Late at night, Lizhèng Hall.
The palace attendants stood silently outside the doors with their heads bowed, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Inside the lamplit hall, a Little Sparrow brimming with spiritual energy sat on the round table, chirping away.
Emperor Qian sat before the round table in bright yellow sleeping robes. A shattered teacup lay on the floor, not yet cleared away.
The empress draped a blanket over Emperor Qian's back:
"Please calm your anger, Your Majesty. Li Gongpu simply lost his head..."
"He's cleverer than anyone."
Emperor Qian had employed Li Gongpu for twenty years. How could he not know the abilities and character of this dog of his?
"He merely thought my time was nearly up and began making arrangements for his own future.
"He's always been adept at reading faces. Whatever I wanted, he could guess and handle without my saying much. I never expected that when I felt I wouldn't survive this winter, he would guess that too... cough, cough..."
The empress sat beside him and helped soothe his breathing, her expression complicated:
"Alas... Li Gongpu has served Your Majesty for years. Even if he was possessed by some wicked impulse, punishment according to the law should have waited until Jing Huan took up the burden, to make an example for the civil and military officials..."
"That was my original intention, and I only intended for him alone to die."
Emperor Qian looked toward the Purple Thunder Sparrow:
"But you don't understand just how skilled Li Gongpu is at pleasing people. Even I had forgotten this bird, yet he remembered it perfectly. And whenever I tired of something, he could always find me a new favorite in time and arrange everything flawlessly.
"My body is broken and ill. I suffered as a prince,