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The short winters in Tang Empire meant that three months passed by in a flash. A few days earlier, news spread from the Song Empire that King of Jinjiang, having suspected issues with the Emperor’s health, led some of his supporting officials to the imperial doctors for a public announcement of the Emperor’s health. His proposition was rejected by Nalan Hongye, almost culminating into a fight. Rumors spread around in the Song Empire that the Princess sought to claim the throne, and that the previous Emperor’s death was her doing. Unease spread in the region with rumors the King of Jinjiang secretly amassing forces, with some of the nobles already responding to his call for arms.

As Li Ce spoke about this, he frowned as he casually remarked, “If everything’s fine, why didn’t they shut these people up?”

Also silent was Chu Qiao, as she had guessed some things. They probably were not the only one with all the attention on the Song Empire. Chu Qiao wondered how the lady who had single-handedly supported Nalan empire for so many years would deal with this schemings? She couldn’t help but recall the letter she saw at Yan Bei years ago, where it read: ‘The mountain nurtured trees, yet the trees nourished their branches; My heart sought your happiness, yet you had not known.’

Who could remain forever firm? For as much as one could maintain a tough appearance, eventually comes a day of grief and sadness.

On the 9th of March, Li Ce’s second son, Li Qiaoan, succumbed to typhoid fever at the age of three. Li Ce was at Xiang Lake inspecting a dam when he was first informed. Even though Li Ce immediately rushed home, by the time he arrived his son had already passed on.

At present, Li Ce had two sons and a daughter, his eldest son being six-years-old, his daughter four. The son that had just died was born to Lady Nanyun. The death of the child devastated her into an illness that led to her death merely three days after. Being too small to be buried in a coffin, his second son was cremated in Nantian Temple and was left to rest there.

In the past, Li Ce was always sober and could face various challenges with a clear mind. But that night, Chu Qiao saw him drunk for the very first time.

Squinting his eyes, Li Ce donned a light smile as he grabbed Chu Qiao’s hand, murmuring as he drank, “Have I been killing too much?” He grabbed with such force that Chu Qiao’s wrist hurt. The halls were quiet, and as the cold wind blew in it kicked up some dust, carrying with it the croaking of the frogs in the distant willows. Those soft distant noises made the destitute in this room stand out even more. On top, the copper crane candle stand, the candle’s red molten wax dripped down like a lady’s tears silently rolling down her cheeks.

The next day, Li Ce posthumously bestowed the title of Concubine Yun to Lady Nanyun at the entrance of the Imperial Tomb, giving closure and solace to her family.

Two months flashed by, and it was May. Lady Ziming safely delivered a son and had returned to the palace where a celebration. Li Ce named the child Qingrong, and bestow upon him the title of King of Rong. In an instant, Lady Ziming had become the most powerful of the lady in the harem.

In private, the ladies in the palace discussed how she had in such a short period, conceived a child and ascended to power. Considering that, her time at the top would not be far away. Nevertheless, there were some who said she was born as nobody, with her family as fallen nobles and her father a criminal. And while her brother was climbing the ranks in the courts, their identities represented a barrier towards higher positions. Without family heritage and support, it would be difficult to establish a foothold.

It was only then Chu Qiao realized that she was not wholly unrelated to this lady. When Zhao Yun’er was hunting her, Zhao Song entrusted Chu Qiao to Zhan Ziyi. And Zhan Ziyu was the brother of this Lady.

Chu Qiao had never paid much attention to Li Ce’s harem, neither did she enquire about those issues. But right now she suddenly realized something and asked Qiu Sui, “Why was the Emperor’s mother not there during the celebrations?”

Qiu Sui replied, “Since the passing of the Emperor, the Empress left for Anyin Temple and had not returned in the years since.”

Chu Qiao hearing this, couldn’t help but feel sympathy of the ups and downs of the life of this Empress.

Just a few days earlier, Zhuge Yue had sent a pair of beautiful, brightly colored birds unique to the lands of Hu. It was said that this species of birds live in pairs, whereby one would not live on alone if its partner were to pass on. Chu Qiao liked them so much that she would feed them personally, and had renamed them as lovebirds with further affection. The female grew closer to Chu Qiao; even when let out of the cage, she would fly around the hall, occasionally landing on Chu Qiao’s shoulders and rubbing Chu Qiao’s cheek with her neck. The male would be enraged seeing this, leading him to fly around the house and make lots of strange noises, giving everyone a laugh in doing so. Li Ce seemed to like the pair of birds as well, teasing them occasionally.

One night as she was sleeping, Chu Qiao suddenly felt that she was being watched. As she opened her eyes and sat up in the darkness, she was caught by surprise in a hard embrace. The familiarity of a grown man’s low and deep breath brushed against her neck with the scent of alcohol. He grabbed her so tightly as if he was using all his strength that he was nearly hurting her. She did not struggle, and through his clothes were freezing, she could almost feel his loneliness and agony, before gently reaching her hand out to pat his back.

As the moonlight shined on them, one could see the red embroideries on the man’s clothes, resembling that of a dragon. In the moonlight, the thin red silk threads seemed to melt into the bright yellow, like a bloodied wrist with a vague pulse.

Gently, Li Ce let her go.

Chu Qiao carefully asked “Li Ce, did you think that I was her?”

Stunned, Li Ce turned his head and looked at her, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly. At that moment, Chu Qiao cramped up, having realized she might have unintentionally exposed secrets. She quietly explained, “I’ve heard from others that this was where Princess Fu once lived.”

Li Ce looked straight at her, his eyes far-reaching like an abandoned ancient well with a precise meaning in it.

Chu Qiao, unable to comprehend his gaze, only thought his gaze was slightly uncomfortable.

“Haha...” Li Ce chuckled, before cheekily remarking, “Princess Fu’s figure was much better.”

That night, Li Ce left the Mihe Residence and headed towards Rou Fu Palace. As he stepped out of the hall, Chu Qiao spotted a bright and smooth object on the table. It was Li Ce’s jade thumb ring. She ran towards the window, exclaiming “Hey Li! Your thumb ring!”

Li Ce turned around and smiled at her, the moonlight dazzling his expression. “Every moment with the ladies is priceless. I will be back tomorrow to retrieve it!” resuming his journey as he finished his sentence.

Holding the jade ring, Chu Qiao stared at the messy Emperor. As she turned around, she stubbed her toes on a protruding surface on the floor, causing her great pain... She sat down frowning, only to see her toes bleeding profusely, staining her white nightgown.

At that instant, a trace of bad premonition loomed in her heart. A sudden rush of footsteps came a few hours past midnight. Chu Qiao had been feeling uneasy and had not been sleeping well. And as she got up, Mei Xiang and Qiu Sui hurriedly entered the compound, everyone’s faces pale as if they’ve seen the dead.

“His Majesty has been assassinated!”

Boom! In the darkness of the night, the white jade ring had dropped onto the floor, but instead of shattering, it was merely chipped and rolled down the smooth floor.

By the time she reached the Yixin Palace, the sounds of crying and wailing filled the air, as the entire contingent of imperial doctors waited outside the hall. A few seasoned and well-qualified doctors were in the room, where basins of blood and water were constantly brought out. The scene stabbed deep straight painfully into the bone marrow of Chu Qiao, cutting her heart like a sharp knife.

Qiu Sui said Li Ce was stabbed at night as he stayed with Lady Zi Ming. The perpetrator, being an elderly eunuch that claimed King Luo was his benefactor, did not wait for the guards the capture him before biting his tongue and taking his own life.

Chu Qiao clenched her fist. She was not allowed to grieve outside, much less enter the inner hall. She wrinkled her eyebrows in doubt. Not only was the compound heavily guarded, but Li Ce was a top tier fighter himself. How could an elderly eunuch sneak in and attempt such a crime? Even Li Ce himself would not allow strangers to get up close unguarded.

As she stared into the distance, a lady wearing thin clothing knelt alone on the small courtyard in front of the palace facing away from Chu Qiao, her hair in a mess. Qiu Sui said that was Lady Zi Ming, now also known as Concubine Ming. She had been kneeling there since the beginning of the ordeal.

At that very moment, the doors of the palace swung open. Sun Di led a crowd of loyal ministers and asked nervously, “How is His Majesty?”

The senior doctor wiped the sweat off his forehead and replied, “His Majesty’s life is no longer in danger, but he will need to rest” As he finished his sentence, the crowd let out tears and cries of relief while at the nearby courtyard, Concubine Ming collapsed onto the floor.

“Master Sun, His Majesty wants to see you,” the senior doctor said. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of Chu Qiao and added, “You too, miss.”

In an instant, she was the focus of the crowd’s puzzled expression. Chu Qiao took a deep breath, calmly walked forward, greeted Sun Di before stepping into the room under the gaze of everyone.

The smell of medicine hung in the air of the theater due to its poor ventilation. Sun Di went in first, and after what seemed like an eternity, came out and told Chu Qiao, “His Majesty isn’t in a good state of mind, keep it brief.”

“Got it.” Chu Qiao nodded as she stepped into the inner palace through the layers of veils, in which Li Ce laid on a giant dragon bed. She had never seen him in such a state before. His face pale, eyes yellow, and his lips looked as if they had been sucked dry of blood. He looked at her dazed. Just as Chu Qiao began to panic, Li Ce let out a strange smile, his voice hoarse but soft, “Did I scare all of you?”

Time flashed back to the day they first met, where she dragged the young prince roughly down from his horse and beat him up, leaving him with a swollen face. He gave her a strange expression as he winced in discomfort.

“Li Ce,” Chu Qiao stammered, as she saw a gaping knife wound across his chest, a mere inch away from piercing his heart. She looked at him in fear, her hair numb, wanting to hold his hand but not daring to, repeatedly saying, “It’s alright, take it easy and rest.”

“Actually,” Li Ce stammered, “actually, I’ve wanted to prepare a dowry for you for the past few days. I guess Sun Di got lucky. I don’t know...I don’t know if he will secretly keep some for himself.”

Chu Qiao forced a hearty smile and gently replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep a lookout on him.”

“Umm,” Li Ce weakly responded, those few sentences appearing to drain the little energy left in him.

“Go get some sleep, no more talking,” Chu Qiao hurriedly said.

“C’mon, Qiao Qiao, keep me company here.”

“Alright,” she nodded. “I’m going nowhere, I’ll be right here beside you.”

Li Ce soon fell into deep sleep, and after a while, imperial doctors came in to change the medication. As Chu Qiao looked at the wound on Li Ce’s chest, her suspicions only intensified, but now was not the time to pursue such matters.

Three days later, Li Ce was making good progress in his recovery. He looked to be in better health as well.

That morning, as Chu Qiao was fanning Li Ce, outside came a bustle. As she turned to look, Qiu Sui rushed in and whispered into her ear, “The Emperor’s mother is back.”

Stunned, Chu Qiao hurried out, only to see the convoy transporting the Emperor’s mother arriving. After exchanging their formalities, they both walked together into Yixin Hall. As the maid lifted the curtain, showing the Emperor’s mother’s plain coat, Chu Qiao looked up was taken aback by what she saw. Despite only being away for a few years, the Emperor’s mother seemed to have aged much more, her hair all grey and her skin wrinkled.

As she got out, tears streamed down her face. She asked in distress, “Emperor? What’s happened to him?”