Rising Phoenix

“You tried to kill me, but I don’t blame you.” The Shao Ning Princess said as she carefully smoothed out the Crown Prince’s messy clothes. “I cannot fulfill your dying wish, but today, right here before you, I can promise to fulfill your other wish.”

She lifted her eyes and looked towards Ning Yi, a strange smile on her face.

“Sixth Brother, what do you think?”

Ning Yi looked back at her.

After a moment, he calmly replied. “Little sister, you’re in shock. You should rest.”

“You are right, Sixth Brother. In the future, you will bear many burdens.” Shao Ning slowly stood up, no longer looking at the Crown Prince. “You definitely have to take care of yourself.”

“Shao Ning, you have matured.” Ning Yi said, regarding her with happiness. “The little girl has become an adult, and understands how to help share and relieve Father Emperor and Elder Brother’s cares and burdens. As your big brother, I am happy for you.”

Shao Ning’s expression shifted — she was already at a marriageable age, and should have been betrothed long ago. She had been able to rely on Father Emperor and the Crown Prince’s affection to put off this obligation day after day, but now? Who would make excuses for her now that her older brother was gone? Who would be like her maternal brother, fighting against the Imperial Court and allowing her to study carefree at Qing Ming Academy.

There was no longer anyone standing between her and the tumultuous waves of blood and the treacherous webs of power. Today, she had parted forever with her closest kin.

The young girl sagged in place, her hands clutched deathly pale within her sleeves.

The bloody exchange of Imperial maneuvering would be recorded in history simply by the year, and the “Geng Yi Rebellion” would become just another page, a ripple in a coursing river, the larger drama just like the deaths of all those who passed on this day, ultimately nothing more than a cold numbering of the dead.

The death bill totaled up to a huge figure as Prince Chu led the Three Departments of Justice to relentlessly pursue and barehand, cutting down the weeds and ripping up the roots.

Anyone who could be associated with the Crown Prince or construed to be in his camp became a victim of the Geng Yi Rebellion. In this Fifteenth Year of the Tian Sheng Dynasty, in the days from the end of spring to the beginning of summer, countless heads fell lifeless in the streets of Dijing. Many years later, it was said that the stains of blood from the victims of the rebellion could still be seen in the stone slabs of the execution ground.

The Crown Prince was stripped of his nobility and buried by the Xi Meng Mountain, far in the Di Jing countryside. His descendants were banished to Northwest You Zhou and were forbidden to return to Dijing.

The Fifth Prince was also punished for his involvement in framing the Founding Ministers, relieved of his command over the Yu Lin Army and sent out to oversee the construction of the Long Chuan Canal along the Jiang Huai passage to link the Northern and Southern domain. The project had just begun, and for the three or so years that it was expected to take to complete, the Fifth Prince was effectively banished, and could only return to the Imperial Court for important ceremonies or at the Emperor’s command.

The Seventh Prince managed to successfully avoid great punishment, but began to restrain himself, closing the doors to his court and refusing to see visitors to focus on his studies.

The heir to the Dynasty was dead, the most favored princes were exiled or punished, and the overlooked Prince Chu had risen triumphantly.

June, summer in the year of Geng Yi, the Emperor grants Prince Chu three personal bodyguards and confers upon him the command of the Chang Ying Guards, added sixteen experts to his original Prince’s Guard, gave him command of the Ministry of Revenue, and allowed him control of the conservation of water and management of agriculture in Dijing and its countryside.

Honor and power arrived in quick succession.

The post-rebellion Ning Yi reassured the Emperor. In the shuffle after the beheadings, many important Imperial positions opened up, but Ning Yi did not hoard power in own his hands to nurture personal loyalty — in the years the followed, he would remain free and detached, neither accepting retainers nor establishing friendships with powerful ministers, always alone.

He was the perfect image of the loyal and virtuous Prince, dedicate to his duties and managing every position according to the rules of the court, assigning positions based on the recommendations of the different Ministerial offices, selected based on merit through Qing Ming Academy.

Only Feng Zhiwei understood that Ning Yi did not need to cultivate personal connections — his hidden power over Qing Ming never wavered.

Feng Zhiwei was also promoted, rewarding her role and merit in saving the Princess. She gained two additional titles, and in addition to the original Scholar of the Zhao Hua Palace, she was now You Zhong Yun (Right Justice) of the Eastern Palace and Si Ye (Assistant Headmaster) of Qing Ming Academy, the former conferring upon her the now defunct duties of chief-advisor to the Crown Prince, in charge of advising and teaching him in all matters and writing his Petitions to the Throne, the latter entrusting her with the various duties of second in command of Qing Ming Academy.

Feng Zhiwei was filled with frustration after receiving the Imperial Edict — this sister had no desire to have any interaction with His Highness Prince Chu…

She had specially chosen a new mansion on Xi Hua Alley that faced out onto the distant Qiu Mansion. The rebellion had vacated many homes, and among those affected was the original Justice of The Right¹, and she had asked for the mansion and become neighbors with her uncle.

The Qiu Mansion was also going through hard times, and Qiu Shangqi’s close ties with the Fifth Prince had landed him in many investigations.

In recent years, the Tian Sheng Emperor had been troubled by border skirmishes with the Da Yue people and had been looking for solutions to the problem. After National Scholar Mister Wei and Qiu Shangqi became friends, Qiu Shangqi seemed to suddenly become much more intelligent, and he offered a plan to the Imperial Court. Da Yue was on the northwestern border of Tian Sheng, lacked valuable land and resources, and was home to a savage people that frequently raided and robbed. The proposed solution was to open a “Horse City” at the border, providing a market so that the Da Yue people could trade their horses for ironware, grain, and textiles, stabilizing the situation and providing a headquarters for peacekeeping.

The Tian Sheng Emperor accepted the advice, but the matter did not proceed well. The Da Yue people flaunted the rules and sold sickly horses and used force to ensure high prices, and sometimes they even used a “Morning Market Evening Robbery” tactic, coming back at night to steal what they had sold in the morning.

The Tian Sheng Emperor was furious, and Imperial Censors used the opportunity to indict Qiu Shangqi, bringing trouble and worry to the Qiu household.

Feng Zhiwei sat under a small pavilion in her mansion grounds, looking up at the Qiu Mansion’s overhanging eaves, smiling as she tasted her tea, thinking up a new reason to pay the Qiu family a visit.

At that moment an imperial attendant approached, following a manservant. Feng Zhiwei met with the attendant privately, and after a short while sent him away as mysteriously as he had came.

She stood and walked to her new home’s back entrance, wondering why Shao Ning was requesting to meet.

As she walked, she suddenly realized that in the bustle and scrambling following her role in the rebellion, she had forgotten to press Gu Nanyi to answer her question on that day, so she quickly stepped back into her home to repeat her question.

“What were you going to tell me about your identity? Can you tell me now?”

“Oh.” Young Master Gu said as he cracked the walnuts that he had recently fallen in love with. When Feng Zhiwei asked the question, he unhurriedly and calmly replied:

“I am your person.”

…

 “Flying out of Zhuang Zhou’s dream, wings spread in the east wind, three hundred famed gardens, plucking the sky, scaring away the bees…¹”

Feng Zhiwei sat in the comfortable carriage, her eyes half closed as she mumbled to herself.

The imperial attendant outside the carriage peered in, eagerly attentive: “Did Mister say something? Is the carriage too bumpy?”

“It’s nothing.” Feng Zhiwei waved her hand, her small face a touch pale.

She was the careless and busy bee, out and about on her own business when she inadvertently encountered a beautiful butterfly and was scared to death. Even now, the shock still remained.

Young Master Gu treated his words like gold.

“I am your person.”

Simple and straightforward; bold and terrifying.

Feng Zhiwei felt as if she had been struck by five bolts of lightning, not daring to ask a single question more as she hurriedly readied herself and rushed to her appointment with Princess Shao Ning, even forgetting her original plan to be somewhat tardy.

The carriage turned this way and that as it carried Feng Zhiwei to the destination, gradually leaving the main streets before finally stopping in front of a small and inconspicuous restaurant.

“Not the Palace?” Feng Zhiwei frowned, troubled by the inappropriate venue. As she stepped out of the carriage she looked around her, spotting the moving silhouettes of people she assumed were Shao Ning’s guards.