The Abacus-Wielding Court Lady

In an age that prized farming and looked down on commerce, I studied mental arithmetic and opened banks, raising the Qin family to the status of the Great Yuan’s imperial merchants. I joined my colleagues in reforming taxes and containing epidemics. Little did I expect my sister to scheme against me and give me to the emperor. Over time, I came to believe that he, the emperor himself, and I shared the same ideals and stood shoulder to shoulder, bringing peace to this troubled age and safety to its people. Little did I know that while I filled his treasury, dug canals, and even led troops into battle, he was quietly toppling powerful nobles, winning over neighboring kingdoms, and taking control of the Qin merchants’ shipping routes where no one could see. For the sake of the Great Yuan, my family and friends left me one after another, while he had been plotting against me at every turn from the very beginning. Nothing is more devastating than a heart dead with grief. As I returned from battle, I watched him gallop toward me to welcome me back to the palace. Instead, I played along and led him into an ambush by the remnants of the Tuoba forces, letting him watch helplessly as I took an arrow and fell from the cliff, leaving no body behind.

From then on, Li Jianlin traveled south every year. Rumors spread through the streets that His Majesty was searching for the empress who had fallen into a valley years ago. The people were deeply moved, and monogamy began to flourish. “It is hard to break free of the fog of resentment. A smile can wipe away old grudges.” But I only smiled faintly and rode off with the young man who had made my heart race in my youth, the one I had lost for so many years. We traveled the world together, sometimes returning to the little town with its fragrant orange well and watching the cooking smoke curl into the sky. From then on, there was no longer a Northern Dynasty empress or a Southern Dynasty emperor bound by shackles in this world, and Li Jianlin fulfilled his dream of unifying the realm.

I look toward A Chu, holding an umbrella beside me. The past is behind us, and the years ahead are full of warmth. May every season bring blessings, and may good fortune flourish.