It was said that the successors of the Emperors and Empress of Peace had wondered how long their oath of peace should last. The Da Han Emperor had laughed, saying: “Whoever wants to world, take it.”


  Emperor Xuanyuan had coughed politely as he answered: “Don’t bother me with such a boring question.”


  The Da Yan Emperor had looked to the south and calmly replied. “To gain, my fortune; to lose, my fate.”


  Empress Da Cheng had stood beside Emperor Da Cheng on the highest floor of their palace, calmly looking down at the world, and she had said:

  “Today, we may rule the world, but it will not last. No dynasty lasts forever, and neither will our Da Cheng. We are powerful and prosperous today, but we cannot stop our children and their children from their mistakes, so why worry?”


  Such was the story in the unofficial histories, and the tale went that the Shen Ying Empress had left a solemn law for her descendants on the snowy peaks of the Evergreen Holy Mountain. What that law was, only the direct blood of Imperial Da Cheng could know.

  Those peaceful heirs had surely passed down the secrets of the Great Empress, but time and conflict and all the travails of life worried away at tradition until only the Xuanyuan Clan remembered the old ways.

  Zong Chen, descendant of the Xuanyuan Emperor, had once quietly hinted at Feng Zhiwei’s powers as she mourned the death of Madam Feng — his men would obey her in all her orders, sworn to protect her at all costs. Whether she wished to use them as a shield for her own or a sword to cut down others, was entirely up to her.

  Feng Zhiwei had not replied.

  In the end, she knew, she would act under the force of necessity, not with some illusion of free will.

  “Qiu Shangqi died to sever injury. Chunyu Hong has been promoted to Chief General. Imperial Court may send military inspectors.” Feng Zhiwei skimmed the secret report before turning to Zong Chen. “Qiu Shangqi…… was it really a battle injury?”


  Zong Chen was silent for a moment before replying: “No.”


  Feng Zhiwei turned away, her heart chilling.

  With the Da Cheng Royal Orphan matter settled and Feng Zhiwei safe, Zong Chen must have tidied up all loose ends. Madam Qiu soon fell sick and could not speak, and now Qiu Shangqi had been hit by a stray arrow on the battlefield.

  To protect her, so many lives were sacrificed, and she could not order them to stop.

  She carried so many lives on her shoulders.

  “Da Yue has switched their Chief General……” Feng Zhiwei read from another report. “The war was in a stalemate and the Da Yue Emperor was unhappy; Third Prince, Prince An had been dispatched to inspect the army, and to widespread surprise, slew the Chief General and assumed command himself!”


  Feng Zhiwei clucked her tongue with admiration. “Nice, impressive. He dared risk widespread condemnation and killed their Commander in Chief? Who is this man? I’ve never heard of him?”


  “He is a main-line prince, and the rumors say he is the Emperor’s most beloved son. The Da Yue have never had a Crown Prince, and he has the most support for succession.”


  “And his character?”


  Zong Chen paused, and only after some time did he reply: “Difficult to pin down.”


  Zong Chen had incredibly sharp eyes. For this new Chief General to be beyond his grasp spoke greatly of the man’s complexity.

  Feng Zhiwei smiled as she turned to another report.

  “Yi? Emperor Xi Liang has passed and his infant son has taken the throne. The Dowager Empress is regent from behind the scenes.” Feng Zhiwei read with astonishment. “Yin Zhiliang is dead?”


  “As far as I can tell, he has been dead for some time but Xi Liang has kept it a secret.” Zong Cheng answered. “Only after their government was decided could the young Crown Prince ascend to the throne.”


  “Why keep it a secret?”


  “Hard to say. Chaos seemed to follow Yin Zhiliang’s death, but everything was carefully covered up. With the war against Da Yue in the North and the Chang Family Rebellion in the South, we have paid less attention to unusual happenings in Xi Liang. Most of our news comes from people near the Minnan border by Xiliang. We can only be certain of the date the Crown Prince ascended.”


  Feng Zhiwei smiled as she tossed the letters aside. “In the end that is the foreign business…… and what is this?”


  A few sheets of paper lay underneath, not of Tian Sheng design.

  “These are copies of the spy documents sent out of Xi Liang. This is how we were able to deduce that Xi Liang had covered up their Emperor’s death.”


  Feng Zhiwei turned to words, but at that moment Gu Zhixiao clambered over, stole the papers, and began rubbing them in her chubby hands.

  Feng Zhiwei reached out to take the notes back, but Young Master Gu was already playing along and helping his little baby fold the paper. Soon, the two Pen Monkeys were also playing, each gripping a corner as they merrily ripped a sheet of paper in half.

  Feng Zhiwei’s willowy brows rose and she was just about to spank all of them when Zong Chen quickly stepped forward to mediate. “It’s fine, they were just some additional notes, nothing important.”


  “Children should not be spoiled.” Feng Zhiwei sighed, trying to explain the matter to the stubborn Little Dummy Gu. “If you spoil the girl now, there’ll be a lot of trouble when she is older.”


  “Don’t need to copy you.” Little Dummy Gu explained as he focused on folding paper for Gu Zhixiao. “Zhixiao just needs to be happy.”


  Gu Zhixiao waddled over and climbed atop the jade statue, gnawing at his finger until he pushed her away.

  Feng Zhiwei lowered her eyes, gently biting her lips.

  While Feng Zhiwei pondered her life, Gu Zhixiao giggled and Little Dumby Gu finished folding the paper.

  He had made something very simple, thin and long like a leaf. Feng Zhiwei jerked slightly as she recognized the leaf flute that she had taught Young Master Gu all those days ago.

  There were few trees in the steppes and it had been a while since Young Master Gu could play his leaf flute; he missed it, so he folded a new one.

  Gu Zhixiao gurgled and reached up for the little piece of paper, but Young Master Gu dodged her hands, his eyes fixed on the flute.