Liu Wenji made preparations on two fronts: first, having someone intercept people, and second, seeking out Princess Danyang.

An elderly Daoist priest carefully carried out medicinal soup from his quarters within the palace compound. He was an old divine physician Liu Wenji had found overseas for the Emperor, reportedly skilled in both mystical arts and medicine.

Whether true or not, while other imperial physicians were pessimistic about the Emperor’s condition, only this elderly Daoist confidently claimed he could help restore the Emperor’s health. At this critical moment between life and death, it was obvious whom the Emperor trusted more.

As the elderly Daoist was about to leave his quarters, a eunuch intercepted him and pulled him under a corridor. The eunuch chatted pleasantly with him, conveying Liu Wenji’s instructions: “…Lord Liu wants you to secretly remove several ingredients. This soup mustn’t truly cause infertility.”

The elderly Daoist hesitated: “…That would be deceiving His Majesty.”

The messenger eunuch didn’t force him, merely saying: “Divine Elder is a foreigner, different from us corrupt folk. Naturally, you wouldn’t understand whose word will carry weight in the palace after His Majesty passes. Divine Elder should decide for himself.”

Threatened, the elderly Daoist trembled. In the frost of the tenth month, he stood at his quarters’ entrance holding his freshly brewed medicine, breaking out in cold sweat.

After the eunuch whispered those words and left, the elderly Daoist stood helplessly until another eunuch arrived with the Emperor’s summons. Seeing him holding the medicine, this eunuch berated: “It’s ready and you’re still not delivering it? Are you waiting for His Majesty’s punishment?”

The eunuch moved to grab the medicine, but the septuagenarian Daoist suddenly showed surprising agility, dodging aside.

The elderly Daoist’s face wrinkled into a chrysanthemum-like smile as he bowed deeply: “My lord, this humble Daoist suddenly remembered the medicine is missing an ingredient. Ah, age has made my memory poor.”

The eunuch frowned, instinctively disbelieving. But since this elderly Daoist was currently in high favor with the Emperor, he didn’t dare offend him and waved him off to remake the medicine.

Liu Wenji listened to the young eunuch’s report and hurriedly walked toward the palace exit. His mind was chaotic, mixed with hesitation. However, the closer he got to leaving the palace, the slower his steps became.

He wanted to help Yan Shang… but what if the Emperor discovered he was the one who sent word to the Princess and used this as an excuse to kill him? The old Emperor had long wanted him dead, only lacking an opportunity while the princes were still well.

Liu Wenji was unwilling to hand the Emperor such an opportunity himself.

Crossing Dragon Head Canal, at Danfeng Gate just before the palace exit, Liu Wenji completely halted his steps. The eunuch following him asked: “My lord, are we not going out?”

Liu Wenji replied coldly: “We’re not.”

He turned to leave but his eyes narrowed upon seeing an ornate carriage bearing Prince Jin’s insignia enter through Danfeng Gate. The carriage’s rank was insufficient for direct passage and was being inspected at the gate. Liu Wenji stared at it for a long while before suddenly having an idea and striding over.

The eunuch guards at the palace gate all bowed: “My lord.”

Liu Wenji approached the carriage and without a word, pulled aside the curtain. As he expected, inside sat Chunhua. She stared at him with wide eyes, surprised he would directly open the curtain – even the servants and guards outside hadn’t reacted yet.

Chunhua had been sent by that couple to fulfill filial duties.

Liu Wenji spoke with a strange tone: “For Prince Jin and his Princess to not come themselves but send only a secondary consort – isn’t this disrespecting His Majesty? This servant advises Your Grace to return and explain the stakes to your Prince. What does it mean to send merely a concubine?”

He boarded the carriage and whispered several words in Chunhua’s ear.

Chunhua’s body trembled slightly, and after meeting his gaze, she gave him a small nod.

Liu Wenji smiled at her. When he smiled, his melancholy eased and his features held spring-like warmth, faintly alluring, somewhat resembling his younger dashing days. Chunhua was both moved by his kindness – that even in his position he still cared for old acquaintances – and pained for him, turning away unable to look longer.

Seeing she was still so kindhearted, Liu Wenji couldn’t help but smile wryly, suppressing a moment of bitter feeling.

She still thought him pure, when he was merely dragging Prince Jin down to sink together – using this to establish a connection with Prince Jin.

Lowering the curtain, faced with apologies and inquiries from Prince Jin’s servants and guards, Liu Wenji said nothing and returned to the palace. Just as the servants were relieved to have dealt with this influential figure and thought they could enter the palace, they heard their Secondary Consort speak from within the carriage, her voice gentle but firm: “I forgot the shoes I made for the Empress Dowager. Let’s return to get them.”

The group tried to persuade her otherwise, but the usually agreeable Secondary Consort was unusually insistent today. With no choice, they had to leave the palace.

Once some distance from the palace, Chunhua ordered: “Go to Princess Danyang’s residence.”

Mu Wanqiao was receiving Liu Ruzhu at her residence, accompanied by her sister-in-law Yan Xiaozhou. Since the Yan family wanted the Princess’s help arranging Yan Xiaozhou’s marriage, naturally Yan Xiaozhou needed to become better acquainted with Mu Wanqiao.

Liu Ruzhu had come to bid farewell.

Liu Ruzhu smiled as she distributed brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and various rare books to the Princess and her sister-in-law, saying melodiously: “My husband has been assigned to River West Prefecture. It’s a place where foreigners and our Great Wei people live together, and I’ve heard many ancient texts there are being burned as firewood, which pains my heart greatly.

“So, after discussing with my family, I’ve decided to accompany my husband to River West. I may not see Your Highness for several years, so I came to say goodbye.”

Mu Wanqiao felt reluctant to part. During her years in Chang’an, Liu Ruzhu had helped her considerably in daily interactions with Chang’an ladies. Though scholarly, this lady was no bookworm. Liu Ruzhu was particularly tactful, and even that initial hint of hostility due to Yan Shang had dissipated over the years.

Mu Wanqiao tried to detain her: “Then let Yan Shang and I hold a farewell feast for you a couple before you leave.”

Liu Ruzhu’s eyes curved in a smile, about to say something when a maid hurriedly reported that Prince Jin’s Secondary Consort had arrived. Mu Wanqiao was surprised – due to their delicate positions, Chunhua never visited her. But today… the door curtain lifted and Chunhua rushed in disheveled, lifting her skirts as she ran…

Neither Yan Xiaozhou nor Liu Ruzhu heard what Chunhua told the Princess, but they saw Mu Wanqiao’s face suddenly change as she stood up. Without time to bid them farewell, Mu Wanqiao hurried out.

Yan Shang was in the hall discussing official matters with the Emperor, speaking of recent Ministry of Personnel affairs. The Emperor kept his eyes closed until that bowl of infertility medicine was placed before Yan Shang on the long table. Only then did the Emperor open his clouded eyes to stare intently at Yan Shang.

Yan Shang lowered his gaze, staring at the medicine bowl for a long while.

His heart was bitter, sorrowful, and desolate, mixed with an indescribable sense of relief. He thought this might be for the best, at least it would set everyone’s minds at ease… He lifted the bowl and drank it all at once.

The Emperor let out a light breath and lay back down.

Yan Shang left the great hall into the bright sunlight. Dizzy and uncomfortable, he stood lost in thought under the corridor, while Chen’an, the eunuch following him, didn’t rush him. Yan Shang watched flocks of wild geese flying south from the north, yet even they seemed desolate and lonely…

Mu Wanqiao’s voice came from below: “Yan Shang!”

Yan Shang came to his senses and looked down to see Mu Wanqiao, who had appeared at some point at the bottom of the steps. She looked up at him, lifting her skirts as she ran toward him. Yan Shang gave her a slight smile, his eyes showing sorrowful resignation though his lips curved upward slightly.

Mu Wanqiao ran up and grabbed his wrist, staring at him, her tone urgent almost to the point of shrillness: “Did you drink it? You drank it, didn’t you?”

Seeing her about to lose control, Yan Shang reached out to stop her: “Yao Yao, calm down, it’s nothing…”

Mu Wanqiao: “No, it is something! It’s something!”

She held his arm and pulled him down the steps. As if mad, she said: “Let’s go to the Imperial Dispensary, get all the imperial physicians! I want them to make you vomit, to counteract this medicine…”

Chen’an tried to persuade from behind: “Your Highness, this is His Majesty’s decree, His Majesty means well for Your Highness…”

Mu Wanqiao turned back, her eyes fierce: “I don’t accept it, I don’t need it! Go find me the imperial physicians, bring me the person who made this medicine, I’ll kill them! I must kill them!”

Tears glimmered in her eyes as she felt herself nearly breaking down, driven almost mad by her sick father – “If anything happens to Yan Shang if everything goes as you all wish, I’ll never forgive any of you!

“If Father wants to kill whoever informed me, then kill me too! If Father wants to kill Yan Shang, then kill me along with him!”

Her whole body trembled, her hands holding Yan Shang’s were ice cold. Yan Shang clasped her hands in return as she looked up at him pitifully: “Do you want to throw up? Can you throw it up? Let’s try to make you vomit, alright… Let’s find all the doctors to examine you, alright?”

Yan Shang said softly: “Why go to such lengths… I think it’s nothing. Isn’t this better for trust between us as husband and wife?”

Tears were about to fall from Mu Wanqiao’s eyes: “If marrying me requires such sacrifice, how can I bear it? I don’t want you to become like me, I don’t want to prove anything this way… What sin did you commit to encounter such a sick family as ours… I don’t want you to be like this!”

Her grip on his arm trembled with force as she said painfully: “Can you throw it up? You can, right? When did you drink the medicine? Second Brother Yan, listen to me, let’s get the medicine out… alright?”

Yan Shang looked down at her. He was already feeling unwell, but seeing Mu Wanqiao so pale, her whole being seemingly lost… He had already resigned himself, but seeing her like this, he still managed a slight smile and said: “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

Mu Wanqiao sobbed once and embraced him.

Hearing of Mu Wanqiao’s commotion, the Emperor sighed and let his daughter make a scene. Cold-hearted, he questioned the elderly divine physician who made the medicine, and learning the medicine wasn’t easily counteracted, he set his mind at ease.

If his daughter wanted to find imperial physicians, he would allow it. As for those who informed her, they couldn’t be killed, so he merely punished them. Not only did he confine Chunhua to Prince Jin’s residence, but he also docked Liu Wenji’s salary. The Emperor thought that since Mu Wanqiao was a princess after all, she would soon understand he meant well.

The Emperor firmly believed he was protecting Mu Wanqiao.

But Mu Wanqiao hated the Emperor intensely.

Yan Shang’s family was still in Chang’an, living right across from them… seeing each other daily, did the Emperor want Yan’s family to utterly hate her? Just because he married her, must Yan Shang suffer such humiliation from the imperial family?

When the imperial physicians came to the Princess’s residence, Mu Wanqiao didn’t dare make it known, didn’t dare say Yan Shang was ill, only claiming she felt dizzy and needed examination. Learning the Princess was ill, the Yan family was especially worried. Though they usually didn’t dare interact much with the Princess, they now sent Yan Xiaozhou to ask if there was anything they could help with.

Yan Xiaozhou brought the Princess her favorite Lingnan cane sugar, smiling: “My Second Brother often writes to us saying Your Highness enjoys this. If Your Highness isn’t convenient for visitors, we won’t stay to check on you. Just that after Your Highness takes medicine, if your mouth is bitter, you can have some sugar.”

Yan Xiaozhou stood on tiptoe in the courtyard, worried: “I just saw my Second Brother return home. Is Your Highness very ill? When you’re better, could you have Second Brother let us know?”

But the Princess’s household only knew the imperial physicians had come to examine Second Lord Yan; none knew what illness they examined, the details known only to the Princess and Second Lord Yan. When Qiu Si brought Yan Xiaozhou’s message to Mu Wanqiao, she was standing in the outer chamber of her quarters, watching the imperial physicians come and go, each lowering their heads afraid to look at her.

Mu Wanqiao sat down and looked at her palm. Her face was snow-white, her eyes cold and black, showing no reaction at all.

One bold imperial physician came to say awkwardly: Even if the medicine was vomited out after being drunk, some of its effects would certainly have been absorbed.

Mu Wanqiao’s attitude was resolute: “I don’t care, I want you to cure him. He just took the medicine not long ago, as long as he vomits it out it will be fine. If you can’t cure him, you can all die.”

The imperial physicians struggled: “Perhaps because the medicine is too strong, the Second Lord has developed a fever. We should first bring down the fever…”

Mu Wanqiao screamed: “I don’t care what you need to do! You must…”

Yan Shang’s weak voice came from inside: “Yao Yao…”

She froze, then suddenly pushed aside those around her and entered the inner chamber. She passed through the screen to find Yan Shang bent over the bed, vomiting clear liquid. The imperial physicians had given him some medicine, and now he was throwing up even stomach acid, utterly exhausted, his face burning red with fever…

Mu Wanqiao sat down beside him with a heavy heart, supporting him to lean against her shoulder.

He sighed: “Stop struggling… Yao Yao, you’ll wear yourself out…”

Mu Wanqiao said stubbornly: “Bear with it a little longer. I want you healthy…”

Yan Shang closed his eyes, his breathing weak. Yet he held her cold hand, his voice still gentle and comforting when speaking to her: “Does this mean you won’t love me anymore? Let me rest, I really can’t vomit anymore.

“Wouldn’t it be better to spend time doing something useful rather than wasting it on me?”

Mu Wanqiao: “No.”

Yan Shang sighed: “Yao Yao, be good.”

Mu Wanqiao lowered her head, her voice distant: “Why won’t you be good? Just listen to the imperial physicians and get the poison out. You just drank the medicine, it must be possible to get it out…”

He fumbled to prop himself up slightly and pulled her into his embrace. Her face pressed against his neck as Yan Shang smiled: “Oh, you.”

All this effort for nothing.

Mu Wanqiao looked up to coax him: “Don’t talk anymore, let us treat you, help you get better. He wants you to have no descendants, but we won’t do as he wishes. Later we’ll get you concubines, we’ll immediately have you sleep with seventeen or eighteen women, let it anger my father to death…”

Yan Shang couldn’t help but laugh, his eyes curving slightly: “What nonsense are you talking? Do you want to anger yourself to death, or exhaust me to death?”

Mu Wanqiao’s gaze was determined: “This isn’t over. Brother, don’t worry, I’ll get justice for you. This won’t end here… you must get better, don’t give up on yourself. Marrying me should be a happy thing, not something that hurts you. Second Brother Yan, don’t worry, I won’t, absolutely won’t… let you get hurt!”

Yan Shang quietly gazed at her.

He could see in her eyes there was no pleasure in this situation, not even slightly. Though she couldn’t bear children herself, she had never wanted him to be like her. This was his Yao Yao… the lady he loved. She was different from her father; she truly cared for him.

Love isn’t a transaction, isn’t about fairness. It’s not that because I am a certain way, you must be as miserable as me. They had carefully nurtured this love, cautiously afraid of hurting it…

Mu Wanqiao said softly: “So, listen to me, properly follow the imperial physicians’ instructions to get treatment, alright?”

Yan Shang’s voice was hoarse: “…Alright.”

In the afternoon, Yan Shang fainted from taking too much medicine. The imperial physicians kept trying to find ways to bring down his fever.

Mu Wanqiao sat in the outer chamber, hearing thunder rolling outside, suddenly feeling everything was unbearably stifling. She couldn’t sit here anymore – the imperial physicians’ worried faces were driving her mad, and the concern from the neighboring residence made her ashamed.

Mu Wanqiao suddenly stood up and headed outside the Princess’s residence. As soon as she left her chambers, thunder crashed overhead and a downpour began.

The Emperor was dozing fitfully in his chambers when he was awakened by the commotion outside. He opened his eyes as the palace doors opened one after another, and his daughter – soaked through, disheveled yet defiant – walked in leaving puddles in her wake, bursting into his chambers amid lightning and thunder.

The Emperor waved for all the palace servants to withdraw.

Looking at Mu Wanqiao’s expression, the Emperor relaxed and said: “The medicine’s effects can’t be reversed, right?”

Mu Wanqiao stood in the great hall, staring at the old man in his robes sitting in a reclining chair in the shadows. Her face was tight, her beautiful features twitching with emotion, her expression becoming somewhat distorted.

She spoke through gritted teeth: “You madman! You bastard! Not content with ruining me, you have to ruin my husband too! Ruining Yan Shang is your way of ruining our relationship. You agreed to our marriage, but look what you’re doing!

“Do you want Yan Shang to hate me? Do you want Yan Shang to become my enemy? You old fool, what are you doing!”

The Emperor’s face darkened as he angrily struck the table, though his illness weakened the impact: “How dare you! Is this how you speak to your father the Emperor? Everything I do is for your good!”

Mu Wanqiao couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

She felt like a madwoman, and indeed she must be mad to come here to vent her emotions. But as she stared at this Emperor, she wasn’t afraid of him at all. She did not attempt to hide her hostility: “For me? Are you trying to say that to protect me from being betrayed by men, the man himself must sacrifice? Only by preventing Yan Shang from being unfaithful can my position be secured.

“Is this really for me? Stop deceiving yourself! You’re afraid of Yan Shang becoming too powerful… afraid he’ll become uncontrollable, afraid no one will be able to restrain him… and if he has no children, all will be well. He can’t pave the way for his descendants, so he can only be… generation after generation… our tool, our slave!

“Working for us, managing state affairs his whole life, but getting nothing in return! You force him to have no descendants… you force him to become a tool. This is for your empire, for your sick and humiliating need for control! When have you ever done anything for me?!”

Mu Wanqiao took a large step forward, her voice sharp: “I’ve just realized you knew all along I couldn’t bear children, you knew all along my body was damaged in Wuman. You weren’t doing this for me – you never had the imperial physicians examine my body, never asked me once… When others said I couldn’t bear children, you hoped I couldn’t! You didn’t want to know the reason, didn’t want to find a remedy!

“When have you ever thought of me? Have you considered that Yan Shang’s father is still alive, and his elder brother and third brother are still in Chang’an? They live right across from my residence! How are we supposed to face them, how do we tell them – because I can’t bear children, my father the Emperor has made your son infertile too, to accompany me?

“How can I say such things?! You use your power to oppress people, your authority to force people, but you have no heart!

“You’re glad I have no descendants, glad Yan Shang has no descendants. No wonder you were willing to let me support the common-born, willing to let me marry Yan Shang… I always thought these years you treated me well. You pitied my hardships, because you finally remembered I was your daughter, that you wanted to be good to me… but you’ve never changed!

“Imperial power! Imperial power! That’s all you care about!”

The Emperor struck the table violently, lightning illuminating the black hall, revealing the deathly pallor of his face. Trembling with rage at his daughter’s directness, he still maintained his imperial bearing, intimidating her – “Where has the Emperor done wrong? This world belongs to the Mu family! For thousands of years, this has been the Mu dynasty’s empire! The Emperor does this for Great Wei, for peace throughout the realm!

“As a princess, do you still not understand?”

Mu Wanqiao stared at him.

Whether rain or tears, drops hung on her eyelashes. She blinked slightly, and the water slid down her cheeks to her jaw.

Mu Wanqiao suddenly said: “I won’t play your game anymore.”

The Emperor was stunned.

He heard Mu Wanqiao say resolutely: “I won’t consider you my father Emperor anymore, won’t do this or that for you anymore. If you want to kill Yan Shang then kill him, if you want to kill me then kill me. If you won’t kill us, then let us leave. I won’t be this princess anymore… Find someone else to support your common-born, find someone else to fight against the noble families you’re so wary of.

“This game of chess – we won’t play it with you anymore!”

The Emperor raged: “Impudent!”

Mu Wanqiao turned and left. She strode out, the cold wind hitting her face, yet not as cold as the exhaustion in her heart. She walked out of the great hall, ignoring the terrified looks of the palace servants. As she walked out in a daze, Chen’an quickly caught up behind her:

“Your Highness, Your Highness, please wait!

“Your Highness, His Majesty asks you to return! His Majesty is willing to negotiate terms – Your Highness, please turn back!”

Lanterns wound their way out of the palace as palace servants knelt in the heavy rain before Mu Wanqiao. Row upon row of lanterns, they begged the Princess to return.

Mu Wanqiao stood rigid in the rain, wanting to cry yet laugh – she had won the gamble.

Father Emperor would have to yield.

Because he had no one else to use.

Serve him right.

Yan Shang’s high fever had broken, and when he rose from the bed, he asked the maids where Mu Wanqiao was. Hearing she had gone out in the afternoon, Yan Shang listened to the thunder and lightning outside, his heart growing more worried.

He got up, ignoring the maids’ attempts to stop him, and took an umbrella to go out, saying he would go to the palace to fetch Mu Wanqiao. The maids had the Princess’s orders not to let the Prince Consort wander after waking, and a crowd of imperial physicians knelt outside, still sighing – how could the Prince Consort go wandering?

However, the Prince Consort, who was usually gentle with them, was very firm that night.

Yan Shang went out holding a large black umbrella, and after leaving the alley, the rain fell in sheets, drumming on the umbrella like a flood washing down. In the rainy night with blurred vision, just as Yan Shang was about to leave the alley, he saw through the rain blown by the wind toward him a lady walking past.

Servants and guards hurried behind her with umbrellas: “Your Highness, Your Highness…”

In the light of the lantern held by a maid, Mu Wanqiao looked up and met eyes with Yan Shang, who stood at the alley entrance holding his umbrella, watching her.

Yan Shang said softly: “I woke and couldn’t find you, where did you go?”

Mu Wanqiao’s expression was hollow: “Went to threaten my father Emperor.”

Yan Shang was silent for a moment, then said: “Didn’t I tell you to be patient, not to go, not to strain relations?”

Mu Wanqiao said flatly: “What does it matter? What can he do to me? After what he did to you, what do I have to fear?”

Yan Shang sighed and asked: “What did you threaten him with?”

Mu Wanqiao seemed lost in thought for a moment. Yan Shang watched her quietly until she came back to herself and spoke as if in a dream: “He promised that as long as we don’t commit treason, he will never take away my power. He wrote an imperial edict for the next emperor, saying you should be made Prime Minister. In front of me, he had Chen’an take the edict to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Court of Imperial Clan.

“He said no matter who the next emperor is, unless they want to betray their ancestors, they must obey the edict and dare not violate it.”

Mu Wanqiao slowly revealed a smile: “I used this matter to secure a chance of survival for us. Did I do well?”

Yan Shang’s heart ached, but he smiled at her. Her political acumen now needed no guidance from him. She could easily find any opportunity from a single matter… He didn’t need to worry about her, but seeing her like this still pained him.

Yan Shang’s voice trembled: “Did I ruin your chance for filial father-daughter relations?”

Mu Wanqiao: “No. It’s good that you helped me see reality clearly, to completely give up hope in him. We can treat all our affairs as just business from now on. From here on, I won’t consider him a father anymore. All my relatives are demons who torment me, I don’t want any of them anymore.”

The rain dripped steadily.

She wouldn’t even call him Father Emperor anymore.

In the darkness, candlelight flickered faintly.

Mu Wanqiao trembled: “He once loved my mother too, so why does he seem to not understand love at all?”

Yan Shang opened his umbrella wider and said to her: “Don’t think about all that anymore. Yao Yao, come here, let me hold you.”

Mu Wanqiao stood staring at him stunned, then tentatively took a step toward him. He still gazed down at her, his eyes gentle. Under his gentle gaze, she found courage. She then walked forward until she fell into his embrace, held in his arms.

Her hands clutched his damp collar, arms around his thin waist. Thinking of the destruction he had suffered made her heart ache more, and she began to sob harder in his embrace.

Mu Wanqiao said with reddened eyes: “I don’t want any of them anymore, I only want you.”

Yan Shang lowered his head to softly kiss her forehead, smiling: “There now. Sister Yao Yao, don’t cry anymore.”

But when he called her “Sister Yao Yao,” she cried even harder.

In the deep alley, servants and guards stood in a long line, some in the rain, some holding umbrellas. Though they didn’t know what had happened between the Princess and Prince Consort, somehow their eyes grew misty too.