Chapter 121

Chapter 121: You Are the Convicted Official’s Daughter

Song An Lan quickly said, “We would never presume to guess Her Majesty’s meaning, only—”

“Enough talk,” the eunuch cut him off and said, “Song Chun Zhi, follow me into the palace at once.”

Chun Zhi turned to Song An Lan and Song Wan’er and said, “Please help take extra care of Little Xing Hui.”

Song An Lan said, “I will have people watch over Little Xing Hui well. Do not worry.”

Song Wan’er nodded again and again.

The eunuch who brought the order gave Chun Zhi no chance to say more to her family. He kept urging her to hurry. Chun Zhi had no choice but to follow him out of Song Manor and board the carriage.

Song An Lan and Song Wan’er saw her to the gate.

After the carriage left, Song An Lan at once told a retainer, “Go to the Prince of Chang’an Manor and inform His Highness that Chun Zhi has been summoned by the Empress.”

“Yes, I will go at once,” said the retainer, then he left.

Standing at the door, Song An Lan watched the carriage roll away. Last time Empress Wang had summoned Chun Zhi, it was to make her accept Wang Yi Yue as a secondary consort. Now that Wang Yi Yue was going to be Lu Jing Yun’s co-wife, the Empress was summoning her again. What would it be this time? He could not shake the sense that this was no good.

Song Wan’er looked toward the disappearing carriage, worry on her face: “This eunuch was fierce, and he would not even take a silver note. Could it be the Empress wants to make things hard for sister because of Wang Liu Niang…”

“I hope not,” said Song An Lan in a low voice.

The carriage stopped at the Palace Gate. Several eunuchs led Chun Zhi inside. They said nothing. The sky was dark and the wind rose, as if a heavy rain were coming. Chun Zhi followed them along the palace road, passing gate after gate. Everything around was so quiet it felt strange, and the mood was heavy.

At last, after a long walk, they reached Wutong Palace.

This was her second time here.

The first time Empress Wang summoned her, the Empress still had a gentle, proper smile. Consort De and Beauty Li were beside her, along with many female officials and palace attendants.

Today there were no outsiders. Empress Wang sat as before. When she saw Chun Zhi, she only said, “You are here.”

Chun Zhi went forward and bowed: “Commoner woman Chun Zhi pays respect to Your Majesty.”

This time, Empress Wang did not tell her to rise. The Empress only looked at her and asked mildly, “I hear you made Sixth Miss become Lu Jing Yun’s co-wife?”

Chun Zhi kept her bow and said, “I did not drink Sixth Miss’s tea. Madam Lu drank it.”

Empress Wang looked closely at her and said, “I underestimated you.”

Chun Zhi lowered her head and did not speak.

Empress Wang had not expected Wang Yi Yue to be so useless, losing completely to a merchant’s daughter. Though disappointed, the Empress also felt a flash of clarity: it was a good thing she had not made such a foolish girl the Princess Consort of Chang’an. Otherwise, she would have dragged down her seventh son.

The Empress studied Chun Zhi. The first time she met this young miss, she had thought the girl was beautiful, steady before others, and stubborn. Even when the Empress herself told her to drink the tea that Wang Yi Yue offered, she would not drink.

Now the Wang Clan had sent a letter saying Chun Zhi was the daughter of the convicted official Mu Qing Shan. They had reasons, proof, and portraits. They even said the birthmark on Chun Zhi’s body matched that of Mu Qing Shan’s daughter, Mu Zhi Lan.

Even Empress Wang, the more she looked, the more she felt Chun Zhi resembled Mu Qing Shan.

Her seventh son had waited until age twenty-five to marry, and yet this marriage was full of trouble. It was hard enough that he liked a merchant’s daughter. Who knew that this merchant’s daughter turned out to be the child of a convicted official?

Empress Wang sighed. After a while, she said, “Rise.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Chun Zhi had been bowing for a long time. Her legs were a little numb. At last she could stand straight and answer.

The Empress said, “I had people look into it. The Song Clan in Dongzhou had only one daughter. You only arrived in Dongzhou last year.”

“Yes,” said Chun Zhi. She knew she could not hide these things from Empress Wang, so she admitted them. “I do not bear the surname Song, and I am not Song An Lan’s birth sister. He saved me on the Lishui River and took me in as his adopted sister.”

Seeing that she spoke honestly, Empress Wang asked, “Do you know who your real parents are?”

Chun Zhi said, “I do not.”

The Empress did have a grievance against Chun Zhi. After all, because of her, the Empress had lost a niece’s chance. But seeing Chun Zhi’s background, she also felt some pity. This girl had once been the pearl of the Mu family. At age nine, the Mu household was searched and seized. She wandered far from home and suffered for over ten years. Only now, when she had finally met a man who loved her and was about to marry, her identity was exposed.

Empress Wang would never allow Huo Zheng to marry the daughter of a convicted official, especially one punished for angering the Emperor. If her son married such a princess consort, his future would be ruined. The Empress hardened her heart, raised her hand, and had a palace attendant bring out a painting for Chun Zhi to see.

“What is this…”

At first glance, Chun Zhi felt a strange sense of familiarity. It was as if she had seen this face somewhere.

She looked for a long time. Her head began to ache. She turned and asked the Empress, “Your Majesty, what is your purpose in showing me this painting?”

Empress Wang said, “Do you really not recognize that this is your father?”

“You say he is my father?” Chun Zhi widened her eyes and studied the painted man again.

In small characters on the scroll it read: “Cheng’an Year Three, third-ranked scholar Mu Qing Shan.”

A high fever at age nine had made Chun Zhi forget her childhood, even her parents’ faces. Still, this painting gave her a strong feeling of familiarity. Since the Empress said this was her father, Chun Zhi felt no rejection.

People say daughters take after their fathers. Chun Zhi’s features were very much like the man in the portrait, and there was also a feeling she could not put into words. She only wondered, [Why is there only a painting and not a personal keepsake?]

Steadying herself, Chun Zhi asked, “Did Your Majesty summon me today just to tell me that the man in the painting is my father?”

“Of course not only that,” said Empress Wang, her tone a bit stiff. “The man in this painting is Mu Qing Shan, the third-ranked scholar of Cheng’an Year Three. He later became the youngest Vice Minister at the Ministry of Personnel and enjoyed great fame. Sadly, in Cheng’an Year Sixteen he angered the Emperor, was convicted, his house was seized, and he was exiled. Chun Zhi…”

The Empress paused, then said, “Perhaps I should call you Mu Zhi Lan. You are the daughter of Mu Qing Shan, a convicted official. You should have been exiled with your family, but you went missing on the road and drifted in Linshui Town for more than ten years. If you had lived as a commoner all your life, perhaps no one would have discovered your past. But you insist on becoming the Princess Consort of Chang’an.”

The Ji Clan and the Wang Clan had already uncovered Chun Zhi’s identity. The Empress thought that even if she did nothing, those two families would not let Chun Zhi go.

Chun Zhi had imagined countless ways she might find her family again, but she had never thought it would be like this. [So this is how I learn who I am.]

Empress Wang said, “I will give you two choices now: first, leave my seventh son, leave the Capital, change your name, and live an ordinary life. Second, restore your identity as Mu Zhi Lan, daughter of a convicted official. Not only will the marriage be canceled, you will also be exiled a thousand li. Choose for yourself.”