He was once her whole sky, her very life. They had grown up together, innocent childhood sweethearts.
That year, with the lotuses in full bloom, she sent him off with a song called "Song of Jiangnan."
He rose steadily through the ranks. The emperor at the time was foolish and tyrannical, lost in sensual pleasures, so he raised an army in revolt and survived countless brushes with death.
Later, he ascended the throne and brought her into the palace.
She said with a bitter smile, "I thought that once I entered the palace, we could stay together forever. But I was so naive. We are no longer the same as we were, when you were Brother Xuan and I was A Yu."
He sighed deeply. "This throne may be supreme, but it is no match for the freedom of an ordinary life. A Yu, I long to go back to how things were."
She sneered. "You jest, Your Majesty. I am Empress Jiang, not A Yu."
He said helplessly, "If I wanted this empire, I had to give you up."
In the end, whose blood stained whose skirts? And whose sigh echoed throughout the entire Forbidden City...
This is a tale of bloody storms in the imperial harem, but also of the helplessness of love.
