First Year of Jianyuan, April 15th.
Liu Che had been on the throne for half a month. The court was as quiet as stagnant water, but everyone knew something was stirring beneath the surface.
The Prince of Liang still had not come to mourn. He had sent someone to deliver a memorial claiming he was gravely ill and unable to rise. Liu Che read it, placed it on his desk, and neither approved nor returned it. It just sat there. Like a thorn, stuck in place, neither moving nor being pulled out.
"The Prince of Liang's weapon depot in the Mangdang Mountains has been clarified," a hidden agent knelt in the study, his voice kept very low. "Enough to equip eight thousand men. Not five thousand. Eight thousand."
Liu Che's finger tapped once on the desk. Eight thousand. Three thousand more than before. He was expanding his army.
"What about Gongsun Gui?"
"Still in Suiyang. The Prince of Liang has been summoning him frequently lately, sometimes talking late into the night. Our people cannot get in, but we have learned one thing—Gongsun Gui is writing something for the Prince, some kind of strategy. The specific content is unknown, but after the Prince read it, he has been deploying troops for three consecutive days."
Liu Che said nothing. He looked at the map, his finger pressing on the location of Suiyang. Mangdang Mountain. The Kingdom of Liang. Chang'an. A line. A line that could snap at any moment.
"We cannot wait any longer," he said. His voice was light, but every word carried weight.
April 18th. Liu Che issued three imperial edicts in succession.
The first: The Prince of Liang failed to come to mourn, which is contrary to ritual; therefore, three counties are stripped from his fiefdom.
The second: The taxation in the Kingdom of Liang has been chaotic in recent years; the Commandant of Justice is ordered to send personnel to investigate.
The third: Gongsun Gui, a guest scholar beside the Prince of Liang, is suspected of secretly colluding with the Xiongnu; the Commandant of Justice is ordered to arrest him and bring him to justice.
Three edicts, each harsher than the last. Stripping land was a slap in the face; auditing accounts was digging up the roots; arresting Gongsun Gui was cutting off an arm. Sending all three out simultaneously meant that even if the Prince of Liang wanted to react, he would not have time to block all three knives at once.
"Your Majesty," I stood beside him, watching the agent receive the order and withdraw, "with these three edicts, the Prince of Liang will go mad."
"That is exactly what I want," Liu Che said. "If he does not go mad, how can I make my move?"
His eyes were calm. But I saw what lay beneath that calm—something cold and hard, like a blade. He was no longer the youth who knelt before his mother saying, "This might be the only time in this life." He was the Son of Heaven. The Son of Heaven's blade cannot hesitate.
April 20th. The edicts reached Suiyang.
The Prince of Liang, Liu Wu, smashed the table where the edicts were delivered. "Strip my land? He has only been on the throne for a few days!"
Gongsun Gui stood nearby, his face also grim, but he was calmer than the Prince. "My Lord, His Majesty is forcing you. You must not move. If you move, you fall into his trap."
"Not move? If I don't move, he will chop off my hands one by one! Strip land, audit accounts, arrest you—what is next? Strip my title? Take my life?"
"My Lord—"
"Enough!" The Prince of Liang slammed the table and stood up. "Who does he think he is? A fifteen-year-old child! Years ago, did he want to be Crown Prince on his own? It was his aunt—my sister—who fought for him! Now he turns his face and pretends not to know us?"
Gongsun Gui said nothing more. He looked into the Prince of Liang's eyes and saw what was burning there—not anger, but fear.
April 22nd. Personnel from the Commandant of Justice arrived in the Kingdom of Liang. As soon as the auditors entered the Governor's office, they were blocked. The Prime Minister of Liang claimed that the kingdom's account books were being reorganized and needed time. Three days. Five days. Seven days. Time dragged on day by day. The officials from the Commandant of Justice were left idle in the relay station, unable to find anything.
The hidden agent rushed back to Chang'an overnight. "Your Majesty, Liang is stalling. They must be destroying evidence."
Liu Che said nothing. He looked at the map, his finger pressing on the location of Liang. He remained silent for a long time.
"Issue an order," he said. "If the Commandant of Justice cannot investigate, send the Censorate. If the Censorate cannot investigate, send the Chancellor's office. Send them one by one. Keep sending until they can no longer block us."
The agent received the order and withdrew. I stood beside him, looking at his profile. Under the candlelight, his outline was hard. His jaw was tense, his lips pressed together, no hesitation in his eyes.
"Your Majesty," I said, "you are forcing him."
"Yes."
"He will rebel."
"I know." He turned his head to look at me. "I am waiting."
April 25th. The Prince of Liang did not rebel. Gongsun Gui fled.
When the agent brought the news, Liu Che was approving memorials. He put down his brush, took the secret report, and unrolled it. He read it through. His expression did not change.
"Gongsun Gui has fled," he said. "He left the city overnight before the officials from the Commandant of Justice arrived. He ran south. He might be going to Huainan, or perhaps Hengshan. But his mistress outside the marriage is already under our control in Chang'an."
"What should we do?"
"Let him run," he put down the report. "If he runs, the Prince of Liang will be even more afraid. Gongsun Gui knows all of the Prince's secrets. Now that he has fled, the Prince will worry that he will fall into someone else's hands. He will lose sleep. He will make mistakes."
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
"Lu Xingye."
"Mm."
"Are you afraid?"
"Afraid of what?"
"Afraid of me." He opened his eyes and looked at me. "You just said I am forcing him. Are you afraid that one day, I will force others like this?"
I looked at him. The candlelight danced in his eyes. His face was half-lit, half-dark, like an unfinished painting.
"No," I said.
"Why?"
"Because you are not forcing him. You are saving more people. If the Prince of Liang rebels, one hundred thousand people will die. By forcing him to make a mistake, making him fall before he can rebel, those one hundred thousand people will not have to die."
He looked at me for a long time.
"You are right," he said. "But people will still die."
He said nothing more, lowering his head to continue approving memorials. I stood beside him, watching his brush glide across the bamboo slips. Every stroke was steady, steady as a knife.
April 28th. Night.
I was in the workshop repairing a bronze mirror. Not the previous one, but another. Older, more shattered. Fragments covered the entire desk; I was piecing them together one by one, like assembling a painting that could never be finished.
The door was pushed open. It was not Liu Che. It was a palace maid I had never seen before. She wore the uniform of the Eldest Princess's household, with a gold hairpin adorned with dangling steps in her bun. Her expression was calm, but there was something in her eyes—nervousness, urgency.
"Lady Lu, His Majesty wants you to go to Changle Palace immediately. Empress Dowager Dou wishes to see you."
I put down my tools. "Now?"
"Now."
I stood up. Something rang in my heart. Not a sound, but intuition. Liu Che would not send me to see Empress Dowager Dou at night. He knew what kind of person she was. He would not let me go alone.
"Where is His Majesty?"
"He is waiting for you in Changle Palace."
"What clothes is His Majesty wearing today?"
The maid paused. "What?"
"I am asking you, what clothes is His Majesty wearing today?"
Her expression changed. The change was instantaneous, brief, but I saw it. It was a trap.
I did not run. I could not escape. If I shouted now, they would knock me unconscious and take me away directly. If I went with them, at least there was still a chance to leave a clue. I glanced down at the desk, covered with bronze mirror fragments and tools. I placed the tweezers in my hand on the edge of the desk, half suspended in mid-air. Qingxing comes to clean the workshop every morning; the first thing she does is put away my tools. She will discover it—tweezers should not be left there.
"Let's go," I said.
She turned and walked out. I followed behind. As we left the workshop, I looked back at the bronze mirror on the desk. Fragments covered the table, not yet assembled. That pair of tweezers hung on the edge of the desk, reflecting a glimmer of light under the candle flame.
The corridor was dark. The light from the lanterns swayed back and forth, casting the shadows of two people on the wall, one following the other. At the corner, I saw two people standing ahead. Not palace maids, but guards. Guards from the Eldest Princess's household. Their hands rested on their sword hilts.
"Lady Lu," the maid's voice changed, no longer respectful, but cold. "Come with us. The Eldest Princess wishes to see you."
I said nothing. I stood there, watching the two guards approach. They stood on either side of me, not touching me, but leaving me no room to escape.
"Let's go," the maid said.
I walked with her. We crossed the corridors, passed a side gate, and left the palace. Outside waited a carriage, unmarked, black, almost invisible in the night. I got in. The moment the door closed, I heard my own heartbeat. Fast. But my hands were steady.
The carriage moved through the night of Chang'an. I did not know where we were going. But I could guess. The Eldest Princess wanted to see me. Because the Prince of Liang was about to fall, because Liu Che was sharpening his blade, because they were afraid.
The carriage stopped in front of a residence. Not the Eldest Princess's mansion. It was a residence I had never seen before, small, old, hidden deep in an alley. The maid pushed open the door, and I walked in.
Ajiao was sitting inside.
She wore plain clothes, no jewelry. Her face looked very pale under the candlelight, her eyes red. She saw me and stood up.
"You're here," she said. Her voice was hoarse.
"Lady Chen."
"Sit." She pointed to the seat opposite her.
I sat down. She did not sit. She stood before me, looking at me.
"Do you know why I called you here?"
"No."
"You do." Her voice suddenly changed, becoming sharp. "You know everything. You know what he likes, what he wants, when he is tired, when he is in pain, when he needs company. You know everything. I know nothing."
Her tears fell. She did not wipe them.
"I have known since childhood that I would marry him. My mother said you would be the Empress. You would be the most noble woman in the world. I believed it. I waited for so many years. And what I got was him not even looking at me."
She looked at me, hatred in her gaze. Not a sharp hatred, but a deeper, heavier one, like water.
"Lu Xingye, do you know, sometimes I hate you. I hate that you do nothing yet gain everything. I have done so much, yet gained nothing."
She looked toward the window—in the direction of Changle Palace. She was silent for a long time.
"Today, my mother went to the palace. To see Empress Dowager Dou. She told me to persuade His Majesty to spare the Prince of Liang. She said this was my last chance. To let His Majesty see my usefulness."
She lowered her head, looking at her hands.
"I went. He did not see me. He sent word saying—he was busy with state affairs."
She laughed briefly. Short, like a thread snapping.
"Busy with state affairs. He has time to go to your workshop every day. Busy with state affairs."
She squatted down, squatting in front of me, looking up at me. Her eyes were red, her lips trembling.
"Lu Xingye, do you know—my mother has never asked what I want. She only told me I must be the Empress. Since childhood, I knew I would marry someone I did not know, sit in a position I did not want. I did everything she told me to do. I learned everything I was supposed to learn. I waited for so many years."
Her voice grew lower and lower.
"But he still does not want me."
Her tears fell drop by drop, landing on the hem of my skirt.
"Today, my mother stayed with Empress Dowager Dou for two hours. When she came out, her face looked terrible. She said to me—'If His Majesty does not want you, then you have nothing.'"
She looked at me.
"She did not say 'you'. She meant 'me'. She is not afraid that I cannot be Empress. She is afraid that if I cannot be Empress, she will lose her backing."
Her hand clenched the corner of her clothes, her knuckles turning white.
"Lu Xingye, do you know—I have never chosen for myself. Never."
She squatted before me, looking up at me. In that moment, she was not the daughter of the Eldest Princess, not the future Empress. She was just a sixteen-year-old girl, trapped in a chess game that did not belong to her, not knowing how to make the next move.
I looked into her eyes. In history, Chen Ajiao was eventually deposed and died in Changmen Palace. That book had only one line about it. Now, that line had become a face. A face soaked in fear and despair, a sixteen-year-old face.
"Lady Chen," I said, "I cannot help you."
Her expression changed.
"What you want, I cannot give. Whether he likes you or not—that is something I cannot help with."
I paused.
"But there is one thing I know."
"What?"
"You should not be here. You should not be treated as a chess piece. Whether it is the Eldest Princess's piece or Empress Dowager Dou's piece. You should not be anyone's chess piece."
She looked at me for a long time. Tears still hung on her face, but her gaze changed. Not hatred, not fear, but something I could not define.
"You are right," she stood up and stepped back. "But I already am."
She turned around and walked to the door.
"Watch her. Do not let anyone know she is here."
The door closed. The sound of the lock falling was loud.
I sat in the darkness, listening to my own heartbeat. One beat, one beat, one beat. Very steady.
The night in Chang'an is long. But I know someone will come to find me. He comes to the workshop every day. He will see those tweezers. He will discover it.
He will definitely come.
[End of Chapter 24]