Everyone in the prince’s residence knows that the new Concubine Su is breathtakingly beautiful.
So what? The prince hates heavy makeup and only likes plain, simple fare.
I sleep until the sun is high each day, gazing at myself in the mirror. “This face of mine... is such a hassle.”
Until the princess consort makes me kneel in the snow. He kicks open the courtyard gate and wraps me in his cloak. “Who gave you the nerve to lay a hand on the one I cherish?”
Then he lifts my chin with a finger and sighs. “Be good. Stop being so lazy and learn to compete for my favor... At least pretend to try, will you?”
The nineteenth year of the Dayin Emperor Chengping’s reign, deep in winter.
The twelfth month’s icy wind cuts like a knife across the tightly packed rooftops of the capital, then blows mercilessly through the eastern side gate of the spacious Prince Yi’s residence. A few burly serving women hunch their shoulders and tuck their hands into their sleeves as they pick their way over the frozen gravel toward the narrow rooms beside the side gate, where the servants come and go. The white clouds of their breath are instantly torn apart by the cold wind.
“Have you heard? They’re ‘choosing’ someone inside,” one of the women whispers, glancing toward the heart of the estate.
“Choosing? Doesn’t the prince always find that sort of thing a bother? The two women the Empress Dowager sent from her palace at the start of the year are still in the little courtyard to the west. They hardly ever see the prince,” another says with a dismissive pout.
“This time it’s different.” The first woman perks up, lowering her voice even more, though she can’t hide her excitement at having uncovered a secret. “She’s from the south. They say her family used a fortune in gold and silver to force their way in. She’s the only daughter of the Su family, the richest merchants in Jiangnan!”
“A merchant’s daughter? And probably a concubine-born one, too. Just being brought in as a concubine would be a blessing beyond her wildest dreams.” Someone...
