Grass beads

Qi Yuanzuo sat beside the Qi Emperor's bed, stringing a strand of beads-the grass beads so common in the countryside.

Brown and hard, they grew with natural holes for threading. Children everywhere played with them, and they were also the cheapest material ordinary people used to make beaded curtains.

He measured them against the Qi Emperor's hand, making a strand large enough for him to slip it through.

He picked out the prettiest ones, bead by bead.

The Fat Eunuch did not know what he meant to do with them and simply watched from the side.

By the time Qi Yuanzuo finally finished threading them, the Qi Emperor woke.

Hearing movement, he lifted his head alertly.

"Father's awake!"

The Fat Eunuch hurried forward. The little Crown Prince pattered away and returned carrying a bowl of water, stepping onto the footstool to bring it to the Qi Emperor's lips.

"Father's thirsty. Drink."

The Fat Eunuch took it from him. "Your Highness, let this old servant do it."

The little Crown Prince let go and handed it over.

He watched without blinking as the Qi Emperor drank several mouthfuls.

"...It's sweet."

Honey had been added to it.

The Fat Eunuch offered some heartwarming words. "His Highness the Crown Prince was thinking of Your Majesty. He had someone keep a bowl of honey water warm, saying Your Majesty would surely be thirsty upon waking."

The Qi Emperor's eyes stung. Look at that: the son he had raised for only three years held him in his heart, while the birth mother he had lived with for more than twenty years wanted nothing but revenge against him.

As soon as he raised his hand, the little Crown Prince offered his face of his own accord. To keep him from tiring himself, he supported that large hand with his own little hands and rubbed his cheek against its palm.

He said softly, "Here, Father, stroke my face. You won't feel so bad after that."

Overwhelmed with emotion, the Qi Emperor drew the little Crown Prince into his arms and sobbed, utterly heartbroken.

"Father only has Tun'er left..."

The little Crown Prince wrapped his arms around his neck and mumbled, "Don't be scared, Father. I'll protect you."

He slipped the grass beads clutched in his hand onto the Qi Emperor's wrist.

"Wear these, Father. If someone bullies you and you're too embarrassed to say so, secretly pull off a bead and throw it away."

"When Zuo'er sees one missing, I'll beat up the bad person for Father."

The little Crown Prince comforted the Qi Emperor with the utmost dependability.

"Even though Father's grown up, you can still cry, and you can ask Zuo'er to help you get even. Just like I go to Father when someone bullies me. There's nothing embarrassing about it."

The grass beads on his wrist were rather ugly. Between every two neighboring beads on the strand, another dangled from the thread.

A missing bead would be easy to spot. The Qi Emperor immediately understood that this was so he could "secretly throw one away."

The strand was unevenly made, its dangling beads hanging at different heights. It did not match his magnificent dragon robes, and its materials could be found everywhere.

Yet those earnest, innocent words warmed the Qi Emperor's heart.

The Qi Emperor smiled through his tears, stroked the beads, then stroked his son's head, unable to contain his affection. He felt this child was a treasure Heaven had given him.

The Fat Eunuch hurried to chime in and cheer the Qi Emperor up. "Your Majesty, the little master threaded these himself. He spent quite a while on them. This servant was wondering what they were for and wanted to help, but His Highness wouldn't let me."

"Oh my, so they were a gift from our little Highness to Your Majesty."

Hearing this, the Qi Emperor inspected his son's hands.

"These beads aren't easy to thread. You did it yourself? Did you use a needle? Do your hands hurt?"

Qi Yuanzuo had selected beads that were easy to thread and used a needle to guide the string through. It had taken little effort, so he shook his head.

The little Crown Prince linked pinkies with the Qi Emperor. This fledgling, not even as tall as a table, made an enormous promise.

"Zuo'er will protect Father for my whole life."

Everything he ate, wore, and used came from the Qi Emperor. Only these ownerless grass beads, found everywhere, were something he could give him.

The child was soft in his arms. He had achieved nothing in scholarship or martial pursuits, could barely offer a few lofty principles, and had yet to finish more than a handful of the sages' books. Yet he left the Qi Emperor more helpless than ten million books of sages or ten million lofty principles ever could.

The sages' books and lofty principles only taught the Qi Emperor to forge ahead through hardship, to strengthen himself and stand firm. But this child, not even as tall as a table, would tell him:

-Father could cry too.

-Father, I'll protect you.

Since he was old enough to remember, the Qi Emperor had never cried like this...

Father and son held each other, and even the Fat Eunuch wiped away tears nearby.

88 broke in at an inopportune moment. "Host, whatever you do, don't invest your feelings."

Qi Yuanzuo replied calmly, "Is a person without feelings still a person? I know my limits."

88 stopped smoking and drinking. Only after a long while did it say:

"Host, if you do this, and the Qi Emperor someday..."

"I know."

But what could knowing change?

"88, sometimes knowing is one thing, and doing is another."

His conflict with the Qi Emperor stemmed from affection. If the Qi Emperor treated him like the other princes, would he still suffer the frustration of being "controlled"?

But would he willingly make that trade?

Qi Yuanzuo would not. Whatever happened in the future, this favoritism was, right now, pure enough to move him.

"88, the Empress Dowager must die."

If the Empress Dowager did not die, a thorn would remain in the Qi Emperor's heart. Nourished by his emotions, that thorn would hatch into a mass of festering flesh, driving its host mad, tormenting him, and ultimately consuming him...

But if the Empress Dowager died, a thorn would remain in his heart all the same. That thorn would be the shackles of morality, passing judgment on him. For the rest of his life, he would ask himself the same question again and again-was someone who killed his mother still human?

The Qi Emperor was not indecisive, but people were not immortals. As long as one was human, there would be sorrows one could not relinquish, could not sever.

Onlookers would find it baffling, then toss out a line-fail to cut when you should, and chaos will follow-and watch the person trapped in the situation struggle, aloof and convinced of their own cleverness.

It was not really that onlookers were clearheaded or clever. Perhaps what mattered most to the person caught in the situation happened to matter least to those watching.

The Qi Emperor resented and hated the Empress Dowager, but her accusations and psychological manipulation had ultimately left their marks on the twenty-three-year-old emperor's heart.

That was why the Qi Emperor would rather torment the Empress Dowager and be tormented in turn than give them both a swift ending.

To make the Qi Emperor harden his heart and kill the Empress Dowager himself, she would have to cross a line he could never tolerate, making him think-this was no mother, but an enemy!

Political power was not that line, nor were his children. The Qi Emperor could endure all the Empress Dowager's vile antics. Even though she had enraged him into vomiting blood this time, Father still would not kill her.

Even if the Empress Dowager sought to rebel, the Qi Emperor could allow her to live.

What would it take for the Empress Dowager to die?

Qi Yuanzuo already had the answer.

"88, Father can't let go. I'll help him do it."

He did not want the Qi Emperor driven mad by the Empress Dowager. That old woman looked sick in the head!

And he knew what consequences might follow if he helped pull that "hatred" out of the Qi Emperor.

All he could say was that circumstances had brought them here. Having no regrets would be enough.

88 let him talk to himself. Its host merely wanted to tell it his thoughts, like habitually jotting down a note. He did not need it to participate, discuss, critique, or persuade.

No one could change its host's decision.

Father and son ate lunch together. The Qi Emperor still needed rest, and Qi Yuanzuo had lessons that afternoon. He did not want to go, but the Qi Emperor would not let him miss class.

Even the Qi Emperor worried that his outstanding son might become a truant in his teacher's eyes.

There was nothing more to it. He simply thought, My son is so wonderful. He must be the best in everyone else's eyes too.

And so the little Crown Prince could only sigh, shoulder his little schoolbag, and head off to class.

The Qi Emperor had returned to normal. Sitting cross-legged on the couch in bright yellow inner robes, rolling a strand of grass beads in his hand, he pinched his son's troubled face and began reminiscing.

"When I was little, I didn't want to go to school either. Several times, your Great-Grandfather ordered the servants to 'carry' me into the classroom.

"How about I have someone carry you over too?"

The little Crown Prince refused outright.

"No! I want to ride a horse to school!"

The Qi Emperor would not agree. "You're too young. What do you mean, riding a horse? Denied."

The little Crown Prince said, "I want to ride a dog!"

The Qi Emperor said, "Ride a dog and you'll rot the crotch of your trousers. Denied!"

The little Crown Prince grew anxious. "A crane!"

The Qi Emperor said, "I only have those few lordly cranes in my garden. They can't carry you. Denied."

The little Crown Prince shouted at the top of his lungs, "I want an ox! You're not allowed to deny it!"

He looked ready to burst into tears if his father dared refuse.

The Qi Emperor drew in a small breath through his teeth and reluctantly agreed. "I'll find you a gentle one and have a cart made."

The little Crown Prince went up to seal the promise with a high five.

The Qi Emperor had only just raised his hand when the little Crown Prince eagerly slapped his palm.

"Hooray!"

"Whoever breaks the promise wets his pants!"

The little Crown Prince skipped away without looking back.

The Qi Emperor said, "..."

The Qi Emperor laughed and scolded him. "Little rascal, you've learned to play tricks on me."

As he laughed, his expression turned cold again.

"Help me dress. We're going to the Hall of Nurturing Origin."

The Fat Eunuch was deeply reluctant. "Your Majesty, your imperial body needs quiet rest."

The Qi Emperor simply spread his arms, and the Fat Eunuch did not dare refuse to help him dress.

"Don't panic. I'm not going there to quarrel with her. There are plenty of ways to make life worse than death."

"Since she wants to bear children, let her. If one won't do, then two. If two aren't enough, then three."

"If she wants men, I'll find them for her. Why hide and sneak around? I'm broad-minded and utterly filial. Winter is coming; let's send the Late Emperor a few more cuckold's hats."

The Fat Eunuch listened in terror. Mad. Everyone had gone mad!

Qi Yuanzuo waited for the Eldest Prince to fetch him for school, looking at Jiang Liang beside him, her face swollen like a pig's head.

He frowned. "Who hit you?"

Jiang Liang mumbled, "Zhaoyi Wei."

That woman's face flashed through Qi Yuanzuo's mind. He said calmly, "Her."

Then he said nothing more.

A shrewd gleam flickered through Bolao's eyes, and the corners of his lips lifted almost imperceptibly.

Jiang Liang's eyes were desolate. She remained silent, but from the corner of her eye, she cast a cold, upward glance at the seemingly obedient little eunuch, Bolao...