Several years earlier, after the Empress Dowager had been captured, Qi Lingfeng and her brother’s family had vanished without a trace from Xie County. Word later came from traveling merchants who moved between north and south that they had glimpsed Qi Lingfeng’s brother during the years the Eastern Court had its capital in the eastern city — he seemed to have obtained a minor official post there. Later still, when the Eastern Court retreated to the Huaiyang region, he had fled along with the rest — but having engaged in corruption and misconduct during his time as an official, he had stirred up deep public resentment. Somewhere along the road, the whole family was recognized in the chaos and killed. It thus seemed that Qi Lingfeng must have perished with them in the turmoil of war.

In truth, over these past years Mu Fulan had not thought of this person at all. Qi Lingfeng and the things she had done felt so distant now. She had not expected that so many years later, she would encounter this person from her past in such a place, in such a manner.

She had not yet fully recovered from her shock when the Empress Dowager, who had been held captive, finally caught a breath and struggled with what strength she could muster, crying out in a trembling voice: “Qi woman! You once did me harm, and yet afterward I still remembered some small kindness from you — thinking you had made your mistake in a moment of confusion and not wishing to destroy your entire clan, I told my son to spare your Qi family. You must have fed your conscience to the dogs! That you could treat me this way now — where is Heaven’s justice?”

Before she had finished speaking, Qi Lingfeng spat at her.

“You old creature! What did you swear to me once, time and again? And how did you treat me in the end? When I rescued you back then, I even lost my own mother — I served you with my whole heart and soul. Did you think Qi Lingfeng was some beggar, to be cast aside at will with a bit of money? It is not so simple!”

She looked around at the painted tiles, carved beams, and embroidered pillars bathed in firelight, and gritted her teeth.

“You — one is Empress Dowager, the other Empress! Do you have any idea how I have lived these past years? I hid in this palace, weathering wind and sun, swallowing every humiliation, doing the most degrading, backbreaking labor day after day! If I am to have no peace, then none of you will either — if I am going to die, we all die together!”

The hand holding the scissors drew a sharp line across the Empress Dowager’s neck, leaving a bleeding cut. The Empress Dowager, frightened and in pain, breathed in the smoke and began to cough uncontrollably; Qi Lingfeng pressed her down hard, and she went limp in a faint.

“Mu woman! Your position was rightfully mine! What gave you the right to take everything from me? This old creature is your mother-in-law, is she not? If you do not come to me now, I will stab her to death! If she dies, it will not be a loss for me!”

The distance was not short, but even so, Mu Fulan could clearly sense the two eyes fixed on her — radiating hatred.

A squad of palace guards came sprinting forward. Their leader told Mu Fulan to withdraw to safety, saying he would lead his men in immediately to rescue the Empress Dowager.

Qi Lingfeng, seeing the guards arrive, screamed and dragged the Empress Dowager in front of herself as a shield, ordering everyone to stand far back at once — or she would stab her to death.

From Qi Lingfeng’s scattered words and her own instincts, Mu Fulan guessed that she must have been planted in the palace by Zhao Xitai sometime when Empress Dowager Liu was still alive. Zhao Xitai’s purpose had clearly been directed against Xie Changgeng. But Qi Lingfeng had been hiding in the palace for so many years — neither striking early nor late — and had suddenly emerged only days after Mu Fulan was made Empress.

Her actions today did not look like something carried out under Zhao Xitai’s orders. It seemed more as though something had provoked her to the point where she had conceived the idea of bringing everyone down with her.

Afraid that the Empress Dowager might come to harm, Mu Fulan quietly told the guards’ leader to withdraw his men as demanded — but to immediately circle around to the rear — while she herself would stall for time and keep Qi Lingfeng occupied, so that he and his men could find a way to slip into the back hall quickly and subdue her while she was unaware.

The leader was reluctant to leave her here alone, but seeing that she showed not the slightest sign of panic and spoke with calm authority — and with no better alternative that would accomplish both aims at once — he did as she said and withdrew immediately.

Mu Fulan covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, brought one palace maid with her, and moved slowly in through the other side of the hall, which had not yet caught fire. As she entered, she said, “Qi woman, I have wronged you — the Empress Dowager and the current Emperor have also wronged you. You are an innocent person, a pitiable person. Your hatred of me is entirely justified. But A’Mao never harmed you. If she too dies at your hands today, even the King of Hell will hold you accountable in the underworld. Let me take A’Mao out of here. I will stay — say whatever you wish to me.”

Moving inch by inch, she reached A’Mao’s side, let the palace maid drag her out from the ground, and then stopped.

Qi Lingfeng fixed her eyes on her: “Come closer — come closer, and I will release this old creature!”

Mu Fulan said: “Release the Empress Dowager first.”

She could make out a faint movement of shadows in the back hall, and knew the guards must have already slipped inside. She continued speaking: “Qi woman, you said just now that I had stolen your position from you. In truth, your words were not wrong. That position — you held it once as well. You presided over all under heaven as its mistress; everyone revered you. All along, you have had excellent judgment and true capability — far more capable than I am. That position of Empress — if you truly wish for it so deeply, even now it is not too late. You saved the Empress Dowager — it was a kindness shown to the Emperor. He would not truly do anything too severe to you. Draw back from the precipice, and under no circumstances harm the Empress Dowager — I will give this position to you…”

Qi Lingfeng’s eyes were wild, her face contorted. She screamed: “Mu woman, you vile creature — if not for you, I would have long since married my brother-in-law! You have brought me to this, and now you try to deceive me!”

She released the Empress Dowager in one motion and lunged straight at Mu Fulan. At almost the same instant, the leader of the guards, who had already crept silently close, sprang forward with several of his men — swift as hawks — and tackled Qi Lingfeng to the ground from behind, wrenching the scissors from her hand.

Qi Lingfeng lay flattened on the ground like a thrashing fish, letting out a scream of wild fury and despair. Both eyes fixed on Mu Fulan, her face filled with virulent hatred. “I die — you will not live either!”

Only then did the leader of the guards notice that strapped to Qi Lingfeng’s arm was a sleeve-arrow launcher.

“The Empress — watch out!”

He was horrified. He realized what was happening and moved to stop it — but it was too late.

At almost the very moment her scissors were wrested away, a sleeve arrow — shaped like a small dagger — shot from Qi Lingfeng’s sleeve, hurtling straight toward Mu Fulan, who stood three feet away.

Inside the hall, the smoke grew thicker and thicker. The Empress Dowager lay on the ground, motionless, not known to be alive or dead. Mu Fulan, seeing that Qi Lingfeng had been subdued, let out a breath of relief and called for someone to move the Empress Dowager out immediately — she, too, was about to leave — when she heard the guard leader’s shout.

Before she had time to react, someone from behind lunged at her and threw her to the ground. That person came down on top of her.

Everything happened with such terrifying speed — as though in a single flash of lightning.

Mu Fulan lay face up on the ground. She opened her eyes — and only then recognized that the person who had thrown her down was Xie Changgeng.

He had come here as well. At this moment, he lay pressed against her, his face tucked beside her neck, not moving at all.

Mu Fulan knew something was wrong. Her heartbeat surged abruptly. She raised her own hand and reached, feeling cautiously over his back — near his lungs — and touched a palmful of something warm and slightly sticky.

“Xie Changgeng!”

She was horror-stricken and cried out.

His shoulder moved slightly, and he murmured quietly, “I am all right,” then slowly pushed himself up off her.

The palace guards had already bound Qi Lingfeng’s hands behind her back and were holding her firmly immobile. The leader knelt before Xie Changgeng, presenting the sleeve launcher unstrapped from her arm, and prostrated himself in terrified apology: “Your subordinate has failed in his duty — I beseech Your Majesty to punish me as you see fit!”

Qi Lingfeng’s face had become so utterly distorted as to be barely recognizable.

She hated the Empress Dowager for going back on her word — but more than the Empress Dowager, the person she hated most was this Mu woman. Her entire heart full of hatred had sustained her through years of humiliation in the palace, wearing herself down until she was barely human. And it had all been for revenge. When she learned that Mu Fulan had been brought into the palace as Empress, her hatred had become something she could no longer contain. Holding on to the resolution that she would rather smash the jade than keep the tile whole, she had chosen today to act. She had concealed the sleeve arrow carefully, and to deliver a killing blow, she had needed this woman to come closer — closer still.

Yet she had not imagined that the sleeve arrow would strike him.

That he would use his own body to shield that woman from the arrow.

Her eyes flew wide open, staring fixedly at the man before her in dragon robes — the man she had always believed would have a brilliant future, the man she had always believed would one day be hers.

Now he had become emperor, and the woman at his side was not her.

Her gaze moved from his face to the spot on his back where blood was slowly seeping outward. Suddenly, she burst into wild sobbing.

“Brother-in-law! I did not mean to! Zhao Xitai said palace maids attract no attention — he was the one who arranged my entry into the palace all those years ago. It was also he who gave me this thing, saying it could help me take revenge. He told me to wait, to wait for his orders before acting. He had intended for me to assassinate you… Only now do I understand — I do not want you to die… Even if I could only stay near you, even just to see you from a distance, I would be satisfied…”

“Brother-in-law, I once saved the Empress Dowager — have you truly forgotten all of that? I lost my own mother for the sake of saving the Empress Dowager. And yet you were so heartless toward me. What has she ever done — what merit does she have — that she deserves to be your Empress?”

Qi Lingfeng writhed on the ground in desperate struggle, her cries tearing through the air.

Xie Changgeng’s expression remained blank and indifferent. He turned his face and said to the palace guards: “Kill her.”

The fire inside the hall was spreading to more and more places. A swath of curtain hangings nearby was caught by a tongue of flame; the fire leapt upward in an instant and came surging toward them.

After he had spoken, he reached out and pulled Mu Fulan — who was still sitting on the ground — to her feet in one motion, and shielding her, steered her around the burning places and quickly led her out through the hall doors.

The palace attendants had already carried the unconscious Empress Dowager out by many hands and conveyed her to another chamber. The head eunuch Cao Jin directed the staff in fighting the fire; the situation was quickly brought under control. The imperial physicians had also arrived. Xie Changgeng ordered them to attend to the Empress Dowager first. He was informed that aside from the superficial wound on her neck and the fainting spell caused by inhaling smoke, she appeared to be in no serious danger.

He sat down slowly and allowed the physicians to examine his injury.

The sleeve arrow was of a specialized construction — its shaft light and short, but its arrowhead flat and broad. Once it struck its target, the wound it inflicted was both deep and wide, like a dagger driven in, with tremendous destructive force.

This one had gone in almost entirely — buried nearly the whole length of the shaft.

Blood seeped out, slowly but without stopping, from the wound. The physician said the location was close to the lungs and could not be delayed — the arrow needed to be extracted and the bleeding stanched as soon as possible.

Xie Changgeng asked: “How long will it take?”

“The sleeve arrow has gone in almost entirely. Removing it will likely take some effort…” A physician who specialized in trauma responded.

At this moment, Cao Jin came in and reported carefully: “Your Majesty, the protocol official has come to urge that the auspicious hour is nearly upon us. The Crown Prince, the hundred officials, and the thousand elderly men of distinction from the common people are all waiting outside the Ancestral Temple…”

Mu Fulan steadied herself and said: “Go and tell the protocol official that the Emperor has other pressing matters — the Crown Prince investiture ceremony is cancelled and will be rescheduled for another day!”

Cao Jin glanced at the bloodstains splattered across the imperial dragon robe and hastily complied, turning to go — when he heard the Emperor speak: “The Crown Prince’s investiture has been set — it cannot be changed. Go tell them I will come out presently.”

Mu Fulan was taken aback.

The physician urged desperately: “Your Majesty, the sleeve arrow appears to have injured the lungs. This is not like other wounds. The injury is deep — if the arrow is hastily removed without proper treatment, there is a risk that the bleeding cannot be controlled, and if the blood flows without ceasing, the consequences would be too dreadful to contemplate. We beg Your Majesty to consider your sacred person first!”

The physician turned to Mu Fulan: “The Empress is also versed in medicine. If Your Majesty does not take our word, perhaps you will heed the Empress.”

Mu Fulan was about to speak when Xie Changgeng raised a hand, and slowly stood up.

“Then wait until after the investiture to remove the arrow. Have the wound bound for now to stop the external bleeding. That is all.”

His tone permitted no argument.

Mu Fulan said: “Your Majesty, please — let us delay the ceremony.”

Xie Changgeng looked at her. “Affairs of state admit of no trivialities. Moreover, everyone is already waiting — it cannot be changed on a whim.”

He paused, then walked slowly up to her and said in a low voice: “I have sustained worse injuries than this before. Without the arrow being pulled, the wound will not worsen significantly, and I can hold on. From here to the Ancestral Temple is no great distance. I will ride in a sedan chair — it will be smooth enough. You need not worry.”

And with that, he ordered the physician to stop the external bleeding as quickly as possible.

The physician, left with no choice, dutifully bound and dressed the wound and had someone bring him clotting pills to take internally. The eunuchs also helped the Emperor change his clothes and put on a cape to cover the affected area.

He was ready quickly. He stood there while the eunuchs wiped away a layer of cold sweat that had broken out on his brow, closed his eyes briefly, and then started forward toward the door.

The eunuchs rushed to follow.

Mu Fulan watched that figure ahead of her — slightly hesitant in its step as it crossed the threshold — and felt her mind descend into utter turmoil. She could hold back no longer, and the words left her lips before she had thought: “Let me go with you!”

Xie Changgeng stopped. He turned, slowly, showing that face that had gone pale as paper.

She stepped quickly to his side and said: “I know that in such occasions, I would not normally need to be present. I am going so that I can look after you.”

Xie Changgeng looked at her in silence, saying nothing.

Mu Fulan did not wait for his nod. She had said what she needed to say and called for the physicians to bring their medicines along, then had the eunuchs bring a sedan chair, and took his arm herself, seating him in it — he was to walk no more.

The man followed her arrangements without a word and sat in the sedan chair. Mu Fulan accompanied him, and together they arrived at Zishen Gate.

The protocol official was waiting there.

A moment ago, just as they were about to set out, a thick plume of smoke had risen from the direction of the rear palace, and the Emperor had ordered someone to first escort the Crown Prince to the Ancestral Temple while he himself turned back. He had been gone for so long now; the auspicious hour was running out with precious little left. The protocol official was deep in anxious worry — when suddenly he saw the Emperor and Empress appear together, the Empress supporting the Emperor as they stepped down from a sedan chair.

The protocol official felt some surprise, but how would he dare ask questions. Seeing the two of them change to a palace carriage together, he hastily led the full procession of guards of honor, front and back, on the way to the Ancestral Temple.