Chapter 80 A Lesson For Lady Shu (2/2)
”Aha? So the eunuchs from Shangshan Bureau didn't submit the account book to Lady Shu? I remember that when the Empress was in charge of the imperial household, she would keep a
ng smiled and said, ”Both of you talk about ideal husbands every day. Do you want to get married now?”
Both the maids shook their heads and replied, ”No. What we want is to keep Your Highness company forever.”
Yun Shang smiled at them and said, ”It doesn't matter who you marry. What matters is whether you are capable enough to tame him. If he is obedient to you in every way, he wouldn't dare invite romantic affairs even if he wants to in his heart of hearts. But don't worry. As both of you are my maids, I will definitely find for each of you an ideal husband who will make you very satisfied. Besides, they must be in sheer obedience to you and dare not sneak a look at another woman.”
Both Qin Yi and Qian Yin were teenage girls. They were so young that they had seldom heard about relations between a man and woman. They flushed at Yun Shang's words and begged for her mercy.
Yun Shang smiled and dried her feet with a towel. She lay on the couch for a while and continued speaking, ”I will try my best to help mother deliver the baby. I will also find a chance to talk with her. I have been observing His Majesty since I have returned to court. His Majesty is a good Emperor, but not a good husband. Although His Majesty is still in love with mother, His Majesty is also fond of the Empress and Lady Shu. If it is mother's desire to live somewhere rather than at the Imperial Palace, I will take her out no matter what the cost might be.”
Both Qin Yi and Qian Yin were silent after Yun Shang had finished speaking.
The silence lasted for a while before Qin Yi spoke, ”Your Highness, I have readied everything for the Winter Solstice Sacrificial Ceremony. The person Qian Yin arranged for at the Shangyi Bureau made my task easy.”
Yun Shang nodded, ”Just three days left. This time, I will present the Empress with a nice gift in the presence of all courtiers.”
Three days went by quickly, and the Day of the Winter Solstice Sacrificial Ceremony arrived. The onset of the Winter Solstice was heralded with incessant snowfall. Yun Shang awoke before dawn. She dressed for the Ceremony and was carried to the Temple of Heaven in a palanquin.
The bell tolled from the Bell Tower at quarter past four in the morning. Yun Shang saw Emperor Ning and the Empress enter the Temple of Heaven from the gate on the left. Then they walked toward the Heavenly Alter. They stopped halfway to kowtow before the Heavenly Alter. At this moment, the stoves on each side were lit and the music began playing. Then, Emperor Ning rose to his feet and walked with the Empress to the top of the Heavenly Alter. They knelt before the Holy Shrine in the middle of the Heavenly Alter and presented the incense. Yun Shang watched as they moved aside to present incense before the memorial tablet* of each ancestor, and kowtowed before them. After a moment, they returned to the middle of the Heavenly Alter and conducted the three-kowtow-and-nine-prostration etiquette, the most solemn and most grand rite in ancient China when people prayed to the Heavenly God and ancestors.
(*TN: In China, the memorial tablet is a wooden tablet on which the name of the ancestor is written. It is used as a means to memorize the ancestors and to show respect toward the ancestors from their offspring.)
Yun Shang stared at the Empress who had dressed in the black ceremonial garment. She hadn't forgotten to wear her beloved Phoenix-shaped gold hairpin. Walking closely behind the Emperor, she looked quite grave and solemn and behaved particularly proper in her kneeling and kowtowing. However, upon careful observation, one would notice that the Empress had to straighten her body as much as possible in a rigid posture while walking and kowtowing. She was slow in her movements and seemed quite exhausted.
An eunuch waiting outside walked onto the Heavenly Alter with a tray in his hands. There was a jade and a roll of silk on the tray. Emperor Ning and the Empress picked up the jade and the silk respectively and presented them before the Holy Shrine. As they stepped aside, eunuchs carried forward the sacrificial vessels filled with meats of livestock. And Emperor Ning and the Empress presented them before the Holy Shrine, one by one.
The Empress had put the sacrificial vessel on the table and was about to straighten her body, but she paused for a little while before she could stand straight again. Emperor Ning was so impatient that he turned to check on her. Yun Shang was watching them. She could not help smiling heartily as a good show was about to begin.