The largest portion of the peace-marriage procession was being left behind for Xie Yuzhang. Once Xie Yuzhang was formally handed over to the Mobei Khanate, Prince Shou’s party would travel much lighter.

Since they were already in Mobei territory — where the Ashina were the hosts and Prince Shou was the guest, and they had come to deliver a bride — the Mobei Khanate asked Prince Shou’s party to depart first.

Xie Yuzhang rode her horse alongside the elderly Khan and the Grand National Preceptor to see Prince Shou’s party off.

When they mounted their horses and set off, the peace-marriage procession, which had been watching from a distance all along, broke into weeping — the people escorting the bride were going home, they were returning to Yunjing!

And those left behind would remain on this foreign land for the rest of their lives.

Prince Shou and the Fifth Imperial Prince frowned and glanced over in irritation. They also cast worried looks at Xie Yuzhang, afraid that she might lose her composure at the last moment and cause them more trouble.

Fortunately, though Xie Yuzhang’s face bore no smile — as though she’d caught Li Shiyi Lang’s stone-faced habit — there were no signs of grief or collapse.

Both of them let out a long sigh of relief.

They rode alongside for several li. Prince Shou stepped forward to thank the Ashina Khan and said, “Please turn back, Khan.” Then added, “I hope the Khan will treat Baohua well.”

Old Ashina glanced at Xie Yuzhang — her small face was taut, and even without a smile there was a different kind of beauty about her. Last night had truly been a pity. This morning, the Grand National Preceptor had lectured his ear sore and forced him to swear an oath before the Ancestral God not to lay a hand on Xie Yuzhang until she reached seventeen.

Southern Dynasty people were truly fussy. Tsk.

Old Ashina smiled. “But of course — Zhao has given me such a beautiful princess. I’ll cherish her dearly.”

There was something inexplicably grating about those words. Prince Shou took it in stride, but the Fifth Imperial Prince felt distinctly uncomfortable. Still, he was on his best behavior this time, not wanting to stir up any more trouble for himself. He just wanted to get back to Yunjing quickly.

This wretched place, reeking of raw meat and animal fat everywhere — no place for a human being.

The Fifth Imperial Prince followed Prince Shou in bidding Xie Yuzhang farewell.

Prince Shou relayed the Emperor’s admonishment: “As you go to your husband’s home, do not forget reverence and dignity. Do not bring shame upon the great name of our Zhao.”

Coming from someone with Xie Yuzhang’s experience, those words were deeply ironic. She truly could not bring herself to utter a dutiful “Your subject would not dare,” so she simply lowered her eyes and said nothing.

Prince Shou sighed, then pulled his horse aside.

The Fifth Imperial Prince came forward. “Baohua, we’re going now. Take good care of yourself. Ah.” He sighed as well. He privately felt that he had been a devoted and tireless brother, escorting his sister all this way, and that this effort would count as a service in their father’s eyes.

The Khanate’s people sat on their horses, watching Prince Shou’s party depart. The five hundred Flying Tiger soldiers were an imposing sight and drew most of their attention. They whispered among themselves, commenting on and admiring the cavalry with repeated exclamations of praise.

Xia’erdan even rode forward and quietly suggested to the Ashina Khan, “Father Khan, Li Shiyi is a nuisance. How about while we’re here, we —”

Ashina flew into a fury and lashed him across with a riding whip! He barked, “Get out of my sight! Those are the guests who escorted my new wife here!”

Xia’erdan came away thoroughly snubbed and slunk back in defeat.

Xie Yuzhang didn’t spare him so much as a glance. Her eyes stayed fixed on the distance ahead.

There among the slowly departing procession, one man on one horse stood like a figure cast from iron and steel, commanding his troops at the rear.

When even the tail end of the Flying Tiger soldiers was about to pass him, he finally moved.

The horse spun in place. Li Gu stared across the distance at Xie Yuzhang.

Xie Yuzhang stared back at him.

The horse seemed unsettled, spinning again, its hooves striking the ground hard, sending snow and mud flying. Li Gu laid a hand on the horse’s neck, and the animal immediately stilled — becoming once more what it had been moments before, like a statue cast in iron and steel.

Li Gu looked toward Xie Yuzhang one last time.

Xie Yuzhang watched him, unblinking, and saw his lips move faintly.

Take care.

……

……

Yuzhang.

The instant Li Gu wheeled his horse and rode away, tears streamed down Xie Yuzhang’s face.

That she had held on until this moment before weeping — rather than wearing thin on anyone’s patience — was something that drew admiration and tenderness. Even old Ashina softened his voice and said, “Baohua, come back with me. From now on, the royal tent is your home.”

To everyone’s surprise, Xie Yuzhang said furiously, “I’m still angry! I’m not talking to you!”

Then, with her sleeve, she wiped roughly at her tears, kicked the dark-coated horse beneath her, and galloped back toward the camp.

Ashina stood there, stunned.

Grand National Preceptor Abaha burst into laughter, slumping over his horse’s neck. Ashina’s old generals roared with laughter, toppling forward and backward.

“Khan, your consort is angry — you’d better coax her well!”

“It’s all Khan’s fault for frightening her last night! Central Plains women can’t take that kind of fright.”

“A consort as beautiful as that is worth a few chests of jewels to coax her with!”

Old Ashina couldn’t keep his face straight, and muttered, “Being young is such a nuisance.” He complained with his mouth, but his expression was smug.

An old man with a young wife — the old man is naturally pleased with himself.

Xie Yuzhang had always thought she could face this calmly. She had not expected the tears to break through at this moment.

Her horse quickly galloped back to the camp and came alongside her jade-roofed treasure carriage. Xie Yuzhang did not rein in the horse at all — she swung one leg up and rose to stand in the saddle.

The crowd cried out in alarm. Nanny Xia, being helped up onto her own carriage, saw this and in an instant her heart nearly stopped from fright.

Yet in the moment the horse and carriage drew alongside each other, Xie Yuzhang sprang into the air — as light as a swallow — and landed squarely on the driver’s seat, her form flawlessly graceful.

Unlike the dismay and worry of the Zhao people, the nomads burst into cheers.

Ashina saw it from afar, raised his riding crop, and pointed at Xie Yuzhang with delight. “Look at that — this is a woman born to be a consort of the steppe!”

He was even more pleased with himself than before.

The crowd responded with a roar of agreement, in high spirits, surrounding the beautiful consort and her abundant dowry as they turned north and headed home.

Xie Yuzhang lay face-down in the soft silk bedding, tears flooding out. She struggled to smother the sound of her sobs so the people outside the carriage could not hear her.

In this life — she had still, in the end, set out on this road north.

Her hands gripped the silk bedding tight. She swore to herself: this was the last time she would be weak.

Ahead lay the vast Mobei Khanate. It was the same place — but the fate she had suffered in her former life must never be repeated.

Weeping is actually a thing that drains the body greatly, especially when one weeps in anguish. Xie Yuzhang did not know how long she cried. The carriage swayed and rocked. She wept out all the grief she had pressed down for so long, until she fell into a deep, heavy sleep.

Last night had been tumultuous besides, her mind too troubled to rest properly.

She did not know how long she had slept before she dimly felt someone slip into the carriage. That person carried a faint, familiar scent. Rather than trying to wake her immediately, they first gently patted her back, and then after a while called softly, “Your Highness, it’s time to rise. The camp is being set up.”

In a haze, Xie Yuzhang felt the carriage had indeed stopped, and there was noisy bustle outside. She murmured something, and with her eyes still closed, nestled closer into the person’s lap, saying in a drowsy voice, “Let me sleep a little longer…”

The person laughed softly and said nothing more. A warm, tender hand gently patted her back.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Xie Yuzhang’s eyes flew open!

She practically shot upright, staring at the person before her in shock — a delicate, refined face, graceful and serene in manner, with a smile of warmth and indulgence as she looked at her.

Who else could it be but Lin Fei!

A ghost! A living ghost!

“How are you here!” Xie Yuzhang almost shrieked. “How did you get here! You — !!!”

In her panic she gripped Lin Fei’s arm so hard it actually hurt. Lin Fei helplessly pried her fingers loose and reproached her, “Your Highness is terrible — without a word of discussion, just leaving me alone in Yunjing.”

“You — Second Brother — he —!” Xie Yuzhang was about to cry again.

Yang Huaishen had clearly promised her he would take good care of Lin Fei! A liar! A wretch! One after another they had all failed her expectations!

Lin Fei knew Xie Yuzhang too well. She rubbed her arm and said quietly, “Don’t blame Second Brother. From the moment you left me there, I began refusing to eat. He had no choice — he quietly had me smuggled into the procession.”

How could she do this! The Duke of Xun’s estate was the safest place possible!

She had even arranged for her future there!

Later, Lin Fei had refused to go back with the Lin family, insisting on remaining at Xiaoyao Marquis Manor to live together with Xie Yuzhang. Yang Huaishen had come to ask for her hand.

Less than two years after Xie Yuzhang was sent away on the peace-marriage, Yang Huaishen’s betrothed reached sixteen years of age and they were wed. But when she later gave birth, she found herself caught in the middle of the upheaval in Yunjing. Throughout the capital, soldiers rampaged in burning, killing, and plundering, and innocent people’s blood ran in rivers.

The Duke of Xun’s estate sealed its gates. The family guards and household soldiers patrolled day and night, and they managed to come through that period unscathed. Yet the sister-in-law she had never met was overwhelmed with terror and died in a difficult labor.

Later, when Li Gu entered Yunjing and all was settled, Yang Huaishen married another wife. But his fortunes with women were poor — this second wife later died of illness as well.

And later still, Xie Yuzhang and Lin Fei had returned to Yunjing. By that time, the Lin family had reappeared at court, and were held in particular trust by the Emperor. Lin Fei was once again a daughter of the Lin family.

She had returned at the age of twenty-six or twenty-seven, wearing her hair in a married woman’s style.

There had been quite a bit of gossip about her in Yunjing, with wild speculation about her experiences on the steppe alongside Xie Yuzhang. But the truth of what Lin Fei had actually endured was, in fact, even worse than what people had guessed — Lin Fei had followed her, and had also served Ashina, Xia’erdan, and Wuwei in turn.

She had even borne Wuwei two children.

Both those children had been left behind on the steppe.

When they were to be sent to Jiang Jingye, Lin Fei had fought with her life to get into the carriage.

Zaida Yali had said, “Do you no longer want Chijishe and Duobi?”

Lin Fei had answered, “We of the Central Plains hold that a legal wife is the common mother of all her husband’s children. Honored one, you are the Khan’s proper wife, the mother of Chijishe and Duobi. As for me — I will never be separated from my Princess.”

Zaida Yali had made the decision then, allowing Lin Fei into the carriage as well, to be sent together to the Da Mu military camp.

Afterward, Xie Yuzhang had never once dared to utter the names of those two children.

Not even once.

Lin Fei never mentioned them either, as though those two small lives had never existed in her life.

Lin Fei’s insistence on remaining at Xiaoyao Marquis Manor had forced the Lin family, much as they resented the last Emperor, to look after Xie Yuzhang.

When Yang Huaishen lost his second wife and came to ask for Lin Fei’s hand again, however, Lin Fei refused.

She had lived by the light of oil lamps and the company of the Buddha, keeping Xie Yuzhang company until the very end.

But in this life, Xie Yuzhang had entrusted Lin Fei to the Duke of Xun’s estate!

Lin Fei would be safe there through the upheaval of war. She was clear-headed and decisive, not someone who simply drifted with the current. Even during those years when Yang Huaishen had developed feelings for her, she would never have let herself weaken into becoming a man’s concubine. If she was unwilling, the people of the Duke of Xun’s estate would not force her the way the steppe barbarians had.

Xie Yuzhang knew Lin Fei well enough. She believed she could hold on until Li Gu entered the capital and the Lin family rose again.

And at that time, it would be exactly the moment Yang Huaishen’s first wife had just died and he had not yet taken a new one.

By then, Yang Huaishen, having endured the loss of a wife, the chaos of war, and the change of dynasties, would no longer be the indolent, aimless young wastrel he was now. He would have become a mature man.

If Lin Fei and he had feelings for each other, things would fall naturally into place.

If Lin Fei still refused him, that would be fine too — by then, Lin Fei would once again be a daughter of the Lin family, free to marry any man who was worthy of her.

True, by that time she would have passed the best years for marriage. But those years of war had disrupted the betrothals and marriages of many families, leaving Yunjing with a great many old spinsters and bachelors, widows and widowers.

Among them, Lin Fei would not stand out particularly.

She would be able to live a peaceful, tranquil life.

It had all been arranged! She had planned everything out for her!

Xie Yuzhang pounded her fists against Lin Fei furiously. “Why did you come! Why did you come!!!”

Lin Fei, gasping in pain, opened her arms and pulled her in — fists and all — holding her close. “Hit me any more and I’ll really be angry!”

“You silly little pearl.” She laughed softly. “I came, of course, to be with you.”