At exactly the seventh hour of evening, the Emperor finished reviewing the last memorial and indicated to the palace servants that he wished to rest.
Li Yuanying could not do much more. The mentally exhausting court sessions and banquet socializing had been handed over to Bao Zhu. All he could do was live as long as possible, buying her time to accumulate political capital and hone her governing skills, allowing the conservative court ministers to grow accustomed to rule by a woman.
Entering the sleeping chamber, eunuchs brought water to attend the Emperor’s ablutions. The season had reached deep autumn, and another brazier had been added to the hall. He vaguely recalled hearing that Prince Shen, during winter months, had his concubines gather closely around his seat to ward off the cold, calling it his “fragrant enclosure.”
These indulgent royal relatives and nobles, seeing an ascetic emperor who had mourned his parents for six long years, kept an empty harem, had no appetite for food or pleasure, and wore the same clothes in all seasons whether dry or damp, naturally felt fearful awe and tried their utmost to keep their distance.
The court ministers were the same. Seeing his mourning period nearly complete, today someone had memorialized again, earnestly urging him to consider taking consorts and face “natural law and human desire.” The implication was crystal clear: whether he could perform in bed or not, at least act like a normal emperor so the ministers wouldn’t all appear to be excessive luxury seekers.
Li Yuanying only sneered coldly. He had established his sister Li Baozhu as his heir, and the Eastern Palace’s position was secure precisely because the emperor had no sons. One Li Yuanyi was enough—he could not give Bao Zhu additional potential future enemies.
To grip imperial power tightly, he could ignore criticism, and the princess could abandon marriage to become a nun. Ultimate power required paying the ultimate price.
The candles were extinguished one by one, the eunuchs retreated backwards, and even the guards stationed in the hall withdrew. He had always been tormented by insomnia, not daring to use lead powder or cinnabar for sleep, only hoping that when he slept there wouldn’t be even a trace of living breath nearby.
The sleeping chamber’s main door closed. Just as Li Yuanying was about to lie down, he suddenly saw a human shadow in the moonlight streaming through the window lattice.
The shadow wore a guard’s leather robe, tall with long legs, slowly approaching without a sound.
He immediately drew the sharp sword beside his bed and was about to shout when the intruder covered his mouth and pressed him onto the bed. His sword-wielding wrist went numb, and the weapon left his hand before he could swing it.
“Shh, it’s me.”
A woman’s voice. The shadow bent down and pecked at his ear. Li Yuanying pushed back with his free hand: “What is this face!”
The shadow paused, remembering she was still wearing the disguised guard’s leather mask. She chuckled softly, tore it from her face, revealing her true appearance. Under the hazy moonlight, her features seemed quite beautiful, but all that could be clearly seen was that vicious scar slashing diagonally down.
Li Yuanying switched hands to grab for his sword again, but she kicked the weapon far away and firmly locked his wrist so he couldn’t move.
“Now that you know it’s me, stop this useless struggle every time.”
Huo Qi languidly went to lick and kiss his neck. Li Yuanying made no sound, his restrained hand clenched in a tight fist. After a moment, his breathing became heavy.
To grip great power, one sibling left no descendants and avoided women, while the other simply took the crown and became a nun—enduring what ordinary people could not endure. This was something Huo Qi could not understand.
But no matter how much one endured, human instinct always existed. After years of celibacy, the slightest provocation would make Li Yuanying almost tremble.
Huo Qi Lang quickly shed the disguised leather armor, pressing her burning body against his cool skin, biting his Adam’s apple and excitedly feeling the rapid warming process of the person beneath her.
Li Yuanying remained silent, still struggling desperately. He had given her a fish tally for palace entry, but she had never used it, claiming she lost it when asked, perversely insisting on infiltrating through various strange routes. He was angry but lacked the strength to express intense emotions—anything he said would become laughable complaints.
Every time this happened, Huo Qi Lang found it amusing—outside the sleeping chamber were crowds of guards and Imperial troops. If he just shouted once that there was an assassin, she would have to throw on clothes and flee for her life. But he never did. Knowing he couldn’t win, he still struggled and resisted like a fish out of water.
She had heard people say this was what the ancient sage meant by “knowing it cannot be done yet doing it anyway”—a manifestation of firm will and noble character.
But since he would fall every time anyway, why struggle? Creating marks all over his body that had to be hidden. Once this person removed his yellow robes, he was like a snow field—whether bruises from restraint or scattered finger marks, everything was especially obvious.
This was the Son of Heaven and also the most beautiful person in the world. The sense of achievement from injuring him on the dragon bed was incomparable.
Huo Qi Lang was addicted to this, risking being pierced by ten thousand arrows, infiltrating the imperial palace every few months to pin him down and wantonly violate him. Though she felt regret afterward, she never tired of it.
She could roughly guess why Li Yuanying never called for help.
To grip power tightly, he was unwilling to have open relationships; naturally, neither was she. For the freedom to come and go at will, she even put aside her usual laziness, swallowed her pride to seek instruction, and devoted herself to perfecting her school’s lightness skills.
The two had an unspoken understanding, exerting themselves vigorously on the bed. Except for breathing that alternated between urgent and deep with desire, neither would speak.
Li Yuanying’s voice was very pleasant, just ice-cold and emotionless. Sometimes Huo Qi Lang wanted to hear him submit and cry out, using various methods. He would close his eyes and bite his own hand fiercely to endure, biting until he bled but remaining completely silent. When overcome with distress, his whole body would tremble and tears would be forced out, yet he still clenched his teeth refusing to beg for mercy, making Huo Qi Lang unable to tell if they were making love or conducting torture.
After indulging in passionate rain and clouds several times, the frenzy gradually cooled. Releasing her grip, Huo Qi Lang looked at how she had tormented him and felt that leaving immediately after having her fill was somewhat improper. She ought to be tender for a while, so she sat on his dragon bed peeling and eating oranges.
Before leaving her master she had been very poor, never having eaten a full meal, let alone these tribute goods that traveled thousands of miles from the south. The oranges were sweet and sour, very refreshing. No wonder Wei Da used to frequently steal and eat from the imperial tribute storehouse—that little fellow was always quite shrewd.
She had always heard that the newly ascended emperor practiced frugality, eating meals with only a few dishes, yet his sleeping chamber was always stocked with various rare fruits. This showed that nobles’ frugality was never the same as commoners’. She was getting a bargain, not needing to waste effort studying the patrol patterns around the tribute storehouse.
After eating several oranges, Huo Qi heard Li Yuanying’s breathing become long and steady—he had fallen asleep. She originally wanted to sneak away quietly, but looking back at that pure, flawless face in the moonlight, her heart was suddenly seized, and she mysteriously lay down beside him with light movements.
She thought to herself that she was also quite good-looking, with the nickname “Brocade Young Master” known outside, but how could this person be beautiful to an indescribable degree? This showed Heaven’s limitless creation. Even if she left too late and was shot into a pincushion by the Imperial Guard’s arrows, it would be worth it.
Because of exhaustion, Li Yuanying slept particularly deeply this time. He woke with a start in the middle of the night as a sudden terrible thought rushed into his mind, immediately causing his heart to pound with panic. A long, firm arm was draped over his waist—she still hadn’t left.
Li Yuanying suddenly grabbed the person beside him and shook her awake, urgently demanding in a low voice: “That senior brother of yours—he doesn’t treat the princess the way you treat me, does he?!”
Huo Qi woke up confused, blinking her eyes, not understanding anything. Li Yuanying repeated his words again. Suddenly thinking of this possibility in the middle of the night made it impossible for him to sleep again. He thought that if this person ranked seventh could already enter and leave the deep palace at will, while he, a seven-foot tall man holding a long sword, was helpless against her, then what kind of domineering tyrant must that man ranked first be, doing whatever he pleased?
Huo Qi Lang laughed in surprise: “Don’t think wildly—he doesn’t have that courage.”
At this thought, he could not endure even a moment longer and had to ask clearly right away. Li Yuanying grabbed clothes to wrap around himself, stumbling and climbing up, hopping to put on boots while walking out. Reaching the hall door, he remembered something and suddenly returned, saying with cold expression: “Don’t fall asleep. If someone discovers you, you’ll be dragged to Goujiling for execution by waist cutting.”
With that, he departed gracefully, strictly closing the hall door and loudly ordering a palanquin prepared.
In the middle of the night, the Emperor was actually hurrying anxiously to find the princess to discuss matters. The eunuchs were both shocked and suspicious. Li Yuanying sat in the palanquin with a group of bewildered guards following behind, traveling through the night toward Supreme Immortal Temple in the northeast corner of the Great Ming Palace.
After the princess’s corporeal dissolution and ascension back to the mortal realm, she was granted the title Princess Imperial Chengtian Wanshou. Having become a nun, she should be called Supreme Immortal Master, but everyone still continued calling her princess out of habit. To sleep later for court, she had converted a palace hall into Supreme Immortal Temple and still resided in the palace.
Arriving at his destination, Li Yuanying ordered people to knock open Supreme Immortal Temple’s main gate. After quietly asking Madam Yu and receiving an answer, he walked straight into the princess’s sleeping chamber under the shocked gazes of serving girls. Bao Zhu was curled up in brocade quilts sleeping soundly, her cheeks rosy. In Li Yuanying’s eyes, she was no different from when she was small. He dismissed everyone, sat beside the bed and patted her face, forcibly waking her from dreams.
Suddenly awakened, Bao Zhu sat up confused. Seeing her brother’s serious expression standing by the bed, then looking at the pitch-black night sky outside the window, she jumped up to grab the bow beside the bed and string it, sleepily shouting: “Military coup? Which rebel is causing trouble?!”
Li Yuanying pressed down her hand holding the bow, saying seriously: “No one is rebelling, but I have an extremely urgent question for you. You must answer me truthfully without concealment.”
He then pulled Bao Zhu to his side and quietly asked about his greatest worry. Finally, with stern voice and expression, he said: “If there were such coercive acts, it would be equivalent to the ten great treasons. I don’t care about any ‘number one under heaven’—I’ll deploy eight hundred winch crossbows and five thousand Imperial Guards. Even if immortals descended from heaven, I would have him executed and torn apart by five horses!”
Bao Zhu stared blankly as he finished speaking, rubbing her face and suspecting she was still dreaming.
“What thing… force what… how is that possible? He wouldn’t dare at all!”
Li Yuanying, disregarding sibling propriety, confirmed again and again. Judging her expression to be frank without concealment, he finally breathed a huge sigh of relief and sat by the bed as if deflated.
Bao Zhu asked in confusion: “Brother came here in the middle of the night just to ask this? What happened? Don’t tell me…”
Li Yuanying knew she was clever and perceptive, wanting to leave quickly before she figured things out and think of excuses slowly over several days. But Bao Zhu suddenly grabbed his shoulder and, catching him off guard, rolled up his sleeve, clearly seeing the bright red finger marks on his wrist and many ambiguous traces. She was instantly struck dumb.
Only a moment of panic—Li Yuanying pulled back his arm and lowered his sleeve, already recovering his usual cold dignity. “Just consider it a dream. Rest quickly. You must attend court at dawn—don’t doze off in the hall.”
Bao Zhu had already vaguely guessed the whole story, extremely shocked and puzzled as she asked: “Where did you put those eight hundred crossbows? Why don’t you use them yourself?”
“Can’t deploy so many at once, bringing them to Chang’an would be quite troublesome…”
The emperor hurriedly turned and walked away quickly.
Author’s Note:
This draft was written quite some time ago, causing some details to differ. Just set aside your brain and take a casual bite.
Don’t ask—if you ask, it’s about preference.
Or because one party can’t speak, causing mutual misunderstanding (he/she probably likes it this way, so I’ll cooperate…)