Gu Yanxi guided the man to a seat farther away and helped him settle. Lai Fu immediately summoned attendants to tidy the room.

“Have someone bring some light, simple food.” Thinking of the sour and crisp appetizers he had eaten at the Hua household, Gu Yanxi thought he should ask for some to be brought into the palace later — his imperial uncle’s body was in this condition now, and having just been cut off from the elixirs, he likely had no appetite for anything.

Shao Yao looked up. “Yanxi-brother, I will need to remain in the palace for some days.”

“Alright. Stay in the side hall. I will ask Grandmother to send two people to attend you.”

Shao Yao had no opinion on such arrangements. She placed the imperial physicians’ consultation records and the dietary records side by side, turned to matching dates, and began flipping through both simultaneously.

Gu Yanxi did not disturb her. Instead, he turned and knelt before the Emperor to make his request. “Your servant requires—”

He had barely spoken when the Emperor extended his hand and opened his palm. That gesture was…

“Give you the Tiger Tally. All the military forces of the capital answer to your command.” He closed the young man’s fingers around the tally with both hands, then patted them gently. “Use it well. Your imperial uncle entrusts his life and safety to you.”

Gu Yanxi bit down on the tip of his tongue. “Yes. Your servant… will guard you with his life.”

For this trust of yours alone — I would give everything, even unto death.

He drew a deep breath. Gu Yanxi rose, donned his mask, and stepped out the door. He raised the Tiger Tally aloft.

“All present — hear my command.”

The Commander of the Imperial Guard drew a sharp breath. The Emperor had truly given the Tiger Tally to another?

Though his heart churned beneath the surface, his body moved without hesitation. His hand went to the hilt of his sword and he dropped to one knee. “Fu Gang awaits your orders.”

From the shadows, the Seven Lodges operatives and the Emperor’s own hidden guards emerged one by one and knelt, awaiting instruction.

“All three palaces, six halls, and twelve courts — every person is to return to their assigned position and remain there. Anyone found wandering without cause will be treated as a spy.” Gu Yanxi’s gaze swept across the visible rooftops of the surrounding palace buildings. “This applies equally to all Imperial Consorts, and to any Princes and Princesses currently residing in the palace.”

“Yes.”

“Fu Gang — go personally to the four Imperial Princes’ residences and instruct them to seal their gates and await His Majesty’s summons. Until that summons comes, not one step beyond their gates.”

Fu Gang had held the position of Imperial Guard Commander for four years. This was the first time he had witnessed the full authority of the Seven Lodges Chief — here, at the very door of the imperial study, under the Emperor’s own eyes, this man dared to issue such commands concerning the Imperial Consorts and the Princes themselves.

Was it overstepping? Unquestionably. For anyone else, ten lives would not be enough to pay for it.

But this was the Chief of the Seven Lodges. No matter how furious the Princes and Consorts might be, they would simply have to endure it.

The Seven Lodges of the Great Qing Dynasty had always been this — second only to one person in the entire realm, above all others, and trusted completely by the Emperor. The Seven Lodges Chief had never once failed to live up to that trust.

Fu Gang had not come to his position of Imperial Guard Commander through an ordinary background. On the very first day he took up his post, his father had summoned him to the study — not to warn him of things to watch out for, nor to advise him on how to conduct himself, but to speak at length about the Seven Lodges alone, and to leave him with a single caution: Treat the words of the Seven Lodges Chief as the words of the Emperor himself.

And so, in this moment, he responded crisply.

Gu Yanxi’s orders continued. “The Northern Camp is to take over city defense and conduct rigorous inspections of all suspicious persons. The Eastern and Western Camps will encamp outside the city walls and remain on standby for deployment. The Central Camp will encircle and guard the imperial palace.”

Fu Gang’s head snapped up sharply. If the Central Camp assumed control of the palace — where did that leave the Imperial Guard? But what came next truly alarmed him.

“The Southern Camp will guard the Imperial Princes’ residences.”

Guard, he said — though in truth, that meant watch over. Fu Gang’s palms grew slick with perspiration. He swallowed the question about the Imperial Guard’s own role.

“The Imperial Guard will come with me to make arrests.”

Fu Gang paused, then answered in the affirmative.

Gu Yanxi gave him a glance and found his response satisfactory. The Imperial Guard were a corps of young men from notable families — and their skill was genuine. It had to be, to serve as the Emperor’s final line of defense. Every man among them represented a family — illustrious families, or those that had once been so. Among those he intended to move against today, there would likely be people connected to their clans. He could not leave these men inside the palace.

And he also needed to determine whether any of them had any connection to this affair. Since a thorough reckoning was to be made, it would be done completely. Opportunities such as this one came only once, and he would not allow a second.

“Lai Fu.”

Lai Fu stood respectfully at his side, hands folded before him. “This old servant is here.”

“Go to the Empress Dowager in person. Offer her my apologies on my behalf, and ask that she honor us by presiding over the inner palace.”

“This old servant obeys.”

“Xiao Wu.”

“Your subordinate is here.”

“Deploy every operative of the First Lodge to personally guard the Emperor at close range. Any person who enters uninvited — cut them down on the spot.” Gu Yanxi’s entire bearing was sharp with lethal intent. “Any person. Without exception.”

“Your subordinate obeys.”

Gu Yanxi raised his hand and drew up his hood. The sun was shining fully, yet he felt a chill to his very core.

This was the palace — its struggles were of life and death. Here, every person was a potential adversary. Father was not father; son was not son.

The Tiger Tally pressed into his palm, its edges biting into his flesh. This was imperial power — the authority that moved the world with a single command. All fought to possess it. And yet he only wished to be far from it: to sit across from the person he cared for in a small, unassuming courtyard, to share a pot of tea, to hold a book, to spend an afternoon in quiet.

“Move out.” The Seven Lodges’ punishment hall had not been opened in a long while. It was time for blood.

“Yes.” Fu Gang immediately went to assemble the Imperial Guard. Partway down the path, he looked back. He saw the man in the mask standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his cape snapping in the wind. Even from a distance, even just looking at him — one felt instinctively that every bone in that man’s body was cold and absolute.

Blood and storm were coming to the capital.

And yet — so what? In one hundred and seventy years since the Great Qing Dynasty’s founding, every uprising that had shaken the realm had ultimately been resolved by the Seven Lodges. This time would be no different.

In the Empress Dowager’s Palace of Longevity and Happiness, Lai Fu knelt prostrate on the ground and relayed the Shizi’s message word for word, without omission.

The Empress Dowager listened in silence until the end, then asked not a single question. “This Dowager understands. Tell the Shizi on this Dowager’s behalf — the inner palace will not fall into disorder.”

“This old servant obeys.” Lai Fu bowed again. “If Your Ladyship has no further instructions, this old servant will take his leave.”

“Go.”

Once he was gone, Yuxiang’s expression shifted somewhat. “Your Ladyship, this…”

“The first time Yanxi erupted like this was when his mother died and Shao Yao nearly did not survive. Because of me, he endured. The second time was when those who trusted no one played their underhanded tricks and tried to plant someone in his quarters — for the Emperor’s sake, he endured that too. This time, he is finally able to act. That is good.”

The Empress Dowager turned the jade ring on her smallest finger. Her eyes were cool as still water. “That such an uproar was made, with even Shao Yao summoned to the palace — the matter can hardly be unrelated to the Emperor. Whoever has grown tired of living — why should this Dowager stop them?”

Yuxiang had served the Empress Dowager since her time in her family home, had declined her own chance at marriage and stayed, and had remained at her side ever since. Decades of trust had given her knowledge of much that others did not know. She lowered her voice and said, “This servant thinks it looks as though the Imperial Consorts and Princes may be caught up in this — and once it comes to dealing with them…”

“Those who should be stripped of rank will be stripped. Those who should die will die. They brought it on themselves — they have no one else to blame.” The Empress Dowager rose from her seat. “Dress me.”

Author’s Note: I’ve come to realize — there is one devoted reader who loves this story dearly, who enjoys leaving comments and replying to others’ comments, but who seems naturally gifted with a talent for gentle mockery — even in her love for the story, she cannot resist a teasing remark now and then. Yet none of it can conceal the fondness in her heart. Does any reader recognize themselves?