Three years after his death, the emperor asked me to take the blame for his beloved concubine Liu Qing'er. He hurried to the cold palace with a confession in hand, but all he saw was grass and spider webs hanging from the eaves. In desperation, he grabbed the old eunuch guarding the door and asked, "Where is the queen? Let her come out to see me." The old eunuch slowly raised his head and looked at him with cloudy eyes. "The empress is dead a long time ago. She was whipped ninety-nine times by Concubine Li's father, Marquis Dingbei, and disappeared that night."
