"The Eldest Princess's remains have been exposed on the city walls for ten days now. I beg the Emperor to show mercy and allow her to be laid to rest!"
Amidst a torrential downpour, Qi Yelin, a Prince of a Different Surname of Dayan, knelt before the door of the Emperor's study.
"Your Majesty!"
Seeing no response from within, Qi Yelin raised his voice again, "The Eldest Princess is your own sister. The dead deserve respect; what you are doing will surely chill the hearts of the Imperial Clan!"
He was so focused on pleading for the Eldest Princess that he remained entirely unaware of the figure hovering above him: a woman wearing prison garb, her face deathly pale, her eyes hollow and vacant.
She was the very Eldest Princess of whom Qi Yelin spoke—Gu Zhaoyan.
Ten days ago, she had been beheaded at the East Street marketplace. After her death, her body was hung upon the city walls as a warning to all officials. The current Emperor, born of the same mother, had even issued a decree forbidding anyone from retrieving her remains.
Her brother had been able to sit securely on the throne only because she had kept the officials in check, recruited various factions, and—ignoring the impeachments of ministers and the scorn of the people—taken three Imperial Sons-in-law to consolidate his power.
Yet, in her brother’s words, she had been nothing but an ambitious woman plotting to usurp the throne.
How ironic.
Cold, unfeeling power proved stronger than the warmth of kinship.
Perhaps heaven felt her grievances, for after she died, she did not immediately descend into hell; instead, her soul remained adrift in the air.
For these ten days, she had wandered everywhere. She had wanted to see if her brother would ever think of her in the dead of night and feel a shred of regret. To her disappointment, without her supervision, he had surrendered himself to wine and women, too happy to even think of home. Not only did he feel no regret, he hadn't shed a single tear for her.
And those who had conspired with him to kill her three Imperial Sons-in-law? They had been unable to wait to divide the spoils of the Eldest Princess's estate before rushing to marry new wives, beginning their blissful lives anew.
Only Qi Yelin—the man who had openly opposed her at every turn, the one with whom she had always argued until their faces turned red, the one with whom she had constantly crossed swords—had spent ten full days kneeling before her brother’s study, begging for her.
In these ten days, his forehead had been cut, his eyes were bloodshot, his hair was disheveled, and his robes were wrinkled. All his former dignity was gone.
Gu Zhaoyan did not understand why he would plead for her. Shouldn't he have been the first to applaud after her death?
As she pondered this, the head eunuch, Eunuch Ma, trotted out of the study.
"His Highness Prince Shen, please return. The Emperor will not see you."
"Why will he not see me? Is it that he does not want to, or is it that he dares not?" Anger rolled in Qi Yelin's eyes; his fists were clenched tight.
"The order to execute the Eldest Princess was the result of the Emperor's deliberations with the court officials. You cannot focus only on the Emperor," Eunuch Ma said with a light smile that never reached his eyes. "Besides, the Emperor has been very merciful. He did not let the Eldest Princess suffer while she lived. Allowing her remains to hang on the wall is—"
"Slap."
Before Eunuch Ma could finish, Qi Yelin struck him across the face. "She was the Eldest Princess of Dayan! She represented the honor of this nation. To hang her bare upon the city wall—what kind of insult is that?!"
"Your Highness, why are you hitting people?" The nearly-toppled Eunuch Ma flashed a look of annoyance, though he dared not show it. "This servant was only speaking from the heart..."
"I suspect these are the Emperor's words from the heart, aren't they?" Qi Yelin sneered. He had seen the truth, and he was disillusioned. Gritting his teeth, he climbed up from the ground and limped away from the Imperial Palace.
Gu Zhaoyan could not figure out what Qi Yelin was up to, but after a moment’s hesitation, she followed him.
Night fell outside the city walls. Qi Yelin’s trusted subordinates swiftly incapacitated the guards and swapped Gu Zhaoyan’s remains with the corpse of a prisoner.
Gu Zhaoyan was shocked by Qi Yelin’s audacity. But the next second, seeing his trembling hands, his twitching lips, and the overflowing sorrow in his eyes as he took her body, question after question flooded her mind.
"Your Highness, everything is prepared at the ancestral tomb."
"Mm."
Qi Yelin took off his outer robe, wrapped Gu Zhaoyan’s body tightly, and held her in his arms as if she were a precious treasure, cherishing her with all his might.
The moon broke through the clouds. Gu Zhaoyan looked around and realized Qi Yelin had brought her remains to the Qi family ancestral graveyard.
Qi Yelin knelt on one knee and gently unwrapped the robe. Seeing Gu Zhaoyan’s battered and unrecognizable form, he felt no disgust. He wiped away the blood and filth, arranged her appearance, dressed her in wedding robes, and crowned her with a phoenix headpiece.
Gu Zhaoyan, witnessing the entire process, was so astonished she could not speak; her eyes simply followed his every move.
After a long while, Qi Yelin’s deep voice slowly echoed in the night air: "If only I had realized sooner that they were colluding in the dark..."
His tone was filled with despair and grief. But in the next second, his voice dripped with incomparable hatred: "But it does not matter. I will use their heads to pay tribute to you!"
What did he mean?
Before Gu Zhaoyan could react, she saw Qi Yelin’s subordinate nimbly untie three bundles from their horse. The moment they were opened, she was struck with shock.
Three bloody heads—the three Imperial Sons-in-law who had framed her.
"Qi Yelin, have you gone mad? Their families are all prominent clans! If you kill them all, you are ruining your own future!" Gu Zhaoyan couldn't help but shout at him.
The biggest reason she and Qi Yelin had never gotten along was that she always felt he was far too cautious in everything he did. She had never imagined that after her death, he would disregard his own safety to kill them—a move that undoubtedly made him an enemy of the three great families.
Alas, Qi Yelin could not hear her.
He picked up Gu Zhaoyan’s body, walked step by step toward the pit that had been dug, and placed her gently into the coffin.
"I am sorry for the temporary discomfort, but please wait here for a while. Once I have uncovered the truth, I will come back to keep you company."
A breeze blew by, allowing the moonlight to fall squarely on the tombstone. Gu Zhaoyan saw the words carved there: "Tomb of Qi Yelin’s beloved wife."
Was he mad?
After she died, everyone else had done everything in their power to distance themselves from the Eldest Princess's estate. Not only did he go to plead for her, but now he was claiming her as his wife?
For some reason, Gu Zhaoyan’s heart was filled with a bitter ache.
"Zhaoyan."
At that moment, she heard Qi Yelin call out to her again.
In her memory, he had always addressed her coldly as "Eldest Princess." The only time he had been pushed to the edge, he had shouted her full name in fury.
Gu Zhaoyan looked up, watching as Qi Yelin slowly knelt before the tomb, his slender fingers gently stroking the words on the stone. "Zhaoyan, don't hate me, please?"
The cold wind stirred his mud-stained robes. His eyes were dull and lifeless, and the deep furrow between his brows betrayed the agonizing, heart-piercing pain he was suffering.
"Zhaoyan..."
His pale fingers trembled as he touched the name on the tombstone, his voice filled with the despair of regret.
The clouds in the sky grew thick. Amidst the fluttering yellow spirit paper, Gu Zhaoyan felt her body begin to turn light. She looked at Qi Yelin, who was slumped before the tombstone, his shoulders trembling slightly.
She could not help but whisper softly: "Qi Yelin, I’m leaving now."