Seeing the emperor, Xie Baozhu felt that things had taken a turn for the worse. Today, she might very well end up ruining herself in the process.

Among the women of the imperial clan, most had pleasing looks. Among the closer sisters, it was universally acknowledged that she and Xie Yuzhang had the most striking appearances — and the two of them resembled each other very closely.

Xie Baozhu had always been extremely careful. She had observed for a long time, discerning that the Hexi soldiers garrisoned at Xie Family Village maintained strict discipline and had never bullied or mistreated the Xie clan members — only then had she begun to venture outside. She had also often helped the soldiers write letters home, cultivating a measure of goodwill and securing a few small conveniences for herself.

Yet today, in pursuing the matter of her clan-younger-sister, she had caught the eye of Beirong Marquis Li Weifeng, who had now delivered her straight into the palace.

His intentions were unmistakably plain: he wished to offer her to the new emperor.

Xie Baozhu lowered her eyes.

If this was to be her fate, she was powerless against it.

Emperor Li Gu looked at her for a long time before walking over to take a seat. He asked: “Who are you?”

Xie Baozhu replied: “A clan-daughter of the Xie family.”

Li Weifeng held up both index fingers and jabbed them in her direction: “She used to be a Commandery Princess. Look at her — doesn’t she remind you of…?” He let the name hang. After all, as long as Li Gu and he both understood, that was enough.

Li Gu studied Xie Baozhu for a while longer, then spoke words that left her astonished: “You are Commandery Princess Kangle?”

Xie Baozhu lifted her eyes in surprise. “How does Your Majesty know this commoner woman’s former title?”

“Wow!” Li Weifeng said. “You even know that?”

How did he know?

Having an extraordinarily powerful memory was, in many circumstances, very useful. In other circumstances, it was something one came to resent.

He could not say exactly when it had begun, but her every expression, her every smile, had been etched into the deepest part of his memory. In ordinary day-to-day life they did not surface — but in certain moments when something stirred him, the memories would come rushing in like a tide.

Every single word she had spoken to him before the marriage alliance — he remembered all of them.

They had, in truth, barely had any opportunity to speak together at all. There were so few words between them.

“Among us sisters, Kangle Jiejie and I resemble each other most.”

“I certainly won’t be there to see her get married. Whatever kind of man her future husband turns out to be, my only wish is that he will take her frailty into consideration and treat her well. Don’t let her suffer or be mistreated.”

“Shiyi Lang, do you think Kangle Jiejie will be able to live well in the future?”

“Then I accept Shiyi Lang’s blessing! You must remember what you’ve said, you know.”

Yes — because she had asked him to remember, from that day forward, he had.

Li Gu said: “Princess Baohua mentioned you.”

Baohua? But Zhuzhu… had been gone in marriage for so many years already.

Xie Baozhu glanced at him quickly and said: “This commoner woman is honored.”

Li Gu asked: “How is it that you are here?”

Xie Baozhu looked at Li Weifeng.

Li Weifeng said: “I went to Xie Family Village and happened to see her causing a commotion.”

“Your Majesty.” Xie Baozhu gathered her skirts and knelt down. “This commoner woman was not causing a commotion. Garrison soldiers at Xie Family Village have been privately selling women of the imperial clan. Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have shown kindness to the Xie clan, and the clan members have always felt gratitude for the imperial grace and lived peaceably. Though we are the former dynasty’s imperial clan, we are now Your Majesty’s subjects! This is the trafficking of common citizens! Our dynasty has only just been founded — this is exactly the time to make the law clear and give the common people peaceful lives to live. I beg Your Majesty to save my clan-younger-sister! This commoner woman will be forever grateful for the imperial grace!”

Li Gu’s expression grew stern.

“Such a thing has happened?” He looked toward Li Weifeng.

Li Weifeng tucked his hands into his sleeves. “How would I know? It’s not under my jurisdiction. I don’t investigate cases. Has nothing to do with me.”

This Beirong Marquis actually dared speak to the emperor this way?

Xie Baozhu was privately taken aback.

She glanced over — and on the young emperor’s face she saw an expression of utter helplessness.

Xie Baozhu fell into thought.

Li Weifeng continued his grumbling: “Everything gets put on me! Is there any shortage of things I’m managing? The more I manage, the more I end up getting myself in trouble!”

Li Gu’s head ached.

“Understood. I will have the prefectural magistrate look into it.” He said, resigned. “Now take her back.”

Li Weifeng stopped mid-grumble. “Huh?”

“Huh?” He looked at Li Gu, then looked at Xie Baozhu. “Huh?”

Everyone in the room understood perfectly what he had meant when he brought her here — he had intended to offer Xie Baozhu to Li Gu.

Xie Baozhu held her breath, knowing the moment that would determine her fate had arrived.

The emperor asked: “Kangle, do you need a physician?”

Xie Baozhu looked at Li Gu. Li Gu said: “Baohua mentioned that you have poor health — a weakness carried from birth.”

“This commoner woman is grateful for Your Majesty’s concern.” Xie Baozhu said: “In the past, when I was kept in the household, my life was overly pampered and refined, and my health was never good. Since coming to Xie Family Village, I set aside a plot of land to tend myself. Thanks to Your Majesty’s benevolence, we lack for neither food nor clothing. I go out every day with a hoe to work the land — simply for the pleasure of countryside life — but unexpectedly my health has grown better day by day. I have not taken medicine in a very long time.”

Quite a broad-minded young woman, Li Gu thought, with an approving nod. He felt she was indeed worthy of being someone Xie Yuzhang had still thought of at the moment of departure.

“That’s good then. If you should need anything…” Li Gu thought about how she was a young woman stripped of her status and reduced to a commoner — it would be inconvenient for her to reach him directly. And he truly had no time to spare any attention on a young woman. He glanced at Li Weifeng and continued: “Then go to Beirong Marquis Mansion and find him.”

Li Weifeng: “……Huh?”

“Seventh Brother.” Li Gu said. “Take her back. Bring her back to wherever you brought her from, without mishap.”

With that, Li Gu turned and left.

Li Weifeng followed him out.

Xie Baozhu stood, and from outside she could still hear voices.

“Wait — you’re not keeping her?”

“Keeping her for what?”

“For what — you really need me to tell you?”

“Not keeping her.”

“Look how much she resembles you-know-who.”

“She doesn’t.”

“What are you talking about, she absolutely does! She looks just like her!”

“She looks alike at first glance. The second look — not so much.”

“Then your eyes are broken. You’re really not keeping her?”

“Not keeping her. Take her back.”

……

……

Xie Baozhu waited quietly for a moment, and then the fawning, flattery-bearing small man came back in.

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll take you back.” Li Weifeng said.

Xie Baozhu said nothing, and quietly fell in behind him.

They walked a while, and Li Weifeng began to feel something was wrong. He turned around — Xie Baozhu had been left far behind.

“Why are you walking so slowly?” He went back to her, and noticed that her unusually fair skin had taken on a rosy flush — actually quite beautiful. He blinked, then asked: “And why are you breathing so hard?”

Xie Baozhu said: “My health is poor. I’ve walked too much and can barely keep up.”

In her previous life she’d had a weak constitution and been carried everywhere in a sedan chair — even within the palace it had been the same.

Today she had walked all the way from the palace gates to the Zichen Palace. She had rested for just a short while, then walked back out again… she had been forcing herself along, and in truth was beginning to falter.

“You’re really this fragile?” Li Weifeng said in surprise. “You seemed pretty formidable back there when you were arguing.”

Whether one’s words were sharp had nothing to do with whether one’s body was strong. Xie Baozhu was at a loss for words.

“Beirong Marquis, please wait a moment — would you permit me to rest briefly?” Xie Baozhu said, pressing a hand to her chest, breathing lightly.

Li Weifeng thought for a moment, then said: “Wait here.”

He said this and walked a few steps away, hailed a passing attendant, and spoke to him briefly. The attendant hurried off.

A short while later, two attendants came bearing a sedan chair — and it was, astonishingly, for Xie Baozhu.

Xie Baozhu would not sit in it: “I am a mere commoner woman — it would be improper for me to ride a sedan chair inside the palace. This is against the rules.”

Li Weifeng said: “If I say you sit, you sit.”

She persisted in refusing; Li Weifeng rolled up his sleeves. “You won’t sit — should I carry you then?”

The two stared at each other for a moment. Xie Baozhu sat in the sedan chair.

The personal guards and Qiu Baba were all waiting outside the palace gate.

Qiu Baba’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot; but seeing Xie Baozhu come out of the palace safely, he was both stunned and overjoyed, nearly stumbling toward her: “My Lady! My Lady!”

“Eighth Uncle, do watch what you call me.” Xie Baozhu said quietly.

Qiu Baba wiped at his eyes. “Eldest Miss, are you all right?”

Xie Baozhu said: “Perfectly fine.”

Then, raising her voice: “Having seen His Majesty, His Majesty has commanded Beirong Marquis to escort me back to Xie Family Village.”

The personal guards all looked sideways at Li Weifeng.

Today’s business had not reflected particularly well on Li Weifeng — there was a distinct suggestion of flattery aimed and landing squarely on the horse’s hoof. He couldn’t quite keep his composure, and said with some awkwardness: “That, well, right — let’s go, get in the carriage, I’ll take you home.”

Xie Baozhu got into the carriage.

Along the road she could hear Qiu Baba sitting in front and Li Weifeng riding alongside the carriage, talking.

Li Weifeng asked: “Did you know Princess Baohua?”

Qiu Baba said: “I used to see her often.”

Li Weifeng asked: “Doesn’t she look a great deal like Princess Baohua?”

Qiu Baba had no desire to discuss Xie Baozhu’s appearance in front of all these personal guards, and murmured vaguely: “Mm, mm…”

Li Weifeng pressed on regardless: “Does she look alike or not?”

Qiu Baba, helpless and afraid Li Weifeng might say something even more outrageous, had no choice but to answer: “Among the closer members of the Xie imperial clan, Eldest Miss does indeed most resemble Princess Baohua.”

Li Weifeng slapped his thigh. “Right! I said she did! Yet there are those who say she doesn’t! I said his eyes were broken, and he turned around and said my eyes were broken!”

He was delighted, and stopped talking to Qiu Baba — finally giving the man some peace.

Qiu Baba wiped the sweat from his head, troubled in his heart, uncertain whether today’s events would bring fortune or misfortune.

Xie Baozhu gazed through the bamboo curtain of the carriage window at the indistinct outline of a figure outside, brow furrowed in thought.

When they returned to the residence in Xie Family Village, Prince Shou was lying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, gasping out between breaths: “Da Hu, my Da Hu… oh, Da Hu…”

His two sons stood by sighing and attending to him.

Prince Shou had kept many concubines, but had no children born of them. His two sons were both born of the Princess Consort, and thus were full siblings of Xie Baozhu.

Both had married. When they had all been sent to Xie Family Village under confinement, Xie Baozhu had said: “Should anything happen, all those registered under the same household will be implicated together. If we register separately under different households, perhaps if something does happen, we may be fortunate enough to preserve the family line.”

It was a frightening thing to say. But they were all named Xie — who could know what fate awaited them? And so, following their elder sister’s suggestion, they registered separately under different household rolls.

Now the two brothers lived in their own separate dwellings. Only Xie Baozhu, the unmarried daughter, lived with Prince Shou.

The two younger brothers were at that moment worried for their father and weeping for their elder sister’s unknown fate — when Xie Baozhu walked back in, safe and sound. Everyone was both astonished and overjoyed.

Prince Shou scrambled off the bed and stumbled out, and upon seeing it was truly her, gripped her by the arm, weeping with joy: “Da Hu! Da Hu, are you all right? Did he do anything to you…”

Looking at her father, face streaked with tears, Xie Baozhu said helplessly: “I’m fine, Father, please stop crying…”

Then a voice poked out from behind Qiu Baba: “Who? Are you talking about me? Am I that sort of person?”

You may not have been improper toward me, but you are a groveling flatterer who curried favor by offering me up.

Xie Baozhu said: “Father, I’m fine. It was thanks to Beirong Marquis taking me to see His Majesty. His Majesty has spoken, and the prefectural magistrate will investigate the matter of Fourteenth Niang.”

As she spoke, she pinched Prince Shou’s hand discreetly.

Prince Shou was inwardly startled and outraged, yet could only wipe his face and clasp his hands toward Li Weifeng in a bow of thanks: “I thank Beirong Marquis for his trouble.”

“A small matter, a small matter.” Li Weifeng said. “I’ll let the matter of you scratching me a few times slide as well.”

When Li Weifeng had tried to take Xie Baozhu away earlier, this rotund man had come charging at him. Understanding he was the young woman’s father, Li Weifeng had not struck back in earnest — and had consequently gotten scratched several times.

When it came time to leave, Xie Baozhu walked him to the door.

“My clan-younger-sister’s matter is urgent. Every day that passes, there is no telling how far away she may be taken.” She curtsied and said: “His Majesty has ten thousand affairs demanding his attention, and may not have the energy to spare. I must still trouble Beirong Marquis to keep watch over this matter. This commoner woman is deeply grateful.”

After all the back-and-forth of the day, it was now evening.

The light of the setting sun fell across her face — truly, a rare beauty of this world. And that voice of hers, so soft and melodious, was indescribably lovely.

What a refined young woman. And that great fool Shiyi had actually turned her away.

Li Weifeng agreed immediately: “I’ll watch over it personally.”