Li Yuangui entered the Eastern Palace Academy to study at age eight, and before that, he had barely seen any men—truly born in the deep palace and raised by women’s hands. Until moving out to live independently at twelve, his daily interactions were mostly with his mother and sister of the same mother, along with their serving maids and palace women.
Childhood aside, in recent years as he studied literature and martial arts, attended lectures, and performed duties, he increasingly found himself with nothing to discuss with womenfolk, simply going through the motions when necessary.
The only woman he could truly converse with was Chai Yinglo. This niece who had taken Taoist orders early had deep connections with Li Yuangui’s family of three, and she was beautiful and witty. Her Purple Void Temple was conveniently located within the forbidden garden near Da’an Palace. If Li Yuangui had any respect for and expectations of women’s intellect, it came entirely from Chai Yinglo.
Then he met Wei Shubin.
While Minister Wei Zheng’s frank remonstrations to the Emperor resounded throughout the realm, his daughter lacked her father’s forceful presence—, when Li Yuangui first saw Wei Shubin huddled in the wedding escort carriage, he truly thought she was a servant girl.
But he quickly realized his mistake. The young lady in the carriage wore bright clothes and elaborate makeup, and though her hair was somewhat disheveled and her face bore traces of tears smearing her rouge, her clear, fearless gaze, as she looked directly at everyone present, showed no trace of a servant’s timidity. When she spoke, referring to herself as “I,” there was none of a servant’s cowering deference—rather, she was recklessly stubborn to a fault…
Yes, recklessly stubborn—that was indeed the deepest impression this young Lady Wei left. She dared to defy her parents’ orders and flee her marriage and even went so far as to confess to murder and threaten suicide to their faces, ultimately forcing Minister Wei to temporarily spare his daughter. In her position, Li Yuangui didn’t think he would have such courage—if he did, he would have already rescued his sister and avenged his mother’s murder…
Having grown up among the palace beauties, Li Yuangui didn’t find Wei Shubin particularly stunning, nor could she be called refined or coquettish in speech and manner, but he truly admired this young woman’s headlong bravery. Even with her troubles unresolved, she had voluntarily accompanied Chai Yinglo to rescue the Seventeenth Princess, dedicating herself wholeheartedly to protecting the weak. That green brocade shawl that had wrapped around his little sister’s shoulders filled Li Yuangui with deep gratitude.
So he could not, under any circumstances, stand idly by while Wei Shubin walked into doom without trying to save her.
When he said “You are to be invested as my Princess of Wu,” even he was momentarily stunned. The words had come out without thought, yet they felt so natural and right. Moreover… besides marrying her himself, what other way was there to prevent her father from selling her in marriage to Cheng Yaojin?
In the spacious courtyard of Lizheng Hall with its layered eaves, light snow continued to fall quietly. Li Yuangui held Wei Shubin’s sleeve, looking at the slender figure before him through the veil, thinking that spending a lifetime with her wouldn’t be bad at all.
They could read books and compose poetry together, and go riding and hunting together. When he left the capital to take up his post in his fief, they would travel together. With her strong and straightforward nature, she surely had no interest in the inner palace’s schemes of favor-currying and jealousy. Even if they argued and fought, he could yield, giving her complete authority over the inner quarters of the prince’s mansion… Yes, he could accept her as his primary wife and princess.
The young woman slowly turned to face him, her tear-bright eyes fixed on him through the light gauze.
It was that gaze, Li Yuangui thought. Uncomprehending, unsupported, inexplicably bold, and direct—in anyone else it would be stubborn to a fault, but when she looked at people that way, her purity approached charm.
Wei Shubin gently pulled her sleeve free, drawing her arms close to her body, and looked up to ask:
“Does the Fourteenth Prince wish to take me as his wife?”
Her voice was heavily nasal and low, hoarse and broken from constant crying. Li Yuangui felt a surge of pity and nodded in confirmation:
“I will go plead with the Emperor and Empress, and ask influential matchmakers to present the betrothal gifts to your parents—you need not worry… Zhenniang, I will treat you well.”
“But,” Wei Shubin took a deep breath, “Fourteenth Prince, have you forgotten something?”
“Forgotten what?” Li Yuangui was confused.
“You forgot… to ask if I’m willing.”
The young prince’s mouth fell open, his mind completely blank, not knowing how to respond or even if he should speak. He just stood dumbly in the light snow, watching the tear-bright face behind the veil as broken, disconnected words emerged from lips pressed into a straight line:
“I know you mean well, Fourteenth Prince… but in the end, how are you any different from my father? He wants to protect the family’s reputation, you want to protect my safety… You are a prince and a prime minister, wielding great power, of noble status, naturally able to decide a young woman’s life and death, joy and sorrow… And what the young woman herself thinks doesn’t matter at all… isn’t that right…”
“Zhenniang, I…” Li Yuangui finally found his voice, interrupting somewhat anxiously, “That’s not what I meant—you’re being forced into marriage, and with your temperament, I can’t just watch you seek death!”
Wei Shubin smiled at him through her tears:
“Your Highness thinks too much… If it were just about keeping me alive, my honored parents wouldn’t deliberately try to force me to death. Even if they marry me to the Cheng family, General Cheng… might not treat me poorly. I’ve disgraced the family name by running away, not to preserve my life… If I only wanted to live and was willing to submit, why would I go to all this trouble?”
Li Yuangui was completely confused now: “Don’t you refuse to marry Cheng Yaojin even unto death? Then I… wouldn’t be with me be better than being General Cheng’s second wife?”
This was rather embarrassing. The young woman in the long veiled hat shifted her gaze from his face, turning to stare into the distance, biting her lip in thought. Snowflakes swirled down to land on her hat brim, accumulating in a thin layer.
“If I were to submit to another in such circumstances,” Wei Shubin said softly, “I might as well go to the Cheng family as a walking corpse, why burden the Fourteenth Prince… Your Highness’s kind intentions, I, Wei, gratefully acknowledge and thank you.”
This was a clear statement that she would rather marry Cheng Yaojin than him. Though the young woman’s voice was soft, it was firm and absolute, leaving no room for negotiation.
Li Yuangui felt as if he’d been stabbed in the gut, a bitter mixture of emotions churning inside him. Watching Wei Shubin bow deeply to him, he stepped back, anger rising like steam, unconsciously reaching for his sword belt, forgetting that his weapon had been collected when he entered the palace.
At this moment, a female voice floated over:
“Before we discuss second wives and consorts—do you have fifty thousand bolts of silk, Fourteenth Uncle?”
That female Taoist Chai Yinglo had been watching the show from the side for who knows how long. She had come out from Lizheng Hall’s main chamber, no longer wearing her veiled hat, silently approaching on light feet behind Li Yuangui, tilting her head to observe this young couple’s proposal…
Well, perhaps she hadn’t deliberately been eavesdropping. Li Yuangui turned his head to find that, lost in the moment for too long, he hadn’t noticed the many palace servants and eunuchs who had gathered in the nearby corridors, most pointing and whispering behind covered mouths. Wei Shubin seemed to also wake from a dream, taking a deep breath as they both simultaneously stepped back, creating distance between them.
“Fifty… what fifty thousand silk…” Li Yuangui turned to Chai Yinglo, asking in confusion, though he understood even as he asked. Sure enough, the female Taoist answered with a smile: “The betrothal gift for the Wei family! Minister Wei is counting on these fifty thousand bolts of silk to arrange his eldest son’s marriage to a woman of the Baling Cui family! You think offering the title of princess consort would convince the Wei family to give away their daughter for free?”
Li Yuangui’s face burned. He had never even considered this matter.
Having grown up in the inner palace, he didn’t have much understanding of money and silk, but he knew fifty thousand bolts of silk was a huge sum, likely far exceeding the prescribed royal betrothal gifts for a prince’s marriage. What if he gathered the betrothal gifts from his private funds?—What private funds did he have?
“Second Brother-in-law might…” he mumbled, then stopped. Since the Wude years, there had been an imperial decree that the annual stipends and allowances of the young princes would be managed by Second Sister Princess Xiangyang’s husband, Court of Imperial Entertainments Minister Dou Dan. Though he had moved out to establish his residence at the Seventeenth Prince’s compound three or four years ago and lived quite well with fine clothes and jade ornaments, he had never seen any treasury savings—
“Even if you could gather fifty thousand bolts of silk, or if Minister Wei were willing to become a prince’s father-in-law, Zhenniang would still have to return home before she could marry,” Chai Yinglo continued to berate him. “In the current situation, once she returns home, will you have any say at all?”
After Wei Shubin had caused such a commotion and angered her father so greatly, she would surely be strictly guarded by her family until entering the bridal chamber. With her fierce temperament, she probably couldn’t endure for long… Thinking of this, Li Yuangui grew even more dejected.
Chai Yinglo stopped teasing him, walking over to grab Wei Shubin and saying something in a low voice. Wei Shubin shook her head without answering.
The female Taoist sighed deeply, reached out to lift the long black veil under the hat, and leaned in to whisper in the young woman’s ear for quite a while. Wei Shubin’s back remained rigid for a long moment before she finally nodded very slowly.
Chai Yinglo withdrew and turned to smile at Li Yuangui, asking softly: “Fourteenth Uncle, you’re willing to help Zhenniang in this matter, aren’t you?”
What else can I do to help… Li Yuangui nodded distractedly in frustration, without speaking. Chai Yinglo pressed further: “You’d be willing to bear some blame for it?”
Li Yuangui hesitated, then caught sight of Wei Shubin’s green floral shawl, thought of his sister of the same mother, and nodded again.
Chai Yinglo turned back to whisper a few more words in Wei Shubin’s ear, then took her hand and beckoned Li Yuangui to walk with them toward the main chamber’s entrance, saying “His Majesty will summon us soon.”
Wei Shubin walked unsteadily, swaying as she entered under the eaves, still refusing to remove her veiled hat. As Chai Yinglo helped brush off her snow, a command came from inside for Li Yuangui to enter for an imperial audience.
Li Yuangui bowed and walked through the warm curtain, taking only two steps before faintly hearing heart-wrenching coughing—it seemed the Empress was having an attack. Past two thresholds, he saw the Emperor sitting alone before the large screen, his expression poor—that kind of unwilling yet helpless, frustratedly repressed look of having a belly full of words that couldn’t be fully expressed.
The coughing behind the screen gradually subsided, and the Emperor spoke:
“Fourteenth Brother, although Princess Linfen’s case still has many suspicious points…”
“Cough cough cough cough cough…”
“…it’s good to conclude it here. Go coordinate with Lord Wei to write up a case report for filing. Those matters that still can’t be explained can be recorded truthfully…”
“Cough cough cough cough cough…”
“…submit directly for my review, no need to trouble the Empress further. The weather is poor, and the Empress’s weak health needs increased protection. With political affairs and military situations in turmoil, I am also busy. There are rumors that Tuyuhun has sent assassins into Chang’an—you and Wuji can gather more information outside. If you learn anything you think important, report directly to me, don’t hold back.”
Li Yuangui thought for a moment, feeling the Emperor was hinting that he could continue investigating the case.
The Emperor and Empress were usually of one mind, rarely disagreeing. With the Empress ill, the Emperor didn’t want to argue and worsen her mood, yet he was unwilling to close the case in confusion and be deceived, so he raised his eyebrows and gave meaningful looks from behind the screen… This was quite a departure from the image of the dignified sacred ruler.
“Your subject has a matter to report,” Li Yuangui chose his words carefully, “Your subject holds no official position in the capital, and my investigations were conducted under Your Majesty’s emergency decree. Since Your Majesty commands the case closed, Lord Wei will naturally return the decree. I fear I have no authority to interfere in the capital’s security.”
Though he was a prince and nominally held the position of Prefect of Shou Prefecture, despite his high rank and status, in terms of real power, beyond his small courtyard residence in the Seventeenth Prince’s compound at Da’an Palace, he had no authority over anyone. And Wei Zheng, who held the Emperor’s decree as lead investigator…
Lord Wei Xuancheng had been reluctant to take on this investigation from the start. Now that the Empress ordered the case closed and showed goodwill by having his runaway daughter escorted home, it would be strange if he didn’t happily return the decree and step down, gladly dropping this hot potato.
Just as he thought this, a sudden commotion arose outside the hall. The Emperor also frowned in that direction as Chai Yinglo hurriedly entered and knelt to report:
“Your Majesty, Minister Wei’s eldest daughter, who just had an audience with the Empress, has collapsed from exposure to the cold outside. She says she has a matter to report to Your Majesty and the Empress and begs Your Majesty’s mercy to grant her an audience.”
Wei Shubin had stood in the snowy courtyard too long, and with her emotional turmoil, had frozen stiff. But before being carried away, she had requested to see the Emperor… what was she planning to do?
Li Yuangui stole a glance at the Emperor. He didn’t know if anyone had reported to the Emperor about Wei Zheng’s eldest daughter fleeing her marriage, mistakenly entering Ganye Temple, and finally being sheltered at Purple Void Temple by Chai Yinglo, but the Empress was aware of the situation, which usually meant the Emperor knew as well.
Indeed, the Emperor showed no confusion, only slight surprise, looking back toward the large screen before commanding: “Bring her in.”
Wei Shubin was supported by two palace maids, her face paper-white, her whole body trembling. After struggling to perform a full prostration, the young woman spoke between gasping breaths:
“I, Wei, daughter of Minister Wei Zheng, request to take Taoist orders and observe religious abstinence… If the state has a need, I am willing to accept a title… and go to the western frontier kingdoms for a marriage alliance.”