I Grow Old with the Plum Blossoms

I am Wu Meiniang, but the Wu Zetian who surveys the world from the dragon throne is the real me.

They say a woman becoming emperor defies Heaven’s will. Then I will wash Chang’an clean with the blood of three hundred thousand rebels.

On the day I donned the imperial robes, only one person’s silhouette made me falter.

Ten years ago, beneath the solitary lamp at Ganye Temple, he took off his official’s hat and said, “I’ll take you away.”

I pulled my hand back and walked straight through the palace gates without looking back.

Now he points his sword at my heart. “Your Majesty, I have come to reclaim the heart I gave you all those years ago.”

I smile and spread my arms wide, my yellow robes billowing in the wind like a banner.

“The whole realm is mine. But you may have it.”