To Be A Virtuous Wife

110

The scorching summer gradually dissipated. The various zhuzhi in the palace took off their silk clothes, threw away the fans in their hands, their hairpins changed from jade to other types. There were some palace maids that thought to attract the Emperor and put effort into their clothing and ornaments. But as they still had to adhere to the protocols of the palace, they had to put even more effort in. It was a pity that the Emperor's entire heart was on the Empress' body, and no one was able to attract the Emperor's attentions.

Kui Yuan Palace had finished its renovation. The night luminous pearls encrusted in the room had been completely taken off because of the His Highness Imperial Son. Beautiful glass lanterns were put in their place. The whole endeavor had only been due to a careless remark of a certain official of the Ministry of Works who said that it was possible that night luminous pearls were harmful to the body.

Everyone knew that night luminous pearls were rare objects. Many people didn't understand why the Empress didn't use them, so very quickly on the outside many people praised the Empress for being thrifty. Such a beautiful misunderstanding. He Heng felt that he should let it stay beautiful forever.

Even though people knew that the Empress was living in Tian Qi Palace which was slightly inappropriate but the Emperor had said before that the new renovation of Kui Yuan Palace wasn't good for newborns. Since it had already passed the sixth month, the good moving day was in the second month of the next year. So in the end, the day that the Empress was to move to Kui Yuan Palace was finalized on the twenty second of the second year of Jia You.

Since the Emperor himself had already made the decision, there wasn't anyone at court blind enough to argue. Either way, with how strong the love with between Emperor and Empress, they, as outsiders, would stir dislike from the Emperor if they meddled. Furthermore, the Empress Dowagers didn't object, so why would they care?

Qu Qing Ju occasionally would hear some of the rumors from the outside about her. Most of them were about her goddess-like beauty, her generosity, frugalness, and love for the people. Even though she felt that the Empress in the rumors didn't have much of a relation to her, but she knew inside that behind the rumors was He Heng's manipulations in the shadows.

She reaped the benefits of He Heng using such tactics to protect her so she didn't bear to tear down his stage. Occasionally she would use the position of the Empress to reward some of the kind and famous women in the Da Long Dynasty. In the ninth month, after her birthday, she even personally rewarded a twice-married woman that saved a few children in a great fire.

This woman, because of her second marriage, had been the subject of gossip in the village. But after the handkerchief that Qu Qing Ju had embroidered with "As brave as any man", she became the most respected matron in the entire county. No one looked down at her again because she had married twice, but became courteous.

Qu Qing Ju never once thought that she had the power to promote change in history, but she wanted to do the things she could. In this world, if a man had a wife and many concubines, he would be praised as romantic, but why couldn't they tolerate a remarried woman?

Certain scholars in Da Long Dynasty though it was a duty of a woman to not marry twice, but the act of the woman who saved others couldn't be erased. Therefore, not many people jumped out to criticize the Empress' actions as being inappropriate. Even more, what the Empress praised was the woman's act of saving others, not praising her for remarrying. It wouldn't be appropriate for them to object.

So this matter calmly passed away. Qu Qing Ju still acted at the mistress of the hougong. When bored, she would listen to songs, listen to interesting matters outside of court before picking one or two to praise and reward some things down, then play with her son. Her days were very comfortable.