The event in the secret hotel room spooked Mei and Ling'er; it was lingering in their minds as they headed back to the palace. "Mei, that woman is crazy!" Ling'er said. "She's dangerously obsessed with the Emperor."
"But if she is, why is she going to marry the Duke?" Mei questioned.
"I don't know," Ling'er admitted. "But I have someone who can answer that. Let's go!" she said as they floated to the palace.
When they reached the palace, they looked around. "And there she is!" Ling'er said as she descended from her floating position, and Mei did the same. Mei looked at the female ghost with the swaddled clothes. When she saw Ling'er and Mei coming, she wanted to leave, but Ling'er called out, "Imperial Consort Mian, how is your baby?" The ghost turned, smiling.
"My baby is doing okay," she said as she moved the swaddled clothes back and forth, rocking them. "Shhh," she said, putting her hand over her mouth. "The baby is asleep. Talk slow, okay?"
"Can we sit there? We have something to ask you," Ling'er said.
The Imperial Consort's ghost looked at Ling'er strangely. "What is it?"
"We will give you joss paper in return for the information," Ling'er offered.
"What makes you think I lack joss paper?" the Consort retorted.
"Okay, if not, how about wine?" Ling'er asked.
"I'm breastfeeding. I don't want any wine," she said, looking at her "babe." Then she looked at Mei. "Okay, I heard what happened to her," she said, pointing at Mei. "So I will do it for free, for her sake. As for you, I will not forget you calling my baby a piece of clothes," she said, looking at Ling'er.
"I apologise, Consort. I didn't know better. Please forgive me," Ling'er said, and then asked, "You were part of the royal family once, so you must know its rules, right?"
"Yes," the Imperial Consort nodded. "I was unfortunately part of them my bad luck, I guess. What do you want to know?"
"We heard that there's a rule that foreign princesses or nobles can't be married by a sitting Emperor?" Ling'er inquired.
"Yes," the Consort said. "It was three Emperors ago. The Emperor then married a Princess from a neighbouring empire, and she used some type of witchcraft to influence the Emperor. The Empire of Da Long was almost lost then. It was only saved when the brother of that Emperor, the great-grandfather of the current Emperor, rebelled, killing his brother and the foreign Princess, as well as waging a war against the empire the Princess hailed from. So after all that, he put out an edict that any sitting Emperor cannot take any foreign person into the palace, but any other noble can."
Then it dawned on them why the Princess settled for the Duke: she couldn't get the Emperor, as it was close to impossible. But what was her intention with that level of obsession? It was clear she couldn't simply let things go by just settling for the Duke.
"Did the current Emperor ever go to the Diguo Empire?" Mei asked. The Consort looked at Mei. "She is so nice and polite. Why did she befriend someone like you?" she asked. Ling'er shrugged her shoulders, smiling. It was clear this Consort didn't like her but liked Mei.
"Yes, he went to Diguo during the coronation of the current Diguo Emperor, with the Duke," she said. "I heard the Emperor of Diguo proposed to the Emperor to marry his sister, but the Emperor rejected, stating that the law."
Then Mei recalled: it was a few moons after she married the Duke that the Duke went somewhere for about three moons. But when she asked where he went, she was just told "on official business," with no detailed information. And then when he came back, he was in a good mood, even visiting her courtyard a few times—that's how she got pregnant. He must have meant the Princess there, fallen in love with her, and then come back to bed with Mei. Mei felt sick to her stomach; she felt violated and disgusted.
"Is everything all right?" the Consort asked.
Mei nodded. Ling'er, on the other hand, sensed Mei's change in mood and held her hand, rubbing the back of it in circles.
"You know, when I was alive, I was great friends with your grandmother," the Consort said. "She was also supposed to enter the palace, but luckily got married to General Ma instead. Why did I enter the palace to end up like this?" she said.
"My grandmother came yesterday. You should pay her a visit," Mei said. Mei could see the Consort's eyes shine. "Really?" she said. "Okay, I will go. It is very hard seeing that woman," the Consort added, referring to her grandmother.
"Thank you, Imperial Consort Mian, for the information," Mei said as they bowed with Ling'er.
"No problem," the Consort said. "I know the royal family like the back of my hand. If you ever have questions, come to me." She patted Mei's head. "Let me go see your grandmother," she said, leaving. Mei looked at her while she floated away.
"What happened to her?" Mei asked, looking in the direction Consort Mian had floated.
"Her story is heartbreaking," Ling'er said. "She was a favoured and loved Imperial Consort for the current Emperor's grandfather. She got pregnant, had a baby girl, and the baby died a few days later. It was discovered that the baby was fed crushed pearls, which killed it, and the Imperial Consort went insane. She never recovered from that and ended her own life. She is one of the oldest ghosts haunting this palace now. She still thinks her baby is alive," Ling'er added. "I heard that once she stops believing that, she will cease to be a ghost, but it's hard to make her believe it. That's why she is still here."
Mei felt her lungs constrict. She knew the pain of a mother losing a baby; she still had a vivid memory of when she held her dead son in her arms, and just like Imperial Consort Mian, it broke her completely. She exhaled deeply, trying to disperse the dark thoughts gathering in her mind.