The sky was gloomily overcast, the air damp and piercingly cold, bearing the heavy prelude of an impending blizzard.
"Are you done yet? Stop dawdling! It's utterly unreasonable to make Madam wait by the street. What would people think if they saw this? If we miss the hour to enter the Imperial Palace, can you bear the consequences?" Chun'er rubbed her hands together, stomping her feet in anxiety.
"Almost done! Almost!" The driver squatted by the wheel, his hands moving without a moment's pause. Who could afford the risk of being beheaded?
The cold wind whipping through the street poured straight down their necks. Liang Wan pulled her cloak tighter and glanced around. There were very few people around, only a scattering of street vendors. She pulled Chun'er over and stood with her back to the wind. "Scolding him won't help. Just be patient and wait."
It was New Year's Eve. Before she even had time to eat, a summons arrived, ordering her into the Imperial Palace. Chun'er was anxious, but Liang Wan was even more so. The last time she was there, a Palace Attendant had played a single wrong note and was instantly beheaded by the Emperor's sword. The decapitated head, still spurting blood, had rolled right to Liang Wan's feet, splattering her face with warm blood. The mere memory made Liang Wan shudder; she was absolutely terrified.
The bitterness in her heart grew even heavier. When she left the house, she had clearly seen her husband personally carrying ginseng soup into Qing Yue's room. Qing Yue had just given birth and was weak, needing nourishment. Unlike her—Liang Wan had taken too many contraceptive potions, ruining her body and forever severing her ties with motherhood. But even if her body were intact, she still wouldn't be allowed to have children. The Emperor summoned her at his whim; how could anyone dare make him wait ten months?
A suffocating weight pressed down on Liang Wan's chest. She still remembered the first time she was ordered into the Imperial Palace. Her husband had tightly grasped her hand, vowing that even if it cost him his life and fortune, he would never let her suffer such humiliation. However, how could an imperial decree be defied so easily?
She had long given up hope for her own life, but she couldn't bear to implicate her husband and Mother-in-law. Back when she was driven out of her family's home, it was her husband who kindly took her in and cared for her. He hadn't even minded that her chastity had been tainted, and had taken her as his wife. Now, her Mother-in-law was growing old and frail. Seeing that her husband's official career was finally taking off, the old woman was relying on him to bring glory to their family and allow her a few days of peaceful retirement. How could Liang Wan return their kindness with enmity, bringing a fatal disaster upon them just by resisting the imperial edict?
At first, her Mother-in-law didn't understand the situation and thought entering the Imperial Palace was an honor. But later, after hearing the rumors, she cried and forced her son to divorce his wife. As filial as he was, he had threatened his own mother with his life to keep Liang Wan. In the end, he had to take a step back and agree to marry Qing Yue.
"Madam?" Liang Wan snapped back to reality to find the driver and Chun'er looking at her in confusion.
Chun'er repeated, "The calf-drawn carriage is fixed."
Liang Wan quickly lowered her head, her voice slightly hoarse. "It's so cold. Let's go."
The moment she took a step forward, a bucket of water was slung toward the exact spot she had just been standing. SPLASH. It narrowly missed drenching her entirely.
"Are you blind?" Chun'er aggressively charged toward the woman holding the wooden bucket.
The woman was momentarily stunned, then bent over with an awkward smile. "I didn't see you there. I'm truly sorry!"
"You didn't see a living, breathing person standing right there? Who are you trying to fool—"
"We are going to miss the hour. Let's go!" Seeing that more and more passersby were gathering to watch, Liang Wan only wanted to leave.
Chun'er was still furious. "She obviously did that on purpose!"
The carriage resumed its journey, vanishing into the thin mist. By the street, a neighbor craned her neck and asked, "Auntie, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Caught in her act, the woman looked a bit embarrassed and cast a sidelong glance toward the Red Apricot Building. "I saw her standing at the entrance and thought she was one of the girls from in there. It's New Year's, and I didn't want any bad luck!"
The neighbor clicked her tongue. "Look closer! That's the First Beauty of our Jinye City, not some girl from that kind of place!"
"What?" The woman gasped, her expression changing instantly. "She is that— Bah! Slut!"
BANG! The door was slammed shut, the loud noise echoing down half the street.
Despite rushing the entire way, it was still late by the time they arrived at the entrance of Chunhua Hall. Liang Wan was completely panicked as she braced herself and stepped over the threshold.
Inside the dazzlingly bright hall, it was the usual scene of singing and dancing. Liang Wan only took one glance before lowering her eyes, quietly trying to slip to the back of the crowd.
"Liang Wan."
A sudden, moderate voice cut through the noise. The grand hall fell completely silent, and Liang Wan's heart sank along with it.
The Emperor propped himself up, squinting in her direction. His tone was lazy. "How is it that after coming here so many times, you are still so ignorant of the rules?"
Liang Wan's face turned pale. She immediately made to kneel and beg for forgiveness.
The Emperor stared at her with cold, sunken eyes. "Are you not coming over?"
Liang Wan dragged her heavy feet forward. It was the New Year's Eve banquet, and every seat was filled. Was she going to be subjected to his abuse in front of everyone? Just thinking about it made her whole body tremble uncontrollably.
The Emperor cast a glance at her slightly quivering sleeves. Understanding her fear, he began to chuckle softly. "Aren't you the First Beauty of Jinye City? Why don't you take off your clothes and let everyone judge if you truly live up to the name?"
Liang Wan felt as if she had stepped on empty air, tumbling into a bottomless ice cave, plunging downward while completely engulfed by the freezing cold.
Before the Emperor even gave the order, several people rushed forward to strip her of her clothes. Liang Wan desperately pushed against the people in front of her, clenching her teeth and not uttering a single sound. In this Imperial Palace, crying for help was useless; there was absolutely no chance of finding even a shred of assistance. But how could one person's strength match that of four or five?
The Emperor kept his eyes fixed on the struggling woman in the center. He furrowed his brows slightly, watching silently and waiting quietly.
Liang Wan was thrown roughly to the ground. The sound of tearing silk pierced her ears, each rip sharp and agonizing.
Hours later, night had fallen.
"Bah, it's New Year's Eve. What terrible luck!"
Under the low-hanging night sky, two eunuchs dragged a rolled-up straw mat, cursing under their breath as they walked forward. A glaring trail of crimson stretched longer and longer behind them.
The little eunuch glanced at the arm that had slipped out from beneath the mat and asked in confusion, "Isn't she the wife of the Assistant Minister of the Secretariat? Are we just throwing her away like this?"
"Hmph, hasn't she long been given to His Majesty? Otherwise, how do you think Cui Hao managed to enter civil service, get promoted, and even marry the young lady from the Marquis Mansion?"
"No wonder! He's just a commoner. I was wondering how he managed to have such a meteoric rise in this Imperial City!"
"Exactly! He even had the shamelessness to tell His Majesty how incredibly fun his wife was to play with!"
"Tsk. The Liang Family is a prominent clan, don't they care?"
"You didn't know? She lost her chastity before marriage and was chased out of her home a long time ago. It was precisely because of this that Cui Hao got to pick her up for cheap. Otherwise, how could a commoner like him ever land a young lady from a scholarly family? And he wouldn't have been able to achieve his rapid ascent by offering his wife!"
"Sigh, some people just have all the luck..."
"This is far enough. Let's just dump her here!"
"Alright, let's head back quickly. It's about to snow. It's freezing!"
They let go, and the broken mat unfurled, revealing the naked woman inside. Blood flowed endlessly from her lower body.
Cui Hao.
Liang Wan couldn't open her eyes, but she thought with every ounce of her fading strength, "If there is a next life, I will make sure you all die a horrible death!"
Snowflakes drifted down from the pitch-black sky.
Some time later, a visitor arrived and stood completely still for a moment. He took off his white robe to wrap the corpse, then used his bare hands to dig into the earth, inch by frozen inch. Scalding drops of liquid fell into his palms—the only trace of warmth in this world of ice and snow.
A mournful flute melody echoed, weeping with swallowed grief. Amidst the vast, falling snow, there remained only one person, one flute, and one solitary grave.