“Someone!” she called, but only Fengshou arrived. As Xi Linxuan’s long-time personal eunuch, she wondered why he was still in the Eastern Palace.
“What happened? Has the date changed? Where is Your Highness?” Weilingxia asked, feeling dizzy from her rushed movements.
Fengshou hunched his shoulders, shook his head: “Responding to the Crown Princess, Your Highness left north early this morning.”
“North? Why am I still here? Why wasn’t I woken up?” Weilingxia felt something was wrong – she had never slept so deeply.
“It was an imperial decree. All Eastern Palace women are to remain in the capital. The Crown Prince said to leave me to serve you,” Fengshou explained.
“Imperial decree?” Weilingxia processed this quickly.
Before this, marriages were arranged, weddings performed, and now everyone was being left behind. Weilingxia wanted to laugh. Oh, Emperor, you are truly a monarch, with no familial sentiment. Sending a prince as a hostage and leaving his wife behind in the capital was heartbreaking.
“Fengshou, bring me my court dress,” Weilinxia said.
“Princess Consort, what are you going to do?” Fengshou asked anxiously.
“First go to the palace and announce me; I want an audience,” Weilinxia said calmly. What difference does it make being a hostage in the capital? If something happens, Xi Linxuan will still worry about her. It’s better for them to be together, living and dying together.
Despite Fengshou’s repeated dissuasion, Weilinxia went to the palace in formal court dress for an audience.
The emperor was discussing important matters with his ministers in a side hall of the Taiji Palace and asked her to wait in the outer square. Weilinxia waited until dark, and it started to rain. The autumn rain was cold, slowly seeping through her thick court dress.
“Princess Consort, let me fetch an umbrella,” Fengshou said.
“No need,” Weilinxia firmly refused. She stood in the rain for a stick of incense time, and though people came and went in the hall, no one offered her an umbrella.
Why bother asking and feeling uncomfortable? It was just a little autumn rain, nothing to fear.
Finally, ministers in various colored robes filed out of the side hall. A young eunuch stood in the corridor and called out, “Summon the Princess Consort for an audience.”
The white marble platform and vermilion pillars looked particularly harsh.
