When she married into the Chu Palace, the King of Chu asked her, "Are you willing to speak?"
She was silent.
In the first year, he admired pearls and jade, but she refused to wear them.
The next year, he dismissed the harem, but she refused.
In the third year, the Peach Blossom Cave in Purple Mountain was built. He took her to see her and asked, "Madam, would you like to speak to me?"
She looked at the peach petals falling from the top of the cave and remained silent.
He thought she hated him.
He didn't know that she just didn't dare--
I'm afraid that once I open my mouth, I won't be able to hate you anymore.
Later, he went on a military expedition in person. On the eve of his departure, she fastened his armor for him in his bedroom.
He suddenly asked: "If I die in battle, you..."
Her lacing hand paused.
That was the first time in three years that he saw her lose her temper.
He died that fall.
When she received the obituary notice, she was reviewing the memorial slips. The tip of her pen stopped halfway, and the ink smeared through the bamboo slips.
She didn't cry.
On the night when the eldest son succeeded to the throne, the palace people found the Queen Mother sitting alone under the lamp, with an old armor spread on her knees.
That was left by the King of Chu.
The nails are rusty.
She was wiping it off piece by piece.
——She has only spoken one sentence in her life.
Not "I do."
Not "I'll wait for you."
What she asked was:
"How many troops do you have?"
She remained silent for three years. The first question he asked was about his soldiers and horses.
——She only gave him this sentence in her life.
