Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After I wounded Song Baoping, Tan Sanque came to denounce me.

“She merely offended you with a few words, yet you branded her face! How vicious can you be? You ruined her face. How is she supposed to live with herself from now on?!”

I went on plucking the qin. “One of your concubines coveted my Phoenix Hairpin. How am I supposed to live with that?”

Tan Sanque paced back and forth in a fury.

“Ning Huan, you’ve changed. Why have you become like this? In the past, we played in perfect harmony, treated each other with respect, and lived so happily together!”

“But after our first and second children died young, you spent every day drowning in tears. You had eyes only for our daughter, never for me. I finally found someone considerate to serve me, and now you’ve become this cruel. Have you even thought about it? She’s only a young girl too!”

“You pity other young girls, yet you’ve forgotten that today is Xiao Jian’s death anniversary. Ah, of course you wouldn’t remember. After our daughter was born, you were away on campaign. You only saw her twice.”

“And of course you would no longer play in harmony with me. The two of us speak less and less. Your letters home contain nothing but military discipline and matters of state.”

He fell silent for a long while, then sat down beside me.

“Of course my heart aches over our daughter’s death, but we cannot drown ourselves in the past forever. Ning Huan, I will give you another child.”

I looked at him coldly. “When I gave birth to Xiao Jian, I nearly died.”

He smiled as if it were nothing. “That was only an accident. You won’t be so unlucky every time. I’ve already invited renowned physicians to nurse your body back to health. I guarantee you’ll bear a son in one try. Besides, if you have no child, how am I supposed to grant you the position in the Central Palace?”

I said wearily, “At this point, I am not especially interested in the empress’s seat.”

He froze for a moment, then smiled happily.

“If you can be so open-minded, why bother getting angry with Baoping? You and I were husband and wife from our youth. We have been together for ten years. Whether or not you hold the Phoenix Seal will not affect our bond. Even if the inner palace holds three thousand beauties in the future, you will still be my primary consort.”

The qin string snapped.

I looked at the apricot blossoms filling the tree and thought of those days.

Ten miles of spring wind, Zhuque Heavenly Capital.

Tan Sanque had ridden a white horse and wielded a silver spear, the man fierce as a war beast, the horse mighty as a dragon.

“If you want to harm even a hair on her head, you will have to step over my corpse first!”

I loved that vow. I loved that soaring, youthful spirit. I loved how we rode side by side, galloping across rivers and plains.

But ten years had passed, and he had changed.

He had become selfish and cold, treacherous and insatiable.

I was no longer his princess.

Nor was he still the young man I had loved.

I rose to see him out. “I’m tired.”

“Tonight, I will stay here…”

“Leave,” I said. I called him dry bones in a tomb because when I looked at him, it was like looking at the corpse of the young husband I once had.

How could a person be intimate with a corpse?

Tan Sanque sighed, though I could not tell whether it was relief or regret. In the end, he placed a small bottle of wound medicine before me.

“This is a scar-removing balm sent to the palace from the Western Regions. You struck her, but your hand was injured too. Why do this to yourself? Ning Huan, conduct yourself properly. This must not happen again.”

He descended the steps.

I stood atop the great hall.

Tan Sanque, our affection is severed. From this day forward, we are enemies.