Chapter 443: Zijuan's Choice

"Zijuan, please sit down. I have some matters to discuss with you. If I remember correctly, you should be twenty-five this year, yes? You have been serving by my side since the Empress and I married — twelve years have passed in the blink of an eye. Time truly flies like a white colt glimpsed through a crack!"

After Zijuan had performed her ceremonial bow, Zhu Youjian spoke with a smile on his face.

In his eyes, Zijuan — though not what one would call a great beauty — carried a gentle temperament that made her feel as dear to him as his own younger sister.

In the sixth year of Tianqi, when Zhu Youjian wed, Zijuan — whose family home was in Hangzhou Prefecture — was selected to enter the Prince's residence to serve the then Princess Consort of Prince Xin. Later, when Zhu Youjian ascended the throne as Emperor, Zijuan, being deeply beloved by Empress Zhou, followed her into the palace as well, rising from personal maidservant all the way to her current post as Director of the Palace Rectification Directorate, rank 6A.

"I thank Your Majesty for your grace, but this servant can reply while standing! This servant has served the Empress since the age of thirteen — twelve years now — and indeed I am twenty-five this year. That Your Majesty, burdened with a myriad of state affairs, should still remember such details so clearly fills this servant with the deepest honor! Your Majesty suddenly bringing up old matters — could it be that you have some task to entrust to this servant?"

Zijuan performed another curtsey before replying respectfully.

For twelve years, the daily needs of Zhu Youjian and the several young masters of Kunning Palace — clothing, food, lodging, and travel — had been largely attended to by Empress Zhou and herself. Through years of living side by side from dawn to dusk, in Zijuan's heart the Emperor and Empress were more like her own beloved elder brother and sister-in-law, and the Crown Prince and Kunxing like her own nephews.

Today had been like any other. Zijuan had estimated the hour of Zhu Youjian's return to the palace and gone to the kitchens in the rear hall to prepare the midday meal for the Emperor and the several masters of the household. She had barely finished a few dishes when she was summoned by someone sent by Empress Zhou.

Though she did not know what matter the Emperor wished to discuss today, Zijuan — gentle and kind by nature, and extremely quick-witted — sensed something unusual through her keen intuition from the solemn tone of Zhu Youjian's voice.

For the moment she did not connect it to the question Zhu Youjian was about to raise, but deep in her heart she suddenly felt a faint stirring of unease.

"Zijuan, moved by the fact that countless palace women through the ages have ended their days in sorrow, I wish to implement benevolent governance within the palace. The foremost provision is to grant silver and release from service all palace women aged twenty-five and above, sending them home, so that they need not suffer a lifetime without ever seeing their families again!

Over the next few days, set aside your other duties for the time being. Investigate as quickly as you can how many women qualify under this provision — their names, native places, and the years they entered the palace must all be recorded in full detail. This matter concerns the fate and final destination of many palace women, so you must devote yourself to it wholeheartedly!"

Zhu Youjian did not press Zijuan to sit, but instead spoke of his first intention in a gentle tone.

Apart from Wang Cheng'en, Li Erxi, and Zhu Cilang's personal eunuchs, all other eunuchs and guards within the Forbidden City were forbidden from approaching the inner palace, so a series of measures concerning palace women had to be handled by the female officials.

"Ah?! Does Your Majesty truly mean what you say?! This servant thanks Your Majesty on behalf of those sisters who are lonely and without support, for your benevolent heart! This servant kowtows to Your Majesty!"

Zhu Youjian's words left Zijuan momentarily unable to react. After a brief stunned pause, overcome with joy, she immediately knelt to the ground and performed the full ceremonial bow to Zhu Youjian.

With her knowledge and way of thinking, she had never imagined there could be an emperor with such breadth of mind and such openness of spirit as to make such an astonishing decision.

After all, releasing people from the palace meant risking the leakage of the palace's secret affairs — this was one of the principal reasons why, since the Han dynasty, the vast majority of emperors of every dynasty had never released their palace women.

In all of history, only the Han dynasty's imperial palace had examples of releasing women; since the Han, it had been utterly without precedent.

Another important reason was actually quite simple: once a young woman was selected to enter the palace, it meant she had become one of the Emperor's women.

Though the vast majority of palace maids would never be favored by the Emperor in their entire lives, from the selfish psychology of men, who would be willing to send a woman nominally belonging to themselves out of the palace?

Since taking over the post of Director of the Palace Rectification Directorate — which had sole authority over punishments — five years ago, apart from the very few palace women who had committed grave offenses, the kind-hearted Zijuan had applied the lightest possible penalties for the minor mistakes many young palace women made unintentionally, and afterward gave them additional guidance so that they would not offend the noble personages of the palace.

Being a woman herself, Zijuan dealt with all the palace women — whether old or young — with an understanding heart and handled matters fairly. For this very reason, her authority among the palace women was very high, and the vast majority of them showed her genuine respect from the bottom of their hearts.

She was, of course, perfectly well aware of the final fates and ends that awaited the palace women — but how could such a matter be changed by a mere female official like herself? So when Zhu Youjian announced this decision, Zijuan, beyond her excitement, felt heartfelt joy on behalf of those aging and ailing palace women.

"You silly girl! Get up at once. His Majesty, as the sovereign of the nation, naturally means every word he says. Zijuan, there are no outsiders in this hall today. I have some questions to ask you, and you must answer truthfully!"

Empress Zhou exchanged a glance with Zhu Youjian, and in that moment understood her husband's intent. A feeling of sadness suddenly rose in her heart, and then, forcing a somewhat strained smile, she gave her instruction.

Zijuan, sensing something in her heart, showed a flicker of hesitation on her face — but it vanished in an instant without a trace. She slowly rose to her feet, her eyes filled with resolve.

"Zijuan, I am a few years older than you. After more than a decade of living together from dawn to dusk, I naturally regard you as my own born sister. Lang'er, Kunxing, and the others all treat you as their aunt.

You have surely understood the meaning of His Majesty's words just now. I have made my decision: once the matter His Majesty has entrusted to you is settled, I will release you and send you home, to fulfill your heart's desire of honoring your parents and being reunited with your family!

If you wish to marry, I will make the arrangements — whether it be the Marquis of Yangwu's household or the Earl of Xuancheng's, becoming a secondary wife to a future marquis or earl would be no problem at all!"

Having only just made this decision, Empress Zhou's mood was complicated, and by the end her tone had grown low and heavy, her gaze at Zijuan filled with deep reluctance to part.

Zhu Youjian too looked at Zijuan, standing not far away, with a face marked by sorrow.

Though in his heart he was also reluctant to release Zijuan from the palace, in this era where men and women married and had children at fourteen or fifteen, twenty-five was already an age of faded youth and withered beauty.

The natural desires between men and women were one of the five constant human relationships, and also one of humanity's natural instincts and most basic rights — no one had the right to deprive or prevent it.

Since he could not take Zijuan into his own palace, he could not simply turn a blind eye to this — that would be extremely cruel and inhumane, especially toward a gentle and lovely woman like Zijuan.

A person lives only once; at the proper age one should enjoy the most fitting splendor.

"Empress, please forgive this servant's impertinence! This servant humbly begs Your Majesty and the Empress to withdraw your command!

Letters from my family frequently arrive at the palace. My parents are in excellent health. My elder brother, by the blessing of Your Majesty and the Empress, was recruited to work at the Hangzhou branch of the Four Seas Trading Company, with generous monthly wages. Added to the salary this servant regularly sends home, the household is already quite well-off, and my younger brother has even entered the county school. All of this is thanks to Your Majesty's family.

In the letters my parents send, they repeatedly instruct me to serve the noble personages of the palace with all my heart and never to go against their wishes — that all is well at home and I need not worry! In truth, even if my family did not instruct me, this servant would know it in her heart! Though I left home as a child to enter the palace, the Empress has looked after me even more thoroughly than my own kin!

To be able to serve Your Majesty's family is a blessing this servant has cultivated over several lifetimes. To speak a most treasonous word — in this servant's heart, Your Majesty and the Empress are like my own elder brother and sister-in-law. I have long regarded the palace as my home, and in this world, what reason is there for kin to be separated without cause!

This servant has thought it over countless times — I will stay in the palace for the rest of my life, serving by the side of Your Majesty's family, until I am too old to move. This servant presumes to beg Your Majesty to give a word: that after this servant passes away, my body may be buried near the imperial tombs, so that even underground I may continue to serve Your Majesty's family!"