Zi Hua looked out of the window sighed.
'One day until the final selection.'
In the face of the big day, even Song Chang Ge and Luo Yin's routine bickering failed to bother her as usual. Instead, she found herself spacing out, her chest burning and her thoughts a tangled mess.
The sun was bright today, but not as bright as in Xiping, where the fields were vast and trees were scarce.
She wondered if her family was doing well, if they had tracked down the barbarians who had somehow managed to infiltrate the borders. Did her father and brother miss her? She missed them so much. Every day, she trained excessively to ignore the pang of their absence, to the point where Madam Xiu now praised her etiquette; every night, she fell asleep to dreams of the past and visions of a murky future.
Jiu'er was heartbroken they couldn't celebrate Winter Solstice together, yet in the blink of an eye, one month had passed. This was the longest they had ever went without seeing each other, and with every conversation with courtiers wearing counterfeit smiles and meaningful gestures, she longed for the simplicity of her old friendships.
Tomorrow, the courtiers would be brought before the emperor and sifted into consorts or failures. And if the stories were to be believed, the rivalry between consorts would only be fiercer... and more ruthless.
Was this the future she wanted? Should she even wish to pass?
She had been giving her all this past month to prevent shaming her family name, but what if the end result wasn't worth the effort?
A pair of magpies chirped merrily outside, the epitome of joyful partners. Once upon a time, she too, had dared to hope for such a romance—one life, one world, one pair of lovers.
And she had thought it was within her grasp: under the sunset, in a field of sunflowers; her hands in his, a handwoven crown on her head. Two hearts entwined, words left unsaid, yet feelings conveyed.
In the end, it became a beautiful dream—ending, leaving bittersweet memories behind.
Zi Hua sighed again in reminiscence.
"Yang Zi Hua, can you stop sighing? You're dampening the mood here!" Luo Yin snapped. "And Ding Meng Meng—stop scratching your face! It's very distracting."
"I can't help it," Ding Meng Meng wailed, scraping at her skin vigorously.
Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.
"Of course you can, just—" Song Chang Ge's eye-roll stopped halfway. "Heavens, what's wrong with your face?!" she gasped, pointing dramatically.
"W-what do you mean?!" Ding Meng Meng instantly fumbled around for a mirror—
A familiar scream shattered Blossom Palace's peace.
***
"Courtier Ding, do you have any allergies?"
Ding Meng Meng shook her head, clenching the blanket in her fists.
"Have you came into contact with anything new lately?" the physician continued. "Such as fabric, plants, cosmetics—"
Ding Meng Meng abruptly sat up and grabbed her. "The rouge!" she exclaimed. "The one on my dressing table!"
The physician nodded, examining the silver compact and then its contents. After rubbing the fine rouge powder on her gloved hands, her expression changed.
"It's laced with poison."
Madam Xiu sucked in a breath. "Courtier Ding, how did this rouge come into your possession?"
"Qiu Rong gave it to me..." Her eyes widened. "She mustthe one behind this!"
"Summon Courtier Qiu," Madam Xiu ordered.
A few minutes later, Qiu Rong appeared, followed by an entourage of curious courtiers.
"What's the matter, Madam Xiu?" she asked.
And then she saw the patient whose eyes were swollen and surrounded by angry red rashes.
"Meng Meng, what happened to your face?!"
"Calm down, Courtier Qiu," Madam Xiu said. "Now that you're here, the physician will explain everything."
"Yes, madam," the physician said. "Courtier Ding's facial rashes and blisters are typical symptoms of poison ivy oil contact. However, I also found traces of lily pollen in the rogue she had used. Lily pollen can trigger similar allergy reactions, but it is most peculiar for both substances to be present in the rouge, considering the potency of poison ivy alone."
"Perhaps the culprit decided to make their scheme more fail-safe," Qiu Rong offered.
"That's a possibility..."
But Ding Meng Meng was no longer listening. After hearing a certain phrase, she started breathing heavily.
"Lily pollen? No way..." she murmured under rapidly shortening breaths. "W-why is it here? It's not... not supposed to be here..."
"Courtier Ding, is there something you aren't telling us?" Madam Xiu pressed.
"N-no! I don't know anything!"
"Lily pollen? A few days ago, Meng Meng..." Qiu Rong's musing trailed off.
"Courtier Qiu, if you have any clues, please share them," Madam Xiu said solemnly.
She hesitated, then shook her head. "I remember Meng Meng picking some lilies a few days ago. She's always loved that flower, so I didn't question it. There's no way she would do this to herself, though..."
'But would she do it to someone else?' were the words left unspoken.
Madam Xiu cupped Ding Meng Meng's shoulder. "Is that true, Courtier Ding?"
Ding Meng Meng paled as the truth flashed back to her.
I was admiring your lilies.
Pretty... but also dangerous.
The pollen triggered an allergy reaction...
It was then. It had to be.
And the compact... It was silver. Round. Similar to the one she had given away.
'It was you...'
Suddenly, her lungs constricted, and exhales became short, panicked bursts.
"Let go!" She shoved the madam away violently. "I— I— It was her! She put all this in my head! She wanted to disfigure Yang Zi Hua!" she screeched, lunging at Qiu Rong.
The onlookers shifted in surprise as servants hurriedly restrained her. Still, she kicked and screamed, struggling against them like a rabid beast. Her bloodshot eyes bulged at Qiu Rong; when her face contorted, so did her wounds—ugly, red blotches oozing pus across mottled, uneven skin.
It was such a hideous sight that a few courtiers retched silently, turning away.
"Qiu Rong! Say something!" Ding Meng Meng yelled hoarsely, tears streaming down the ridges of her face. "We were friends—howcould you use me like this?!"
Were.
Qiu Rong stared at her wordlessly.
Friends?
There was no such thing in the imperial palace.
"Meng Meng," she spoke softly, yet with the trembling undertones of one betrayed. "If we truly were friends, you wouldn't try to pin your crime on me. This... This is your karma for trying to harm another."
Ding Meng Meng crumpled to the floor, dragging two servants down with her.
"No, no, no..." she mumbled, grabbing Qiu Rong's skirt. "That's not what happened. You said she was horrible too—you said lily pollen was sure to work!"
"Nonsense!" Qiu Rong ripped her hem away and whipped around. "Madam Xiu! How long will you tolerate this?" she demanded. "Is my reputation and that of the empress's such a trivial matter that you would allow this baseless slander to continue and upset the consort selection?!"
Madam Xiu stepped forward and bowed. "My apologies, Courtier Qiu. I will handle this immediately."
She turned around and announced:
"Courtier Ding poisoned rouge to give to a fellow courtier, but fell prey to her own evil. Instead of repenting, she tried to push the blame onto Courtier Qiu. She is hereby disqualified from the consort selection! She is unfit to marry, both in terms of appearance, and her vicious personality. Take her away!"
Gasps broke out. With this remark, even if Ding Meng Meng recovered in the future, no good man would court her again, for who would want a woman discarded by the emperor, and for such dishonourable reasons at that? Her future was utterly over.
And the person in question? She collapsed like a rag doll and had to be dragged away. Her eyes turned glassy, and her mouth trembled in discordant utterings.
"I didn't mean to... No, this is all wrong... What went wrong? What went wrong?! Qiu Rong... Yang Zi Hua... It's over, I'm doomed... Madam Xiu, why..."
As she watched on, an imperceptible smirk curled on Qiu Rong's lips.
How naïve of Ding Meng Meng to think Madam Xiu would investigate this matter thoroughly. She was, after all, just the illegitimate daughter of a fourth-rank official... Why would the empress's dog bite the empress dowager's niece over someone insignificant like her?
But when she caught sight of someone else, her smirk fell.
Despite being the initial target, Yang Zi Hua was ironically uninvolved. She herself bore a certain amount of suspicion due to the accusations, and if left to fester, her flawless reputation could be stained for as long as Ding Meng Meng's scars remained.
How could someone be so lucky?!
This farce started because of her, yet there she stood, an innocent gape on her hateful face.
Qiu Rong sucked in a deep breath and looked away.
'Calm down,' she consoled herself. 'This is just a minor setback. Testing the waters, so to speak.'
That's right—she had planned so much for her future with Tian: her elder cousin, once favoured by Empress Dowager Qiu for her blossoming beauty, was now the disfigured wife of a low-ranked, twice-married governor while she, Qiu Rong, was chosen as the Qiu Duchy's next-generation representative in the rear palace.
So what if the lily pollen had failed this time? There were endless opportunities in the future, especially since Yang Zi Hua was also an internally guaranteed consort.
Qiu Rong dusted off her skirt and left the scene.
This was just a strategic retreat. Her next move wouldn't fail so easily.