Princess Zhaoling: Side Story

My name was Situ Baye, the next heir to the Great Xi dynasty and its current crown princess.

My imperial mother was the person I feared most, yet also the one I respected most.

She was the reigning emperor of Great Xi. As a woman, she had secured her position step by step, until she finally ascended the throne without opposition.

Overbearing and majestic, cold and ruthless, she ruled with absolute authority. Yet she was also exceptionally gifted, fair and impartial. Under her direction, the imperial examinations were reformed, and talented elites from every walk of life were welcomed.

Take Shi Wenjue of the Iron Armor Sect, for example. Though he was a man of poor character, he had a great talent for developing weapons. With the Iron Armor Sect's resources, he invented many fine weapons.

During my imperial grandfather's reign, he had failed the examinations time and again, and in the end he had even joined Wansheng Dao. Only after Imperial Mother ascended the throne and reformed the examinations did he pass the Ministry of Works' specialized examination and join the ministry, where he could shine and give off heat.

His dark past also gave Imperial Mother leverage over him, leaving him no choice but to be loyal to her.

Imperial Mother also encouraged a hundred schools of thought to bloom, ending the exclusive reverence for Confucianism. Naturally, this measure met with widespread opposition. Even though Imperial Mother already held power firmly in her hands, danger still lurked at every step. The blood of those she killed could have flowed into a river.

I once asked Imperial Mother in puzzlement why she had done it. After all, she was cold-hearted and detached, seemingly indifferent to everything. Yet she had insisted on this one thing alone, and despite the enormous effort it cost her, she had seen it through.

Imperial Mother told me that Confucian thought, with its rulers acting as rulers, ministers as ministers, and children as children, was the ruling class's most useful tool for keeping the masses in ignorance.

But the Confucians also taught that a husband was the guiding authority over his wife, a doctrine that oppressed women. If she did not suppress Confucianism, it would surely become the most useful blade for dealing with her in the future.

At the time, Imperial Mother fixed me with a cold gaze devoid of any feeling. "I did this not for the realm, not for its people, and still less for you. I did it only for myself.

"And if you want to ascend the throne and hold power in your hands alone, you can only rely on yourself."

If what I learned from Imperial Mother was to be cold and ruthless, to scheme and calculate, and that relying on myself was better than relying on others,

then what I learned from the father I loved and admired most was to observe the finest details, weigh advantages against disadvantages, and be utterly selfless.

My dearest father was named Li Lianhua, and he was the leader of the new Sigu Sect.

He had once also been Li Xiangyi, the greatest under heaven, the martial world's alliance leader and leader of the Sigu Sect—the martial world's white moonlight.

The days I loved most were those I spent living with him in the Lotus Tower and traveling the world with my brothers.

With Father, I was just an ordinary person of the jianghu. Through every case we solved and every patient we treated together, I came to know life in all its forms: love and hate, affection and enmity, and the hardships of the world.

Before I turned three, I had not known I had two older brothers. I also spent only half the year with Father; during the other half, his whereabouts were unknown.

Later, I learned from big-mouthed Uncle A Fei that, for the sake of my position as heir, Imperial Mother had sent my twin brothers to Mount Yun Yin as soon as they were born. Although she spent some time visiting them every year, they would not set foot in the imperial palace until I inherited the throne.

I felt terribly guilty then. I hugged Father and cried so hard I could barely catch my breath, asking whether it was because of me that my brothers could not come home, and whether Father was angry with me for it, which was why he spent only half the year with me.

I still remembered how Father gently brushed away my tears and told me kindly that my brothers did not resent me. They loved their free and unrestrained life, roaming the jianghu. They also felt guilty for placing the burden of the throne on my shoulders.

Father loved me very much too, but he also loved my brothers very much, so he divided his time equally among us. To him, we were all his dearest family.

Before the mirror, a maid was helping me arrange my clothes. Today was my enthronement ceremony. Don't misunderstand-how could my wise and mighty imperial mother have died so early? Her martial arts had merely reached a bottleneck, and she needed more time to study them, so she had decided to pass the throne on to me.

Even after succeeding her, I did not dare show Imperial Mother the slightest disrespect. Who knew how many trump cards she still held?

Besides, although there was little familial affection between us, I greatly admired her. She always knew what she wanted, and even this vast realm meant nothing to her.

Step by step, I walked toward that towering throne, passing many people I knew: Yang Yunchun and Fang Duobing, the deputy leaders of the Sigu Sect; Feng Qing, commander of the Brocade Guard's right guard-oh, he had changed his name to Feng Buqi now; and Di Feisheng, commander of the Brocade Guard's left guard. He was my big-mouthed Uncle A Fei. I had heard that he had lost ten martial contests in a row to Imperial Mother, and in the end, because of a wager and the chong worm in his brain, he had become the commander of the Brocade Guard's left guard, loyal only to her.

There were also my martial grandmaster, and my two brothers, who were entering the imperial palace for the first time. Imperial Mother had now granted them the title of prince. Last of all was my dearest father, looking at me with the same gentle gaze as ever.

I accepted the imperial jade seal that Imperial Mother passed to me and looked around at the people I knew. I thought that, in the end, Imperial Mother and I were different: I could never become that "solitary sovereign."