A rare ush appeared on Qizhe’s face. Looking stern, he said, “I do not often eat things in the nature of chives and garlic.”
Presumably there was a concern that they would cause bad breath or atulence, which would be indecorous.
I ate a clove and saw Qizhe constantly staring at the dish. Since there was a rule against it, I did not dare give the crown prince Laba garlic to eat, so I asked for it to be carried away.
But when the maid bent to pick it up, Qizhe said, “Hold.”
The maid drew back her hands. Qizhe walked over to the table. With a solemn expression, he said methodically, “I must know more about the ways of the common people in order to experience how they live.” He snatched up a clove of Laba garlic and solemnly put it in his mouth.
After that, at dinner, the princes ate half a dish of Laba garlic with their porridge, and Qizhe in particular ate a great deal, sending me and my mother into agonies lest he pickle himself.
Finally, I had a container of Laba garlic brought out and some of its contents packed into a small blue-and-white porcelain jar, which I sent back with Qizhe to the palace, so the crown prince could further experience the life of the common people. That, at last, was the end of it.
I patted the earth down rmly and stood. Qitan said quietly, “Uncle, you cannot stay here long. As long as you keep him in your heart, the late emperor in heaven is sure to know.”
I turned. I seemed to hear someone behind me call out, “Chengjun.”
I looked back. In this place where the bones of the imperial family were buried, where would that rst person to call my courtesy name come from?
When we left the imperial tombs, I saw from the corner of my eye a gure standing by the rock face along the road. He smiled at me, his expression profoundly relaxed, then vanished into the rock face.
Autumn rain streamed down. The red foliage was gorgeous. It was almost as if he had never been there.
I let down the curtain, and the carriage moved smoothly forward. We returned to Dai Manor. The next day, when the rain had stopped, I made ready to go home.
Ransi was at home waiting for me.
Qitan wanted me to stay a few days more. I said, “Our business is ourishing, and it’s too much for Ransi to handle on his own. I must hurry back.”
“You only say that because you don’t want to stay, Uncle,” said Qitan. “I’m not extorting you anymore, so why are you in such a hurry to run o ?”
“Is that any way for a prince regent to talk?” I said.
Smiling, Qitan said, “In front of you, I’ll forever be young.”
A passel of children played in the garden outside. Qitan had told me earlier that some were his, and some belonged to Qifei and the rest. Because there were many antiques at Dai Manor, and the furnishings were new and exquisite, they all liked coming here to play.
On the veranda beside the garden, I saw a few palace eunuchs standing with a youth. The child’s immature face looked familiar to me. I couldn’t help looking at him again. Qitan laughed. “That’s one of so-and-so’s, the same as the rest of them. Just the same.”
I smiled.
Qitan sighed. “When I look at them, I remember when I was little, playing at Huai Manor… Things were better when we were little, with nothing on our minds.”
Yes, it was better when they were little, innocent and artless. Whatever the adults had taught them, whatever they had learned, they still had the simplicity of childhood.
For example, that time decades ago, when I had held them up so they could pick plum blossoms.
I only understood later, when my mother told me, that all the princes had gathered at Huai Manor that day because my father had just died, and the
various factions wanted to nd out where I stood.
That day, I picked up each of the princes one by one, so at rst they could nd out nothing. But later, because of the spilled cup of tea, I had held Qizhe longest, and therefore, Huai Manor had joined the crown prince’s faction.
It would not do to dwell on this. Decades had passed. Many people and things were now gone. Looking back, it was just some kids coming to their uncle’s house to play.
A servant ducked inside and whispered something into Qitan’s ear.
Qitan said to me that he had to take care of something. He would be back in a moment. He stood and left.
I went to the veranda and slowly strolled, watching the children play.
Suddenly, I heard a sound from the small hall next to me.
I glanced inside and saw Qitan bow and say, “…I must go see to my guest.
I will return soon.”
Seated at the head of the room was the boy I had seen standing on the veranda earlier. His clear, childish eyes were watching Qitan. With a show of sophistication, he inclined his head.
“Then we will await you here, Imperial Uncle.”
【THE END】
:
P
W
I.
I hung in midair, watching the sorrowful underground scene with a heart full of anticipation, exhilarated.
After many years in the imperial prison, at last this day had come; a chance to inhabit a body had appeared before me.
I was a ghost, a spirit of the injured dead. As to how many years I had been here, I could not be bothered to count and no longer knew.
Long ago, like the man below me now, I had been locked up in this cell.
Grave was the wrong I had su ered, and hard I took it. With my belt, I hanged myself from a rafter, thus perishing and becoming a hanged ghost.
Only after becoming a ghost did I learn that the legends were true: the underworld will not accept the ghost of one who has committed suicide, especially by hanging.
I could only keep my watch here and await the arrival of another hanged ghost; only then would I be able to reincarnate.
However, after I became a ghost, the ceiling of the prison cell was boarded up, sealing o the rafters. No nails were left in the walls. Even if you wanted to hang yourself, you couldn’t nd a place for the rope. In the other cells, ghosts came and went. I remained, year in and year out.
I was indignant. Living had been hard going, and now being a ghost was hard going as well. Heaven wished to keep me in this cell for all eternity, so I would defy heaven. Without a hanged ghost to take my place, I could not reincarnate, so I would simply nd myself a dead man and inhabit his body.
I had committed suicide and could only inhabit those who had done the same, and few merited being shut up in this cell. During my arduous wait, a few came, none willing to take the short-sighted approach. They waited obstinately to be killed or released.
At last, after years unnumbered, he was locked up.
I could tell that he would not be killed and might very soon be released.
But given the circumstances that had brought him here, it was no easy task for him to make his peace.
It was simply fate that had brought him to me to inhabit.
With a smile, I watched him swallow the pill, and waited patiently.
Now, on the ground, he was bleating on, delivering his last wishes, and that man named Liu Tongyi was deathly pale, despair in his eyes.
Everyone is like this. They cannot see their own hearts, and they cannot interpret others’ thoughts.
It was clear at a glance that Liu Tongyi loved him. Unfortunately, he looked without seeing and only went on groaning for his own satisfaction.
Looking at Liu Tongyi’s expression, I felt a sudden trace of envy. Had there been someone to look at me like that back then, my death would have been worth it. No, rather, I wouldn’t have killed myself under any provocation.
I descended.
He spat out a few feeble syllables: “Ran… Ransi…” The hand clutching Liu Tongyi’s jade-green sleeve slackened bit by bit. I was just about to take aim
and drop when he took another rattling breath, grasped Liu Tongyi’s sleeve again, and spoke a rather exhaustive sentence.
“As I am, I can hardly be buried… without causing trouble… so let me be burned… and scatter the ashes by some mountain or river… and everything will be clean.”
You have got to be kidding.
Your last wish is to be cremated? You won’t even let your death bene t someone?
How stingy!
And how naive. What say will you have in it once you’re dead?
Watching his grip loosen, his head fall askew and come to rest against Liu Tongyi’s shoulder, I settled.
The body became mine without a hitch.
There was quiet all around. The body leaning close against mine was rigid, as if it too had become a corpse. I squeezed an edge of cool, slippery fabric and half-opened my eyes. “Ransi.”
Liu Tongyi shuddered. I drew close to his cheek and lowered my voice to its quietest. “Ransi, that was an act just now. I’m playing dead. Please help me. I want to escape.”
Liu Tongyi’s body sti ened once more.
Urgent footsteps came from nearby, accompanied by a cacophony of voices. I closed my eyes again and laid my head back down on Liu Tongyi’s shoulder.
I felt Liu Tongyi release me, slowly, ever so slowly, and stand.
A brief pause, and his voice, without any emotion, placid, said, “His Highness Prince Huai has taken poison and killed himself.”
Just then, I suddenly became aware of something.
The cell did not contain the aura of another ghost. Where was Jing Weiyi’s soul?
In a certain corner of the body, something stirred slightly, then sank into silence once more. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck the top of my head.
It was… Jing Weiyi’s soul.
He was alive! He was actually alive! He had actually been playing dead all along!
I had entered the body of a living man!
This…
Was this fate?
II.
A hand palpated what was currently mine and also Jing Weiyi’s neck, peeled open an eyelid currently shared between him and me, checked our shared pulse, felt our shared chest.
“Your Majesty, I beg leave to report, His Highness Prince Huai has passed away.”
The voice that followed was resonant, wrathful.
“Examine him again! Prince Huai couldn’t have killed himself! He must be pretending!”
While the present emperor was young, he was a wise ruler. He had hit the mark.
So, there was another round of fumbling, followed by the thud-thud of kowtowing.
“Your Majesty… His Highness Prince Huai… has truly passed away…”
“Passed away?” said the emperor’s voice with a cold laugh. “Our own august personage would pass away sooner than him!”
Footsteps came up beside me and stilled. “Imperial Uncle, we know you are faking. Get up, and we will give you a full pardon.”
He was in a heavy sleep and wouldn’t wake for a day or two. I, meanwhile, could have gotten up, but all I wanted to know was how to leave this body.
With silence all around, I heard Liu Tongyi say, “Your Majesty, the imperial physician has completed his examination. His Highness Prince Huai has indeed perished by his own hand.”
There was still a sneer in the emperor’s voice. “What makes O cial Liu so certain? Our imperial uncle has always been crafty. We do not believe he would die so willingly. Feigning death to escape imprisonment is much more his style!”
I could not help wondering how irresponsible Jing Weiyi must have been in life that no one would even believe in his suicide.
His death was indeed a sham, but when I heard the emperor’s remark, my heart still chilled on his behalf.
“Your Majesty,” Liu Tongyi said, his tone still mild, “before his death, His Highness Prince Huai conveyed to me his last wishes. Taking into account the severity of his guilt, he did not wish to be interred and instructed me to ask Your Majesty on his behalf to have his remains cremated and the ashes scattered to the four corners of the earth, by mountain or river.”
Silence fell once more in the cell.
A long moment passed. “In what light does O cial Liu view our imperial uncle’s statement?” said the emperor.
Liu Tongyi said, “It is my belief that His Highness Prince Huai, knowing that Your Majesty would be sure to doubt the authenticity of his suicide, must have chosen this means to set Your Majesty’s mind at rest.”
“From what O cial Liu says,” said the emperor, “our imperial uncle understood us well and was solicitous of us.”
“His Highness Prince Huai was, after all, Your Majesty’s uncle,” said Liu Tongyi.
The emperor paced a few steps at my side. “O cial Liu, your speech at present is somewhat dissimilar to what it is ordinarily.”
There was a thread of weariness in Liu Tongyi’s voice. “Forgive me, Your Majesty. At present I no longer know how to act for the best. I request to withdraw and look for Your Majesty’s consent.”
Yet again, there was a moment of silence in the cell. The emperor permitted Liu Tongyi to withdraw.
When the sound of Liu Tongyi’s footsteps reached the cell door, the emperor suddenly spoke again. “O cial Liu, do you think as we do that our imperial uncle’s death is not genuine?”
Liu Tongyi did not answer.
The emperor went on: “Oh, no, when O cial Liu told us of our imperial uncle’s last wishes, it was intended as a reproach. O cial Liu believes that our imperial uncle is dead.”
“I would not dare to reproach Your Majesty,” Liu Tongyi said calmly.
“We have treated Jing Weiyi with all that humanity and duty could ask of us,” said the emperor. “He plotted rebellion in secret, and still we agreed to spare his life, and sent Yun Yu to bring him two paths from which to choose. What else had we to say to him?”
“I only think,” said Liu Tongyi, “that when the investigation had not yet assembled all the evidence, it was slightly precipitate of Your Majesty to send Supervisor Yun to bring Prince Huai a nalized outcome. I advised against it at the time, but Your Majesty did not accept my counsel.”
The emperor’s voice rose steeply in volume. “What remained to be investigated? Jing Weiyi’s own conduct in recent years, was that because we entrapped him? Because Yun Yu entrapped him? Or because Prince Zong entrapped him? He confessed, and it was you who took his confession, O cial Liu!”
“I thought that, even though Prince Huai had confessed, corresponding proof for each point still needed to be found before a nal decision could be made in this case,” said Liu Tongyi.
“There indeed O cial Liu speaks in the style of the Court of Judicial Review,” said the emperor. “Not a stone left unturned. Tell us, then, if the law were strictly followed, what punishment would Jing Weiyi’s crime merit?
When we spared his life, were we not bending the law in his favor?”
“Therefore,” said Liu Tongyi, “I believe that His Highness Prince Huai’s suicide is perhaps the best course. Your Majesty, please be magnanimous. I will take my leave.”
Liu Tongyi’s measured footsteps grew distant. Again, the prison was quiet.
I had not mistaken my man. Liu Tongyi was truly impressive. With this rebu , the emperor would for the moment have no more doubts about Jing Weiyi’s death, and my escape would be easier.
A long time passed before some unknown o cial unafraid of dying asked the emperor for instructions for dealing with Prince Huai’s remains.
The emperor then ordered the remains to be temporarily removed to
“that place.”
I felt a mat placed beneath me and a cloth laid atop me. My head and feet were lifted, and I was moved onto a litter.
Many years ago, I had watched from midair as my remains were carried out like this.
I had been better o then than Jing Weiyi. At least my corpse was cushioned on a soft padded mattress. Perhaps this was because it had been deep autumn then, and now it was summer.
But at the time, I had only been able to watch as my corpse was carried away, while my soul could not pass beyond the prison door.
This time, inside Jing Weiyi’s body, I was e ortlessly carried out and at last broke free of my cage.
“That place” was quite distant from the imperial prison. With Jing Weiyi’s body, I went outside and boarded a carriage, traveled for a long time, then left the carriage and passed over a number of thresholds before nally coming to rest.
A court eunuch said, “Prince Huai committed suicide in the imperial prison for fear of punishment. His Majesty has been gracious and permitted his remains to rest at his residence. Tomorrow, when the body has been washed and dressed, it will be taken to Pufang Temple to await cremation.”
Oh, so the body had been taken back to Jing Weiyi’s manor.
Jing Weiyi had unsuccessfully attempted to rebel and committed suicide for fear of punishment. Most of the servants in his manor had scattered. The paltry few remaining did not dare to cry openly, only to give a few furtive whimpers beside the body.
Only one comparatively courageous man kowtowed several times, thud-thud, and spilled a cup of wine in libation. Crying, he said, “Your Highness, Han Si does not know what crime you have committed. Han Si only knows you were a good master. Your goodness to me will be eternally remembered.
Every day I live is a day I will make o erings to Your Highness’s memorial tablet. I will never forget the kindness of the old prince, the old princess, and Your Highness toward me.”
In this cold and barren world, a loyal servant like this was a true rarity.
When he was through crying, he was thrown out by the guards.
Perhaps the emperor still had doubts about Jing Weiyi’s death. He had sent a number of guards and a court eunuch to keep watch over the body.
The guards brought over a brazier, in which they lit incense and burned funeral goods. Whispering, they said again and again, “Your Highness Prince Huai, you were a man of lofty aspirations, but sadly you were not fated to succeed in your great undertaking. We are but humble nonentities. Go on your way with an unburdened heart, and do not cling to this world…”
I liked the smell of the incense, and a whi of it restored my strength.
Sadly, I could not move as I liked after possessing this body; I couldn’t help feeling a little glum.
I wished to exercise a small bit of magic. I pulled together a chill wind, which scared the eunuch and the guards so much that they scrambled to the oor to kowtow ceaselessly. Unfortunately, I could not open my eyes in public view, but just listening to the sounds brought me pleasure, a minor distraction while I temporarily lay sti as a board, bored sti .
As the eunuch and the guards kept kowtowing so hard their teeth clacked together and falling over themselves trembling, I heard approaching
footsteps. Then Liu Tongyi’s clear and sonorous voice said, “Whence comes this alarm?”
In shaking voices, the eunuch and the guards said, “I-Imperial Chancellor Liu, you’ve come just in time… His Highness Prince Huai, h-he died with a grievance, and just now… there was a chill wind… all the funeral money ew up…”
Liu Tongyi said, “The door of this hall opens south. There is nothing wonderful in a breeze blowing into the hall in summer.”
The sounds of the eunuch’s and the guards’ teeth chattering continued.
Liu Tongyi added, “I had a sudden sense that there was a suspicious aspect to His Highness Prince Huai’s death and therefore came to investigate. Please step aside to supervise.”
The eunuch and the guards said at once that if Imperial Chancellor Liu thought there was cause for suspicion, of course he ought to investigate. His Highness Prince Huai had been a prince after all. Their presence during the inspection would be inappropriate. They ought to stand watch outside instead.
They led out.
I heard the door close. The only sound was of Liu Tongyi’s footsteps gradually approaching. He alone remained in the hall.
I opened my eyes and sat up.
At rst, Liu Tongyi seemed to be startled. Then he calmed.
He had changed into his robe of o ce, a solemn dark blue, intensely o cial-looking, less warm and human than the casual clothing he had worn before.
I tugged on his sleeve. In an adoring voice, I whispered, “Ransi, thank you.”
With a solemn bearing, he said quietly, “No need. I only wanted to know what Your Highness wishes to do, and to know the circumstances. There must be some story behind Prince Zong’s words before he fell unconscious and the way Your Highness’s confession was delivered. I would not be overindulgent, nor would I be unjust…”
I was a little amused. Was he saying this for Jing Weiyi’s bene t, or his own?
He could not prove that Jing Weiyi had been unjustly accused, yet he was helping him fake his death. This was not the conduct of an honest o cial.
Clearly, he was not so honorable, yet he insisted on pretending to be. Why do that to himself?
It was Jing Weiyi’s labored dying words that had provoked him, making him agree so readily to help. I couldn’t let him calm down now. If his false honor took the upper hand before I succeeded in taking over Jing Weiyi’s body, and I became a gallows ghost with him, it would be a miserable failure.
So I gazed at him lovingly, lovingly clutched his sleeve, called in a soft, loving voice, “Ransi, I have put my life in your hands. It is up to you to decide whether I live or die. I will have no regrets.”
In the tranquil hall, we gazed at each other.
Before Liu Tongyi could speak again, I took aim at his lips and kissed him ercely.
Liu Tongyi’s body sti ened. He didn’t resist; he was very yielding. A long time later, I released him. His eyes were clear, but I couldn’t see through them.
Softly, he said, “Your Highness has no heartbeat. The imperial physician checked and found no pulse. Whether sleeping or waking, there is no aw in
A ectionately, I said, “I’ll tell you when I get out.”
“Does Your Highness plan to leave from the manor?” Liu Tongyi said.
“How could I?” I said.
The emperor’s order to let Jing Weiyi’s corpse rest in the manor was clearly an attempt to reveal any subterfuge. Therefore, in the manor, I could take no action; my performance must be authentic.
“Pufang Temple,” I said.
Liu Tongyi said nothing more. This was no time for conversation. I was just about to return to acting like a corpse when Liu Tongyi said blandly,
“Supervisor Yun will come soon to see Your Highness.”
Supervisor Yun? Who was that?
With a slight e ort of thought, I recalled that this was the person who had brought Jing Weiyi two paths to choose from.
His name was Yun Yu. At the last, Jing Weiyi had called him Suiya.
This person held profound signi cance for Jing Weiyi. When I touched on this name in my mind, Jing Weiyi’s soul, fast asleep in some recess, stirred.
I closed my eyes and lay down.
Liu Tongyi, Yun Yu. Fascinating.
Once Liu Tongyi was gone, I languished in boredom. I slept within Jing Weiyi’s body, and as I lay fuddled with sleep, I heard someone call out,
“Supervisor Yun.”
I pricked up my ears and listened carefully. Footsteps approached, not fast and not slow either; they seemed to be made by cloth shoes, not an o cial’s boots.
The sound slowed as it drew near. At last it arrived beside me.
After a pause, the cloth covering Jing Weiyi’s face was suddenly lifted away.
After that, there wasn’t a trace of sound. That person stood beside me, completely motionless, even the sound of his breathing inaudible. I could almost have believed that this Supervisor Yun was like me, a ghost.
For better or worse, there had been something between him and Jing Weiyi in life. Now his remains lay before him; whether true or false, a couple of sighs, a few words of lamentation must surely be called for.
Sadly, this Supervisor Yun was as unmoved as a mountain, disappointing my ardent hopes.
After I knew not how much time had passed, there came the sound of another person stepping into the room.
Then I heard a voice say, “A-Yu.”
Beside me, Supervisor Yun stirred at last. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”
The emperor came close. “A-Yu, we heard that you were unwell. Why come here?”
Supervisor Yun did not answer. The emperor said, “You can stop looking, it really is him. The physician and Liu Tongyi personally examined him.”
Supervisor Yun remained silent. The emperor continued, “When he died, he deliberately called for Liu Tongyi to be with him. Deliberately had Liu Tongyi tell us to cremate him and scatter his ashes anywhere at all. We think that if he has now reached the kingdom of the underworld, he must hate us profoundly. Will he also hate you?”
Supervisor Yun spoke at last. In a most commonplace voice, he said,
“Yesterday he said to me that we would speak again another time. I thought that I was humoring him, so I agreed. I did not realize that he was also humoring me.”
He replaced the cloth over Jing Weiyi’s face and quietly said, “I never thought you would keep the genuine article for yourself.”
He turned to leave. “Your Majesty, when will the body be washed?”
“In half a shichen,” said the emperor.
“I will leave once the body has been washed,” said Yun Yu.
The washing of the body was a total shambles.
The so-called washing itself consisted of having my head and feet lifted by a few eunuchs and being plunged into a big tub of water. During this process, a passel of priests, monks, and nuns chanted incantations, rang bells, and struck chime stones, and recited all manner of scriptures to release a person from karmic sin, droning on and on. The Buddhists and the Daoists were mixed together; whether they counteracted each other I don’t know, but at any rate, they had no e ect on me.
When the scriptures had been recited, I was shed up from the tub of water. The wet clothes were stripped, the body was wiped clean. This represented being cleansed from karmic sin, and the scriptures being recited changed from those of release from karmic sin to incantations of reincarnation, but there wasn’t a single a ected sob.
Still later, the time came to dress the body. As soon as a pair of underpants were put on to cover its nakedness, the emperor’s voice said,
“We will dress Prince Huai.”
A sudden hush fell over the hall. Even the ringing of the bells and the recitation of the scriptures halted. The emperor said, “Prince Huai had no children. The work of dressing him ought to be taken on by his nephews.
After all, he was our imperial uncle. His attempt to usurp our throne was
unsuccessful, and now that he is dead, if we dress him, it ought to be a consolation to him.”
Before he could nish, the sounds of people kneeling and touching their heads to the ground started up. Everyone counseled him in no uncertain terms against this course of action. After all, Prince Huai had committed a crime; this would be insupportable. His Majesty’s mercy and magnanimity shone as a beacon through untold ages, but if he followed through with his intentions, His Highness Prince Huai would remain in the kingdom of the underworld eternally, unable to reincarnate.
I heard mu ed snickering. The emperor was only doing this for show, and his subjects were well aware of it. To expect of them to counsel him in all seriousness with reverence and awe in this unctuous mutual playacting was truly the utmost trial. Between the so-called art of the emperor and way of the subject, when all’s said and done, the only question is which side can exceed the other in hypocrisy.
With his ministers thus counseling him, the emperor persisted, and had even snatched up Jing Weiyi’s arm and was ready to insert it into a sleeve when someone rushed forward to dissuade him. At this point, Liu Tongyi put in his timely piece: “Prince Huai did commit a crime, and Your Majesty is the ruler, while Prince Huai is a subject. For Your Majesty to dress Prince Huai would truly be inappropriate. Permit these princes to take on the task.”
Once he said this, a number of voices o ered their services, all very young. It turned out that Jing Weiyi had numerous nephews.
One came forward directly and knelt. “Your Majesty, please condescend to allow your subject brother to take on this task and dress our imperial uncle.”
The voice was tearful and sounded quite sincere.
At last, the emperor said, “Very well. Prince Dai, you will do it.”
Prince Dai dressed Jing Weiyi in an inner robe and outer jacket. His breathing grew strained. He seemed to be sobbing.
Beside him, a eunuch o ered consolation: “Your Highness Prince Dai, please restrain your grief and accept the inevitability of loss. While His Highness Prince Huai committed an o ense of unpardonable gravity, he has already passed on, his soul returned to the underworld. When he has been freed of all karmic sin, he will have the chance to live honorably in the next life.”
Choked with emotion, Prince Dai said, “Imperial Uncle… go… go in peace… In a few days I am heading to Henan… and won’t be able to come see you often… I will burn funeral money for you… May you be well… in the underworld… If you lack anything… come to me in a dream…”
A few teardrops fell on Jing Weiyi’s face. At last, someone to cry for Jing Weiyi during his death. Even as a ghost, he would not be meanly treated.
Not like me; in all these years, I had not received a single piece of funeral money.
After putting on the outer robe and before withdrawing, Prince Dai put something in Jing Weiyi’s mouth. I thought it was a piece of jade. A chill spread from it, instantly invigorating my yin energy.
When the socks and shoes had been put on, the hair bound and crowned, and I was carried back to the platform, the cloth beneath me had been changed to satin, and a pillow had been placed beneath my head, probably one made of jade.
The recital of scripture once again rang through the hall in chorus. A woman’s voice said, “Your Highness Prince Huai, may you be freed from your karmic obstructions, and if you reenter the cycle of reincarnation, may you be a good person in your next life. In this life, our karmic connection
has run its course, and we neither of us owe each other any further debt.
Beginning today, I will humbly o er a beacon for you before the Buddha and chant scriptures every night that you may soon be freed from the cycle of reincarnation and nd ultimate paradise.”
I had thought that Jing Weiyi was a cutsleeve. This entanglement with a nun was a surprise to me; I had truly underrated him.
When this woman nished her prayer, the voices of a group of nuns chanting scripture erupted.
Amid the noise, I heard Liu Tongyi say, “Your Majesty, I am slightly indisposed. I will withdraw and hope you may graciously permit it.”
The emperor said, “Permitted,” and Liu Tongyi gratefully withdrew.
Before leaving, he added, “Supervisor Yun, would you like to withdraw with me?”
In a voice of utmost calm, Yun Yu said, “I will go when I have nished watching. Thank you, Chancellor Liu.”
III.
The ceremony of washing the body clamored on for a long time, then nally came to an end. Even I felt exhausted from listening to it. As I drowsed, a cloth was once again put over me, and I was carried to a carriage, which set o for a temple called Pufang.
This place was extremely quiet. Inside Jing Weiyi’s body, I was carried into a big hall. More time passed. I was tasting the chill of the jade in my mouth and recovering my strength when the whispering guards around me all fell silent. The door closed and latched with a click. Someone rustled
over, pinched Jing Weiyi’s nostrils, and quietly called in his ear, “Your Highness… Your Highness…”
I did not move.
My wrist was lifted and palpated. Another voice, extremely low, said,
“Strange. There’s no pulse.”
The voice that had called “Your Highness” whispered, “Reasonably speaking, His Highness ought to wake now. Was the dose wrong?”
I perceived Jing Weiyi’s aura within the body and found that he was still deeply sleeping. The yin energy I had absorbed from the jade must have suppressed him, so he could not move.
Just then, an object was inserted into my nostrils and pu ed smoke into them. In a moment of carelessness, I couldn’t resist sneezing.
Instantly, a voice cried out, “Thank heaven, he’s awake.”
At this stage, I had no choice but to open my eyes. It was already dark out, and the hall was profoundly shadowed. I had only a vague impression of two masked gures beside me.
“Your Highness, your subordinates were late. I’m glad you’re all right.”
As expected, Jing Weiyi’s escape plan was comprehensive. These two must have been servants from his manor who had arranged in advance to come to the rescue. They discussed the escape with me in whispers. Tomorrow morning, there would be another examination of the corpse, followed by cremation. The substitute corpse had been prepared, and the fraud would be perpetrated then.
One of them, named Zhang Xiao, said, “But the place in Xinan has already been found by His Majesty’s men. When we get out, where are we to go?”
I pretended to ponder it. “I have my own destination, which we will speak of tomorrow.”
The two of them did not dare to remain long. They left after a brief interval, rst giving me a pill to let Jing Weiyi continue to play a corpse.
I took the pill, and Jing Weiyi’s soul settled into a deeper sleep. I stretched out on the platform and waited for my destination to come to me.
Just as I expected, Liu Tongyi came again. From the sound of it, he had brought a big group of guards. First, he asked whether the guards and eunuchs keeping watch here had experienced anything unusual.
“There has been nothing unusual,” a guard responded, “but for reasons unknown, we all inexplicably fell asleep.”
At once someone cried out sternly, “How bold! His Majesty ordered you to guard the body strictly, without any mishaps! Yet you dare to defy an imperial edict and malinger. You can well imagine what a crime this is!”
The guards and eunuchs kowtowed and begged forgiveness.
Just then, I heard Liu Tongyi say, “Lord He, this being the case, it would be appropriate to examine the corpse once more.”
Lord He immediately gave his rm agreement. He came toward me with vigorous strides and snatched away the cloth covering me.
Then I used a bit of magic to raise a chill wind. The door and windows rattled, the curtains trembled.
The hall instantly fell silent. There was no more sound even from Lord He.
A young eunuch, his teeth chattering, said, “H-he’s here… He’s here again… His Highness Prince Huai… His resentment cannot be calmed… He has come to haunt us…”
Lord He took a few steps back, but he still said forcefully, “Utter claptrap!
How could a rebel who committed suicide haunt you?” He spat. “At least
asking to be cremated shows he had some self-awareness. The sooner he’s cremated, the better!”
“Lord He,” said Liu Tongyi gently, “perhaps His Highness Prince Huai thinks that having his corpse examined before a crowd is a disgrace. But if no examination is performed, there will be room for error, so why not have the others withdraw while you and I perform the examination together?”
I strengthened my assault. The chill wind blew more violently. I heard Lord He back away further. “I will go out with the others to patrol the temple and see if anything is amiss. If I might leave examining the body to Chancellor Liu?”
Followed by a series of scrambling footsteps, he made a hasty departure.
The hall was still as death. The door shut softly. The latch fell into place.
I heard him approach, then turned over and got up. I spat out the piece of jade, took him by the sleeve, and heedless of everything else, again stopped his mouth with mine.
More kisses would deepen his a ection and give me a more powerful hold over him.
He stood there and let me kiss him. After a while, I released him and drew close to his ear to whisper, “Ransi, I love you.”
Liu Tongyi’s body sti ened again. He drew away slightly. It was growing light now. He was looking at me with an extremely peculiar expression.
I snatched up one of his hands and squeezed it tightly. “It’s the truth,” I said quietly. “I must leave soon, and I’m afraid… after I go… I won’t have a chance to say these words to you.”
He looked at me with a slight furrow in his brow and softly said, “When do you move?”
“Before the cremation, after the examination,” I said. “There are people to receive me, there is a corpse to act as substitute. Do not worry.” I sighed quietly. “But the place I had made ready to go to has been found out by His Majesty. I do not yet know where to seek refuge.”
I put my other hand over his hand. “Therefore, I do not know whether I will succeed. Perhaps we will not meet again. Ransi, thank you for helping me. In this life and the next, I will remember you. What a pity that it was not meant to be between us. I know there is no way you can love me. But I am already content that you can let me love you.”
Liu Tongyi looked directly into my eyes, then averted his gaze. With a soft sigh, he said, “Is that so.”
For an instant, I felt unsure of my ground. His eyes seemed to see through me. I squeezed his hand again and passionately said, “I love you, whether you believe it or not. There is no one but Ransi in my heart.”
This didn’t amount to a lie. None of these people had anything to do with me to begin with, and now the only one of them I cared about was Liu Tongyi. Whether I succeeded or failed depended entirely on him.
Liu Tongyi pulled his hand away and said nothing.
When I had lain back down to impersonate a corpse, he covered me with the cloth and quietly said, “You, take good care of yourself.”
He straightened the edges of the cloth and smoothed it. “There is an empty house in Qincai Alley in Suzhou, the only house in the alley. Apart from me, no one knows of it.”
One shichen later, I boarded a carriage in the wilderness, and the capital receded into the distance behind me.
Zhang Xiao said, “Your Highness, shall we go to the place in Zhengyang Prefecture arranged by the princess before her death?”
“No need for the present,” I said. “First we will go to Qincai Alley in Suzhou. There is an empty house there where we can shelter temporarily.”
I closed my eyes. Jing Weiyi’s soul was stirring restlessly inside the body.
He would soon wake.
I said, “I will rest now. Knowledge of the empty house might threaten another’s life. I hope you two will not mention it again. We will only occupy it.”
Chief Stewards Zhang and Cao agreed sympathetically.
Chief Steward Cao added, “When we’ve crossed the river, I’ll break away and bid you farewell to avoid suspicion and leave Old Zhang to accompany Your Highness to Suzhou. His teacher happens to be in Jiangnan, and he will be able to treat Your Highness’s leg.”
Jing Weiyi’s crippled leg could be healed? What an unexpected surprise.
I pretended that I needed a nap, ready to let Jing Weiyi out for a time so he would not grow suspicious.
I could not be too rash in attempting to steal this body. Leave no one the wiser, squeeze out and scatter Jing Weiyi’s soul; that was the best plan.
When I closed my eyes and lay down, somehow I thought of Liu Tongyi again.
A taste still lingered on my lips. I did not know whether I would see him again.
Unexpectedly, I really did think very well of him. If I were Jing Weiyi, I would certainly love only him, turn the words I had said to him into the unvarnished truth.
If I were Jing Weiyi—perhaps it would not be long before that “if” came true.
IV.
In the depths of night, I strolled in the courtyard, stargazing.
It was some days already since I had moved into the house in Qincai Alley. Since Jing Weiyi’s awakening, the day belonged to him, and the night was mine. He had not discovered me, and I controlled him in secret, every moment. Our cohabitation was harmonious enough.
Zhang Xiao had obeyed me and hadn’t brought up anything concerning this house again. Jing Weiyi only took this for a secret residence prepared by Zhang Xiao and did not ask questions, keeping the truth concealed from both sides.
Zhang Xiao had asked around over the last few days; no one in Suzhou City knew Jing Weiyi. This house had only one other small house neighboring it, also perpetually unoccupied. After learning this, Zhang Xiao ran the risk of temporarily leaving Jing Weiyi here alone to go invite his teacher to come treat Jing Weiyi’s leg. He had left only this morning and would likely return in three or four days.
Therefore, in this whole house, only Jing Weiyi and I remained, one man and one ghost, making it more convenient for me to torment him.
Jing Weiyi’s soul was no match for mine, but because this body was his, if it came to an open contest, I would have no advantages. I had to act in secret.
This body was linked to the life force of his soul. When he fell asleep, I would take over his body and move around. How could mortal esh and blood support going day and night without rest? Before, because of Zhang Xiao’s presence, I couldn’t be too obvious about it and had to let Jing Weiyi’s body rest for one shichen. Jing Weiyi’s soul had already weakened a great deal. Now that Zhang Xiao had left, I didn’t rest for a moment. Before Zhang Xiao returned, Jing Weiyi’s soul would disperse from the exhaustion of his esh, and this body could become wholly mine.
Because of the feebleness of his body and soul, Jing Weiyi was listless and languishing. He ate, he sat, he became lost in his thoughts, he heaved a few sighs, and just like that, the day would be done. He thought that this was Zhang Xiao or his teacher’s house and kept himself to the small hall in the rooms Zhang Xiao had cleaned up. When night came, I was bored, so I went everywhere.
This house wasn’t very small. It was simple and secluded and had long stood unoccupied. A great deal of weeds and wild owers grew in the courtyard, and trees and shrubs grew freely, giving the place a natural feeling.
Apart from the spots Zhang Xiao had cleaned up, the rooms were all locked. Though I was inhabiting the body of a mortal, I could still use some magic. So, when I was bored, I opened room after room to look inside.
There was nothing special in these rooms, and dust lay thickly over them.
I found ordinary bedrooms, rooms where playthings were stored, rooms stacked full of books, and one room that was unexpectedly full of weapons, with a record of the contents on a bookshelf. There was another room in the deepest recesses of the house that looked like a study; an inkstone and a brush that had not been put away still lay on the desk, and even an
abandoned sheet of paper with writing on it. But the ink on the inkstone was dry, and a spiderweb stretched from the tip of the brush. The unfurled sheet of paper and the manuscript heaped up on the desk were both yellowed, covered in dust.
I ipped through the manuscript. The handwriting was elegant, but what was written wasn’t an article on the state of the world or a metered verse expressing emotions; it was a martial arts romance. It was bizarre and unconstrained, surpassing my imagination.
I had only heard of the existence of such books before, not read them. I’d never thought I would inadvertently expand my outlook after many years as a ghost. It was marvelous, outstripping all expectations.
Unfortunately, this manuscript stopped before it reached the end. I felt an unbearable itch and searched the room, coming up with many stories that had both beginning and end. Yesterday I had read up to an amazing part in one, but it was getting light and Jing Weiyi would wake soon, so I had to forebear and let go. I held out until Jing Weiyi fell asleep, sauntered around the courtyard, then went to that room and took some manuscripts. I moved over a low table and a reclining chair and sat out on the veranda reading closely by lamplight.
While absorbed in reading, I suddenly noticed a hint of movement. I heard light footsteps slowly coming close. Upon setting down the papers and raising my head, I saw a gure walk in through the moon gate.
I was a ghost, but this living man gave me a fright.
I scrutinized him; it was Liu Tongyi.
Why… would he be here?
Had he come after Jing Weiyi? Or had he been interrogating Jing Weiyi’s confederates on the emperor’s behalf, and now was coming to reel me in?
Or had he discovered that something was wrong?
I looked closely. Apart from Liu Tongyi, no one was around.
I stood, walked down from the veranda, and deliberately displayed astonishment. “Ransi? Why have you come here…”
In the night, Liu Tongyi’s standing gure looked like a specter, a paper-cut silhouette.
“Please do not worry, Your Highness. I pled illness and retired to my home, then left the capital in secret. Hard on the heels of Prince Huai’s death, with everything in such chaos, my absence will go unnoticed.”
He smiled slightly. “In fact, I arrived in Suzhou two days ago, only just after Your Highness. The little house behind this one is my private residence. There is a secret door connecting them.”
Oh. I smiled, too, and clasped his arm. “Ransi, I understand. You couldn’t stand to see me go. You were uneasy, so you came after me, is that it?”
Liu Tongyi’s smile widened. “Yes, I was very uneasy, so I came after Your Highness. But because Chief Steward Zhang was here, I could not show myself.”
I hadn’t thought Liu Tongyi was so besotted with Jing Weiyi; he had actually followed him all the way to Suzhou. Just as I was thinking of him, he had taken the initiative and brought himself before me.
I was just wondering whether I ought to hug Liu Tongyi again, give him a kiss to demonstrate my surprise and the depth of my a ection, when Liu Tongyi’s sleeve slipped from my hand and he walked toward the veranda.
“What is Your Highness reading?”
I said airily, “Old Zhang wanted to clean up the house for you. While sweeping up, he saw these manuscripts in one of the rooms, so I took them out to read. These so-called martial arts romances are actually really good.
Don’t blame me for touching the stu in your house, Ransi.”
Liu Tongyi still wore an impassive smile. “These things are all old and of no signi cance. If Your Highness likes them, by all means, read them.”
I saw something in his hand, which he put on the table. “I do not know whether Your Highness has eaten. I thought that, as Chief Steward Zhang has just left, the food still in the house would have to be conserved, so I brought over some pastries.” As he spoke, he opened the paper bag he held.
A number of sweet-smelling pastries were packed in it.
“This is good,” I praised. “Let me get a small charcoal stove to boil water and steep a pot of tea. You and I will stargaze from the veranda.”
“The tea must be strong,” Liu Tongyi said.
“Naturally,” I said, smiling.
When I had steeped the tea and was sitting with Liu Tongyi on the veranda, I sighed. “Seeing you now, Ransi,” I said, “is like a visitation from another life, and also like a dream.”
Liu Tongyi raised his teacup. “From the small building in the house behind, I’ve watched this house, watched it for two days. Ever since Your Highness asked for my help inside the prison in the capital, there has been a question in my mind that I have very much wanted to ask.”
He drank some tea, put down his teacup, and asked me directly, “Might I inquire of Your Excellency, who are you really?”
My hand froze in the middle of lifting my teacup. “Ransi, what are you saying?”
Liu Tongyi frowned slightly, his gaze sharp, his expression stern. “Having rescued Your Excellency, of course I will not reveal it. But I just want to know who you really are, and where His Highness Prince Huai is.”
I looked at him in the lamplight and shadow. Liu Tongyi had surprised me.
Smiling again, I said, “Ransi, you’re only muddled with sleep. In what aspect am I behaving improperly that you would say such a thing?”
Placidly, Liu Tongyi said, “In outward appearance, there is no di erence between Your Excellency and His Highness Prince Huai. Whether in the imperial prison or prior to Your Excellency’s brilliant escape, there was no time and no reason to replace the original with a fake. However…” He sighed again. “Your Excellency and His Highness Prince Huai have nothing in common.”
I smiled again and sipped some tea. “All right, let’s do this. You tell me in what ways I’m di erent, and I’ll tell you what you want to know, all right?”
Liu Tongyi looked at me with an expression that was a little con icted and helpless. “His Highness Prince Huai would never say such a thing with such an expression in such a tone.”
A person could change, tone could alter, speech could arise from shifting moods. I had many excuses I could use to refute what Liu Tongyi said, but I listened to him go on.
“His Highness Prince Huai doesn’t like sweets. He doesn’t eat pastries with these avors.
“His Highness Prince Huai doesn’t drink strong tea at night.
“His Highness Prince Huai doesn’t ri e through other people’s belongings.
“His Highness Prince Huai has read the manuscript Your Excellency is now reading.”
I listened as he rattled them o one after another, and at last heard him say, “The one His Highness Prince Huai loves is not me. What Your Excellency has done, has said, he would not say, would not do.”
I smiled sincerely and raised my eyebrows as I looked at him. “So despite harboring these suspicions, you still saved me, just for the sake of solving the riddle and learning where Jing Weiyi is? Why do you love Jing Weiyi so much? He doesn’t care for you at all.”
“I have stated my causes,” said Liu Tongyi. “Please tell me the truth, Your Excellency.”
I continued, “The one Jing Weiyi loves is Yun Yu. His heart is full of him.
When he called your name as he was dying, he only wanted to scare you so you wouldn’t suspect he was pretending and make his escape more convenient. He’ll never sincerely say that he loves you. Why treat him like this?”
Liu Tongyi’s expression did not falter. His tone was mild. “Please tell me the truth, Your Excellency.”
I sneered. “And why do you feign composure, saying ‘His Highness Prince Huai,’ with every breath? Who knows how many times you have cried out,
‘Weiyi, Weiyi,’ in your heart?”
Liu Tongyi looked at me placidly. Placidly, he said, “His Highness Prince Huai usually prefers people to call him by his courtesy name.”
Oh? That threw me o .
Liu Tongyi continued atly, “In other words, if I were to cry out in my heart, I would be calling, ‘Chengjun, Chengjun,’ not, ‘Weiyi, Weiyi.”
Hm.
Liu Tongyi added: “Of course, I also think Chengjun has a more pleasing sound than Weiyi.”
Oh.
I looked at Liu Tongyi speechlessly for a long moment, then said, “Fine, I’ll tell you. It’s up to you whether you believe it. I’m not going to lie, but you de nitely won’t believe me. Actually—I’m a ghost.”
Liu Tongyi looked at me without any reaction.
I thought that he hadn’t understood.
“A hanged ghost,” I added. “I died in that prison cell many years ago.” I stuck out my tongue and let my eyes roll up. “Bleh, just like this, a hanged ghost.”
Liu Tongyi still didn’t react, or didn’t understand.
I continued, probing deeper, “Because I could never nd a scapegoat—you know, a hanged ghost can only reincarnate if he nds a scapegoat—I had to take over Jing Weiyi’s body. Right now, this body is Jing Weiyi’s, of course.
During the day, his soul controls it; during the night, my soul controls it. I am preparing to give his body no rest day or night, so that his soul grows feeble and scatters. In this way, I can completely take over this body.”
When I nished my explanation, I observed the changes in Liu Tongyi. I saw that his brow was slightly furrowed again, and his expression was thoughtful. I said, “You see, you don’t believe me.”
Liu Tongyi’s brow smoothed. “So that’s it.”
I was astonished. “You believe me?”
Liu Tongyi’s expression indeed showed no sign of disbelief. “I only believe the truth, and the truth is before my eyes. However bizarre it may be, it is the truth. During the washing of the corpse, among those present was Young Master Chu Xun, who was often close to His Highness Prince Huai. I could
not understand, as Your Excellency was not His Highness Prince Huai, why your body would in fact be His Highness Prince Huai’s.”
I frowned, looking at Liu Tongyi, and said sincerely, “Ransi, I really do love you more and more.”
Smiling, Liu Tongyi said, “Your Excellency must have had enough of this joke at my expense.”
“I’m being honest,” I said earnestly.
Liu Tongyi picked up his teacup. “I see. Thank you. But now that I know the truth, I must think of a way to resolve this. Your Excellency is a ghost. Is it because of an unful lled wish that you have inhabited His Highness Prince Huai’s body?”
I also lled my teacup. “Do you want to ask me what would make me willing to release Jing Weiyi? I have no unful lled wish. I only want a body.
Jing Weiyi’s body happens to suit my tastes, so I don’t plan on leaving.”
Liu Tongyi said, “If all Your Excellency wants is a body to inhabit, then perhaps there is still room to negotiate.”
Still room to negotiate? Was he going to nd me another body?
Or, even more touching, was Liu Tongyi planning to act as substitute for Jing Weiyi, give up his body so I could inhabit it?
I roundly refused. “I just think Jing Weiyi is more suitable. Ransi, why must you throw me out? Your whole court wanted Jing Weiyi to die anyway, and he also didn’t want to live. Why not let me have this? As for you, I know you love Jing Weiyi. You can keep treating me like Jing Weiyi, just as if he’d had a change of temperament.”
I threw down my teacup and drew close to him. “That Jing Weiyi has a heart full of someone else. I only love you. Starting today, Jing Weiyi will
love only Ransi. I’ll have a body, you’ll have Jing Weiyi. Won’t both sides be satis ed?”
Liu Tongyi gently put down his teacup. “Supposing that I loved His Highness Prince Huai, even if I were willing to lie to myself, I still couldn’t tolerate a body whose soul had changed. All things in this world have their own destinations, their own causes and e ects. Why use force to take what is not yours?”
“I am a ghost,” I said, smiling. “The world’s rules can’t bind me. There are some things that can only be obtained by force. Actually, I can see that your temperament isn’t truly cold and unworldly.” I felt for a manuscript on the table and ipped through it. “These martial arts tales, they must have been written by you? Upright on the surface but burning within. With your temperament, Jing Weiyi can’t appreciate your virtues. Perhaps if you try spending time with me, you’ll nd that we are more suited for each other.”
Liu Tongyi smiled slightly and said, “In the many years since I took on an o cial position, the only person who has sincerely called me upright, apart from His Highness Prince Huai, is Your Excellency.”
He took another manuscript from the table and gathered it up neatly.
Suddenly, he changed the subject. “Might I inquire of Your Excellency, what is your age?”
I froze. Curling up the corners of my mouth, I said, “I am but a ghost. It’s hard to keep track of the time.”
Liu Tongyi put aside the orderly papers. “I mean to ask about Your Excellency’s age when you passed away.”
Did he want to investigate my origins to make it easier to deal with me?
“Guess,” I answered breezily.
But Liu Tongyi did not speak. I stood up. “If you want to nd out who I am, then think of a way to expel me, I’m afraid there’s not enough time. Jing Weiyi’s soul can hold out another two or three days at most. But I am willing to give you a chance. If you can guess who I am, I will leave Jing Weiyi’s body.”
Liu Tongyi lowered his eyelashes and bent his head slightly. “Very well.”
I studied his pro le in the lamplight. For the rst time, I said from the heart, “I’m willing to give you this chance because I love you. I really do love you very much now, Ransi.”
And I know that you’ll never guess who I am.
Liu Tongyi stood as well. With a bland smile, he said, “If Your Excellency loves me only because you have read these manuscripts, then you love the wrong person. These manuscripts were written by my father, and he has been dead many years.”
He walked up to the railing and looked out into the distant, dense night.
“This house is a private residence purchased by my father. Its former name is the House of the Red Leaves of the Western Hills. Apart from him, I am the only one who knows of it.”
V.
The next day, when evening came, I muscled out Jing Weiyi and sent him to sleep, then went to pull out the manuscripts Liu Tongyi’s father had written to read again.
I had thought that it was just a coincidence that Liu Tongyi’s surname was Liu. Only yesterday when I had heard him mention it had I learned that he was a descendant of Liu Jin. It surprised me that the Liu clan had thrived
for many generations. I tried to imagine the look on Grand Tutor Liu Jin’s face, he who had only been capable of looking grave and delivering ponderous truths, if he learned that his descendant had written such vulgar romances.
When night fell, Liu Tongyi came again, and he brought some side dishes, plain porridge, and cakes.
Glancing at the cakes, I said, “Didn’t you say that Jing Weiyi doesn’t eat sweets? Why did you bring these?”
“Yesterday I saw that Your Excellency greatly enjoyed these two delicacies,” said Liu Tongyi.
Smiling, I said, “Ransi is truly considerate.”
While he was laying out the dishes, I asked, “Why do you only come to see me, not Jing Weiyi? If he knew you had helped him, he would certainly be grateful to you, and perhaps gratitude would give rise to love.”
Liu Tongyi put a bowl of porridge in front of me. “I very much want to know whether there is a hidden story behind His Highness faking his death to escape, and the rebellion, but taking relative severity into account, I rst have to solve the problem of how to invite Your Excellency to leave His Highness’s body. Besides which, having managed to escape, if His Highness sees me without warning, I’m afraid…”
I gazed at him and said gently, “Ransi, why do you love him? You rescued him without regard for anything, and now you’re still trying to come up with a way to oust me so you can save him. He won’t spare a single kind thought for you.”
Liu Tongyi smiled. “There are many reasons for me to do this. The greatest reason is that I want to know the truth behind the whole business. I was the one who set up the plot to investigate His Highness Prince Huai,
but after he went to prison, when I checked the evidence, I found many points of suspicion. And as for His Highness’s confession, I also thought it was strange… Maybe I am still worried about there being injustice and bias involved in His Highness Prince Huai’s case.”
As he said this, his expression was rather leaden. He was speaking his true thoughts.
“Your helping Jing Weiyi fake his death and escape,” I said, “isn’t that treason against the emperor?”
“So I am no loyal courtier,” said Liu Tongyi. “I only value right and wrong, actions committed and uncommitted, wrongs done or undone. At court, many things cannot be clearly judged as right or wrong, but at the most fundamental level, there can be no ambiguity.”
I put a hand to my cheek. As he spoke these grave words, there was much in his manner of Grand Tutor Liu; it gave me an irresistible ache in my molars.
But Liu Tongyi was much better looking than Grand Tutor Liu. Even pulling a long face, he was still graceful and adorable.
I cupped my cheek with my right hand and watched him draw his brows together, about to go on talking about Jing Weiyi. Suddenly I wanted to shut him up, so before he could start, I got up and came forward. Catching him o guard, lightning-quick, I stopped his mouth with mine.
Practice makes perfect; the more practiced, the more natural—I kissed him awhile, then released him. I drew close to his ear and said, “Ransi, let’s not speak of Jing Weiyi. His soul will soon scatter. Even if only to save him, you have to speak more of me.”
I stepped back a little and considered his expression, then clutched his sleeve. “What, are you angry?”
Liu Tongyi still wore that same expression; it gave me a feeling of dejection. I sat back down to my porridge. Liu Tongyi placed another dish in front of me. “My investigation has already yielded some preliminary results, but tonight I am indeed unable to determine Your Excellency’s identity.”
He trimmed the lamp wick. “Yesterday Your Excellency told me your cause of death. Vanishingly few people have been con ned in that cell, and I have read all the pertinent records. But the Ministry of Justice’s records concerning the causes of death of the people con ned in that cell are not necessarily true. Therefore, they must be investigated and veri ed anew.”
He wouldn’t breathe a word unless he was sure.
He was in Suzhou now, unable to search the records of the court in the capital. His so-called investigation and veri cation would have to consist of observing my every word and gesture and determining the possible truth from that.
I took the napkin he o ered and wiped my mouth. “Ransi, it’s a pleasant night. Inside the canopy, under the covers, I might well tell you everything.”
I stared at his expression and added considerately, “The rst time, if it’s still strange to you, you can act like I’m him for now, call me Chengjun. I won’t object.”
His expression composed, Liu Tongyi said, “His Highness Prince Huai was often served in bed by a Young Master Chu Xun.”
Oh?
Liu Tongyi continued, “Young Master Chu Xun was actually acting under orders to get close to His Highness Prince Huai and to search for evidence that he was plotting a rebellion. But he was with His Highness Prince Huai for a long time without nding a single piece of decent evidence.”
Liu Tongyi sighed. “This is su cient to bear out that ‘pillow talk’ cannot be relied upon. There is no need for me to test it.”
Oh.
The next morning, I opened the secret door in the wall of the rear court and entered Liu Tongyi’s little house.
Liu Tongyi had told me that he was alone in this house, without retinue.
In this little residence, green bamboo set o two or three wings. A door was open, the windows propped up. I crept up to a window and saw Liu Tongyi sitting at a table in the room, reading something. When he raised his head and saw me outside the window, he was stunned.
I didn’t speak. Dragging one leg behind me, I limped to the door. Liu Tongyi got to his feet slowly, bracing himself against the table. Smiling, I said, “Ransi, have you guessed who I am?”
Liu Tongyi was appalled. “Why has Your Excellency appeared during the day?”
I looked into his face and felt an inexplicable trace of sadness. “I wanted to have a look at you by daylight, so I came over,” I said, deliberately blithe.
I paused, then added, “Relax, Jing Weiyi’s soul is doing ne. He’s too weak now. If I let him sleep a little longer, he won’t dissipate as quickly. It’s for his own good.”
Liu Tongyi’s expression calmed.
I went to look at the things on his desk, some les and books.
“You brought work with you to Suzhou?” I took a book and ipped through it. “And you said you weren’t a loyal courtier. Clearly you’re a slavishly devoted imperial chancellor.” I put the book back down and shook
out a stack of paper next to it. Under the papers, which were covered in writing, there turned out to be a big heap of paintings.
I ipped through them doubtfully. Some were meticulously rendered, and others consisted of a few sloppy strokes, but without exception, all the paintings contained willow leaves and willow branches, and a man.
The man in all these paintings was always drawn from the back or in vague pro le, his features never delineated in detail. He wore a gown, or an o cial robe, stood or sat, the atmosphere and scenery di erent from image to image. But I could tell these paintings were of a single person. Some lines of poetry were also inscribed on the paintings.
I couldn’t resist saying to Liu Tongyi, “These… wouldn’t happen to be Jing Weiyi’s paintings of you…”
Liu Tongyi didn’t answer. It was a tacit acknowledgment.
I ipped through them again. “What terrible paintings,” I said honestly.
“The handwriting is hideous. The poetry… How could anyone write this!”
Liu Tongyi’s silence continued. I graciously abandoned my commentary.
“Did Jing Weiyi show you these? Is that why you’re dead set on him…?”
“These paintings were found in the place that supposedly contained evidence that His Highness Prince Huai was plotting rebellion,” said Liu Tongyi. “In that secret cabinet, there was nothing apart from these.”
So Liu Tongyi had seen these paintings, was touched, and fell in love with Jing Weiyi?
“The one he truly loves is Yun Yu,” I said.
Liu Tongyi’s expression remained composed. “I know,” he said. One by one, he gathered up the papers that I had scattered. “His Highness Prince Huai previously mistook the person his heart was bound to. These paintings
were done while he was mistaken. Afterward they were put aside and stored in the secret cabinet.”
An indescribable taste surged up in my throat. “False displays of a ection,”
I said, sneering. “You may as well not look. Ugly handwriting, some ugly paintings, a few ugly poems. My work was better when I was eight years old.”
He put the orderly papers back on the desk. I put my hand over his.
“Ransi, I’ll draw for you. I’ll draw from the heart, much better than him.
Will you love me then?”
Liu Tongyi looked back at me with an inde nable sort of helplessness in his eyes. “And for what reason does Your Excellency say this?”
What reason? Probably because in the imperial prison, when I had seen his expression as he witnessed Jing Weiyi’s false death, I had felt irresistible envy.
Only after becoming a ghost had I learned that the rarest and most precious thing in the world was true love, without ulterior motives or desires. Jing Weiyi didn’t value Liu Tongyi’s virtues. Why shouldn’t I attempt to take his place, have that for myself?
So I said earnestly, “Because I love you.”
That indulgent smile once again appeared on Liu Tongyi’s face. Suddenly, he raised his hand. Before I could react, I felt his hand fall on the top of my head and give it a rub.
I darted back a pace. I still felt a chill from the touch of Liu Tongyi’s sleeve.
Liu Tongyi’s expression was apologetic. “Forgive me, I couldn’t help myself.”
I was a little sti . Liu Tongyi’s eyes stopped on my face. He sighed and took a step forward. He raised his hand and stroked the top of my head again.
He was slightly shorter than Jing Weiyi, but this gesture from him was extremely practiced and natural.
“Your Excellency, how many years short of coming of age were you? Six years? Seven? Eight…”
In my bewilderment, I inadvertently blurted out, “Only four or ve years short of twenty. I’ve been a ghost for so many years, isn’t it ridiculous to consider how long I was alive?”
Liu Tongyi was silent. At last, his expression changed as he looked at me.
A bit of pity ltered in.
I came to my senses at once. “You’ve guessed who I am?”
Liu Tongyi was already kneeling. “Your Highness, I acted discourteously before. I ask for forgiveness.”
I leaned down to raise Liu Tongyi to his feet. “Get up. I was only the eldest son of an imperial prince, less distinguished than an imperial uncle like Jing Weiyi. You don’t have to go out of your way to perform this obeisance. Just treat me like you did before.”
Once he was standing, I put my hands behind my back and sighed. “Ransi, I’ve lost. I’m willing to pay the price for losing and scrupulously abide by my promise.”
Liu Tongyi stood there quietly. I raised my eyelids and looked at him.
“However, I don’t know how to leave Jing Weiyi’s body.”
At last panic reappeared in Liu Tongyi’s expression. I was very pleased with myself and put on a display of I’m very willing but there’s nothing I can do.
Liu Tongyi stood there without making a sound for a while, then turned aside.
He rolled up his sleeves, picked up a chair, walked out the door onto the veranda, and put the chair down. He came back inside and picked up another chair.
I watched in astonishment as he nished moving chairs and went on to move a table. Then he carried over a kettle to brew tea and a tea service and arranged them on the table, then brought out plates of refreshments.
Finally, he took me to the table on the veranda and pushed me into a chair. I blankly snatched up a lotus root paste aky bun and ate it. I sat there and watched as Liu Tongyi brewed tea and poured it. Finally, he placed a cup of tea in front of me. He stroked my head. “It’s all right. If you don’t know how, Your Highness and I can take our time and nd a way.”
Biting into the bun, I watched him sit down across from me. For some reason, all the hair on the back of my neck wanted to stand up.
Liu Tongyi pushed the teacup toward me. “Why did Your Highness go to prison?” he asked gently. “The account in the o cial records is extremely scant. It only says that Prince Chen’s eldest son de ed the emperor and was sent to prison, then was suddenly taken ill and died within two days.”
Of course that was the cause of death given. I smiled. “The reason is about what you said.”
“Then there is still some disparity,” said Liu Tongyi. “Was Your Highness unjustly accused? Is that why you were unable to ascend to heaven?”
I shook my head. “No. You said yourself that in many things, there is no so-called right and wrong or black and white. Back then, I wanted to be done with it all and not bother about it anymore, but unfortunately, as a hanged ghost without a substitute, all I could do was linger in the prison.”
But Liu Tongyi still asked, “Why did Your Highness defy the emperor?”
I thought about it. “After all these years, I’ve almost forgotten the reason.
But let me ask you some questions. If you answer truthfully, maybe I’ll remember.”
“Go ahead and ask, Your Highness,” Liu Tongyi said readily.
I stared into his eyes. “Why do you love Jing Weiyi?” I asked emphatically.
“Why can’t you love me instead?”
Liu Tongyi smiled. “I love Your Highness very much.”
I sneered. “You aren’t telling the truth. Then we have nothing to talk about.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m lying,” said Liu Tongyi. “If you mean that kind of love… I really don’t know whether you could say I love His Highness Prince Huai.”
Liu Tongyi poured more tea into the cup in front of him.
“The residence Your Highness is staying in currently is called the House of the Red Leaves of the Western Hills. It was left behind by my late father.
When my father was gravely ill, I inadvertently caught him writing and learned that he had another name, the Scholar of the Red Leaves of the Western Hills, and he wrote martial arts romances. I was about the same age as Your Highness then. I was extremely shocked to learn of this. My father was a reserved and upright person. I had never imagined he could have this other identity. After my father passed away, I was the only one in the world who knew of this, and of this residence. I found all the romances he had written and read them, and even found books similar to his and read those… Later, my grandfather brought me back to the capital. I did not dare tell him about my father, because my grandfather, as well as my uncle, as well as the o cials and scholars like them, all said that martial arts
romances were lth un t for polite society. To them, the people who wrote these romances disgraced the sages and had no character to speak of…”
Liu Tongyi said that, despite this, he had thought that his father’s romances were better written than many serious works, yet he did not know whether he was going against the lessons of the wise, nor did he know whom he ought to endorse between his grandfather and his father. He was on one hand con icted but continued to look for romances to read in secret. Even when he attended a palace banquet with his grandfather, he still found an opportunity to sneak o and read and unwittingly ran into Jing Weiyi.
“At the time, His Highness Prince Huai said to me that he loved the Scholar of the Red Leaves of the Western Hills’s books. His commentary on martial arts romances was as conscientious as if he were opining on serious works. That was when I realized that martial arts romances and the books of the sages alike are all written from the heart by people of the world to express their feelings, just using di erent methods. Among writings, there are no distinctions between high and low, noble and vulgar. And many reasons for liking or disliking them, when you get down to it, arise only from your own preferences.”
He said that, later, for Jing Weiyi’s mother’s birthday, he accompanied his mother on a congratulatory visit. He wanted to talk with Jing Weiyi again about martial arts romances. When he found the rear garden, he saw Jing Weiyi playing in the snow with a crowd of princes.
He stood under the eaves then, looking on from afar as, amid the falling snow, Jing Weiyi held the princes up one after another to pick plum blossoms. Suddenly, he had understood what his grandfather had meant when he said that the Liu clan and Prince Huai were not the same kind of
people. The scene then had been like a painting, but he was doomed to be a mere observer.
Some principles in life only take an instant to comprehend.
Liu Tongyi set down his teacup. “Being an observer suits me better.”
So, from then on, he had only watched from a distance.
From the outside, one could see very clearly many things that the person in the painting could not see.
Such as his preferences, his habits, the person who was always beside him, whom he truly loved, who suited him.
My teeth ached a little. I frowned and said, “So you told him that it was Yun Yu he truly loved?” I had an instantaneous impression of a halo behind his head.
“When you did this, did you feel you were being especially noble, especially understanding, as if you had one foot among the clouds and were about to y up to heaven?”
“I am not the one he loves,” said Liu Tongyi. “Even if he was mistaken for a time, he would eventually realize the truth. Then there would be trouble for everyone. I didn’t want to come to grief.” He smiled. “In reality, I’m a sel sh person who doesn’t want trouble.”
I wordlessly picked up a pastry and stu ed it into my mouth. Then I drank some tea. “Now that you’re rescuing him, you’re not an observer anymore, are you?”
“It’s just that the painting might wrinkle, and it’s up to me, the observer, to smooth it out. I don’t want to have nothing left to look at in the future.”
I was absolutely speechless. I thought that the halo behind his head was dazzlingly bright.
“Forget it. You’re tired of watching. How about I love you, you love me, we make each other happy. Much more straightforward.”
I bit into another aky bun and sincerely proposed, “I’ll get rid of Jing Weiyi right now, and you and I will make a fresh start!”
Liu Tongyi’s face fell. I laughed. “I’m kidding. Since you’ve told me the truth, I’ll tell you how to expel a ghost like me.”
I stood up and patted down my clothes. “Go nd some peach tree branches and yellow rice wine and boil them together, then make Jing Weiyi drink the wine. I won’t be able to hold out. Peach wood is used to expel ghosts, so it won’t do Jing Weiyi any harm.”
Liu Tongyi frowned. “But you…”
“Well,” I said, “I’ll go back out to be a wandering spirit. If you’re grateful to me, burn me some funeral money and do some good deeds. Maybe I’ll be able to go to the underworld. But I’m very pleased that you asked.”
I went into the courtyard and looked all around. I had always wanted to go to Jiangnan. I’d never thought that when I nally got to go, I would only get to see two houses.
Liu Tongyi still stood on the veranda. “Hurry up and go look,” I said, “and make sure I drink it before the sun sinks beneath the mountains tonight, or else you’ll have to wait for tomorrow.” I turned. “I’ll be waiting for you next door.”
VI.
In the afternoon, Liu Tongyi came as arranged. I narrowed my eyes at the wine and peach branches in his hands, then looked at the sky. It was still early. There was some time to go till dusk.
I brought a small copper stove and a small pot so Liu Tongyi could boil the wine, then stood aside with my hands in my sleeves, watching.
The yellow wine poured into the pot, and its fragrance wafted all around.
I stepped forward to hug Liu Tongyi and kissed him again.
His expression shifted. I released him. “It’s nothing. I’m just a little frustrated because soon I won’t be able to kiss you again.”
Liu Tongyi asked me softly, “What happened to you?”
I sat down on the steps. “Isn’t it enough that I’m leaving? Why must you ask too much?”
“Since you are leaving,” said Liu Tongyi, “what prevents you from telling me?”
I smiled at him and still did not say.
When the wine infused with peach tree branches had boiled long enough, I approached, picked it up, and poured it into a bowl.
The wine re ected the light of the setting sun and also took on an evening glow. I took a rolled-up paper from my sleeve and handed it to Liu Tongyi, then watched him unroll it.
“What do you think? My painting is much better than Jing Weiyi’s.”
The painting was a snowy scene I had tried to draw in accordance with Liu Tongyi’s description earlier, of him when he was young standing on the veranda, watching Jing Weiyi picking plum blossoms with the princes in the snow.
I had never seen Liu Tongyi when he was younger, only drawn what I guessed he had looked like, but I thought that my painting must look much more like him than Jing Weiyi’s.
“You think someone else is in the painting, so there must be someone who thinks you are in the painting.”
I’d just wanted to show him this painting and say these words to Liu Tongyi.
I clutched his sleeve. “Ransi, do you know why I’m willing to go? Because when you said those things to me, I really did love you, really.”
The light of the setting sun slanted down. Brie y, my vision dimmed, and I had the impression that he loved me a little too.
I let go of his sleeve. “Forget it. I wanted to see whether I could convince you to relent in the end, but even a ghost has to abide by his promise.”
I picked up the bowl and drained it in one go. I pointed at the painting he held. “The signature there is my nickname.”
My body grew unsteady. The yin energy I had scraped together was dissipating bit by bit.
I lay down on a reclining chair. Liu Tongyi grabbed the cu of my sleeve.
“You…”
In fact, Liu Tongyi, when you guessed who I was, you guessed wrong.
However clever you might be, you couldn’t have guessed right.
I yawned. “That’s right, Zishu is our nickname.
“Our name is Jing Su. We ought to be enjoying o erings in the ancestral temple of the imperial family.
“You should have been calling us Emperor Taizong.
“The one who ruled the empire and was interred in the ancestral temple was our twin brother, Jing Yuan.
“Your forefather Liu Jin, along with our mother the empress, thought that because we were partial to painting and calligraphy, we were unsuited to be emperor and therefore replaced us with Prince Jin, then immured us in a stone prison under the name of Prince Chen’s eldest son.”
Jing Yuan and I were twin brothers. Because I was born slightly earlier, the advantage went to me, and I became crown prince.
I’d had no interest originally in being crown prince. Jing Yuan was skilled in martial arts, excelled in horsemanship and archery, liked to study warcraft. He closely resembled our father the emperor. I had told my father many times to give Jing Yuan the position of crown prince.
I had been sincere, but Jing Yuan had thought I did this out of suspicion of him. He earnestly declined.
Grand Tutor Liu and my mother both said before my father the emperor that he must install his eldest son as crown prince as an example to later ages.
But when my father passed away, the night I ascended the throne, my mother and Grand Tutor Liu had me rendered unconscious. When I awoke, I found myself in a stone prison.
At the time, that stone prison was utterly secret, with walls all around and only one small door. In that stone room, my mother, Grand Tutor Liu, and two other loyal courtiers assiduously counseled me to allow Prince Jin to take my place, because I wasn’t suited to being emperor, as if my being emperor would lead to the demise of the Jing clan’s empire.
I just didn’t understand. When I wanted to give up being emperor, they didn’t want me to. Now that the position was mine, they wanted to rob me of it. Why was this?
I knew that, even if I agreed, if I became Jing Yuan and Jing Yuan became emperor, I would still never know peace, would spend my whole life mistrusted.
I would be better o putting an end to it altogether. They could rest easy, and I would be free.
No one kept watch in the stone room. I was alone. I thought that Jing Yuan, my mother, and Grand Tutor Liu all secretly hoped I would do this.
My mother and Grand Tutor Liu had brought me Jing Yuan’s clothes and told me to put them on if I agreed. The violet silk belt in the bundle had been a gift from me; Jing Yuan had laughed then, saying that it was long enough to wrap around twice, but because cutting a belt was bad luck, he had worn it doubled up. As it happened, it turned out to be just long enough for me to use now.
Suspended in the air, I really did think that this would be the end.
Only, I hadn’t counted on it being true that a hanged ghost cannot reincarnate. Dying was easy, but after my death, I had my full share of torment. Had I known beforehand, I would rather have lived out my life as Prince Jin and experienced decades of a living hell.
Inhabiting Jing Weiyi, after leaving the prison, I found that the empire was indeed well-governed. Had I been emperor back then, perhaps it would not be as prosperous as it was today.
If the world is like a game of weiqi, then I must be a piece doomed to be abandoned for the sake of the overall strategy; that was indeed a grievance I could not swallow.
The ever-loving and tender mother who had given birth to me and raised me, the grand tutor who had always painstakingly counseled me on how to be a wise ruler, and Jing Yuan, who when we were little had been as inseparable from me as body from shadow—all their actions had been falsehoods.
Was there any sincere kindness in this world?
Now it seemed that there was, but I had never met it.
Actually, I didn’t know what the aftermath of using wine infused with peach wood to force me from Jing Weiyi’s body would be.
I had slipped outside of Jing Weiyi’s body. I felt myself about to drift apart.
Weariness and confusion stole over me.
Whether I would turn to utter nothingness or wake in the Yellow Springs, I did not know.
If there is a next life, I hope there is someone in the painting with me, someone to paint with me.
:
G
E
I.
I huddled in a dark corner, feeling deeply hurt.
How could an emperor like us, the mighty true Emperor Taizong…
despite having lled the position only for one day… how could I be so miserable?
Miserable when I was alive, and still miserable now as a ghost.
A steady drizzle came down: a perfect match for my feelings.
That bowl of peach-branch water had been awfully potent. It had nearly turned my soul to shreds, and it was only with the force of my discontented resentment that I had hung on and burst into this little compound.
This was an abandoned residence with con ict ahead, murder behind, and ruin within. A scholar tree stood in the yard, and a well. It really was as bleak and inauspicious as ever a mortal residence was. If the strength in the earth here were not so weak, it would have been a paradise for a resentful spirit like me. Although, if it were not for the weakness of the earth, I would have had no chance to occupy it.
I understood this. In the world of ghosts, it was also the strongest who triumphed. My soul was now maimed. Anything might happen if I encountered a powerful ghost.
On top of my spiritual wound, my heart was even more deeply wounded.
In what tiniest particular were we inferior to that bumbling Jing Weiyi?
Ransi had insisted on driving me out… now I no longer believed in love.
I crouched in the darkest, stillest corner of the dilapidated house. It was hot, and the sun was erce. I actually began to miss the imperial prison. At least it had been cold and dark there.
At night I began to move around weakly, searching for something I could absorb in this house. I required nourishment.
I lay beside the well under the towering scholar tree and absorbed a bit of yin energy. I felt much better. But for some reason, since going outside just now, I had felt that something was following me.
Though I had no body now, I still felt a faint chill. Perhaps we were not the only ghost in this house.
I left the well and oated deliberately in the direction of the chill. The feeling was unsteady, now near, now far, always behind me.
Did it want to swallow me to increase its own strength, or…
When I reached the door, I whipped around and saw a spot of dim light dart behind a pillar.
Oh? It didn’t seem to be stronger than me. I approached bit by bit and said, with composure, “Come out, I’ve seen you.”
I sensed no movement from behind the pillar, so I oated over and spied a point of dim light clinging tightly to it. The light was very weak, as if it might go out any moment.
It was a little wandering spirit, the kind so weak that it couldn’t even maintain its outward appearance in life and was on the verge of fading away.
I relaxed. Sternly, I asked it, “Can you understand what I’m saying?”
The little spirit moved, indicating that it did.
Then I asked, “When you were alive, were you human, or an animal?”
It moved again, drawing the character “human” in the air.
With their soul in such a miserable state, it went without saying that this person had lived just as bitter a life as ours, or perhaps even more so.
Next, I asked, “Are you a man or a woman? Were you young or old when you died? Did you live in this house? Why have you become a wandering spirit?”
It didn’t move, instead hanging dimly before me. Perhaps I had asked too many questions and it couldn’t answer.
For some reason, seeing this ghost that was even more wretched than myself, I felt a lot better. I sighed and said, “Well, you and I are both solitary wandering ghosts. I won’t use you as nourishment.”
A night breeze blew by, carrying the faint sound of the suona horn. I perked up. Was a funeral being held? Perhaps I could pick up some leftovers.
As I oated in the direction of the horns and drums, I looked back and found that damaged soul behind me, oating at a distance of three paces.
I felt a trace of sympathy. Whoever this was, in life it had been a citizen of this empire. We had never had a chance to show the people our benevolence in life. We could not abandon it now that we were a ghost.
So I said to it, “Come over here.”
The little ghost’s dim light glowed. It quickly oated over and stuck to my side.
When we left the house, I looked back at the gate. A placard lay beside the door, broken in half. Beneath the cobwebs and the dust, two large characters were still faintly legible—Meng House.
II.
The person the funeral was being held for was an old lady, a very amiable one. The little ghost and I couldn’t win against the other powerful spirits.
We had to hang back in a corner and wait until they were done eating. The old lady blew incense ashes toward us, past the boundary of her exclusive use. Smiling, she said to us, “Go ahead and eat.”
I wasn’t concerned about my dignity now. I wolfed down the ashes.
The little ghost wouldn’t eat at rst. I pushed the ashes toward it, indicating that I’d had enough, and nally it gobbled them up.
The old lady was watching us. “My, are you two brothers? It’s so nice to see a little brother letting his big brother go rst.”
I was startled and said, “Of course not. We just met.”
The old lady was very sympathetic toward our circumstances. She asked,
“Why wouldn’t two little things like you go reincarnate? Don’t you have any family to give you o erings?”
Actually, I was much older than her, but of course I couldn’t admit my identity. It was too humiliating. I said vaguely, “It’s a long story.”
“What a pity for such things to happen to someone so young. If you get the chance, nd yourselves a good family to be reborn into.”
I wanted that, but the underworld wouldn’t take a ghost like me. “I’m a hanged ghost,” I said sourly. “It’s not so easy to reincarnate.”
The old lady was appalled. “How could that be? You’re so young. What happened to make you do that?”
“You might say it was outside of my control,” I said helplessly.
“Do you mean,” said the old lady in surprise, “that you’re children of the Meng family?”
I shot a sharp glance at the little ghost next to me and shook my head.
“No, though the yin energy in that house is very strong.”
The old lady said, “Alas, that’s no surprise. The former owner’s great-grandfather was an honest o cial who o ended someone, and that person took revenge. In a single night, the whole family was killed. This happened many years ago. The killers were caught later, and the family must have gone to reincarnate. They had other relatives, but they never dared to touch the house, just let it fall apart.”
The little ghost quietly stuck to me, the light of its soul very dim.
The old lady’s time in the land of the living was coming to an end. The underworld o cial coming for her would be here soon. We said goodbye to her.
She gave us many of her o erings and said to me, “I hear that a hanged ghost only needs to nd the rope you hanged yourself with and burn it.
Release the resentment in your heart, and you can reincarnate. It’s hard drifting in the land of the living. You should reincarnate soon.”
Back at the Meng house, I wanted to rest, but I couldn’t calm my emotions.
I no longer had resentment in my heart. Only fate was to blame. If my fate weren’t bad, how could I have failed to win Ransi’s heart even as a ghost?
The rope I had used to hang myself had been lost and rotted away, but my soul still couldn’t go to the underworld. Clearly you couldn’t rely on folktales.
The little ghost lay quietly beside me. When I saw it, my emotions leveled.
I stroked it and asked, “Are you really the wronged ghost of one of the Meng family who can’t reincarnate?”
It didn’t move. I said, “Whoever you are, you can stay with me from now on. If you’re a good ghost, maybe you’ll have a chance to reincarnate.”
The little ghost’s light glowed dimly. It pressed close to my chest.
We lay together in a nook in the house. My heart slowly calmed. I thought of the past. If we hadn’t been born into the imperial family, perhaps a-Yuan and I would have remained on good terms all our lives.
When we were very little, he was just like this little ghost, always sticking to me.
As children, I was more robust than a-Yuan. I fought my way out of the womb ahead of him. He was a picky eater, rail thin, always getting sick. I ate anything and everything, and I was bigger than him. Father always liked me and didn’t have much time for him. My brother was taciturn, sitting alone in his room. He only went out to play when I invited him, and he didn’t play with anyone else.
I was the older brother. I had to protect him. When my father awarded me anything, I gave him a share. We ate at the same table, slept in the same bed. But when we got older, he slowly opened up. He liked riding and archery and hunting. I, meanwhile, became lazier and lazier. I dallied with painting and calligraphy. I didn’t want to learn martial arts, and my physique became inferior to his.
Then, when we were older still, I o cially became crown prince and moved into the Eastern Palace, and he didn’t come to see me often anymore.
I didn’t think there should be any distance between brothers, so I often invited him to see me and went to visit him.
The Eastern Palace had a cool chamber built above a pond. In summer I often played weiqi with a-Yuan there. Beside us was a glass cauldron of melons, a tribute from Tibet, kept cold with ice. When we were tired, we slept on a bamboo couch. At times like that, I really did think that our relationship was the same as before.
Alas, recalling the past made me feel all the more melancholy.
The little ghost moved. After eating the o erings, its soul light had brightened. I chatted with it: “When you were alive, did you have brothers and sisters?”
It still couldn’t speak.
I joked with it: “I don’t know whether you were a man or a woman when you were alive. If you were a woman and we weren’t ghosts, you’d have to marry me now.”
It didn’t move. It must have been a man.
III.
When I recovered a little more energy, late at night while everyone was sleeping, I went to Qincai Alley to see Ransi.
Ransi wasn’t asleep yet. He was much thinner, his face haggard. He lit incense and burned paper money in the courtyard. Many pastries were set on the table. They must all have been for me.
I was very grati ed.
I made a breeze to ru e the paper money. It ew up and down. I wondered whether he would understand I was here.
He said softly, “Zishu, if you’re still here, hurry up and reincarnate.”
I felt a stabbing pain in my heart. It was only sympathy he felt for me.
I silently took the stack of o erings away. I had planned to save up my energy and come to Ransi in a dream, to renew our connection for the future. But it looked like there was no need for that.
These o erings were much better than the ones the old lady had given us, but I couldn’t bring myself to swallow them.
The little ghost hung silently beside me. Perhaps it was wondering why I wasn’t eating, so I told it sadly, “The person I went to see just now is the man I love.”
The little ghost trembled violently. This was the rst time it had made such an intense display. I said, “I know, that’s called being a cutsleeve. I’m not actually a cutsleeve. Before I died, I liked women. It’s just that after becoming a ghost, recently, I accidentally fell in love with him.”
The little ghost’s light ashed urgently. I patted it. “But he doesn’t love me. I wanted to steal the body of the person he loves, but I didn’t manage it.
Alas—”
I gave a rough account of my attempt to steal Jing Weiyi’s body, leaving out my name and identity.
The little ghost’s light ickered, now bright, now dim. I reassured it,
“Don’t worry, it’s just an accident that I fell in love with him. I’m not the kind of cutsleeve who falls for every man he sees. So even if you’re a man, there’s no need to be scared.”
The little ghost made a circle in midair, then threw itself against my shoulder.
“I’m glad you’re not scared of me,” I said joyfully.
Thinking back on our life, there hadn’t been time to like any woman very much.
I’d heard that Grand Tutor Liu’s granddaughter was getting ready to become our empress, but sadly I had never laid eyes on her.
When I was crown prince, there was a palace maid I liked well enough; she had been quite pretty, with a waist so slender it didn’t make an armful.
She was beautiful when she danced.
I paid her a few visits, but later a-Yuan said he liked her, and she seemed to like him more, so I gave her to him. But after that, I felt inexplicably unhappy. My enthusiasm had been at a low ebb that night. I must have loved her a little.
All the people around me had been strong characters then. Perhaps it was because of this that I liked good-tempered people…
Alas. My thoughts turned inadvertently to Ransi again, and that tragic love between man and ghost. My heart ached ercely. The little ghost gently touched my face. I rubbed its head and returned to the Meng house with it.
IV.
When we entered the Meng house, I felt a sudden gust of dank wind. A ball of white mist shot toward us and snarled, “You dare take my house! I won’t let you get away with it this time!”
I was momentarily stunned. This was another ghost, a boy of fteen or sixteen, his hair hanging loose. Had his features not been contorted with rage, he would have been quite handsome. Waves of violence rolled o him.
The little ghost leaped in front of me, hovered, and was instantly locked in battle with the boy.
My companion had no human form, but its bravery surpassed my expectations. It kept hitting, hitting, hitting, and the ghost boy was actually driven to retreat in the face of its attack. But its light was dimming. I was a little worried. When it had sent the boy reeling, I grabbed hold of it and gave it some of my yin energy. I said to the boy, “You say I took your house.
Who are you?”
“So sanctimonious, even as a ghost,” the boy spat viciously. “Naturally, my name is Meng. This is my house. You told it to come here and take over my house, nearly beat part of my soul out of me, and you’re still asking who I am?”
I understood. This boy was the remaining member of the Meng family.
The little ghost wasn’t part of the family. It had only fought him o and occupied this place.
That would explain why the little ghost didn’t even have a human form. It must have expended too much of its strength ghting over territory with this boy.
I patted it on the head helplessly. I didn’t expect you to be such a quarrelsome ghost.
The boy could no longer ght, so he switched to a verbal attack. “You dirty fornicators! How disgusting! Shameless even in death!”
I was enraged. Never in my experience, while I lived or during my many years as a ghost, had anyone dared to act so intemperate before me.
“We are merely chance acquaintances. Don’t talk nonsense.”
The boy pursed his lips. “You two died together, and even as ghosts, you still won’t admit you’re a couple! Gutless wonders! Cowards! Hypocrites!”
The little ghost struggled violently in my grip. I was burning with anger.
“A commoner with a poison tongue, and you’re blind. No wonder you were slaughtered. You can’t even tell a new ghost from an old one? How exactly did you decide we were cutsleeve lovers who died for passion?”
My love for Ransi was exclusive.
The boy snorted. “Your two souls are connected. Unless your bodies were together in death, there’s no way…”
He looked at me, and his gaze sharpened. “I have it! You’re awfully ruthless! Awfully shameless! He died for you, and you’re still using him to strengthen your own soul!”
The little ghost struggled out of my hold and went slamming toward the boy’s face.
As the boy dodged, he shouted, “Wake up! Why are you still helping a loathsome brother like him… Ow…”
The boy was sent ying into the old tree. I came forward and grabbed the little ghost. “Who are you?” I asked calmly.
V.
The little ghost trembled in my hold and slowly began to change.
I watched him appear bit by bit before me, his transparent form slowly revealing his features.
It was like looking at myself in a mirror.
He was silent but staring at me, just the same as when we were little and I went out with others and didn’t bring him.
I heard him call to me quietly: “Ge…”
I grabbed hold of him and gave him a violent shake. “What happened to you?! Weren’t you Taizong?! Haven’t you been receiving incense from the Imperial Ancestral Temple?! Shouldn’t you have died in bed of old age surrounded by children and grandchildren?! How could you have become a wandering ghost?! What the hell happened!”
The ghost boy hugged a tree branch and watched us raptly. I didn’t care anymore whether I was humiliating myself.
He was still looking at me in just the same way. Quietly, he said, “Ge, it’s typical of you not to have read any history books after being out here this long. Liu Tongyi didn’t tell you either… Taizong was Jing Mu.”
A vision appeared before me of the toothless, snot-nosed little radish in the virtuous consort’s arms.
I heard myself scream, “How could it be him! Then what were you!”
“I was the Crown Prince of Reverent Lamentation and Respectful Piety, by Imperial Grace,” he said. “A little di erent from you. You were the Crown Prince of Solemn Virtue and Brave Persistence, by Imperial Grace. We were buried together.”
The ghost boy on the branch gasped. “I know, I know! Our rst emperor’s twin sons, who unexpectedly died together and never had the fortune to be emperor! So it’s you two! Ah, you’re cutsleeves? Did the ministers of the time discover your incestuous a air? Did you die for love? Oh, so that’s the truth behind the history books! How awful!”
Jing Yuan said softly, “So it turns out you always thought that I took your throne, Ge. That’s the kind of person you think I am…”
The boy kept shouting: “Wow, what a speech! Could it get any more maudlin!”
I heard my voice shaking. I thought that if a gust of wind had come along, it would have blown me to pieces.
“What… what the hell happened…”
“Ge, I told you, wherever you go, I’ll follow. Why didn’t you ever believe me?”
Jing Yuan had never called me “Imperial Brother”; it was always the less formal “Ge.” Later, when I became crown prince, he still called me that, until
one day, a eunuch said, It is a little improper for Prince Jin to use this form of address, and he switched to calling me “Imperial Brother.” But when no outsiders were present, he still called me “Ge.”
“After you became crown prince, you went away from me. I know you doubted me. You went to our imperial father and said you wanted to give up the position of crown prince in my favor, and I thought that if you didn’t have a little brother like me, you’d have nothing to worry about… I wouldn’t study those essays on military strategy. I only learned riding and ghting. I thought that, when you were emperor, I could go to the border…”
Jing Yuan had told me that he wanted to go to the frontier. I had just mentioned to my imperial father that I wanted to give up the position of crown prince when a-Yuan came to the Eastern Palace to see me, and told me what he was planning.
It surprised me a little. I was worried I’d made trouble for him by wanting to give up the position of crown prince. I quickly said, “The frontier is eighteen thousand li from the capital. Why would you want to go there? If you’re there, I won’t have anyone to play weiqi with.”
“There are plenty of good weiqi players,” he said. “Can’t one of them play with you, Imperial Brother?”
“You really know how to shut me up,” I said. “If I liked playing with other people, why would I always be asking you?”
The corners of a-Yuan’s mouth tilted up. “Then I won’t go. I’ll stay here and play weiqi with you. When you nd someone else to play with, I’ll go to the frontier.”
That night, he slept in the Eastern Palace again.
When we got up in the morning, I dropped his belt on the oor, and a jade button on it broke. I gave him my belt, but he said it bore the motif of
the crown prince, and he didn’t dare wear it. I managed to dig up a belt from before I was crown prince for him to use.
Later, I had a new belt made for him, precisely the one I used to hang myself.
I kept shaking Jing Yuan. “Didn’t Mother get rid of me so you could be emperor? Why did you also become a ghost? Why did you let the virtuous consort’s radish walk o with the throne?”
Jing Yuan said quietly, “When Mother told me about her plan, I thought she and Old Man Liu had gone around the bend. But as long as I was alive, I would always bring you disaster, so before I went to the palace, I drank poison. I wanted to see you one last time…”
But I was already a hanged ghost then.
We really were a miserable pair of brothers.
Bitterly, I said, “How could you be so stupid? How could I kill you for the sake of that wretched throne? Couldn’t you wait to make a decision until you’d seen me?”
Jing Yuan laughed. “Didn’t you also not believe that I would never usurp your position? Why couldn’t you wait to make a decision until you’d seen me? We’re as bad as each other.”
I was speechless.
Yes, we really were a pair of simpleminded brothers.
Mother had thought she was the smartest woman in creation, but she had given birth to two stupid sons, and nally the virtuous consort, whom she had such contempt for, became empress dowager. She must have died of rage.
Jing Yuan said, “Mother’s early death was in large part caused by her anger about what happened with us. When she passed away, I hid in a little cranny in the palace, lest her ghost nd me and come to settle the score. She did want to settle the score with both of us, but the o cial from the underworld stopped her. She was meant to be on a di erent road from us. I wanted to go to the imperial prison to nd you, but I couldn’t get in, and you couldn’t get out. I had to wait outside for you. Finally, you possessed Jing Weiyi’s body and left, and I followed you, but you were inside a physical body, and you couldn’t see me…”
He looked so hurt. I couldn’t help stroking the top of his head.
Though it had been very dull for me all those years in the imperial prison, a-Yuan had been outside all that time, hiding from the sun, hiding from all kinds of spiritual practitioners. He must have had it worse than me.
“There, there. Now that we’ve been reunited, we don’t have to be afraid of anyone.”
Jing Yuan immediately drew close and stood pressed against me.
The boy lay on the tree branch and said with feeling, “What great fortune the two of you were never emperor, or else the empire would be in ruins!”
I glared at him. “We would have been a wise ruler, and it is certainly out of the question for a-Yuan to have been otherwise!”
We de nitely couldn’t have done worse than the virtuous consort’s radish.
At least we wouldn’t have had descendants as hopeless as Jing Weiyi!
VI.
I lay inside sleeping, pondering the future.
The years-long resentment had been resolved. Might Jing Yuan and I still be t to go to the underworld or reincarnate?
Only, after we reincarnated, we would forget everything that had come before. Perhaps he and I wouldn’t be brothers again. We wouldn’t know each other in the next life. We wouldn’t remember anything.
As I dozed, I suddenly felt something icy approach my mouth, something bearing a peculiar and immense power.
My eyes ew open. I saw Jing Yuan holding the piece of jade that had once been in Jing Weiyi’s mouth, trying to put it in mine.
I batted his hand away. “So that’s what that boy meant when he said I was using you to strengthen my own soul.”
The jade contained Jing Yuan’s spiritual energy. He was already completely transparent. He said, “Ge, I’ve been a wandering ghost for so many years. My soul is damaged, I might not be able to reincarnate. The underworld won’t take me. If you eat this, I can be with you forever. We ought to have been one person to begin with.”
I was furious. “Hasn’t being a ghost straightened out your head yet? You and I are two people. How could we become one? You want me to consume your spiritual energy, then watch as my own little brother turns to dust?”
Jing Yuan looked at me. “Ge, even if we go to the underworld and reincarnate, we’ll have none of our memories from this life. If you don’t remember me and I don’t remember you, I don’t think it will be any di erent from turning to dust.”
I punched him in the head. “There’s a big di erence. Even if you don’t remember me and I don’t remember you, we might still meet again. That’s still better than nothing. Anyway, how can you be sure that we won’t remember each other?”
I snatched away the piece of jade and dropped it so it broke in two. Jing Yuan shuddered. Spiritual energy poured out, and he looked normal again.
I gave him one piece of jade and kept one for myself.
“This is an ancient spiritual jade. If we take it with us when we go to the underworld, maybe we can keep some of our memories. In the future, if you and I reincarnate and match these pieces of jade, we’ll remember that we were brothers in this lifetime.”
Later, Jing Yuan and I, and the Meng boy, were gathered in by an o cial and taken to the underworld.
The Meng boy’s revenge was already complete, but he had still felt some discontentment, so he had lingered in the land of the living, unable to enter the underworld.
“But now I’m over it! Emperor Taizong was even more unlucky than me!
Why should I keep brooding? I want to reincarnate! And have a wonderful new life!”
I stood on the Naihe Bridge and saw him heroically slurp down a big bowl of Meng Po Soup.17 He waved easily to me and Jing Yuan. “I hope to see you in the next life!”
I waved back at him. “See you in the next life.”
“See you in the next life.” I repeated the words, this time to Jing Yuan.
I had no idea whether that piece of jade would let me remember this life.
I brought the Meng Po Soup up to my mouth.
Living and dead, everything I had experienced appeared before my eyes.
At last I understood the saying—all is empty.
Obsession, resentment, attachment. Everything that went into a life—at the end of it—was empty.
So why should there be another life?
I didn’t understand.
But I wanted another life.
I wanted to see whether, in my next life, I would still remember Jing Yuan.
VII.
Teacher said to me that if I dared to make a-Gui do my homework for me again, he would make me copy the Analects a hundred times.
I knew it had to be Mu Qin who’d squealed.
He was only a year older than me, and always pretending to be obedient to win our parents’ favor. Perhaps it was like Grandmother said, and we had been enemies in a past life.
If so, I must have owed him money.
I wasn’t going to pay attention to him. Everyone who put on airs like this was a hypocrite. Ignoring him, as I was doing, was the conduct of a true man.
Today my two Uncles Wan came to visit and nally rescued me from Teacher’s monstrous clutches.
I like Little Uncle Wan best. He’s friendly, and handsome, and he smells nice, and always gives me rare toys. Mu Qin said moodily to our father, “Mu Ling loves Little Uncle Wan so much, Father should just give him to Little Uncle Wan to be his son instead.”
Little Uncle Wan said, “That won’t do. Wan Ling doesn’t sound as nice as Mu Ling.”
Eldest Uncle Wan and Little Uncle Wan also took me onto their ship to play.
Their ship had everything. It was even better than my house. And the serving girls were prettier than at home.
I asked Little Uncle Wan, when there were so many pretty girls, why didn’t he have a wife yet?
Little Uncle Wan said, “It’s precisely because there are too many pretty girls. If I marry one, I won’t be able to look at the rest, or touch them.”
That made a lot of sense.
But when Little Uncle Wan said it, he was smiling. When he smiled, he was much more beautiful than those serving girls, and I thought that he was just saying it to tease me.
Little Uncle Wan took me up on deck to play too. Next to us, a ship approached the shore. In one of the ship’s windows, I saw two people talking.
I thought one of them looked familiar.
Little Uncle Wan suddenly let go of my hand, turned, and went back into the hold. He had been in a rush to leave.
I didn’t leave. I kept staring at that familiar person. He seemed to sense me looking at him, and looked back. He was probably the same age as Little Uncle Wan. When I saw him, I thought of ink wash paintings of immortals in owing robes, handsome, and also somehow close.
I smiled at him and waved. He smiled back at me. Then the person he was talking to went to the window and closed the window sash.
That night, I slept over on the ship. Little Uncle Wan seemed to be in a bad mood. He sat by himself in a dark little room and drank a lot of wine, and he didn’t let the beautiful girls come keep him company.
The next morning, Little Uncle Wan still didn’t leave his room. I ran up on deck, hoping to see that ship and that familiar man again.
But all I saw was the butt of a ship. It had already left.
I went back inside in a hu , had breakfast, and went home.
Maybe it was an unlucky year for me. When we were almost at the gate, a sedan carrier fell, and I fell too, out of the sedan.
I limped out and stood up. The carriers were arguing with the sedan that had bumped us.
That sedan seemed to belong to the family that had just moved into the house next door, so my family’s steward and their steward were trying to smooth over the argument, saying that this incident shouldn’t interfere with a friendship between new neighbors.
As I stood there watching, the piece of jade around my neck suddenly fell.
I bent down to pick it up, but someone else’s hands picked it up for me.
It was a little fellow about the same age as me. He smiled at me. The way he looked at me seemed incredibly familiar.
Around his neck was a piece of jade like mine.
He handed me the piece of jade and asked, “What’s your name, Ge?”
:
I
I.
It was the sixth month, with summer rain streaming down.
I sat at the window, looking at the lake-colored mists outside with an inexpressible feeling wreathing my heart.
Ransi and I had been together two or three years.
We had been doing pretty well.
Ransi had an excellent character. He never rushed or became restless in anything he did. It was only now that we were together that I was nding we had quite a lot of preferences in common.
We both liked salty and spicy foods, and traveling around to take in the sights. That my father-in-law was the Scholar of the Red Leaves of the Western Hills, I later learned as well.
I read all the secret unpublished manuscripts. Old Grand Tutor Liu really had been an unusual person. Despite being such a stu y old man, he had fathered a son like my father-in-law, and that had led to Ransi, a treasure I hardly deserved.
Ransi and I lived like this in the fullness of conjugal a ection. But perhaps man has an inherent weakness that leads him to be just a little unsatis ed…
I thought that my and Ransi’s life together was too smooth, so smooth there were no waves… as if something were missing.
For example, if I wanted hotpot for lunch, he would say he also wanted it.
If he said he didn’t want to go out today, by coincidence, I also wouldn’t feel like moving.
For another example, in doing certain things, he wouldn’t protest, regardless of time or place. He wouldn’t say a gazebo wasn’t private enough, and we might be seen. He wouldn’t complain that the slope of a hill was too dirty, wouldn’t push me away and say the courtyard was too cold at night, couldn’t we go inside…
It was perfect harmony between us from start to nish. I asked him whether I had gone overboard, and he never said anything.
He calmly bathed with me, calmly slept, and remembered to pick up scattered articles of clothing and put them back in place, neatly folded. He calmly let me hold him, and the next morning, calmly got up.
In short, it was just that, moment to moment, he was always so calm…
I deliberately went to disturb him while he was busy with work.
I snatched away his ledger and brush, and he didn’t push me away, didn’t tell me to settle down. He didn’t even frown, only moved the inkstone, teacup, and so on from his desk, and then I could do whatever I wanted…
Afterward, he straightened his clothes, put everything back in its place, and sat back down at his desk, as if he’d just had a cup of tea.
I asked him indirectly, Ransi, do you nd that there’s anything wrong with me?
And he smiled and said, No.
I asked, Really? I have many bad habits.
He said, I think I have many myself, so I don’t feel you have especially many.
So I stopped asking and felt even more lonesome.
Liu Tongyi, Liu Tongyi. Perhaps a problem had arisen when he was given a name that sounded like “agree”; he would never say, “I don’t agree.”
When he liked something, he wouldn’t eat very much of it.
And when he didn’t like something, he wouldn’t eat very little of it.
He rose at the Hour of the Rabbit and went to bed at the second watch of the night.
He ate plain porridge in the morning and drank weak tea at night.
I thought that, in his eyes, perhaps I was that bowl of thin porridge in the morning, that cup of weak tea at night.
I had never even seen him drunk.
Ransi said he couldn’t hold his liquor. He became drunk very easily.
Every time I maliciously induced him to drink, after a cup or two, he would always put his cup down and say, I really can’t drink any more.
Then he would keep eating.
Today at midday, it was the same.
I sat by the window awhile, then went to take a midday nap.
I closed my eyes and recalled the past.
A person was most likely to reveal his true nature when he was drunk.
When Chu Xun was drunk, he cried. As he cried, he laughed, and asked me, Your Highness, tell me, what am I?
I said, You are my a-Mi, nothing else.
And he laughed louder.
When Yun Yu was drunk, he tended to sleep. He became irascible if I told him to go lie down. When I’d tried to help him to bed, he’d even torn my robe.
Even Qizhe had once been drunk in front of me.
He clung to me and said, Uncle, actually, we are miserable.
I said, I know. How can you be emperor and not miserable? Then a young palace eunuch and I together moved heaven and earth to coax him into bed.
And the next day I couldn’t be left in peace. I had to be summoned.
“Last night we drank with you, Imperial Uncle, and seem to have become intoxicated. We do not remember anything.”
I said very con dently, “I was also drunk and do not remember anything either. If I forgot myself, I hope Your Majesty will forgive me.”
Finally, a trace of a smile appeared on my imperial nephew’s face, and he turned the page.
But even so, it was still better than Liu Tongyi not getting drunk even once.
I, Jing Weiyi, was not normally stubborn about anything, but once stubbornness came over me, I had to follow through.
That afternoon, I went to walk through the market, and really did run across something.
An old foreign man with a pole over his shoulder was selling a kind of wine that was supposed to be a secret recipe from his country. I tried some.
It tasted about the same as freshly tapped coconut milk, but apparently the aftere ects were very strong. A grown man who could easily drink a whole jar of wine would be down after ve cups.
I was delighted and took out a silver ingot. “I’ll take all the wine you have, sir.”
II.
That evening, I had dinner laid out in the outer chamber of the bedroom. I dismissed our attendants, leaving only myself and Ransi seated across from each other.
“You’ve been busy with discussions all day,” I said. “For dinner I procured a few nice dishes, and at the market, I happened to run into a foreign kind of fruit drink that tastes much like coconut milk. They say it’s wine, but I’ve tasted it, and it’s hardly alcoholic. You don’t like wine. Try this and see if it’s to your taste?”
Ransi took the glass bowl of “coconut milk” and tasted it. I asked him, “Is it good?”
He smiled. “How rare to be able to taste fresh coconut milk here.”
Against my conscience, I said, “I know you like coconuts, so I bought a whole load. There’s plenty, drink up.”
Ransi smiled again and said nothing, only cast down his eyes and drank the coconut milk.
Seeing his smile and his gaze, I felt a sudden twinge of guilt.
No, I couldn’t go soft. I only wanted to see what Ransi was like when he wasn’t calm. This was to make our lives more interesting, to increase our a ection and harmony.
I imagined what Ransi would be like when he was drunk and no longer calm, as well as how he would be afterward in my embrace… The room heated up at once. My heart danced like a candle ame.
Naturally, Ransi didn’t notice my passions. He put down the glass bowl and began to eat.
I had deliberately put a spicy dish in the position where he often picked up food. It had been made with plenty of the recently delivered spicy sauce.
Even someone with a tolerance for spicy food would probably nd the avor a little too much.
As expected, after he ate a mouthful, he immediately picked up the bowl of coconut milk and drank a bit.
“Is this dish too spicy?” I asked. “Have some of the vegetables.” I added a green lotus bun with boiled cabbage to his plate.
When he ate it, his brow furrowed slightly. I ate some right after him and hypocritically said, “Why is it so salty?”
So he drank another swallow.
I served him salted steamed chicken, river snails in chili oil, Yunnan ham in sauce… My hand shook slightly as I served him. Had it been someone less good-tempered than Ransi, they would probably have pushed their bowl away and asked me, “Is it the cook trying to salt me to death or you?”
But not Ransi. He only asked, “Why are the avors a little heavy today?”
Shamelessly, I said, “Oh, perhaps Old Meng got drunk and overdid the seasonings.”
Ransi didn’t say anything else, only drank more and more. I had hoped he would be drunk after a few swallows, but instead he nished the whole bowl.
Once he was done, he put the glass bowl aside and began to eat porridge.
I studied him inconspicuously and found that his manner was perfectly normal. He seemed as collected as usual and no di erent.
Had that old foreign man lied to me?
But I’d tried it on a couple of pages that afternoon, and after half a bowl of the same size, they had been under the table.
So was Ransi’s alcohol tolerance actually better than I imagined?
Was it just impossible for him to get drunk?
As I was pondering this, a y that had own in buzzed over the table and started circling.
Ransi looked up and frowned slightly. A cold draft brushed past my face.
Thunk! The y was pinned to the wall behind me by a chopstick.
I turned my head sti y. I looked at the chopstick, then at Ransi.
“You… you…”
Ransi looked at me. The corners of his lips tipped up slightly. “What, you want to ask whether I’m drunk?”
I was a little muddled. I could only smile. “How… do you know martial arts?”
Ransi calmly picked up a handkerchief and wiped his mouth. “I read a lot of books when I was little and wanted to put what I read into practice. I trained for a bit.”
He picked up an empty bowl from the table and pulled it apart. Snap. The bowl turned into two neat halves. The break was smooth.
He smacked the corner of the table. Crunch. It broke o .
The room became even hotter. My robe stuck to my back.
“I’ve never seen you use these skills…”
He patted the arm of his chair. Thwap-thwap. The arm splintered into pieces. “I trained after drinking wine in secret. I can only use these skills when I’m drunk, so I don’t dare to become intoxicated.”
I recalled that my father-in-law had written a book about a drunken hero.
I guessed that was the origin of Ransi’s martial arts training…
“Oh?” I said. “It seems this coconut milk… is more alcoholic than expected. If you’re drunk, you should go to bed.”
Ransi looked at me, his eyes unreadable. “Didn’t you get me drunk on purpose tonight? Whatever you wanted to do, you can do it now.”
Cold sweat dripped from me like rain.
Yes, I’d nearly forgotten. Ransi had once been chamberlain of the Court of Judicial Review…
I wiped my forehead. “Listen, Ransi, I just…”
He laughed. “I know, you’ve always thought I was very dull. I’m much too prim.”
I said at once, “No, Ransi, I was only…”
He raised a hand. “Enough. You don’t need to defend yourself. Actually, I’ve always thought that you and I weren’t a good match, so I didn’t know whether we ought to be together. But because I love you, time after time, I still turned back to nd you… I knew you’d think I was prim and dull, but I still stayed with you…”
Something seemed to clench around my heart, then relax.
Ransi, he said he loved me…
He’d said that he loved me…
He stood, got out a piece of paper, and slapped it down in front of me.
Crack. A gap opened in the table.
“This is Yun Yu’s address. His and Wan Qianshan’s whereabouts are un xed, but every year during the seventh month, they go to this place to avoid the summer heat.”
My heart chilled. I grabbed him by his sleeve. “Ransi…”
He sneered and cut me o before I could start. “Some things you make too much of for yourself. So what if Yun Yu is your nephew? Oh, haha, I know… The one you truly love is actually…”
He stared intently at me and shook his head. “I don’t believe you. You asked me if there was something wrong with you, but you didn’t think the problem was with you. You thought it was me. I know our temperaments don’t match. Happiness doesn’t come by forcing it. You should go to the person who suits you best. What you think of as obstacles will cease to be once you’ve smashed them!”
Bang. Half the table collapsed. The plates, bowls, and cups came crashing to the ground. Fortunately, I had instructed the servants not to come in even if the sky fell.
My heart was breaking with regret.
Ransi, I thought the two of us were too good a match. I was just trying to make things more interesting. Why had these ancient scores come up again?
He sighed. “But I don’t understand. Why did you want to get me drunk tonight? Did you want to hear the truth from me? Now that I’ve said everything, let’s break it o .”
A cleaver stabbed me in the heart.
I’d had some of the “coconut milk” too. I was a little tipsy. My tongue couldn’t keep up. I threw my arms around him. “Unless I’m dead, don’t even think of breaking it o !”
He stared at me. “Why not?”
I didn’t want to defend myself anymore. Actions speak louder than words.
I simply tore open his belt.
He laughed, and my robe tore. “Before breaking it o , I want to do something. Or else I’ll be losing out.”
Ransi and I ended up locked in a erce, biting kiss. I wasn’t sure who had initiated it.
From the outer chamber, we made it into the bed. When all our clothes were gone and I was about to… the situation took a turn. Ransi scooped up the salve on the bedside table. His hand slowly traveled down my back…
I was astounded. “At my age… Great Hero Liu, why don’t we give the matter some further thought?”
Crack. A piece broke o the bed frame.
…
What happened after, I would rather not mention.
At any rate, in sum, afterward, with the very last breath remaining to me, I said to him, “Ransi, whether you believe it or not, I couldn’t live the rest of my life without you. If you want to kill me, all you have to do is leave me.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me. “Really?”
“If you don’t believe it, try and see what happens,” I said.
He shook his head. “You’ve always been all over the place. I really don’t dare to believe it.”
He struck the headboard. Crack. Another piece broke o the bed frame.
“But I do.”
III.
The next morning, when I stumbled out of bed, Ransi was in the outer chamber reading at the table. On the table was a steaming cup of tea. He stood. “You’re awake? I’ve had breakfast prepared. It’s nearly noon, but you should still eat some.”
He was just the same as usual.
My head was splitting. I rubbed my temples.
“Last night, I had a strange dream. For some reason, I feel like I’m falling apart.”
With a slight smile, Ransi asked, “Oh? What was the dream?”
As I recalled it, I shuddered. It was really too nonsensical. As gentle, good-tempered, and re ned as Ransi was, how could he…
I put an arm around his waist and bent my head to give him a kiss. “Don’t worry about it. It was just a silly dream.”
A page came in bringing food. He was already used to my and Ransi’s intimacy, and laid the table deftly. I sat down and gasped, instantly breaking out in cold sweat.
Ransi sat down beside me at the brand-new table. So gently, ever so gently, he said to me, “We’ll have milder food for a couple of days. Just put up with it…”
He took a small vial from his sleeve. “Snow balm from the Healer’s Hall.
After we eat, I’ll help you apply some…”
Crack. This time it was the bowl in my hand that shattered.
After we ate, I went to the rear courtyard and had the whole load of
“coconut milk” poured out.
From that day forward, I did not dare to get Ransi drunk again.
:
SS
N
I.
It was the third day of the last month and snowing heavily. I was drinking beside a stove in a felt tent in the style of the northwestern peoples.
A whole sheep roasted over the re, sizzling and dripping with oil. Strong liquor burned in my throat. When I nished my cup, a foreign girl wearing a small pearl-studded hat immediately re lled it from a tin pot, smiling broadly, showing her teeth, her thin waist gently twisting. Certainly Han girls wouldn’t behave like this.
I smiled in spite of myself. Her dense eyelashes uttered, and she sat gracefully at my side. Just then, the tent ap was pulled aside, and Siquan barged in. Bending down, he whispered, “Sir, there’s trouble at home. You must hurry back.”
I was slightly surprised. Siquan made a vague sign with his hand—it was palace business.
I had no choice but to rise, put on a cloak, and leave the tent. The wind drove huge snow akes into my face. If not for the felt carpet at my feet to prevent slipping and the houses visible all around, I really might have believed myself to be beyond the northern frontier.
Siquan glanced from side to side and quietly said, “Your Highness, there’s someone from the palace waiting at the manor. He says His Majesty is refusing to eat.”
If His Majesty wasn’t eating, as a loyal subject, I couldn’t enjoy a meal in peace either. This was what it meant to be a subject.
It was indispensable that, in spite of the heavy snow and slippery ground, I order the carriage to speed home with every appearance of great emergency. Wang You was pacing anxiously around the heated eastern hall, his face a picture of misery. “Your Highness is back at last. His Majesty is seriously ill and will not eat. The imperial physicians and imperial kitchens can do nothing. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager ordered me to invite Your Highness to the palace.”
When His Majesty wasn’t eating, what use was it to come to me?
Though inwardly I grumbled, I still swiftly changed my clothes and followed Wang You to the palace.
In fact, His Majesty’s illness was all the empress dowager’s doing.
Recently, two provinces in the north had experienced catastrophic snowfalls. The refugees were freezing; the damage was extensive.
It was necessary for the court to swiftly allocate provisions and accelerate the construction of housing for the refugees.
But the empress dowager, who had a very high opinion of her own intelligence, thought that she must do something ostentatious to display her benevolence and virtue, so she said that His Majesty must have done something wrong to cause heaven to send this calamity. She had the emperor eat millet buns and pickled vegetables for ten days, and wouldn’t let him eat his ll. Every day before going to court, before going to sleep, he
had to spend a shichen kneeling and copying scripture to beg heaven’s forgiveness.
How much time is there in one night? This was simply not letting the child sleep.
Qizhe had never been especially robust, and he had always been sensitive to cold. With the empress dowager tormenting him like this, unable to put on a fur-lined cloak, dressed only in a padded cotton robe when icicles hung from the eaves, his little face turned sickly pale. I couldn’t stand it. Each time I saw him like that, I’d want nothing better than to give him a hot mantou and tell him it was all right if he ate a bit, but Qizhe would say to me with solemnity, “We must do this.” Next thing I knew, someone would go report what I had said to the empress dowager, who would hint to Qizhe that I was interfering with His Majesty’s sagacious actions, that I wanted to turn His Majesty into a libertine, self-indulgent ruler.
So I had left it alone.
While Qizhe was a child of the Jing family, he was the empress dowager’s son before that, and I wasn’t even his real uncle. What was it to me how she disciplined her son?
I simply stopped going to the palace to save myself pointless distress.
As anyone might have expected, Qizhe held out for six days, and then, after a heavy snowfall, fell ill.
He took a chill and ran a fever.
Now the empress dowager was anxious to pile blankets on top of her son, and she made the imperial kitchens prepare meat, but Qizhe categorically refused to eat it. He wouldn’t even drink a single mouthful of hot broth.
When I arrived, the empress dowager was standing at Qizhe’s bedside, sni ing. In the imperial sleeping quarters, heaters and braziers were lined
up like a formation to exorcise demons. I removed my cloak, sweating profusely and on the point of getting heatstroke.
I was just about to kneel when the empress dowager sobbed, “You’re family, Prince Huai, there’s no need to kneel. His Majesty said he wanted to see his imperial uncle, so I sent for you… His Majesty… His Majesty… Go and see His Majesty now…”
The palace maids and eunuchs around us whimpered and wept along with the empress dowager, just as if my imperial nephew had already passed away.
I went to the bed. Qizhe was wrapped tightly in a brocade quilt, all but his head covered. His face was ushed. He said weakly to me, “Imperial Uncle…”
The empress dowager wept, “Don’t move, son, careful not to get chilled!”
I violently suppressed the urge to rip o the quilt and carry my imperial nephew out to get some fresh air, then bent over the bed to pay my respects.
Qizhe said feebly, “You may dispense with formalities, Imperial Uncle…
We… We…” He broke o coughing.
The empress summoned the imperial physician in a trembling voice. I asked tactfully, “Does His Majesty still have a chill?” He wasn’t su ering from excessive internal heat?
The imperial physician felt his pulse, then responded, “His Majesty has recovered from his chill, but he will not eat a single meal. I have tried…”
I shot a glance sideways. There was a table covered in bowls and dishes.
Actually, Qizhe had eaten a couple of mouthfuls of porridge.
But that was all. He wouldn’t touch anything else.
Again and again, the empress dowager pressed the imperial physician to prescribe a medicine to invigorate the spleen and improve the appetite. We
wouldn’t be here now if you’d just let your son eat.
I leaned down and said to Qizhe, “Your Majesty will not eat. Is that because none of the food from the imperial kitchens suits your taste? If there is something you wish to eat, tell me, and I will do all I can to obtain it.”
I was merely asking this in accordance with the scene, but to my surprise, Qizhe’s eyes opened wider, and he licked his lips. “Imperial Uncle… we… we suddenly recalled… when we ate… those sour soup noodles…”
Oh? He remembered that?
I was taken aback.
The empress dowager threw herself forward. “Noodles? You want to eat noodles? What kind? I’ll have the imperial kitchens prepare them at once!
Prince Huai, what noodles does His Majesty want?”
Qizhe tossed inside his bedding and looked at me pitifully. “Imperial Uncle… the broth has to be vegetarian… We… we are fasting… We must abstain from meat…”
I felt heartsick. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty, those noodles are served in vegetarian broth.”
Qizhe’s eyes lit up.
The empress dowager grabbed me and asked, “Chengjun, what noodles?”
I snatched my sleeve out of the empress dowager’s claws and said, “I think the imperial kitchens really won’t be able to recreate their authentic avor.
Permit me to go out to nd someone to make them.”
II.
I took Wang You and a few other eunuchs, changed into ordinary clothes, and rode a small carriage to River Snail Alley o Four Seasons Lane. By the small shopfront at the corner of the alley, the words Old Xue’s Noodle Shop were obscured by snow, the strokes barely visible. Customers went in and out, and the shade was raised to release pu s of steam.
I let down the carriage curtain and said, “We’re here.”
Some years ago, when my mother was still living, and the emperor was still crown prince, when Qitan, Qili, and the whole crowd of children had rst started coming to Huai Manor all the time, it was also the last month, shortly before the New Year, when the sky cleared after a snowfall. I had some free time and came to the market to walk around. I read some contemporary Spring Festival couplets, then stood for a bit at a stall that sold odds and ends. Suddenly, below the heads of the crowd, I saw a number of small heads racing toward the reworks stall.
These were my imperial nephews, Qitan, Qifei, Qili… a whole string of them.
All at once, I understood why my mother had always thrashed me when I snuck out to wander around the market when I was little.
Looking at those racing children now, I also wanted to grab them and give them a thrashing.
With their little sable cloaks, their little jade pendants stitched with pearls, their little fur-lined boots, and their little witless faces, they were simply calling out to all the kidnappers in the world—here are some plump little lambs ready to hand, be sure not to pass them up.
Which moronic stewards had let these princes play around here!
There had to be guards keeping watch in secret, but weren’t they worried about losing them?
Looking at those heads scurrying around, my heart skipped, and I nearly forgot that one of my legs was lame. I shot like an arrow toward the lantern stall and grabbed hold of Qili, who was at the head of the pack. He looked up and saw me, gave me a grin that was missing a front tooth, and stuck out his tongue. Qitan howled and threw himself at me, hugging my leg. “Little Uncle, Little Uncle, Uncle Jun, Uncle Jun, I want that lantern!”
“What are you all doing here?” I said sternly.
With a look of sophistication, Qili said, “Heh, there’s people following us.
If anything happens to us, their whole families will pay for it with their lives!”
“If anything happens,” I said, “even if their whole families pay for it with their lives, it still won’t get you back.”
Chuckling, Qili said, “Yes, yes, Uncle, we know.”
Qifei was a picture of innocence. “We’re all being very good.”
Qitan dangled desperately from my leg. “Uncle Jun—the lantern!”
My head was about to explode. As I got out my purse, Qifei suddenly gasped. “There… Over there…”
I looked where he was pointing and gasped as well.
Isn’t that the crown prince…
Qitan ducked behind me. “Eunuch Wang is coming to catch me! I’m not going with him!”
Qili’s mouth puckered.
Qifei looked at me and shook his head. “My big brother the crown prince didn’t come with us.”
The crown prince was accompanied by Wang You and two other important palace eunuchs. Of course he hadn’t come with the rest of them.
Before I could work out what was happening, Wang You and the others guarding Qizhe had arrived in front of us. Qitan and Qifei immediately behaved, and Qili and the others stepped back behind the two of them.
There were too many people around to speak openly. I could only bow and ask, “What are you doing here?”
Wang You said, “The family permitted it.”
I couldn’t help looking around. The whole street was full of ordinary passersby, and there was no way to know how many were genuine.
Smiling, Wang You said, “Since we’ve run into each other, the young master can walk around with his uncle.”
Qizhe agreed. As he did so, he stood perfectly upright with his chest out.
There was a clear distinction between him and Qitan and the others, who were leaning and slouching.
But could such a small child really be happy posturing like this?
Though Qili, Qifei, and the rest had often been told by the adults to get closer to the crown prince, children were children, after all. They couldn’t have too much fun playing with the crown prince. When he was present, they had to restrain themselves. They’d come on a rare trip to the market, but now they couldn’t enjoy themselves properly. They were a little dispirited.
Qitan stood pressed against my leg. He had stopped yelling, just kept tugging on my cloak with all his strength, telling me not to forget about his lantern because of his imperial brother.
I got out money and bought the sh lantern he’d had his eye on. Qitan instantly livened up. Holding up the new toy, he pranced around ebulliently.
Wang You grinned and said, “Honestly, little young master, you have all kinds of marvelous things at home. But you like this thing instead.”
Qitan wrinkled his nose. Qifei said, “With our eldest brother here, the rst thing we buy ought to go to him.”
Qitan immediately hugged the lantern, and Qizhe said, “No need; I do not want it. You play with it, little brother.”
Then Qitan grinned and looked all around with the lantern under his arm. When he caught sight of a sugar-drop seller, he shook my leg again.
“Uncle, that one!”
“You cannot eat those,” said Wang You.
Qitan looked mulish. I said, “They’re already here, let them have fun. I ate those when I was little. They’re not dirty at all.” I bought a bag of sugar drops. Wang You tasted one rst, then let Qitan eat them. Qifei, Qili, and the rest all crowded around to snatch them. Qizhe still stood upright, not making a sound. I said, “Would you like to try one?”
Qizhe cast down his eyes. Wang You said, “The young master doesn’t eat sticky things.”
Qitan’s belly was like a bottomless pit. He ate the sugar drops, then wanted a fruitcake. After he gobbled up the cake, he clamored for meatballs.
When Qifei, Qili, and the others wanted to eat something, they didn’t say so but prodded Qitan into asking for it too. As taster, Wang You was rubbing his belly.
Qizhe kept walking tidily forward, his attention undivided.
Wang You quietly said to me in admiration, “Have a look at that. Now that is conduct be tting a crown prince. He really is di erent.”
I was just considering what answer to make when Qitan yelled, “Uncle, I want that red cake!”
The so-called red cake was a hawthorn jelly. Half jelly and half cake, it was a little cold to eat in winter, but Qitan wanted it, and even Wang You wasn’t against it. “Eating a little is all right, and I can have a taste myself.”
I bought the cake, and Wang You tasted it. I was just about to split it up for the children when I caught a glimpse of Qizhe still standing there unmoving, eyes xed on the cake in my hands.
“Would you like to try it?” I said.
Qizhe said nothing, but he didn’t cast down his eyes.
I said, “It’s sweet and sour, but a little cold.”
Qizhe kept looking.
I could only say, “Will you have a piece?”
Finally Qizhe cast down his eyes and said, “Very well.”
Wang You passed a small piece to Qizhe, while the rest was snatched up by Qitan and the others.
Qizhe took the hawthorn cake and bit o a corner. He chewed it carefully, swallowed, then bit o more.
In the blink of an eye, he had eaten the whole cake.
I couldn’t stop myself asking, “Does it suit your taste?”
Qizhe nodded, opened his mouth, and hiccupped.
III.
The crown prince’s hiccupping was an event that might go nowhere or anywhere.
Wang You looked wretched, and I was at a loss.
The empress was too careful with her son; she had coddled him so much that a small piece of hawthorn cake could make him hiccup.
Qizhe was hiccupping nonstop. Wang You slapped himself in the face. “I ought to die. To let the young master eat a thing like that!”
I was the one who had bought the thing; when he slapped himself in the face, it was as good as slapping me.
But I didn’t stop him.
I looked around. The sign for Old Xue’s Noodle Shop was right in front of us. I said, “Come into the shop for some hot soup, young master. Wash it down, and you’ll be ne.”
Wang You looked at the shopfront and wrinkled his nose.
“I come to this shop often. You can relax.”
Because it wasn’t mealtime, there were hardly any customers in the shop.
Wang You, looking disdainful, wiped a big bench, then put down a mat, and only then invited Qizhe and my other imperial and royal nephews to sit.
Old Xue came out with a towel hanging around his neck. He looked at me and smiled. “What are you doing here at this time, young master?” Then he glanced at Qizhe and the others. “Hey, these have the look of little masters.
You must have been married very young to have children this grown up, young master?”
“My nephews,” I said. “This child ate something cold out in the street and got the hiccups. He wants some hot soup to drink.”
Old Xue looked apologetic. “Young master, I’m sorry. The stock has all been sold. It’s a good day for year-end purchases, and there are many people at the market. I sold out at midday. Why don’t I make a bowl of sour soup and hand-pulled noodles?”
“That will do,” I said.
Old Xue’s shop was a place I had run across inadvertently. It was a small shopfront but very clean. Old Xue came from the area of Qinling, and the food in his shop was excellent. I had even hinted to my own cook that he should come and eat here, try to pick something up, but he couldn’t produce the same avors.
Old Xue went into the kitchen. Before long, he brought out a big bowl of noodles. It was steaming, redolent of sourness.
I had Old Xue bring out two small dishes, pretending it was to check whether it was too hot. It had to be ladled out and tasted before the crown prince could be invited to partake.
Qizhe sipped a couple of mouthfuls of hot broth and nally stopped hiccupping, and Wang You looked as if an enormous weight had lifted from him.
Qitan looked longingly at me. Gulping, he said, “Uncle, I want some!”
I didn’t believe he still had room for anything, but to avoid a fuss, I simply had Old Xue bring out another little bowl, which I split with my other imperial nephews.
Qitan ate a couple of mouthfuls and, as expected, could eat no more. He hugged his lantern and played with Qifei and the others. I was a little hungry, though, so I ate some more. While I ate, I noticed that the crown prince had actually eaten his entire bowl.
At last I knew something—the crown prince liked food that was a little sour.
I learned only later that Qitan and the others had previously slipped out of Zhong Manor. When they were discovered, the matter was reported to the palace. The consorts and concubines were horri ed, and Prince Zhong
himself entered the imperial presence to apologize. The late emperor said,
“Some children going out to play in the street is no big deal. At their age, we were already going out hunting. Boys should see the world. As long as they are properly escorted, there is no harm in them going to the market occasionally. Call it an early experience of the plight of the common people.”
It was only with the late emperor’s permission that Qitan and the others had successfully snuck out that day. The empress had refused to be excluded and had immediately sent her son out as well.
Upon returning to the palace, purely over the business of eating noodles at a noodle shop, Wang You let loose with boundless praise before the late emperor, saying how deeply the crown prince shared in the joys and sorrows of the common people. The late emperor was delighted to hear it.
No one looked into the matter of the crown prince having the hiccups.
Thinking back on it now, it was very funny.
But I was surprised that Qizhe still remembered that bowl of noodles.
IV.
Old Xue’s hands trembled incessantly when he entered the palace, but fortunately, they steadied when he wielded knife and spatula.
Sour broth with hand-pulled noodles was a common foodstu , with ingredients that were actually very simple. The essence lay in how the noodles were prepared and pulled.
The noodles must be smooth and chewy, pulled long and even, each one enough to ll a bowl. The noodles were immersed in sour broth, then wood
ear mushrooms, daylily stalks, and fried tofu cubes were added, and nally, chopped coriander was sprinkled on top.
The noodles were brought to the emperor’s bedside. Qizhe insisted on getting out of bed.
The empress dowager wouldn’t let him, but the imperial physician said that it would do His Majesty good, so Qizhe sat at the table, facing the bowl of noodles, and unrestrained joy appeared on his face.
Just for a moment, he no longer seemed to be an emperor, just a child who wanted something to eat.
Before taking up his chopsticks, Qizhe said to me, “You have been kept busy because of us, Imperial Uncle. Have you eaten?”
“I ate at midday,” I said.
“It is already time for dinner,” said Qizhe. “You must be fatigued, Imperial Uncle. Eat these noodles with us.”
Again I was taken aback.
Qizhe had already instructed the attendants to bring me a chair. The empress dowager said, “As this is His Majesty’s solicitude toward Prince Huai, His Highness should not refuse.”
So I thanked him. It had stopped snowing outside, and the snowbanks cast re ections on the window screens, making the evening brighter than usual. The room was as warm as the middle of spring.
The palace eunuch serving us gave me a bowl. Qizhe said, “Serve Imperial Uncle rst.”
“Thank you for your favor, Your Majesty, I dare not accept.”
The empress dowager said, “There is no need to be reserved, Prince Huai.
We’re all family here.”
Piping hot noodles were ladled into our bowls. Here and now, we really did seem like an ordinary uncle and nephew about to eat together.
“Your Majesty should eat rst,” I said.
Smiling slightly, Qizhe said, “You rst.”
Half kneeling, I picked up my bowl and ate some noodles, then drank some broth. Qizhe nally lifted his chopsticks and began to eat.
I accepted a napkin and dabbed my mouth. “Enjoy, Your Majesty. I will take my leave.”
Qizhe looked up at me, his expression slightly startled. “Why won’t you eat any more, Imperial Uncle?”
Smiling, I said, “Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I really am full.”
Qizhe cast down his eyes. “Very well. You have spent half this day running around because of us. Go home and rest.”
I donned my cloak and exited the imperial sleeping quarters. A cold wind swept snow into the corridor, with a chill that went to the bone.
V.
“Would Your Highness like to get out to eat noodles?”
Yun Yu asked me this question with a bright smile.
I let down the carriage curtain. “Suiya is making fun of me with that old story again.”
“I asked the question sincerely,” said Yun Yu. “This street is so magni cent, its businesses so ourishing, and all thanks to Your Highness’s blessings. Your Highness ought to come here often to stroll and reminisce.”
I raised my eyebrows and said, “It’s thanks to His Majesty’s bounteous favor. I don’t dare take credit. I’d like to reminisce, but doing so on my own always feels lonely. Will you come with me, Suiya?”
Smiling, Yun Yu said, “I cannot accept this favor, Your Highness, forgive me. I have southern tastes and rarely eat noodles. Besides, I think that the noodles in this street really aren’t good to eat anymore.”
“Finally you’re telling the truth, Suiya,” I said.
Since Old Xue had gone to the palace to make that bowl of noodles for the emperor, many years had passed.
The emperor and the empress dowager had both richly rewarded Old Xue, and so his little noodle shop had instantly become a ne restaurant, packed to bursting with customers every day.
All the capital’s various restaurants switched to serving Qinling avors, putting sour soup noodles at the top of their menus.
Old Xue had three sons. They came to blows over which one would inherit the old man’s mantle. Even his sons-in-law came to get in on it. That matter had come all the way to Huai Manor, where they asked me to pass judgment for them.
Old Xue couldn’t stop his sons from ghting. He got so angry he had a stroke and passed away not long after.
His sons made a mess in their squabble over the family property. Finally, each of them opened a restaurant of his own. “Authentic Old Xue,” “Heir to Old Xue,” “Old Xue’s Secret Recipe”… Each sign was ashier than the last, and more and more novelties went into the noodles—caterpillar fungus and aged ginseng, signature noodle broth made with thousand-year-old turtle…
River Snail Alley o Four Seasons Lane had changed its name to Golden Snail Road.
Every time I passed by, the name of the street dizzied me, and I hurried on.
I spent half the day drinking with Yun Yu at Yuehua Pavilion. When I left, I was a little tipsy.
Actually, I had gone out today to dodge trouble. Qitan wanted to buy the nails from a horseshoe of Xiao He’s steed, which he had ridden as he chased Han Xin by moonlight. 18 A set of four at ve thousand liang of silver; he had already come to Huai Manor twice.
My mother-in-law had come to see her daughter today. Mother and daughter were huddled together inside weeping bitterly, as if the princess were even now languishing in hell. In fact, I had already said that Ruru’s family was welcome to come see her any time, and she could always go home to see them. But they insisted on being like this, and there was nothing I could do about it. I just made space for mother and daughter to have their cry and vent their feelings, both saying that they must not let me overhear them.
An imperial censor had submitted a memorial complaining that I was extravagant and went out nightly for entertainment. Huai Manor had nearly been ruined by Qitan; how was I supposed to a ord extravagance? If I couldn’t even have an occasional cup of wine and enjoy myself a little, they might as well execute me and get it over with.
Perhaps I would tell the stewards not to purchase anything for the New Year this time. Anyway, it would just be me and the princess sitting around awkwardly. Every time she saw me, it was as if she couldn’t bring herself to
eat. We might as well imitate the life of the poor, pick up two jin of meat, have the kitchen make some dumplings and throw them in the pot, and have a bowl each. That would be an unconventional way to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and not extravagant.
Actually, the gifts I sent to the palace each year were the greatest expense.
But I couldn’t do without.
Well, I hadn’t decided what gifts to send yet. Forget it, I would think about it some other day.
Qizhe had said to me, “Come to the palace on the night of the thirtieth, Imperial Uncle, eat New Year’s Eve dinner with us.”
As was customary, I thanked him and declined.
Now that I thought about it, these past couple of years, I had been invited to eat at the palace less and less. This year it had only been a few times, like the Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. There would probably be no more invitations this year.
Sparse snow drifted through the air.
I left my sedan, dismissed my retinue, and slowly walked on alone.
For much of the day, I’d had only wine to drink and hadn’t eaten anything proper. With the wind blowing on me, my stomach felt a little empty.
It was the last month again, the year nearly over. The swift passage of time always struck me as a little poignant.
At the corner, I heard someone say, “A bowl of vegetarian noodles.”
The stall owner lifted the pot lid. Steam swirled up. “Do you want ginger or vinegar?”
“Vinegar.”
I strolled over and sat at a small table under the awning. “A bowl of lamb noodles.”
The person who had asked for vegetarian noodles looked my way, then instantly got to his feet.
I acted as if I’d just happened to spot him and, smiling, said with faint surprise, “Oh? Chancellor… Ransi. What a coincidence. You’ve also come to eat noodles? Why don’t we sit together?”
Hello, dear readers. Thank you very much for reading my humble work.
Allow me to introduce myself brie y. I’m an author from China. Many people often ask me the same question when they rst get to know me
—”Why did you choose such a pen name, ‘The Gale Blows By’?”
The reason might actually sound a bit whimsical. Years ago, I was reading a novel on a literary website and got so hooked that I suddenly had the urge to give writing a try as well. It just so happened to be windy and rainy when I registered my pen name, so I spontaneously came up with this name. I didn’t expect it to become my o cial pseudonym that I’d keep on using.
Many authors put much thought into the selection of their pen names, and they would even consult experts to ensure that it’d be an auspicious name. In comparison, mine is admittedly more casually chosen.
I used to submit short stories to magazines in the early days, but it wasn’t until after I adopted the pen name, Da Feng Gua Guo, that I started serializing longer novels online. Then I had the fortune of seeing them published as physical books after the novels were completed.
The genres of my humble works are quite diverse, and they include romance novels, adventure novels, detective novels, and so on. However, I mostly write stories set in ancient China or with immortality and fantasy elements. The physical North American releases that I have the honor of seeing published this time, Peach Blossom Debt and The Imperial Uncle, are both respectively an immortal-fantasy novel and a novel set in ctional ancient China.
It should be noted that most of the settings in my novels are made up. For example, the dynasty in The Imperial Uncle is entirely ctional and does not exist in history. Peach Blossom Debt, on the other hand, borrows from the settings of traditional Chinese immortals, but the main immortal protagonist of the story, as well as some settings of the Heavenly Court and the mortal realm, are my own creations.
In fact, I was taking the lazy way out by doing this. Writing with a historical dynasty as a background would require me to do rigorous research. Attire, food, architecture, etiquette, and even the words and phrases used would have to be consistent with historical facts; otherwise, I’d make a big fool of myself if there were any errors. It’s a lot easier to make things up and borrow information from ancient times like I do…
I’m very grateful to Peach Flower House for their willingness to translate and publish The Imperial Uncle and Peach Blossom Debt in English. This is also my rst time having books published in English.
I am very apprehensive about whether these two novels will be well-received by North American readers.
My humble works are set in ancient China, so the characters’ names may be confusing to North American readers. In ancient China, people had a
“courtesy name” in addition to their given names. Men would get their courtesy names when they came of age at twenty; in other words, they would hold a “coming of age ceremony” when they were twenty years old and obtain a “courtesy name” which they would then use. The meanings of courtesy names were generally related to those of the given names, and I have retained this custom in my writings. For example, in The Imperial Uncle, Jing Weiyi’s courtesy name is Chengjun, Liu Tongyi’s is Ransi, and Yun Yu’s,
Suiya. Readers unfamiliar with this cultural background may nd the names confusing and perplexing.
In addition, the male protagonist in The Imperial Uncle would address others by their courtesy names in his interactions with them to show a ection; for instance, calling Liu Tongyi, “Ransi.”
In reality, courtesy names were a respectful form of address in ancient China. If the parties weren’t on very familiar terms with one another, they couldn’t directly call each other by their full names, but rather by courtesy names. By all reason, saying “Liu Tongyi” or “Tongyi” would be more intimate than “Ransi.” Yet, due to Jing Weiyi’s noble status, it’s natural for him to call the others directly by their full names, while “Ransi,” “Suiya”
conveys a sense of respect with a touch of a ection.
This might also be challenging for readers unfamiliar with the background of ancient China to grasp.
On the other hand, in Peach Blossom Debt, most of the main characters are referred to by their given names, with rarely any mention of their courtesy names. However, as they are all immortals, they also have an additional immortal title.
As such, I’m worried that my dear readers would nd the multitude of names in my works too confusing to remember.
Nonetheless, I personally think that my novels are light-hearted, and I didn’t give it too much thought when I wrote them, either. These humble works are ordinary light ction meant to be relaxing, entertaining reads in your spare leisure time.
What left a deep impression on me during my communication with the publication sta in this collaboration was their professionalism and meticulousness.
Peach Blossom Debt and The Imperial Uncle were completed years ago, and I have a habit of revising my works periodically or before each publication of a book.
I’m now self-re ecting on whether this habit is necessarily correct. I myself thought that over time, my writing would perhaps be a little more mature than it was before, and that I might notice some oversights when rereading my past works.
Many readers would also o er me suggestions, especially now that readers can communicate with authors online at any time. For example, a reader once told me after reading The Imperial Uncle that they felt Chengjun falls in love too easily, and they hoped I could make him a little more steadfast in his feelings. Or, another reader would feel Jing Weiyi was too mean toward Yun Yu and hope the bond between them could be a little lighter, so that Yun Yu could be a little freer….
There was a period of time when I was more susceptible to in uence, so I made numerous revisions to the works when presented with the opportunity to publish physical books.
For this North American version, the sta communicated with me in all earnestness, even doing a word-for-word comparison of the various versions, upon which they expressed their opinion that the earliest version was the most suitable.
I am touched by such thoroughness and meticulousness. To the North American book market, my humble works and I are new, like a blank piece of paper, which subsequently means that sales would be hard to predict.
Even so, the sta treated my works with such focus and conscientiousness.
Their professionalism is truly admirable.
Upon rereading, I realized that while the earliest versions had more writing aws, the emotions conveyed were really more complete and robust.
For that reason, the earliest versions of these two novels were used. There are many oversights and shortcomings in the content, and I appreciate the e orts of the translators and editors in translating and correcting them.
This version of The Imperial Uncle not only has the earliest, uncensored content but also the complete collection of four extras, making it the most complete physical edition to date.
This seems to align with the story—for Chengjun, the rst is best.
As for Peach Blossom Debt, I’m sorry to say there’s only one very short extra titled “The Living Immortal;” there are no other special extras. After Peach Blossom Debt, I wrote another story set in the same universe, The Egg of Wishes. I personally considered this novel to be the extra for Peach Blossom Debt, so I didn’t write any more.
Over the years, I have written many other novels, and both my state of mind and writing style have changed. I’m worried that if I write another extra, it might not match the style of the original work.
And besides, I do feel that this novel, while not long in length, is already very complete, and I think the existing contents are su cient.
Am I nding excuses for my laziness?
I’ll leave it to you, my dear readers, to decide.
As we reach the end of this afterword, I would like to express my thanks to the editors, translators, designers, and publisher.
Thank you for your love and support for my humble works!
Of course, thank YOU too, dear reader, for your willingness to read and buy this book.
Here’s to wishing you the best of luck and fortune! May your endeavors go as your heart desires!
TRANSLATED TERMS
courtesy name 表字 biǎo zì: Given to young men when they come of age at twenty, courtesy names are a more polite form of address than a person’s given name.
grand tutor 太傅 tài fù: Guardian of the heir to the throne, teacher of an underaged emperor, and one of the emperor’s top advisors.
Imperial Censorate 御史台 yù shǐ tái: Supervisory body responsible for overseeing o cials and preventing corruption; the name used here follows naming conventions prior to the Ming dynasty.
imperial chancellor 丞相 chéng xiàng: The highest-ranking o cial in the imperial government.
UNTRANSLATED TERMS
Honori cs
Most titles and addresses have been rendered in English. A few without convenient English parallels have been left untouched and are explained here.
a- 阿: Forms an a ectionate diminutive when placed before a name or one element of a name.
-lang 郎 : A (young) man, sometimes used as an endearment between spouses and lovers.
-niang 娘: A (young) woman, sometimes used as an endearment between spouses and lovers.
-xiong 兄 : Older brother, often used in the literal sense. A semiformal honori c used between men of similar age.
Common Words
weiqi 围棋: A board game also known as Go or “Chinese chess.”
zongzi 粽 子 : Stu ed glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves. These are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Common Elements Used in Place Names
bei 北: North.
cheng 城: Town/city (e.g., Baicheng).
dong 东: East.
jiang 江: River.
nan 南: South.
zhou 州: Prefecture-level city (e.g., Chengzhou).
OTHER NOTES
“With his a ections at Mount Wu engaged, what needs King Xiang in dreams to seek Jiangnan?”: This line of poetry is a reference to King Xiang of Chu from the Warring States period. Song Yu’s “Rhapsody of Gaotang” recounts how the king heard of a goddess who lives on Mount Wu and became infatuated with her. Mount Wu is said to be wreathed in clouds, and Jiangnan is popularly associated with its willows. Yun Yu’s surname is 云 (“cloud”) and Liu Tongyi’s is 柳 (“willow”). These lines use Mount Wu’s clouds and Jiangnan’s willows as metonymy for Yun Yu and Liu Tongyi respectively to suggest that it is Yun Yu and not Liu Tongyi that Chengjun cares for.
Units of time: The day is divided into twelve shichen 时辰, which are each equivalent to two modern hours and are named after one of the twelve Earthly Branches with an equivalent zodiac animal. For example, the period between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. is the Hour of the Rabbit. Shichen are further subdivided into marks 刻 kè, which vary in length but are each approximately fteen minutes. Time is also kept after the sun sets by night watches, starting with the rst watch, which is roughly equivalent to
7:15 p.m. The night is ve watches in total, continuing until roughly 5
a.m.
Units of weight: The jin 斤 has varied in weight over time but can be taken to be about 1.3 pounds, or just over half a kilogram. The liang 两 is one sixteenth of a jin. It is commonly used as a measure for currency in monetary transactions.
[←1]
Historically, Chinese emperors went by a variety of names and titles.
Here, Mingzong is a temple name (a posthumous honor), while Tongguang is the name for the period of the emperor’s rule. In dynasties where a single era name covered an emperor’s entire rule, like the ctional dynasty in this novel, the emperor was known by that era name during his rule and often after death.
[←2]
Cutsleeve is slang for male homosexuality originating in accounts of the relationship between Emperor Ai of Han and Dong Xian; one story describes Emperor Ai cutting his sleeve to avoid disturbing Dong Xian, who had fallen asleep lying on it.
[←3]
Bai Juyi, courtesy name Letian, was a popular Tang dynasty poet, whose best-known works include Chang Hen Ge (“Song of Everlasting Regret”).
[←4]
The Shang and Zhou were early Chinese royal dynasties. King Zhou of Shang was the last king of the Shang dynasty, while King Wen of Zhou, in life the Count of Zhou, was posthumously honored as the Zhou dynasty’s founder.
[←5]
The eight immortals are Daoist deities, each of whom has a distinctive divine power and motif. Popular imagery depicts them crossing the sea or attending the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday feast, where they eat the peaches of immortality.
[←6]
Lü Buwei was chancellor to King Zhuangxiang of Qin during the warring states period. Lady Zhao was a dancing girl in Lü Buwei’s home who married Zhuangxiang.
[←7]
Ying Zheng was Zhuangxiang’s son by Lady Zhao, and the rst Chinese ruler to take on the title of emperor, styled Qin Shi Huang, “ rst emperor of Qin.”
[←8]
This line references King Xiang of Chu from the Warring States period.
Song Yu’s “Rhapsody of Gaotang” recounts how the king heard of a goddess who lives on Mount Wu and became infatuated with her.
[←9]
These items all relate to semi- ctionalized historical gures and incidents that appear in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
[←10]
Mount Wu is said to be wreathed in clouds, and Jiangnan is popularly associated with its willows. Yun Yu’s surname is 云 (“cloud”) and Liu Tongyi’s is 柳 (“willow”).
[←11]
Seumnida is a verb su x used in Korean to denote formality, which might be picked up by a merchant visiting Goryeo, a historical state of Korea.
[←12]
The “cai” in Zhao Cai means wealth, and Zhao Cai altogether sounds similar to “inviting wealth.” “Jiawang” means “a prosperous household.”
[←13]
“Shuibo” and “Shuishen” are both common and interchangeable terms for the god of local waterways.
[←14]
The “yong” in this name is the character that means “mediocre,” and the whole name Mei Yong sounds similar to the word “useless.”
[←15]
The hypothetical names here translate to something like “Third Dog”
and “Fourth Cat”; naturally it isn’t a good idea to imply that the emperor is related to people with such names.
[←16]
The Laba Festival is celebrated on the eighth day of the last month of the Chinese calendar and marks the beginning of the New Year period.
Vinegar-soaked garlic, called Laba garlic, is traditionally eaten during the festival, especially in northern China.
[←17]
Meng Po Soup is served to dead souls in the underworld on their way to reincarnation, which causes them to forget their previous lives so they can be reborn without burdens.
[←18]
Shortly preceding the founding of the Han dynasty, Xiao He was an advisor to the future emperor who chased after Han Xin so he could take him back to court to recommend him as general.