The moment Li Chi said that the Prince of Wu’s estate steward Xu Ke was with him, the Emperor’s suspicions stirred at once.
A steward of the Prince’s estate — fleeing to Yibin Court to avoid being killed. This made no sense.
“Did you ask him why he came to you for shelter?”
Li Chi replied: “Your Majesty — because someone ordered him to steal a person out of the Prince of Wu’s estate.”
“What are you saying?!” The Emperor’s voice rose.
“I will speak plainly, then. The Prince’s steward, Xu Ke, has told me everything. There is an Imperial Prince being held in the Prince of Wu’s estate. It is because of this that he was hunted.”
The Emperor rose and crossed the room to stand directly before Li Chi. He stared into his eyes. “My sons are here in Shiyuan Palace. What nonsense is this you’re telling me?”
Li Chi said: “If it is nonsense, then Xu Ke is the one who spoke it. He told me he had been placed inside the Prince of Wu’s estate as a long-term operative, living under deep cover for years. Recently, whoever is directing him ordered him to steal an Imperial Prince out of the estate — to use as leverage against Your Majesty.”
“Stop,” the Emperor said. “This kind of wild, reckless claim — how could you put any stock in it? If this gets out, we become a laughingstock.”
Li Chi said simply: “If it’s false, so much the better.”
He cupped his hands in a brief bow. “I only felt it right to inform Your Majesty. Since the Prince is here in the palace, I’ll take my leave.”
He turned and walked out.
The Emperor’s expression shifted through several things at once. Once Li Chi was gone, he turned to Yu Wenli. “Go to the Prince of Wu’s estate. Ask Imperial Aunt what is happening.”
He paused. Then he shook his head. “No. I’ll go myself.”
—
Li Chi did not go straight back to Yibin Court after leaving Shiyuan Palace. He and Yu Jiuling found a teahouse not far from the gates of the Prince of Wu’s estate and settled in to wait.
Before long, the Emperor’s carriage arrived.
Yu Jiuling watched it and couldn’t suppress a laugh. “The Emperor wants to kill you. Han Fei Bao’s people want to kill you. And here you’ve gone and made the two of them walk into each other.”
Li Chi nodded without comment.
Perhaps half an hour later, the Emperor emerged from the Prince of Wu’s estate. As he stepped up into the carriage, he was holding a child in his arms.
Li Chi saw this and let out a long, quiet breath.
He knew what his own weakness was — had known it from the beginning. His heart had never been hard enough.
If he had been harder, this scheme could have been executed with more precision. More perfectly. Not only could he have used the Emperor to destroy Han Fei Bao’s operatives — he could have had the child dealt with through Han Fei Bao’s people in the same motion.
He had known this. And still, he had no regrets.
He settled the bill and left the teahouse.
—
*Shiyuan Palace.*
The Emperor turned to the young eunuch Yuan Ying. “Go to the Ministry of Rites. Request that Yu Pei’en come to the palace — tell him I have urgent matters to discuss.”
Yuan Ying immediately set off for the Ministry of Rites.
The Emperor looked to the Bingmasi commander Jin Jieyin. “You may go as well.”
Jin Jieyin bowed and withdrew.
—
*Ministry of Rites compound.*
Yu Pei’en received the imperial summons. He turned to Qi Lianshan and said: “The Emperor is about to request a second meeting with Xia Houzhu — that is why I’ve been called. None of you are to take any action. Whatever happens, wait until I return.”
Qi Lianshan and the others answered and saw him to the door.
In the carriage, Yu Pei’en leaned toward Yuan Ying. “Does the public know what the Emperor has summoned me for?”
Yuan Ying smiled apologetically. “A person in my position, sir — there are things I cannot ask after, and things I cannot know.”
Yu Pei’en smiled, drew something from his sleeve — a pearl, approximately the size of a child’s fist, clearly of considerable value — and pressed it into Yuan Ying’s hand. “Just a trifle to pass the time.”
Yuan Ying shook his head quickly. “Please don’t get me into trouble, sir. If His Majesty knew I’d taken a gift from you—”
Yu Pei’en folded the pearl firmly into his hand. “It’s nothing worth mentioning. I’ll be stationed near His Majesty going forward — I’ll need the public’s goodwill.”
Yuan Ying pocketed the pearl with careful hands, smiling warmly. “Of course. Whatever you need, I’ll keep you in mind, sir.”
Yu Pei’en laughed softly. “Then I thank you.”
The carriage rolled toward Shiyuan Palace. They were perhaps two or three li from the palace gates when Yuan Ying called out: “Stop. I need to step out.”
He turned to Yu Pei’en with a slightly apologetic expression. “His Majesty asked me to pick up some pastries from Guihua Zhai on the way back — he loved them when he was in the East Palace. We happen to be passing it now. Would you forgive the brief stop, sir?”
Yu Pei’en said: “Of course.”
Yuan Ying descended from the carriage. He looked briefly in both directions, then quickened his pace toward the shop.
In the next breath, imperial guards appeared from all sides and moved in with practiced efficiency. Lengths of chain were produced and wound tightly around the carriage, locking it shut.
Several men came forward with jars of fire oil and doused the carriage thoroughly. Then a torch was applied.
The moment Yu Pei’en heard the chains, he understood. He tried the door — it wouldn’t open. He threw himself at the window — the chains held there too.
Within moments the fire was climbing. Yu Pei’en threw himself against every surface, screaming. The screams turned to cries. The cries grew faint.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the carriage had collapsed inward, and the man inside was dead — choked and burned both. Surviving either alone would have been difficult enough.
The imperial guards were not finished. They piled several heavy blankets over the remains and waited until those too had burned away.
A living man reduced to charcoal.
—
*Simultaneously, at the Ministry of Rites compound:*
Less than a quarter of an hour after Yu Pei’en left with Yuan Ying, a second young eunuch arrived asking for Qi Lianshan.
“General Qi Lianshan?”
Qi Lianshan looked him over. “That’s me. What is it?”
“I came with the public to fetch Mister Yu,” the eunuch said. “Partway there, the Mister suddenly asked me to come back and invite General Qi to come to the palace as well.”
Qi Lianshan frowned. “For what purpose?”
“I don’t know, sir. He only told me to deliver the message and leave the choice to you.”
The eunuch bowed and made to leave. Qi Lianshan said: “Wait. I’ll come with you.”
The eunuch stopped and stepped aside respectfully.
Qi Lianshan instructed the men inside not to go anywhere, then changed into more formal clothes and followed the eunuch outside.
A carriage was waiting at the door. Qi Lianshan looked at it before he stepped in. “Where did this come from? You came in only one carriage.”
The eunuch said: “This is the Ministry’s carriage. I had them prepare it before I came in.”
Qi Lianshan didn’t question it further. He stepped up into the carriage — and as he crossed the threshold, something struck him as wrong. He started to pull back.
But there was a sudden, fierce pain in his lower back.
The eunuch had drawn a short blade from his sleeve and driven it into Qi Lianshan’s kidney. Qi Lianshan’s face twisted in agony.
Four imperial guards were inside the carriage. In the same instant Qi Lianshan was stabbed, all four moved together and hauled him inside.
One hand clamped over his mouth. The others drove blades into his chest again and again — how many times was impossible to count — until Qi Lianshan stopped struggling.
The carriage continued rolling forward. Before long, blood began to seep through the floorboards and drip steadily to the street below.
The eunuch did not get in. He watched the carriage disappear into the distance, then put two fingers to his lips and gave a sharp whistle.
Moments later, Jin Jieyin led a large force of infantry and imperial guards surging in from all directions, straight into the Ministry of Rites compound.
From a second-floor window across the street, the thousand-officer Fang Xidao watched in silence, let out a slow breath.
From another vantage point — a teahouse, second floor, window seat — Gui Yuanshu watched too, with Maijie standing beside him.
“What… exactly is happening?” Maijie looked bewildered. “Why did you bring me here to watch this? What does any of this have to do with us?”
Gui Yuanshu said: “Relevant or not, just watch. The people being taken apart in that compound are Prince Ning’s enemies. They had set a trap to have the Emperor kill General Xia Hou’s envoy. Now the Emperor is taking them instead.”
Maijie stared as the imperial soldiers poured relentlessly into the Ministry of Rites compound. He felt something huge and hollow open up inside him.
—
About half an hour later, a carriage stopped in a deserted corner of the western city. Several men, covered in blood, tossed a body onto a rubbish heap and drove away.
—
*Shiyuan Palace.*
The Emperor sat quietly, watching his son crawl across the floor. His expression was entirely tender.
The child reached a carved wooden horse the Emperor had made with his own hands, grabbed hold of it, and wobbled unsteadily to his feet. The Emperor’s eyes lit up — his mouth curved upward without his meaning it to. He was smiling.
Smiling, and yet — at the corner of his eyes, faint traces of tears.
“Your Majesty.”
Yuan Ying came in from outside and bowed. “Everything has been seen to.”
The Emperor made a quiet sound. “Go now. I want to spend some time with An’er.”
Yuan Ying bowed himself backward out of the eastern study. As he turned to leave, he glanced back — and caught it, almost by accident: all these years, and yet at the temples, there was now a trace of white.
—
*Outside the Prince of Wu’s estate, at the same moment:*
Yuhong Yi, thousand-officer of the Judicial Bureau, dropped a sack from her shoulder and let it thud to the ground. The estate guards came forward immediately, voices raised.
She pointed at the sack. “That is your estate’s steward Xu Ke. The Princess Consort has been wanting to see him.”
The guards stared. Yuhong Yi turned on her heel and was gone, vanishing around the corner before anyone could speak.
The guards wasted no time. They opened the sack and pulled out the person inside.
It was indeed Xu Ke.
Not long after, he was carried inside the estate.
—