Character Index

Zhou Yunqi: The Crown Prince.

Wei Guang: The Imperial Edict Bearer and Minister of Censure. Kayla's godfather.

Zhou Kuang: The Third Prince, deceased.

Zhou Xianchun: The Seventh Prince.

Ashina: Princess of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Kayla's wife.

Wise Consort: Mother of Yunqi, deceased.

Sun Ruhui: Right Secretariat of Justice.

Sir Yang: An old eunuch, trusted by the Emperor.

Chenqian: Son of Kuang, also an Imperial Prince in his own right.

Cao Shuyi: Mother of Chenqian, the bereaved Third Princess Consort.

Steward Liu: Wei Guang's loyal steward.

Captain Jiang: A young captain in the Imperial Guard. Kayla's ally.

Royal Consort: Mother of Kuang.

Sima Qi: The Bureau-assigned poison tester for Kuang. He was tricked into leaving before a deliberately sabotaged poison test and thus came under suspicion for Kuang's death.

Archduke Qi: Half-brother of the Emperor. The Qi here is part of his title, it's like Archduke of Qi (in reference to the pre-Qin Kingdom of Qi). So he does not have the same personal name as Sima Qi (who uses a different character with the same pronunciation).

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The dread began to pool in her stomach from the moment Kayla left Yunqi’s office. What the hell had he been asking of her when he said the Emperor was a danger to him? What the hell had she been promising? It was treason, and a betrayal beyond what Kayla was capable of–what she had thought Yunqi was capable of–and it was the most reasonable choice they had.

Almost as if he knew, Wei Guang’s eyes hounded her whenever they met, silently demanding answers. For some reason, Kayla didn’t want to tell him what Yunqi had hinted at. There was a strange, irrational fear inside of her that she had misunderstood Yunqi–

Unlikely.

Or that Wei Guang would turn against them.

Impossible, even if it was his own former student we're trying to get rid of.

But Kayla remained silent, and the first few days of the new regent’s rule went by smoothly. So soon after several tragedies, no one wanted to test Yunqi’s temper just yet, and even if they had, Kayla would have made it impossible for them.

No one in the capital was truly clean. No ruler ever tried to completely clean the capital.

One let the chives grow until it was time to cut, the Bureau acting as the careful gardener. And at the right moment, the various little and large infractions accumulated over time became the ruler’s weapon against his subjects.

His Highness the Crown Prince, Regent of the nation, is very close with the Director of the Bureau.

That was the image Yunqi projected, taking no small degree of effort to showcase his trust in his new right-hand.

Shut up or I’ll make you pay for it, was the unspoken threat to anyone who wanted to challenge him.

Wei Guang finally ran out of patience, and hounded Kayla down at her office to demand answers.

“What does the Crown Prince wish for?” Wei Guang asked, standing across from Kayla with his hands folded across his chest.

The simple wording of it made the answer seem all the more ludicrous.

Kayla took a deep breath, speaking each word with great caution as she watched Wei Guang’s face for the subtlest sign of disapproval. “The Crown Prince fears that he is in danger from the Emperor. His Majesty is not stable.”

Wei Guang’s eyebrows knitted together. “I see.”

He paused for a tortuously long moment before speaking.

“Then we’ll have to eradicate the danger for him.”

Kayla jolted in shock. “What?! What are you saying?”

Wei Guang replied patiently, as if Kayla had simply failed to hear him the first time.

“If the Emperor is a danger to our country’s future, then I feel very strongly that he should die.”

Kayla stared at Wei Guang in abject disbelief.

“You what?!”

Wei Guang was looking at Kayla as if she were the one saying something unbelievable.

“Don’t feign shock now, Wenyuan. We both know it.” He frowned slightly. “Did you think I would disagree with the Crown Prince’s decision?”

“You put the Emperor on the throne,” Kayla said cautiously.

“And now I’ll take him off of it,” Wei Guang agreed. “If that is what would preserve the future of this country, even if tens of thousands stand in my way, I would still venture forth.”

“You–” Kayla turned away from him sharply, trying to calm the queasiness in her stomach.

Wei Guang observed her for a long moment.

“Wenyuan, do you feel pity for the Emperor now? This is not the time for useless compassion,” Wei Guang warned.

“I don’t know, but this…” Kayla gestured helplessly. Wei Guang had a point. The Emperor wasn’t really all that stable, and his state had declined even further after the deaths of his mother and his consorts. He spent his time in isolation, refusing visits save for Yunqi’s daily greetings in the morning. Who knew what the Emperor was thinking? Who knew what the Emperor would do?

The throne was cannibalizing its ruler now. There was no telling what that cruel fate beheld for the rest of them.

But I really never expected this from Yunqi.

The Crown Prince was far more ruthless than Kayla expected.

And far more capable.

Yet she was at a loss for how to proceed. Killing the Emperor…the Emperor had been harsh towards her, even downright cruel. But once, he had been the one to throw his full-hearted support behind Kayla. Once, she had relied on his favor for her survival.

Wei Guang saw the conflict in her face and sighed.

“You chose this path,” Wei Guang said severely. “You made him the Crown Prince, and now you must protect him with your life. You’re one of the few people who can. Do you understand that?”

Kayla nodded jerkily, unable to explicate even to herself why every nerve in her body was screaming for her to refuse.

Wei Guang shook his head slightly and dropped his hand on her shoulder, almost leaning his weight on her. The heaviness of it abruptly silenced all her unspoken protests.

“Do not take action until he has explicitly requested your help,” Wei Guang said somberly. “And when he does, notify me.”

I’ve never actually done a coup against the Emperor before, she nearly said out loud before realizing how stupid that sounded. If she had, she wouldn’t still be alive.

I never considered a coup against the Emperor while he was still alive, was closer to the actual problem.

Sure, she had been prepared to shut down the palace when the Emperor died and shove Kuang onto the throne before Xianchun could get there, had the Emperor ever gotten it into his head to make Xianchun the Crown Prince instead. This was different.

“How would we proceed?” Kayla asked a little helplessly.

“It’s alright,” Wei Guang said heavily. “Just leave that to me. All you have to do is to protect the Crown Prince’s safety and keep the situation under control once the Emperor’s dead.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll be fast,” he said, and Kayla couldn’t tell what he referred to–Yunqi’s explicit request, or the Emperor’s death.

“It’ll look natural,” Wei Guang said.

The Emperor’s death then.

“It won’t be the only one,” Wei Guang continued. His gaze sharpened. “Which is why you need to just keep the path clear and step out of the way, so that you can keep supporting His Highness afterwards as well.”

Just like that, most of her uneasiness dissipated. In retrospect, she was able to identify it as that murky fear that had haunted her from time to time ever since killing the Grand Duke.

The fear of being discarded once things were done with.

It almost made her ashamed, how much of her resistance had actually been rooted in fear of the consequences rather than morality or gratitude.

“But what about you?” Kayla asked.

Wei Guang smiled thinly. “Do not worry about me. This is not the first storm I have weathered, I am far more well-equipped to handle it than you are.”

“Godfather,” Kayla began to say.

Wei Guang tightened his grip. “It’s all for the nation, Wenyuan,” he said firmly. “It’s all for the nation.”

Kayla nodded. Her skull felt like it was constricting around her mind, squeezing it dry of any words to reply with.

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Despite any previous promises, Kayla said nothing to Ashina about the whole matter. It wasn’t set in stone yet, and there was no point in raising any alarms.

It wouldn’t be fair to take the risk without letting her know, especially when her life’s at stake, Kayla reminded herself. But that can wait.

Kayla managed to keep herself together surprisingly well over the next few days, betraying none of the high-strung panic in her stomach every time Yunqi paused a little too long between his sentences in fear of the request finally materializing.

He can’t withstand the Emperor for long, not as regent, Kayla thought queasily. One mountain cannot contain two tigers, unless one is male and one is female. That goes doubly so here–Yunqi has the forbearance to withstand the Emperor, but the Emperor doesn’t have the forbearance to withstand him. Just sitting there and waiting for death would be foolish after everything he’s gone through to get here.

Kayla repeated rationalizations as to why it was reasonable until she was almost certain of it, but Yunqi simply went through his days as regent, hardworking and diligent in all his duties. He never brought up his father, other than to make arrangements for the Emperor’s comfort or health.

The anticipation ate at Kayla until she began to doubt if she had understood him right in the first place.

Then again, anyone who had been close to the Emperor would know that it was probably the only option. Which meant that surely, the Emperor himself would know as well.

If that’s the case, Yunqi needs to get a move on already. Isn’t this what he kept Xianchun in the capital for in the first place?

Was the prince waiting for her to bring up the option first? Did he want to be persuaded into it with great shows of reluctance? For what audience? The Emperor would die of natural causes–just like the Empress Dowager and the Wise Consort. In retrospect, the Imperial Healers could say that they were all weakened by the same ailment.

Wei Guang had been clear–Kayla was not to bring it up first. And while Kayla was happy to tell herself that she was dutifully following sound advice, it was really what she wanted as well. Regicide was no small matter. Who cares if Yunqi benefited from it? In the end, she could still be discarded as a traitor to the throne for being the one to suggest it, to be the one to “cajole” and “pressure” the prince into making a regrettable decision.

In retrospect Kayla realized how brave Sun Ruhui had been to recommend killing the Grand Duke. It didn’t really matter how kind or good or reasonable the master was. Power was a roaring river like the Yangtze or the Yellow River, and its momentum carried it down that surging course regardless of any individual’s wishes or efforts. Only concentrated, large-scale efforts at river engineering could produce an effect, and that was far beyond her or Yunqi’s means right now.

Amongst the mountains of work, her worries somehow stayed at the top of her mind, like a fishboat bobbing precariously in the strong currents.

I might have to kill the Emperor.

The Emperor needs to die for Yunqi to survive.

Yunqi needs to become the next Emperor or we’re all fucked.

So I might have to kill the Emperor.

Wei Guang had offered to handle the actual act itself, but what did that matter? What difference did that make in the end?

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

The nauseating loop finally came to an end a full week after her private meeting with Yunqi, where the prince had made it clear what he wanted without ever stating it outright.

Kayla was summoned to the Eastern Palace late at night by Sir Yang–the choice confused her, then began to make sense. Yunqi hadn’t waited a week for nothing. While Kayla had been agonizing, the prince had already won over the Emperor’s most-trusted servant.

The trip was made in absolute silence, and Sir Yang made Kayla wear a black hooded cloak when she was brought to Yunqi’s quarters through the servant’s entrance.

Even if Yunqi hadn’t said a single word yet, she already knew where this was going.

“Zhao Wenyuan humbly greets His Highness the Crown Prince,” Kayla said as she entered his room. There was no response. Lifting her head, Kayla gave Yunqi a quizzical look.

“My prince?”

Yunqi sat on a couch in his inner robes, a layer draped over his shoulders. It looked as if he had hastily gotten up, and from the shoes that a servant had been scuttling away with in the hall, Yunqi had been forced to rise from bed and go out in a hurry. His hair was down, partially obscuring the obvious unease in his face.

“Wenyuan, thank you for coming,” Yunqi said quietly.

She approached Yunqi, cautiously kneeling down before him.

“My prince, what’s the matter?”

“I apologize for calling you this late at night,” Yunqi said instead.

“Not at all,” Kayla replied. She lifted her eyes to his face.

The moment she was close enough to see him properly, it became clear to her that Yunqi had agonized over the choice no less than she did. The Emperor was his father. Even if their relationship had been fraught with political tension, they were family. It was a bond far deeper than any of Kayla’s surface-level attachments.

Whatever he was choosing now, it was for lack of other options.

Yunqi held out his hand, and Kayla tentatively took it, patting it assuringly as she often did with the Emperor.

“What ‘s wrong, Your Highness?”

“Something happened in Father’s palace,” Yunqi said grimly, the understatement plain as day. “The Imperial Healers say that he had a brief fit of delusion after waking from a nightmare, and he cut himself on a shard after breaking a vase by accident.”

“Is he alright now?” Kayla asked.

“In body, yes. The healer gave him medicine to help him calm down, and he was already halfway asleep by the time I got there,” Yunqi said.

He was silent for a moment. “I was frightened,” he admitted. “How did you do it, dealing with Father for so long?”

Kayla blinked, taken aback by the question.

“Oh, well–I–”

Kayla had thought of him as a dangerous beast that needed to be gently coaxed into not eating her alive rather than as a family member as Yunqi did, and that had reduced the emotional toll to some extent. But she doubted the words would fly well with the distraught prince.

“Over the years, you’ve spent more time alone with him than any of us, except for maybe Shu’er,” Yunqi said. It was the first time she’d heard him bring up the Sixth Prince.

“But Shu’er lost his mother at birth, so it only makes sense that Father doted on him so. But after he died, Father disliked spending time with the rest of us even more. I wondered about it at the time, since I was never allowed close enough to see what grief could do to him, but I think I understand it now. I think we were better off for it–but you…”

Yunqi no longer seemed to want an answer, but was looking at Kayla with guilt and sympathy as if he had been the one to throw her to a wolf.

“You had to deal with him then, didn’t you? Between him and the Grand Duke, and Grandmother too…I used to envy you a little, but you probably had it the worst out of all of us.”

Kayla guessed that might have been the case for Wenyuan, who was no longer here to hear this.

“Still, he’s my father,” Yunqi was saying. “But even if he’s my father…he only sees me as his son when it suits him. It hurt to see that as a child, but as a prince, it’s no longer just a matter of life or death–as you know, as you yourself have advised me. Father’s temperamental, even more so now that he’s losing his sanity. His mind changes this way and that at a moment’s turn. You yourself know that better than anyone else!”

There was a frantic edge in Yunqi’s voice as if he were trying to convince himself.

“My prince, even if he wishes to change his mind, there’s nothing more he can do,” Kayla said. “You’re already the Crown Prince, already the regent of this nation! You’ve gotten this far, farther than anyone else.”

“He can still change his mind. There’s still Xianchun,” Yunqi said. His voice lowered. “There’s still Chenqian.”

Kayla faltered, a sense of foreboding crawling up her spine.

Yunqi lowered his head, tightening his grasp on Kayla’s hand.

“Father has already killed my mother, and Grandmother as well! If he chooses to depose my title, all of them will have died for nothing. Wenyuan, you have to help me. My brother asked you to in his final moments, didn’t he? You wouldn’t abandon me in my time of need, would you?”

She winced at the desperate note in his pleas.

It was already over when he’d gotten there?

That definitely hadn’t been the case. Whatever Yunqi had seen in the Emperor's quarters, it had rattled the prince more than anything that had happened in the hopeless years prior.

“I would never do such a thing,” Kayla said in a small voice.

“Help me, Wenyuan.”

She nearly drew back at the intensity of his gaze. Yunqi stared into her face with the eyes of a drowning man.

“Make me the Emperor.”

Whether it was for his sake, the country’s sake, or her own, there was really only one answer she could give.

“As you wish, my prince.”

Yunqi visibly melted with relief, and Kayla realized how much of his composure in their meeting a week before had been an act.

She stayed with him a while longer, until Yunqi had calmed down a little. Though he said nothing about the Emperor now that their conversation was done with, Kayla couldn’t help but wonder just what he had seen in the Emperor’s rooms.

Sir Yang materialized again to escort Kayla out, the black cloak emerging from some backroom where he had stashed it away. She was whisked out of the Eastern Palace again, through empty hallways to empty entrances to empty side paths out of the palace and then empty roads where a plain, unnoticeable carriage awaited her. Kayla didn’t manage to ask Sir Yang anything until she was inside the carriage.

He made eye contact with her, a cold determination in his gaze. Sir Yang gave a subtle nod and Kayla returned it, cold clamminess burrowing its way around in her stomach. She leaned back in the seat, where her face would be hidden in shadows.

Even Sir Yang. He watched the Emperor grow up. If even he supports it, then the outcome is already set in stone.

It should have been reassuring, but it only made her stomach churn. How were they to proceed? What role was she to play?

The only name that surfaced was Wei Guang’s. The undisputed victor in the previous round, the one who had placed his student onto the throne and had walked away from a coup without a single bit of damage to his pristine reputation.

“Could you take me to the Wei household instead?” Kayla asked the driver. The kindly old man obliged without question or argument.

“I’ll wait for you here,” the driver said as they stopped before the side gates.

“Oh, you needn’t trouble yourself,” Kayla said.

The driver shook his head. “His Highness’ orders. He had no choice but to bring you in on such short notice without your guards, it’s his responsibility to ensure you home safely.”

“Then I’ll gratefully accept,” Kayla said. If she’d known that were the case, Kayla wouldn’t have asked for a detour in the first place. Mentally kicking herself in the face, she knocked briskly on the gates. A sleepy doorman opened the doors with a scowl, immediately fixing his expression upon realizing who it was.

“Apologies for disturbing you so late at night,” Kayla said. “May I see your master?”

“It-it is an honor to receive your visit, Your Excellency. But my master has already gone to bed,” the doorman said nervously.

“It is important,” Kayla said firmly.

The doorman caved without a second thought.

“Of course, please come in,” the doorman said. “This way, my lord.”

Unsurprisingly, he had dumped her off with Steward Liu, who seemed never to sleep.

“Steward Liu,” Kayla greeted him. “I’m afraid I’m short on time right now. I must see my godfather.”

“Ah, I see,” Steward Liu said in realization. He seemed to know exactly what this was about. “I will rouse him immediately. Please go on into the study, my lord, your godfather will be there shortly.”

“Thank you.”

Kayla didn’t wait long before Wei Guang swept into the room, having hastily dressed after Steward Liu woke him up.

From the look on his face, he had been anticipating this for days.

“Did the prince–”

“Yes,” Kayla said.

Wei Guang let out a soft sigh. “I had been wondering how long he would wait. Thank the heavens that he’s decisive enough to make the decision himself.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Kayla said honestly. Everything had spiraled out of control so quickly over the last few weeks, and every attempt at gaining her footing back only seemed to bring her into deeper water.

Kayla’s mind was already racing through everything she’d done to prepare for the Grand Duke’s demise. But that had been a private household, her own battleground where she had the Emperor’s implicit approval to take action. This was the Emperor they were speaking of.

Alliances, enemies, who to keep out of the way, who to bring in, who to keep track of, how to secure the place before, how to dissipate the men after without incurring suspicion or notice, what alibis, what evidence to clear–

Then Wei Guang’s nails were clenching into her flesh from how hard they gripped her forearms.

“Wenyuan, listen to me,” he said forcefully, a thin edge in his voice that she’d never heard before. “This can’t be allowed to look like an assassination or a coup. We must protect the Crown Prince’s reputation. If you are suspect, so is he. So just wait with the Crown Prince on the night of, and ensure his safety. I will handle the rest.”

He paused for a moment, looking as if he were searching for words.

“I promise you, Wenyuan, it will be alright.”

“I trust you,” Kayla said, meaning it for the first time.

“I’ll tell you how to arrange everything,” Wei Guang said. “Do exactly what I say, and it will all be over soon.”

She nodded uncertainly.

“And when it’s done, don’t contact me for a while,” Wei Guang said. “No secret meetings, no calls, no letters. Nothing that could be possibly used as evidence of conspiracy against either of us. If we meet, we meet in public, and that I don’t recommend either. Just stay at the Crown Prince’s side until his coronation has taken place.”

There was a grim determination in his face that made Kayla hesitate.

“Godfather, will that really be alright?”

“It will be fine,” Wei Guang promised. “The Emperor’s already in ill health, and the court knows this. Now, we must publicize it more. Let rumors spread in the morning markets, let people think that he is dying. In three days, we will make our move.”

“I’ll make sure that Captain Jiang is the commander on duty that night,” Kayla said.

“Yes. There’s no need to shut down the palace ahead of time. Just ensure that–who do we have in the Emperor’s palace? Sir Yang? Is he on our side?”

“He’s the one arranging my transportation tonight, so I would say yes,” Kayla replied.

“Have him select the staff on duty that night,” Wei Guang instructed. “And we need an Imperial Healer to support us.”

He held up a hand before Kayla could offer to find someone.

“I will take care of it. There is an older healer that I have some leverage over–he will have to make a diagnosis that the Emperor is on his deathbed a few hours before we act,” Wei Guang said, the parts falling together in his mind with a cool detachment.

“Then I’ll ensure that the palace is shut down immediately after,” Kayla said. “What’s the general flow of events when the Emperor dies? There’s no Empress to take charge of the Inner Palace’s affairs, so I suppose we should summon the highest-ranking officials to secure the Crown Prince’s position, and have them release the news, right?”

Wei Guang nodded.

“And just in case there’s any leak of information, if anyone tries anything during the chaos, we’ll have to keep the Seventh Prince and Prince Chenqian under control until this is over, but without inciting suspicion from them,” Kayla said. “Especially not from the Princess Consort.”

“Yes, she is a wise woman, and her son is also eligible as an heir,” Wei Guang said thoughtfully. “More so than the Seventh Prince, she could prove to be a problem.”

“Perhaps the best way to contain them is to make them part of the Crown Prince’s alibi,” Kayla said. “How about inviting them to the East Palace the night of? The Royal Consort as well, so that she may see her grandson and daughter-in-law?”

“It is risky,” Wei Guang warned her. “While it may force them to keep their mouths shut in the short term, having witnessed with their own eyes that the Crown Prince was in the East Palace at the time, what about the long run? The more they see, the more they may have to use against you in the future. Especially the Seventh Prince. He knows how you do these things.”

“They’ll know if I cut off the communications from their households,” Kayla pointed out. “The Seventh Prince, less so, since he already knows he’s under strict scrutiny, but the Third Princess Consort will know. And she will raise an issue with it.”

“Can you smooth things over with her?” Wei Guang asked.

“No, she doesn’t trust me. Even less so after I released Sima Qi into house arrest,” Kayla said. The young poison-tester was innocent in this entire debacle, but he wouldn’t be spared from punishment for dereliction of duty. She had successfully petitioned for his sentence to be commuted from imprisonment to banishment, and then delayed the execution of that sentence in hopes of a general amnesty being issued once Yunqi took the throne.

Cao Shuyi, like everyone else, didn't know about the Shu clan’s involvement in Kuang’s death. She had watched her husband die a painful death and then had suffered the grief alone while the capital was in lockdown. She only knew that Archduke Qi had arranged all this, and that one of the potential culprits had been spared from punishment under Kayla’s arrangements. It was natural for Cao Shuyi to hate Kayla for it.

Last time Kayla had seen Chenqian, the little boy had stared at her with a somber look of dislike that she couldn’t shake from her mind.

He’s not even old enough to understand what’s going on–well, it’s not like I can explain myself either way.

“If you can’t negotiate with the Princess Consort, then ask the Crown Prince to arrange for her and the boy to visit the Royal Consort,” Wei Guang said firmly. “Say that the Royal Consort is also in ill health now, and with how things have been in the Imperial Family, she has taken a blow in both mind and body. Leave the rest unsaid, and the Princess Consort will assume that the Royal Consort may be dying. She would not refuse to visit.”

“That’ll have to do it,” Kayla said. Yunqi hadn’t met with his sister-in-law since that horrifying night all those days ago, and she had no idea where the two of them stood with each other. On one hand, they had both loved Kuang. But on the other hand, one had become Crown Prince and regent, while the other’s son had lost his only chance at becoming Crown Prince under his father’s reign.

But the Royal Consort knew nothing of their plan, and was indeed having a hard time after losing her son. Chenqian would be painlessly contained until a new Emperor had been crowned, his own chances dwindling to nothing, all while he sat in his grandmother’s loving embrace.

Kayla took a deep breath. That would have to do it then.

“Let nothing slip to the ones around you,” Wei Guang said. “Use your own men to spread the rumors, not the men from the Bureau. Don’t tell Captain Jiang what’s going to happen until after I’ve gone to see the Emperor either.”

“Do you plan to go to him in secret?”

“Of course,” Wei Guang said easily. “Though he will not know that. To him, it will be painless, a better end than sinking further into madness until coming to a humiliating end. Just a meeting with an old friend, a few drinks of wine, and then a pleasant sleep.”

The words twisted in her stomach, and Kayla let out a small sigh. “I will make the preparations on my end.”

“Good. Go home now,” Wei Guang said.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this,” Kayla said as she turned to go.

Wei Guang shook his head. “I was determined to do this from the start. When you get home, tell the driver to come back to my place. I have a message for Sir Yang.”

Kayla gave a small nod and took her leave.

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Cultural Notes

割韭菜/Cutting chives: A Chinese phrase often used to mean a form of exploitation against the lower classes, especially when a stock market/stock dealer uses information asymmetry to earn mounds of money from buyers while leaving them in the red. Chives grow and regrow very quickly, corresponding to the fact that people will keep falling into these traps because of the information gaps. Here, Kayla uses it in the context of purposefully allowing or even enforcing a framework that systemically encourages officials to get away with indiscretions, small transgressions of the law, so that when you really do feel like cracking down, you could snag anyone you wanted to.

虽千万人吾往矣/Even if tens of thousands stand in my path/disagree, I would still venture forth: A line by the Confucian sage Mencius of the pre-Qin era. It comes from the line "自反而不缩，虽褐宽博，吾不惴焉；自反而缩，虽千万人，吾往矣/If I feel that my actions are wrong/immoral, then even if I am faced with only a single commoner, will I not be afraid? Yet if I feel that my actions are correct, then even if I am faced with tens of thousands of people who stand in my way, I would still proceed."

一山不容二虎，除非一公一母/One mountain does not withstand two tigers, unless one is male and one is female: A proverb often used to mean that two powerful individuals will inevitably clash unless they can somehow become a power couple.

长江黄河/Yangtze and the Yellow River: The two major rivers in China, they span most of the country from west to east, and both flow eastwards into the ocean. China's geography is like a staircase going down from West to East, hence the flow of water. Any flooding from either of the rivers (the Yellow River is the usual culprit) usually has disastrous consequences for hundreds of thousands, if not for millions of people.

治水/River engineering: Precisely because of how disastrous flooding can be, river engineering is woven into the myth of China's earliest dynasties and has always been one of the most important projects of a dynasty or an Emperor's reign. This was often extremely costly while bringing in little immediate revenue, and are often spaces of contention as well.

东宫/Eastern Palace: Traditionally, the wing of the palace where the Crown Prince resides.