The Tale of the Golden Chamber 只愿金屋不藏娇 (出金屋记) by Yu Jing Peng Xiang 御井烹香
The Tale of the Golden Chamber / Leaving the Changmen Palace
Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, had three women whose names would be immortalized in the annals of history: Wei Zifu, the beloved empress; Lady Li, the beauty from the north; and Chen Ajiao, the woman who went from being cherished in a golden house to suffering the sorrow of Changmen Palace.
She was the first woman to meet Liu Che. She was also the original empress of the most ambitious and capable man in the Han Dynasty. He had welcomed her into his household through the main palace gates, and the two had spent several sweet years together in loving harmony.
Back then, she was like a magnificent red peony in full bloom—beautiful, proud, and radiant in all her splendor. Even Liu Che, the future emperor, treated her with gentle affection and tender consideration.
A woman like her could scarcely have imagined that one day she would be imprisoned in Changmen Palace, enduring a lifetime of misery before dying as insignificant as an ant. Another woman would take possession of her palace, and she would never reclaim it for the rest of her life.
And so, the Han empress Chen Ajiao, who died consumed by resentment, became a voice that returned to the mind of her younger self, transporting her back to her youth.
The first words she spoke were:
“Ajiao, do not marry Liu Che. Do not marry him!”
Her cries rang out like a cuckoo weeping blood. Yet could the young Chen Ajiao truly heed her warning? Could she escape the lifetime of imprisonment that awaited her in Changmen Palace—and free herself from the passionate devotion of the young emperor who loved her so deeply?
