, I finally breathed out and dropped back onto the bed.
It seemed that so long as my throat was not well, the Crown Prince would not kill me.
But why kill me once my throat was well? If he wanted a mute, why had he searched the realm for famous doctors before?
I took out the note and studied it. Wind blew the window open. The paper trembled in my hand like a struggling butterfly.
"Don't tell the Crown Prince you can speak."
Delicate regular script, as if a woman had written it.
The Eastern Palace was not a place one entered at will. Few could have set this paper by my pillow on the wedding day.
I called my personal maid, Xiao Cui, took two handfuls of gold melon seeds, and sent her to reward the maids and matrons who had arranged the bridal chamber.
Xiao Cui soon returned with a list. All who had taken a reward had signed their names.
Most servants could not read. Even a name came out crooked. Not one matched the note.
"Your Ladyship, this servant asked around. After the bridal chamber was arranged, it was locked, and opened only when Your Ladyship arrived. No one went in between."
"The managing eunuch said the one in charge of the bridal chamber this time was the Crown Prince's Junior Consort, Lan Zhi."
Lan Zhi. I had heard the name before I married in.
She was a few years older than Xiao Yan.
She had been an opera performer. Years ago she took a blade for Xiao Yan while he listened to opera, and by exception entered the Eastern Palace as a concubine.
Later she was raised to Junior Consort. For years she had been much favored.
Otherwise the Eastern Palace would not have gone so long without someone new.
Had she written the note? And why...
"Your Ladyship, the Junior Consort has come to pay respects." Xiao Cui said.
Lan Zhi was dressed in red, chin high, as if she were the bride of this chamber. A pale face. Scarlet lips. Her makeup was heavy and sharp.
She looked me over and gave a casual courtesy.
"By rite I should serve tea to Your Ladyship. But when I saved the Crown Prince back then, an assassin cut me. Now I cannot hold a teacup."
She lifted her arms. The sleeves slid down and showed two smooth, tight balls of flesh.
She had no hands. She could not write.