On the night Prince of Lanling Gao Changgong was sentenced to death with a cup of poison, I played the final rendition of The Prince of Lanling Enters the Battle.
I am Li Kui, director of music and dance in Northern Qi.
Four years. I entered Yecheng carrying a guan flute. By day, I played music for the new ruler. By night, I wrote military pay, supply routes, and city defenses into my ledgers, hid them in the overtones of my music, and sent them out of the city.
The drums of Northern Zhou drew closer with every passing year. Everyone believed Qi would fall to the people of Zhou. Only I knew the truth: it fell to that cup of poison five years ago.
I was merely playing for it a tune that had been written long ago.
Note: This is a historical novel. Its characters and plot have been artistically adapted.
