“Zhi…Zhihao?” Jiayi stammered. “How…how are you here? No. It can’t be you. You just look like Zhihao.”
“How would Warlord Shidu know about someone who won’t be born for a thousand years?” Zhihao asked her.
“I…I don’t know,” she said, stepping away. “I don’t know how any of this is possible.”
“It’s really me, Jiayi,” Zhihao said, following her. “Prince Kang and I found you in your prison cell. You were…are…passed out. Turning blue. You are dying, Jiayi. You need to wake up.”
“No,” Jiayi said. “I don’t want to. I’m happy here. Prince Junjie loves me. I can save him and we can be together forever.”
“Not if you die,” Zhihao said. “I don’t know how you’ve even lived this long. Your body is cold, your lips blue. If you stay here much longer, you won’t be able to wake up.”
“Fine,” Jiayi said. “I’d rather die here. I don’t want to wake up just so the empress can kill me.”
“She won’t,” Zhihao said. “Kang and I will get you out.”
“Then what?” she asked. “I can’t leave China. She will find me and execute me eventually.”
“I…I don’t have all the answers,” Zhihao said. “I didn’t have time to formulate a plan. You are dying! We had to act fast to save you.”
“You wasted your time,” Jiayi said, “because I’m not going back.”
“You must,” Zhihao said.
“Why?” Jiayi asked, exasperated.
“Because I love you,” he said.
Jiayi’s heart softened. She knew that he had taken a significant risk in penetrating the prison and learning how to fall through time to her. She knew that everything he had done had been for her.
“But I love him,” she said, her voice cracking. She didn’t need to say who. They both knew.
Zhihao nodded, the pain in his eyes clear. “I know you do. But he’s gone, Jiayi. He’s been gone since long before you ever knew him. You need to let him go.”
A few tears escaped Jiayi’s eyes and ran down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her sleeves.
“But…look what you did,” she said. “You fell through time for me. You are trying to save me. Shouldn’t I do the same for him?”
“Do you remember what I told you about Eli?” he said. “That if the only way to save him was by losing you that I wouldn’t take the risk?”
She nodded, remembering how she did try to save Eli, she did risk her life to try and make Zhihao happy, and she had failed.
“If you kill Warlord Shidu and I am never born, that won’t be the real tragedy,” he said. “The worst part will be that I will never have the chance to meet you.”
Jiayi coughed out a cry. “Maybe it would be better that way,” she said. “I’ve brought you nothing but misery.”
“No!” he said. “Misery was my life before I met you. You are amazing. You challenge me in ways I never thought possible. You’ve made me a better person. Jiayi, a life without you is not worth living.”
“I…I’ve been a terrible friend,” she said. “I…I nearly killed you. How can you still stand there and declare your love for me?”
“Believe me,” he said, “I’ve made plenty of mistakes that I will spend the rest of my life making up to you for.”
She chuckled. “You never tried to kill me.”
“Give me another fifty years,” he said. “I just might.”
Jiayi glanced to the door of the room. She knew she couldn’t kill Zhihao…or Warlord Shidu. But leaving Junjie…wasn’t that the same as a death sentence? How could she walk away knowing what fate awaited him?
“Jiayi?” Zhihao asked gently, holding his hand out to her. “It’s time to go.”
“I…I love him,” she said, leaving unsaid that she would always love him. Zhihao was in love with Jiayi, but she could never love him the way she did Junjie.
Zhihao’s eyes shone in the firelight of the brazier, but he nodded. “I know.”
Jiayi tremulously laid her hand in Zhihao’s, and he pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. She sobbed, but Zhihao just held her tighter, kissing her forehead.
“Goodbye…” she whispered.
Jiayi gasped and opened her eyes. The fetid smell of the prison cell hit her nose, and she knew she was back. She breathed in deeply and coughed. She heard Zhihao gasp next to her, then he rolled over, looking down at her.
“Jiayi!” he said, touching her face. “We…we made it.”
Her lips trembled and she could only cry. She had left him…she left him to die.
“What’s wrong?” Prince Kang said. “Are you both all right?”
Zhihao held Jiayi tightly and nodded. “We are fine. Just…” He shook his head, unable to find the words to explain what had just happened.
“I understand,” the prince said. “But now we need to find a way out of here.”
“What do you suggest?” Zhihao asked.
The prince sighed and looked around the room. His eyes fell on the tattered blanket and his lips curled up in a mischievous smile. “How long can you hold your breath?” he asked Jiayi.
Jiayi laid under the blanket, still as a corpse. According to Zhihao, she was still cold and her lips tinged purple, the blue having faded a little bit, which still looked unnatural. But they had to act quickly before the color properly returned to her face.
“She’s dead!” Zhihao cried loudly, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
“Guard! Guard!” the prince called. Jiayi could hear the footsteps of a man running down the corridor.
“Yes, my prince?” the man asked.
“Did you hurt this girl?” the prince asked. “How long has she been unconscious.”
“I never laid a hand on her, I swear!” the guard said. “She cried for a bit, and then went quiet some time ago. I peeked in and thought she’d fallen asleep.”
“Well, she’s dead!” the prince said. “Look at her coloring!”
Jiayi could feel the shadow of the man above her, then heard him fall to his knees and whimper.
“I did nothing to her, I swear!” he cried. “Oh, please, Your Highness! You must believe me!”
“I must do nothing,” the prince said, “except return her to the empress. It will be her decision what happens to you.”
“Oh! Why?” Zhihao wailed as he still cried over Jiayi’s body. Jiayi did her best to not laugh at his terrible acting. But it was apparently convincing enough for the guard, who was now blubbering as well.
“I swear!” the guard was repeating as Zhihao stood and picked Jiayi up in his arms, pulling the blanket over her face. Jiayi was glad she was holding her breath and couldn’t smell anything.
“We will see about that,” the prince said to the guard. No one dared stop the prince or Zhihao as they carried Jiayi up the stairs and out of the prison.
Once they were outside, Jiayi opened one of her eyes and tried to look through the coarse weave of the blanket, but all she could see was darkness. It must have been night. She breathed cautiously, careful not to move too much of her own accord.
As soon as they were out of sight of the prison door, Zhihao stopped crying. They didn’t want to bring attention to themselves as they snuck out of the Forbidden City. If they were caught, they would surely be dragged before the empress, and there would be no one to save all three of them from the woman’s wrath.
They went down darkened paths and avoided the patrolling eunuchs and lights from the palaces until they ended up at a gate north of the palace that was used for food deliveries during the day but rarely used at night.
The prince went outside first. Jiayi could hear him order the guards to patrol the wall all the way down to the corners and beyond. After a moment, Zhihao went through the gate as well. The prince then hailed a rickshaw, and Zhihao placed her on the floor as he and the prince climbed up into the seat. She heard the clinking of the prince dropping a large number of coins into the driver’s hand.
“You never saw us,” he said, and the driver agreed. Then he gave orders to drive to a neighborhood several kilometers away. The rickshaw jerked as the driver began to run.
Jiayi, Zhihao, and Prince Kang were quiet for some time, and Jiayi wondered if she would ever be truly safe. Would the empress really believe she had died in the prison?
“I think we are far enough away now,” the prince finally said, pulling the blanket back.
Jiayi eagerly inhaled the fresh night air. She laid in the bottom of the rickshaw for a moment, taking in the beauty of the starlit sky.
She was free.
“Are you all right?” Zhihao asked as he leaned over her, blocking her view.
She smiled up at him. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine.”
Zhihao pulled her up and settled her between him and the prince.
“We can never thank you for what you did for us tonight, Your Highness,” Zhihao said. “I certainly hope you do become emperor. The future of China will be bright with you on the throne.”
“That is kind of you to say,” the prince said. “Though the palace will certainly be a less interesting place without the two of you around.”
“What do you mean?” Jiayi asked. “What happened?”
“Zhihao was banished from court,” Kang explained. “Though I don’t think he will miss it.”
“That’s an understatement,” Zhihao said with a chuckle.
“Where will you go from here, Jiayi?” Kang asked, wrapping a friendly arm around her shoulder to protect her from the cool night air.
“I…haven’t even thought about it,” Jiayi said. “A few moments ago, I thought I was going to be executed.”
“Well, I wouldn’t recommend staying in China,” the prince said. “I have friends in Japan. If you wish to go there, I can arrange it for you.”
“You…you can?” she asked.
“Certainly,” he said. “I’ll wait a few days just to make sure no one is suspicious about what happened. Then I’ll take care of everything.”
Jiayi marveled at the generosity of this man she barely knew.
“Thank you,” she finally said. The prince smiled and squeezed her shoulders.
The rickshaw driver pulled over, and Zhihao and Jiayi climbed out, but the prince stayed behind.
“Will you be all right?” Jiayi asked Prince Kang. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for smuggling us out.”
The prince waved off her concerns. “Don’t worry. I was the only person seen leaving the palace. If anyone asks, I’ll say I spent the evening at a brothel.”
“What if the empress asks about me?” Jiayi asked.
The prince shrugged. “Do you think that self-absorbed cow will think of you again?”
Jiayi supposed not. And while the thought should have brought comfort to her, she couldn’t help but feel worthless once again.
“Walk a few blocks before taking another rickshaw home,” the prince said, “just to be safe.”
“We will,” Zhihao said as he reached up and shook the prince’s hand. The rickshaw puller then drove off, and the prince waved one last time.
“Do you think he really will become emperor?” Jiayi asked as the prince disappeared from sight.
“No,” Zhihao said, but he didn’t elaborate. Jiayi didn’t know why he believed that, but even with how little she knew about politics, she thought that overthrowing the whole empire might be easier than disrupting the line of succession.
Zhihao offered Jiayi his arm. “Shall we?”
She smiled and slipped her arm through his. They walked down the road a little way in silence. Even though she was not completely free from the empress’s grip just yet, this was the closest to freedom she had ever been, and she breathed the feeling in deeply.
“You were right,” Zhihao said finally. “About Rebecca. Lian. Everything.”
“In what way?” she asked.
“Rebecca knew about Lian and Marcus selling the women as slaves,” he said. “Well, more than that. She was facilitating it through a madam she met in San Francisco.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Sorry for being right?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, “if it brings you pain.”
“Hmm,” he said, and he seemed to hesitate before speaking again. “Lian is dead. He…One of his friends, I should say, killed Hu Xiaosheng.”
“No!” she said. “Who killed Lian? Was Hu Xiaosheng’s killer caught?”
Zhihao shrugged. “I have to feel that justice was served by Lian’s death, even if it was an accident.”
“Did you…” Jiayi tried to ask, but she couldn’t finish the words.
“Yes,” he said. “Lian had a gun, and we struggled. It…” He choked on the words and exhaled, and Jiayi knew he was fighting tears.
“It was an accident,” she finished for him. He nodded and patted her hand in thanks. They went quiet for another minute while he collected himself. He finally cleared his throat and changed the subject.
“So, Japan. That will be quite an adventure.”
Jiayi barked a laugh. “It still doesn’t seem real. Besides, what would I do there? Time travel isn’t exactly in demand for maids or seamstresses. And I don’t speak Japanese.”
“Why would you be a maid or seamstress?” Zhihao asked.
Jiayi paused before continuing. She didn’t want to talk about Zhihao giving her music box to Rebecca and ruin the evening, but because he had done that, she had no money to help her get started on a new life.
“Unless you took my money out of the music box before Rebecca got her hands on it, I don’t have any money,” she finally said, trying to sound as unaccusing as possible.
“No,” he said with a hint of regret in his voice. “No, I…I left it in her room and…I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Jiayi said. “I promise. I’ve survived on nothing before, and I can do it again.”
“Well, you won’t have to do that,” he said. He stopped and let go of her hand, reaching into his pocket and producing the white kerchief she had used to tie her stolen treasures together.
Jiayi’s hands flew to her mouth in shock, then she took the bundle from him and opened it. It was all there. The hairpins, the brooches, the rings, the makeup jars…dozens of items she could sell properly for enough money to probably set her up for life.
And there, in the middle of it all, was Lady Meirong’s golden phoenix necklace. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw it and her eyes watered once again.
“Than…thank you,” she whispered. “You…you found this in my room. You knew I was guilty. That I was a thief. I stole from the empress. But you still saved my life. You risked your own life to save me. Why?”
Zhihao placed his hand over the bundle, and when he removed it, his silver pocket watch was now lying over the golden necklace. He had found it. He knew that she had stolen from him as well.
“Because I love you, Jiayi,” he said, and her resolve broke. She wept, shaking her head.
“Don’t give that back to me,” she said. “I’m so ashamed.”
“Why?” he asked. “I want you to have it. As a token of the day we first met.”
She looked up at him, completely lost for words. But words were not needed. Zhihao took her in his arms and kissed her. The kiss was not rushed, or hungry, or desperate. As his lips touched hers, he was gentle, and there was nothing behind the kiss but love. He cupped her jaw and kissed her again and again. When he pulled away, she missed him immediately.
“I want you to leave,” he said.
“W-w-what?” she stammered.
“Leave China,” he said. “Go far away from here and start a new life. Be safe. Be happy.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“I have to stay here,” he said. “I cannot leave my mother.”
“Then, I’ll stay,” she said. “After everything, I can’t leave you.”
“You can,” he said. “And you will. Promise me.” She opened her mouth to object, but he held up a finger to silence her. “Promise me.”
She looked down at the bundle of riches in her hands. As painful as it would be, she knew he was right. She had money, and the prince could get her to Japan. This was her chance to leave, and she would be a fool not to take it.
“I promise,” she said.
“Good,” Zhihao said, then he hailed a rickshaw to take them to his home for the night.
But there is one thing I have to do first, she thought.