Chapter 1

Wei Zai was an emperor, but she had died. Throughout her entire life, she had been quick to make decisions, and, make no mistake, executed many people. She had thought that after she died, she would descend to the underworld, where all of her achievements and wrongdoings would be put on trial. She would receive her punishment where it was due, and after repaying all of that, she would have simply been reborn to experience her next life.

Thus, when her soul left her body, although she was reluctant to let it go, she also felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. She had lived this life with a clear conscience, so she was not afraid of any god or ghost’s trial. However, she hadn’t expected that there would be no one to lead her down to the underworld; instead, she was stuck in her own mausoleum.

When Wei Zai was still alive, she had saved up quite a sum for the national treasury. Despite constructing only a small mausoleum for herself, it was well-crafted to the smallest detail, so it was still comfortable to live in. The only issue was that the place was quite empty, and thus boring. All of her most capable, favored ministers and subjects were not yet there.

She sighed, wondering, When can they come to accompany me? We were such good play buddies in our youth, from archery and horseback riding to cuju, paijiu, and wrestling, we did everything! But after I became emperor and they became my favored ministers, we did not have the time for such leisure.

Now, she had the free time, and thinking back to those times of youth and the shenanigans they got into, she felt her hands itching to play.

When could those people come? When they come, we need to set up many tables of paijiu right here in my mausoleum, and they all have to play with me. Ah, how long is it going to take? It’s getting so boring here… what are they doing?

Oh, they were probably helping Wei Zai watch her little girl, so it would be better if they lived some more years. My girl is still so young... they should give her all the help they can give.

Wei Zai splayed herself on the spine of the roof of the mausoleum’s main palace out of boredom, kicking her feet as she was catching the sun’s rays. When she was alive, she could not display such bad posture or present such a callous, unmannered front like this, but she was only a wandering ghoul now, with no one around to possibly police her. She was like a lanky cat stretching out in the sun, deeply content.

She thought, If there were no gods or ghosts coming to judge me, how would the history books comment on me?

Probably a decent emperor.

Wei Zai concluded that even if her achievements could not compare to Qin Shihuangdi or Emperor Wu of Han, or the Emperors Shizu or Xuanzong, she figured she still left behind the name of the Chenghui Restoration in the history books. Chenghui was the era title that she had used throughout her entire reign, from when she had first ascended to the throne, all the way to her death. It was the one that she had picked out—with immense difficulty, going through all of her options one by one— from the many, many options the Ministry of Rites had provided her.

During that time, there seemed to be an imaginary person to her side, making fun of her. The voice would go on about how she seemed so calm on the outside, and how yet she was so terribly excited in her mind.

She didn’t agree; how could she not be excited? How far did she and her ministers have to come for this position, and how much did they have to endure? Her father had taken over the empire from her grandmother, but he was more keen on her brothers. When Wei Zai was younger, she was quite high spirited, preferring to engage in hawk battles and was often out horseback riding, not interested in the imperial throne at all. And yet, her older brothers were still wary of her, trying to push her out completely. It happened so many times that she finally felt she had to take matters into her own hands — her brothers were a useless lot, not worthy of being brothers, much less worthy of being emperor, so why couldn’t she do it? Later, she and her friends had sworn an oath in blood to forever be lord and subjects working together in order to lift their realm into a period of prosperity. And they did so, walking that path for decades.

With her thoughts wandering till here, Wei Zai suddenly remembered the person that had helped her steel her resolve in regards to fighting for the imperial throne. She was Wei Zai’s companion-in-studies, but instead of her appointment, Wei Zai saw her more as a younger sister. Wei Zai always kept her in mind when she had good food or ideas, while the younger even called Wei Zai ‘a-jie’ in private.

Wei Zai was the youngest in her family, so she really enjoyed having this younger sister. Unfortunately, her little sister didn’t even survive until adulthood. That day, Wei Zai had given her the desserts she had. Her little sister had taken them, and eaten them excitedly… and then… Wei Zai had held her little sister in her arms, watching helplessly as she exhaled her last breath with “a-jie” on her lips. The blood coming out from her eyes, nose, and mouth dirtied Wei Zai’s clothes, but it also seared the color of blood on Wei Zai’s heart.

Right, right, her little sister. Wei Zai remembered that when she ordered her mausoleum to be built, she had the workers move her little sister’s grave inside the mausoleum. Where was it, where was it?

Wei Zai looked through each one before finally finding it next to the haitang.

That child was young when she passed. Since she didn’t have any official title, her grave only took up a small space within the Hui Mausoleum. Though, the large patch of haitang surrounding her grave are heavenly. How nice, Wei Zai thought.

Seeing the characters carved into the stone, Wei Zai couldn’t help but reach a hand out to caress them. However, as she was already a ghost without matter, she couldn’t truly touch it. She sat there, lost, for some time, muttering to herself, “She isn’t here… ah, right…she passed so early… so she probably got reincarnated already. That’s good too...she should just be a normal person in the next life, experience an ordinary yet happy childhood as she grows up, that’s the best…”

Wei Zai looped around the section of accompanying graves in her mausoleum, seeing those familiar names, one after another. Amongst them, some had taken a knife for her; some had used their lives to lift her; some had passed early because they had burned their life up helping her create the flourishing empire. Every single grave accompanying her was there because their owners were the same type of person as she was. Wei Zai had thought she forgot all of them, but when she saw those familiar names, one after another, all of their shared pasts resurfaced in her memories.

However, Wei Zai did not find any other souls in the place. Looping around again, she returned to the largest path that would take her to the main palace. As she walked forward, one step after another, her past friends started flashing before her eyes - their appearance, voice and all. When she reached the highest point, she looked back, gazing towards the path of spirits, the path she took. That wide path, being the entryway to the tomb, stretched a long ways out from the bottom of her feet.

Towards the other end of the empty tomb, she called, “We promised a golden age of the empire for you all. Did you all see it?”

No one replied, but the gentle breeze brushed past her, the sound of rustling leaves echoing along with it. Wei Zai closed her eyes, focusing on nature’s voice in the moment, a smile of contentment spreading across her face.

A/N: The inspiration from this work came from a post I saw on Weibo. Someone had said that the mausoleum of Emperor Renzong of Song was now a large park, and with Emperor Renzong's recorded personality being very benevolent and magnanimous, he probably wouldn't mind that people of the modern era were dancing on his burial site. In fact, he'd probably join them~