In the seventh year of my marriage to the Empress of Fengyang,
I finally learned that the blood essence I gave up day after day had all gone to the male companion she kept hidden in another palace.
He was the love of her life, though she could never give him a name or status. I was merely an imperial consort in name, with no real standing.
After she drained my blood and abandoned my body in a mass grave, the blood donor for her male companion was replaced by our daughter.
The girl neither cried nor fussed. She simply held up her toy and asked Fengyang,
“Can feeding the little horse blood make it bring Daddy back?”
Fengyang smashed the wooden horse in her hands. “What a foolish thing to say.”
But later, Fengyang searched the land for a craftsman to mend the horse.
Then she threw herself into a sea of flames as an offering, just for the chance to see me one more time.
