It had been a good year for the State of Xia. Throughout the whole land, no natural disasters had occurred. Even the occasional mudslide or minor earthquake had taken place in sparsely populated areas, so apart from a few unlucky mountain bandits, no citizens had been injured. The harvest was plentiful, the coffers were full. It was precisely because the land of Xia had delivered so well this year that Emperor Jingren’s new law had passed with such success. Had there been a natural disaster, the civil officials would have been certain to find a cause for it in the new law and forced Emperor Jingren to issue a penitential decree. Once that happened, Emperor Jingren might have had no hope of implementing any new laws for the rest of his life.

In this crisp and clear autumnal season, the State of Xia welcomed this year’s autumn hunt.

According to custom, family members could be brought along on the autumn hunt. Some officials brought not only their first wife, but also a number of concubines. Emperor Jingren, given his position, could of course bring as many women as he wanted. Anyway, all expenses would be covered by the imperial treasury. After some years of good harvests, the state and imperial treasuries were full; there was no lack of funds.

Bringing the empress was a certainty. As he made his selections, Emperor Jingren thought back to the empress’s bold martial bearing and felt that nothing could suit her better than the autumn hunt. In previous years, with the emperor away from the palace, the empress had remained behind in command. Since her marriage to Emperor Jingren, apart from yearly offerings to the heavens and the spring ploughing, the empress hadn’t once left the palace. This time Emperor Jingren decided to bring the empress with him, and ride to the hunt with her. That would be wonderful.

The four consorts had to be brought along as well. They had come in previous years, and this year they hadn’t committed any great wrongs. There was no reason to leave them behind. Besides, Emperor Jingren had been ignoring the harem lately. He felt some guilt about his treatment of these consorts. Now that a chance to have some fun had come up, of course he had to give them a chance to enjoy it.

This year, the empress dowager would oversee the palace. The empress dowager was elderly and not up to the tumult of the journey. She never went on the autumn hunt. She was the right person to stay at the palace and hold down the fort.

All the ranked civil and military officials had to go. This was an annual grand occasion. Even if they had no talent for hunting themselves, the game their guards took down could serve as a substitute and perhaps bring them good fortune.

When all the arrangements had been made, Emperor Jingren returned to Qifeng Hall for the night and, with feigned indifference, mentioned the autumn hunt to the empress and indicated that he hoped she would be able to accompany him this time.

A rare expression of surprise appeared on the empress’s face. She said, “Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty.”

“You’re very welcome, Jinyi,” Emperor Jingren said, squeezing the empress’s hand. “You’re so skilled. You’ll be sure to take first place in the autumn hunt and show the officials how remarkable our empress is.”

“Your subject wife will do everything possible to protect Your Majesty,” the empress promised, bending her head to look steadily at Emperor Jingren.

Emperor Jingren was brought up short.

His empress was wonderful in every way, except that she wouldn’t stand behind him and be protected. Instead, she liked to stand in front and protect him. Never mind. Yan Xu had already arranged everything, anyway. The Imperial Guard was sure to keep him and the empress safe.

Because he would soon be leaving for the autumn hunt, Emperor Jingren had an unusually heavy workload for a few days. Each day he showed up at Qifeng Hall exhausted, having expended all his energy. He fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He had no strength left to consider relations between men and women. But he was prepared: for the autumn hunt, they would be staying at a temporary residence. There wouldn’t be as many rules as at the palace. He could have a nice time with the empress.

Emperor Jingren didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling. In the past, he had only felt respect for the empress. The empress had been to him not so much a first wife as an emblem, a signifier. Anyone who filled that position, whoever she might be, would receive from Emperor Jingren the respect that was due her. But now it was different. For him, the empress was his wife first, and the empress second. Rather than consider how to safeguard the empress’s dignity, his first thought was of how to make his wife happy.

It was a very peculiar feeling, but it was also comforting. Perhaps the empress’s appearance didn’t match the aesthetic preferences of the times—her bearing insufficiently gentle, her countenance insufficiently dazzling—but the only person who could come near Emperor Jingren’s heart was the empress.

Like a boy in the first bloom of love, Emperor Jingren gave secret orders to the Department of the Wardrobe to prepare several sets of clothing suitable for the empress to wear, according to her measurements. There were black short jackets and pants, long white robes, and also some handy weapons, especially swords. After the day he had watched the empress perform a sword dance, Emperor Jingren had instructed the Embroidered Guard to offer a high price for a good sword out in the world. At last, just in time for the autumn hunt, a divine weapon was forged for the empress.

These things had been sent by Emperor Jingren to the temporary residence and only waited for the empress to discover them.

As for Imperial Physician Chen saying that Emperor Jingren shouldn’t engage in sexual intercourse in his current state of health, Emperor Jingren hadn’t seen Imperial Physician Chen again. He still remembered the animosity Imperial Physician Chen had shown toward the empress when he had woken up after hitting his head. This had made him decide to gradually put distance between himself and Imperial Physician Chen and support Imperial Physician Ning, another of the Imperial College of Medicine’s diagnostic experts. He was an elderly doctor in his sixties, but well-preserved because of his profession. He didn’t seem old. Lately, when Emperor Jingren had his pulse checked, it was done by Imperial Physician Ning instead of Imperial Physician Chen. Imperial Physician Ning said there was nothing much the matter with Emperor Jingren’s health, and nothing to prevent him from engaging in sexual intercourse, as long as he didn’t overindulge.

Imperial Physician Ning’s conclusion made Emperor Jingren even more suspicious of Imperial Physician Chen. He didn’t bring Imperial Physician Chen along for the autumn hunt but had Imperial Physician Ning step in.

Since Emperor Jingren had woken up after hitting his head three months ago, the distribution of power in the harem had changed entirely. Previously Emperor Jingren had felt plenty of respect but no affection for the empress. At night he had preferred to visit the four consorts. Among them, his favorite had been the pure consort, and there was also a quite well-favored Imperial Concubine Lin, Grand Secretary Lin’s daughter and Lin Boyuan’s little sister.

Now, however, Emperor Jingren favored only the empress, and the rest of the consorts and concubines were nothing but dust. Apart from the pure consort, who had briefly received Emperor Jingren at Jiaolan Hall, none of them had even caught a glimpse of Emperor Jingren’s face since his fall. This ought to have been a matter for the Censorate to get involved in, encouraging him to cast a wider net with his favor for the sake of producing an heir. But Emperor Jingren had first been married four years ago and still had no issue. With Imperial Physician Chen’s diagnosis on top of that, the Censorate didn’t dare to tell the emperor to sleep with his concubines in spite of his health. Moreover, if Emperor Jingren had been sleeping with one of the consorts or concubines, the Censorate might have muscled its way in; but he was sleeping with the empress, which only stood to reason. Who was going to get involved there?

So, for the past three months, with the exception of the empress, all the women had been miserable. There had also been a great change in the power of the Imperial College of Medicine. It had been a period of great upset.

Some people sighed to themselves over the empress’s tactics. After years of doing nothing, in a single move, she had taken the emperor’s attention all to herself. She wasn’t a beautiful woman, yet somehow she had been able to win the emperor’s favor. It was truly remarkable. These rumors reached even the cold palace, where Su Huailing and her foster brother, Little Fuzi, heard of them.

“I encroached on His Majesty’s presence, so it’s only fair for me to be sent to the cold palace. But not you!” Su Huailing looked at Little Fuzi, so ill he couldn’t stand, and clenched her fists. “You’re innocent. You never stole anything. I’ll go plead with the empress, tell her that you haven’t done anything and should leave the cold palace!”

Then she ran out to find one of the cold palace’s matrons, who was particularly nice to her, and asked her to take care of Little Fuzi while she left the cold palace easily through a series of perfect coincidences, then mixed with the party traveling to the autumn hunt. Absolutely no one noticed.

The carriage at the center of the team, closely guarded by imperial guardsmen, belonged to Emperor Jingren. He and the empress were sharing it. In the small carriages following it rode the consorts and concubines. Today was the first time since hitting his head that Emperor Jingren had seen them, apart from the pure consort. He had forgotten then what the consorts looked like; now it seemed that they all matched the impressions he had of them in his memory.

The virtuous consort was calm and unaffected, with a pretty face, clearly a highborn lady; the worthy consort was grand and lofty, with an immensely elegant bearing, a very learned and literary woman; the honest consort was little less beautiful than the other three, but she had great charm and a pair of lively, alluring eyes. Imperial Concubine Lin resembled Grand Secretary Lin, though she didn’t look much like Lin Boyuan; Lin Boyuan must have taken after his mother.

Each woman was different, each with her own attractions, but Emperor Jingren didn’t feel anything in particular when he looked at them. Instead he turned and looked at the empress, standing beside him dressed in an ornate phoenix robe, with a heavy headdress on her head, her expression dignified. He thought that the empress was wonderful in every way, and the rest couldn’t compare.

The emperor’s carriage was larger than the others and provided with everything necessary inside. Sitting on a bed big enough for three or four people, Emperor Jingren slowly removed the empress’s headdress. Seeing how tightly the empress’s scalp had been pulled, he said, “You don’t need to dress so formally in the carriage. Let your hair down. We’ll help you put it back up when we’re nearly there.”

With her hair down, the empress looked much more casual. She said to Emperor Jingren, “Your Majesty should do likewise. Shall I assist?”

The emperor’s crown couldn’t simply be removed. The empress had to ask Emperor Jingren for permission.

“Naturally.” Emperor Jingren nodded. He raised a hand to stroke the empress’s long hair and was surprised to find it so smooth.