Chapter 47

Imperial Concubine Wei
Wei Li Lian
Hougong

“You two are the only servants I would trust with my life.” Li Lian said to Dao and Ai. She had dismissed all her many other servants from her quarters and told them to stand outside until called back.

“Dao.” Li Lian looked at her dead in the eyes to see if she would lie to her.

“My Lady...” She looked down sadly. Now to think of it, for so many weeks, Dao was downcast more than you would find her smiling.

Ai and Dao sat across Li Lian in the welcoming room, knees folded and their hands laying on their knees, attentive to her. Ai was the clueless one on what was going on.

“You are the one who put the buckwheat in my room, didn’t you?”

“My Lady, why would Dao put the buckwheat in your room?” Ai freaked out. “I know Dao, she wouldn’t do that.”

“Be quiet, Ai.” Li Lian kept her eyes glued to Dao, who now had her hands twisting uncomfortably against the other. “Dao? I asked you a question.”

“My Lady… that is…”

“Get me a whipping stick, Ai.”

“My Lady!” Ai protested, dropping her body to the floor.

“Should I go and get it by myself now?” Li Lian asked. “I said go and get me a stick!” Li Lian pounded on the small table she was using to rest her arm on.

This shook Ai up that she hurriedly got up and fled to look for the stick.

“Now, Dao. Will you start speaking?”

Dao wiped a tear. “Why me? It’s not only me who has access to the bedroom. Ai is also allowed inside.”

“Ai would never. She doesn't know how to deal with such things. And that would be stabbing her own foot to do that as she is in charge of the medicine. It would be stupid of her because she would be the first suspect.”

“My Lady… I didn’t put it there on purpose.”

“If not on purpose, why did you have it there?”

“I w-w-was drinking it for myself.”

“Dao!” Li Lian yelled with a surge of anger. “You have overdone it this time.”

“My Lady, I didn’t think it would be found if it was with you. I sincerely didn’t think so. The reason why I did not keep it among my belongings is because servants have random search calls from the Senior Court Lady, unlike you. This is why I decided to have it in one of your medicine chest boxes. There are so many on the shelf, I didn’t think someone would find it, My Lady.”

Li Lian had medicine she drank in the morning and some in the evening for the relief of back pains. She didn’t expect that one of the spying maids of the Grand Dowager Empress would sneak into her room and inspect each of her boxes.

A week ago, the Grand Dowager sent a book called, The Departing of the Mistress from the Servant. In simpler words, it was the ending of their relationship. The Grand Dowager was giving Li Lian up and wouldn’t be relying on her or using her due to the whole buckwheat incident. The old woman probably saw Li Lian as a proud woman who purposely drank buckwheat to be rebellious against the emperor so that she would gain his attention. 

Ever since their fight, Li Lian was never summoned by His Majesty, which just proved to the Grand Dowager that Li Lian was old news. In the public events where women accompanied the emperor, Yuwen Hong did not treat Li Lian coldly. He treated her as the rest of the women. Him being angry would be better than him being unfeeling towards her.

“Why do you drink buckwheat, Dao?”

“I want to protect myself.”

“Why?”

“Because I was… raped…”

Li Lian narrowed her eyes. “You were raped?”

Dao nodded.

Li Lian chuckled, her eye catching Ai who emerged and sat far from them, hoping Li Lian would forget about the stick. “Rape or not, I will beat you to death today.” Dao was no good liar. Her eyes danced around whenever she was lying.

“My Lady, please forgive, please forgive me. I am already heartbroken over the matter, please spare me!”

“You are a palace maid and you slept with a man.”

“I am repenting over the matter already, my feelings for him resulted in me having a bad judgement.”

Li Lian pushed the long but short table and had it horizontal before her. “Undress the pants under your ruqin skirt and lie on the table.”

“My Lady, you can’t beat her. What if she is pregnant?” Ai ran to her mistress and knelt, begging for Dao.

“She is not pregnant! Never!" Li Lian's eyes flashed a light amber then darkened back to their color. This had Ai wince away, knowing that her mistress was crazily angry. “If she is pregnant, the child must die.” Li Lian slapped the floor twice. “Lie down, Dao!”

Dao got agitated by the cold words. Her breaths panted while her face scowled. The crying had been replaced with anger towards Li Lian. Her hands trembled as she pulled down the pants and her underwear.

“Give me the stick.” Li Lian took the whip and inspected the narrow stick. “What is this? Am I going to hit a child?” She threw away the stick. “I want a big fat stick! Otherwise, do you want me to go out and get it myself and then beat you both?"

Ai heaved, tears beginning to cascade on her small cheeks. She liked Dao and on this day she was realizing it.

Dao lifted her skirts and lay on the table with her stomach, her bare buttocks in the open for Li Lian.

“Who is the man, Dao?”

“Just beat me and get over with it.”

“Attitude will not have me forgive you.”

Ai ran back in with a pole like stick that narrowed thinly at the end. It was green and freshly pruned from the tree. When Li Lian would push it down, it would bounce back up.

Perfect! It was perfect because it would hurt a dozen times.

“One last time, who is he?”

“I can’t say―”

The whip sharply cracked on Dao’s buttock that she screamed loudly in pain. Her voice pierced the air. It was the type that made someone’s blood run cold, but Li Lian did not feel it because she was used to it. On the other times before, it was her scream she would hear as Mistress Ki punished her.

“Who is it?” Li Lian asked again.

“I cannot―”

Whip!

Dao’s scream rang deathly cold. Her eyes widened with horror, her reddened face haggard and stock-stilled as her fists clamped with etiolated knuckles.

“The next time you let a man touch you on these buttocks, you must remember this pain.”

Not able to keep it in anymore, Dao wept. “Not only is my heart breaking, but even my body is breaking.”

Li Lian said nothing but continued on.

Whip! Whip! Whip! Whip!

Dao’s screams echoed, muffled by loud coughing as she groaned on. People outside would not be able to tell if it was an animal or a person as Dao began howling.

“Li’er, enough!” Grand Consort Shu ran in and snatched the whipping stick that was now less than half the size it came in as. Pieces of it dressed the floor, broken during the beating.

Li Lian tried to catch her breath as she wiped her sweat.

Dao quickly got up, though she almost fell back because of the unexpected pain. Her buttocks were red with splashes of blood trickling down the cracked skin. She then limped outside with Ai helping her.

“You will kill your servant and regret it.” Grand Consort Shu chastised Li Lian who got up to give over her grand seat.

“What is wrong with you? Aiya, Li’er.” Grand Consort shook her head as she sat down on the given seat.

Li Lian sighed, twisting her head in the palm of her hand. “Dao doesn’t take her life seriously, she is clueless about the cruelty of the palace. I must discipline her if I love her.”

“Not this harshly as if you seek to kill her.” The Grand Consort took Li Lian’s hand. “What did she do?”

“She slept with a man.”

“Is she pregnant?”

“I don’t know,” Li Lian groaned. “If Yuwen Hong knows, he shall kill her, Your Highness.” Li Lian’s held back tears streamed on her face. She could not cry in front of Dao and Ai and look weak. “What shall I do? What shall I say to her mother? I have failed as a mistress.”

“Li’er, don’t be heartbroken over small matters, what maid has not snuck out with a palace guard or an eunuch?”

“Your Highness, Dao is careless. Because of her, Yuwen Hong threw a tantrum on me. He even wanted me dead. I saw it in his eyes. He was so angry at me. And I… You know him. He will kill her if he knows it was her. And I won't be able to face it.”

“What did you do when he threw the tantrum?”

Li Lian exhaled. “I said mean things to hurt him. It was a profanity to say the things I said.”

Yuwen Hong was back to seeing other women except her. And recently, he even met with Noble Consort Qi and the Grand Dowager Empress than usual. Li Lian was afraid that they probably discussed her demotion. Then beside them, his care for Imperial Concubine Pi had increased. He also spent more time with his daughter. Even the concubines that were forsaken for a long time and did not meet the emperor once, were getting their first times now.

“Why did you say it? You know the rules of the palace well.”

“I was hurt that he thought of me that way, so I said things back at him. But not all blame is on Dao. I think I am also on the wrong, I am rebellious and too proud.”

Li Lian had a problem. She didn’t like to be seen as the lesser person when compared to Yuwen Hong. Half the rules Nevoria based on their culture, she hated. They looked down on women and she hated that most.

Li Lian sniffed. “Your Highness, I said to him―”

“Eh, eh. Don’t tell me.” The Grand Consort waved her hands in refusal.

Li Lian simpered. This woman loved her son so much she could not bear to hear words spoken against him.

S.V