Chapter 5
The morning after my drunken performance, I went to play Pei Chengxing as usual.
He did not look at me, merely motioned for me to sit.
During the game, our fingertips happened to brush.
His were burning hot.
He sprang up so abruptly that his robes caught the board. Black and white stones scattered across the floor in a clatter.
I knelt at once.
“I have offended Your Majesty through my carelessness. Please punish me.”
He neither punished me nor spoke. He simply strode out without looking back.
For the next few days, I heard, he remained in the imperial library.
Once I had made certain he had left, I went there too.
I searched shelf after shelf until I stopped before one of them.
Several old books claiming to cure a man’s love for other men had clearly just been handled.
My mouth curved. I brushed a fingertip across their covers.
Pei Chengxing was not in love with a man.
He had fallen for me and believed me male. That was why he misunderstood his own feelings.
The time had come.
It was time to reveal that I was a woman.
It was a dangerous move.
But I had played Go since I was five, earning my living by wagering at roadside stalls. In all those years, dangerous moves were what I had learned to do best.
A week later, something happened that shook the palace.
Not only the palace—all Chang’an was in an uproar.
Bai Jianqing, the celebrated national Go master, was a woman.
The story went that, because Master Jianqing was delicate in health, the emperor had granted him use of the palace’s medicinal springs. During a chance visit, the emperor had discovered that the master was female.
Pei Chengxing sat on the dragon throne while I knelt in the hall. Beside us, the chancellor delivered his indignant petition.
“Your Majesty, Bai Jianqing has deceived her sovereign. She should be paraded through the streets for seven days, then publicly beheaded!”
The deceived sovereign showed no anger at all.
He waved the chancellor into silence and looked at me, his gaze difficult to read, almost expectant.
“Jianqing, have you… anything to say?”
My voice was clear and calm, as it had been during our games when I pointed out an unfavorable position.
“The chancellor is wise. I, Bai Jianqing, have deceived my sovereign. I should be paraded through the streets for seven days, then publicly beheaded.”
The chancellor snorted.
Pei Chengxing clenched his jaw.
Minister Zhao was exceptionally good at reading the emperor’s wishes. His eyes shifted. He stepped forward at once and knelt.
“Your Majesty, I object! Bai Jianqing is our nation’s Go master, unmatched in her skill. I beg you to spare her, and demonstrate Your Majesty’s esteem for talent.”
Deputy General Zhou immediately stepped forward too.
“Your Majesty, Bai Jianqing’s mastery makes her a kindred spirit to you. Such understanding is rare—as in the tale of the mountains and flowing water. I cannot bear to see Your Majesty lose it. If she cannot remain here as an official of the imperial Go institute, let her remain as a consort. Nothing could be more fitting.”
Those words spoke directly to Pei Chengxing’s heart.
For a lover of Go, the greatest treasure is neither precious stones nor an exquisitely carved board. It is an opponent.
I was an opponent who understood him.
The chancellor, whose daughter was empress, glanced at me. My little red beauty mark seemed to offend his eyes. He looked away at once and knelt in protest.
“No! This woman will bring disaster upon the imperial household! She deceived Your Majesty once; she’ll do it again. There will be no end to the trouble. She must be executed!”
Pei Chengxing answered with a derisive laugh.
It was barely a sound, yet every official fell silent in fear.
The chancellor went rigid.
Resting his chin on one hand, Pei Chengxing regarded him with a faint smile. His voice was cold.
“Disaster, Chancellor? Do you mean that I’ve been playing Go and discussing strategy with an instrument of disaster? How curious. By your reasoning, I seem to be a foolish ruler.”
Terror swept through the assembled civil and military officials. They fell to their knees.
“Your Majesty’s judgment is sound, your wisdom supreme! Accomplished in both letters and arms, you are an enlightened sovereign!”
The chancellor knocked his forehead against the floor again and again. The dull thuds echoed through the hall.
“Your Majesty, that is not what I meant! Not at all! I—”
Pei Chengxing rose, straightened his cuffs, and cut him off lightly.
“Oh, good. Since that isn’t what you meant, we’ll do as Minister Zhao and Deputy General Zhou suggest.”
He left in excellent spirits, his pronouncement drifting back to the waiting officials.
“Bai Jianqing, our national Go master, combines virtue with beauty, unrivaled skill with keen strategy. Her speech and conduct are serene and gracious; her slightest smile could captivate a realm. Let her be granted the title Consort Qing—Qing for serenity.”
The officials bowed low, their voices filling the hall.
“Your Majesty is wise! Our respects to Consort Qing. May Your Highness enjoy peace and health!”
When the news reached the empress, she snapped a jade comb in half.