After drinking the medicinal brew, Shen Lingzhen felt drowsy and weak again, and before long fell back asleep.
But this sleep was still restless. In her dreams, she relived yesterday’s experiences once more.
Fragmented, broken scenes flashed by one after another.
At one moment, she was inside the jolting carriage, hands and feet bound, hearing the clear ringing clash of swords and blades outside the vehicle.
At another moment, during the fighting, the binding ropes were severed, and the carriage plunged toward a cliff edge. That armored figure descended like divine soldiers from heaven, using his flesh and blood body to desperately block the fall.
In the next instant, on the mountain path overgrown with wild smoke and grass, sand flew and stones scattered. His sword edge turned, his hand rose and blade fell, slaying three men with one strike. As he sheathed his sword, he softened his movements, turned gently toward her, and asked: “Are you hurt?”
Shen Lingzhen woke from this point in the dream, drenched in cold sweat, and dared not fall asleep again.
She had truly been frightened. Having lived so long without seeing even a single drop of blood, how could she withstand the sight of human heads strung on a sword like candied hawthorn?
Had that benefactor not supported her into the mountains, she would have collapsed dizzy and disoriented during the escape.
Shen Lingzhen was truly too embarrassed to recall that later, after taking shelter in the mountain cave, she had vomited violently, splashing filth all over him.
It was precisely because of this that she felt so ashamed. Seeing him struggling to treat the blade wound on his waist and abdomen, she had volunteered to help.
Only the result turned out poorly—she had actually fainted from fright at the sight of that blood-dripping wound with flesh turned inside out. Thus she knew nothing of what happened after, and hadn’t even had time to ask his name.
——
By nightfall, Shen Lingzhen still had not received news of her benefactor. However, she heard that the Emperor had sent people to secretly investigate her abduction, and they now had a general result, discovering that the bandits were a group of believers from the Baiying Cult.
The Baiying Cult had repeatedly brought disaster to the Central Plains since the previous dynasty. Cult followers had many times incited the populace to armed rebellion. Though the court had suppressed and banned them repeatedly, this evil cult was like prairie grass that could not be burned away—with every spring breeze, it grew again. In the past, they had once committed the brutal act of using noble ladies as sacrificial offerings to heaven, openly defying imperial authority.
Shen Lingzhen trembled with fear and lingering dread. For a moment, she did not notice her father entering.
Shen Xuerong cleared his throat softly as a reminder.
She looked up and quickly asked: “Father, have you found news of my benefactor?”
Shen Xuerong shook his head: “The Imperial Guards brought hounds to search the mountains. They went back and forth but only found traces leading into the cave. That person seems to have vanished from the cave into thin air.”
“How can that be?”
“Naturally it cannot. But since no corpse was found, most likely he’s still alive. Looking at the bright side, perhaps he has ‘brushed off his clothes and departed after the deed was done, deeply concealing his merit and fame’! You need not worry—they’re still continuing the search.”
“And how is Cousin Jie?”
The matter of Xue Jie privately arranging to meet her could not be hidden, so he must have received punishment from his elders.
“That boy has thick skin and tough flesh. Even eighteen severe punishments in rotation wouldn’t do much to him. Why should you worry about him being confined or made to kneel in the ancestral hall? Also, arrangements have been made for a proper burial for your maidservant. You need not blame yourself too much or take it too hard.”
She was silent for a moment, then nodded: “Father always says, people must look forward.”
Shen Xuerong let out a long sigh: “Yinyin, this time we won’t look forward! You haven’t even married yet, and already there’s been such bloodshed and violence. In the future… Father has thought it over and over. I should still plead with the Emperor to see if the wedding date can be postponed somewhat. Delay it as long as we can!”
Although on the surface the abduction was the work of the Baiying Cult, Shen Lingzhen just happened to encounter trouble at this critical juncture. To say it had nothing to do with the marriage arrangement—no one would believe that.
However, for a young lady to be abducted, if word spread it would inevitably sound bad. The Shen family also found it inconvenient to demand an accounting openly. So this time, the Emperor was destined to owe something to this niece of his.
If Shen Xuerong went to plead now, even if the marriage arrangement could not be annulled, at least the wedding date could be pushed back.
“Does Mother think the same way?” Shen Lingzhen suddenly asked this instead.
Shen Xuerong hesitated for an instant: “Your mother has only you as a child. Of course she can’t bear to have you marry far away! Why do you ask this?”
“Although outsiders all say this marriage match was Imperial Uncle’s idea, I think that since Imperial Uncle and Mother are siblings from the same mother, if Mother had not first consented, he would not have issued the decree to make things difficult for me.”
“Yinyin…”
“Father, though I live in the inner chambers and do not understand political affairs, I know that marriage alliances are nothing more than a strategy to consolidate relations between ruler and minister. If Imperial Uncle is courting the Huo family, it must be because he believes the Huo family can benefit the court. Mother fought alongside Imperial Uncle to establish the Great Qi realm. For many years she has always kept the state’s welfare at heart, and has always taught me that as children of the imperial clan, we should make the rise and fall of the dynasty our own responsibility… I understand all these principles. The reason I was sad was only in thinking: why must it be me?”
She lowered her eyes at this point: “But if everyone thought as I do, how would the rivers and mountains of Great Qi ever be recovered?”
Shen Lingzhen was still perfectly fine, but Shen Xuerong’s old tears began to flow first: “If our Great Qi can only preserve its territory by sacrificing daughters, then this realm truly should be yielded to others!”
Shen Lingzhen shook her head quickly: “Father, those were my narrow-minded views of the past. After yesterday’s calamity, I’ve thought it through. As soon as the marriage arrangement was determined, bandits could not restrain themselves—this sufficiently demonstrates how crucial the Huo family is to the court and to the imperial house. The Huo family will certainly be elevated by Imperial Uncle in the future. My suffering hardship at the border is temporary, but enjoying fortune may well be for a lifetime. How could this be a sacrifice? You mustn’t be shortsighted and ruin my good marriage match!”
Just as these words fell, a barely perceptible sigh sounded from beneath the window outside.
Zhao Meilan used her handkerchief to dab at her reddened eyes, then immediately resumed her usual cold expression and quietly departed.
Nanny Ji supported her, consoling in a low voice: “Your Highness, twenty-seven years have passed. Even blood feuds deep as the sea should reach the time for resolution. This world does not lack clever people—it lacks people of penetrating wisdom. The young lady is rarely so optimistic, cheerful, and perceptive. She will be blessed wherever she goes. Who would bear to hold past grudges against her?”
“Let us hope so.”
——
For the next period of time, Shen Lingzhen rested and recuperated at the manor daily, until she received a summons from Empress Dowager Gao.
Although the current Empress Dowager was not the birth mother of the Emperor and the Grand Princess, she was extremely fond of this granddaughter Shen Lingzhen, and treated her even more affectionately than the princesses in the palace. When the old lady had previously learned that the Emperor wished to marry her off, she fell gravely ill from anger and had not yet fully recovered.
Naturally, no one dared report Shen Lingzhen’s abduction to the Empress Dowager in her sickbed. This time the Empress Dowager summoned her simply because, as usual, she missed her.
Fortunately, Shen Lingzhen’s health had mostly recovered. She immediately answered the summons and went to Baoci Palace where the Empress Dowager resided.
Because the capital was established in Bianjing, where civilian residences were densely packed, the palace city of Great Qi had a circumference of only five li—far from as grand and expansive as the imperial palaces of historical Chang’an or Luoyang. However, the architecture excelled in the word “refined.”
Within these palace buildings, with their green lattices and red steps, golden tiles and vermilion eaves, the terraced pavilions arranged in elegant layers—not one was anything less than exquisite and magnificent.
Shen Lingzhen had come and gone here since childhood and was very familiar with every flower and tree. Yet today, looking at these ordinary scenes, she felt different emotions stirring.
After all, once this spring season passed, she did not know when she would be able to return.
Empress Dowager Gao was advanced in years. Every illness damaged her vitals. This time she had again lost vital energy, and her complexion had not improved for a long while. When she saw Shen Lingzhen arrive, the previously listless old lady finally gained some spirit. She immediately sat up straight in her curved armrest carved flower-backed chair, beaming with joy as she beckoned to her: “Yinyin, quickly come to your maternal grandmother!”
Shen Lingzhen properly stepped forward to pay her respects.
Empress Dowager Gao surveyed her granddaughter from afar, the more she looked the more pleased she became.
The young girl who had just reached the age of hairpin, though her figure had not yet fully developed, already faintly showed several traces of graceful beauty. These almond-shaped eyes, crescent-moon brows, and jade-like nose, set off by skin like frost-defying snow, stirred even more tender affection in one’s heart.
Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Gao became worried again: How could such a delicate and tender girl endure the harsh wind and sand of the border? She wondered whether that young man from the Huo family knew how to cherish people.
She gazed at Shen Lingzhen and let out a sigh: “It’s good that you’ve come. Your maternal grandmother thought you were angry with your imperial uncle, and consequently unwilling to acknowledge this poor maternal grandmother either!”
Had it not been to conceal her injuries, Shen Lingzhen naturally would not have failed to visit Baoci Palace for so many days.
She immediately shook her head, glanced at the palace attendants standing on all sides, and lowered her voice: “Even if Yinyin is willing to acknowledge Imperial Uncle, how could I be unwilling to acknowledge you?”
Empress Dowager Gao was amused into laughter. She also seemed to feel these palace attendants were hindering the closeness between grandmother and granddaughter, so she raised her hand and dismissed them.
“I do actually have some private words I wish to say to Maternal Grandmother.”
“Then quickly come rest your head on your maternal grandmother’s lap and tell me properly.”
Shen Lingzhen gently laid her head upon Empress Dowager Gao’s lap: “It’s nothing urgent. I only wanted to ask Maternal Grandmother—have you met Second Master Huo?”
“I have met him, though it was many years ago. Why do you ask this?”
“With marriage imminent, yet I know nothing at all about Second Master Huo’s temperament, appearance, or his family circumstances. When I ask Mother, she always has that look of deep secrecy. So I could only come ask you.”
Whether she had truly thought it through or was forcing herself to accept it, since she had already resolved to marry Huo Liuxing, she inevitably felt curious about this future husband.
Empress Dowager Gao smiled: “As for temperament, in your maternal grandmother’s recollection, this boy was quite bright and open in the past. But since that incident when he was seventeen, I heard he became considerably more reserved and restrained. Having experienced such a great calamity, people will inevitably be somewhat different from before.”
Shen Lingzhen nodded and urged: “But you haven’t mentioned his appearance yet, Maternal Grandmother!”
“When all is said and done, you’re most concerned about this aspect?” Empress Dowager Gao smiled with narrowed eyes. “If you’re concerned about this, you need not worry he’s ugly.”
“Does that mean Second Master Huo is very handsome?”
“After this boy’s legs were ruined, due to difficulty moving about he hasn’t come to Bianjing again. But your maternal grandmother remembers that his appearance in youth was quite handsome. His father in his younger days was also a famous beauty among men in the previous dynasty. Every time he went out, young ladies on the street would send him a cartload of fruit and flowers.”
“That’s good then!” Shen Lingzhen smiled, then became worried again. “But now that he sits in a wheelchair every day, might he have grown fat, developed a body full of flab, and no longer resemble his youthful appearance?”
Empress Dowager Gao poked her forehead with a finger: “You, placing such importance on physical appearance—where have all the sage texts you’ve read gone?”
“I do value inner abilities. For instance, young men skilled with bow and horse like Cousin Jie—I greatly admire that. It’s just that Second Master Huo’s legs have been damaged for so many years, and his martial skills have probably all deteriorated. So I ask about appearance instead, thinking that if he looks handsome and pleasing to the eye, it wouldn’t matter if his martial skills are lacking!”
“You don’t love scholars but love warriors—you’re quite different from other families’ young ladies! But speaking of your maternal cousin, you two grew up together since childhood, knowing each other’s character thoroughly. In terms of talent, appearance, and family standing, you were well-matched. You should have reached the age for betrothal, yet things turned out this way with destiny but no fate. What a pity…”
Shen Lingzhen gradually restrained her smile. In her ears suddenly echoed the questioning words Xue Jie had left before galloping away from Peach Blossom Valley that day: “Yinyin, you accepted this without even trying to fight for yourself. Perhaps you only ever thought this cousin was pleasant to associate with, that becoming husband and wife would not be bad, but you never truly had your heart set on me, nor ever thought you would marry none but me?”
She fell silent for a moment, then asked: “Maternal Grandmother, do relationships between men and women truly exist in this world where one will marry no one but a particular person, wed no one but a particular person?”
“It seems our Yinyin’s heart has not yet awakened to romance. This is also good, also good…” Empress Dowager Gao sighed in response to a different question, gently stroking Shen Lingzhen’s hair at the temples. “Your maternal grandmother, after all, is not your imperial uncle’s birth mother. In many matters I have the will but lack the power, and cannot make decisions for you. You must first marry to Qingzhou. Your maternal grandmother will think of another way to bring you back to Bianjing.”