Rising Phoenix

Madam Feng took out a small tube of ointment hidden deep in her sleeves and gently turned her son's head as she said: "This will help you."

Feng Hao obediently listened as his mother's fingers gently brushed over his face with the cool ointment. As his eyes drooped, he heard his mother say: "Hao er, relax, mom will always be by your side."

"En." Feng Hao replied, his heart relaxing a bit. As the pain slowly faded, his exhaustion grew stronger and stronger. Finally, he yawned and lay down beside her, his head on her lap as he said: "Then I'll take a nap."

Madam Feng gently patted him just as she had when he was a little boy. His exhaustion kept creeping over him, and even though a vague burry kept filling his mind, he could no longer resist the bone deep weariness and he was soon fast asleep on his mother's lap.

Madam Feng held her son close as they sat in the tangles of dried hay littering the floor of the iron cell. She looked down at her son's tense face and she began slowly moving her fingers over his brows and down his cheeks, etching these lines deep into her heart.

A pearl of tears dripped down, and right as it was about to hit Feng Hao's face, Madam Feng's hand moved and caught it.

She stared at the little pool of liquid for a long, long time as another slow tear joined it.

Two days ago.

A beam of light shone in from a gap in the iron roof above them, the sky bright above.

Feng Hao did not stir from his sleep.

Slow, heavy footsteps rang out on the stairs above, and though the Kung Fu in those steps was not quite that powerful, it rang steadily and deep with bone-deep confidence.

The corner of a yellow robe flicked by the foot of the stairs before the man finally stopped in the dim light outside the cell door.

Madam Feng smiled quietly.

Her face was shadowed in the darkness and no one could see the strange clarity in her expression.

The man stared at her from afar, sighing. Finally, he gestured.

Clattered steps retreated.

"Ming Ying." The man began, his voice indifferent. "It has been fifteen years since I last lay eyes on you."

Madam Feng stood, neither arrogant nor humble, the chains clanging around her as she bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Last time, we were celebrating your victory in the war." The Tian Sheng Emperor continued, his eyes far away as he examined her face as if thinking back to that gorgeous and brilliant general. "I still remember when that young lady sneered at your masculinity and how you tossed your cup and composed a poem right there… I remember it very clearly."

Madam Feng smiled emotionlessly as she replied: "Mingying is grateful for His Majesty's deep care."

"You were Tian Sheng's Female General, our distinguished heroine. In your youth, you achieved such greatness for my Tian Sheng." The Tiang Sheng Emperor continued, his voice deep and filled with profound regret. "Why did you choose to carry the candle of the devil and aid the remnant evil of Da Cheng?"

Madam Feng fell silent, and when she finally spoke, she quirked her lips: "Karmic punishment."

The Emperor fell silent and the two figures stood quietly, staring at each other through the cell door. She calmly faced her end, cold and determined; he stared blankly, the memory of that bold young woman filling his mind as she tossed aside that golden cup and called out bright and clear.

"This Minister does not dare perform in the same hall as this common woman. It would only bring disgrace to our Tian Sheng Dynasty!"

Her bright dress had filled the palace hall, but now that brilliance and color only filled memories. As the Tian Sheng Emperor relived that moment now, so many years later, he only saw the merciless cold of time.

That distant memory had aged like crusted paper, melting together in the dust and moisture, thick and stuck just like the mood filling the Tian Sheng Emperor.

After a long silence, the Emperor finally opened his mouth again: "Where is Feng Zhiwei?"

Madam Feng stirred, waiting a moment before replying: "She got small pox recently and I sent her out of Dijing to recover. I believe she had returned already."

She turned from the Emperor and stared down at the sleeping figure of her son, tears filling her eyes. Her calm determination seemed to flee, and she lifted her dress as she knelt.

"Your Majesty… Ming Yi knows that you will not forgive Zhiwei, so Ming Ying can only beg… beg to die alongside her…" Tears filled her eyes, unwilling to spill forth. "Hao er is innocent… please Your Majesty, pardon him…"

The Emperor stared silently, snorting coldly.

Madam Feng stared down at the floor, blood oozing from her nails as she dug into the gaps in the iron metal.

"Peng."

A small cloth wrapping fell before her as the Tian Sheng Emperor's voice rang out with anger: "Mingying, you still try to fool me?"

Madam Feng carefully opened the cloth wrapping and looked through the things it contained, her face paling more and more. She could barely keep her cool as she rewrapped the cloth and kowtowed, saying: "Mingying does not understand His Majesty's meaning."

"You truly are foolishly loyal to Da Cheng!" The Emperor cried out furiously, "You dare try to turn my eyes with the Plum Tree's Sacrifice for the Peach Tree![1]"

Madam Feng trembled, biting down on her lip as she cried out forcefully: "Your Majesty, you've been tricked!"

"I am not so stupid!" The Emperor cried out in anger. "Why does Feng Hao have another jade locket, and why is the recorded birth date different from his gold locket? Why does it have Da Cheng's secret sigil? This is your adopted son, but why do you claim that he is your natural child? The midwives the Golden Feather Guard captured all pointed us to Feng Zhiwei's, but why had her midwife died so suddenly?

"A servant girl of Da Cheng testified that Concubine She gave birth to a prince, and you true midwife confessed! Feng Zhiwei is your blood daughter! Feng Hao was adopted, and he is older than Feng Zhiwei! You've even changed the date of his birth on his golden locket!"

Madam Feng's face transformed and she cried out: "Zhiwei, mine? Impossible! My child died after birth…"

As she spoke, her face froze and a look of utter shock filled her eyes. A memory seemed to dawn and her whole body began to tremble violently.

"Even you have been fooled! You've been used as a shield!" The Emperor spat, his eyes carefully observing the woman before him as he grew more and more confident in his conclusion. "I had wondered if you were bewitched; how else would you be willing to sacrifice your own daughter for Da Cheng's last dregs, and you even abandoned her to break Feng Hao out! So that was how it is!"

Madam Feng cried out in shock, silent tears filling her face.

The Tian Sheng Emperor stared down at the miserable woman before him, thinking of how she had been fooled for decades about her own child, even choosing to sacrifice her daughter for another woman's baby. His heart softened for a moment, but then he thought back to her loyalty and treason and his chest ached with fury, displeasure filling him.

"Why are you still trying to protect Feng Hao? Do you think that if you can survive Heaven's Prison that Feng Hao will make you the Empress Dowager?"

[1] These are the last two stanzas of an old folk song: One family has five brothers all serving a minister as attendants. Every five days, they return home for a reunion and decorate their horses and garments with shining gold. They vie with each other in ostentation and extravagance, attracting crowds of onlookers along the road. 　　Now there is a peach tree by a well and a plum tree next to it. When worms come to gnaw at the root of the peach tree, the plum tree invites them to gnaw at its own root. Finally, the plum tree dies. 　　Even trees know how to sacrifice for other trees, why can't brothers do the same?