Chapter 23

The rain continued until the morning of the next day, leaving the ground covered in fallen leaves floating in shallow pools of water.

The wooden dining table had been moved out of the side room and placed where they could keep an eye on the front door. The three of them—mistress and maids—who had been busy all night, were finally able to sit down and eat. With food needing to be rationed, the meal was simple: thin pancakes, preserved vegetables, and boiled eggs.

The meal was eaten in profound silence, devoid of the usual ease. Li Mian and Xing'er both kept their heads down, slowly chewing their pancakes, still shaken to their cores. Li Lanxin ate while keeping a fixed gaze on the mansion’s gate, which had been barricaded with various heavy objects; even the lanterns that usually hung outside had been taken down overnight.

Even at this very moment, the chaotic and terrifying sounds of battle from beyond the deep alleys occasionally drifted in, piercing through the courtyard walls and chilling their ears.

Li Lanxin took a sip of plain water to soothe her tight, parched throat and spoke softly: "From tonight on, we will take turns standing watch. Xing'er, you need more sleep and are too young to hold out, so you will take the first watch. Li Mian and I will handle the rest."

"Later, go find something handy—a firewood axe or a heavy stick—and keep it by your bedside. Do not speak loudly in the house. At night, keep the lamps dim. Move the fire starters, candles, and oil into the storage room on the east side."

Li Mian and Xing'er, completely distraught, nodded numbly and quickly.

Once she had finished giving instructions, the table fell back into silence. After a long while, Xing'er said with a trembling voice, "Mistress... they won't break into our home, will they?"

The days of displacement from her childhood were still etched deep in her memory. Even though the images had blurred, the taste of starving and freezing to the point of death was something that could not be erased, no matter how many years passed.

War had broken out outside, and war meant death. Some armies would press-gang men, others would burn and pillage, and the most terrifying ones would slaughter entire cities. Even if the soldiers didn't have time for such things yet, once chaos descended upon the city, bandits and robbers would sprout up like weeds after rain. Any household was in danger.

They were but three weak women. Even if they could manage to fight off one or two intruders, they could not fight off an endless stream. If the day truly came when their door was breached, then—

"Don't panic, it won't happen." Li Lanxin forced a smile for the two girls, clenching her trembling hands into fists beneath her sleeves. "The unrest outside is merely over the throne. Whoever is fighting whom is a matter for those at the top; what does it have to do with us common folk? As long as we keep our doors barred, we will be fine."

"R-really?" asked Xing'er.

"Of course it's true," Li Lanxin said, patting her head. "Besides, our walls are high and our doors are thick. Even if thieves want to get in, it won't be that easy."

"Eat more. You need to be full to have the strength to carry on."

***

Days passed in a flash. Blood filled the long streets, and corpses floated in the murky river. From the highest tower in the city, one could see black smoke rising like dragons from the two grand estates of the Princes, their beams and halls burned to ashes.

As night fell, troops in silver armor were arrayed outside the Imperial City, a formidable and ominous force, with war drums beating a deep, chilling rhythm. The heads of the Princes of Kang and Qi were hung high upon the military banners on either side, and not a single soul had been left alive in their mansions.

Prince Chen sat high within his military formation. With a wave of his arm, another row of heads fell to the ground, their unwillingly open eyes covered by mud and tangled hair.

***

Xingqing Palace.

The concubines of the six palaces were gathered together in the rain, wailing and sobbing, their tears flowing in streams. They knelt and kowtowed continuously, and from time to time, those who fainted were carried away by palace servants.

"Your Majesty! Empress! I beg to see the Empress!"

"Empress! Please, just see us once!"

"Your Majesty! Please, we beg you! Please go speak to Prince Chen and tell him to stop!"

The torrential rain poured down, and the concubines no longer possessed their usual elegant beauty; their hair was disheveled, their makeup streaked, and their pleas echoed one after another.

The Imperial Guards and the palace walls kept Prince Chen’s rebel army at bay, but their own families were still in the city. With every passing moment, the bloodthirsty Prince Chen slaughtered another household. Most of them had no children, having buried their youth in this deep, cold palace, but now, even their last shred of hope was being stripped away.

The rain gradually eased and finally stopped. When the concubines who had borne princesses also ran over in a panic, dragging their frail daughters to kneel and weep, the gates of Xingqing Palace finally opened.

The Empress stood with majestic dignity, coldly surveying the concubines below, her red lips parting slightly:

"At this moment, the traitorous Prince outside dares to force his way into the palace and kill his master—a heinous crime that the world cannot tolerate. As imperial concubines, you should be waiting quietly for loyal troops to come and punish the tyrant. Instead, you speak for the mad bandit and disrupt the palace. What is your intention?"

At this moment, the concubines could no longer care about such things. Righteous or not, the lives of their families were what mattered most. They wailed and begged again, but were met only with the Empress’s indifferent back.

Suddenly, a frail concubine in a blue dress, who had been kneeling in the center with her head bowed, stood up. She slowly looked up, her bloodshot eyes locked onto that golden-red figure.

"Empress!" Concubine Wen screamed, a hatred that would reach the end of her soul. "You are committing treason yourself! What face do you have to stand there and feign righteousness and hypocrisy?!"

"You knew all along that Prince Chen would rise in revolt! You brought your own family into the palace early, while you let us watch our own kin suffer the brutal tortures of that tyrant! Our families have been slaughtered outside these palace walls! You are a traitor inside and out, rejected by Heaven! You will not have a good end!"

"The Emperor must have been harmed by you as well—"

The Empress stopped in her tracks, turned back, and coldly spat out a few words: "Take her away. Execute the punishment of the 'Paper-Face' suffocation."

The icy words fell, and the concubines were struck with terror. Eunuchs immediately stepped forward, broke Concubine Wen’s arms, and dragged her away. She shrieked in agony until her body went limp.

They had only dragged her a few steps when an Imperial Guard rushed over, terrified and anxious: "Report to the Empress! It is a disaster! Prince Chen intends to use fire to attack the palace! The Deputy Commander has turned against us, the palace gates are in chaos, and we cannot hold them back much longer!"

The Empress’s steady face changed instantly, and she staggered backward.

Not far away, the half-conscious Concubine Wen laughed wildly in her pain: "Empress! Look! You are going to die too! You are going to die too! Hahahaha—I will be waiting for you and your whole family down below!!!"

After a moment of dead silence, the Empress rushed forward, grabbing the guard by his collar, her eyes wide with fury:

"What about outside the capital? I sent Prince Gong with the tiger tally and the blood edict to the East Mountain Camp to mobilize troops to protect the throne! How much distance is there? Why is there still no movement from outside the capital?!"

The guard looked wretched, his voice trembling: "Y-your Majesty, the carrier pigeon message from two quarters of an hour ago said that Prince Gong did indeed bring troops back from the East Mountain Camp. But the forces he mobilized are simply not enough to break into the city quickly!"

The Empress’s face turned deathly pale, and her legs gave way.

"Your Majesty!"

***

The twenty-fifth year of Shun'an, in the month of Mengqiu.

Prince Chen launched his rebellion in the capital, executed the Princes of Kang and Qi, and pressed upon the palace. The gates were breached. The following day, he claimed the throne by the mandate of abdication, installed himself as the new Emperor, honored the Shun'an Emperor as the Retired Emperor and Empress Wu as the Empress Dowager, and commanded the world to submit.

Prince Gong held the blood edict of the Crown Prince, raised a righteous army with the tiger tally, and issued a manifesto to denounce the rebels. Yet, despite besieging the city for many days, they could not advance a single step.

The two armies remained in a stalemate. The capital was in danger, and riots began to break out in provinces and prefectures everywhere.

As the dynasty teetered on the brink of collapse, Prince Jin, Lin, led the Northwestern Army south under the cover of night. He rallied the heroes along the route, joined forces with the East Mountain troops to storm the capital, executed the treacherous rebels, rescued the Emperor from his confinement, and brought peace to the world.

***

Qingluo Alley.

The bed, originally spacious enough for one, was now squeezed with three people. Li Lanxin held one girl on her left and another on her right. Both, large and small, huddled in her arms, clutching her waist tightly.

The sounds of chaos in the city, which had ceased for several days, had broken out once again. Moreover, it was more terrifying and overwhelming than before, and it had not stopped even now, in the dead of night.

Li Mian and Xing'er were both too afraid to sleep, trembling in their own rooms, so Li Lanxin had no choice but to bring them into hers. Together, huddled in one another's arms, they felt slightly more at ease.

"Mistress, Mistress, listen... they are shouting again outside..." Li Mian had exceptional hearing. Even though Li Lanxin’s room was the furthest from the gate, she could still hear the faint sounds from outside. "This time, which Prince is causing the trouble..."

These past few days, there had been those on the street beating gongs to announce that Prince Chen had become the new Emperor, and others screaming that the true blood edict was in the hands of Prince Gong outside the city. Now, which Prince was it?

Li Lanxin hugged them tighter, soothing them softly: "It's fine, it's fine."

"Regardless of which Prince it is, as long as he can extinguish the fires of war, the capital will be safe."

"When that time comes, we will be able to return to our peaceful lives."