Li Ce wore a solemn expression as he stood by Li Jing's bedside, not a trace of a smile gracing his face. His grave demeanor made Li Jing realize that this matter was no jest. The doors and windows were sealed shut, casting the chamber in dim light. As Li Jing recounted the past, it was as though a gray curtain lifting to reveal a hidden side of Prince Jin, Li Zhang, in his youth—an aspect unknown to most.
"If we speak of the type of woman he favored, there was indeed one," Li Jing shifted his position, his face twitching slightly from pain, his words slow and deliberate. "Her surname was Liu—the same 'liu' as in willow tree. She served as a lady attendant in the palace gardens, tending flowers, trees, and the ponds. Her name was rather ordinary: Ruyi."
The first time Li Zhang met Liu Ruyi, she was seventeen, already a palace attendant owing to her respectable lineage and fair appearance. At that time, a nanmu tree in the palace had grown too large; the imperial guards deemed it a hindrance to patrols and a potential hiding spot for assassins. Liu Ruyi commanded the eunuch laborers of the household affairs bureau to remove it. The eunuchs, lacking strength, had only managed to cut the trunk halfway through but failed to topple it. Clad in red with her sleeves bound tightly, Liu Ruyi stepped forward and delivered a powerful kick. The tree yielded, crashing down with a thunderous roar, shaking its leaves and stirring dust from the ground.
As the dust settled, two figures appeared in the corridor.
"I was with my second brother that day," Li Jing said. "I had run away from the academy; he was ordered to retrieve me. With a stern face, he led me through the corridor back to the academy."
"And then?" Li Ce inquired.
"I don't know," Li Jing replied. "But they got close. So close that my brother seemed like a different person."
In summer, Li Zhang, reluctant to use the ice gifted by the emperor, wrapped it in oiled cloth and concealed it in his sleeve to bring coolness to Liu Ruyi's cramped chambers. By early autumn, the emperor planned to renovate the palace gardens. Fearing Liu Ruyi would be overworked, Li Zhang pleaded with the Grand Tutor to advise the emperor that a drought had struck the south, urging frugality. The emperor rescinded the order, and Li Zhang secretly took her outside the palace. Together, they visited temples, climbed mountains, and lay among maple trees until falling red leaves buried them.
Come winter, Li Zhang purchased charcoal for the palace. Since Liu Ruyi couldn't dress extravagantly, he had a sheepskin jacket sewn under her thin outer garment. During snowy days, he practiced calligraphy in her chamber, holding the brush in one hand and her somewhat rough hand in the other, gently warming it. They planned to petition the emperor to make Liu Ruyi his concubine.
But just as Li Zhang intended to seek the decree, the emperor strolled through the peach garden and discovered several ancient trees, long withered, now blooming red flowers on their branches. Pleased, he praised the household affairs bureau's superintendent. That official, privy to Li Zhang and Liu Ruyi's affair, sought to curry favor with the prince and took credit for the flowering, attributing it to Liu Ruyi's efforts.
Liu Ruyi was summoned before the emperor. The vibrant young woman, shyly smiling, bore a grace unlike any consort, unforgettable upon sight. The emperor smiled and said, "Keeping you in the household affairs bureau was a waste of your talent."
That night, the emperor favored Liu Ruyi. The superintendent was dumbfounded. After the decree was delivered, he wandered confused, unable to grasp what had transpired. He expected the emperor to bestow mere praise or gifts; instead, it was imperial favor—the dragon bed itself. This was grave indeed. Unaware of the true depth of Li Zhang and Liu Ruyi's relationship, he feared that if the emperor discovered the extent of their liaison, it would disgrace the entire Tang dynasty. And the first to be punished would not be Li Zhang, but himself, the superintendent.
After much hesitation, he reported to the emperor the secret affair between the prince and the attendant.
At this point, Li Jing gestured for Li Ce to hand him tea. He drank deeply, signaling Li Ce to wipe his mouth. Afterward, Li Ce helped him turn over, elevated his pillow, and tucked a blanket around him. Yet Li Jing fell silent.
Li Ce reminded him, "Father will be furious."
"Furious is an understatement!" Li Jing's voice suddenly rose. "Father nearly fainted. After all, the palace women are, in theory, the emperor's alone. Father cherishes his reputation but came dangerously close to taking his son's woman."
"What was the punishment?" Li Ce asked.
"The court physician examined Liu Ruyi and confirmed she was no longer a virgin. To save herself, she pleaded with the emperor, claiming she was raped by Li Zhang. She wept bitterly, so pitiful and convincing that the emperor was enraged and ordered Li Zhang dragged before the Purple Palace to receive fifty lashes."
"Fifty lashes?" Li Ce echoed.
"Fifty," Li Jing said. "Enough to kill."
Had the punishment continued, Li Zhang would have perished by dusk. At the critical moment, the empress intervened, storming the hall to halt the execution and restrain the emperor. She implored him not to believe one-sided accusations but to hear Li Zhang's side.
"Do you believe him?" Li Jing asked. "My brother feared the emperor would kill Liu Ruyi. He confessed it was his fault; he pursued her, and she had no choice but to yield."
Surprise flickered across Li Ce's face.
"Still, the empress doubted and questioned him about the date of their first intimacy, then asked Liu Ruyi. When the dates didn't match, the empress declared that a woman would never forget the day she was defiled and confronted Liu Ruyi until she confessed."
Li Jing sighed, "Thanks to the empress's wisdom, my brother escaped death."
The chamber grew darker. Li Ce rose to light the candles on a brass fifteen-branch candelabrum. One by one, the flames flickered to life, casting warmth and light, yet he still felt a chill.
"And then?" Li Ce asked.
"It was tragic," Li Jing sighed. "How could father endure that both his son and he himself were toyed with by a mere woman? Father ordered the eunuchs to beat Liu Ruyi to death with a slender rod, commanding my brother to witness the execution, forbidding him to leave until she was beaten to pulp."
It is hard to reduce a person to pulp, especially with a slender rod instead of a heavier cudgel or blade. Li Jing murmured, "Liu Ruyi produced a jade ring my brother had given her, begging for mercy, which he refused. Yet after the execution, he retrieved the jade from the blood and flesh, knelt by the pool to wash it clean, then returned silently to his chamber."
She was the first woman Li Zhang had ever loved, ultimately ending in betrayal and death.
"So when you ask what kind of woman he liked," Li Jing said, "he no longer favors any woman, for he cannot endure betrayal. His marriages and concubines are merely alliances. Women are perilous; one misstep spells ruin."
He paused, reflecting on himself and Li Ce, who seemed equally vulnerable. Of course, Li Zhang's ruin came by a woman's treachery, but theirs might well be by death.
"I understand," Li Ce said. "I never imagined he had such a past."
Li Jing hushed him and glanced out the window. "Few know this secret of the palace. So don't keep thinking of picking women for him. He neither lacks nor desires them. Remember Yan Jixue? He even drove her from the Jin prince's mansion."
Yan Jixue was the legitimate daughter of former deputy commander Yan Jide. Yan Jide had kept her at home until she was twenty before finding a way to marry her into the prince's household. Now, with Yan Jide executed by the emperor, the prince's intercession spared her from worse, only banishing her from the mansion. Her survival was already a mercy of the sovereign.
"I heard my brother liked her quite a bit," Li Jing said, "so perhaps he favors slender figures—Liu Ruyi, Yan Jixue—they were both quite slight."
Li Ce made no reply, rising to leave. Li Jing couldn't resist teasing, "If you really pick women, leave the plumper ones for me. I prefer a little softness to hold, to feel at ease when sleeping..."
Li Ce's ears flushed crimson. Unable to listen further, he turned and left. As he stepped beyond the hall's threshold, his ears glowed like winter persimmons hanging from snow-laden branches. At the courtyard gate, he paused, a sudden image of Ye Jiao flashing in his mind. His Adam's apple moved, and his mouth grew dry.
Compared to the tense restraint of the Jin prince's mansion, the Wei prince's residence was shrouded in gloom. Li Chen lay injured and immobile, having heard the morning edicts: the crown prince's investiture and regency, with Li Ce as his aide. Each proclamation struck him like thunder, yet Li Chen did not collapse.
"The crown prince may ascend," he gritted through pain, "or be deposed."
"But..." an advisor hesitated, "he will be cautious, leaving no flaw for us to exploit."
"Have you heard of desire?" Li Chen's lips curled into a smile. "When one is denied something in childhood, upon growing up, they strive desperately to fill that void."
A toy, a delicacy, parental affection, or perhaps, a heart that never betrays.
"Your Highness means..." the advisor stepped forward, frowning in thought.
"I have heard the saying, 'When the heart stirs, folly ensues,'" Li Chen's voice was gentle yet triumphant, "so why not help him—set his heart aflame?"
Then, we shall watch the tigers tear at each other from the mountain's summit.
He wished to laugh aloud but restrained himself. His fingers tapped lightly on the bed, his mind weaving intricate plans.
"Deputy commander of the imperial guards has arrived—" a herald outside suddenly announced.
Li Chen wiped the smile away, surprised. "Yan Congzheng? What brings him here?"
Indeed, was he come to witness his downfall?