Chapter 4: The Little Diviner Saves Her Clan

Under the Xie family's horrified gaze, I climbed down from the execution platform myself.

Mother, who'd fainted again, opened her eyes.

Seeing me clear-eyed and alert, she stared.

"Have we reached the underworld?"

I had no time for her.

Bracing the cangue with both hands, I ran toward the Emperor.

Blades had no mercy.

His sword had pierced Consort Yu's lower belly.

He hooked it upward.

A small, bloody thing, no bigger than a rat, flew onto the ground.

Screams rang out.

The Consort collapsed.

She called "Your Majesty" twice.

Then lay still.

The Emperor's face was livid.

A tightly contained roar broke from his throat.

"The Consort committed adultery with the Eastern Palace. Where does that leave the dignity of the imperial house?"

"Guards! Bring that unfilial wretch to me!"

A eunuch knelt.

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince left under your orders to arrest Xie Kuang. He has not returned."

The Emperor lifted the barely formed fetus on his sword point and swung hard.

A red arc crossed the air.

Thud.

It hit the ground.

A stray dog rushed over…

His face darkened.

"Hang Du Tinglan's body from the city gate for all to see!"

Guards moved to carry her away.

The Emperor turned and saw the mass of kneeling Xies still filling the ground.

For a moment, he didn't seem to know what to do with them.

Something tugged lightly at his broad sleeve.

He looked down.

Straight into my bright eyes.

I said seriously, "Your Majesty, don't hang the Consort on the wall."

He was puzzled.

"She framed your second brother. Yet you plead for her?"

Seeing my little head wedged so tightly in the heavy cangue, he ordered it removed.

Before I could rub my neck, I suddenly lay flat on the ground and pressed one ear to it.

His lips curved slightly.

"No need to kneel in thanks…"

I raised a hand.

"Shh…"

I listened intently.

"An army is coming. Fifty li outside the city."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Cavalry."

The guard commander frowned.

Who would readily believe a five-year-old?

"Xie Guanyan."

The Emperor pointed at my parents.

"Will you stake more than a hundred Xie lives on that?"

I narrowed my eyes a little.

The childishness vanished from my face.

My eyes shone like stars in the night.

"Your Majesty, Guanyan never lies."

"I'll believe you for now."

"Guards!"

The Son of Heaven tilted his chin toward the execution ground.

Incense ash fell into the burner.

The Xies' cangues came off.

Their chains were unlocked one by one.

Father sank to the ground.

The sweat on his back had dried into white salt.

Mother clutched me.

"Little Wu… let me see your eyes."

She brushed damp hair from my forehead.

"Move them for me."

I rolled my eyes.

Her reflection stood clear in them.

She broke into sobs.

"My Little Wu can see!"

Before I could enjoy this tender reunion, I rose into the air.

Fourth Brother had scooped me up.

Two fingers pulled my eyelids apart.

I must have looked exactly like a pop-eyed goldfish.

Ridiculous.

"You can really see? You aren't pretending?"

He nearly gouged my eyes out.

I shouted, "Keep digging, and I really will be blind! Then you'll owe me a pair!"

"Now I can stop worrying."

His voice softened.

He put me back in Mother's arms and leaped onto a horse.

"I'm going to save Third Brother."

"When I come back, I'll teach you to make sachets."

Outside the city.

Ten thousand hooves flattened the weeds.

The Crown Prince sat on a tall warhorse, looking toward the gate.

Nothing seemed amiss.

He'd arranged its defenses long ago, quietly replacing every guard with his own trusted men.

His father still controlled the army.

He'd had to plan slowly.

Just as his great design neared completion, Xie Hang had happened to discover his affair with the Consort during the spring examinations.

In a secret memorial, Xie Hang had written:

"Among a thousand blossoms, none sees them;
beneath the waning moon, two hearts know."

A veiled warning to the Emperor.

Fortunately, the Crown Prince had someone in the Privy Council.

Naturally, that memorial never reached his father.

Before long, a poem said to be Xie Hang's began circulating through the capital's taverns.

"Should I one day rise above,
the whole city shall bow at my feet."

Xie Hang hadn't written that treasonous poem.

So what?

Once suspicion took root in an emperor's heart, it only grew.

The sky darkened, then brightened again.

Sunlight fell across the silent gate.

The deputy commander raised his bow and fired an arrow toward its summit.