Every unbearable ordeal of the past twenty days surged through Baozhu's heart, wave after wave. She remembered the long, freezing night when the two of them had knelt without rising in Rainbow Garment Courtyard, the purple-red welts crisscrossing the boy's back. Jade Ewer's swollen, disfigured face and her piercing, agonized screams as she died still haunted Baozhu's ears.
The moon would rise, the sun would fall; Yam Bow and Ji Quiver, the royal line extinguished. The Prince of Qi was dead, but his descendants by the Taiyuan Wang Clan still lived. The vile beasts who had attended the Bliss Banquet and brutalized the Guanyin Attendants still roamed Luoyang's official circles, free and untroubled.
She could never forget the Princess Consort's words: "I still have sons and grandsons. The Prince of Qi's Residence has heirs to inherit the title. Its foundations will not be shaken." Perhaps Lady Wang was secretly rejoicing over the murder of her muddleheaded, debauched husband. The Prince's Residence could have a new master, and she could spend her remaining years in peace, feeding sweets to her grandchildren and enjoying the first Osmanthus Blossom from Chan'guang Temple every year.
Since she had already begun, she might as well kill them all, kill to her heart's content.
"Get out paper and brush. Write an impeachment petition listing Li Yu's crimes, every offense for which he deserves to die. Petition the emperor to investigate his accomplices thoroughly and hold his wife, children, and descendants accountable."
The frost-laden command left her lips. Yang Xingjian stared in astonishment. After a while, he leaned his crutch against the table, braced both hands painfully against the floor, and slowly sank to his knees. His expression and voice were equally heavy and subdued.
"Princess, I failed to protect you, allowing you to suffer calamity and