Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Li Mu woke, you were holding water to his lips.

His eyes flashed with the panic of sudden awareness, then eased into calm once he saw that there was no one in the cave but you, battered and covered in wounds.

He forced himself to sit up and thanked you for saving his life.

You, too, were thanking the heavens for their favor.

In this wild, desolate stretch of mountains, no one could steal the role of savior from you.

If you had brought him home, it would have been just like the essays you wrote: the name attached to them would only ever be your elder brother’s.

Li Mu said that words were not enough to repay such a debt, and that he would surely reward you in the future.

You did not give him the chance to brush you off someday with a handful of silver.

You told him plainly that you wanted him to give you a status.

Li Mu was silent for a moment, then said, “My wife at home is fierce and jealous. I am afraid I cannot promise you that, young lady.”

You were fifteen this year.

You rarely had meat to eat, and were a scrawny, sallow little girl, hardly someone who could be called pretty.

Li Mu felt no desire for you as a woman.

And the Crown Princess was a fierce daughter of a military household.

The Crown Princess’s maternal clan was Li Mu’s only support at present.

Measured against his future, your grace in saving his life did not amount to much.

You knew you could not walk Wu Zetian’s path.

So you knelt and hailed him as the Crown Prince, then said, “The status this common girl asks for is not that of a consort in the Eastern Palace, but an official rank in the court.”

A cold gleam appeared in Li Mu’s eyes.

“You know who I am?”

No wonder he was on guard.

Far too many people had plotted against him.

You explained how you knew he was the Crown Prince.

The fact that you could determine his identity from a single jade pendant was enough to show him your breadth of knowledge and the workings of your mind.

What you were selling to the imperial family was not your face or your body.

Therefore, there was no need for you to act weak and pitiful.

On the contrary, you had to be like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath.

Yet Li Mu still hesitated.

“You want to take the examinations and win scholarly honors as a woman. That means I would have to deceive the eyes of the entire court, risk the fury of every scholar in the realm if the matter failed, and send you into the examination hall. On what grounds?”

On the grounds that you had saved his life?

When one of low status saves one of high status, that debt depends entirely on the conscience of the person above.

If you angered him, even kindness could become hatred.

So you did not answer the question directly.

Instead, you asked, “Your Highness lost the protection of the Central Palace, yet survived the Noble Consort’s encirclement, married the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo’s family, and gained the support of the court. Your Highness has proven your ability. Your succession should have followed naturally. Yet His Majesty’s heart still wavers… does Your Highness know why?”

“You say Father wavers? How interesting. The whole court knows that all of this is because the Noble Consort has bewitched the sovereign.”

“The Noble Consort was not born to high status. If His Majesty had not given her power, how could she have become the seductive consort who bewitched the sovereign? Your Highness knows perfectly well that her entire faction was cultivated by His Majesty’s own hand.”

Only then did Li Mu truly look at you.

Before he could press you further, you continued, “Your Highness studied under the great Confucian scholars of the age. What you learned was benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust. You act prudently and never dare take a single wrong step, yet the rebels who came to assassinate you still succeeded. This is the reason His Majesty wavers.”

“Absurd. You mean to say that the ruler of a nation is dissatisfied with his Heir Apparent because the Heir Apparent is upright and honorable, and disdains sinister tricks?”

“Yes.”

“Every one of my teachers is a venerable elder minister of high virtue who has weathered the storms of officialdom. Even they would not dare say such a thing.”

“What does Your Highness believe the relationship between sovereign and minister to be? Mutual support? No. It is one rising as the other falls. Of course ministers like a lenient and benevolent ruler. But to a ruler, knowing only lenience and benevolence is weakness.”

“A mere village girl, and you dare make such outrageous claims!”

“If I were only a mere village girl, I should never have recognized Your Highness’s jade pendant, much less been able to guess His Majesty’s thoughts.”

“Then who exactly are you?”

“Someone who speaks only the truth to Your Highness.”

You raised your head and looked at him, your eyes filled with ambition.

“Your Highness may continue to be upright and honorable. Leave all those sinister tricks to this common girl.

“Treat me as a knife, as a sword, as a vicious dog that knows how to bite.

“Let those shameful things that cannot see the light dirty this common girl’s hands.”

Li Mu studied you.

After a long while, he asked, “What is your name?”

Your parents had never given you a proper name.

At home, you were called Mei’er.

Once married, you would be called so-and-so’s wife.

Giving you a name would have been a waste.

After learning to read, you had thought up some elegant, romantic names for yourself.

But now, you wanted none of them.

You bowed deeply to Li Mu and declared in a clear voice, “This common girl is Xiao Fu.”

From this day forward, you would rather betray all under heaven than allow all under heaven to betray you.