As the lanterns first lit up the dusk, Xie Yuzhang had already arrived at Taiji Hall, where the banquet was to be held.

This was a great occasion for the Imperial Music Bureau to shine. Left Eunuch Fang was overwhelmed with preparations, and seeing her arrive, let out a “Gracious me!” and hurried forward. “Your Highness has come too early — it’s not yet time.”

His mouth said this, but his heart was pleased. Early was always better than late, the kind of lateness that would have him frantic. Princess Baohua was truly considerate and good-natured.

“It doesn’t matter. I want to go look at who’s here today.” Xie Yuzhang assumed the air of a lively and curious young girl.

Left Eunuch Fang smiled. “Then go in from the side and take a quiet peek.”

Xie Yuzhang smiled, lifted her skirts, and went.

Left Eunuch Fang cupped his hands around his mouth. “Your Highness, just one look — come back quickly.”

“I know~” Xie Yuzhang answered with a laugh.

Her slender figure had already disappeared behind one of the great pillars, wide enough for two people to wrap their arms around.

There was not an inner palace guard or eunuch who did not recognize Xie Yuzhang. Seeing her lift her skirts and tiptoe in — her face alight with a charming smile, pressing a finger to her lips with a shush whenever a guard newly caught sight of her — everyone broke into smiles and not a single one moved to stop her.

Xie Yuzhang slipped quietly into the great hall and concealed herself behind a massive pillar.

The smile she had worn just a moment before was gone from her face. Her dark, jade-like eyes searched through the light of the enormous candles and found Li Ming quickly — a stocky, compact figure who became something of a squat lump seated there.

The future founding Emperor was seated to Li Ming’s side, attending him.

The bright candlelight fell across his face — a high, straight nose, deep dark eyes, thin lips pressed into a cool and stern line.

The banquet had already begun. The opening remarks and formalities were done, and most of the guests had relaxed. Yet Li Gu remained kneeling in formal posture, his body angled toward Li Ming, the better to serve him.

From behind the pillar, at this distance, the line of that young man’s shoulder, back, and waist was balanced and solid — as if that lean body contained immense force coiled within.

So in her past life, he had been seated in this very position.

Because of Li Ming’s rank, Li Gu’s position was quite far forward. When she had entered to dance for the Emperor, she had in fact been very close to him — he must have been able to see her very clearly indeed.

So he truly had seen her at this time — had watched her dance.

Xie Yuzhang had been gazing for a moment and was about to turn away when her eyes swept over the guests on her side of the hall and fell on a man in foreign dress, his back turned as he spoke with someone beside him — a high, straight nose, deep-set eyes, a face unmistakably familiar.

She went rigid all at once, her whole body turning cold.

After a long moment she slowly retreated, concealing herself in the shadow of the great pillar.

A beautiful palace maid offered up a jade vessel and poured Li Ming’s cup full, then withdrew like flowing water. The cup was exquisite and precious — but for a rough man of the northwest like Li Ming, it was rather too small.

The cup was emptied in an instant.

Li Gu himself drank not a drop of wine. Seeing Li Ming’s cup emptied, he immediately took up the flask and refilled it.

Setting down the jade vessel, he furrowed his brow and looked toward the great pillar across the hall.

“What is it?” Li Ming also glanced over. There was nothing there.

Between the pillars stood only the inner palace guards holding their halberds — every one of them handsome, their silver armor gleaming as handsomely as they were. Together with the lovely palace maids and sharp-witted eunuchs, they adorned the banquet hall in a glittering, radiant blaze.

“Nothing.” Li Gu looked away. “Just now I had the feeling someone was watching me.”

“Oh?” Li Ming smiled. “Then it must be the palace maids. There are so many young ladies in the palace — they rarely see men from outside, and can’t help sneaking a look or two.”

He laughed at this — rather unbecomingly, given his age.

Li Gu kept a straight face. “Commander, please don’t joke.”

Li Ming clicked his tongue. “Little Eleventh, you’re younger than the Twelfth yet old and stiff as an elder even compared to me. How do you expect to be worthy of being my son?”

Li Gu’s brows and eyes were stern. “Otherwise, why would I deserve to be Commander’s adopted son?”

Li Ming was stumped. He shot Li Gu a glare, then couldn’t help laughing and shaking his head, and drank his wine.

The wine had gone through several rounds. Toasts were offered for the Emperor, someone recited poetry, someone even danced with a sword.

The sword gleamed silver and bright — naturally, a sword with no edge. The sword dance was of course a performance and not true swordsmanship. An actual sword in real combat would look nothing like this so beautiful. Any one of these elaborate, complex flourishes would probably have gotten you stabbed seventeen or eighteen times before you finished, Li Gu thought privately.

Yet this sword dance won the Emperor’s lavish praise. The young son of some high official in purple robes who had performed it received a reward that outshone all the previous young men. He wore a restrained expression on his face, but his eyes glinted with satisfaction.

Li Gu found this sort of banquet exceedingly dull — even duller than the gatherings he attended with other young nobles. At least those were all young people, relaxed and informal, with some genuine character on display.

The young men at this banquet all performed like beautiful peacocks, straining to spread their feathers before the Emperor.

He was in the midst of his boredom when he suddenly heard someone call out “Li Eleventh!” and snapped his head up, eyes sharp as blades.

A young foreign man had risen from the seats across the hall. He was rather tall, but compared to the generally imposing build of the foreign peoples he was lean and fine-featured. His face was handsome enough, but his eyes were ferocious, and his face carried a dangerous, brooding quality.

“Li Eleventh, let’s have a match! Let your Emperor be the judge — let’s see which of us is more capable!” he called out.

The expressions of those on the Da Zhao side became very unpleasant.

Mere defeated enemy.

The calm that had rested on Li Gu’s bearing instantly sharpened into something keen. He planted one knee and was rising to stand — then Li Ming pressed him down.

Li Ming smiled and asked, “Prince Xia’erdan, have you grown so fond of Yunjing’s splendor that you mean to stay?”

This man was the one whose face had caused Xie Yuzhang to stiffen and go cold in that moment — Xie Yuzhang’s second husband during her time in captivity beyond the frontier: the nineteenth prince of Ashina Khan, Xia’erdan.

Xia’erdan’s mother had been a lowly slave woman. With no powerful maternal clan to back him, he had the shallowest roots among the princes. Bullied by his elder brothers throughout childhood for his origins, and then, as he grew older and his valor in battle won him their father Khan’s frequent praise, harassed and marginalized by those same brothers out of jealousy — all of it had shaped him into a brooding, vicious nature.

He was described by those around him as a hungry wolf in the royal tent.

Xia’erdan looked puzzled. “What do you mean? Of course not.”

Li Ming smiled. “In that case, let the prince return to his tent, then send me a formal challenge, and my son will meet you in fair combat. The steppe, the desert — your choice. How refreshing that would be. But this place here is our Great Zhao Emperor’s palace — the place where our Emperor governs and rests. We are both rough people, Commander. If we start throwing fists, knocking over the tables, startling the palace maids — it would look rather bad.”

The Emperor smiled, saying, “Commissioner Li’s words are entirely right.”

And everyone knew the Emperor had no wish to see this foreign prince and Li Ming’s adopted son fight in the hall.

After all, even the sword dance earlier had been a prepared and rehearsed performance announced in advance. This foreign prince was clearly not a man with restraint — he also showed signs of drink. Once something like that actually started, it would be very difficult to stop at a polite point. If tables were overturned, bowls and dishes shattered, soup and sauces splashed everywhere, it would be genuinely unpleasant.

But Xia’erdan shouted, “Then let’s go outside to fight!”

Da Zhao had dealt with foreign peoples from the founding of the dynasty and understood them well. These foreign people observed no rules of propriety — their conduct was rough and unruly. If unchecked, this Prince Xia’erdan truly might roll up his sleeves and brawl with Li Ming’s adopted son right there.

The Emperor looked with displeasure toward Chancellor Zhang, who sat nearest to him. Chancellor Zhang received that pointed glance and straightened his back, just about to speak — when Li Ming’s adopted son opened his mouth.

“I will not fight.”

Xia’erdan roared with arrogant laughter. “Li Eleventh, are you afraid?”

The faces of those on the Da Zhao side all darkened. Refusing to fight was one thing; refusing out of fear was quite another.

“I bear no personal grudge against the prince. Border matters are settled at the border.” Li Gu, understanding that Li Ming did not want Xia’erdan making trouble here, put his leg back down and resumed his formal kneeling posture, unmoved by Xia’erdan’s taunts. “This place is my Great Zhao’s imperial city — the place where His Majesty governs and lives. If the prince truly wishes to test his strength against me, let us arrange to meet where the prince made his notably rapid retreat last year. We can have another match there.”

“Notably rapid retreat” — the phrase was vivid, and everyone who heard it immediately understood which side had won that battle. The Da Zhao guests smiled in silence.

“You—!” Xia’erdan had lost several capable generals in that battle and had resented Li Gu for it ever since. Now, hearing it mentioned again, he erupted in rage and swung a fist, lunging forward.

Fortunately, the members of the envoy delegation knew their nineteenth prince’s temper well. The moment his body moved, several of them had already grabbed hold of him.

But the scene was deeply embarrassing.

At that very moment, a sharp, distinctive voice — the kind only palace attendants possessed, pitched high and ceremonial — rang out through the great hall:

“Her Highness Princess Baohua, in honor of peace across the four seas and the glory of a prosperous age — requests to offer a dance to His Majesty!”

What perfect timing!

The Emperor was greatly pleased and immediately waved his hand. “Granted!”

He stroked his beard with a smile and said, “Today we shall first feast and enjoy the performance. As for matters between you young men — that can wait for another day.”

One sentence reduced the conflict between the two to a mere quarrel between hot-headed youngsters.

The Ashina Khan was said to have more than thirty princes. The envoy delegation included more than just Xia’erdan among its princes, and someone called out to him in the foreign tongue: “Xia’erdan, come back!” Though Xia’erdan’s eyes still smoldered with defiance and menace, he swallowed his anger and sat back down.

Dancers in gowns as beautiful as colored clouds rippled into the hall like a gentle wave. The softness and loveliness of the women instantly swept away the disquiet and tension of just moments before.

Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the beautiful dancers. Only Xia’erdan still glared fiercely at Li Gu. Li Gu had beaten him so badly the previous year that he had lost standing in his father Khan’s eyes, and he had carried that resentment until today. Seeing Li Gu now — the bitterest of enemies — his eyes blazed.

Li Gu had stopped paying attention to Xia’erdan. His gaze was fixed only on the center of the great hall.

Music flowed like water. The beautiful dancers gathered in a circle, their figures graceful, their movements captivating. As those gorgeous wide sleeves swept and turned, it seemed as if onlookers could see clouds and rosy mist boiling and flowing, brilliant and luminous.

Only the person at the center was hidden within those clouds and mist — her true form not yet revealed.

Then a single note cut through all the others, tearing through the air. People instinctively held their breath.

All the young women bowed gracefully down. Through the drifting clouds and mist, Princess Baohua stretched open her body.

Like the dawn breaking over the sea and leaping over the mountain peaks; like the most beautiful flower in the world suddenly bursting into bloom — the long water sleeves spun and settled, and there in Taiji Hall the young woman blossomed with the bearing of a celestial immortal.

Light and nimble, graceful and captivating — as pure as a child, as luminous as a woman.

In that moment, all those in the great hall forgot the mundane world. They no longer knew whether this was heaven or earth. Every gaze followed only that otherworldly girl.

Xia’erdan was caught completely off guard and stared, open-mouthed.

“Who is that?” he murmured.

The elder brother who had reprimanded him glanced at him, cursed “fool” inwardly, and said, “Did you not just hear the announcement? Princess Baohua.”

“Princess Baohua…” Xia’erdan’s eyes did not blink. He stared at that girl of surpassing, ethereal beauty with naked hunger.

Li Gu also did not blink.

People said Princess Baohua was a celestial immortal from the Jade Terrace who had descended into the mortal world. Li Gu felt that was accurate.

He was a rough military man, with no connection to refinement or elegance. He neither understood music nor dance. Yet even so, deep within him he knew: in this lifetime, he would likely never see a more beautiful dance than this.

This thought had barely flickered through his mind when Princess Baohua seemed to smile toward his direction. Li Gu was startled, and in a swirl of water sleeves the slender figure spun and arrived before him, then suddenly pivoted and leaned backward.

Li Gu was given a tremendous shock. Without a moment’s thought his body rose, his arm shot out like lightning—

And touched not a single thread of the young woman’s clothing. Princess Baohua’s slender waist was as supple as a willow. Using his arm as an axis, she arched and bent back in a deep lean.

Her eyes were still looking at the young man who had moved in such a panic to catch her.

In that moment, Li Gu felt that the pair of eyes watching him seemed to hold a thousand words to say.

That eyes could speak — that was something he had never known.

Time seemed to come to a standstill.

But it was only an illusion. Her waist had arched back for only a breath before it sprung lithely upright, and in an instant she had returned to the center of the great hall.

Li Gu was still on one knee, his arm still extended, held in the posture of someone trying to “catch” her. He drew his arm back and resettled into his seat, his expression still faintly dazed — he had not quite understood what had just happened.

Laughter broke out all through the great hall.

The Emperor laughed first, clapping his hands in delight. The foreign guests laughed. The Da Zhao officials all smiled, stroking their beards.

Even Li Ming was laughing, pointing at him. “You, you…”

Li Gu was even more confused.

His stunned expression nearly split Li Ming’s sides.

Li Ming struck the low table in laughter. “Our northwest lad — he’s been teased by the princess!”

Right there in the blazing great hall, in full view of everyone.

Li Gu — was dumbstruck.