Playing chess

It was already late at night when Crown Prince Qi Ling left his concubine's courtyard in the Eastern Palace. The autumn moon shone brightly, casting a thin sheen of silver over the palace's flagstone paths. Fu Shun led the way with a lantern, its halo swaying over the ground and occasionally lighting up a few strands of withered grass sprouting between the paving stones. Qi Ling walked quickly, a dark cloak draped over his moon-white everyday robes, its hem lifting slightly in the night breeze. His face showed little expression, neither the satisfaction of a man fresh from a lover's embrace nor the irritation of someone summoned from bed in the middle of the night. He had only sat briefly with the concubine and drunk half a cup of tea. She had been presented to him by his subordinates at the end of the previous year. She looked reasonably gentle and refined and had a quiet disposition. He visited her occasionally, preserving appearances for them both.

Just as they rounded the covered walkway, Xie Chen stepped out from behind the screen wall. He wore a dark gray robe with the cuffs tightly bound and held a letter in his hand. It had just arrived; the sealing wax on the envelope still retained some warmth. Qi Ling took the letter but did not open it immediately, looking at Xie Chen first.

"When did it arrive?"

"Eleven forty-five. The messenger hurried back through the night." Xie Chen kept his voice very low, making it difficult to hear clearly in the night wind.

Qi Ling opened the letter and read as he walked. Fu Shun led the way, his footsteps even lighter than usual. The letter concerned the Xiao Family. After being expelled from Capital City, they had traveled south along the official road through the western outskirts. The old madam had caught a chill on the journey. The physician accompanying them had been detained in the capital and had not been able to leave with them, while the relay stations along the route had not dared take them in. After several days without medical attention, she had died along the way. On the night she died, they had been staying in a ruined temple. Rain fell outside, and there was no charcoal fire inside. Her two sons had kept watch beside her, unable to find so much as a mouthful of hot congee. When the Xiao Family left the capital, twenty or thirty of them had remained. Now there were three fewer: the old madam, a concubine-born son who had suffered an injury in childhood, and a distant nephew of the Xiao Family. Before leaving, that distant nephew had argued with the escorting guards, who had drawn their blades on the grounds that he was attempting to escape. Whether he had truly intended to escape was something the messenger had not written, and Qi Ling did not ask.

He folded the letter and stood beneath the covered walkway. Moonlight fell across his face, his expression still impassive. "Understood."

Xie Chen waited beside him. Having served the Crown Prince for several years, he knew that when the Crown Prince said "understood," it did not truly end there. Sure enough, after a few steps, Qi Ling spoke again. "Those people along the route certainly worked quickly."

Xie Chen did not respond. He knew whom the Crown Prince meant by "those people." Although the Xiao Family had fallen, they had, after all, produced an empress. His Majesty had not demanded their lives, preserving the empress's dignity. But those beneath him did not think that way. They watched which way the wind blew. His Majesty loathed the Xiao Family, and so did the empress, making the surviving members of the family a thorn in their side. By removing that thorn for His Majesty, even if they earned no promotion or title, they could at least become familiar faces to the Crown Prince.

Qi Ling entered the main hall, unfastened his cloak, and handed it to Fu Shun. He sat behind the desk, set the letter on it, and weighed it down with a paperweight. The candle flame flickered twice, casting shifting light and shadow over his face. He thought of Xiao Luo. His stepmother. That woman who never pleaded for the Xiao Family would stand beneath the osmanthus tree in Jiaofang Hall for a while on the fifteenth of every month. Members of the Xiao Family had ended up dying in a ruined temple, and she had not come to plead for them. He knew now that pleading would have been useless anyway. His Majesty would not kill the Xiao Family, but others would. Those others were not one person, but a whole group. They needed no imperial decree, only to divine His Majesty's wishes and extend the blade a little farther than he had intended.

"Send word." Qi Ling's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet Eastern Palace. "The relay stations along the route are not to make further trouble for the Xiao Family. Provide hot water and food, as they would for commoners." He paused, then added, "Have the local officials give the dead proper burials."

Xie Chen noted this down beside him, then hesitated. He had heard the wording: the Crown Prince had said "as they would for commoners." Not as the families of disgraced officials, nor as imperial in-laws. As commoners. This offered the Xiao Family one final avenue of retreat and sent a signal to those along the route who were trying to divine the wishes of their superiors. The Xiao Family was no longer in the capital. They were commoners now. When commoners died, local officials should collect and bury their bodies as required. But that was all. The Crown Prince would neither overturn the case against the Xiao Family nor avenge them.

Qi Ling picked up another document from the desk, a list of candidates submitted by the Ministry of Personnel. He turned to a page bearing several names. He recognized them; they had all previously attached themselves to him. Among them were the son of a bureau director in the Ministry of Personnel and the nephew of a deputy commander of the imperial guards. They had contributed to the matter of the Xiao Family, each passing along a blade from his own position. Qi Ling remembered them. He picked up the Vermilion Brush, circled two of the names, then wrote a few words beside them: grant one son an appointment by hereditary privilege.

"These families have younger men of suitable age. Have them enter service in the Eastern Palace next spring."

Xie Chen took the list, glanced at it, and understood. This was the Crown Prince's reward. Rather than promoting the men themselves, he was advancing the younger members of their families. Once those younger men entered the Eastern Palace, their entire families would effectively be aboard the Crown Prince's ship. The reward was discreet enough that no one at court could find anything to say against it, but those concerned would understand perfectly. Xie Chen tucked the list into his sleeve, stepped back twice, and turned to leave. As he reached the doorway, he heard the Crown Prince add another sentence behind him.

"If anyone along the route takes it upon himself to go any further, punish him for administering unauthorized punishment."

Xie Chen turned and saw the Crown Prince looking down as he opened another memorial, his tone as mild as if he were remarking on how pleasant the moon was that evening. He bowed in acknowledgment and withdrew. The night wind swept into the covered walkway. He gathered his collar closer and headed toward the offices of the Eastern Palace's subordinate officials. With tonight, the repercussions of the Xiao Family's downfall had reached a stopping point. Those who were to die were already dead; those who were to advance would receive word tomorrow. As for whether the dead had truly been guilty, that no longer mattered. From the very beginning, this game had been in neither the Xiao Family's hands nor those of the officials who had passed along the blades. The board stood in Xuanzheng Hall, and only one person was playing.