Chapter 18: The Small Hall

The Small Hall had no screen.

Ruoxi had knelt before the Empress Dowager twice, and both times she had seen only a shape in gold.

Now she saw an old woman in a gray winter robe, sitting in a plain carved chair.

A cup of hot water stood at her elbow.

She was small, with white hair and a thin straight nose.

Her eyes were the sharpest thing in the room.

"Kneel if you like," said the Empress Dowager.

"I would rather you sat. Both of you."

Mingzhu sat on a stool.

Ruoxi hesitated, and then sat beside her.

Two attendants withdrew and closed the doors.

"I will begin with the Marquis's petition," said the old woman.

"He wants the wedding on the Autumn Moon eve and the taster sent home with a gift."

"He thinks I am an old fool who will be frightened of a scandal."

"Mother..."

Mingzhu began.

"I have not finished."

Mingzhu closed her mouth.

"I knew," said the Empress Dowager.

"I want you both to hear it from me. I read your decree the week it was written, Mingzhu."

"I knew there was no poisoner. I knew the kitchen mistress had been told to keep a clean pot."

"And I let it stand."

"Why?"

Mingzhu whispered.

"Because at fifteen you stopped eating. Do you remember? Three seasons. You grew thin as a reed."

"The physicians said you had a sorrow, and I had no idea what to do about it."

"Then you wrote a decree that a girl should sit beside you at dinner. And you ate."

Mingzhu put a hand over her mouth.

"So I paid for the toy," the old woman said.

"It was the best silver I ever spent. I will not hear it called a fraud in my hall."

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