When a person receives too great a shock, his mind will go blank. Most of his actions at such a time will reflect his instincts. So it was with Emperor Jingren now. After catching a glimpse of that man’s face, he didn’t make a sound. Nor did he barge in and call him to account. Instead, he quietly left the bathing room and even instructed the servants in Qifeng Hall not to tell the empress that he had been there. At the same time, he ordered Eunuch Lian to stay behind and tell the empress that he had a lot of work to do and planned to spend the night in the imperial study. He wouldn’t be coming to Kunning Palace.

After carrying out this meticulous series of actions, Emperor Jingren left as quietly as he had come.

All this time, his mind had been a blank. It was only when he returned to the bedroom attached to the imperial study that Emperor Jingren began to recover his reason.

The empress was a man!

There was no excuse, no explanation. Emperor Jingren had seen the empress in his entirety and was absolutely certain that the empress was a man. But how could that be? Even if the palace matrons could have been hoodwinked during their wedding ceremony, how could he have been deceived on their wedding night? Had the empress also used that incense?

Hold on. Why couldn’t he remember what had happened on their wedding night?

Emperor Jingren was a little dazed. He had a clear impression that he and the empress had been inseparable for three months following their wedding, and he had only gone to visit the consorts when the empress remained childless after those three months. But…those three months, which ought to have left such a deep impression on him, were now as flimsy as words on a page. It was as if someone had told him that, after their wedding, the emperor and the empress had been devoted to each other. But that was all there was. As for the displays of this devotion and their interactions during this period, he had absolutely no memory.

To Emperor Jingren, his own memories were more important than looking into the empress and his whole family’s insolence in lying to him.

He no longer recalled whether he had been able to remember these things before hitting his head. But when he thought about it, his strongest impressions were of the things that had happened during the months after he had hit his head. Everything since then was perfectly clear to him; he had forgotten nothing. Going further, before he hit his head, he had memories starting from the first time he had visited the virtuous consort three months after his wedding. The memories were vague, but he still knew what had happened, and the details were clear. But when he thought back before that, there were only lifeless impressions. All his memories were like words on a page—insubstantial.

If he couldn’t even remember his own wedding night, then didn’t there have to be something wrong with him?

Was it hitting his head that had caused the problem, or had there been a problem all along?

Emperor Jingren could neither find an answer nor understand how this had come to be. The best thing to do would be to question the empress. So what was he waiting for? With a single order, he could have that treasonous man and his whole family in the imperial prison. When they were questioned, naturally he would learn what means the empress had used to deceive him during the three months after their marriage.

But Emperor Jingren didn’t give the order.

The empress had exceptional martial arts skills. How could he have failed to hear someone barging into his bathing room? He must have known from the moment Emperor Jingren opened the door that he was there, yet he hadn’t made a sound. Instead, he had turned around, letting Emperor Jingren see the truth.

And just as the empress hadn’t made a sound, so Emperor Jingren had silently left Qifeng Hall, burying his head in the sand, pretending that he had never been there. But in reality, how could there be a secret in the palace? It was a fact that he had been there. Whatever orders he gave the servants, it was impossible for the empress not to know.

Both of them had chosen not to have the matter out openly. There was room to redeem the situation.

When his reason had yet to recover and instinct had taken the lead, Emperor Jingren had not wanted to punish the empress.

In the aftermath, finding himself at a loss, Emperor Jingren decided to let the matter go for the moment. More importantly, he wanted to resolve the problem of his memories.

If he couldn’t go to the empress for an explanation, then he had to investigate himself. Concerning his wedding, there was a record of absolutely everything. If he only chose to investigate, there were many avenues open to him.

First, the emperor and empress both had to be entered into the annals. His marriage and his ascension to the throne had occurred together. The court historians would have records. Though the records were sure to be couched in circumspect terms, they still had value as reference material. Next were the people and things involved in preparing the empress for the wedding. People could err or lie, but not objects. The empress’s family came from the north, and so did the empress. It would be rather difficult to investigate things there. The top priority was to investigate the wedding itself. The two most important articles were the phoenix robes the empress had worn during the ceremony, and the first night cloth.

The empress was a man, so even if the outer garments of the phoenix robes were entirely feminine, the underclothes couldn’t be the same. As for the first night cloth…

Emperor Jingren pinched his brow. He had many things to inspect. He listed them one by one and sent subordinates to find them. When the items were found, he didn’t plan to let anyone else see them. Emperor Jingren intended to do the analysis and investigation himself.

After a night spent writing out a densely packed list, the next day Emperor Jingren went to court a little weary. But his health was good, so this degree of exhaustion was bearable.

—

“His Majesty didn’t sleep at all last night?” the empress asked in Qifeng Hall.

“Yes, My Lady.” After the way the four consorts had been demoted last night, Eunuch Lian bowed his head even lower before the empress. “It seems His Majesty wrote something in the imperial study, then gave it to the Embroidered Guard.”

“Understood. You may leave.”

Eunuch Lian didn’t ask any questions before he left. The empress sighed lengthily.

Last night he had been in the bathtub from right after dinner until late at night. At first he had been waiting for the young emperor to come to Qifeng Hall so he could “just happen” to see him bathing, and later, after the young emperor had left, he had remained quietly soaking in the tub.

The empress had wracked his brain yesterday, and at last had been able to think of nothing but this asinine scheme to disabuse Emperor Jingren of his notions about having a child. Like a coward, he had put the choice in the young emperor’s hands. But when he heard that the emperor hadn’t slept all night, he still felt bad.

Emperor Jingren had been so looking forward to this child, but the empress couldn’t give him one.

For the first time experiencing anxiety and helplessness, the empress sat in a chair and resisted the urge to go to the imperial study himself and force the young emperor who hadn’t rested all night to go to sleep.

Compared to the empress with his anxiety, Emperor Jingren had his emotions well in hand. He rebuffed all the courtiers who objected to his decree demoting the four consorts to the rank of lady of bright deportment, summoned all the vassal princes to the capital for the occasion of the empress dowager’s full decade birthday, and resolved some issues that had arisen concerning the new law. It had been a productive day.

Having things to do is invigorating. On leaving court, Emperor Jingren had all but forgotten about what had happened yesterday, right up till a secret guard brought over the empress’s phoenix robes and first night cloth, as well as the record of the empress’s menstrual cycles from their wedding to the present.

There was no way to get these things without alerting the empress. But here they were; it seemed the empress was giving his tacit consent.

When Emperor Jingren saw these things, his mood was spoiled. First, he examined the phoenix robes and found there was nothing unusual about them. They were all women’s clothes. Thinking of the generous endowment he had seen last night, Emperor Jingren thought the empress might find wearing these clothes uncomfortable. But then again, the empress hadn’t been fully grown four years ago. Perhaps these clothes would have fit just right.

With an unspeakable peculiar joy, Emperor Jingren opened the box holding the first night cloth. A square white cloth lay inside the box. Emperor Jingren took it out and unfolded it, and his eyes were instantly stabbed by the stains.

Again he thought of a certain part of the empress and combined that thought with the dull red bloodstains on the first night cloth. An unbelievable question appeared in Emperor Jingren’s mind—

Whose blood was on the cloth?