This one night of terror had changed Yuqui forever. It was not only the physical damage that the rebellion wrought but the scars it left on its people. Of the nearly twenty thousand men and women who signed up to defend the palace gates, more than half died. The devastation was so sweeping that at first, even An Ning didn't know what to do. The capital was in ruins and the number of sick and injured continued to grow.

Adding to An Ning's worries was Gu Sheng, who hovered between life and death, the burns on his back so severe that he alternated between waking in pain to hallucinating in even more pain. The imperial doctors summoned to treat him could only look at her with fear, fear that she would kill them if they failed to heal him, and fear that if they didn't heal him and he dies then she would still kill them anyway.

Yi Hai, who defended the palace against the enemy's attack despite his own injuries, took one look at Gu Sheng on the bed and paled. His eyes flew to An Ning's, a horrified question in them. What happens if the emperor dies? Who will take over? What happens to Yuqui?

"He's not going to die," An Ning said tersely, reading the fear and panic in his eyes. "Shut up with your worries and let me think, will you? I wonder if it still works. There's no other way but to try and find out, right?"

Yi Hai's eyes widened in even more shock when An Ning took out a knife and cut her hand. The blood flowed, some of it dripping on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Yi Hai yelled in panic.

"I said, shut up!" An Ning said, frowning. "I'm trying to save him."

An Ning put her injured hand directly over Gu Sheng's back and allowed the blood to drop on his burned skin. The injured skin immediately sizzled as it came into contact with the blood. There was smoke and the smell of burning flesh then as they watched, the strips of blood soaked through the injured skin, scouring the dead flesh then creating new layers of skin which appeared healthy and pink.

An Ning tenderly rolled Gu Sheng over to his now healed back and fed him the rest of the blood. She watched as his complexion transformed from deathly pale to a healthy pallor. Even his breathing has gentled, the frown of pain on his brow smoothened out. She ruffled the hair on his forehead then bent down to kiss his cheek. He's going to be alright now, she thought. And that thing with her blood still works. It seemed even reincarnation had not taken away her potency as an Amazon princess.

An Ning stood up then stopped when she met Yi Hai's incredulous stare.

"What the h.e.l.l are you, lady? Are you a witch?"

"And what if I am? What are you going to do about it?"

"What did you just do to him?"

"Saved his life, obviously. Is that a crime?"

"Your...your blood," Yi Hai stammered. "I've never seen anything like that before. It's as if...as if, he was already dead and you brought him back to life."

"You're exaggerating."

"I know what I saw!"

"Then forget about it. It's not like it's important. So I can heal people with my blood. Big deal."

"Are you trying to kid me now?"

"What I'm trying to tell you is that I'm a freak. Special yet still a freak. It's too complicated to explain. Just believe me when I say I'm not a witch, a demon or a succubus. I'm just a girl whose blood is a little special. Okay?"

Yi Hai frowned, staring at her like he had never seen her before.

"You're very beautiful, do you know that?" he asked, speaking as if he was forced to.

An Ning's brows lifted in surprise but she didn't speak.

"Very beautiful but it's as if even if I tried to, I still wouldn't get you, not in a hundred years."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud." Yi Hai's eyes drifted to Gu Sheng. "Is he going to be alright now?"

"Yes. He's fully recovered."

"That's something to be thankful then," he said, before walking out.

She stared at him frowning.

The following days were busy for An Ning and Gu Sheng. Besides the restoration and the day-to-day concerns of daily life, there were the prisoners to be dealt with, about ten thousand of them who survived the siege of Yuqui. Since the kingdom lacked a proper court of ministers, An Ning instead created her own council of ministers, inviting representatives from the academe and civilian life to thrash matters about the prisoners' sentencing. Death or banishment? With the former the obvious choice of nearly everyone who have seen the devastation of the aftermath of the unwarranted attack.

"It's easy for the emperor and I to decide what to do with them. Just a simple signature on a piece of paper and they're either dead or banished. But some things do have to be taken into consideration. First, I don't think we want a ma.s.sacre on our hands if we execute all of them. It's going to be a ghastly sight and I think we've had enough violence to last us a lifetime so that's not actually an option. As for banishment...we could do that, sure. But where do we banish them? Let them leave here and a.s.sume they'll go somewhere far away? One thing for sure, we can't let them stay in prison for too long. The cost alone will kill us. So, any ideas?"

An Ning looked at them as they in turn looked at her totally confused. When the imperial summons arrived, they naturally a.s.sumed that they did something wrong. People in power usually do that. They play nice, promising you things and when they get what they want, they turn around and accuse you of a crime. They never thought the empress dowager or the emperor were like that kind of people but you never really know about these types. Most of them couldn't even be trusted to tell the truth to save their own skin so what do they know?

But to sit here and listen to the empress actually make sense? And what was she saying? She was actually asking for their opinion? The people inside the chamber looked at each other in surprise and wonder.

Looking at them, the emperor frowned.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Ling Wan, who was seated in front, stood up. He cleared his throat before saying nervously, "Everything is fine, your majesty. We were just surprised at what her grace said, that's all."

Kang Jun, who was standing next to the emperor, leaned down and whispered something to him.

"Ling Wan, is it? And why were you surprised at what her grace said? What part of it did you find surprising?"

Ling Wan swallowed the fear in his throat.

"I...we...that is...we thought..."

Gu Sheng frowned.

"Come on, speak up. You thought what?"

An Ning suddenly laughed.

"I think he and everybody else were expecting to be executed or something when we called them here for an audience. Isn't that right, Ling Wan?"

"No! No, your grace. That is...," Ling Wan was so nervous he was sweating like a pig.

"Why would you think that?" Gu Sheng was a little unhappy. "Even my late father wasn't that unreasonable."

"Your majesty...." Ling Wan was terrified.

"It's my fault for not clarifying things," An Ning said, smiling easily. "I a.s.sumed everyone was on the same page as I am when I sent out the letter. I'm sorry. It's my fault."

Gu Sheng glanced at her.

"No macaroons for you for a week as punishment."

"Harsh," said An Ning, sticking her tongue out at him.

The emperor laughed.

Watching their byplay, Ling Wan silently heaved a sigh of relief.

"To get back to important matters before zhen was rudely interrupted," the emperor said, giving An Ning a side long glance, "Mother empress and I have agreed not to execute the traitors. We have bigger problems than gorge ourselves in revenge by watching them die. As for exile, is that the only solution we have? Let them go and hope they'll settle somewhere far and we don't have to see them again? These men, traitors or not, are citizens of Yuqui. They are not Laniang but Yuqui people. Their loyalties might have been engaged somewhere but their families served Grandfather and Father emperor faithfully. Zhen wants to do the best for his people so if you have an idea how to go about it, now is your chance. Tell zhen what's on your mind."

Put like that, it wasn't really that difficult to understand. Ten thousand men put to exile was a problem just waiting to happen. If allowed to leave, these men will likely become criminals, and the chances of them falling into similar schemes that proved ruinous for Yuqui were high. Ten thousand was too large a number to be released unaccounted for into the wild. Their leader might have been dead, but there was still the memory of Laniang's destruction to keep the embers of revenge smoldering and alive.

"What if we use them to rebuild Yuqui?"

The voice came from a young girl, Mei Mei, who was sitting next to Ling Nam. Mei Mei's flushed a becoming red when all eyes turned to her. Embarra.s.sed by the attention, Mei Mei moved closer to Ling Nam, whose hand in hers tightened comfortingly.

"Use them? As slaves, you mean?" An elder gentleman seated at the back asked.

All eyes were again turned to Mei Mei.

"No, no," she said, alarmed by the question. "That's not what I mean."

"So, what did you mean...ehrm...," Kang Jun again leaned into the emperor, "erhm...Mei Mei, right? If not slaves then what?"

Mei Mei turned towards Ling Nam, who stood up and pulled her with him.

"Your majesty, my name is Ling Nam and I am Wei Wei's fiancee." A voice behind him harrumphed angrily. "I am Mei Mei's fiancee," Ling Nam repeated, glaring at the old man giving him a dirty look, "and I think what Mei Mei means is that we make use of the prisoners to do the rebuilding for us. You know, pay them to rebuild the palace, the buildings, all that's been lost during the fighting."

"Pay them? Are you crazy? We wouldn't be in this situation if they hadn't schemed against us first, you idiot!" said the incensed old gentleman behind Ling Nam.

"I know you don't like me but I'm marrying Mei Mei whether you like it or not. I love her and I'm going to marry her and that's that."

"You insolent...." the old gentleman wheezed angrily.

Gu Sheng turned his face away, biting painfully at his lip. An Ning though was more unconstrained than him. She burst out laughing and immediately congratulated Ling Nam. Mei Mei's father was disconcerted and tried to explain his reasons for not allowing his daughter to marry somebody like Ling Nam who has no future to speak of.

"I think you're forgetting something," An Ning said. "Ling Nam is owed 10,000 taels of silver by his majesty's government. So does Mei Mei for that matter. And if they were to marry, there is an additional five acres of land waiting for them in either Laniang or the dowry land I brought with me during my marriage. So, all in all, Ling Nam is not actually a young man without prospects. His future is now a.s.sured. He just needs to work harder to make his wife happy, that's all."

Mei Mei's father seemed to be struck by lightning. The same expression was on everybody's faces. The uncertainty of the imperial summons was so overwhelming and petrifying they clean forgot what the conditions were agreed upon when they signed up to defend the capital. And really, did anybody actually expected the royal family to keep to their promise? Give them money and land to defend the capital? What a joke, right?

"You didn't really think we'll reneged on our agreement, did you?" An Ning was amused. Looking at their shamed faces, she clearly had her answer. Even Gu Sheng looked really unhappy this time.

"I won't pretend that it will not cost the treasury but it's worth it knowing we can rebuild what's been lost. The rebuilding will take time but with all of us working together, it will happen. What's zhen's decision about the prisoners?"

"Mother empress speaks about rebuilding," the emperor said. "Many of our people are dead, dying and some are too ill to restart their lives. We need able bodies to help us rebuild so I agree to what's been proposed. Make use of these miscreants to rebuild the capital. They are not to be called slaves but laborers who will pay us reparation through their labors. But how do we go about doing this? Who will be responsible for them? They can't stay in prison for months on end during the rebuilding process, can they?"

"Why not put them under the public works administration then?" suggested An Ning. "Have them sign a contract for six years at the end of which, they can either chose to remain or leave. But stipulate in their contract that during the six years, although they will receive a stipend and free housing from the government, they are not allowed to own property, build property, own a business, run a business, or even start a family."

"Not start their own family?" Ling Wan asked somewhat startled.

"Starting a family would entail owning a domicile, which they're not allowed to do; or find a much better job to support such a family, which violates the agreement of reparation. This is not charity but an effort to extract payment from a gang of hooligans trying to run us out of our own city and country. They're not paying with their lives but their labor, which is a pretty fair exchange I should think."

"As I see it, the only problem we have is who's going to run the agency? The ministry of public works currently needs someone to run it and so far we haven't chosen a candidate yet," the emperor reminded her.

"Have Ling Wan do it," An Ning suddenly dropped a bombsh.e.l.l.

"What?" Ling Wan was startled. "I mean, your majesty..."

"You strike me as a level-headed guy. As his majesty said, these prisoners are to be treated as laborers, who still have rights of dignity and value to themselves. They are not slaves. If we put someone in the ministry with his own agenda, the end-result might be different from what we and the public expect. And I don't want this family dishonored because of a person like that. So, what do you say? Do you want the job or not?"

Ling Wan was dumbfounded but as he met the sincerity in the empress dowager's eyes, his beating heart calmed down and he nodded his head.

"Good," An Ning said, clapping her hands. "That's one problem solved. The entire government is at your disposal anytime you want to begin, Ling Wan."

"I think I need to see the prisoners first, your grace, and explain to them," Ling Wan said, still a bit overwhelmed by the fast turn of events.

"Of course. You will work with Commander Yi about that. He's in charge of the prisoners. Yi Hai, you've met Ling Wan, right? Okay, you and him work out a timetable then present it to us. We need to start the rebuilding as soon as possible."

A hand was seen being raised in the back seat.

"Yes? What is it?" An Ning asked.

Mu Xing stood up, showing an expression of not wanting to take everybody's time but since he was already there, then everybody needs to hear what he had to say.

"Your grace, I was wondering. Are we going to cancel the Battle of Talents?"

Everyone looked at him with mouths open.

"The Battle of Talents?" An Ning asked, totally without a clue.

"Yes, your grace. It's one of our biggest events of the year. Talents from different kingdoms will arrive to compete with our students and each other. It starts on the first day of May and ends after a week."

"That's barely two month's away," the emperor said, frowning. "Do you want to cancel it?" he asked, turning to An Ning.

"No. Canceling it would show everyone that Yuqui is weakened and we can't have that. We may be down but not out just yet. How many are expected to arrive?" she asked Mu Xing.

"Last year, we have about two hundred contestants, your grace. A five percent improvement from the previous year."

"That number will probably double this year when the news of the failed rebellion starts spreading out," An Ning said with a derisive laugh.

"The news of the rebellion? Why would anybody be interested in hearing about our own domestic problems?" Gu Sheng asked, frowning.

"First, because it's good gossip. Second, because everybody will want to a.s.sess how the attempted coup weakened Yuqui's defenses. Yuqui is a powerful kingdom which experienced its first attempted coup in many years. Everyone, including our friends and enemies, will not miss this opportunity to ascertain for themselves how Yuqui is coping with the after effects of its domestic war. It could either be good or bad for us but cancelling the tournament is a totally bad idea. How many students are competing from our end, Mu Xing?"

"More than a hundred, your grace."

"Begin their training immediately. I want everybody to put up a very good show for our visitors. I want victory and winning and smiles and happiness. We've just won a war so let's celebrate, shall we?"