Anxious

When A Ping ran out of Yuning Hall, one of his shoes came off, and the stitching on the sole of the other wore through, leaving a split at the heel. He raced along the palace paths with one bare foot, dew and fine grit on the bluestone paving digging into his sole, but he felt no pain. He had walked the route from Yuning Hall to Xuanzheng Hall for six years and could have found his way with his eyes closed, yet today the path seemed endless.

Under the eaves of Xuanzheng Hall, De'an was holding his fly whisk and directing the young eunuchs as they swept and cleaned. At the distant sight of A Ping running toward him, his grip abruptly tightened. He hurried forward and seized A Ping by the arm.

"Godfather..." A Ping's lips trembled, his voice shaking so badly he could barely form a sentence. "The Fourth Prince... something's happened."

Before he had finished speaking, the door to the West Warm Pavilion was flung open from within. Qi Xiao stood in the doorway, still wearing the black dragon robe from morning court, its coiled-gold collar clasp fastened snugly. His gaze passed over De'an and landed directly on A Ping's face.

"What happened?" His tone was deliberately level, but De'an could hear the deathly stillness before a storm beneath it.

A Ping dropped to his knees with a thud and stammered out what had happened. A palace maid named A Rong had entered the bedchamber at some unknown time and somehow gotten into the bed. When the Fourth Prince opened his eyes, the maid was lying naked beside him. The Fourth Prince had been frightened, his eyes had rolled back, and he had fainted.

Qi Xiao's pupils contracted. After hearing him out, he stood still for the briefest instant, then strode toward Yuning Hall. He did not order a sedan chair or have anyone lead the way. He walked swiftly, the wind lifting the hem of his dragon robe and sweeping it against the corridor pillars. De'an followed close behind, hastily signaling to a young eunuch nearby to summon everyone on duty at the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Yuning Hall was already in utter chaos. A row of palace servants knelt beneath the eaves, every head bowed and every pair of shoulders shaking. Chun He knelt at the front, her forehead pressed against the gray bricks, not daring to lift it. Qi Xiao walked past her without stopping.

Inside the bedchamber, half the bed curtains had been torn down and hung crookedly from a silver hook. Qi Yu lay motionless on his side, his face as white as rice paper and his lips drained of color. The quilt covered him to his chest, and the hand outside it was clenched into a fist, its knuckles stiff. Before Qi Xiao entered, Chun He had put an inner robe on him, her hands shaking so badly that she had failed several times to thread the ties through the fastening holes.

Qi Xiao sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to touch Qi Yu's forehead. It was ice-cold, without a trace of warmth. He moved his hand to Qi Yu's cheek and gently brushed it with his thumb. The boy's eyelashes quivered, but he did not wake.

Imperial Physician Zhou stumbled in, his robe not even properly fastened and his medicine chest slung over his shoulder. He knelt beside the bed and placed his fingers on Qi Yu's wrist. He examined his pulse for a long time, until sweat began to bead on his forehead.

"Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince suffered a sudden fright, causing his qi to become blocked and rendering him unconscious." He lifted an eyelid, then felt the side of his neck. "His Highness's pulse is weak, floating, and rapid. He has suffered an excessive fright. I will administer acupuncture at once."

Qi Xiao neither spoke nor rose. He sat on the edge of the bed, holding Qi Yu's hand, and watched Imperial Physician Zhou twist silver needles one by one into the web between his thumb and forefinger and the groove above his upper lip. At the third needle, Qi Yu's brow furrowed, and his fingers curled faintly in Qi Xiao's palm. Qi Xiao tightened his hold on that hand.

"De'an."

De'an took half a step forward. "Here, Your Majesty."

"Bring that palace maid here."

A Rong was brought in supported between two guards. She was wrapped in nothing but a torn inner robe, her hair loose and disheveled, the tear tracks on her face still wet. When she was thrown onto the brick floor, her whole body shook. Qi Xiao did not look at her. His gaze remained on Qi Yu's face.

"Who sent you in?"

A Rong lay prostrate on the floor, her forehead pressed against a cold seam between the bricks. She dared neither lift her head nor speak. De'an answered for her from the side. "Your Majesty, we have investigated. She is the old madam of the Xiao Family's personal maid. The old madam holds her bond of servitude. Her elder brother and sister-in-law were placed by the old madam in a shop in the back alley."

Qi Xiao was silent for a while. The only sounds in the hall were the faint noises of Imperial Physician Zhou twisting the needles and the barely audible breaths in Qi Yu's throat. Then he spoke.

"The Xiao Family." He uttered the name very lightly, as though reading out a name that had nothing whatsoever to do with him. He lowered his head to look at Qi Yu. The boy's face was deathly pale, his lashes resting quietly over his eyelids, the silver needle embedded in the web of his hand, his fingers trembling faintly. This was his fourth son, the fourth son who had crawled all over his imperial bed since the age of two. He could not bear to let him suffer the slightest grievance; even when the boy lost his temper and refused to eat, he grew anxious. Now he lay there, having fainted from fright.

Qi Xiao withdrew his hand from Qi Yu's face, rose, and turned to walk outside. De'an hurried after him. At the doorway, he heard the emperor speak. His voice was still light, but every word carried the chill of cold iron.

"The Xiao Family need no longer remain in the capital."