Chapter 395 — The Great Hall

The Empress Dowager laughed softly and beckoned Dou Yan over. She had a palace maid bring a small stool and set it before her couch, then took Dou Zhiwei's hand and spoke to the assembled company: "You have no idea. The late Emperor was determined to model himself on Emperor Wu of Han, to spread the glory of our Han people, and he was not the least bit soft on the bandits to the west. In twelve years on the throne he fought nine years of war, and drained the treasury so dry that even his own private silver went into the war. He could not even produce gifts for his ministers. There was nothing I could do but scrape together what I could, from east and west, to ease the late Emperor's burdens. That is why both the late Emperor and the present Emperor remember the old Duke of Ying with such gratitude. No sooner had the late Emperor bestowed something than the old Duke would send in a gift in return—and the gift would be richer than the original bestowal. In the end, the Ying Estate of the Pillar of State was dragged into the water as well." Here the Empress Dowager's expression turned grave and dignified.

"When the Emperor ascended the throne and the realm was at peace, the Ying Estate's property was returned. And yet there are still those who, fearing the world is not troubled enough, say the Emperor's favor toward the old Duke of Ying is too great. They do not stop to think—what is the Ying Estate? The adopted son of the founding Emperor, and the Emperor's own clansman!"

To be thin—in physiognomy it usually means a person has no fortune.

The Empress Dowager had summoned Dou Ming before the assembly, only to leave her with such a reputation—better she had never been summoned at all.

Dou Ming resented the whole world, but the one who had said it was the Empress Dowager. Even if she said such things of the Emperor himself, the Emperor could only listen with a smile. Would Dou Ming dare to show impatience?

She could only lower her head in meek compliance.

But the Empress Dowager had reigned supreme in the inner palace too long; there was nothing she did not dare say. A minor consort's wife from outside the palace was, in her old ladyship's eyes, being honored merely by the fact that the Empress Dowager deigned to speak to her at all.

So after meeting Dou Ming she began discussing physiognomy with the Empress: "Why do the portraits of beauties through the ages always show a melon-seed face? Because the truly great ladies were all raised in seclusion, and those scribbling men of letters never saw them. They had to make models of lowborn women instead. What is so fine about a melon-seed face?" As she spoke, the Empress Dowager touched her own cheeks. "Heaven is round and earth is square. The forehead governs fortune, prosperity, longevity, and joy, and if the face tapers from top to bottom with nothing to support it, then the good fortune cannot stay. But look at the portraits of the Empresses and Empress Dowagers of past dynasties enshrined in the Hall of Imperial Ancestry—which one of them does not round out here, her whole face like a full moon, looking so benign and prosperous? Fortune, prosperity, longevity, and joy could not escape her. So a woman is better raised with a little fullness."

What sort of theory was this!

But who in this great hall would dare say the Empress Dowager was wrong?

No one!

Not only that—Lady Changxing Hou immediately thrust her face forward, wreathed in smiles, and said, "I never knew Your Majesty understood such things! Look at me—would you say I count as a face like a full moon?"

She was past forty, and whatever melon-seed or peach-blossom face she had once had had gone slack into a round one.

The Empress Dowager laughed and tapped her finger right on Lady Changxing Hou's forehead. "None of your nonsense here. When you first married into the Changxing Hou household and came to pay your respects, I told Consort Dowager Shi about you often enough. We both thought you were a beauty—especially your eyes, bright and shining, full of spirit at a glance. Don't think that because I am old, I have forgotten the past."

Consort Dowager Shi had borne no children after entering the palace, and so her relationship with the Empress Dowager was especially close.

Lady Xingguo Gong, who usually sat silent among the consorts' wives, now seemed a different person. Smiling, she took up the thread: "Who in the palace or beyond does not know of Your Majesty's excellent memory! Last time I came to pay my respects, you asked me why I had not brought Teng'er, and said if I found the child too heavy, I should bring the wet nurse along. When I went home and told the Duke of my house, he laughed at me. He said that back when you presided over the Six Palaces, and he received the order to march out with the old Duke of Ying, you once casually bestowed on him two boxes of pellet medicine—and when he opened them, there were even two purple-gold pills inside. He said we who married into the family late have no idea how wise and benevolent you are."

Teng'er was the eldest son of the Heir to the Duke of Xingguo, just three years old this year. At birth he had weighed nine jin and nine liang, and he ate well and slept well—a big, bouncing boy.

The Duke of Xingguo had a chronic problem with internal heat, and purple-gold pills were an excellent remedy for cooling it. He kept them on hand all year round.

The Empress Dowager laughed softly and beckoned Dou Yan over. She had a palace maid bring a small stool and set it before her couch, then took Dou Zhiwei's hand and spoke to the assembled company: "You have no idea. The late Emperor was determined to model himself on Emperor Wu of Han, to spread the glory of our Han people, and he was not the least bit soft on the bandits to the west. In twelve years on the throne he fought nine years of war, and drained the treasury so dry that even his own private silver went into the war. He could not even produce gifts for his ministers. There was nothing I could do but scrape together what I could, from east and west, to ease the late Emperor's burdens. That is why both the late Emperor and the present Emperor remember the old Duke of Ying with such gratitude. No sooner had the late Emperor bestowed something than the old Duke would send in a gift in return—and the gift would be richer than the original bestowal. In the end, the Ying Estate of the Pillar of State was dragged into the water as well." Here the Empress Dowager's expression turned grave and dignified. "When the Emperor ascended the throne and the realm was at peace, the Ying Estate's property was returned. And yet there are still those who, fearing the world is not troubled enough, say the Emperor's favor toward the old Duke of Ying is too great. They do not stop to think—what is the Ying Estate? The adopted son of the founding Emperor, and the Emperor's own clansman!"

Such a solemn matter, raised so suddenly, made the atmosphere in the great hall turn subtly delicate.

Dou Yan felt that if things went on this way, a perfectly good Dragon Boat Festival audience would turn into a settling of scores after the autumn harvest. The Ying Estate of the Pillar of State, thrust onto the crest of the wave for no reason at all, would surely make enemies of who knew how many.

"There is such a thing?" Dou Xin said. "This is the first I have heard of it! The Heir Apparent never speaks of such matters at home. I only heard my grandfather sigh, back at my maiden home, that in those years the court was beset with difficulties, yet sovereign and ministers were of one heart, and who knows how many loyal ministers and righteous men there were. If a history were to be compiled, it could be called a 'revival of the middle reign.' My grandfather even regretted that he had retired from office so early."

Lady Xingguo Gong could not help but approve inwardly.