Great Li Dynasty

Under the eaves of the Cold Palace, Li Weiyang counted the sixth louse on her long hair. Having gone years without bathing, her body felt encased in a thick layer of armor, making louse-picking her only method of passing time.

Twelve years—it had been a full twelve years since she was confined to the Cold Palace. Weiyang raised her head to look at the sky. Every time weather like this came with rain, the pain from her legs was enough to drive one mad.

She was the biological daughter of Prime Minister Li Xiaoran. Unfortunately, she hadn’t crawled out of the First Madam’s belly, but was born to a maid of lowly status. Adding to her misfortune, being born in the second month fulfilled that prophecy about second-month daughters bringing ill fortune to their parents. Therefore, her father sent her to distant clan relatives for adoption. Sadly, the clan relatives didn’t care for this concubine-born daughter and left her in the countryside to fend for herself. She, a noble young lady born into Great Li’s foremost aristocratic family, had no choice but to personally handle household chores and even work the fields.

A golden branch and jade leaf, abandoned among the common folk—if her legitimate elder sister Li Changle hadn’t later refused to marry that man, Father and the First Madam would never have remembered her existence…

Changle, Weiyang—one could immediately tell who was noble and who was lowly just from hearing the names. When she first returned to the Li residence, her heart brimmed with joy, thinking Father had finally remembered her. However, she only heard Father say with relief to her beautiful and noble legitimate elder sister Li Changle, who seemed like an immortal: “Xianhui, you need not worry anymore. This girl will marry Tuoba Zhen in your place.”

Her legitimate elder sister Li Changle, courtesy name Xianhui—what a beautiful name. That’s what Weiyang thought at the time, never imagining this name would become her lifelong nightmare.

Later, as Father wished, she entered the Third Imperial Prince’s residence and wholeheartedly supported Tuoba Zhen step by step from prince to ascending the imperial throne. She even bore him his eldest son Yuli. It took a full eight years from when Tuoba Zhen ascended the throne to when he enfeoffed her as Empress.

Tuoba Zhen once said her skin was like congealed cream, her features painted like a picture—she was a superior beauty. But a superior beauty ultimately couldn’t compare to an immortal of this world. In the blink of an eye, she became like rotten mud in a corner, unbearable to look at.

What happened after? After that—

Every time Li Weiyang thought of that day, she had to laugh. She laughed at herself during those fearless youthful years, laughed at how distant she now was from that past.

She still remembered that night when everyone in Kunning Palace received extreme punishment. Perhaps eager to end everything or cover up everything, they weren’t even taken to the punishment chambers—it all began in the courtyard outside her bedchamber. The gates of Kunning Palace were tightly locked, and those being punished all had their mouths sealed. In an instant, Kunning Palace became a scene of bloodshed and carnage. Li Weiyang was dragged before Emperor Tuoba Zhen.

Tuoba Zhen’s already deep-set eyes gleamed with cold light, his gaze stern and utterly merciless: “You vile woman, you could be so cruel as to harm even your own elder sister.” Li Weiyang’s heart filled with bitter sorrow, but she only said: “I harmed her? I have never harmed her!”

Tuoba Zhen mercilessly kicked her in the chest. Li Weiyang immediately coughed up blood, only to receive his disgusted look: “Vile woman, Changle suffered difficult labor. I was not in the palace, and when the palace maids went to seek you, why did you hide in Kunning Palace and refuse to see them? You clearly intended to cause her death! If I hadn’t returned early, she surely would have died with the child!”

Lifting her head to look at Tuoba Zhen before her, he remained so handsome, handsome like the sun in the sky. In truth, she had never understood this man. She didn’t know what kind of man she had fallen in love with—to what degree he could be tender, to what degree he could be heartless. She even felt herself to be an enormous joke, so eagerly throwing herself at him, infatuated with him, self-righteously devoting herself, yet unaware that he simply never cared.

Li Weiyang laughed coldly: “Your Majesty only thinks of Elder Sister. Have you thought about our son Yuli? On the very day your son with Elder Sister was born, my Yuli fell gravely ill and was at death’s door. What wrong did I commit by summoning the imperial physicians to save him? Is Elder Sister a person while my son is not? Now Elder Sister has smoothly given birth to a son for you, and the moment he was born you enfeoffed him as Crown Prince. My Yuli is dead, yet you promised me you would make Yuli Crown Prince! You are the Emperor, are you not? Why do you break your promises! Why!”

Tuoba Zhen’s cold and cruel countenance chilled the heart, his face full of indifference as he stared her down: “I have already enfeoffed you as Empress. Are you still not satisfied! You still covet the Crown Prince position!”

Li Weiyang only felt her mouth full of the metallic taste of blood, her voice like broken ice coldly colliding on the water’s surface: “Empress? Yes, I am Empress. But the edict deposing the Empress has long been sitting on your desk, only waiting for Elder Sister to give birth to a prince before you stamp it with the imperial seal! Tuoba Zhen, what wrong have I committed? After marrying you for eight years, how have I treated you!”

As she spoke, she gently loosened her outer garment, revealing the congealed and hideous scar on her chest. Pointing at it, she spoke slowly, word by word.

“In the thirty-eighth year of the Late Emperor’s reign, I blocked an assassin’s sword for you, struck directly in the chest! In the fortieth year of the Late Emperor’s reign, knowing full well it was poisoned wine the Former Crown Prince offered, I drank it down in one gulp for you! In the forty-first year of the Late Emperor’s reign, knowing the Seventh Imperial Prince wanted to kill you, I traveled eight hundred li through the night without stopping to tell you! In the forty-second year of the Late Emperor’s reign, when you contracted plague while providing disaster relief, I dismissed all the palace servants and cared for you alone for a full forty-eight days without removing my clothes! When you ascended the throne, what did you promise me? Do you still remember? You said that as long as you were Emperor for a day, I would be Empress for a day! But you later fell in love with Li Changle. Not only did you make her child Crown Prince, you even wanted to depose me! Tuoba Zhen, how can you face me!”

Tuoba Zhen’s expression remained calm, looking at her with indifference—the kind of indifference that showed complete unconcern, and therefore blindness. That kind of indifference was so natural, as if he was born to be this way.

His expression made her heart suddenly constrict, as if an extremely fine and sharp needle had unexpectedly pierced into her heart. The pain made her sharply inhale, yet she still had to maintain a strong front, though a trace of desolation had already passed through her eyes.

“Changle is the one I truly love and admire. I originally planned that although I would depose your Empress position, I would still preserve a place for you in the rear palace, letting you live out your days without worrying about food and clothing.”

“Without worrying about food and clothing?” Something hard and sharp in the depths of her heart was scraping bit by bit, shallow pits slowly gathering into an abyss, until it seemed to scrape through her heart as well. Li Weiyang’s face was like a sheet of floating ice about to shatter. Eight years as husband and wife, sharing hardship and poverty—during his most difficult times, only she stood by his side. But after he ascended as Emperor, he loved Li Changle so deeply. Not only did he want to depose her, he even kept saying he would let her live without worrying about food and clothing.

“I did everything for you, even risked my life to protect you, and all I get in return are these four words ‘without worrying about food and clothing’? Eight years! Eight years as husband and wife cannot compare to Li Changle’s celestial beauty. Without worrying about food and clothing—who wants your food and clothing! Everything I painstakingly earned with my life, you gave so easily to another woman! Should I also be grateful to you both?”

Tuoba Zhen suddenly slammed his palm heavily on the desk, startling the teacup which rolled off the table with a crash. His face twisted slightly: “Silence! What do you mean another woman—Changle is your elder sister!”

Li Weiyang laughed derisively: “Elder sister? She is the lofty immortal maiden, the legitimate eldest daughter of the Li family, the clouds in the sky. And me? I am merely the concubine-born daughter of the Li family, the ill-omened star Father won’t even acknowledge, the mud on the ground! If she truly considered me her younger sister, how could she steal my husband, steal my son’s Crown Prince position!”

Tuoba Zhen gave a light snort, simply lowering his head. His sinister and profound eyes swept over Li Weiyang’s pale face at the slowest speed, his gaze forcing one nearly to suffocation: “Changle is innocent and kind, pure and flawless. Normally she wouldn’t bear to step on even an ant. You don’t compare to even one of her fingers! As for Yuli, taught by you to be so ill-mannered, actually speaking disrespectfully to Changle—what qualifications does he have to sit in the Crown Prince position!”

Innocent and kind, pure and flawless? From childhood to adulthood, she was the one doing good deeds, yet it was always Elder Sister who bore the beautiful reputation! Just because she had a beautiful face, she could be worshipped by everyone as an immortal maiden!

Li Weiyang only felt unspeakably ridiculous. Tuoba Zhen’s voice was like a steel blade, stabbing into her heart blade by blade, blood dripping fresh. Hot tears slowly flowed from her dried and hollow eye sockets.

Her gaze contained infinite pain: “Yes, I cannot compare to Elder Sister! But how innocent was Yuli? He was merely a four-year-old child. He understood nothing. He only watched with his own eyes as I wept in sorrow for you, and in momentary indignation said a few words complaining about his aunt. How could you be so cold-blooded as to confine him for three days and nights!”

Tuoba Zhen looked at her with cold eyes, saying nothing.

Her heartache became unbearable: “If not for that, how would he have contracted lung disease? How would he have departed for the Yellow Springs at such a young age! He was your biological son. Just because he said one immature thing, you treated him this way! Did I do wrong? I had all the imperial physicians come to treat him. I wanted to save my own biological son! You only thought about Li Changle. My Yuli’s entire body burned with fever, crying out to me saying ‘Mother Empress, it hurts so much, Mother Empress, I hurt so much!’ Do you know my suffering? If I could, I would willingly exchange my own life for his survival! You treasure your Li Changle. My Yuli only had me left! Why must I go to her palace to care for Li Changle during her labor when my Yuli was still struggling on death’s threshold! Now I want nothing more! I only want Yuli to come back to life! I hate Li Changle. I hate her thoroughly. I hate her so much I wish I could tear apart her flesh and blood piece by piece!”

“You vile woman!” Tuoba Zhen grew even more furious. He was utterly disgusted by the woman before him: “If you must hate, then hate me! She was unwilling—it was I who insisted on bringing her into the palace, establishing her as Empress! How could someone as kind and pure as her have such a terrifying sister like you!”

He strode swiftly before Li Weiyang and grabbed her fiercely: “I will never forgive you! I will make you suffer a fate worse than death for your entire life! Guards, sever this vile woman’s legs and cast her into the Cold Palace!”

Then Weiyang saw that bright yellow object. In the pitch-black palace, its color overshadowed everything, its dazzling brilliance eclipsing that cluster of lamplight, tearing apart the entire world. She knew—this was the edict deposing the Empress! Deposing the Empress!

The eunuch droned on reading the decree. The pairs of eyes surrounding her shot over like poisoned arrows, seemingly wanting to pierce her heart with ten thousand arrows. But she was already as if her soul had fled to the great void. All that surged and charged through her consciousness was only the two words “hatred”—she could hear nothing else. Her entire mind and spirit had abandoned her broken body and rushed toward the unreachable sky.

Tuoba Zhen, what vicious, malicious thoughts you have, what vicious malicious thoughts! She had held up her heart to please him, prostrating on the ground, and he—without even a glance—mercilessly crushed it beneath his foot! Now, not only was he harming her body, he was slowly slicing apart her dignity and soul.

Li Weiyang laughed madly without cease. She had once said she loved Jiangnan’s scenery most, that when the dust settled someday, she wanted to go to Jiangnan to see the scenery, taste fine tea, listen to her favorite ballads, travel through countless mountains and rivers. Tuoba Zhen said he would remember, would remember for a lifetime. Precisely because he remembered, he now used it to punish her! She wanted to travel through countless mountains and rivers, so he would sever her legs! She cared about the Empress position, so he would depose her as Empress and cast her into the Cold Palace. Tuoba Zhen, how cruel you are, how truly cruel!

Under the eaves of the Cold Palace, Li Weiyang slightly narrowed her eyes. After that, Tuoba Zhen established Li Changle as Empress, enfeoffed her son as Crown Prince—lifelong exclusive favor in the inner palace, boundless glory. As for her, Li Weiyang, she had already been forgotten by the world.

Living on in degradation, it was only because she couldn’t swallow this one breath. She told herself—outlive Li Changle, outlive Li Changle!

Just then, the Cold Palace door opened. Li Weiyang saw a point of dim yellow warm light floating over darkly from the doorway. “Li Shi, quickly kneel to receive the decree!”

Kneel? Both her legs had been severed—how could she kneel!

Li Weiyang momentarily couldn’t understand what he was saying. Her muddled mind and the sharp shrieking sound in her ears prevented her from thinking. She was dragged from under the corridor onto the ground by someone.

“His Majesty’s decree: the deposed Empress Li Shi lacks virtue. In the Cold Palace she does not reflect on her errors, cursing the Empress day and night. Execute her with poisoned wine!”

“Lady Li, don’t blame anyone else. The Empress worries and fears, unable to rest peacefully. His Majesty had fortune-tellers consulted—your fate is too harsh and you bring misfortune to the Empress. You should depart early and be reborn into a good life!”

Poisoned wine in a single cup—actually poisoned wine in a single cup! She had been a good woman her entire life, working like an ox or horse for him, been a good Empress her entire life. During great wars, despite her illness, she personally went to encourage the troops. When disasters struck, she risked danger to open the granaries for disaster victims. She didn’t hesitate to anger Tuoba Zhen to correct his governing mistakes. Toward the eunuchs and palace maids, she was even more tolerant and loving. But what reward did she receive now? When she fell into misfortune, who was willing to stand out and speak one word for her! No one!

Li Weiyang laughed loudly, appearing crazed: “Tuoba Zhen, Li Changle, well done, you have treated me so well! In the next life, I, Li Weiyang, swear—never again will I be kind to others, never will I enter the palace, never will I become Empress!”

The old eunuch looked at the deposed Empress Li Shi, feeling slight compassion in his heart. He sighed and said: “Drag her away.”

Even from far away, one could hear Li Weiyang’s agonized and crazed voice. That voice was like a curse, lingering long in the depths of the palace, capturing hearts and souls…