Emperor Jingren only wanted to remind the pure consort of her position. He had no intention of either upsetting the empress’s authority within the harem or punishing a consort over a minor instance of vying for his favor. Only when everyone understood their positions and did not covet things that did not belong to them could the harem have true peace. He didn’t want to get through a day of managing affairs of state only to return to the harem and be faced with a crowd of women intriguing against each other. The empress was excellent; he wasn’t going to grant anyone sufficient favor to override her.

The pure consort’s face went rigid; then, seeing that Emperor Jingren didn’t mean to punish her, she breathed a sigh of relief and took a food box from the maid’s hands. Gathering her courage, she said, “Your subject wife knows that her own cooking is inferior. This soup my grandmother taught me to make is the only thing that might be worth giving to anyone. I heard that Your Majesty had just recovered, so I made some soup to help you regain your strength. I hope Your Majesty will be strong and healthy. Then your subject wife will feel reassured.”

As she spoke, she looked tenderly at Emperor Jingren with her soft eyes. As if it were her own devoted heart she was presenting, she took a cup of soup from the box and carefully put it on the desk. The cup was scalding hot; the pure consort’s hands trembled slightly, but she held out until the cup was on the desk, then blew lightly on her reddened fingers. Her cherry lips were gently parted, and a flash of delicate pink tongue was just visible between them. This whole performance was an impeccable seduction; no man would be able to resist throwing himself at this peerless beauty.

But Emperor Jingren wasn’t an ordinary man. He glanced at the cup of soup out of the corner of his eye and asked, “Was this made by Jiaolan Hall’s kitchen?”

Jiaolan Hall was the pure consort’s residence, and it had its own kitchen. Though the imperial kitchens were responsible for her daily meals, those meals were prepared at set times. When she needed something else on occasion, she would use her own kitchen. Few of the consorts and concubines had their own kitchens. Apart from the four consorts, there were only a few particularly favored concubines. The rest had to rely on the imperial kitchens.

The pure consort nodded and said bashfully, “I’m embarrassed to offer my cooking to Your Majesty.”

Flawlessly hinting that she had made it herself.

But Emperor Jingren frowned. “It hasn’t been tested by the imperial kitchens?”

The pure consort was silent.

All the food in the palace, especially food meant for the emperor’s consumption, had to be tested by an expert. If the emperor stayed with one of the consorts or concubines and got up in the middle of the night to eat a midnight snack, it had to come from the imperial kitchens. Even if it was made by one of the private kitchens, it still had to be tested by the imperial kitchens. And food that had passed the imperial kitchens’ test would have a special token inside its box. When the safety of one of the ladies of the harem was implicated, no one would dare to leave out any part of this sequence. This was common knowledge among the consorts and concubines. Why was the pure consort unaware of it?

Emperor Jingren glanced at the pure consort and pushed away the cup of soup. A young eunuch came up, put the soup back in the box, and went to bring it to the imperial kitchens. As for whether it would be brought back, and whether Emperor Jingren would eat it if it was, that remained to be seen.

The pure consort’s exquisite expression almost slipped. She ducked her head and backed away from the desk. Hurt, she said, “Th-then I won’t disturb Your Majesty’s work. May I be excused?”

“Yes, go on.” Emperor Jingren didn’t try to keep her.

When the pure consort was gone, Emperor Jingren said to a secret guard concealed in the shadows, “Follow her.”

The pure consort’s mistake today was much too blatant. It gave rise to suspicion. Sending someone to follow her wouldn’t necessarily bear any fruit; it was just insurance.

The secret guard didn’t return till after dinner to report to Emperor Jingren on the pure consort’s movements.

The pure consort had hurtled back to Jiaolan Hall, with no suggestion of a daughter of nobility about her steps. Even if a consort or concubine hadn’t been well-bred before entering the palace, she would be trained in etiquette by the palace matrons. However angry she might be, she wouldn’t act indecorously in front of others.

And after returning to her hall, the pure consort hadn’t broken teacups or dishes in a rage. Instead she had picked up a soft, round cushion and flung it around till her hair was all a mess, but the cushion remained intact. Nor had she vented her anger on her maids. She had just paced back and forth on her own, muttering something about “There was nothing in the novel about following protocol!” and such. She seemed to be angry about some book; it had nothing to do with what had happened earlier.

Emperor Jingren was a little startled when he heard about this. It made him feel more kindly disposed toward the pure consort.

Many concubines and consorts cared nothing for the lives of maids and eunuchs. They might scold and beat them at best, or privately execute them at worst. Each year too many palace servants to keep count of died because they had “made a mistake,” and many more disappeared, their corpses to be found in some unknown dry well. Emperor Jingren had always been displeased with such goings on. But power over the lives of servants was usually in the hands of each hall’s master. As long as they could find an excuse for their actions, even the emperor couldn’t censure the consorts and concubines for their neglect of human life over the deaths of some servants who had “made a mistake.”

But today, though the pure consort was clearly furious, she hadn’t hurt anyone around her, only tossed around a harmless cushion. It was actually pretty cute. Emperor Jingren wasn’t too tenderhearted to mete out punishment when it was called for, but at the same time, he didn’t like women who took their anger out on their servants. The pure consort had found a good way to let off steam.

With these thoughts in mind, when it came time to turn over a token in the evening, Emperor Jingren went straight for the pure consort’s and proceeded to Jiaolan Hall. When the pure consort received word of this from a eunuch, she didn’t quite dare to believe it. She’d thought she’d lost her chance.

“Awesome!” The pure consort paced back and forth in her hall, pumping her fists. “Maybe I’ll be the first to succeed!”

She began to bathe and change. She dressed in fine gauze that both concealed and revealed and was even more alluring than wearing nothing at all. When everything was ready, she took a piece of incense of unknown type from a box by her bed. She put it in her incense burner but didn’t light it. This stuff was very valuable; she would only use it once Emperor Jingren was here. She couldn’t waste it now.

Emperor Jingren soon reached Jiaolan Hall. When he saw the splendidly attired pure consort, he couldn’t help feeling excited. But he wasn’t a lustful person. He was particular about attending to the sentimental side; he couldn’t just come in and demand gratification. So he asked the pure consort to dance for him.

The pure consort’s dancing was so wonderful that it put the greatest masters in the land to shame. Emperor Jingren had seen the pure consort for the first time in the inner garden of Marquis Guang’an’s residence. The pure consort, then only a girl, had her devastatingly lovely face veiled in sheer gauze. She came traipsing over the water, dancing lightly on the surface of the lake.

Of course, there were wooden pillars in the lake; the pure consort couldn’t actually walk on water. But the wooden pillars were extremely narrow, and they were a little unsteady, planted in the silt of the lakebed. They would sink at the slightest stumble. But the pure consort moved gracefully, as if she were dancing on level ground. The feastgoers were silent as all eyes concentrated on the girl dancing on the lake.

Elegant as a swan in flight, beautiful as a dragon cutting through the water: as if she truly were the goddess of the River Luo in one of her occasional appearances on earth. Her dance at the heart of the lake was a scene so dreamlike that the observers didn’t dare to make a sound, lest they frighten away this goddess who had dropped into the human world.

Emperor Jingren felt that it had been a long time since he had seen the pure consort dance. Since entering the palace, this beautiful woman had been like a caged canary, stripped of her former power. He longed for that feeling.

“D-dance?” Hearing Emperor Jingren’s request, the pure consort almost shouted; he wanted her to dance!

“Yes?” Emperor Jingren looked her up and down and asked, “Are you indisposed, dear? No need to force yourself, in that case.”

Though he had told her not to force herself, the pure consort was glowing with health; if she claimed to be indisposed, then Emperor Jingren, only just recovered, would have to be deathly ill.

An imperial order could not be disobeyed. However little the pure consort wanted to dance, she still had to pull herself together and do it.

Her two palace maids, Lühu and Cuihu, had come with her to the palace. They were skilled musicians and often played accompaniment for the pure consort. Hearing the emperor’s order, Lühu and Cuihu at once brought out a flute and a seven-stringed zither. The four of them were the only people in the hall. The music started up, and the pure consort, bitterly, began to wave her arms around.

She twisted her trunk stiffly, and her body moved in rhythm. Now she threw her arms open wide, now she clenched her fists and made a ring of her arms. Her feet now went stamp, stamp-stamp, and now went up in circles. Sometimes she twisted this way and that with her hands on her hips, and occasionally she had one hand on her hip while the other arm was flung out, waving.

What a very…original style of dance.

Never mind Emperor Jingren, even the two palace maids who were devoted to her heart and soul were astounded by the pure consort’s dancing. Their previously soft and gentle playing became a rhythmic, aggressive tune.

Emperor Jingren was speechless.

He drank some tea collectedly, but it was bitter and tasteless to him. His earlier intentions had melted away under the influence of the pure consort’s dancing; the world of the senses was as illusory to him as if he had just been imbibing Buddhist principles.

“We…just remembered that there are still some memorials we haven’t reviewed. You may retire for the night alone, Pure Consort.”

Then he departed from Jiaolan Hall with Eunuch Lian and a crowd of young eunuchs in tow, leaving the pure consort kneeling alone, in tears.

Square dancing was the only kind of dance she knew! Was that so wrong?!