Nibbling on the calligraphy brush handle, Moyan felt her brain heat up as she struggled to recall the chapters last night.
In the original novel, Nangong Tanxiang didn't appear physically in person. Much of what the readers came to know were told through a combination of the Crown Prince's investigations and the Second Prince's flashbacks.
She was the youngest daughter of the Nangong clan, one of the three ducal families in the Qi Empire. To balance out the political landscape of the imperial court, she was selected at the tender age of 9 to become a vice consort of Prince Jing of the First Rank.
Innocent and childlike, Tanxiang became close friends with the Princess Consort Jing, and they viewed each other as sisters. Within a year, one after another, the two of them gave birth to sons. The first child, a legitimate son, became the First and later, Crown Prince. The other child, a concubine-born, became the Second Prince, oldest of the concubine-born imperial children.
Two years passed, and Prince Jing still only had two male heirs. Thus, under pressure from the imperial court, a third concubine was selected and conferred the rank of Concubine Bai.
Within a matter of months, the newcomer overtook both Princess Consort Jing and Tanxiang to become the most favored woman of the Prince Jing Manor.
Then, in the 34th year of the Auspice of the White Tiger, Emperor Róngqìng abdicated from the throne to become Emperor Emeritus. In accordance with imperial decree, Prince Jing became the new emperor and was conferred the era name Xuānyè.
Now members of the imperial harem, the three wives of the new emperor received new titles. Without question, as the main wife and mother to the legitimate heir, the Princess Consort Jing was given the greatest honor being crowned the new Empress. As mother to the oldest concubine-born heir, Vice Consort Nanggong, the first of the concubines with many years of service, was elevated as Consort Ning (宁妃 níngfēi) .
But Concubine Bai, who had only served the emperor barely a year and had yet to produce an heir, was elevated as Noble Consort Chun (淳贵妃 chúnguìfēi) . The second of the four Great Consorts.
Like a forgotten toy, Consort Ning was tossed away into Wàngxīgé, one of the furthest palaces away from the emperor's residence.
Within the claustrophobic walls of the imperial city, the favor of the emperor decided everything. To survive, the women of the harem must seduce, comply, and bend to the emperor's every whim.
But Tanxiang did not. Her conscience would not allow her so.
Yet even without favor, a Consort is a lofty position. And there were only four.
Like a juicy steak tossed towards a pack of wolves, Tanxiang was slowly stripped of her prestige, her dignity, and even the right to raise her own son. So she withered away, withdrawing ever deeper into the confines of her little corner of the imperial palace until...
She died alone, abandoned by the very people who snatched her away in the first place.
The question is when. Moyan murmured, tapping her fingers on the lacquered table surface. From what she knew, it all started when Tanxiang was demoted to guìpín despite saving the First Princess.
The reason was obvious. Someone was after her previous rank. And that someone needed an excuse. Failing to care for a legitimate heir was perfect enough to allow the officials to stir up a storm in the imperial court. Who cared whether or not it was true?
Understandeable. Moyan mused. In the imperial palace, only victory matters.
'My lady. I've brought the cookies.' Xiaoli's voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she set her brush aside.
'Come in.' She called, floating towards a set of intricately carved wooden chairs.
Settling down, Moyan took another look at the maid that entered. Her brown hair was tied neatly into two buns beside her head with plain black ribbons, adorned with a cluster of small blue ronghua. From her short stature, she would appear to be around 12 years of age. The most striking feature about her were her eyes, which were a glimmering forget-me-not blue.
When they were talking just now, she had called herself Xiaoli.
If memory serves... Moyan mused, studying the bustling figure through her eyelashes as she sipped from a teacup, concubines have two personal bridal maids. The maid serving the Second Prince in the novel was called Xiaotao. Which meant that Xiaoli didn't survive to see the Second Prince grow up.
Did she follow her mistress and died in the Cold Palace? Or did she get framed and punished with death?
Or... Moyan's eyes narrowed, Did she betray Tanxiang for another mistress?
Since I would be working with them from now on... She set down her teacup. A test is in order.
After all, the easiest way her enemies could get rid of her is by tampering with her personal maids.
'Sit down, Xiaoli.' Moyan said, a smile blooming on her face whilst gesturing at an empty chair to her left.
'This servant dares not, your ladyship!' Xiaoli squeaked, backing away from the table as fast as she could.
'Come now, Li'er. There's only the two of us here. No need for formalities.' Moyan smiled, gesturing once more at the empty seat.
'This servant is humbled, your ladyship!' Xiaoli squealed. Even from a distance, Moyan could sense how tense she was.
Anxiety perhaps? Or is it simply from wariness? Moyan wondered, her smile remaining unwaveringly bright.
Time to change strategies.
Hopping down from the chair, Moyan padded towards Xiaoli. Without warning, she grabbed Xiaoli's hands.
'Pretty please? It's been so long since I had someone to talk to....' She asked, adopting the (hopefully) shimmering eyes of a kitty cat asking for a hug.
***
'So you ended up sitting down next to our mistress and ate all the cookies you prepared for her? Even though she is our mistress?' Xiaotao asked, her left eyebrow arching into a slender curve.
'I-I couldn't help it, alright?' Xiaoli grumbled, scrubbing at the cookie crumbs sticking on the porcelain plates. 'She just looked so... so sad when I said no...' she mumbled, her voice trailing off into the distance.
With a sigh, Xiaotao set aside the tea set she just finished washing and looked up towards the sky. It was a clear summer's day, with a few stray clouds floating by.
'Xiaotao *jiějiē!' A clear voice rang out across the courtyard. Xiaotao's brows furrowed in displeasure.
'Xiaotao jiějiē! Look! Look! Her ladyship gave me something!' Lan'er chattered, hopping towards the two of them like an excited little sparrow.
Whack!
Xiaotao's well-aimed hand chop left the little sparrow seeing stars in her eyes.
'How many times have we said no yelling in the courtyard!?' Xiaotao asked, looming over Lan'er with the air of a practised matriarch, minus the cane.
'But...but her ladyship said it was for all of us...' Lan'er protested, opening the lacquer box she had been holding. The sparkle of gold made them all pause and gape at the contents. Within the lacquer box was a pouch of **jīnguāzǐ that glimmered softly in the light.
For a moment, no one spoke.
'Lan'er.' Xiaoli finally managed to stammer out. 'What did her ladyship say?'
'Umm... she said that this should be enough to make it past this month. Is there something wrong?'
The two older maids looked at each other, uncertainty clouding their features. As far as they could remember, her ladyship was a kind but spoiled spendthrift on hobbies and had almost no concept of how much daily expenses were needed. Things only got worse when they married into the imperial household, and she turned out so badly that her duties as a vice consort were given to a mere Treasured Lady instead.
Last they remembered, her ladyship spent nearly a third of her monthly allowances on sandalwood and agarwood for incense. The same could be said of the months leading up to the incident with the First Princess.
So where did these jīnguāzǐ come from?
***
In her bedchamber, Moyan collapsed into a bedside chair. Beside her, two drawers laid upside down, the clothes and robes within them strewn haphazardly about the floor. If one's eyes were observant, they'd notice imprints and stray threads from where the embellishments and buttons were yanked and picked away.
Thank goodness some idiot was stupid enough to think jīnguāzǐ were just clothing decorations, otherwise we'd be in deep water by now, even with my status. Moyan thought, closing her eyes in exhaustion.
Now that the financial problem for the month was dealt with, the second part of the plan was ready to begin.
Right now, what she lacked were two things vital to a woman's survival in the harem. Money and information .
It's still years before the protagonist comes of age and the main story begins.
No time to waste. Be it the factions of the back palace or the various happenings that led up to the present. She must take note of all of them.
But first, the most pressing matter is with the First Princess. If I fail to appease the Empress, things won't end with just being demoted to a guìpín.
She had no desire to end up like the original Tanxiang. In a way, Deposed Concubine Ning was entirely responsible for her own circumstances. The Imperial City is not a playground. Here, concubines and their children fight bloody battles for power, putting their own lives and their families on the line. It doesn't matter if you joined in willingly or not.
Once you step into the walls of the back palace, there is no turning back. Victory or death.
But no worries. She's not Nangong Tanxiang. Her name is , and in her heart always will be, Song Moyan. The Song Moyan who engrossed herself in so many gongdou dramas and novels she could count the cliches like rattling off the letters of the alphabet. The Song Moyan who made it through 2 years of gruelling college life on cup ramen and listening to the noisy city life each night while preparing for finals.
No worries. Baby steps. Moyan smiled, a mischievous grin dancing around her lips. Let's take this slowly.
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* 姐姐 jiějiē, quite literally 'big sister'. It is often used in the imperial harems to express a level of intimacy (since its' mainly just women in the harems, save for eunuchs) by a less experienced or younger female to a senior or colleague of higher station. The sincerity in this honorific is highly debatable, as it can be used scathingly or sarcastically in unofficial situations.
**金瓜子 jīnguāzǐ, are translated to 'gold melon seeds'. In palace terms, they refer to small nuggets of gold roughly the size and shape of melon seeds, oftentimes given by the Emperor or high-ranking consorts to servants as rewards. Each nugget is roughly one to two taels in value.