Emperor Ai yielded the throne to Zhu Wen, and the Liang Dynasty was born. Zhu Wen, now Emperor Taizu, praised …
Emperor Ai yielded the throne to Zhu Wen, and the Liang Dynasty was born. Zhu Wen, now Emperor Taizu, praised Ai's "docility," granting him hollow titles and exiling him to Caozhou.
A glorified banishment. Everyone knew it.
Allowed only meager belongings and a handful of guards, the Last Emperor took backroads to his prison. No grand procession, no dignity. The party moved in heavy silence.
A dozen miles from the capital, a guard reported to Li Zuo (the deposed emperor's personal name) a figure trailing them.
When brought forward, Li Zuo froze. It was Liu Qingyi, mistress of the Imperial Entertainment Bureau.
She'd followed for miles, her skirts muddied, embroidered shoes frayed. A pitiful sight.
Li Zuo turned away, waving her off. What right did a fallen emperor, a stray dog, have to face her now?Another stretch of road brought them to a ramshackle courier station. The fare was coarse; Li Zuo took one bite and pushed it aside.
Then the guards whispered: The woman is back, waiting outside the courier station.
Under gathering clouds, too far from the capital to send her away, Li Zuo relented and called her in.
Liu Qingyi looked worse than before. Wordless, he gestured for her to eat. Instead, she sat beside him, took his hand, and murmured, "A'zuo."Memories surged of his princely days, of her as a nobleman's daughter dancing the Aureate Dance with peerless grace. Of her weeping under a tree for a mother's love. Of her vowing to earn her father's pride...Yet the past is the past. Now he could protect nothing, not alone her."Qingyi, leave." He turned around and met her eyes.
Without saying anything, she held his gaze, then suddenly smiled. "A'zuo, let me dance the Aureate Dance for you one last time."
Before he could answer, she stood up.
Mud couldn't dim the Aureate Dance's brilliance. It was just like the palace years.
Every man in the station wept. Li Zuo, too, let silent tears fall as the final pose stilled.