Liang Ye died on a rainy day.

Red petals scattered everywhere. He lay in a patch of withered begonia flowers, his eyes wide open with unwillingness. The cold rainwater mixed with warm blood dripped into his eyes, creating a blurry, spreading redness.

That was the last hint of color he saw in the mortal world.

From his earliest memories, Liang Ye lived in a dilapidated, narrow palace. He resided in the coldest small side palace, with an elderly Nanny Tao by his side, and a one-eyed young eunuch named Qiu Gan.

And a mother consort named Bian Yunxin.

Bian Yunxin didn’t like him; he knew this very early on.

When he was three years old, he and Qiu Gan sneaked out to play and saw the Consort Xian holding her own son, feeding him milk porridge in the Imperial Garden. He hid in the flower bushes, staring hungrily and swallowing, while Qiu Gan tugged at him, trying to carry him away.

“Qiu Gan, smells good,” he clutched Qiu Gan’s hem, wanting to eat the milk porridge.

Qiu Gan smiled and stroked his head, “Your Highness, be good. Let’s go back to Qiuyang Palace to drink.”

“There’s none in the palace,” Liang Ye stubbornly shook his head. The people attending to Consort Xian must have heard the commotion from their direction, and someone barked harshly, but the Consort Xian stopped them. He and Qiu Gan trembled with fear. Consort Xian, dressed like a fairy, smiled and beckoned to him, her voice gentle and clear, “Little Nineteenth, come here.”

Liang Ye was so frightened that he stepped back and fell on his bottom, then got up and ran away, with Qiu Gan chasing after him, “Your Highness, be careful, don’t fall!”

As Liang Ye ran, he forgot to be afraid. Qiu Gan would catch up and grab his arm, lifting him onto his thin shoulders, “Let’s fly!”

“We’re flying!” He laughed happily while riding on Qiu Gan’s shoulders. Qiu Gan would carry him around the remote, less attractive parts of the Imperial Garden, until he was out of breath.

“Your Highness, here’s a little pebble for you to play with.” Qiu Gan would always pick up smooth, pretty little stones and place them in his small hands. “Don’t tell the Consort.”

“Mm!” Liang Ye nodded vigorously, taking the round little stone and hitting it to make a sound. Qiu Gan would clap enthusiastically, praising him for being clever, and Liang Ye would proudly raise his head, “I’m very smart!”

His brothers and sisters all had countless nice toys. Once he saw his sixteenth brother receive a beautiful white pony, and he asked Qiu Gan for one. The sad expression on Qiu Gan’s face was something he still remembered, so he stopped making such requests.

“Mother, hug me,” he returned to Qiuyang Palace, had his hands washed clean by Nanny Tao, and ran to the main hall to find Bian Yunxin.

Bian Yunxin lowered her head with a gloomy expression, looked at his outstretched little arms, and showed a very faint smile before reaching out to hold him.

Liang Ye’s eyes immediately lit up with anticipation, and he stood on tiptoe to make it easier for her to pick him up.

Slap!

Bian Yunxin’s palm struck his face. A three-year-old child could hardly withstand such a blow; he fell to the ground and burst into tears.

“Cry, cry, cry! All you know is crying! If you’re so capable, go cry to your Father Emperor!” Bian Yunxin angrily raised her foot to kick him. Qiu Gan and Nanny Tao, kneeling nearby, crawled over to protect him.

“Please calm down, Consort! Please calm down! The little prince knows his mistake, please calm down!”

Qiu Gan went to hold Bian Yunxin’s leg, and she kicked him several times. Nanny Tao, with her hunched back, trembled as she took Liang Ye into her arms, her rough hands protecting his neck and back. “Don’t be afraid, Your Highness, don’t be afraid.”

Liang Ye’s cheek burned with pain. He cried and felt angry, wondering why his mother wouldn’t hold him when Consort Xian would hold Eighteenth Brother.

Crying, he remembered that his mother had hit him before, which made him even more heartbroken. He wailed so hard that he nearly lost his soul, while Nanny Tao covered his mouth in terror, afraid of angering Bian Yunxin further.

Back in the small side palace, he sobbed for a long time before emerging from under the blanket. He started to pry at Nanny Tao’s rough, broad hands, which had several round, reddened bite marks. He sniffled, “Nanny, it’s my fault. Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt,” Nanny Tao said, hunched over, her face full of wrinkles. But Liang Ye wasn’t afraid at all; Nanny Tao smiled kindly. “Your Highness, don’t cry. The Consort didn’t mean it.”

“Mother doesn’t like me,” Liang Ye knelt on the bed, reaching out to touch the bite marks on her hand, saying resentfully, “I’ll never go to her again!”

But children forget quickly, naturally craving a mother’s love.

Once, he was climbing trees playfully and scraped his arm. He cried gasping for breath, and Qiu Gan tried desperately to comfort him without success. Nanny Tao had gone to fetch food and wasn’t around. Liang Ye ended up running to the main hall to find Bian Yunxin, crying, “Mother, Mother!”

Bian Yunxin came out impatiently but was startled to see his bloodied arm. “What happened?”

“It hurts, Mother, waaaa—” He immediately cried harder.

Bian Yunxin pressed him onto a stool and turned to Qiu Gan. “How were you watching His Highness! Go quickly and summon a physician!”

Qiu Gan rushed to the Imperial Medical Courtyard but soon returned dejectedly. “Consort, all the physicians have gone to the Empress’s palace…”

Bian Yunxin’s face immediately contorted, and she yelled at Liang Ye, “Stop crying! Didn’t you hear that all the physicians went to the Empress’s palace?”

Liang Ye looked at her with teary eyes, almost crying but not quite, trembling as he showed her his arm. “Mother, it hurts…”

Bian Yunxin frowned as she looked at his arm. “Qiu Gan, go heat up a basin of clean water.”

Bian Yunxin treated Liang Ye’s wound with a sour expression. Liang Ye clutched her faded sleeve as he sobbed, calling her “Mother” repeatedly.

Bian Yunxin felt increasingly agitated by his calls but eventually softened her voice. “It will be over soon.”

After the wound was bandaged, Liang Ye felt a bit happier, thinking he could rightfully expect some care. “Mother, hold me.”

Bian Yunxin looked at him with a complex expression, then stood up coldly. “Get out!”

Liang Ye shuddered in fear but still held onto her sleeve, refusing to let go. Eventually, Qiu Gan had to gather his courage to carry him away.

For a long time after that, Liang Ye liked to get injured, because whenever he was hurt, Bian Yunxin would treat his wounds—it was a rare moment of gentleness.

Nanny Tao noticed this and strictly forbade such behavior, even becoming angry enough to threaten to beat him, though she never actually did so.

“You are the master, and we are servants; I shouldn’t be meddling,” Nanny Tao said, stroking his wounds with tears streaming down her face. “Your Highness, the bond between mother and child cannot be forced. Can we let it go?”

Liang Ye understood vaguely and placed his favorite little stone in her palm. “Nanny, don’t cry.”

It didn’t matter if his mother didn’t like him; having Qiu Gan and Nanny Tao with him was enough.

Days passed uneventfully. Bian Yunxin remained out of favor, Qiuyang Palace continued to be dilapidated and desolate season after season, Qiu Gan gradually grew from a boy to showing signs of a young man, Nanny Tao’s back became increasingly hunched, and Liang Ye grew more and more mischievous.

By the time he was five, he had already explored the entire Imperial Garden. The small garden where he and Qiu Gan often played had been claimed by some consort and was now locked. He and Qiu Gan tried every way to climb a tree to see the garden full of white peonies.

“Wow!” He exclaimed in amazement while hugging a branch.

“What is it?” Qiu Gan supported him from below, asking curiously, “Has it changed?”

“So many white flowers!” Liang Ye said excitedly. “They’re beautiful! Qiu Gan, let’s go inside!”

“We can’t, Your Highness. This garden isn’t ours.” Qiu Gan looked at the plaque that read “Manxue Garden,” and with some regret, helped him down from the tree. “Your Highness, I’ll take you somewhere else to play.”

So Liang Ye had to pout reluctantly as Qiu Gan led him away.

Then they ran into the Empress’s procession.

The richly dressed woman was bright and stunning, with pendants on her phoenix crown that resembled butterflies ready to take flight. The flowers embroidered on her clothes were more beautiful than those in the Manxue Garden. She was surrounded by solemn, silent palace maids and eunuchs who protected her like stars around the moon. Behind her flowed countless rewards and gifts, gleaming with gold.

Liang Ye had thought Consort Xian was already a fairy from heaven, but seeing the Empress made him realize that fairies could be even more beautiful.

He and Qiu Gan knelt by the roadside, and he curiously raised his head to look at the small butterflies on the Empress’s phoenix crown, very much wanting to reach out and touch them.

The Empress seemed to notice them and suddenly stopped.

“Which palace does this little mud monkey belong to?” The dignified and majestic woman spoke with surprising liveliness and charm, even crouching down in front of him, wanting to stroke his head.

Liang Ye stared at the fairy-like person in a daze, instinctively shrinking his shoulders and hiding behind Qiu Gan.

“In response to Your Majesty, this is the Nineteenth Prince from Qiuyang Palace,” someone answered.

At that moment, Liang Ye clearly saw the smile freeze on the Empress’s face. She seemed to transform into a different person, her voice no longer lively or charming. She stared at him intently, looking as if she might cry. “So it’s the Nineteenth Prince. Come… let this Empress have a look.”

Qiu Gan quickly pushed him forward, but Liang Ye hid behind him, refusing to come out, burying his face against Qiu Gan’s back.

The Empress coaxed him gently, “Little Nineteenth, come let Mother Empress see you.”

As the head of the imperial harem, all imperial children should address her as Mother Empress, so this form of address was correct. She looked expectantly at Liang Ye, but he remained clutching Qiu Gan, whether out of shyness or fear, refusing to show his face.

“Your Majesty, the Emperor is waiting for you,” a palace maid reminded her.

The Empress gazed at Liang Ye with a complex expression, then allowed herself to be helped up. In an instant, she transformed back into the dignified, composed Empress and said coolly to Qiu Gan, “Take good care of the little prince.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Qiu Gan responded with a bow.

Only after she had gone far away did Liang Ye, still clutching Qiu Gan’s clothes, peek out and stare wistfully at her departing figure.

“Your Highness, why didn’t you come out when the Empress called you?” Qiu Gan looked at him with a somewhat sad and regretful expression, using a handkerchief to wipe the dirt from his face. “She would have held you.”

Liang Ye pinched his dirty little hands and looked down at his dusty little robe. “I’m dirty and naughty; she wouldn’t like me.”

“She would definitely like you,” Qiu Gan said with certainty in his gaze.

Liang Ye retorted angrily, “She wouldn’t! She just called me a little mud monkey! I’m not a little mud monkey!”

He ran angrily back to Qiuyang Palace, with Qiu Gan chasing after him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Liang Ye rushed into Nanny Tao’s arms. “Nanny, Nanny, am I a little mud monkey?”

Nanny Tao held him and laughed. “Where has Your Highness been crawling through dog holes? Let me see. Oh my, isn’t this just a little mud monkey?”

Liang Ye was so angry that he burst into tears.

Qiu Gan hurried after them, and Nanny Tao was baffled by his crying. Qiu Gan reluctantly explained what had happened, and Nanny Tao exclaimed several times, hugging and consoling him. “The Empress loves to joke with children; she called you a little mud monkey because she likes you.”

“Not… a mud monkey!” Liang Ye cried, kicking his legs in her embrace.

Nanny Tao lovingly stroked his little head. “The Empress cares about you very much.”

Liang Ye couldn’t understand and just continued to throw a tantrum out of frustration.

Both of them tried their best to comfort him, eventually calming him down. He sat in Nanny Tao’s lap, holding a freshly made bowl of milk porridge and licking it bit by bit, squinting his eyes in delight.

“The Imperial Kitchen… won’t give me any,” Liang Ye said grumpily, hugging the bowl.

He had snuck into the Imperial Kitchen wanting to eat milk porridge but was chased out by a fat-bellied man who also scolded him.

“Nanny can make it. Nanny can make anything,” Nanny Tao fed him with a small spoon, one bite at a time. “Whatever others have, our little Nineteenth must have too.”

“I want a little pony,” Liang Ye said.

“A pony is too big. When Your Highness is a bit older, I’ll take you out to play,” Qiu Gan said with a gleam in his single eye. “There are many delicious foods and fun things outside; Your Highness will surely love them.”

Whatever food he wanted, as long as he mentioned it, Nanny Tao would secretly make it for him. Whatever place he wanted to visit, as long as he told Qiu Gan, he would be taken there to play to his heart’s content. In his eyes, Nanny Tao and Qiu Gan could do anything.

He eagerly looked forward to growing a bit older, when Nanny Tao would make him more delicious foods and Qiu Gan would take him to more exciting places.

But they didn’t live to see him turn six.