At three quarters past the hour of chen, amid the mountain of calls in the Grand Ceremony Hall, that child softly called out the only title in the depths of her heart.
Aside from Feng Zhiwei, no one else heard it.
And a quarter hour before this call, a bird cry came from somewhere, sounding from the trees above the Flower Goddess Temple. Helian Zheng, who had been holding the Prince Regent and talking grandly, suddenly released his hand and laughed: “Your Highness, you see, that’s how it is. How about it? Very feasible, right? Ah! Just now you said you need to attend your nation’s majesty’s birthday celebration? Ah, why didn’t you say so earlier? I dare not delay you. Please, please go ahead.”
Yin Zhishu looked at the grassland king smiling openly without scheming, thinking—didn’t I tell you long ago? You’re only remembering now? But encountering such a high-ranking scoundrel, there was nothing to be done. He didn’t dare say any polite words and quickly bid farewell to Helian Zheng, hurrying onto his palanquin.
At three quarters past chen, he entered Yongkang Gate. Before Yongkang Gate, he asked the guard at his side: “Where are the thirty thousand soldiers of Dragon Blaze Battalion now?”
“They’ve already stationed at Changping Palace.”
“Transfer fifteen thousand here.” Yin Zhishu gazed remotely at the jade steps reaching into the clouds. “Have them wait outside Yongkang Gate. Use my banner as the signal. Once the banner appears, immediately surround the Grand Ceremony Hall.”
The guard captain froze. Surrounding the Grand Ceremony Hall was equivalent to treason, but he didn’t dare ask even one question. Bowing, he said: “Yes!”
Yin Zhishu’s gaze swept around in all directions. He asked another question: “Has there been any unusual activity in the palace today? At which gate is the garrison guard rotation?”
The guard captain said: “Lower fortnight, even-numbered days—it should be at De’an Gate. As for unusual activity in the palace… please allow this subordinate to go inquire.”
“Go check at the Empress Dowager’s Jianxi Palace.” Yin Zhishu spaced out for a moment, then handed over his waist token.
The guard received the command and left. Yin Zhishu thought for a moment, then said: “Binghuo, Luoli, you two follow me up.”
Two men responded and emerged. One was short and capable, his footsteps thudding heavily. The other was tall and thin, his walking drifting and floating. Both had ordinary faces, but when their eyes turned, sharp gleams flashed continuously, very intimidating.
Everyone froze again. According to the rules, only officials of fourth rank and above could enter Yongkang Gate, and on occasions like court assemblies, bringing attendants was absolutely forbidden. Entering from Yongkang Gate plaza, ascending the jade steps to the Grand Ceremony Hall—this distance of several dozen zhang had always been a path the Prince Regent walked alone, every single day. However, this stretch of road had never seen incidents either—the view was wide open, the plaza and steps pure white. Even a crawling ant could be seen clearly. There was nowhere to hide, and every three steps was a guard post, all the Prince Regent’s personal troops. To attempt assassination there was more difficult than seizing someone’s head amid ten thousand troops.
But today the Prince Regent was actually violating the rules by bringing people in. Everyone was somewhat astonished. Yin Zhishu stood beneath the towering Yongkang Gate, eyes narrowed, saying lightly: “I keep feeling something’s not quite right today… Besides, look at this.”
He pointed at the ground. On the ground were some fallen leaves, trampled to pieces. Normally, eunuchs constantly swept here, so there shouldn’t be fallen leaves. But it was now deep autumn, when all trees begin to wither. Leaves from distant trees were swept here by wind—impossible to sweep them all away. Those yellowed, brittle leaves, trampled by people’s feet, lay unremarkably beneath the memorial arch.
Yin Zhishu pointed at those broken leaves: “Eunuchs’ shoes have soft soles. Even if they trampled dried leaves, they wouldn’t easily crush them this fine. Moreover, if eunuchs saw broken leaves, they would directly sweep them away, not leave them. Looking at how these leaves are crushed, it’s more like they were trampled by relatively heavy leather boots. Around the leaves are also some grinding marks—only guards and soldiers like to grind things beneath their feet with their heels after stepping on them. Looking at these broken leaves, they’re both inside and outside Yongkang Gate, indicating quite a few guards. But today the guard rotation isn’t at Yongkang Gate. So how could large numbers of guards appear here?”
His trusted confidant attendants behind him looked carefully, all admiringly praising: “Your Highness is meticulous to the finest detail!”
“After so many years of walking on thin ice.” Yin Zhishu smiled. “I’ve learned one principle: caution steers the ship safely for ten thousand years. If His Majesty blames me for bringing people in, I will accept punishment myself. That’s still better than being attacked without preparation.”
He beckoned, and those two experts silently followed, passing through Yongkang Gate.
At this moment, Lü Rui in the great hall had also received secret reports. Hearing that the Prince Regent had actually brought experts into Yongkang Gate and mobilized Dragon Blaze Battalion, his heart couldn’t help but tighten—where had things gone wrong? The prince’s meticulous vigilance had reached such a degree!
He didn’t know Empress Dowager Dong was already dead. His original plan had been to have all ministers acknowledge their sovereign in the hall, first establishing Gu Zhixiao’s identity, then himself feigning helplessness, persuading the Prince Regent to sacrifice Empress Dowager Dong, pushing the crime of switching imperial princes onto Empress Dowager Dong, while continuing to control all power. Then with Wei Zhi and others’ help, after Yin Zhishu became complacent, he would find another opportunity to act. Though this move was dangerous, he believed he understood the Prince Regent well. With Yin Zhishu’s character, as long as his position of power could be maintained, sacrificing an Empress Dowager Dong should be acceptable. With the Dong clan gone from the harem, Noble Consort Mi’s status as the emperor’s mother could allow her to rise. At that time, they could find a turning point.
However, now, looking at Yin Zhishu’s movements, he had actually already sensed something and had mobilized Dragon Blaze Battalion first!
As long as those fifteen thousand troops entered Yongkang Gate, as long as Yin Zhishu disregarded everything and surrounded the Grand Ceremony Hall, as long as he was truly ruthless enough to kill a group of people, even if they acknowledged Gu Zhixiao today, he could still cover the sky with one hand!
The more Lü Rui thought, the more uneasy he felt. He couldn’t even bother to maintain the act anymore. He quietly made a gesture to Feng Zhiwei, his little finger pointing toward the rear palace, asking about Empress Dowager Dong’s current situation and why she hadn’t followed over.
Feng Zhiwei looked down at him, thinking this Grand Marshal after all still had a scholar’s origins. Complex and winding thoughts he had, but he liked to think of things too gently, too beautifully. He never dared to go all-in and be absolutely ruthless. He thought there was still room for compromise, to continue being his double-dealer. But he didn’t realize that in political power struggles, the mask of gentleness would be torn off sooner or later. In the end, it was just about whose face was more ferocious.
She smiled warmly, facing Lü Rui, raised her palm, and made a chopping gesture.
Lü Rui froze, then immediately grasped the meaning of this gesture. He felt a thunderous boom in his mind, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
She had actually killed Empress Dowager Dong!
Instantly Lü Rui’s mind went blank—persuading the Prince Regent to sacrifice Empress Dowager Dong versus killing Empress Dowager Dong first were completely different in nature and consequence. The former still had room for maneuvering; the latter was equivalent to directly challenging Xi Liang’s number one figure with murderous intent. As long as Yin Zhishu’s mind was still clear, he would consider the opposition ill-intentioned and would certainly mobilize everything to annihilate them!
Lü Rui straightened, thinking whether he should quickly protect Gu Zhixiao and Noble Consort Mi and rush into the rear palace, then issue orders to mobilize the Jianrui Battalion stationed in the western hills outside the capital. The Jianrui Battalion’s commanding general had just rotated from the border army and was an old friend he had long ago contacted. If anything happened, the army could enter the capital. As long as they could arrive at the palace before those fifteen thousand Dragon Blaze Battalion troops, there was still time.
As soon as he straightened his back, he received a glance from the guards at the hall entrance—the Prince Regent had entered the plaza!
The plaza before the Grand Ceremony Hall was bright and open. Sunlight shone upon it, vast as a water surface. The white marble reflected a sheet of boundless white light. From a distant perspective, everyone’s feet seemed wreathed in mist like cloud tops.
Yin Zhishu, bringing two experts, proceeded in a manner that appeared natural but was actually cautious.
The Grand Ceremony Hall’s terrain was elevated. He couldn’t see the scene in the hall. All along he carefully observed the guard posts on both sides, discovering no abnormalities. The nearest guard was three zhang away from him, and at this distance, these two behind him were sufficient to handle any change under heaven.
He had great confidence in them.
He passed safely through the plaza. The long jade steps stood before his eyes. On each level of steps stood a pair of guards facing each other. This time the guards’ distance from him was somewhat shorter, but he wasn’t too worried. These were Imperial Guards, under Lü Rui’s direct command. He had always been very satisfied with this brother-in-law’s careful and steady nature. Not long ago, he had even hinted that if Xi Liang allied with Changning to wage war against Tiansheng, he would appoint him as commander-in-chief. With military merit earned, he could be enfeoffed with a ducal or marquis title, and those old pedants in court wouldn’t be able to say much.
He ascended the steps. Binghuo was in front, Luoli behind. Binghuo looked down at the ground, Luoli’s gaze swept the four directions. These were top-level assassins and also top-level protectors, understanding how to maintain their master’s personal safety in any environment.
Wind from the high heavens swept down from the hall roof, refreshing and cool. Yin Zhishu narrowed his eyes and raised his head somewhat enjoyably.
Then he saw that three zhang ahead, there was suddenly one more person.
That person wore guard attire, standing on the steps three zhang away, making faces and looking down at him from his elevated position.
Although this person looked like a madman, Yin Zhishu would rather take him for an assassin. The instant he saw that person appear, he retreated violently.
The short Binghuo and thin Luoli had already shifted their positions like flowing clouds and water, each protecting Yin Zhishu in the middle. Simultaneously, Yin Zhishu reached into his clothing.
The person on the steps suddenly shifted to the side, revealing behind him a sack covered in bloodstains. He grabbed that sack and with a raise of his hand, hurled it toward Yin Zhishu and the three men.
“Watch out for explosives and concealed weapons!” Binghuo and Luoli reacted extremely quickly with a low shout. One swiftly protected Yin Zhishu as he retreated, the other lightly touched with his finger, and the enormous sack was pushed far away.
The sack spun once in mid-air and suddenly came loose.
What fell was a person!
Or rather it was a corpse—richly dressed, head full of pearls and jade. The face couldn’t be seen clearly as it fell, but in a flash, the face full of bloody holes was terrifying.
That drooping hand and foot posture in falling—people like Yin Zhishu who knew martial arts knew it must not be a living person. His heart tightened. Luoli extended his palm, his five fingers extraordinarily long, quickly sweeping over the entire corpse, confirming there were no explosives or concealed weapons. Binghuo coordinated seamlessly, rushing forward a step. His palm immediately struck down fiercely, not wanting to let this corpse block his view of the enemy.
The person on the steps laughed heartily. With a single palm strike, a surge of air arose in mid-air, flipping the corpse over, sending it straight toward Yin Zhishu.
“Get away!” Luoli shouted in fury. Black light flashed in his hand as he drew out a pair of black hooks, about to hook the corpse in two.
“Don’t—” Suddenly a heart-rending shout came from Yin Zhishu himself.
Luoli started in alarm and turned back, only to see Yin Zhishu’s face deathly pale, staring fixedly at the female corpse falling toward him in mid-air, his lips moving, vaguely forming a word: “Ah…”
Binghuo reached out to deflect the corpse. Yin Zhishu’s hand swept him aside. Then with a thud, the corpse crashed into Yin Zhishu’s embrace.
Falling from a height plus gravitational force, Yin Zhishu was knocked backward, stumbling several steps in retreat. He looked down and saw in his arms a woman whose face was almost completely unrecognizable, her only intact pair of eyes staring tightly at him.
In an instant, Yin Zhishu’s complexion became inhuman. Suddenly his hand pushed, trying to push the corpse away.
But it was already too late.
He had been seized in spirit by the corpse, knocked into his embrace and down the steps. Luoli and Binghuo’s attention was entirely on the corpse-throwing assassin ahead. No one was helping him monitor the situation behind.
In this instant, encountering such tremendous shock, his spirit wavered and he lost his composure.
Just this brief moment.
He retreated.
His heel touched the bottom-most step.
“Bang.”
The white marble slab beneath his foot suddenly exploded and flipped open. A figure wrapped in magnificent light like silk surged up from the ground. In mid-air the light dazzled like a rainbow, one layer pale cyan, one layer faint white, spreading boundlessly across the horizon. Within the rainbow shadow, a blood-colored pagoda flashed for an instant, then vanished.
The moment the blood-colored pagoda appeared, within the light and shadow, that person’s hand blazed brilliantly, like aurora piercing through and cleaving the obscure space in an instant. The sound of wind on all sides suddenly intensified, fiercely howling. In the howling sound, a string of deep red blood beads silently traced across. Against that background of pale cyan and faint white, they were vividly striking. After that phoenix-tail-feather-like sword light split vertically downward came a startling rainbow horizontal sweep. The brilliance flashed and withdrew, like the firmament just opening its eyes with fierce light shooting in four directions to capture all souls under heaven, then after one instant calmly closing.
A stunning sword strike.
On the steps, Binghuo and Luoli turned back in horror.
On the steps, all ministers in the hall rushed out at the sound, then froze like puppets at the hall’s edge.
On the steps, Ning Cheng, who was being surrounded and responsible for attracting enemy attention, showed faint admiration and jealousy flash through his eyes.
On the steps, the Imperial Guards who hadn’t reacted since Ning Cheng threw the corpse stared dumbly at that sword light, without exception squinting their eyes.
Below the steps, the Prince Regent stood dazed in place.
Below the steps, that corpse fell at his feet.
Below the steps, the youth in sky-water blue calmly sheathed his sword with his back to him.
He stood there casually and at ease, constantly brushing dust off his body—hiding beneath the steps for a full day, he could endure it, but he hated the continuously falling dust.
He finally brushed the dust clean and slowly walked over. As he passed before the Prince Regent who had been standing there, probably finding him blocking the way, he pushed very casually.
Just such a light push.
A jet of blood instantly shot up to the firmament.
Spraying from Yin Zhishu’s throat, shooting toward the high sun, the blood light in mid-air perfectly straight, a single line leaping to heaven!
It was just a small wound, but injured at the most vital point on a person’s body. A thin, narrow gash took away all of a person’s blood and life force.
It also took away all color from the faces of ministers in the hall.
Everyone lost their breath, staring dumbly below with completely blank minds, unable to believe such a scene was happening before their own eyes. They couldn’t even process what this scene represented.
Amid the shooting blood light, Yin Zhishu actually remained conscious. He slightly opened his eyes. Through the blood spreading like an opening peach blossom fan, across the jade steps and golden hall as if on cloud tops, he saw in the hall the youth with an indifferent expression holding a small girl.
Saw his eyes misty as autumn waters, calm and coldly sharp, unobscured by blood.
Saw at his side Lü Rui, joy after shock in his eyes.
Before death, if a person has wisdom eyes, they can see all truths usually obscured by worldly affairs, gaining instant enlightenment.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, letting out a long sigh deep in his heart.
Always thinking he possessed all under heaven, but actually surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Then he slowly lowered his eyes to look at the corpse at his feet. She lay quietly, her eyes containing nothing.
These many years of painstaking scheming, overturning clouds and rain—in the end, nothing was gained.
He suddenly remembered many years ago, when she was not yet his imperial brother’s consort. By the flower wall of the Grand Commandant’s manor, she stood at the wall base and raised her face to him sitting on the wall, saying: “Tomorrow I enter the palace.”
He sat on the wall, snapping an apricot blossom branch, pointing at her with the broken stub, saying word by word: “You can sleep with him, but must die at my side in the end.”
That year’s impulsive, thoughtless words—only now did he realize they were merely prophecy already sealed by fate.
At the corner of his mouth appeared a trace of smile that seemed mocking, seemed indifferent.
Softly.
At the end of a lifetime.
He finished the word he couldn’t complete earlier.
“…Ruan.”
Wind passed over the hall roof, swirling down to the bottom steps, picking up a faint scent of blood, then drifting across the silent plaza.
Below the steps, a generation’s regent who held power over all under heaven lay quietly beside a woman who equally held power over the harem.
Just as Feng Zhiwei had said, even great figures were only one life. As long as you dared to kill, actual death was very easy.
This sole stretch of road where he couldn’t bring thousands of troops was the road of death Feng Zhiwei had calculated long ago.
Because guard rotations occurred every six hours before the Grand Ceremony Hall, alternating between the Prince Regent’s personal guards and Imperial Guards. Before each rotation, every corner would be carefully searched, every stone slab would be tapped. Whenever the Prince Regent needed to ascend alone to the hall in such circumstances, he would certainly first order his personal guards to search and establish defenses. So to ambush below the hall, one had to do so after yesterday’s rotation and before today’s rotation. Once hidden beneath the steps, there could be no movement whatsoever. After all, the Prince Regent had many followers. If anyone discovered it, the plan would be completely useless.
And maintaining compressed skeletal concealment for six full hours—in all the world, very few could achieve this. Gu Nanyi was naturally one of them.
He inherently possessed the world’s greatest patience. In the past, burying himself in snow piles to practice could nearly suffocate him to death. Six hours was naturally nothing.
When Lü Rui asked Feng Zhiwei about Gu Nanyi’s whereabouts, he had long ago taken advantage of last night after the rotation search to infiltrate beneath the steps. Feng Zhiwei feared that if Lü Rui knew, he couldn’t control his emotions and would show unusual expressions when passing those steps, being discovered. So she simply concealed it even from him.
This assassination, though appearing easy, mobilized all the world’s top-level figures, whether in capability or martial power all at their peak. Multiple powerful forces intervened. No matter who it was, under such coordinated internal-external attack with open spears and hidden arrows calculated from all sides, wanting not to die would be quite difficult.
Lü Rui looked at the Prince Regent’s corpse below the steps. After a long while, hands trembling, he wiped cold sweat.
Behind him someone asked in alarm: “Grand Marshal… this… this…”
It was the Prince Regent’s subordinate, the Commander of the Nine Cities Military Command.
Lü Rui slowly turned back, looking at him, suddenly revealing a meaningful smile.
The other froze, not yet grasping the meaning of his smile. Lü Rui’s hand suddenly fell heavily in mid-air.
“Ah!”
Blades drawn and sheathed, blood light bursting, several miserable cries exploded in the silent great hall.
All ministers turned back in alarm, only to see that the Prince Regent’s faction who had been held at blade point—except for Lü Rui and several civil officials—all military officials holding certain military authority had in an instant all fallen as corpses where they stood.
All officials were shocked into silence. Feng Zhiwei showed a faint smile at the corner of her lips—having killed the Prince Regent, Old Lü’s decisiveness and courage had finally come.
She raised her head, holding tightly to Gu Zhixiao in her arms. The two looked at nothing else, focusing only on the steps below.
There, Gu Nanyi methodically passed by Ning Cheng who was still fighting enthusiastically, casually tearing off a strip of his clothing hem, wiping his sword as he walked toward them.
The Xi Liang imperial succession dispute came suddenly and ended just as decisively.
Of course this also owed credit to Lü Rui’s long preparation. It must be said he infiltrated very well—brothers betraying you is always easier than enemies betraying you.
Without his long cultivation of power, without his patient disguise gaining Yin Zhishu’s trust, without his control over part of the palace prohibition, on the day of the upheaval, Feng Zhiwei couldn’t have entered and exited the palace so easily, and Ning Cheng couldn’t have thrown corpses before the Grand Ceremony Hall without being surrounded by thousands of Imperial Guards.
Capture the king to capture the bandits. Once the Prince Regent fell, over half his faction was eliminated in the hall. The fifteen thousand Dragon Blaze Battalion soldiers had already reached outside Yongkang Gate but immediately returned home.
Since Lü Rui had conceived the idea to kill the Prince Regent, naturally he had made full preparation for the aftermath. He busily organized court affairs, searched for Prince Regent followers, recovered military authority, classified and screened officials for purging… a huge pile of matters. Feng Zhiwei didn’t interfere, letting him handle it. She only needed to protect Zhixiao well enough.
In her view, for Zhixiao, this Xi Liang empress, to sit securely on the throne was absolutely not as simple as just sitting on the dragon throne. First, she was a girl. Already a portion of rule-following old ministers had raised objections, pointing out that Xi Liang had no precedent of females inheriting the throne. But as Zhixiao was Xi Liang’s only imperial heir, if she didn’t sit on the throne, no one else was qualified either. That meant they had to revise Xi Liang imperial family law regarding succession—as Tiansheng’s Minister of Rites, Feng Zhiwei knew clearly that revising major precedents concerning imperial succession had always been the most time-consuming matter. A heap of old men about to become antiquities would meet, discuss, debate, reach no conclusion, meet again, discuss, debate… without six months of meetings, there would be no result.
Before Zhixiao formally ascended the throne, she dared not just leave her to Lü Rui and Noble Consort Mi.
Feng Zhiwei thought left and right and simply stayed. First she sent word to Yao Yang, Yu Chun, Yu Meng and others waiting at the border, stating she had been abducted by Da Yue assassins, suffered some injuries, and wasn’t suitable for long-distance travel. She requested letting the other envoys return to the country first while she recuperated locally and would return after recovery. She deliberately moved the time of her return after being abducted backward, misaligning it to after the Prince Regent was killed. When Yao Yang transmitted the letter back, the Tiansheng Emperor indeed agreed to her delayed return. She then leisurely stayed on.
Regarding her adopted daughter finally becoming Xi Liang’s imperial heir, Feng Zhiwei knew this matter certainly couldn’t be concealed from the Tiansheng Emperor. She simply carefully considered it herself, explained the cause and effect, selecting what could be said, wrote it in a secret memorial and submitted it to court. Not long after, the Tiansheng Emperor replied. His tone was quite amiable without any displeasure. He expressed pleasure at seeing this dramatic result and indicated they could use this relationship to promote good relations between the two countries. The old emperor had many words of commendation for her and bestowed many spiritual medicines and precious items, but didn’t promote her in rank or grant her noble title. Feng Zhiwei speculated—on one hand, the emperor had added another layer of concern about her relationship with Gu Zhixiao and didn’t want to further elevate her status. On the other hand, the emperor still wanted to use her—according to Tiansheng convention, once promoted to Duke, one could no longer hold actual court positions and had to retire home.
So this result actually made her breathe easier. It seemed the emperor still wanted to continue using her for now. She didn’t know whether Ning Yi had made any moves in this matter.
She temporarily served as guest advisor in Xi Liang. Taking advantage of before the ascension, she often took the future empress out, hunting, rowing boats. The great King Helian personally made a small hunting bow and had nothing better to do than accompany his living Buddha shooting rabbits. According to the Wei Zhi family’s conventions, this bow was certainly also coated with poison.
A month later, when revision of the ritual law had just entered the first round of voting, Helian Zheng received a letter from Grand Consort Mudan, ordering that dog Jigou’er must immediately now instantly quickly get himself back at top speed. Winter was approaching and the grasslands needed their great king to return to arrange a series of grain storage and winter preparation matters. The great King Helian feared neither heaven nor earth, only two women—his mother and his grand consort. He was immediately dragged by his mother and kicked by his grand consort, tearfully returning to the grasslands.
The day he left, the weather happened to turn cold. Longjiang Station was bleak and desolate. Young Master Gu held Gu Zhixiao to see him off, a long string of guards behind. Regardless of Gu Zhixiao’s resistance and Young Master Gu’s displeasure, Helian Zheng hugged her and fiercely planted a kiss, then wiped his mouth and sighed deeply: “Must seize opportunities now. Each embrace is one less to come.”
Gu Zhixiao’s little foot kicked his belly, shrinking back into her father’s arms. Helian Zheng laughed heartily, grabbed Feng Zhiwei: “You see me off.”
The two slowly walked in the forest. There was no one on all four sides. Not to mention the Seven Leopards had withdrawn, even Gu Nanyi hadn’t followed. They seemed to know Helian Zheng lived far away on the grasslands, coming once wasn’t easy, and so granted this farewell moment of solitude and quiet.
The forest floor was covered in thick layers of fallen leaves. People stepping on them made rustling sounds. The setting sun hung slanted on the treetops, illuminating Helian Zheng’s brows and eyes with bright intensity. Feng Zhiwei stood on tiptoes, personally helping Helian Zheng fasten his cloak ties properly, smiling: “Coming such a long way especially, then going back just like this—you’re not afraid of trouble either.”
Helian Zheng looked at her. Originally the phrase “as long as I can see you, it’s not troublesome at all” reached his lips but withdrew again. He always felt that was flirtation—said jokingly, she’d respond jokingly. But he suddenly didn’t want to keep joking to the end. Every time he said something sincere, because of that deliberately playful wrapping, it all ended as banter.
He suddenly extended his hand, gently enclosing Feng Zhiwei’s hand.
In an instant he felt the hand between his fingers and palm seem to stiffen, then soften, like a startled dove that had calmed again, silently gentle in his palm.
His heart also flooded with a layer of faint tenderness. Looking at that woman’s cloud-veiled, mist-shrouded gaze, he said softly: “Zhiwei…”
Feng Zhiwei didn’t move, raising her eyes to look at him.
“Are you tired?” Helian Zheng never hesitated when he truly wanted to say something. “I always feel you’re very tired… Come back to the grasslands with me. Let me protect you for life. Would that be good?”
All four sides suddenly fell silent. They could hear Gu Zhixiao’s owl Xiao Qi cooing lowly in the distance.
After a long while, Feng Zhiwei took a deep breath, raised her eyes to look directly at Helian Zheng, and said softly: “Helian, these words truly please me… but it cannot be.”
This was also the first time she responded so directly to Helian Zheng. Helian Zheng looked at her without showing disappointment. He had tried, was trying. What the result was didn’t matter.
As long as she was well.
“Then promise me—no matter when, no matter where, as long as you need me, summon me.” Helian Zheng never released her hand. “Don’t be like with Xi Liang this time, casting me aside for fear of implicating the grasslands.”
“Then you also promise me—the ten beauties in the royal tent, complete them soon.” Feng Zhiwei very naturally withdrew her hand, fastening the cloak tie she hadn’t secured properly for him.
She lowered her head slightly. Her snow-white fingers deftly threaded through the purple-gold tie. From Helian Zheng’s angle, he could see her thick lashes trembling faintly in the wind.
He stared fixedly, the corner of his mouth curving in a smile—open and bright, yet hiding several parts of desolation.
He said:
“Good.”
Helian Zheng’s departing figure trampled through early winter’s carpet of fallen leaves. Not long after, a layer of thin snow accumulated on the fallen leaves—this year, Xi Liang magically had a snowfall.
Located in the southern frontier, Xi Liang rarely had snow. Court and country were filled with celebration, saying a sage sovereign had descended bringing heavenly auspiciousness. That thin snow that couldn’t even cover a grass mat was solemnly celebrated with grand snow-viewing banquets and snow-treading gatherings. The snow melted as soon as it was viewed, disappeared as soon as it was tread upon. Remarkably, those literati could still greatly display poetic inspiration over that puddle of muddy water. During the banquet, one hundred eighty snow-viewing poems were composed, all taken by Young Master Gu to light the stove.
Young Master Gu didn’t live in the palace. He bought a residence near the imperial palace and entered the palace daily. Noble Consort Mi initially seemed to express some dissatisfaction, but after Feng Zhiwei one night had someone stick knives in all the stools in her palace chambers, she no longer expressed any disapproving attitude toward this matter.
Feng Zhiwei understood people like Noble Consort Mi very well. Surviving hadn’t been easy for her, so in the future she would live even more carefully. No one’s life would be more important than her own. So Feng Zhiwei used those street hooligan-like methods to tell her—you go ahead and scheme and obstruct, but if I have even the slightest mishap, I’ll fight you to the death.
Believing Noble Consort Mi would think clearly afterward, she wouldn’t make things difficult for Young Master Gu anymore. After all, the person they needed to protect was the same.
That year on New Year’s Eve, Zong Chen arrived in travel-worn haste. Seeing Feng Zhiwei, he wanted to complain, but looking at the towering imperial city, he sighed and said nothing. That evening at the New Year’s dinner, originally Feng Zhiwei wanted to fulfill that mother-daughter pair, letting them celebrate the new year together for the first time. Who knew that in the evening, Gu Zhixiao sent someone to bring her, Young Master Gu, and Zong Chen into the palace. The palace gates opened. Gu Zhixiao wore a little cloak reaching to her feet, bundled into a ball, waiting for them in the cold wind.
The enormous palace gate pulled open a stretch of pale emptiness. That child’s shadow stood in the center, shrunk into a tiny ball. Feng Zhiwei gazed remotely, suddenly feeling her heart ache.
Young Master Gu had already quickly gone over, drawing her into his embrace.
He held his daughter, turning at the palace gate entrance, looking remotely at Feng Zhiwei. Feng Zhiwei supported herself against the palace gate, pressed her lips together, and showed him an understanding smile.
Young Master Gu lowered his eyes and silently held Gu Zhixiao as he slowly walked into the palace interior.
The shadows of the three figures stretched long on the white stone floor. The palace walls on all four sides silently and imposingly enveloped them from above.
That night the four sat together for the new year. Noble Consort Mi remarkably had the good sense not to disturb. Because Gu Zhixiao hadn’t formally ascended yet, there were no celebrations. Voting had reached the final round. Lü Rui was already planning the ascension for the first month.
Gu Zhixiao was already sleepy but insisted on staying up for the new year. The four sat around the fire silently eating New Year’s dinner. At the hour of zi, drowsy with sleep, Gu Zhixiao suddenly hugged Young Master Gu tightly, saying lowly: “You promised to stay with me.”
Gu Nanyi gently patted her but was looking at Feng Zhiwei. Feng Zhiwei turned her gaze away, lips pressed together. After a long while, she forced a smile: “Father will stay with you.”
Gu Nanyi suddenly reached out and grabbed Zong Chen standing silently to one side: “Protect her well.”
Thinking, he added another phrase: “With your life.”
Thinking again, feeling these words seemed a bit excessive, he added another phrase: “I will compensate you.”
His meaning was—since he required Zong Chen to protect Feng Zhiwei with his life, if one day it truly caused Zong Chen to lose his life, he would also compensate with his own life.
Feng Zhiwei coughed and forced a smile: “In the middle of celebrating the new year, what are you saying? We all need to be well.”
She stood up as if fleeing, pulling Zong Chen into the room: “I’ve been waiting for you to come extract the poison.”
The venomous curse Jin Siyu had laid required an antidote every New Year’s Eve. But after Helian Zheng found the curse source, Zong Chen researched for most of a year, and based on the peculiar internal power in Feng Zhiwei’s body that grew stronger when encountering stronger forces, he found a good method that didn’t require Jin Siyu’s antidote. At the moment each year when the curse poison would erupt, using golden needles through acupoints, he could layer by layer extract the poison and help Feng Zhiwei’s true power ascend to higher levels. Previously Zong Chen had been using medicine to build Feng Zhiwei’s foundation so that on this day he could extract the poison for her. One time couldn’t extract it all. According to the plan, approximately three years could clear it completely.
This was also why Feng Zhiwei didn’t want Jin Siyu’s antidote. Her body had already been prepared for this extraction method. Asking for Jin Siyu’s antidote would instead disrupt Zong Chen’s arrangements. She would rather take risks under Zong Chen’s hands than be someone else’s puppet for life.
That night Young Master Gu guarded before the door without moving an inch. He knew this kind of poison extraction must be painful and dangerous. He waited ready at any moment to protect Feng Zhiwei. However, that room remained quiet without a sound. Near dawn, he faintly heard a low exchange. It was Zong Chen asking: “…Why choose this method? Taking Jin Siyu’s antidote would be much easier for you.”
Inside the room fell silent. Gu Nanyi pressed his face against the door panel, waiting quietly and still. After a very long time, he finally heard Feng Zhiwei’s weary voice.
“Because this way I can become stronger, and he need not worry about me anymore.”
After that exchange, the room returned to silence. Faintly he could hear Feng Zhiwei’s low coughing. Gu Nanyi’s face remained gently pressed against the door panel, unmoving, as if asleep. Only the wind sweeping past his veil could see that beneath his long lashes gathered a layer of faint mist.
Fourth year of Yanzuo, first month, tenth day. Under the Grand Marshal’s direction, Xi Liang’s court revised the imperial succession law, determining females could inherit the throne. First month, fifteenth day, Xi Liang’s Empress Yin Zhixiao succeeded to the throne, changing the era name to Guangshuo. That year became the first year of Guangshuo.
First month, twenty-fifth day, Tiansheng envoy Wei Zhi returned to the country. The empress personally led all civil and military officials to see her off. At the ten-li pavilion, crowds clustered. The dashing and elegant Tiansheng Marquis Wei bowed with propriety, smiling like spring breeze. However, her gaze kept searching through the crowd, until it became unfocused.
The person who had been with her morning and evening for nearly four years didn’t come to this parting.
Hiding a trace of loneliness deep in her eyes, Feng Zhiwei spurred her horse forward. Longjiang Station’s spring breeze was so soft, yet her heart became desolate in an instant.
Behind her, the bustling crowd seeing her off gradually receded. The road ahead stretched out long and boundless before her eyes. Feng Zhiwei lifted the reins about to let her horse gallop, wanting to quickly cast Xi Liang’s Jincheng behind her. But suddenly, as if by spiritual connection, she turned her head to look toward the distant forest.
There, remotely at the forest edge, beneath the sunlight, someone stood silently among the fine branches, posture light as if they could be swept by wind into the clouds, sky-water blue robes flowing in the wind like clear running water.
Feng Zhiwei felt momentarily dazed, as if suddenly seeing that year outside Qingming Academy, the youth standing silently.
In the blink of an eye, seas turned to mulberry fields. The jade carving of former years had finally become vivid and full, living in the heaven and earth belonging to him.
Feng Zhiwei softly began to smile, smiling until the corners of her eyes showed traces of misty moisture.
In such crystalline clarity, she couldn’t see clearly the man on the remote treetop staring at her without blinking, but vaguely saw in the sunlight him lift a corner of his veil, slowly opening his mouth.
A brief yet resolute lip shape.
He said:
“Wait for you.”
Passing through Xi Liang’s five commanderies, passing again through Tianfeng Stronghold, half a month later, Feng Zhiwei’s entourage finally reached Tianshui Pass at the Wei River on the border between Xi Liang and Tiansheng.
On the opposite bank, armies faintly moved back and forth, armor flashing with cold harsh light, appearing especially strict. Feng Zhiwei smiled faintly, thinking most likely Hua Qiong had grown impatient waiting for her.
She had just stopped at the Wei River bank, preparing to board the boat Xi Liang had prepared for her, when from the opposite side a medium-sized boat had already leisurely approached.
The boat was extremely refined, light-colored brocade curtains hanging on all four sides of the cabin. She was thinking when had Hua Qiong adopted this low-key yet luxurious style when suddenly someone lifted the curtain and emerged with a smile.
Feng Zhiwei raised her head and froze.
That person approached unhurriedly, posture composed. The rich spring light seemed to brighten because of this composure. At the boat’s prow he bent down slightly, first carefully looking her over, then with a sigh, he extended his hand, tenderly reaching to take hers.
“I clearly sent word saying I’d come to meet you. How could you bear to make me wait so long?”
Feng Zhiwei half-raised her face, earnestly gazing at him. After a long while, she smiled.
(End of Volume Three)