1) Punishment

The stars flickering in the night gradually dimmed beneath the brightening eastern sky.

Autumn cold, frost heavy.

At the entrance of the long, narrow passage flanked by two vermillion palace walls, a group of people held their breath, not daring to make the slightest sound. Even as dew condensed on their hair and brows, they dared not raise a hand to wipe it away even once.

Xie Wei had been standing for a long time, his entire body emanating cold.

The dim morning light fell into his deep, silent eyes like dropping into a dark, gloomy pool, not stirring the slightest ripple.

When Yan Lin emerged from Kunning Palace, though the alcohol smell still clung to him, he was completely sober.

His great revenge achieved, military power in hand.

The young general who should have been triumphant now looked almost dejected with a kind of despondency, a kind of helpless bewilderment. His clothing was disheveled. When he drew nearer, one could even see a thin, scabbed-over scratch mark on his cheek.

What exactly had he done last night…

That pair of eyes filled with pleading and shocked pain, veiled with tears, suddenly flashed through his mind again.

Yan Lin’s steps actually staggered.

His face held little color.

When a rebel commander, after staging a coup and placing the former empress under house arrest, emerged from Kunning Palace at dawn before the sky had fully lightened, his clothes in disarray—what that meant was self-evident.

When Xie Wei saw him, even the corners of his eyes twitched slightly.

At this moment, it was hard to say whether disappointment or deep fury prevailed.

When Yan Lin reached him and stood before this mist-shrouded palace gate, Xie Wei grabbed the long rod from someone nearby and struck forcefully at his back!

The blow was extremely heavy.

Yan Lin neither dodged nor evaded, nearly stumbling from the impact, a vague taste of blood rising in his throat.

He looked at Xie Wei: “Elder brother…”

Xie Wei’s face showed not half an ounce of emotion as he only said, “Kneel.”

Yan Lin clenched his teeth. Several parts stubbornness actually appeared in his eyes, which reddened as he shouted loudly, “She wronged me first! What did I do wrong? Even if there’s all of today, it’s her own fault!”

Xie Wei’s eyes finally turned cold.

He showed no mercy at all. This time he struck directly at Yan Lin’s knee bend, shouting sternly, “Kneel!”

The two confronted each other on the palace path.

Neither seemed willing to yield.

The soldiers standing around dared not look askance, only secretly alarmed by what this scene portended.

Over these years—the collapse of Huangzhou, bloodshed at the border—it was he who had supported everything from behind.

An elder brother is like a father.

Yan Lin looked at him for a long while. Ultimately, he couldn’t ignore the panic and confusion he’d felt when walking out from that bedchamber, as if the person who’d done wrong truly wasn’t her but himself. He bent his knee and knelt down.

His body, already tempered by hardship and war, was tall and upright. His features, worn by wind and frost, had shed their youthful immaturity and become hardened.

Kneeling on those stone slabs dampened by dew, he looked like a statue.

However, Xie Wei was not moved in the slightest. He only threw the long rod on the ground and said, “She is, after all, the Empress! Did family teachings and the sage’s commands tell you to do what you did today? Public opinion can be deadly. The former dynasty is unstable. If you truly want to harm her to death, just continue.”

Yan Lin didn’t respond with a single word.

Xie Wei only said to those around him, “Beat him. Thirty strokes according to military law. Let him endure it himself!”

Having spoken, he turned and left with a flick of his sleeve.

Dozens of days ago, Zhou Yinzhi’s head had been nailed to the palace gate with long iron spikes.

At this moment, the bloodstains above still hadn’t been cleaned away.

Yan Lin knelt with his tall frame.

Those around him looked at each other. After a moment, someone said softly, “General, pardon the offense,” then raised his hand to begin the punishment. For a time, only the sound of rods falling could be heard, while the young general clenched his fists, never once making a sound.

2) Killing Intent

Documents were piled high.

Xie Wei hadn’t turned a single page.

When Lu Xian arrived, he saw him holding a bow, nocking an arrow, drawing it fully. Just as Lu Xian’s foot crossed the threshold, those slender fingers released. With a “swoosh,” the feathered arrow left the string and embedded itself deeply into a wooden compartment of the bookshelf, shaking the books arranged there until they trembled and fell.

Others didn’t dare spread rumors, only fearing for their heads. But Lu Xian was different. He’d already heard from subordinates about Yan Lin’s punishment and, seeing Xie Wei like this, perceived that his mood seemed unpleasant.

The words turned in his mind.

He deliberated for a moment before speaking: “Everyone can see the prince’s feelings. Though you’re his elder brother, punishing him today will inevitably create a rift.”

Xie Wei put away the bow, gazing at the still-trembling arrow feathers, saying indifferently, “Were his surname not Yan, based on this absurdity alone, I would have killed him today.”

3) Memories

Having washed half the court in blood, Xie Wei’s name alone was a shadow looming over the capital.

Affairs were numerous, with people suffering every day.

Only a few people knew about Yan Lin’s punishment within the palace; it didn’t spread widely. He also seemed to recognize his impropriety and didn’t set foot in Kunning Palace again for dozens of days afterward.

However, unexpectedly, there was actually a fool named Wei Liang from the former dynasty who traveled thousands of miles to the capital, declaring loudly that they had committed treason and rebellion, placed the empress under house arrest, demanding they release her, have the empress read Shen Jie’s posthumous edict, and establish another heir apparent.

Throughout court and country, who didn’t curse Jiang Xuening as a “femme fatale”?

This former third-place examination scholar had clearly been demoted to a prefecture because of her, yet he remained utterly loyal. Even that dog Zhou Yinzhi under her command, who seemed so loyal, had betrayed her, but Wei Liang was stubbornly single-minded, wanting to argue with the court.

If others cursed him, he wasn’t eloquent and when his face flushed red, could often only loudly repeat one sentence: “Her Majesty is not what you say! She’s not a bad person!”

It was truly an incomprehensible obstinacy.

It could even give rise to ambiguous suspicions.

Yan Lin was ultimately provoked to jealousy. He drank to drown his sorrows, but alcohol only made him recall the past, recall her. His five viscera and six bowels all ached, and in the burning, loving and hating to extremes, he went to seek her again.

Within a few days, rumors that had originally only circulated privately seemed to ride the wind, drifting throughout the palace.

“Look at her, with that seductive face. If she hadn’t seduced him first, would such a fine person as General Yan even look at her?”

“Two years ago I already thought how could someone like her be worthy of being mother to the nation…”

“No propriety!”

“Who doesn’t know she was originally some ill-bred wild girl? It’s fortunate the sage emperor liked her back then and indulged her, letting the court become a laughingstock. What a pity, she didn’t have that fate. Even with that position, she couldn’t suppress it. Didn’t she meet with disaster?”

“If you ask me, childhood sweethearts from the past are now just rekindling old flames.”

“She has plenty of methods. Don’t underestimate her.”

“You know the former Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Zhou Yinzhi? He was all bewitched by her.”

“And Minister Zhang from the Ministry of Justice…”

“A disaster to people!”

…

The words eventually reached Xie Wei’s ears. He also knew what Yan Lin had done, but suddenly remembered a certain day long ago when all the ministers were discussing matters but waiting in the side hall. Jiang Xuening emerged from inside in splendid robes. When they entered, looking up they saw the young emperor’s fingers stained with a bit of bright rouge. Minister Zhang from the Ministry of Justice, usually so upright, spoke much less than usual. He also recalled that shortly before the incident, when he and Zhang Zhe were leaving the palace together, they unexpectedly encountered that empress waiting along the way. He considered for a moment and found an excuse to turn back, while those two remained on the path conversing.

Yan Lin was, after all, of marquis family bloodline.

Xie Wei thought he truly couldn’t do anything more to him.

4) Five Stone Powder

After nightfall, palace servants lit the lamps.

His head ached; he hadn’t slept well for several days.

That nimble-handed, clever young eunuch immediately had someone bring up Five Stone Powder and strong liquor to serve him.

Shen Lang had died from consuming alchemical pills.

Five Stone Powder wasn’t a good thing either.

Xie Wei knew all this.

It was just that when he took Five Stone Powder, he didn’t have the manic state others did when the drug took effect. Though his entire body felt as if burning, he only remained calm and clear-headed, even able to review memorials and strategize as usual.

A person’s greatest suffering is clarity.

Cinnabar ground fine, the inkstone like blood.

He lifted his brush and dipped it in cinnabar. In his eyes it seemed like dipping it in blood. When drawn across the paper, it all represented lives heavily weighed down.

The proper characters above gradually swayed in the light and shadow.

In the deep palace’s quiet late night, a lamp flower suddenly popped. A long, quiet fragrance floated through the air.

Xie Wei raised his eyes and saw her walk in.

A goose-yellow immortal gown, a straight face, dark hair adorned with a trembling golden hairpin. With each step she took, it quivered. In her rippling eyes was vaguely a trace of fearful hesitation. Her slightly parted vermillion lips were covered with the moist, pitiful luster cast by lamplight and shadow.

Buddhist scriptures say when ten thousand thoughts tangle and one struggles unable to break free, evil demons easily invade.

Xie Wei quietly watched “her.”

She also carried a food box, coming before him with several parts caution, gently placing a bowl of stewed ginseng soup on the imperial desk. Her voice had a kind of tender, graceful charm as if water could be wrung from it, yet it lacked composure: “The night is deep and cold, Teacher Xie, Grand Tutor Xie, please partake…”

Xie Wei thought this hallucination was truly strange.

He glanced at the ginseng soup and gave a light, contemptuous laugh: “Is this how the Empress also bewitched Zhang Zhe?”

On that strikingly brilliant face, a trace of shock flashed suddenly, then it paled.

As if someone had stabbed her with a knife.

Her fair hand hadn’t even had time to withdraw from the porcelain bowl holding the soup before it trembled lightly, revealing a kind of helpless guilt and panic.

This expression easily made Xie Wei recall what he’d seen in pleasure quarters—those entangled bodies, dripping fragrant sweat, silk-like seductive attitudes, feigned reluctance welcoming advances.

It could indeed arouse unspeakable desires in people.

He suddenly laughed lightly. Seeing her wrist resting on the desk, he actually reached out to grasp it. His scalding fingertips slowly rubbed across that patch of skin that should have had a shallow scar but was now flawless as white jade. His malicious energy gradually intensified.

Even in this hallucination induced by the drug’s dispersal, she seemed extremely afraid of him, as if she regretted it, was unwilling, wanting to forcefully pull her hand back, only bringing a bit of sobbing as she said to him, “This concubine only remembered the past when I shared a path with the Grand Tutor. Now trapped in desperate straits, I dare not hope for sir’s forgiveness, but only beg for a corner to, to settle myself. Please, sir, please, sir, have pi-pity…”

That word “compassion” was clearly right at her lips.

Yet somehow she couldn’t say it.

The fingers pressing on her wrist pressed harder, actually slowly using his fingernail to draw a thin bloody mark on it.

She cried out in pain, tears falling.

Xie Wei sneered inwardly, not knowing whether he found it too degrading that the dignified empress would come to offer herself, or whether he found her inability to speak those two words “have pity” disgusting. He pulled her before him, half-smiling: “Your Majesty, so lacking in self-respect?”

She was afraid.

Wanted to struggle.

Yet she desperately controlled that fear, didn’t struggle, only tensed her body and stared at him with wide eyes.

Buddhist scriptures say when evil spirits arrive, one must not sink into them, must not willingly fall. Clear the heart and they will naturally disperse.

So Xie Wei stilled for a moment, then turned to pick up the imperial brush that had rolled onto the desk, dipping it fully in that crimson cinnabar. Then grasping her, he slowly drew from the right side of her neck, along her throat, collarbone, a single stroke across that smooth, lustrous skin, slanting down into her left heart chamber.

Like a dripping bloody mark.

Or perhaps a sharp blade cutting her entire person open, with a kind of nearly cruel, gaudy beauty.

Cinnabar drives away evil.

She looked at him with such shock and fear.

Xie Wei deeply loathed such an expression.

Malice sprouted in his heart. His eyelids lowered indifferently, his lips approached her ear, his tongue extended, only saying slowly yet clearly: “Get out.”

The evil spirit seemed finally frightened away by him.

As if suffering enormous humiliation, the moment he released her, she retreated in disarray. She even forgot to take away the bowl of ginseng soup she’d brought and fled in panic.

Yet Xie Wei sat back down.

He reclined in the chair, blinked, and saw the Western Warm Chamber restored to cold silence. His hand hung at his side. The imperial brush full of cinnabar fell loosely from his fingers to the floor.

A certain immense emptiness swept over him.

Xie Wei closed his eyes and fell asleep.

However, even borrowing the drug power of Five Stone Powder mixed with Benzoin incense, this sleep was too shallow.

When he awoke, the dark fragrance had gone.

Looking at those piled-high documents, he remembered there were still many matters unprocessed. When he reached for a new brush suspended on the brush rack, raising his eyes he saw that bowl of ginseng soup sitting quietly cold at the corner of the desk.

The eunuchs on rotation duty guarded outside the hall door.

After a long time, they suddenly heard a call from inside: “Someone come.”

They were immediately startled and entered submissively to hear his summons.

Xie Wei sat behind the desk and asked, “Who came last night?”

Most people looked at each other, blankly shaking their heads.

Xie Wei slowly closed his eyes once, changing the question: “Who was on duty last night?”

This time, among the crowd a young eunuch immediately went weak in the knees and knelt down, repeatedly kowtowing to the ground. Knowing his deed was exposed, he cried and begged: “Grand Tutor, spare my life! Grand Tutor, spare my life! It was truly because the Empress begged this slave. For a moment I was possessed, and agreed to her. Grand Tutor, spare my life…”

“…”

The fingers hanging at Xie Wei’s side curled once, as if a dull pain, delayed for a long time, passed through his body, making him dazed for a moment.

Outside the door, it was already the fourth watch of the残夜 waning night.

5) Outside the Door

Having experienced slaughter, within the palace’s forbidden interior, armored soldiers lined all four walls.

The deeper into winter, the more stark the killing atmosphere.

Palace servants were much fewer. They usually didn’t go out, and if they did, they dared not raise their eyes to look around. Thus there were no people on the paths. Even Kunning Palace, which used to be bustling, was now like a cage imprisoning the dead.

While the sky had not yet lightened, Xie Wei stood outside the palace gate, watching for a long time.

Last night’s cinnabar still hadn’t been wiped clean from his palms and fingers.

He lowered his eyes to glance at it, then lifted his steps and slowly walked into the palace gate.

The young eunuchs on both sides, seeing him, all revealed several parts alarm and knelt with bowed heads.

Yet Xie Wei only waved his hand lightly.

The greetings about to leave their mouths thus all returned to silence. They didn’t even dare raise their heads much until after Xie Wei had passed, and even then didn’t dare stand immediately.

The once-luxurious palace, though its various furnishings remained unchanged, lacked human warmth and added a kind of coldness plated on by the changes of worldly affairs.

Snow-white window paper was embedded in the scenic lattice windows.

He walked to the tightly closed palace door and stood for another long while before raising his hand, not knowing whether to knock or simply push it open.

However, just at this moment, from inside came faintly the sound of voices.

Two women.

Perhaps they had been there from the start, but when he’d first stood outside this door, his mind elsewhere, he simply hadn’t noticed.

“Your Majesty…”

“Xie Ju’an is merely a demon wearing a sage’s skin. Xiao Shu is dead, Zhou Yinzhi is dead, Shen Jie is also dead. What can I do? Under the eaves, one must always dissemble. Think about it—submitting to Yan Lin isn’t so bad. Perhaps I could even become empress of the new dynasty.”

…

Her voice lacked last night’s panic and anxiety.

Only a kind of cold, desolate calm.

So much so that hearing it also chilled people.

Xie Wei’s palm, which hadn’t yet touched the door, froze for a long time, finally bit by bit slowly clenching, hanging down again.

However, the malicious energy from early morning that had been suppressed surged up violently.

He lowered his eyelids, and when he raised them again there was no abnormality. Turning, he left from outside the hall door. Only after his figure had completely exited the palace gate did those palace servants behind dare to rise from the ground.

The tightly closed hall door never opened.

Deep in the palace were two women’s murmured words.

That President You who had conducted business across the great rivers and north and south yet was actually a woman, sighed lightly and only said, “All things have causes. If my guess is correct, Xie Wei is also quite pitiable…”

6) Dagger

Returning to the Western Warm Chamber, Xie Wei remembered the cinnabar on his fingers and picked up a nearby cloth to wipe it away bit by bit.

A young eunuch came in saying, “That person from last night has been dealt with.”

Xie Wei was quiet for a moment, then suddenly said, “Go find me a blade.”

The young eunuch immediately froze.

But he also didn’t dare ask more. Lowering his head and saying “yes,” he went to open the storehouse at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to search. However, not knowing exactly what kind of blade Xie Wei wanted, he could only take one fine example of each different style and form. He even mixed in two daggers before tremblingly presenting them before him.

Xie Wei’s gaze swept across them one by one.

Finally, his finger stopped on a dagger.

It truly was a beautiful dagger.

The silver sheath was inlaid with one rounded gemstone after another, looking rather like a plaything.

Then he drew it. Cold light spilled from the blade’s edge.

His thumb pad only touched it lightly and drew blood. It was extremely sharp.

So he closed it and tossed it back into the lacquer tray.

He said, “This dagger—give it to Her Majesty the Empress and deliver it.”

The young eunuch came forward. After waiting a moment and not hearing him say anything else, he understood, immediately taking the lacquer tray with the dagger down and sending it to Kunning Palace.

7) Forced to Death

One day passed, two days…

Another month passed, two months…

Nothing happened.

Yan Lin again entered and exited Kunning Palace several times late at night. The palace’s criticism finally spread to court and country.

Who could tolerate the former dynasty’s empress being so fickle?

Memorials flew like snowflakes. Many people wanted her to die in martyrdom for Shen Jie to fulfill the principle of married couples living and dying together. At the same time, old dynasty forces surged, using Shen Jie’s posthumous edict wanting to bring that imperial clan child Jiang Xuening had selected to the capital to establish as heir apparent.

As late winter neared its end, Xie Wei still didn’t want to go out. He only stood before a window covered with black cloth and asked Lu Xian, “How old is that child?”

Lu Xian said, “Seven or eight years old.”

Xie Wei then said, “Still young.”

Having expended so much effort to rebel, having killed the imperial clan and slaughtered the Xiao family, who didn’t think that in the future either Xie Wei or Yan Lin, one of them would inevitably ascend as emperor?

Lu Xian hoped it would be Xie Wei.

If it was Yan Lin, that also didn’t matter.

But hearing Xie Wei’s tone at this moment, a warning sprouted in his heart. He suddenly asked, “You don’t mean to establish this child as heir apparent?”

Xie Wei didn’t answer.

Regarding the old party wanting to bring the imperial clan child to the capital, he also made no move.

However, before winter ended and spring arrived, news came from outside: that young child had died miserably on the road, killed by Yan Lin’s men.

He summoned Yan Lin to question him.

Yet Yan Lin seemed enraged, saying coldly, “Thousands have been killed. What’s one child? This realm was won by you and me. Should we elevate a small child who can barely write a few characters to be emperor?!”

Xie Wei looked at him quietly: “You want to be emperor?”

Yan Lin said, “Why can’t I want to? If that child becomes emperor, wouldn’t she have to become empress dowager? How can she become empress dowager! She should be my empress!”

“Crack!”

Seeing him act so outrageously, Xie Wei finally couldn’t restrain himself and slapped him.

He was struck, his head turning to the side.

In that moment, the crack from months ago suddenly became a fissure, making him tear apart the calm that had floated on the surface and shout at him, “You’ve never approved of her, even condoning those court ministers in their memorials, wanting to put her to death! But I like her! Whoever wants to harm her and make her die in martyrdom, I’ll kill them one by one! Let’s see if they still dare say half a word!”

Xie Wei’s face darkened: “Whoever wants to harm her, whoever wants her to die in martyrdom, you’ll kill them, is that it?”

He suddenly summoned Daoqin and Jianshu.

Before they even neared Yan Lin, they began to fight.

However, two fists are hard-pressed against four hands. Ultimately Yan Lin was forcefully pressed to the ground. Having heard the storm concealed in those words, his eyes nearly split with rage: “What do you want to do?!”

Xie Wei picked up the longsword that had fallen to the ground and only said, “Then I’ll kill her to show you.”

Having spoken, he went out to issue orders: “Command the Imperial Guards to surround Kunning.”

Then he had someone gag Yan Lin’s mouth, bind him, and push him all the way to outside Kunning Palace.

The Imperial Guards’ armor was heavy. Their march was orderly and resonant. The moment they surrounded the entire palace, the few remaining palace maids and eunuchs inside panicked and fled in disorder, crying out.

The Imperial Guards raised their blades and killed them all cleanly.

Yan Lin’s eyes reddened. He struggled desperately, looking at Xie Wei almost pleadingly.

However, Xie Wei only stood immovably outside the palace gate, sword in hand. His snow-white dao robe remained unstained by dust, adding a kind of sharp, cold cruelty. He called inside: “Your Majesty the Empress, everyone is dead. You may come out now.”

Inside seemed to be the sound of voices.

Then it quieted.

After a long while, suddenly from inside came a shout: “Lord Xie!”

Xie Wei didn’t speak.

Yet her voice calmed again, like this snow covering the ground everywhere, pressed tight and cold too, with a penetrating quality: “You killed the imperial clan, exterminated the Xiao family, destroyed the Heavenly Doctrine—you are one who holds power and also holds my life. By rights, I’m not qualified to negotiate with you. In my life, I’ve used many people. But calculating carefully: I wronged Yan Lin, and Yan Lin also took revenge on me; I used Xiao Dingfei and Zhou Yinzhi, and they also borrowed me to rise in position; I schemed against Shen Jie, and now I must die in martyrdom for him, descending to the Yellow Springs together. I don’t owe them…”

Behind him, Yan Lin seemed to be whimpering.

Jiang Xuening’s voice paused, already stained with slight trembling: “But there is only one person who lived an upright life, originally strict in enforcing laws. It was I who coerced and forced him, harmed him into going astray, sullied his half-lifetime of pure reputation. He is a good official. I sincerely hope Lord Xie will consider the grace of Xuening feeding you blood on the road to the capital in the past, and with my one life exchange his one life, leave him a way to live…”

In that instant, Xie Wei was dazed for a moment.

However, once her words fell, that name floated up from his heart—

Zhang Zhe.

That taciturn face in court, that uninteresting, dull person…

He silently pulled back his lips, suddenly sneering coldly.

Only Jiang Xuening couldn’t see it.

Inside his heart it was as if a blazing fire scorched his lungs and bowels, yet his voice still carried that cruel, indifferent coldness: “Acceptable.”

That moment seemed to stretch to eternity.

Yet it was only the blink of an eye.

First there was no sound from within the palace gate. Immediately after came a clear, crisp “clang”—sharper than a dagger seeing blood and sealing the throat, falling from someone’s hand and dropping to the ground.

Yan Lin seemed in a dream, taking a long time to react.

Even Daoqin and Jianshu froze.

His eyes reddened. Finally like a trapped beast, a force no one could resist erupted from his body. He suddenly broke free and stumbled toward that palace hall, calling out again and again: “Ningning, Ningning—”

Fresh blood seeped out from within the hall.

That girl who feared pain, feared dead people, had been timid all her life, lay resolute yet quiet in a pool of blood.

Golden hairpin fallen to the ground, trembling hairpin toppled.

Yan Lin rushed in and lifted her. The commander of three armies, who had battled the Tartars, was now so panicked and helpless he seemed like a youth again, crying and desperately shouting: “Imperial physician, imperial physician! Call the imperial physician—”

His hands were covered in blood.

So helpless.

The sword had fallen to the ground at some point. Xie Wei stood motionless outside, watching for a long time without taking a single step inside.

Jiang Xuening was finally dead.

8) Green Plum Blossom

Yan Lin’s soul seemed to have gone with her.

Her spirit laid in state in Kunning. Court ministers either didn’t dare or disdained to come pay respects.

Only he sat before the coffin drinking wine all day.

When extremely drunk, he would confess to her; occasionally sober, he would complain voice after voice, hating her, blaming her, as if she were still in the world…

No one knew who suddenly mentioned that Minister Zhang from the Ministry of Justice had actually written himself a crime edict. A long page—when the Three Judicial Offices convened many court ministers for joint trial, not one had the heart to proceed.

Then he suddenly went mad.

Grasping his sword, he headed for the Ministry of Justice prison to kill Zhang Zhe.

Subordinates came to report. Only then did Xie Wei remember there was still a Zhang Zhe imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice prison for quite some time already.

Yan Lin was naturally stopped by people.

He thought for a moment and only said, “When raiding homes previously, that sword from the Jiang residence—take it to him.”

That should have been something from long ago. When Jiang Boyou was dismissed and the Jiang residence raided, it was found from that dust-covered storehouse.

When the sword case was opened, inside it was surprisingly pristine.

It was a finely forged excellent sword.

Inside the sword case were also inscribed birthday blessings, each stroke somewhat clumsy yet carved very deeply, enduring through the years.

The person who went to deliver the sword returned saying General Yan looked at that sword and never drank another mouthful of wine, only sat withered before Kunning Palace for an entire night.

Xie Wei was too lazy to bother with him.

However, while reading that evening, he saw on a page of “Explaining Characters” the character for “jealousy” written, followed by the explanation: harm.

He threw this volume of books into the brazier.

The next day at dawn, the snow melted. He remembered Zhang Zhe, for whom he’d set an execution date of after autumn, and made a trip to the Ministry of Justice prison.

Yet the words that came out were: Ning’er has died.

Only afterward did he add: Your empress has died.

In that moment, Xie Wei only felt a groundless irony, as if in the dark void someone was watching and laughing at him.

What else was said, he actually had no impression.

Coming out from the Ministry of Justice prison, as he was about to leave, he saw someone standing outside the door, arguing endlessly with the guards.

Also wearing official robes.

Only his appearance looked unfamiliar. In his hand he held a branch of late-blooming green plum blossom, jade-colored petals blooming on withered branches, seemingly that rare variety from the palace.

Xie Wei thought for a moment before remembering: “Is it Wei Liang?”

Daoqin at his side said, “Yes.”

Xie Wei said, “What’s he here for?”

Jianshu then went forward. After a while he returned and said in a low voice, “It seems Her Majesty the Empress left instructions before her death, entrusting him to break off a branch of plum blossom to give to Minister Zhang.”

Xie Wei was silent for a long time before saying, “Let him go.”

Jianshu went forward again.

Only then did those people release Wei Liang.

Wei Liang also saw Xie Wei from afar, but his expression showed considerable displeasure. Not only did he not come forward, he didn’t even show the slightest gratitude, walking directly toward the prison interior.

Xie Wei stood in place.

In a moment, Wei Liang’s person was no longer visible.

Daoqin and Jianshu both thought they would leave.

However, in that moment, the cold in his eyes—not knowing which reverse scale had been touched—he actually said, “Go arrest him. Don’t give him that plum branch either!”

This was clearly deep malicious energy.

Daoqin and Jianshu lately increasingly couldn’t fathom his moods. They could only again arrest Wei Liang who had already gone inside the prison, along with that jade-colored winter plum branch he’d just carried in, bringing them back and presenting them to Xie Wei.

Xie Wei’s slender fingers took it, looked for a moment, threw it on the ground, and slowly crushed it underfoot.

9) Severing Ties

On the return journey, the marketplace seemed to have already forgotten the great disaster from just a few months ago and was gradually recovering its liveliness.

There were also displaced common people begging along the streets.

A barefoot little beggar was tangled in a fight with someone, blocking the path ahead.

Xie Wei sat in the carriage without asking.

Jianshu then came saying, “A few little beggars were fighting. They’ve been separated.”

Xie Wei lifted a corner of the carriage curtain to look.

That little beggar had blood on his head and was crying fiercely, yet his eyes were wide open, staring viciously at the adult he’d been fighting with earlier, teeth clenched without speaking.

Eyes like a wolf cub.

Yet also carrying a kind of lively vitality.

And a chest full of unwillingness, reluctance, refusal to submit…

He suddenly said, “Bring him over.”

Daoqin brought the person before the carriage.

That little beggar also didn’t know depth or who he was.

Xie Wei asked, “How old are you?”

The little beggar wiped the blood from his head and said, “Seven years old.”

Xie Wei asked again, “Do you have a name?”

That little beggar said, “No.”

Xie Wei then slowly lowered the carriage curtain and said to Jianshu, “Take him back.”

But not to the palace.

Rather, to Xie Manor.

However, when Xie Wei walked into the Bidu Hall, before that wall with nothing on it, a figure was already standing there.

It was Yan Lin.

In black, fitted clothing that made him look extremely upright.

But when he heard footsteps and turned around, what filled his eyes was ashen death, along with a kind of sharp mockery.

A delicate dagger inlaid with gemstones was thrown by him from his sleeve, landing on the desk.

Yan Lin asked him, “Was it you who had someone give her the blade?”

Xie Wei didn’t deny it: “So?”

In that instant, Yan Lin nearly gave rise to blazing killing intent. The sword at his waist was drawn sharply and placed against his neck!

He simply couldn’t imagine what this person had done!

In Kunning Palace, they never dared leave any sharp objects. Even the tips of gold hairpins, he had people blunt them.

Yet this person had sent a dagger inside!

The sword edge pressed against his neck, already drawing blood.

Yan Lin clenched his teeth tightly, demanding, “How dare you, how dare you do such a thing! What harm was her being alive to this realm? She never harmed you. What right do you have to force her to death!”

Xie Wei said, “How do you know that when I gave her the blade, I wanted her to kill herself?”

Yan Lin froze.

Xie Wei’s calm eyes gazed at him, clearly gentle and waveless, yet making one perceive a kind of madness accumulated in the depths, even making one’s entire body turn cold: “Since it’s a blade, anyone can be killed.”

He felt he had gone mad.

Xie Wei laughed: “What a pity—she’s a coward. She didn’t dare kill you, only dared turn the blade on herself! Such a person, even if she died a thousand or ten thousand times, what’s there to pity!”

This was his elder brother.

Also the teacher he’d known for nearly ten years and worked with for five!

He gave Jiang Xuening the blade, originally wanting her to kill him!

In this moment, Yan Lin only felt an enormous absurdity, nearly wanting to kill him with one sword strike on the spot!

However, Yan Mu’s deathbed instructions ultimately surfaced.

The sword edge turned, finally sweeping past him from the side, splitting that desk in half: “You and I from now on are like this desk. It’s that I never truly saw you clearly. You are a deranged lunatic who has lost all conscience!”

Yan Lin left.

Xie Wei seemed unconcerned.

10) The Realm

That little beggar was taken down by Daoqin and Jianshu, washed clean, the wound on his head also bandaged, and changed into fitting, brand-new clothing. Instead, he became somewhat anxious and constrained.

His eyes watching people also carried deep wariness.

As if he could abandon all this at any moment and flee for his life.

Xie Wei asked him, “Do you want to be emperor?”

That child probably already knew his identity and was somewhat afraid. However, there was also an indescribable longing. Straightforward and direct, without half a bit of concealment, he actually answered, “Yes!”

Xie Wei suddenly laughed.

He took him by the hand and walked toward the high city tower.

That child asked, “Should I take a name?”

Xie Wei said, “In the future you can choose one yourself.”

That child said, “I can call myself whatever I want?”

Xie Wei said, “Whatever you want to be called, call yourself that.”

The evening light was dim, the withered grass not yet green. The wasteland outside the city extended all the way to the horizon.

Xie Wei stood at the height.

That child clutched his robe corner, standing beside him, also looking down below.

Xie Wei asked, “What do you see?”

That child said, “Bare ground.”

Xie Wei said, “It’s the realm.”

He then became happy: “When I become emperor, then the realm will be mine!”

But Xie Wei shook his head: “No, it’s not yours.”

That child was confused.

Xie Wei then raised his hand, pointing down below: “Look at these rivers and mountains, stretching ten thousand miles without end, yet no one in this realm is its true master. Even if you’re honored as the supreme sovereign, you can only make the tens of thousands of people throughout the realm prostrate at your feet, but you cannot make heaven and earth change one bit of color for you. Even those tens of thousands of people kowtowing at your feet have never been lower than you. You are a beggar who can become emperor. In the future, if you’re not worthy, among those tens of thousands, there will always be someone who stands up and risks death to pull you down from the dragon throne, to explain to the foolish people of the world a principle they may never understand in their entire lives.”

What exactly was that principle?

Many years later, having become a wise ruler of a generation, the emperor would still occasionally wake from nightmares, recalling that enigmatic person and the enigmatic words he left behind.

But at this moment, he forgot to pursue the question.

Only on the way back, he was extremely happy: “Then in the future when I have someone I like, I can enfeoff her as empress, and those I also like can all be enfeoffed as consorts.”

Xie Wei was silent and still.

He then looked at him in confusion: “Does Teacher not have someone he likes?”

Xie Wei’s Adam’s apple moved, as if suppressing something, but ultimately still said nothing.

The later wise ruler would occasionally recall this scene as well, yet still felt as if in a fog: With such an expression, truly there was no one he liked? Perhaps there had always been a certain extremely special person who had carved a deep mark for him.

11) Snow Exhausted

In those final days, Xie Wei didn’t stay in the palace, nor did he stay at Xie Manor.

He stayed at White Pagoda Temple.

The abbot resided in the nearby mountains cultivating.

The day before spring arrived, Xie Wei went up the mountain to visit.

Spring came late in the mountains. The higher one went, the colder it became. Before the thatched hut, snow was actually falling.

Abbot Wangchen was brewing tea.

He sat down and drank several cups, watching the snow in the courtyard fill a small water jar beneath the eaves.

Abbot Wangchen said, “Worldly affairs—sometimes it’s better not to see through them. People in this world live one life. Many pass it by in mediocrity.”

Yet Xie Wei said, “What meaning would that have?”

Abbot Wangchen sighed lightly, chanting a Buddhist phrase: “Why do you torment yourself so?”

Xie Wei sat withered for a long time, lowered his eyelids, and said, “Weary.”

Afterward, no one spoke.

After finishing this cup of tea, he took his leave.

As he was leaving, he again saw that jar of snow beneath the eaves, so he asked Abbot Wangchen for it and took it down the mountain.

Abbot Wangchen said, “Snow will melt when it goes down the mountain.”

Xie Wei didn’t answer.

Arriving at the mountain base, he placed the jar inside Chaoyin Pavilion on that incense table. The snow inside had already begun to melt.

Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist scriptures—he piled them all beneath the pavilion.

A fire was lit, burning them clean.

Debts of life must be repaid.

Xie Wei sat cross-legged before the incense table, watching that jar of snow slowly melt. He also waited for those scriptures to gradually burn out. The golden trembling hairpin that couldn’t be wiped clean of bloodstains was placed in the center. Beside it was a clean silk handkerchief.

He lowered his eyes and removed the blade from his wrist.

The thin blade edge reflected a strand of bright skylight, entering his eyes yet not stirring half an inch of dust around.

The young novice responsible for lighting incense in the stone forest of tablets entered in the afternoon. Behind the Three Hundred Righteous Children’s Memorial stone forest, on that stone tablet where someone had carved a name, a new pit had been dug at some unknown time.

Arriving before Chaoyin Pavilion, he only saw much blood flowing from above down the steps, winding downward.

The snow-white dao robe was half red.

A thin-bladed short knife on the incense table, after being used, had been wiped completely clean, placed side by side with that golden trembling hairpin.

No snow remained in the jar, only half of clear water.

This man who had once loomed like a shadow over the new dynasty departed on such an afternoon when spring approached and snow ended—bizarrely yet peacefully—without leaving a single word for the world.