With the crown prince putting it that way, Ning Chen could hardly refuse, and there was nothing for it but to follow him to the Ninth Princess.

But they had barely gotten the length of one covered walk.

A maid in unusually fine clothes came toward them with small mincing steps.

“This servant greets His Highness the Crown Prince.”

The maid went down on her knees and made the full kowtow.

The crown prince looked at Ning Chen with his brows drawn tight.

Ning Chen asked, curious, “What is it?”

The crown prince dropped his voice. “Her name is Lianxiang. She is Her Majesty the Empress’s personal maid.”

Ning Chen’s eyes fixed. No wonder the crown prince had frowned.

Only then did the crown prince speak to Lianxiang. “Get up.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Lianxiang got to her feet and bowed. “Your Highness. This servant comes by Her Majesty the Empress’s order, to ask Ning the Silver Coat to come.”

The crown prince’s face changed a little, and he looked at Ning Chen.

Ning Chen’s face went hard. A summons from the Empress. Nothing good is going to come of that.

He dropped his voice. “What happens if I don’t go?”

The crown prince said, “When the Empress summons, you go.”

Ning Chen laughed bitterly to himself. Then why the hell ask… It seems I have no choice at all.

“Let’s go.”

The crown prince nodded once and said to Lianxiang, “Lead the way.”

“Please follow this servant.”

Lianxiang turned and went ahead of them.

They went through walkways, over a little bridge, and came to the Hibiscus Palace.

Lianxiang turned suddenly. “Her Majesty the Empress summoned Ning Chen alone. His Highness the Crown Prince will please wait here.”

The crown prince’s brows drew together. He looked at Ning Chen and gave him a glance that meant be careful.

Ning Chen swallowed another bitter laugh, nodded slightly, and followed Lianxiang into the Hibiscus Palace.

It was a very large courtyard, with a pond and a garden, laid out with great care and great expense.

Lianxiang brought him to the middle of the courtyard. “Ning Chen. Kneel here and wait.”

They want me on my fucking knees again?

There were ten thousand objections in him.

This was the Hibiscus Palace and the Empress’s own ground. If he stepped out of line she could pick any reason she liked and charge him with gross disrespect.

But Ning Chen did not want to kneel even to the emperor. How was he going to kneel to the Empress?

And if I go down and the old bag doesn’t come out, I’ll be on my knees until dark and my legs will be finished.

He bowed over his clasped hands and shouted, “Your Majesty the Empress. Where are you? Which way should your subject be kneeling?”

Lianxiang’s face changed. She said, low, “Ning Chen. There is no shouting inside the Hibiscus Palace.”

Ning Chen laughed. “Miss, I only want to know which room Her Majesty the Empress is in. If I kneel the wrong way, would that not be gross disrespect?”

“You were told to kneel, so kneel. Where do all these words come from?”

Ning Chen made an obedient sound and bent both knees to go down — and then let out a yelp, his whole face twisted with pain.

“Miss, I beg your pardon… It isn’t that I don’t want to kneel. It’s that I was put to the torture in the Inspectorate’s cells. My knees were all but broken to pieces and my backside is nothing but raw meat… Ah— ah— it’s killing me.”

Kneel my ass. He had been ambushed on the road to the palace, and the hand behind it was either the Empress’s or the Left Chancellor’s. Kneel to the people who had tried to have him killed? They can dream.

I’d like to see the Empress pull my trousers down to check whether I’m hurt. Ning Chen grumbled it inwardly.

Lianxiang’s face was dark. She frowned at him, standing there with his face full of pain, and for the moment she had no idea what to do.

Just then the door of the room directly opposite opened.

Out came a short, thickset woman in magnificent clothes, with an elaborate headdress on her and ornaments of every kind all over her body and her hands.

Two maids held her up on either side, and several eunuchs and palace women came behind her.

Holy shit!

Ning Chen was stunned.

This can’t be the Empress.

Into his head came the middle-aged women of his last life — the permed hair, the silk scarves, the loud reds and greens, the gold on every finger and both wrists.

At the first sight of this Empress there was one word in Ning Chen’s head. Vulgar.

At the second sight, vulgar and also very ugly.

She had a big pancake face, a big nose and small eyes, and she was built like a gas cylinder. This is the woman who is supposed to be the model of motherhood for all under heaven?

What did the Xuan Emperor do in a former life to deserve this?

No wonder the Empress has never borne a child of the dragon’s line. His Majesty would have to be able to bring himself to do it.

Ning Chen began to feel sorry for the Xuan Emperor.

For a woman like this to become the mother of the nation, it must have been interest that drove it.

The higher-ranking consorts in the palace were all tied to the interests of the imperial house.

Say the Left Chancellor sent a daughter into the palace… however ugly she was, the Xuan Emperor would show that much courtesy, favor her once, and give her some rank or other — Consort Piss, Consort Nobody, whatever.

The fighting in the inner palace is a good deal livelier than anything in the court.

With that many women all after one man, how is anyone to get anywhere without a few tricks?

A daughter of a great house has people behind her and money in her hand. Once she is in the palace she spreads a little of it up and down, and every time the Xuan Emperor turns the tablets to choose, hers is set where he cannot miss it.

As for the daughter of an ordinary house, she may be beautiful, but she has no money to spread… If she is lucky the Xuan Emperor may favor her once. If she is not, she never sees him in her life and grows old and dies in the palace.

So most of the women the Xuan Emperor sleeps with are fairly ugly.

The truly beautiful ones are mostly in some corner of this inner palace, withering by the day.

“You are Ning Chen?”

The Empress spoke, and broke in on the run of his thoughts.

He made his bow at once. “Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate, greets Her Majesty the Empress.”

He did not lift his head to look at her, and it was not that he did not dare. It was that too long a look might turn his stomach.

And to be sick in front of the Empress would be gross disrespect.

I’ve watched my share of palace dramas. The old nurses on television are easier on the eye than this. Ning Chen ranted inwardly.

The Empress fixed a cold eye on him. Her voice was sharp. “Ning Chen. What nerve is this? You come before this empress and dare not to kneel?”

Ning Chen explained without hurrying. “In answer to Her Majesty the Empress, your subject explained it to the young lady here just now… Your subject was put to the torture in the Inspectorate’s cells. His knees were all but broken to pieces and his backside is raw meat. He truly cannot kneel.”

“Since you have been put to the torture, this empress will not press the point.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Ning Chen. You climbed up in the world over the Empress’s brother’s body. Are you very pleased with yourself now?”

Something lurched in Ning Chen. The old bag isn’t going to let it rest after all.

“In answer to Her Majesty the Empress, when your subject cut the Empress’s brother down there was no help for it… Your subject is bitterly sorry for it.”

What I am sorry about is that a piece of human garbage like that got off cheap with one stroke. He should have been cut apart by inches. Ning Chen said it inwardly.

There was something vicious in the Empress’s eyes. She laughed coldly. “The Empress’s brother was this empress’s own younger brother, and imperial kin. You killed him and walked away whole. There are not many men in all the Great Xuan who could do that… Ning Chen, you ought to be pleased.”

Ning Chen said, “Your subject would not dare.”

“Not dare? You dared kill the Empress’s brother. What is left that you would not dare? His Majesty has pardoned you and this empress has nothing to say about it… But the days ahead are long, and this empress will keep Ning the Silver Coat firmly in mind.”

Ning Chen looked up once, and found the old bag’s eyes full of killing.

She did not dare kill him today. But she would certainly find a way to finish him later on.

His head ached with it. This is the Empress… How does a man bring her down? Otherwise the old bag will have her teeth in me like a mad dog and never let go.

“Somebody. Take Ning the Silver Coat out and give him thirty strokes of the rod.”

That startled him. He frowned. “May your subject ask the Empress what offense he has committed?”

“You came before this empress with your clothes in disorder, stinking from head to foot… That is gross disrespect. Thirty strokes is more than generous of this empress.”

“Somebody. Take him out and beat him for this empress.”

Ning Chen went blank. Christ… She can do that?

(End of Chapter 71)