Mu Fulan remembered it with perfect clarity — the scene of meeting Xi’er for the very first time in this life, outside the mountain gate of the Huguo Temple in the capital.

How quickly time had passed. In the blink of an eye, more than a year had gone by.

Not only in this past year and more — even going back to her previous life, in the years before the final parting between mother and son in Pucheng, this child had always been obedient and well-behaved.

He had never defied her.

In two lifetimes, this was the very first time he had gone against her wishes and refused to listen to her.

And it was because of that man.

The carriage traveled in the direction opposite to the one the man had galloped away in, and continued on its way.

Mu Fulan was silent, and for a long while, she did not say a single word.

Xi’er sat beside her.

As though knowing she disliked the parting gift that man had given him, the sword had not been seen since she boarded the carriage.

The child must have already hidden it away.

Xi’er kept stealing glances at her.

Her gaze rested on what lay beyond the carriage window, her expression distant. What her eyes held was something that — for a child his age — was perhaps a little too complex.

But the child could easily sense her sadness.

After stealing glances at her more times than he could count, he finally reached out and gently tugged at Mu Fulan’s sleeve, asking softly: “Mother, are you angry with me for not listening — are you upset?”

Mu Fulan came back from her thoughts, lowered her head, and looked steadily at the small upturned face gazing back at her, filled with uncertainty and unease.

In her heart at this moment, there was indeed a faint thread of sorrow — but more than that, there was bewilderment and worry.

No one knew better than she did how desperately, in the years before his death in their previous life, this child had longed for a father’s companionship. Yet his father had spent the whole year traveling, rarely returning home.

Later, when his father finally achieved his ambition and became emperor, this child had at last been able to be with him day and night, as he had once hoped.

Perhaps out of guilt, or perhaps to make amends, at first, his father had even made an unprecedented effort to draw close to his son — showing a desire to be near him that had never existed before.

But for this child, it had been too late. It was as though he no longer needed it. Faced with the aloof and exalted father who was now trying to approach him, this child’s only response had been to withdraw and go silent.

And that man had too many things demanding his attention. The patience he could spare for a son who refused to let him draw close — who even bore obvious hostility — was ultimately extremely limited.

So in this lifetime, every time she saw Xi’er seemingly drawn, by some innate filial instinct, to approach that man, her feelings would be plunged into impossible conflict.

She wanted her child to have, in this life, what had been left unfulfilled in his last. But when she thought of the anguished declaration that young man had made before his death — that he would never again wish to be father and son — her heart filled with confusion and worry.

And yet she had never stopped the child from drawing close to that man. She did not know whether this was the right choice, or the wrong one.

“Mother, Lord Xie truly treats me very well.”

The child continued softly.

“Mother, you do not know yet — when he was bringing me to find you, we caught a spy along the way. Lord Xie needed to light a signal fire to call the soldiers, but the beacon tower had been buried in snow. Only I was small enough to crawl in through the top. I wanted to crawl in and light the fire. But Lord Xie was afraid something would happen to me — he would not let me go inside, and said to go light the fire at the next beacon tower instead.”

“On the road we ran into many northern tribesmen — Lord Xie was recognized. He told Guard Liang and the others to take me away while he led those people off in another direction. When Lord Xie came back to find me afterward, he was covered in blood — I could barely recognize him. The moment he saw me, he picked me up…”

Tears slowly welled up in the child’s bright eyes.

“Mother, I truly do not want to make you sad — but I cannot bear to hurt Lord Xie either… When we get back, I will put the sword away and not take it out.”

Mu Fulan had only known that her initial warning had not managed to stop this child from wanting to draw close to that man.

What she had not known was that, without her noticing, this child had already come to feel such trust and connection with that man.

And she still could not make herself believe that the man Xi’er saw today — the Xie Changgeng of today — was the true Xie Changgeng.

When she thought about how, someday, this child might come face to face with the side of that man hidden beneath today’s tenderness, she was left with nothing but dread and a heartbreak she could not bear.

Xi’er raised his hand and quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

“Mother, do not worry. If he bullies you someday — if he becomes a bad person — I will return the sword to him myself and never like him again. I will protect you, Mother. Please do not be angry with me, and please do not be sad — will you?”

He climbed down from the carriage seat and knelt before his mother like a little adult.

Mu Fulan looked at the child kneeling at her feet, at those clear eyes still glistening with the last traces of tears, and her own eyes slowly grew warm.

She reached out and lifted Xi’er up from where he knelt, gathering him into her arms.

“Mother knows. Mother is not angry. It is just…”

She gazed at the child and made a great effort to drive from her mind that expanse of memory she could not bear to look upon — the one drenched in blood. “Just — Xi’er, when we get back, remember what you promised me just now. Put it away and do not touch it.”

It once drew your blood. It is a cursed object.

She said this in her heart.

Xi’er’s face broke into a joyful smile. He wrapped his arms tightly around hers and nodded: “I will remember!”

The southward journey home, with Xi’er along, was unhurried in its pace. They kept to the post road, stopping at relay stations to rest, covering fifty or sixty li each day — and in the blink of an eye, nearly half a month had passed.

At this pace, not even half the journey had been completed.

Fortunately there was no urgent business, and the weather was gradually warming. After emerging from Hexi and heading south for a day, the scenery along the road was still mostly wild countryside and desolate villages, but the spring breeze was gentle and free, and the green grew a little deeper with each passing day.

That noon, with the sun directly overhead, after half a day of travel, Liang Tuan asked Mu Fulan’s preference and then called the party to a halt by the roadside for a short rest.

Xi’er climbed out of the carriage and went to stand before Little Dragon Horse, personally feeding it fodder.

Little Dragon Horse was already more than a year old — not yet fully grown, but under Xi’er’s devoted care since it had come to him, it had now grown to roughly the size of an adult horse, and had a small head, a long neck, powerful limbs, and a sleek and glossy coat, carrying something of a noble and spirited air.

Mu Fulan leaned against the carriage window, watching Xi’er’s back as he fed the horse, when ahead at the far end of the road, a crowd that appeared to be local people surged toward them — pushing carts, carrying loads on shoulder poles, dragging along their entire families, every face wearing an expression of worry and distress, all moving in hurried haste, as though something terrible had happened.

Liang Tuan sent someone to ask, and the person returned quickly with news.

The Prince of Pingyang had raised a rebellion and was heading in this direction. These were people who had caught wind of the news and fled their villages along the way.

If she recalled correctly, in the previous life she had lived through, the rebellions of the Prince of Pingyang and the Prince of Lu had not yet begun at this point in time.

The news came far too suddenly. Liang Tuan sent riders ahead at full gallop to scout the situation, then led the carriages off the main road to wait.

The riders went out and returned with news even worse than the last.

Liang Tuan reported: “The rebel forces are vast and advancing quickly — they will reach this area before long. Once the rebel army arrives, bandits and marauders will rise on all sides, and travel will be impossible. The nearest city from here is Pucheng — roughly a hundred li away. Pucheng has formidable defenses, and its current magistrate has old ties to the Military Governor. It has weathered many battles; even if the rebel army attacks, it can hold for a good while. For the Princess’s safety, the most prudent course of action is to enter the city as quickly as possible and wait out the unrest. This is the surest approach.”

The moment she heard the word “Pucheng,” Mu Fulan felt a wave of unreality pass through her. Something sharp seemed to catch lightly at her heart — a faint, barely perceptible pain that seeped slowly up from the depths.

She had not realized it at all. Heaven seemed to be playing a joke on her — by some strange twist of circumstance, she had brought her Xi’er here and found herself heading straight back to this very place.

It was here, in this city, that she had ended her own life in the depths of a despair with no end in sight.

And her Xi’er — though he had survived — had never been the same child from that day forward.

“Princess?”

She heard a voice at her ear calling to her.

She came back to herself and met the many pairs of eyes around her, all turned in her direction, all waiting for her answer.

At dusk, Mu Fulan’s carriage followed the stream of refugees slowly approaching the city called Pucheng.

In the life that had passed, this city — which lay on the only road to the capital — had at one point been used by Prince Qi as the main stronghold in his standoff against Xie Changgeng, which spoke for itself as to the strength of its defenses.

She had no reason she could offer against this — the most prudent decision, by any measure, for every person in their group.

She looked out from the carriage at what lay ahead.

The dusk was heavy, the dying sun the color of blood. An unnamed crow, its cry forlorn and unsettling, skimmed over the head of a soldier standing tall on the high city wall and swept past.

Xi’er had climbed out of the carriage and stood at her side, tilting his head back to look at the city wall before them — about to be swallowed by the falling dark — his small feet seeming to be rooted to the ground.

“Mother, I do not like this place…”

The child gripped Mu Fulan’s hand, hesitated a moment, and said softly.

The dusk deepened, as though casting two shadows in his eyes.

The garrison commander had learned of Mu Fulan’s arrival and came hurrying out to receive her.

“Let us go in. Once it is safe, we will leave here at once.”

Mu Fulan said gently.

She took Xi’er’s two small hands in hers and led him forward.

……

That day had begun as a perfectly ordinary one.

Xie Changgeng had just finished his inspection of the newly completed garrison town in the Ma River valley.

A few days earlier, he had received word that the northern tribesmen’s new khan, Buli Khan, had summoned the chieftains of all twenty-four scattered tribal divisions to his royal court — likely signaling a new move.

He understood clearly what this meant: a great battle was drawing near.

Now that the long-standing problem of the Hexi tribal people had been resolved, he had long been sharpening his forces and waiting for this fight.

Only by winning a decisive victory — crushing the northern tribesmen’s capacity for war and leaving them neither the strength nor the nerve to make reckless moves in the near term — would he be able to concentrate his forces and clear away, one by one, the obstacles that stood between him and the summit of power.

The great battle was coming, but not imminent. The northern tribesmen’s new khan, though ambitious and far from lacking in ability, had held his throne for too short a time — mobilizing forces and launching a full-scale assault with any certainty of success required thorough preparation, and he would not move rashly without it.

Xie Changgeng ordered the intelligence scouts to keep probing, then was told that the elder chief had arrived. Just as he was about to descend the city wall, he saw the elder chief had already made his way up. He broke into a smile and stepped forward: “I was just thinking of going down to check on the elder chief — I did not expect him to come himself. How has your health been lately?”

The elder chief looked to be in excellent spirits, and said with a laugh: “I am mostly recovered now. Speaking of it, it is truly a pity — I had not yet had the chance to thank the Princess properly when she was already gone. Why did she leave in such a hurry?”

Xie Changgeng kept his smile: “The elder chief knows as well — now that the northern tribesmen have a new khan, the situation is different from the past couple of years. A great battle is likely unavoidable. The Princess is a woman — it is not convenient for her to remain. Better she returned home sooner.”

The elder chief nodded, then turned to gesture at the large contingent of able-bodied men who had come with him.

“We too have heard that a great battle is coming, and we wish to offer another five thousand of our young men, and ask that the Military Governor take them into his ranks, train them, and use them as he sees fit. We will serve the Military Governor and follow him to our deaths!”

Down below the city wall, five thousand tribal warriors stood in formation. Led by their unit captains, they dropped to one knee toward Xie Changgeng on the ramparts above, and called out in unison: “We will serve the Military Governor and follow him to our deaths!”

A tribal force of young warriors had already been taken in previously, and whether in daily mounted archery training, or in the construction of military fortifications, they had excelled at every turn. No one had expected that today, the elder chief would personally bring another five thousand men. The generals at Xie Changgeng’s side were filled with delighted surprise.

Xie Changgeng called for the tribal soldiers below the wall to rise, then turned and offered the elder chief his sincere thanks.

The elder chief’s face showed deep feeling: “The Military Governor and the Princess are a deeply devoted couple, yet it was to save this old life of mine that the Princess braved the danger and traveled all the way to the Tianshan Mountains. How could the Military Governor bear to let her go? I am truly ashamed — there are no words to repay this. All I can do is give my utmost to help the Military Governor hold Hexi, so as not to fail the grace that the Military Governor and Princess have shown me.”

Xie Changgeng smiled briefly, said nothing more, and simply gripped the elder chief’s hand firmly.

“Xie will give everything he has. He will not fail the elder chief’s trust.”

He called for someone to take the five thousand men into the ranks, then personally led the elder chief, intending to show him the current training of the previously enrolled tribal soldiers. The two of them were talking and laughing as they descended from the city wall when a soldier came sprinting toward them, calling out loudly: “My lord, Aide Liu has sent an urgent message — please return to the city at once!”

Xie Changgeng took the letter, opened it, and read it at a glance, then immediately made his apologies to the elder chief, delegated someone else to take him to the training grounds, and made his own way back to the Military Governor’s residence.

In the council chamber, Aide Liu and the assembled officials were waiting in anxious agitation.

“My lord! The Prince of Lu and the Prince of Pingyang have both risen in rebellion — one in the east, one in the west, coordinating with each other, advancing on the capital along two fronts. Prince Qi is holding the Prince of Lu’s rebel army for now, but the Prince of Pingyang’s forces are larger and more formidable — unstoppable, they say, with city after city along their path falling. The court will surely summon you to go and put down the rebellion — and yet Hexi is in the situation it is right now. If you are absent, it may cause difficulties.”

Xie Changgeng listened to the officials all speak at once — some fearing the situation, some cursing the princes — and his expression remained blank throughout. For a long while, he did not say a word.

Everyone gradually fell quiet and turned to look at him.

Xie Changgeng finally rose, ordered Aide Liu to follow him into the inner room, stood there briefly, then turned his head and asked: “Liang Tuan and his party — where have they traveled to? Have there been any messages these past two days?”

Aide Liu had not expected this to be his first question. He paused, then said: “Ah yes — I was just about to report this to you. The day before yesterday, we received word that Liang Tuan had relayed through the postal courier — he said he has escorted the Princess and her son into Qizhou. Since you were not in the city the past two days, I had not yet reported it in time…”

Xie Changgeng walked to the wall, and with one sharp pull, swept aside a hanging curtain to reveal a detailed map of the region displayed on the wall.

As Aide Liu spoke, something suddenly occurred to him, and he broke into a cold sweat.

Qizhou lay directly on the road between the Prince of Pingyang’s domain of Pingyang Commandery and the capital.

The Prince of Pingyang was marching north, sending his forces toward the capital — and he would certainly use the post road, the most favorable route for a military advance. Meanwhile, the Princess’s party was traveling south along the same post road.

The rebellion had begun several days earlier. Calculating from the date of Liang Tuan’s message, at this very moment, the party could very well have encountered the rebel army en route.

He looked at the unmoving silhouette standing before the map and hesitated, then offered a word of comfort: “My lord need not worry. The rebel army’s forces are vast, and word of it will surely have spread along the way. The Princess’s party has certainly received the news. Moreover, Liang Tuan has followed you for many years and fought in countless battles — he will know how to read the situation and act accordingly…”

Xie Changgeng turned his head. His eyes were dark and heavy as ink.

He said: “I need to know — where are they right now.”