Le You Yuan | Chap 27: The Insects Awaken

The room held only a single dim oil lamp, its flame the size of a bean, guttering and flaring in the airless space beneath the eaves. There was a smell that clung to the Jieshuo wherever they went, one that others rarely noticed, but Liu Chengfeng could never help frowning at it. Even after these particular Jieshuo had spent years living under assumed identities in the heartland, the scent still reached him whenever he stood close to them. Perhaps it came from the poisons they favored, or the copper tang of blood, or simply the killing intent they could never quite mask.

This hideout had been prepared years in advance. The neighboring houses stood well apart, nothing could be heard from outside, and the place was thoroughly secluded. Liu Chengfeng had wanted to leave the city the moment they had Cui Lin in hand, but Wuyan, the younger brother of the Jieshuo king Wuluo, refused to listen. The last time Liu Chengfeng had led the Divine Archers into the heartland, they had come within a hair of helping the Prince of Qi kill Li Yi. Li Jun was already dead at Li Lai's hand by then, and Li Lai himself had the bad luck to die in the chaos of battle. Then Cui Yi arrived with his troops and buried the Jieshuo king's proudest force, the Divine Archers, in that mountain valley.

Such was fate. What could be done about it?

With the Divine Archers destroyed, Wuluo had been furious, and the court had gone so far as to send an envoy to demand answers, threatening war outright. Fortunately, back in Changzhou, Liu Chengfeng had stumbled onto a secret of enormous weight, and it was that secret he had used to have the Dingsheng Army disbanded. Otherwise the Dingsheng Army might well have used the incident as an excuse to strike deep into Jieshuo territory. If that had happened, Wuluo would certainly have had him killed.

He was not particularly afraid of dying. What he feared was that in the underworld he would never find A'Ying.

For her sake, he had to live.

When he was ambushed and thrown into the Black Water Shoals, he woke to find only A'Shu beside him. His wounds had been severe, and in his half-conscious state he had no idea how far or how long A'Shu had carried him. By the time he woke again, he had already been seized by Jieshuo riders and dragged onto the steppe.

In those first days among the Jieshuo, who hated the people of the heartland to the bone, he was subjected to every kind of humiliation and said nothing. They treated him as worthless, lower than a slave. A'Shu was taken away to labor, while he was left abandoned in the wasteland and nearly died there. He crawled his way back to the Jieshuo camp by drinking cattle urine to survive, and when he finally reached it, he seized the hem of a Jieshuo man's robe and, with the last of his strength, said in the Jieshuo tongue, "I am Cui Yi's son." He spoke their language. He would remember for the rest of his life the man's expression: shock, then disbelief, and finally wild delight. Cui Yi's son! Wuluo took the matter very seriously. While Liu Chengfeng was recovering, the king came to see him in person and said, "If you are truly Cui Yi's son and are willing to serve me, you may live."

He nodded without hesitation. "My king, I want to live."

He wanted to live, and he still wanted to see A'Ying.

The Jieshuo shamans healed him with methods that seemed almost miraculous, drawing the remaining poison from his body. The chronic illness that had plagued him since childhood, it turned out, had been the result of poisoning he'd suffered as a boy.

Wuluo was overjoyed, and sent him back to the heartland with A'Shu, back to the Dingsheng Army's camp under Cui Yi. Before he left, he couldn't help asking, "Isn't the king afraid I'll never come back?"

Wuluo laughed heartily. "Then you underestimate us."

Only then did he learn that though the old poison had been drawn out, a new one had been introduced in its place, a far deadlier one. Every month he would need an antidote, or the poison would burst his veins and kill him. Wuluo told him to serve faithfully, or the death that awaited him would be agonizing.

He was not afraid to die, but he was terrified of never seeing A'Ying again. He had told himself he only needed to see her once more before he could face death calmly. But the moment he saw her, he changed his mind. Why should he die? Couldn't he simply live well, together with her?

The one who deserved to die was Li Yi. In this world, anyone who dared stand between him and A'Ying deserved death.

He hadn't expected that in Changzhou, A'Ying would see through him. No matter. He still had ways to try again. He only regretted that Li Lai had proven so useless, and that Cui Yi had arrived with the Dingsheng Army so quickly.

Still, it was fortunate that the Dingsheng Army no longer existed. Cui Yi was now nothing but an old tiger with its claws and fangs pulled, aging and harmless. The thought of it filled him with satisfaction.

He had believed that after such a deep and bitter grievance, A'Ying would surely be estranged from Li Yi. Instead, she had married him after all. Every time he thought of it, it felt as though ten thousand arrows had pierced his heart.

Fortunately, Wuluo had been extremely pleased with the disbanding of the Dingsheng Army, and had taken great interest in the enormous secret Liu Chengfeng held. That was why he had sent Wuyan personally, sparing no expense of the network the Jieshuo had spent years building in the capital.

And fortunately, Zhang had been a man of loyalty and deep feeling.

Thinking of Zhang, Liu Chengfeng felt a faint pang of regret. Zhang had been deceived by him. He had sent Commander Tan to see Zhang, one of Zhang's former subordinates, carrying a blood petition signed by more than four hundred former Dingsheng soldiers stationed in Bozhou. The Dingsheng Army had been disbanded in stages, leaving only a few hundred men still waiting in Yingzhou. The court had reassigned local militia to Yingzhou and ordered these remaining soldiers to disarm at once and march to Bozhou to dig irrigation canals. The officials of Bozhou had treated these several hundred veterans like livestock, cutting their rations and beating them at the smallest provocation. Unable to bear it any longer, the men had chosen Commander Tan to flee to Xichangjing on their behalf. When Zhang saw the blood petition from his old comrades, he was deeply moved, but he had already resigned his post and had no power to act. Commander Tan begged only to see the military governor or the young lady of the house. Zhang knew Cui Yi had only just recovered from a grave illness, and that even in good health there would be little he could do. Worried that the news would only cause Cui Yi more grief and anxiety, Zhang told Cui Lin instead, thinking that as the Crown Princess and wife of the man who held the title of Grand Marshal of All Armies, she would surely find a way to help their former comrades.

When Cui Lin heard this, afraid of upsetting her father, she kept it from him, telling him only that she was returning to the Eastern Palace. In truth she went with Zhang to meet Commander Tan, wanting to learn the details of what their former comrades had suffered in Bozhou. It was only when they realized something was wrong, that it was a trap and an ambush lay in wait, that Zhang fought back with everything he had, trying to give Cui Lin the chance to escape, and was killed for it.

It was a shame, really. Liu Chengfeng had rather liked Zhang. The man had been simple and straightforward, without any guile, and back in the army he had always shown Liu Chengfeng particular respect.

Old friends kept dying, one after another.

The once-mighty Dingsheng Army had scattered like clouds after rain. The people and events of the past felt like a distant, half-remembered dream.

But it was good, at least, that A'Ying was finally by his side. True, she had been knocked unconscious by an especially potent drug and had not yet woken, but that was fine too. She was here now, obedient at last, lying right in front of him.

Wuyan came in carrying an oil lamp, holding it up to examine Cui Lin, who lay senseless on the bamboo mat. He said with faint contempt, "All this trouble, trapped here because of one woman?"

This was the greatest point of disagreement between them. Liu Chengfeng had insisted on finding a way to take Cui Lin with them, while Wuyan had wanted simply to kill her on the spot. It was this disagreement that had cost them the delay that made it too late to leave the city. Li Yi had already ordered the nine gates sealed and a citywide search launched, trapping them inside. Fortunately this hideout was well hidden. The streets nearby had already been searched once, and nothing had been found.

Liu Chengfeng, disgusted, stepped in front of the bamboo mat, blocking Wuyan's view, and said, "We agreed beforehand. I hand over what I have, and you help me get Cui Lin out. King Wuluo promised that once I finished this task, you would give me the real antidote, so I could take her and disappear far from here."

Wuyan said, "We've already delivered Cui Lin to you. Now you should hand over what that man in the court gave you."

Liu Chengfeng was unmoved. "And the antidote?"

Wuyan snorted, drew a vial from his robe, and tossed it to Liu Chengfeng. Liu Chengfeng caught it, opened it, and examined it closely, then said, "This isn't right."

Wuyan smiled. "What do you mean, not right?" Liu Chengfeng said coldly, "I've seen this medicine in Wuluo's possession before. It didn't look like this." Wuyan sneered. "I thought you were once a decent dog, so I meant to let you go with a whole corpse, if only you'd swallow the poison quietly. But since you won't cooperate, I'll have to send you on your way another way."

Liu Chengfeng thought for a moment and understood. "So you've finally learned who the man in the court is, and you've reached him yourselves. That's why you want me dead."

Wuyan saw that he'd guessed correctly and didn't bother denying it, laughing instead. "That's right. What of it? Everything you've managed to do has been because of that man. You're too greedy. A dog that watches the sheep doesn't need to eat so well, or so much. You were nothing but a hired blade for us, and you still managed to lose us our Divine Archers. And now you want to run off with Cui Yi's daughter? Then you can run off together down the road to the underworld instead!"

Liu Chengfeng showed little alarm. "Do you know where A'Shu is right now?"

Wuyan said proudly, "Wherever he is, what does it matter? He doesn't know where we're hiding. Do you think he can come save you?"

"But everything is in his hands. He knows every one of your hidden agents in Xichangjing, and every safe house you've prepared along the route north." Liu Chengfeng spoke without hurry. "Wuyan, you think that now you've reached that man, you can kill me freely. But if I don't appear tomorrow, A'Shu will hand everything straight to Li Yi. At that point, the man in the court will have no way to save himself, and all of this will have been for nothing."

Wuyan considered this in silence. Liu Chengfeng had always been cunning, and if he'd told A'Shu to hide with the evidence, there truly was no way to find him. Everything might indeed come to nothing. Wuyan spat furiously on the floor, then turned and stormed out. Only one lamp remained in the room, its light growing dimmer still, casting its glow on Cui Lin's face. She lay as still as if in a deep sleep.

Liu Chengfeng knew this boded ill. Outside, Li Yi was surely searching with everything he had, and these Jieshuo, vicious and ruthless, had somehow already made contact with the man in the court. It seemed unlikely now that he would manage to get Cui Lin out today. His mind was still racing when Wuyan suddenly returned, bringing seven or eight men with him, all bristling with hostility. This time Wuyan pulled out a vial, unscrewed the cap, and waved it in front of Liu Chengfeng's face. "This time it's the real antidote. Tell me where A'Shu is, and it's yours."

Liu Chengfeng smiled faintly. "I won't tell you where A'Shu is. And I've already arranged with him that if anything happens to me and he doesn't hear from me within twelve hours, he'll deliver everything he's holding straight to Li Yi."

Wuyan sneered. "I never thought a dog we raised to herd sheep would turn around and bite its master."

Liu Chengfeng said flatly, "Your people have always broken their word without a shred of honor. If I hadn't guarded against that, I'd be dead already." He continued, "If you want what I have, it's simple. Give me the antidote, let Cui Lin and me leave, arrange horses along the way, don't follow us, and guarantee our safety."

"Every man in this room is one of our Jieshuo warriors," Wuyan said, casting a proud look around the room at the disguised Jieshuo soldiers. Though dressed as traders from the western regions, each one carried the unmistakable air of killers. "They're our fiercest fighters, men who can kill a wolf with their bare hands and tear an enemy's arm from its socket. Do you really think you're in a position to bargain with us?" He drew his curved blade in one motion and pointed it at the unconscious Cui Lin, sneering. "Tell me where A'Shu is, or I'll kill her."

Liu Chengfeng stood in front of Cui Lin, the blade's point aimed at him, but his face showed no fear. He said quietly, "If you so much as touch a hair on her head, I'll die on the spot, and you'll never learn where A'Shu is. By this time tomorrow, you and your men won't even have time to flee before Li Yi's fury tears you apart. You know what he's capable of. He's the Crown Prince of the heartland and the Grand Marshal of All Armies. A man like that, even if you fled ten thousand miles, would still find you. He won't spare the Jieshuo, and he certainly won't spare King Wuluo. He'll ride his horses straight through your royal camp."

Wuyan sneered. "Do you think we came to Xichangjing without preparation? Do you think we've told you all our escape routes? What you and A'Shu know of our network here is barely a fraction of it. Lose it and it's lost, that's all. I could still let you go. But this woman must die today. That was the condition the man in the court set, and I've already agreed to it. So will you truly die alongside her?"

Liu Chengfeng stared coldly at Wuyan, who went on, "That man in the court convinced me. Whatever you can do, he can do too, and a thousand, ten thousand times better. I've promised him, on the king's behalf, that this woman will die."

Liu Chengfeng said, "Without what's in A'Shu's hands, you have no real hold over that man."

Wuyan said, "Once Cui Lin is dead, that man will have no choice but to obey. After all, the murder of the Crown Princess is exactly the kind of leverage that can't be argued away. You said it yourself, didn't you? Who could bear Li Yi's wrath? Even ten thousand miles away, he wouldn't spare whoever killed his wife."

Liu Chengfeng bowed his head and said nothing. Seeing this, Wuyan suddenly changed his tone. "Young master Liu, think about it. What's so special about this woman that you'd give your life for her? Even if she woke up, would she really be willing to leave with you? You want to carry her off to some distant place, but is that what she wants?"

A sharp pain stabbed through his chest. He shot Wuyan a bitter look. "She would be willing!"

Wuyan's voice dripped with mockery. "I think you're only fooling yourself. She's already Li Yi's Crown Princess. Why would she leave with you? Does she love you? If she loved you, why would she have married him?"

Liu Chengfeng said sharply, "She's willing! She's always been willing to go with me! It was Li Yi who forced her! She was forced into marrying him!"

"We have a saying among the Jieshuo: no cage can hold a hawk that soars, unless it chooses to stay. She's Cui Yi's daughter, a woman of considerable ability, from what I hear. If she wasn't willing, how could she have married Li Yi?" Wuyan's manner grew almost relaxed now, tapping the flat of his gleaming blade against his palm as he smiled. "Foolish boy. You sit here ready to trade your life for hers, but has she shown even a moment's gratitude?"

Liu Chengfeng said nothing. On the table, the small flame of the lamp flared briefly as the wick sputtered, then dimmed again, the light flickering across his face. Seeing his silence, Wuyan laughed again. "Even I can tell she doesn't care for you at all. Stop deluding yourself, stop this one-sided infatuation. Even if you saved her and truly ran off with her, the moment she woke up she'd want to kill you, and she'd go straight back to Li Yi's side. If she really loved you, why would you have needed schemes and our help to drag her out by force?"

Something in those words seemed to strike him. The muscles of his face twitched faintly. A long time passed before he spoke. "She does love me! Li Yi came between us! He deceived her! She was forced into marrying him!"

Wuyan scoffed. "You keep lying to yourself like this, even I feel sorry for you. You've done so much for her, and she doesn't even look at you twice. If you don't believe me, I'll use the drug to wake her up right now. The moment she wakes, she'll cut you down without a second thought and go straight back to being the Crown Princess."

Liu Chengfeng still said nothing, but his eyes held a flicker of despair.

Seeing his expression, Wuyan sheathed his blade and softened his voice deliberately. "Young master Liu, the king once said you were a clever man. If you're truly clever, don't be a fool now. Here's what we'll do. Stop standing in the way of Cui Lin's death. I'll let you go, give you the antidote, and forget about pursuing A'Shu. After all, all I need today is Cui Lin's death, whether or not those documents exist doesn't matter, I already have that man in the court in my grip regardless. You and your servant can go wherever you like, and I promise there will be no further connection between us. What do you say? You and she can't both survive. I don't think it's worth dying for her. She doesn't love you. If you die for her, she still won't love you. Better to kill her and be done with it."

Liu Chengfeng still kept his head bowed, but something like grief crossed his face. Seeing him waver, Wuyan pressed on. "You and A'Shu, I'll spare your lives. There will be men and horses waiting outside the city to help you, since after all you did serve our king in some ways. But her, today she must die."

Silence filled the room. From somewhere in the alleys outside came the barking of dogs, and beneath it the sound of footsteps, scattered but drawing closer. It was the palace guards who had already searched this district once, come again. Everyone in the room held their breath and listened. This attic lay in the space beneath the roof beams, nearly impossible to spot from outside, and the house's actual resident, a minor court clerk, would know how to handle any search without arousing suspicion.

Fortunately the footsteps did not draw nearer. They faded away instead, clearly moving off to search another district.

Wuyan watched Liu Chengfeng standing there in silence, his face stricken, and thought that the man was hopelessly sentimental, indecisive over one woman to the point of nearly ruining everything. But such men had one useful weakness. They clung to life. Dangle the right incentive, threaten the right thing, and they would waver. That was how he'd surrendered to the Jieshuo in the first place. Wuyan softened his voice further. "Young master Liu, as you people of the heartland say, a real man need never fear finding no wife. She's already married, her heart belongs to someone else now, so why cling to her? With the search this tight, without our help you'll never leave the city or escape at all. This woman is nothing but a burden to you. If you try to keep her, all that awaits you is death. Why not let her go? You have looks and talent. What kind of woman couldn't you find in the future?"

A tangle of emotions crossed Liu Chengfeng's face. Wuyan spoke as if baring his own heart. "Young master Liu, if you agree to leave now, I'll not only give you the antidote, I'll hand over our treasury in Luoyang as well. You know we've made a fortune selling herbs and furs into the heartland, with a great deal of it stored in Luoyang. Take that money and live out your days as a carefree gentleman. Wouldn't that be a good life?"

Liu Chengfeng lowered his head and said nothing, his eyes flickering. A very long time passed, as though he were weighing something heavy, and at last he gritted his teeth and said, "If you deliver on everything you've promised, then killing her is fine. But I want to kill her myself."

Wuyan was overjoyed. "Good! Well said! Among our Jieshuo hunters, a wild horse that can't be tamed is put down by its own master's hand. That's what it means to be a real man."

Liu Chengfeng frowned slightly. "I can't stand the sight of blood. Leave her body whole. No bleeding."

Wuyan thought to himself, no wonder, when they'd killed the maid Taozi earlier, Liu Chengfeng had stepped well away the moment the knife went in. So that was why, he was afraid of blood. Killing Taozi had been Liu Chengfeng's idea in the first place. He'd said she was Cui Lin's closest attendant, and it would be better to strike her down, but with the blade angled to miss anything vital, so that she wouldn't die at once. Then they could leave the badly wounded Taozi at the public mortuary, so that whether or not she was already dead by the time she was found, Li Yi would surely be thrown into disarray, which might draw his search elsewhere. Wuyan had thought it a good plan, so he'd cut Taozi badly and sent her to the most remote mortuary in the city.

So when Liu Chengfeng asked to leave Cui Lin's body whole, Wuyan agreed readily. He waved a hand, and someone brought forward a vial, which Wuyan passed to Liu Chengfeng. "This is our finest poison. No pain. Death the instant it touches the throat, and no blood."

Liu Chengfeng took the poison. Wuyan noticed his hands were trembling faintly and thought, so this man really is spineless after all. Wuyan had seen defectors before, but never one quite like Cui Yi's adopted son. Wuluo, though outwardly courteous to Liu Chengfeng, had spoken of him with clear contempt in private, once telling Wuyan, "That one is spineless. He'll do anything to survive."

Betraying his own father, betraying his former comrades, betraying Baishui Pass, betraying everything, even his own soul, a man like that Wuyan looked down on from the bottom of his heart. That was exactly why he was confident he could talk Liu Chengfeng around. What was one woman, when the man's own survival was at stake? Why wouldn't he kill her?

Liu Chengfeng gripped the vial tightly and turned to walk toward the bamboo mat. A'Ying still lay unconscious, her breathing steady, as though she were merely asleep. He knelt slowly, then reached out and gathered her into his arms. He had never held her before. She was lighter than he had imagined, far lighter, and warmer too. She always carried a faint sweetness about her, one he could only catch when standing very close, and even since they'd grown up he had rarely been allowed that close, let alone close enough to hold her.

His heart broke apart, piece by piece. He lowered his head slowly and gazed at her face. He wanted very badly to kiss her cheek. In the dim glow of the lamp, her skin still looked pale and luminous, like snow on a distant mountain, like the most flawless jade in the world. He thought, better not. He was filthy through and through, his heart riddled with rot, unworthy of touching her, unworthy of tainting her. Even holding her like this was already more than he had any right to. But this was the one time in his life, and the last, that he would ever embrace her. He smiled, a bleak and hollow smile, and said silently in his heart, A'Ying, don't be afraid, it won't hurt at all. Even though today we part forever, it's all right. If there is a next life, I only hope you'll come to love me, and that we'll stay together for all the lives after this, never apart again.

Wuyan had already grown impatient. "Hurry up and do it. Kill her, and we'll need to find another place to hide."

Liu Chengfeng seemed not to hear him at all, still gazing down at Cui Lin's face. A while longer passed before he finally shook a pill from the vial. He reached out and pressed both her cheeks at once, at the pressure points there, and though she remained unconscious, her mouth opened slightly. He looked at her one last time, filled with longing beyond words, then abruptly pushed the poison pill into her mouth, released his fingers, and stroked once along her throat to help it down.

Still cradled in his arms, still unconscious, she began after a moment to breathe in quick, shallow gasps. Then her breathing grew fainter, her head dropping limp. His eyes filled with tears. He waited a while longer, then finally reached out and checked her breath. It had stopped.

Somewhere between a sob and a laugh, he called her name softly, twice. "A'Ying... A'Ying..." Then he crushed her against him, tears streaming down. Seeing this, Wuyan stepped forward, bent down, and checked Cui Lin's breathing himself, then her pulse at the throat, and nodded with satisfaction. "Just as I said, that poison brings no suffering. Death comes fast."

Liu Chengfeng seemed to go mad. He shoved Wuyan's hand away violently and snarled, "Don't touch her!"

Wuyan stumbled backward from the shove, seething, and had just begun to draw his blade when the scattered footsteps from the streets outside suddenly changed direction, seeming to head straight toward them.

Li Yi, meanwhile, was consumed with anxiety. Every corner of Xichangjing, especially the more chaotic quarters, had already been thoroughly searched, with nothing to show for it. What remained were the homes of ordinary citizens and the mansions of officials and nobles. In a city as vast as Xichangjing, hiding a person away was easy, hardly less difficult than finding a needle in the sea.

He had fought countless battles in his life, some of them brushes with death, moments of terrible danger, and every time he had faced them with his life already set aside, ready to fight with his back to the wall. But today, for the first time, he felt real fear.

He even began to wonder whether he had guessed wrong, whether A'Ying had already been taken out of the city. She had left the Duke of Yan's residence in the early afternoon, and he hadn't realized anything was wrong until dusk, when he'd ordered the gates sealed.

But he told himself quickly, no, his judgment hadn't been wrong. There were countless roads leading out of Xichangjing, but since Zhang was already dead, she must have resisted somehow. Whoever the enemy was, they wouldn't dare carry her far. They would have to hide her in the city first.

Since the first sweep of the chaotic districts had turned up nothing but Zhang's body, they would search again, more carefully this time.

This particular district, called Yongping Ward, was home mostly to officials of the Six Ministries and was normally very quiet. Li Yi hadn't gone there himself the first time. Now the ward gate was opened, every household's door thrown wide, and the guards went from house to house.

He stood on the steps of one household, consumed with worry, thinking that another two hours had already passed and there was still no telling where A'Ying was, or whether she was safe. In the middle of these thoughts, a rider suddenly galloped into the street. Li Yi recognized him as one of the personal guards of the commander leading the search in the western market. The man was too winded to even dismount before he blurted out the news. "Your Highness, a suspicious body was found at the mortuary. It's been identified as Taozi. She was carrying the golden token of a female official."

Li Yi's blood ran cold. Without thinking, he turned and mounted at once. The guards around him did the same, wheeling their horses to follow.

At that exact moment, there came a sharp crack, then a thunderous crash. Li Yi looked up to see someone burst through the wall boards above and fall straight down from the upper floor, landing heavily right in front of him.

The guards around him assumed an assassin and cried out, drawing their weapons. But the torches and lamplight all around lit the scene clearly, and Li Yi recognized the man at once, even through the blood covering his face. It was Liu Chengfeng. His face was twisted, his eyes filled with agony, as though trying to say something, but his throat had been slit, blood pouring from the wound. His body convulsed once, then went still.

Li Yi didn't hesitate. He spurred his horse straight into the courtyard, leaped down, and reached the small building Liu Chengfeng had fallen from in only a few strides. Those still inside tried to flee, but he cut them down alone, one sword stroke at a time. The Jieshuo, fierce as they were, panicked at the sight and scattered in every direction. Li Yi had already fought his way up to the attic. One glance told him there was a hidden space above. He killed one more Jieshuo man with a single thrust, then turned and squeezed through the narrow opening into the space beneath the roof. No lamp burned inside, but torchlight from the guards below spilled through the entrance, and in its glow he could just make out a familiar shape lying on a bamboo mat in the corner.

"A'Ying!" He rushed to her, pulling her up, calling her name, and for a moment he was utterly helpless. Then he scooped her up in his arms and, in what felt like an instant, leaped down to the floor below, covering the distance in three strides. Before anyone else understood what was happening, he was already on his horse with her, riding hard toward the Eastern Palace.

Physician Fan was summoned almost the moment they arrived, and his father, Old Physician Fan, was already being carried there through the night, though he was still on the road.

The younger Physician Fan hurried into Kunde Hall, and the moment he saw the Crown Princess his heart sank. There was no time to fetch his instruments. He took her wrist directly, checked her pulse, and felt his own hands go cold. His fingers began to shake, and he stumbled back to find his medicine box. Li Yi, though frantic with worry, still had the presence of mind to hand him the box himself. The physician drew several gold needles and inserted them into different points on Cui Lin's body, twisting them continuously. Nearly half an hour passed before the elder Physician Fan was finally carried in, supported by several attendants, his feet barely touching the ground as he was brought to the Crown Princess's bedside. The hall was lit with countless candles, bright as day, illuminating the gold needles glinting all over Cui Lin's head and body. The old physician looked over the needles, then reached out to check her pulse himself. He let out a silent sigh. The younger Fan was already drenched in sweat, staring at his father, and the old man shook his head faintly, his expression full of pity. The younger physician seemed to lose all strength and sank to the floor. Li Yi stared blankly at the old physician, who bowed and said, "Your Highness, the Crown Princess has passed."

Li Yi went on staring at him as though he hadn't heard. The old physician, past eighty, had seen more patients than could be counted, but even now he felt a pang of reluctance. He said it again. "Your Highness, the Crown Princess's pulse has stopped entirely. She has passed."

Li Yi still looked faintly dazed. The old physician said, "Your Highness has spent years in the army. When you carried the Crown Princess back just now, you must already have understood..." He couldn't bring himself to finish, and let the sentence trail off.

Only then did something in Li Yi seem to give way, and he turned, slowly, to look at Cui Lin on the bed. Yes. He had spent years in the army, fought countless battles, killed more men than could be counted, seen more corpses than he could number. The instant he'd held her earlier, he'd already known she had no breath left in her. But some part of him still clung to the faintest hope. How could A'Ying be dead? How could it be possible?

She was the one he had meant to grow old beside, for the rest of his life.

For the sake of being with her, he had given up so much. And she, too, had given up so much to be with him.

In the hardest of times, he had once thought that if A'Ying wished it, he could let her go and never see her again. That was why, the day he'd first been able to struggle out of bed, he had insisted on going to see her, back when the court had decided to disband the Dingsheng Army. If she had chosen to hold him hostage then, she could have escaped the capital with Cui Yi, back to Youzhou, and used the Dingsheng Army as leverage. The court would have had no choice but to accept it.

No one knew what he had been thinking that day. He had thought, perhaps this would be fine too. Even if it meant being separated by mountains and seas for the rest of their lives, if it was what A'Ying wanted, he could bear it.

Even growing old alone, he could bear that too.

But he had known in his heart that he was really gambling, betting that A'Ying couldn't bring herself to do it. That was why he'd gone to see her himself. And it had worked. Once they were face to face, her resolve had softened, and she had not acted against him.

She had never once spoken of that moment, but he had always known, and known too that she knew it herself. She said angry things, but he understood what she had given up. It weighed on him, and he had told himself there would be time, that he could repay the debt slowly.

But how could she die?

He hadn't managed to repay even the smallest part of it.

They had been through so much together, fought so many battles, gotten angry, quarreled, even come to blows, and yet through it all, what he had wanted was simply to spend a lifetime with her, to grow old and gray together and watch their children and grandchildren fill the house.

How could she die?

By the time Pei Yuan rushed back, the sun had already risen high. Kunde Hall was silent, and Li Yi sat alone at Cui Lin's bedside, as though he had been sitting there for ten thousand years, still as a clay statue.

Pei Yuan approached step by step. Li Yi showed no reaction at all, no sign of life, only sat there, motionless. Unable to bear it, Pei Yuan half knelt and called out, "Your Highness."

Li Yi seemed not to hear. Pei Yuan gripped his knee and called again. "Seventeenth Brother." He had prepared a whole speech in his mind beforehand, but seeing Li Yi like this, the words caught in his throat and he couldn't get a single one out. Tears fell freely, dropping onto Li Yi's knee.

Seeing him cry, Li Yi finally stirred slightly and looked up at him, his eyes full of blankness, a trace of confusion, as though he didn't understand what was happening.

"Seventeenth Brother," Pei Yuan said, lifting his sleeve to wipe his own tears, "there were two survivors among the Jieshuo in that attic, and they've already confessed. It was Wuyan, Wuluo's brother, who poisoned the Crown Princess himself, with the deadliest poison the Jieshuo have, death the instant it touches the lips. The Crown Princess... the Crown Princess died because of it... Your Highness, you need to let someone in to dress her properly. And the city gates are still closed, and the palace doesn't yet know what's happened. Should we send someone to inform His Majesty?"

Li Yi's expression only grew more confused, as though he hadn't understood a word. Pei Yuan, at a loss, rose to call for attendants, but Li Yi still hadn't moved. He said only, "Ah Yuan, go. Don't come back in."

Pei Yuan froze where he stood. He wanted to argue further, but seeing the look in Li Yi's eyes, he swallowed every word. He turned and left Kunde Hall, then took up his sword and stood guard on the steps outside the door.

Li Yi didn't know how long he sat there, sitting until his whole body had gone numb. When he finally rose, he stumbled and fell, harder than he'd ever fallen before, except once, the time he'd fallen on purpose. This time it wasn't intentional. He had simply sat too long, his blood had stopped flowing properly, and that was why he fell. He felt no pain at all. Instead he only turned his head and looked at A'Ying on the bed.

She looked as though she were deeply asleep, but there was no life left in her face at all. She had long since stopped breathing, her pulse and heartbeat both gone. In that instant in the attic, holding her, he had already known. But no matter what, he could not bring himself to believe it.

Even after returning to the Eastern Palace, even after the old physician told him she was dead, he still didn't believe it.

He sent everyone away from Kunde Hall and stayed there alone. She was so clever, and her family, the Cui clan, still kept those medicines that could mimic death. Perhaps she was only playing a trick on him. Or perhaps she only meant to give him a scare.

He held onto that faint hope, even as he knew, with perfect clarity, that with Liu Chengfeng dead, the odds were grim for her too, and that she would never frighten him like this on purpose.

She wouldn't. Because she couldn't bear it.

She knew, better than anyone, that he couldn't live without her.

How could she be so cruel? It was only after Pei Yuan told him the cause of death, the deadliest poison the Jieshuo possessed, that the last thread of his hope finally broke. The deadliest poison, death the instant it touched the lips. His A'Ying, how much pain must she have felt in that moment?

He slowly smoothed her hair. Attendant Zhao had once brought people to wash and change her, but he wouldn't allow it. There were traces of dirt on her face, but he didn't want anyone else to touch her, especially not anyone she disliked.

He had thought it over many times in his mind, how A'Ying had given up half a kingdom's worth of power, given up the Dingsheng Army she had treasured like her own life, given up everything she had ever taken pride in, all for him. When he'd been badly wounded, she had nearly been willing to give up her own life as well. He had never had the chance to do anything for her in return. Since the day she'd married into the Eastern Palace, he hadn't even managed to make her smile.

She was still wearing the plain clothes she'd worn when she slipped out of the palace incognito, an unremarkable outfit he had never seen before, likely brought from her own home. In this palace, aside from himself, there was nothing she actually liked.

She had never said so, but he had always known.

He rose and opened a chest, not even sure what he was looking for. After searching a while, he finally found it: a brand new abacus. He'd had someone buy it two days before, and while she slept, he had hidden it away in her clothing chest, thinking she probably wouldn't notice, planning to bring it out later to make her laugh.

It had been so long, so very long, since she'd truly laughed.

"A'Ying..." He slowly touched her face. Her cheek was cold. He murmured, "A'Ying, wake up. Let me kneel with the abacus for you, all right?"

Her tongue was sharp, but her heart was soft. Long ago, when Cui Yi had given him thirty lashes, he himself hadn't minded much, but she had been heartsick over it. If he really brought out this abacus, she would probably say something like, a man's knees are worth more than gold, and fling the abacus far away.

And afterward, once she'd thrown it, she would surely draw herself in her sketchbook kneeling before an abacus, as though he really had knelt. His heart twisted like a blade. That sketchbook still had so many blank pages left, and now not one more picture would ever be drawn on them.

He held her cold hand, his chest aching like it had been cut open. He was too foolish, he had arrived too late, far too late. He hadn't even seen her one last time. He didn't know whether, in her final moments, she had felt pain, or fear, or thought of him. She must have thought of him. In her last moment, her heart must have been in terrible pain.

How could she leave him behind, alone in this world? She knew what he feared, even though he'd never spoken of it. He had lost his mother young and had never been favored by his own father. The reason he'd fought so recklessly in battle, careless of his own life, was because he had always felt himself utterly alone, with nothing left in the world worth clinging to. He was afraid, truly, deep down, that everyone he loved would eventually leave him. Without his mother, it was as though he had never had a father either, and without her, he wouldn't be able to go on living. She had known this, and it was exactly why she hadn't had the heart to take him hostage that day and flee the capital.

She had given up everything and married into the Eastern Palace alone, to become his Crown Princess.

He had truly been so selfish, so terrible. He had known all of this, and yet he had still, selfishly, wished for her to stay with him. That was why he had specifically chosen the day he was barely strong enough to stand to go see her, knowing that the sight of him so broken and frail would soften her heart, that she wouldn't be able to bear it. He had never been so selfish before, because deep down he knew he truly couldn't have let her go and lived out the rest of his life alone.

He had been wrong, and his heart was now filled with regret. He had once resented her for pressuring him, but hadn't he pressured her in exactly the same way?

He didn't know how long he had knelt at her bedside, or how much time had passed, when suddenly, faintly, he thought he heard a voice, hers, calling to him softly. "Seventeenth Brother!"

He raised his head abruptly, half wondering if he'd misheard, when the voice came again, clear this time. It came from behind him. He turned and saw the parrot. No one else was in the hall. He had no idea when it had wandered over, tilting its head as it always did, its round eyes watching him.

Grief crashed over him. She had raised this parrot for a long time. Before their wedding, in a fit of anger, she had released it, and he had spent a great deal of money buying it back. No matter how he tried to teach it, it had never spoken a word since. But it seemed she had taught it one phrase after all, murmuring it to the bird day after day, until it finally learned to call him "Seventeenth Brother."

Tears burst from his eyes, falling onto the front of his robe and onto the backs of his own hands. Seeing him cry, the parrot cocked its head again and said, "Silly roe deer."

The tone of its voice was exactly hers, down to the last note. He thought of everything they had been through together, thought of how she used to call him "silly roe deer" so affectionately, thought of how many hundreds, thousands of times she must have repeated the phrase to teach the bird to speak, and he could no longer hold himself together. He gathered her into his arms and wept aloud.

Pei Yuan had stayed outside the door the whole time. When he finally heard Li Yi's weeping through the walls, he could bear it no longer. He rose and called Attendant Zhao over. "Bring the Crown Princess's clothes. And hot water."

Attendant Zhao, flustered, hurried to obey, though everything had already been prepared in advance. A short while later she returned with the items. Pei Yuan didn't let the attendants carry them in. He took everything himself, set it just inside the doorway, didn't look further, and withdrew quietly, closing the door again behind him.

Li Yi never quite remembered how he managed to clean A'Ying's face and dress her in fresh clothes. She still hadn't woken, and by the time he was dressing her, her body had already begun to stiffen, making the task difficult. As he worked through it patiently, his mind was, in some strange way, both entirely empty and full of everything at once.

A'Ying had never liked the Eastern Palace. Neither had he, truthfully. He should have taken her back to Laolan Pass long ago. That was where they had always belonged.

He tied the last knot on her outer robe, tying it neatly and precisely. He didn't actually know how to tie a woman's sash properly, so he tied it the way a man's robe was fastened, but he knew A'Ying wouldn't have minded. He lifted her into his arms. She felt even lighter than she had the night before, and yet somehow heavier too, so heavy he felt he could barely hold her up, though in truth she had always been light, light enough that a single gentle motion had always been enough to lift her.

He carried her alone to Leyou Plain.

It was still early spring, the cold not yet gone, and the plain sat higher and colder than the city below, the lake still crusted with a thin layer of ice. He carried her all the way to the great silktree beneath which they had once stood. Afraid she might catch a chill, he had already dressed her in thick, warm clothing, and now he wrapped her further in a heavy cloak, one that had originally been his own, so it hung on her large and long. His heart ached as he sat there before the silktree, holding her close.

He remembered the past, remembered the first time he and she had come to Leyou Plain, a night just as cold as this one, the whole world frozen like glass, like a crystal palace. But back then his heart had been full of joy. Even having suffered a little wrong that day, she had come rushing from the Eastern Capital to see him, and what had he been thinking then? What did a little wrongdoing matter, when he still had her, when he still had A'Ying? She had held him tight, and in all this world there was one person who treasured him, who loved him more than her own life.

He no longer wanted to cry, and couldn't even manage tears anymore. He knew he'd been on the edge of losing his mind for a full day and night now. The sun was already sinking westward, another day nearly gone, and she would never wake again. Numbly, he reached out and took her hand. Even wrapped in thick clothing, her hand had already gone as cold as ice.

He thought, in his heart, A'Ying's hands have already grown this cold. He had never been so afraid in his life. She had told him more than once that her mother had made her promise to live well, to keep on living no matter what. Thinking of it now, it felt almost deliberate, as if she had feared that one day she might leave before him, and that he would refuse to go on living without her. But now that she was truly gone, how was he supposed to live at all?

A'Ying. He held her tighter and thought silently, I know I cannot die, and I know I mustn't lose my mind, but let me be selfish just this one night. Before dawn comes, I am not the Crown Prince, and I don't need to think about the empire at all. I am only A'Ying's Seventeenth Brother, just the two of us, quietly here together.

The sun finally set, and the moon rose. He sat there holding her all through the night. Behind them the silktree stood bare now, but he knew spring would come, that the tree would grow leaves again and bloom with new flowers. She rested against his shoulder just as she always had.

He didn't move at all, watching as the moon slowly sank in the west, as the land fell into full darkness, until at last, after what felt like a very long while, the eastern sky began to lighten toward dawn.

The first ray of sunlight broke over the horizon, and the sun rose, so bright it stung his eyes. He turned his head away, then looked back at her face with tenderness. There was no color left in her lips, a faint bluish gray creeping in. His heart twisted like a blade. He thought of what Cui Yi had once told him, how after his wife's death he had felt as though nothing in the world mattered anymore, and now Li Yi understood exactly what that felt like. But Cui Yi had said he'd had one child left to give him a reason to keep living. His own A'Ying had left him nothing at all.

From now on, how was he supposed to go on?

He carefully smoothed her hair, mussed by the morning wind, and kissed her lips one last time. He had finally lost her, and in all this world, in the end, he was alone.

He carried A'Ying back to the Eastern Palace. Pei Yuan was still waiting for him there. Li Yi even managed a smile at him, calling out, "Ah Yuan."

The smile nearly frightened Pei Yuan more than anything. But he knew there was nothing he could say to comfort him, so he only spoke carefully. "Your Highness, there's an urgent matter. A man named A'Shu, a former subordinate of Liu Chengfeng's, turned himself in to the Jinwu Guard last night. It's been reported up through the ranks, he says he has something urgent to bring to you. I had him questioned, but he won't say a word."

At the mention of Liu Chengfeng's former subordinate A'Shu, a sharp pain went through Li Yi's chest. After a moment, he made up his mind. "Then bring him to see me."

The Emperor had felt uneasy from the moment he woke that morning. In truth he hadn't slept well the entire night before, plagued by nightmares, because the Eastern Palace had descended into chaos, and it was finally Gu Wanniang who had come to report to the Empress that the Crown Princess had died.

The Empress, terrified, rushed to bring Gu Wanniang before the Emperor at once. Gu Wanniang herself couldn't really explain what had happened, only that Old Physician Fan and the younger Physician Fan had both been summoned, and both had confirmed the Crown Princess was dead.

The Emperor asked urgently, "Where is the Crown Prince?"

"His Highness carried the Crown Princess out of the Eastern Palace himself," Gu Wanniang said. Though normally quite bold, she had truly been frightened by what she'd witnessed. Li Yi's expression in that moment had made it clear that anyone who dared stand in his way would be killed without hesitation.

It was in that same moment that she gave up hope entirely. She had always believed that if she waited patiently, her chance would come eventually. But in that instant, she understood that with Cui Lin dead, Li Yi would never look at another woman again as long as he lived. He no longer wanted to live at all.

The Emperor, too, was deeply afraid. He had once secretly confided to State Preceptor Wu that there was a particular person he despised. The State Preceptor had simply smiled and said that as the true Son of Heaven, whomever His Majesty despised deserved to die, then, without asking who it was, had only requested that person's birth data. The Emperor, believing such a man of the mysterious arts possessed genuine supernatural powers, had given him Cui Lin's birth data in a moment of cruelty.

Cui Lin was the Crown Princess, and the Astronomical Bureau had once matched her birth chart with the Crown Prince's before their wedding. The Emperor had secretly summoned the Bureau and learned her birth data from them.

He had given Cui Lin's birth data to State Preceptor Wu three days ago. He had never imagined it would actually prove so effective, that she would truly, suddenly die.

If Li Yi ever learned of this, he would surely take the Emperor's life. The Emperor could not sit still. He had already known, since the day Li Yi had knelt in the rain coughing blood, that the prince was willing to disregard even his own life for Cui Lin's sake. If Li Yi learned that his father had used the State Preceptor's dark arts to curse Cui Lin to death, he would surely, surely commit patricide.

After a long stretch of anxious dread, the Emperor finally summoned Gu Yun, and haltingly, half revealing and half concealing, asked what he should do if the Crown Prince attempted rebellion.

Gu Yun was so startled at these words he nearly leapt to his feet. "Your Majesty, why would you say such a thing?"

The Emperor thought to himself that among the military officials, Pei Xian stood foremost, and as the Crown Prince's man from the Western Guard, and given his control of the palace guard, the only person he could truly trust was Gu Yun. So he told him everything, from beginning to end, how he had used the State Preceptor to curse the Crown Princess Cui Lin, and said with a mournful face, "Now that she is dead, the Crown Prince surely won't spare me."

Gu Yun steadied himself, thinking this was in fact an excellent opportunity to plan carefully, and asked, "Your Majesty, does anyone else know of this?"

The Emperor shook his head. "It's so secret, not even the Empress knows."

Gu Yun said, "If no one else knows, then the Crown Prince has no proof. Without proof, if he dares show disrespect to Your Majesty, that itself is rebellion. Besides, Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. Even if you wished to have Cui Lin put to death, it would take nothing more than an imperial decree. How could the Crown Prince, as a son, hold that against his father?"

The Emperor, who had been trembling with fear, felt considerably reassured at this, and said through tears, "Chancellor Gu understands me..." He went on, regret in his voice, "In truth I never truly meant to have Cui Lin put to death. I only thought her irritating, and mentioned it to the State Preceptor in passing. Who could have known his arts would prove so effective, that she'd simply be cursed to death like that..." At this his worry returned. "Chancellor, the Crown Prince still has all nine gates sealed shut. I've sent for him several times, and he refuses to come see me. Is he planning to... to kill me and take the throne himself?"

Gu Yun already had his entire scheme worked out. Hearing this, he said calmly, "Your Majesty is wise. The Crown Prince likely wouldn't do something so treasonous. But with the city cut off and no communication, Your Majesty cannot afford to be unprepared, especially where the palace guard is concerned. The traitor Sun Jing is a lesson not so long past."

Hearing this, the Emperor grew even more anxious and asked what Gu Yun would advise. Gu Yun laid out his plan, and the Emperor, deeply convinced, immediately ordered the imperial seal brought and issued several decrees in quick succession.

The first decree ordered someone sent to the Eastern Palace to demand that the Crown Prince surrender the guard tally for the palace army. Gu Yun said, "If His Highness obeys the decree, that proves he has no ill intent. Your Majesty will know his true feelings with a single test. Once you have the tally, send someone you trust with the tally and the decree to take command of the guard."

The Emperor asked hesitantly, "And if the Crown Prince refuses?"

Gu Yun said, "If the Crown Prince refuses to surrender the guard tally, that is more than mere defiance of an imperial order. It would prove he truly intends rebellion." In his heart, Gu Yun knew perfectly well that Li Yi was almost certain to refuse, and that this would open a great deal of opportunity. The Emperor, foolish and easily led as always, had no trust in his son to begin with, which made him easy to manipulate.

Hearing this, the Emperor shuddered. Gu Yun continued, "My household has some private guards, all loyal and trustworthy. Your Majesty may permit them to accompany me into the palace for protection. Cai Zhao, one of the six commanders of the palace guard, was an old retainer of the late Emperor and has no ties to the Western Guard. He can be relied upon. The Vice Minister of War, Guo Changlin, is my second son-in-law, and I can vouch for his complete loyalty to Your Majesty. If the Crown Prince should refuse to obey, I, along with Guo Changlin and Cai Zhao, will escort Your Majesty out of the palace and straight to Mount Li, where we can summon the assembled officials and depose the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince truly intends rebellion, stripping him of his title first will mean that even if he harbors treasonous intent, far fewer will be willing to follow him."

The Emperor nodded repeatedly as he listened. Gu Yun went on to name which civil officials could be trusted absolutely, and which military officers held old grudges against the Pei family and could be put to use. The Emperor, deeply moved, took Gu Yun's hand and said, "Thank heaven for Chancellor Gu!" He agreed to every part of Gu Yun's plan and handed him the golden token representing the Emperor's own authority, giving him free rein to make whatever arrangements he saw fit. Holding the token, Gu Yun felt a flash of dread pass through him. Part of him wanted nothing more than to use it to open the gates and flee the city entirely. But he knew there was truly nowhere to run. If he fled, there would be no chance of survival at all. His only option was to fight this through to the end.

By the time the decree demanding Li Yi surrender the palace guard's tally reached the Eastern Palace, Li Yi had just finished questioning A'Shu, who had laid out every piece of evidence in full. Only now did Li Yi finally understand.

It turned out Sun Jing had been in league with Gu Yun from the very beginning. The late Emperor had never been generous toward his officials, and Sun Jing and Gu Yun had, in fact, been deeply connected all along. When Sun Jing had planned his rebellion, Gu Yun had already been involved. But after Sun Jing massacred the entire Li clan, Gu Yun had stepped back, somehow managing to convince Sun Jing to let him maintain the appearance of unwavering loyalty to the throne, refusing to serve as a minister to a usurper.

For a time, Gu Yun's apparent integrity had won him admiration throughout the court. Later, once he saw that Sun Jing's cause was lost, he had secretly worked with Li Yi through Gu Wanniang, coordinating from within and without. After Sun Jing's death, this secret should have been buried forever, but as it happened, when Sun Jing sent away the Lady of Wei and his eldest son, he had sent along, together with them, his correspondence with Gu Yun, all of it dispatched south to Nanyue.

Later, when Cui Yi led his troops to conquer Nanyue and captured both the Lady of Wei and Sun Jing's eldest son, his men had searched out and seized this box of letters. At the time, Liu Chengfeng had still gone by the identity of Young Master Cui, and the box had been given into his keeping. When Liu Chengfeng got his hands on that box of letters, he had treated it like a treasure, hiding it away without ever letting Cui Yi know it existed.

Liu Chengfeng had used the letters to make contact with Gu Yun, and with Gu Yun under his thumb, together they had schemed to frame Cui Yi and have the Dingsheng Army disbanded.

Hearing all this, Li Yi finally understood. He had turned the matter over in his mind many times, thinking that the scheme to frame Cui Yi, carried out by Jia Li and Liu Chengfeng, had been remarkably shrewd, the kind of plan only someone with deep insight into the court's inner workings and the currents of loyalty among officials could have devised, someone who understood every subtle fault line between civil and military factions, among the ministers themselves, even between father and son on the throne. It had been Gu Yun all along.

No wonder. It was as though lightning had split apart a bank of dark clouds, and everything suddenly became clear to Li Yi. He had felt, all along, that something was wrong somewhere, and now he understood: it was Gu Yun. With such damning evidence in Liu Chengfeng's hands, Gu Yun would inevitably have been forced into the Jieshuo's service. Everything that followed made perfect sense now.

Having confessed everything, and having learned that Liu Chengfeng was dead, A'Shu asked for only one thing: to be allowed to bring Liu Chengfeng's body home for burial.

Li Yi made no reply to this, only saying, "Liu Chengfeng allied himself with the Jieshuo, betrayed his country, and framed General Cui. His crimes are unforgivable."

A'Shu, not yet knowing that Cui Lin was dead, pleaded further. "I know my own guilt runs too deep for any pardon. I beg Your Highness... I beg Your Highness... if the Crown Princess ever learns of this... no, I beg Your Highness not to tell her. Let her go on believing that the young master is still alive."

A sharp pain tore through Li Yi's chest, and for a moment tears nearly rose again. He forced himself to hold them back, gestured slightly, and had the attendants lead A'Shu away. He rose slowly, and just then Pei Yuan hurried in, anxious, to tell him that the Emperor had just issued a decree demanding the Crown Prince surrender the palace guard's tally.

Li Yi said, "The tally will absolutely not be surrendered. Gu Yun has deceived my father, and he means to seize control of the guard and then hold him hostage. He's badly miscalculated. As long as I remain in Xichangjing, he'll never manage this scheme to usurp the throne." He turned to Pei Yuan. "There's one more battle left to fight. This time I fight it side by side with the Crown Princess."

Pei Yuan thought that grief had simply overwhelmed Li Yi's reason, that he had been struck too hard to think clearly, but he knew there was no use arguing. He only stamped his foot once, then turned and went to see to the preparations himself.

Li Yi personally dressed Cui Lin in her battle armor, then laid her gently into the coffin. He knelt half beside it, arranging her armor and her hair, and reached out, with deep tenderness, to touch her face.

"A'Ying, A'Shu told me I didn't need to tell you, that Liu Chengfeng is dead. I find myself almost envying him now. He got to die alongside you. There really are so many foolish, devoted people in this world. A'Ying, if I were the one to die before you, I'd rather you never learn the truth at all, kept in the dark for the rest of your life. Otherwise, seeing me this heartbroken, I'm afraid you'd cry yourself sick..." He couldn't finish the sentence before a hot tear slipped free and fell onto her face, and then another. After a moment he reached out and gently wiped the tears from her cheek.

"A'Ying... they say you mustn't let tears fall on the face of the dead, or it becomes a birthmark in the next life. But I can't help it. If by some chance you do carry a birthmark in your next life, I pray the gods let me find you again. I'll recognize you no matter what, even if your whole face is covered in marks, I'll still make you my wife... it's only that in this life, at the bridge to the underworld, you may have to wait for me a very long time." He picked up her sword, drew it from its sheath, and set the empty scabbard into the coffin. Then he lifted her arm and closed her fingers loosely around the hilt. The blade caught the light with a cold gleam, reflecting her face. He said softly, "A'Ying, this is your sword. There were so many times, once, that you and I fought side by side. Today, I'll carry you with me, so you can watch with your own eyes. Think of it as the two of us fighting side by side once more."

The Emperor, though he had already issued several decrees, remained deeply uneasy, sitting in the Xuanzheng Hall as though on a bed of needles. Gu Yun kept reassuring him. "Rest easy, Your Majesty. If the Crown Prince truly means treason, this old minister will guard Your Majesty with his very life. Besides, there's Cai Zhao, commanding one of the six divisions of the palace guard, stationed at Xuanwu Gate. He won't let the Crown Prince force his way in with troops. And Guo Changlin waits outside to support him. If it comes to that and we can't hold, we can still retreat to Mount Li."

The Emperor, his face mournful, felt his eyelid twitching constantly, certain things would go badly. Xuanwu Gate had, after all, seen far too many disasters over the years. Under the previous dynasty, of course, but even in this one, Sun Jing had led his troops into the palace through that very gate, and more than ten years before that, Prince Han's rebellion had nearly succeeded in assassinating the Emperor there as well. His eyelid kept twitching, his heart pounding. If only the State Preceptor were here, he thought, but no, the State Preceptor knew about the curse placed on the Crown Princess, and Gu Yun had said he should be sent far away, ideally silenced permanently. But the Emperor couldn't bring himself to do it. He decided he would quietly send the man away sometime after all this settled. As he sat there lost in these anxious thoughts, an attendant suddenly rushed into the hall in a panic, prostrating himself immediately, gasping out, "The Crown Prince... the Crown Prince has entered the palace, carrying the Crown Princess's coffin!"

At this, the Emperor panicked completely. He thought Li Yi had come to confront him directly, to kill him, and cried out at once, "What does he mean by this? Don't let him in! Drive him out!"

Seeing this, Gu Yun said, "The Crown Prince refuses to surrender the palace guard tally, which makes his intentions toward Your Majesty perfectly clear. Your Majesty, issue another decree. If the Crown Prince dares force his way into the palace, order Cai Zhao to kill him on sight!" His plan was to use this moment to push the Emperor into issuing the order, so that Cai Zhao would have full justification to have his men fire crossbows from the gate tower and cut Li Yi down outside Xuanwu Gate. The gate tower stood tall and imposing, formidably built, and even with an army at his back, Li Yi would find it no easy thing to force his way through.

Just then, word reached the Empress, who came rushing in. Hearing what had been said, she cried out at once, "Your Majesty, absolutely not! Your Majesty has only this one son, and the Crown Prince has done nothing seriously wrong. How can you issue such an order?"

The Emperor nearly blurted out that he himself had ordered the State Preceptor to curse the Crown Princess to death, but after a moment's hesitation, he swallowed the words back down. Gu Yun seized the moment. "Your Majesty, this decree isn't truly meant to kill the Crown Prince. Have Cai Zhao read it aloud from atop the gate, addressed to His Highness. If the Crown Prince turns back at that point, abandons his assault, and agrees to surrender the guard, wouldn't that resolve everything happily? But if he hears Your Majesty's decree and still insists on forcing his way in with troops, that would prove beyond doubt that he harbors treasonous intent, that he means to murder his own sovereign and father. A rebel like that deserves to be struck down by anyone." In his heart, Gu Yun was certain Li Yi would never obey, that he would force his way in regardless, and that once he did, Cai Zhao would have every justification to act.

He had no idea that Li Yi, leading the palace guard from the Eastern Palace, had already reached the base of Xuanwu Gate, and upon hearing Cai Zhao read the decree aloud from the tower above, said nothing at all in reply. He simply raised a hand, and someone immediately passed him his powerful bow and long arrows. He drew the bow, and the men on the tower, seeing this, quickly raised shields to protect Cai Zhao. But Li Yi's strength was extraordinary. The arrow flew like a shooting star, too fast for the shields to fully block, and struck Cai Zhao dead in a single shot. Chaos erupted immediately within Xuanwu Gate.

Gu Yun had long tried to persuade the Emperor to leave the palace for Mount Li, but the Emperor had refused, believing, despite his timid and indecisive nature, that the palace was the safest place to be, perhaps still haunted by memories of being nearly trapped outside the city walls at Caizhou years before. No matter how Gu Yun argued, the Emperor would not be moved.

But upon hearing that Cai Zhao had actually been killed by a single arrow from Li Yi, Gu Yun was badly shaken. He had heard before of the Prince of Qin's martial prowess, but he had never imagined Li Yi capable of such a feat, striking Cai Zhao dead with one shot from that height. Xuanwu Gate's tower stood hundreds of feet above the ground. What kind of bow, what kind of strength, did that take? He knew now that things were going badly, and gritting his teeth, he signaled to the men around him. Most of them were not truly his own household guards at all, but Jieshuo warriors in disguise, elite men under Wuyan's command, formidable fighters. They swarmed forward and seized the Emperor. Gu Yun said, "Your Majesty, there's no more time to wait. Let's move you to Mount Li at once."

Before the Emperor could even respond, he was already being carried off by the men, hurried toward the exit. Seeing this, Gu Yun turned and slipped away himself. He had already planned everything out: the Emperor's party would leave through Dan Feng Gate, drawing Li Yi's attention, while he himself would slip out through Tong Xun Gate, where he had already arranged fast horses. Ever since the Jieshuo had approached him, revealing that they knew of his scheme with Liu Chengfeng to frame Cui Yi, he had known his secret was exposed, and that this could never reach Li Yi's ears, or he would lose not only his standing at court but his entire family's lives. He had considered, after much deliberation, making one last gamble by exploiting the rift between father and son, but that gamble had clearly failed. Better to flee while he still could.

The Emperor, utterly bewildered, was still being carried along, not yet even outside the hall, when the doors were suddenly kicked open. Li Yi strode in, fully armored, sword in hand, followed by sixteen men bearing a coffin, its lid not yet sealed, unmistakably the Crown Princess's coffin. The moment the Emperor saw Li Yi enter, he collapsed to the floor in terror. Gu Yun, though inwardly panicking, wondering how Li Yi had arrived so quickly, whether no one at all had managed to stop him at Xuanwu Gate, forced himself to remain composed and demanded loudly, "The Crown Prince enters the palace bearing a sword. Is this treason?"

Li Yi shot him a cold glance. "You conspired with the Jieshuo and held my father hostage. To think I once regarded you as a paragon of the literary class, a man of true integrity. It turns out you've been in league with Sun Jing all along. You are the greatest traitor in this entire court."

Seeing the Emperor sitting speechless, eyes wide with shock, Gu Yun said, "The Crown Prince means to commit treason, and now he slanders loyal officials to cover it. Your Majesty, please, issue the order to have the Crown Prince seized." The Emperor, his teeth chattering with fear, couldn't manage a single word. One of the disguised Jieshuo warriors immediately drew his blade and pressed it against the Emperor's throat. This man, Gele, one of Wuyan's most trusted men and extremely fierce in battle, had become the leader of the Jieshuo agents in the capital now that Wuyan was dead. The Empress screamed at the sight and nearly fainted, and she too was seized and restrained.

Gu Yun, holding the Emperor's golden token, had already had heavy crossbows positioned throughout the hall, all aimed at Li Yi and his men. Steeling himself, he said, "Drop your sword. Have fast horses readied, and order every county along the route not to interfere. Let us leave in peace."

Li Yi looked at the Emperor, trembling in terror, and smiled with contempt. "Kill him if you like. He was never truly a father to me. I've hated him with everything in me for a long time. He's dim-witted and useless, weak and cowardly, unfit to rule this empire, and unfit to be my father." Gu Yun froze at this. Li Yi continued, "Kill him, and I won't even have to carry the shame of patricide myself. Go on, do it, quickly!" With that, he turned and began walking toward the hall's entrance. Hearing this, the Emperor burst into tears, mouth open in a silent, terrified wail.

Gu Yun hadn't expected this at all and stood momentarily stunned. Before Li Yi reached the doors, he suddenly spun around and flung a short blade from his sleeve, striking the knife out of Gele's hand as it held it against the Emperor's throat. The Emperor instinctively lunged forward, trying to flee, but Gele reacted with astonishing speed, seizing him and yanking him back into position. Gu Yun, snapping back to himself, shouted, "Fire! Fire the crossbows!"

The crossbows, all manned by hidden Jieshuo warriors, released a volley of heavy bolts at once. Li Yi swung his sword to deflect them as Pei Yuan and his men charged in. The Jieshuo warriors, still holding the Emperor hostage, fought their way back, retreating step by step until they reached the coffin near the doorway. The sight of Cui Lin's coffin sent a fresh wave of terror through the Emperor, and the blade at his throat drew a thin line of blood as he cried out, "Help! Save me!" Gu Yun shouted, "Li Yi, will you truly stand by and let your own father be murdered? Do you think that becoming emperor will silence the whole world's judgment?"

Pei Yuan, hearing this clearly, made up his mind to charge in himself and cut them down, thinking that if the Emperor died, the fault would fall on him as the failed protector, not on Li Yi. But crossbow bolts filled the hall, and just as it seemed the Emperor was about to be struck, Gele, knowing the Emperor was his shield, yanked his head down to dodge the bolt. Gu Yun screamed again, "The Crown Prince rebels! The Crown Prince means to murder His Majesty..." The Emperor, terrified further by this, began wailing along with him. "Li Yi, will you truly refuse to save me today?" Pei Yuan, furious and desperate, wished he could clamp a hand over the Emperor's mouth. And in that very moment, someone suddenly rose up out of the coffin itself, sword in hand, and struck straight at Gele.

Gele, caught completely off guard, took a slanting blow through the shoulder, blood spraying across the back of the Emperor's neck. Seeing someone rise from the coffin, and realizing it was Cui Lin herself, the Emperor, convinced her corpse had come back to claim his life, screamed in wild terror. Cui Lin shoved him aside, pulled her sword free, and drove it viciously into Gele a second time. He collapsed and died on the spot.

Li Yi, deflecting the crossbow bolts still flying at him, could only stare, stunned, disbelief and shock and overwhelming joy all crashing through him at once.

A'Ying! It had to be a dream. No, it wasn't a dream at all. It was really her. He stared at her, dazed. Gu Yun tried to slip away in the confusion. Li Yi, without even turning, hurled his sword backward. It pierced clean through Gu Yun from behind, and he died struggling on the floor.

Li Yi finally spoke her name aloud. "A'Ying."

She swung her sword to deflect a bolt aimed at him and asked, "Why are you crying?"

He wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, and could only say, "I thought you were dead." As he spoke, he kicked away a Jieshuo warrior attempting to attack from behind.

"I know. But I'm perfectly fine now. Why are you crying?"

"I don't know. I suppose I'm just too happy." He reached out quickly, took her chin, and looked at her, overwhelmed with emotion, tears rising again despite himself. "It's you. It's really you."

She said, "Don't be foolish!" She struck down another Jieshuo warrior with her sword, then added, "But I'm happy too."

Pei Yuan and his men had already gotten the crossbows under control, and the remaining Jieshuo warriors were killed one by one. The Emperor had long since fainted, collapsed limply on the floor. Blood dripped from the tip of Li Yi's sword, but he had no thoughts left for anything else. He took her hand and pulled her outside without stopping. The sun blazed overhead as he pulled her along, running as if flying, down the towering steps, all the way to the broad street before the hall.

A'Ying. His A'Ying!

He wanted to shout, to scream, no, he wanted to weep, to sing his grief aloud, to sob without restraint. His sword clattered to the ground from his hand. He took her face in both hands and kissed her deeply.

She dropped her own sword too, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him back just as deeply.

His tears fell hot against her cheek, and she was crying too. This moment was precious beyond measure, and it was pure happiness.

They kissed for a very long time, the distant clamor, the fighting in the hall, all of it feeling as distant as another lifetime. Oblivious to everything around them, he cradled her face, still half laughing, half crying. "A'Ying, you're really not dead. Am I dreaming?"

"No." She cupped his face in return, rising on her toes, pressing her lips gently against his. "Seventeenth Brother, it's me. It's really me."

He drew her into his arms, as though gathering back into himself all the light, all the warmth, all the happiness in this entire world.

Epilogue

A'Dao and A'Zhen were utterly captivated by this point in the story. A'Dao, being older, spoke up first. "Mother! So how did you come back to life? How could you just suddenly jump out of the coffin?"

"That's something I only understood later myself," Cui Lin said. "Your father says that in that attic, the light was so dim, Liu Chengfeng must have switched the poison while no one was watching, replacing it with a drug that mimics death."

"Liu Chengfeng was so wicked, and he did that one good thing," A'Dao said. "So how did he die, then?"

"He was probably trying to get word to me somehow," Li Yi said, "which is why he threw himself down and died right in front of my horse. But just before that, the Jieshuo had already cut his throat, so he couldn't make a sound, which is why I had no idea your mother wasn't really dead." As he spoke, he fell briefly into thought. It was for this reason that he had given Liu Chengfeng's ashes to A'Shu. According to A'Shu, he planned to scatter Liu Chengfeng's ashes somewhere with beautiful mountains and clear water, something Liu Chengfeng had once mentioned long before, saying, "I'm a man who deserves to have no grave at all. Just scatter my ashes everywhere."

A'Zhen pursed her lips. "But he was still a bad person."

"Yes, he was still a bad person," Cui Lin said. "So we should try to be good people."

A'Zhen asked again, "What about Auntie Taozi? Why didn't she die?"

Before Li Yi or Cui Lin could answer, A'Dao burst out, "You're so silly! Auntie Taozi showed you her scar, remember, that long one, and thank goodness the elder Physician Fan saved her. He even said Uncle Ear cried like his eyes were a fountain."

"I don't believe it. The Physician Fan also said Father cried like his eyes were a fountain, but Father would never cry," A'Zhen said, full of confidence. "The Physician Fan is lying. I've never once seen Father cry. Besides, Father is the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven never cries."

Li Yi thought to himself that if the younger Physician Fan ever heard what A'Zhen had just said, he'd probably go home and cry himself. The man was nearly forty years old and still had no sense of restraint, bringing up things like that with a small child. Didn't he know that children repeat everything they hear? Tomorrow he would issue an order sending the man off to have his pulse checked by the Immortal Xuanmiao.

Gu Yun's conspiracy with the Jieshuo, his treason and betrayal of the country, warranted by law the execution of his entire clan, but Li Yi handled the matter with leniency, sparing most of the family and only executing those directly involved once the investigation was complete. Gu Wanniang, unable to face herself afterward, asked to become a Daoist nun and took the name Xuanmiao, becoming known as the Immortal Xuanmiao. But she was constantly falling ill, and it was only later, through Pei Yuan, that Li Yi learned the truth: she had fallen for the younger Physician Fan, who claimed he already had someone in his heart, though he had never married in all these years.

Who exactly the younger Physician Fan's beloved was remained a mystery Gu Wanniang longed to solve, and Li Yi found himself rather curious too. For now, though, feeling somewhat vexed, he decided he would send the younger Physician Fan back to the Daoist temple once more, to let him experience a bit more of the world's troubles firsthand.

Li Yi crouched down and gathered his daughter into his arms. "Father has never cried. A'Zhen is right. Father would never cry, of course."

A'Zhen's eyes darted around, then she pointed at the sketchbook lying open on the table, at a page showing a scene of Leyou Plain. "Father, Mother, will you take me and Brother to Leyou Plain again?"

"We will," Li Yi said, one arm around his daughter and the other around A'Dao. "Father will definitely take you both, and your mother too, back to Leyou Plain again, to watch the flowers bloom in spring and the leaves fall in autumn."

A'Zhen smiled sweetly and leaned into him. "I love Father the most!"

A'Dao made a face at his sister. "Yesterday you said you loved Grandfather the most."

"I love Grandfather too, and Father too," A'Zhen said quickly. "And Mother, I love her most too, and Brother, I love him most too." Realizing she'd forgotten someone, she added hastily, "And I love Uncle Xuanze most of all too!"

Li Yi couldn't help but laugh. Once both children had fallen asleep, he came back out to the outer room and said to A'Ying, "I raised such a good daughter, and it kills me to think some wretched boy is going to sweep her off her feet one day."

She only laughed, gesturing at the whip hanging on the wall. "Then you can use the whip on him when the time comes."

"Thirty lashes... no, fifty. Not one less!" He laughed and pulled her close, kissing her temple. She said, laughing, "You only got thirty lashes to marry me. Why does he deserve twenty more? Is a daughter really more precious than I was? You'd better explain yourself clearly, or there's no sleep for you tonight."

He froze for a moment, then looked around helplessly. "Where's the abacus? Bring it here, I'll kneel first."

Hearing this, the parrot nearby strutted a couple of proud steps, flapped its wings, and fixed him with its round eyes. Its voice, uncannily identical to hers, tilted its head and said, "Silly roe deer."

In the second year of the Tiantai era, the Emperor abdicated in favor of the Crown Prince Li Yi, who changed the era name to Xianglong and honored the Crown Princess Cui as Empress. From that point on, the turmoil that had plagued the great state of Dayu was finally settled, peace spreading across the land in every direction, an age later called the Restoration. Later, Li Xuanze took the throne, changing the era name to Shenghe. After Emperor Shenghe's death, his third son Li Chan succeeded him, changing the era name to Xiyong. Twenty years later, upon Emperor Xiyong's death, his fifth son Li Chengyin succeeded to the throne.

(End)