The Xiang Imperial family was a large family almost the size of an extended family comprising of eleven members; the emperor ,his three wives ,his three sons and four daughters.Emperor Yang Fu was the eldest patriarch of the family. His first wife Empress Chen had borne him one son;Yang Ya and two daughters;Yang Li and Yang Zhi. His second wife Consort He was a mother of two;a daughter Yang Mei and a son Yang Song while Consort Bi his third wife was also a mother of two; a daughter Yang Hua and a son, Yang Wei.
By order of birth regardless of their birth mother,Yang Ya was the eldest of them with Yang Song being the second prince and Yang Wei the third prince. As for the princesses Yang Li was the eldest princess,Yang Mei the second princess,Yang Hua the third princess and finally Yang Zhi was the fourth princess. All of them had already reached twenty years of age except Yang Wei who was still in his teens at only sixteen years.
In terms of marriage,Yang Li had already been married off to a promising young minister while the others remained at the palace enjoying their youth to the fullest at every chance they got.
***
Yang Zhi walked confidently along the palace walkpaths on her way to Reflection Hall. Her hands were folded behind her back covered by the black cloak she was wearing which kept being blown gently by the wind. Maids and other servants walking on corridors halted their movements nudging each secretly and motioning each other to look in Yang Zhi's direction. Yang Zhi could sense all their eyes which were staring at her without blinking but she remained unbothered and concentrated solely on the direction she was heading to.
After the cold palace, Reflection Hall was the literally second worst place in the palace.
At the entrance of the mentioned hall ,there were two guards standing on either sides. Immediately Yang Zhi reached at the doorstep,the two guards, without questioning,opened the door for her.
As she stepped inside the musty and damp smell of the place welcomed her. The hall was almost empty with scattered old furniture lying carelessly over the large space. The smell of dampness,dust and poor ventilation combined bringing about a pungent smell. The doors behind her were locked leaving her in the dimly lit hall. Right away a sea of rats came racing in her direction as if they were in a competition. The rats were part of the punishment. The irritating small animals and the state of the hall was what made it scarier making everyone in the palace to avoid committing mistakes that would make them end up in the disgusting place. The rats were bred and majorly raised for that purpose.
Unlike other girls such kind of animals were like a mere fly to her. Yang Zhi had seen the scariest things in her life and that wasn't the first time either getting in that hall for punishment. The first time she was there was because she wanted to train martial arts at the border and she ended up disobeying her father's command to stay at the palace.She took out a folded piece of cloth that was inserted in the wide belt cinching her waist , unwrapped it revealing a white powder.
With a proud smirk written on her beautiful face,she smeared the powder on her clothes.
"Fucking rats,"she cursed and then lay on her back in the middle of the hall with her hands pillowing her head. The rats that kept hovering around her licking the white powder on her attire died within minutes accumulating beside her. She smirked proudly imagining what her father's facial expression would be like the moment he would find out about the massive death of the small creatures that he relied on to punish the wrongdoers.
***
"Your Highness,the fourth princess has returned,"Empress Chen's personal maidservant Nanny Wang announced the good news to the empress.
Over the years Empress Chen had changed a lot. From a competent spouse taking control of the imperial harem,she had turned into a depressed, pessimistic woman confining herself to her private residence,Tai Hall. When she heard the news of Yang Zhi's return she was more than excited. Her facial muscles that had almost stopped functioning relaxed letting her give out her signature beautiful smile.
"Where is she? Why has she not arrived here yet?"Empress Chen queried her voice and face displaying much anticipation. Nanny Wang frowned and hung her head low indicating something was wrong.
"She...she... went to Reflection Hall. His Royal Majesty punished her," She choked out with difficulty her voice decreasing after every word.
"Punished her?! What for?" Empress Chen almost leaped from her seat out of rage.
"Your Highness calm down,"Nanny Wang said in a soothing voice.
"Let's go to Longyue Hall," Empress Chen declared and dropped everything she was doing and left. Nanny Wang followed her nervously.
Lately Empress Chen's emotions had become a little bit difficult to control and this had made her less reserved.
Empress Chen stormed into Longyue Hall. Emperor Yang was in his private chambers. Along the corridor leading to his Majesty's private chambers four imperial guards stood at strategic places ensuring the emperor's safety but it was ironic how Empress Chen passed by them swiftly without giving the guards a chance to stop her from moving further.
She stormed into the room without announcing her arrival. Emperor Yang was startled and jolted in his seat before shifting his gaze towards the source of the sudden sound. Just then he met Empress Chen's glaring eyes. Eunuch Lu who was standing beside him started fidgeting and lowered his head nervously. Apparently Empress Chen was difficult to handle compared to the others from the imperial harem. To Emperor Yang,she was a crazy woman who couldn't control her emotions and he wouldn't lie saying he feared that fact about her but he hid it by applying his authority over her to prevent her from crushing his ego.
"What are you doing here?"Emperor Yang confronted her.
"How dare you send Ah-Zhi to Reflection Hall? For a father you sure are inhuman," Empress Chen confronted back, breathing heavily under the influence of the storm of emotions brewing inside her.
"Do you have any idea what she has done you woman? "Emperor Yang yelled emphasizing on woman. Clearly she was a woman but he felt the need to bring it up or rather announce. He was insinuating something by mentioning her gender. He believed just because Empress Chen was a woman it meant she wasn't aware of the weight of the repercussions that resulted from Yang Zhi's actions.
"I have heard about what happened at the border. If you were her what would you do? Fighting against a bunch of invincible beings. That's like fighting the gods,"Empress Chen tried to reason with him.
"Do you know the ministers are pressing me to strip off her position as general?"Emperor Yang questioned furiously tapping his forefinger against the memorial that was the on top of a pile of memorials on the table."Sending her to Reflection Hall is a just a little punishment,"he added.
"Little punishment?"Empress Chen snorted in disbelief. She felt like she would explode out of anger. Nanny Wang tried to soothe her urging her to consider her health.
The Imperial duo continued arguing,none of them willing to back down till Emperor Yang suddenly came up with an idea to get rid of her by ordering the imperial guards to see her off.