I died that winter. To save my husband's beloved, I was handed over to the imperial guards, who cut open my chest and abdomen and took the blood from my heart. The child was already a fully formed boy... My soul stayed by Xie Jingcheng's side. I watched him treat Chu Ning with such tenderness. Even the portrait of me that once hung in his study was replaced with one of her. He was a good ruler, praised by everyone. He devoted himself to state affairs and cared for his people, letting down no one in the realm except me. He hated me for killing his mother and for being so cold and heartless that I locked him in the Cold Palace, heedless of our past. Yet in the end, he was the one who collapsed on top of me, weeping bitterly.
