“Chen Yi Jue, you will come with me now!”
“But she was about to dance,” groused one of the virgins.Bo Tao pinned the girl with his stare, while searching through his memory. It was Gao Hua Si–the spoiled roommate who’d had the someone-spit-in-my-white-paste tantrum.
“Think I care for your women’s entertainment? I was just interrupted from an important meeting with Han Du Yu. Why? For this?” He hefted the ugly statue. He curled his lip. “A gift from your parents, Chen Ji Yue.”
Ji Yue had straightened, a look of horror on her face.
“You will come with me now. You will write a letter to your parents to tell them that the Master of the Festival does not accept bribes.” He curled his lip at the offending item. “And certainly not ones this ugly.”
It was a lie. He had, of course, been given hundreds of gifts from the virgins’ families. All of them were dutifully catalogued and passed over to Yi Zhen who wished to know exactly the nature of the family who sired his future Empress. Had Bo Tao kept even a tenth of the gifts, he would have enough money to establish a proper household and find a wife. But Bo Tao had been honest and so he had nothing. Nothing to support a wife, nothing to impress Madame Chen. Nothing, that is, except this one hideous carving.
Meanwhile, the Dowager Consort narrowed her eyes and stood as she addressed him. “You must be thirsty, Sun Bo Tao, please join us. Have some tea. After the performance, I am sure Chen Ji Yue will have time to do whatever you wish.”
So it was a planned expulsion. The Dowager could not fail to see Ji Yue’s condition. If she wished to spare the girl, then she would have allowed Bo Tao to whisk Ji Yue away. But she hadn’t. Which meant that the Dowager wanted a public excuse to expel the girl. Anything private could be recanted. The humiliation had to be public and therefore assured.
Bo Tao nearly groaned. Sweet heaven, women’s politics gave him a headache! He sighed and spoke from the heart.
“Great Imperial Dowager Consort Kang Ci, I do not care! I do not have time to eat, nor do I wish to tarry. Chen Ji Yue will be punished for her parents’ hideous effrontery to myself and the Dragon Throne. And she will be punished now.”
And with that he gestured widely with the phallic statue. A pathway before him was cleared if only to avoid being hit by the heavy thing. At the opposite end of the path stood Ji Yue, tears escaping from her eyes to streak her make up. An ache welled up deep inside him. He hadn’t wanted to cause such anguish in her, but he’d had no choice. With a last bow to the Dowager Consort, Bo Tao turned away, forcing Ji Yue to limp after him.
