“Jin Mei, it’s about to get dark. Why don’t we go tomorrow instead?” Chen Lun, beside him, glanced at the setting sun and spoke to dissuade him.

“Shenhui” meant respectfully proclaiming beauty, so his courtesy name was Jin Mei to echo his given name?

Jiang Hanyuan was thinking of a book she had just read several months ago, and was slightly distracted when she heard the young prince’s voice again: “Zhao Yong quelled disasters and rebellions, raising the Zhao state to rank among the seven powers of the chaotic world through his efforts alone. With such achievements, calling him a heroic king of his generation is not excessive. If we go tomorrow, we’d have to return the day after, delaying our return to the capital by two full days, which is inappropriate. Since we’ve thought of it and can reach it in one night, not going to pay respects would be regrettable.”

He explained to his friend in this manner.

Chen Lun, courtesy name Zijing, was the heir of Duke Zhu, several years older than Lord Anle. Last year, he married Lord Anle’s cousin, the daughter of Prince Xian. Because of his wife’s exceptional conferment as Princess Yongtai, he also became Prince Consort and Commandant. He and Lord Anle had a close relationship in daily life, both companions and old friends. In private, they often called each other by name. Knowing he was a person of true feeling, since he had spoken thus, Chen Lun no longer tried to dissuade him and agreed.

But Jiang Hanyuan didn’t want to lead them. She had thought they were just asking for directions, and even if they went, they would depart tomorrow—none of her business. So she had casually pointed out the route, but hadn’t expected Lord Anle to say go and go, wanting to travel through the night.

Had she known, she would have said she didn’t know.

She remained silent and motionless, wanting to find an excuse to decline—for instance, saying she couldn’t remember the specific route clearly. Just as she was about to speak, he misunderstood, thinking she worried about not returning to camp on time and facing punishment. His gaze fell on her face. “You needn’t be afraid. When we return, if anyone asks, this prince will certainly explain for you.”

The setting sun was beside them, golden afterglow illuminating the handsome face of the young prince, his features seeming touched with a layer of radiance.

Looking at this face before her, as if possessed by spirits, Jiang Hanyuan could no longer speak the words of refusal.

She opened her mouth, slowly closed it, and finally silently mounted her horse, leading this group toward Ling Qiu. They traveled all night, only resting briefly midway, finally arriving at the side of that hill at the breaking dawn.

The mighty royal aura of ancient Zhao had long been scattered by the wind through the long years. The former tomb of the Zhao king was now merely a wild mound resting against barren mountains.

It was deep autumn in the northern region. Dawn light was faint, the mountain moon pale, still hanging faintly above the mountain peak. Standing on the high platform and looking far into the distance, one could only see vast wilderness. An autumn wind swept by, rustling the wild grass beside the tomb. Wild foxes and fleeing rabbits—everywhere was desolation.

Though they had traveled all night, Lord Anle showed no signs of fatigue. He stood facing the morning wind, heavy with autumn cold, before that yellow earth mound. After a long time, Jiang Hanyuan heard him sigh softly: “Yesterday’s achievements covered the world, today I see autumn grass yellow. Pour wine upon royal earth—only blue mountains do not age.”

He took a wine jug from his saddlebag, pulled the cork, raised it high toward the earth mound opposite, and poured wine upon the yellow earth.

“Let’s return!”

After finishing the libation, he spoke and turned to go. Chen Lun called for the guards. Jiang Hanyuan also followed. Suddenly at this moment, a wild goose flying from north to south emerged from a cloud, appearing in the autumn morning sky overhead.

He seemed to have his interest aroused. He stopped, looked up, and stared unblinkingly at the goose in the sky, raising one arm.

The guard understood that Lord Anle was ordering his bow and arrows to be brought. He ran to take the bow and arrows hanging from the saddle horn, then sprinted back and offered them.

He received them, drew the bow, and nocked an arrow to the string. The arrowhead followed the shadow above, slowly moving, aiming, and ready to shoot.

The flying goose in the sky seemed to sense the ominous killing intent and suddenly let out a long cry, seeming like a mournful warning.

The youth’s eyes didn’t blink, his gaze sharp, his thumb holding the arrow shaft slightly loosening. Just as he was about to shoot, from that same cloud cluster, another large goose flew out.

The second goose cried incessantly, desperately chasing to catch up. Soon, the two geese met and flew urgently together with beating wings.

Jiang Hanyuan watched and saw him continue aiming for a moment but never shooting. Finally he actually released the string and slowly lowered the bow, seeming to abandon the thought of shooting the geese.

As his arm dropped, he seemed somewhat unwilling, his brow slightly raised. Suddenly, he raised the bow and nocked an arrow again. This time, he no longer hesitated, drawing the bow to full capacity with the string taut as a line. With a “whoosh,” the feathered arrow flew out, tearing through the air like a beam of white light shooting toward the sky above. In the blink of an eye, it reached the side of the two geese, but flew straight through the middle without deviation, shooting several zhang higher until its force was spent. From far away, it finally fell from the sky and disappeared.

Even so, the two geese were greatly startled. Amid their cries, their wings flapped wildly, scattering several clusters of feathers. They circled in place several times before their souls seemed somewhat settled, then hurriedly and frantically continued fleeing south together.

Only then did Lord Anle lower his bow, watching that pair of departing geese with a smile.

Seeing this, Chen Lun was puzzled.

“Jin Mei, what was your intention?”

Lord Anle tossed the bow and arrows back to the guard who had fetched them for him. “I had thought it was a lone goose, but unexpectedly it was a pair. In this cold northern land with a dangerous journey ahead, they go together in pairs, watching over each other to this point—truly not easy. Forget it, let them pass. However, since the arrow was already nocked to the bow, there was no reason to withdraw it, so I shot it out to give them a fright, which wasn’t wasting an arrow for nothing.”

Chen Lun had a steady temperament. After hearing the explanation, he was somewhat speechless at Lord Anle’s action that still carried some youthful spirit, not knowing how to respond for a moment. He could only say, “Jin Mei, your archery has improved compared to before.”

Lord Anle let out a hearty laugh.

He seemed to be someone who liked to laugh.

“Zijing is too kind. However, regarding martial arts, I think the only area where I can barely compete with you is probably just archery.”

Chen Lun also laughed. “I dare not accept such praise! Your Highness is too modest!”

As the two chatted and laughed, guards brought over horses. He mounted, gathered the reins and bridle, and was about to spur his horse forward when he seemed to remember the young soldier who had led the way for him all night, and looked back.

Jiang Hanyuan was still in the original spot, craning her neck to watch the departing geese.

This was a clear morning, common in northern autumn. In the direction the geese had gone south, frost broke at dawn. The morning sun had not yet leaped from behind the mountain, but that surging light had already dyed the clouds into rosy hues, making the nearby high, deep blue vault of heaven also show layers of translucent pink, like a sea of pale cherry blossom mist in spring.

She had risen early countless times, training in such mornings, burying herself in learning various methods of combat and killing.

As if for the first time in her life, she raised her head, and then she saw such a light and radiant frost-dawn sky of deep autumn at the frontier.

“Hey! Time to go!” A guard shouted at her loudly.

She had been watching with fascination when she suddenly heard the urging and turned around.

Lord Anle and everyone else were already sitting on horseback, looking at her. She stepped forward to leave but saw him suddenly raise his hand and beckon to her.

She had no choice but to walk toward him, stopping several steps in front of his horse, looking up and asking, “What does Your Highness need?”

“Can you still keep up?”

Jiang Hanyuan: “Yes.”

“Jiang Zuwang’s training of soldiers is indeed quite good,” Chen Lun interjected from the side.

Lord Anle didn’t respond, only slightly lowered his head. His gaze swept over her hair dampened by cold frost from traveling all night and her moist collar, then casually removed the thick satin outer cloak of smoke-lake color from his body and tossed it to her.

With a “whoosh,” this garment, still carrying its original owner’s body warmth, suddenly settled over her cold shoulders. A trace of extremely faint but unmistakably present incense scent like agarwood also rushed into her nostrils.

Jiang Hanyuan was accustomed to the muddy sweat smell on her own body. For a moment, she was unaccustomed to this clean, quiet fragrance that seemed to suddenly envelop her.

Her entire body suddenly stiffened, standing straight as a rod, instinctively holding her breath. That tossed cloak was truly too large compared to her height and build at that time. When it settled on her shoulders, it immediately started sliding down. Just as it was about to fall to the ground, she suddenly realized and quickly reached out, grasping it tightly.

Her appearance falling into his eyes was probably quite amusing.

He shook his head and smiled again, his face radiant as morning flowers under that frost sky breaking at dawn above.

“Little child, you ride well and led the way well. What are you still looking at? Let’s go back!”

He spoke in a tone of praise, then left her behind and rode away.

Jiang Hanyuan stood dazed for a moment, then suddenly came to her senses, hastily rolled up the outer cloak, quickly mounted her horse, and chased after them.

They returned in the evening that day. Jiang Hanyuan didn’t want him to know her identity. When they reached the place where they had met yesterday, she caught up from behind to return the garment, then immediately turned aside, about to leave the group.

“Stop!”

She had only gone a few steps when she suddenly heard his voice behind her. She turned back and saw him untie a jade pendant from his waist and hurl it toward her.

“Little child, this is payment for leading the way! You’re still young, too young to enlist. You look rather dull-witted too—if real fighting breaks out, you’d probably lose your life! If you joined the military due to family poverty, take this back home, find the biggest official, say it was given by this prince, and exchange it for a few mu of farmland, which should be sufficient. Hereafter, serve your parents well at home. In a few years, marry a wife—it’s better than selling your life in the military!”

After the youth finished speaking, he gathered his reins and spurred his horse to ride ahead first. Chen Lun followed closely behind, the rest whooshed after them, and the group galloped back to camp, gradually disappearing.

Suddenly, a great cheer surged into her ears again. Jiang Hanyuan felt the carriage beneath her slow down and finally come to a gentle stop.

She knew that the destination of her long journey—that place originally called Lord Anle’s mansion, later renamed Prince Qi’s mansion, and now called the Regent’s mansion—had finally arrived.

In a moment, this carriage door before her would be opened from outside, and that man named Shu Shenhui would come to help her down. After the ceremony was completed, it would be a long night with only the two of them facing each other.

She closed her eyes again, estimating in her mind the approximate time to return.

The main gate of the Regent’s mansion was wide open, red lanterns hung high before the gate. Looking in from the gate, a long corridor with courtyard torches burning on both sides stretched like a fire dragon, illuminating the interior as bright as day.

The Regent dismounted and walked toward the bridal carriage, about to escort his newly married princess consort through this gate.

Prince Consort and Commandant Chen Lun, bearing the dual identities of the new head of the capital’s Tianmen Bureau and the Regent’s companion of many years, naturally accompanied them on such an occasion tonight.

But throughout this journey, his spirit had been taut, not daring to relax in the slightest.

After Prince Qi Shu Hui’s sudden death last autumn, memorials to the court denouncing Prince Cheng and his faction had not ceased, involving many people. Initially, even Anbei Protector Jiang Zuwang was among them, accused of having many years of private friendship with Prince Cheng. Later, after news that the Regent would marry the Jiang woman as his consort was confirmed, Jiang Zuwang was removed from the list of those being impeached. Subsequently, two months later, at year’s end, Prince Cheng was again denounced by others. With conclusive evidence of privately recruiting troops, Prince Cheng knew there was no way out. In haste, he raised rebellion in Qing Province, but in less than half a month, the affair failed. Prince Cheng killed himself; his entire lineage of sons and grandsons, along with factional kinsmen, were all executed, with the rest exiled beyond the mountains, forbidden to return to court for life.

Though the disaster had been quelled, one couldn’t guarantee there weren’t overlooked remnant party members plotting revenge. On a day like today, with many people and complex affairs, how dare he be negligent? From Wei Bridge entering the city to the Regent’s mansion, besides the routinely deployed Two Bureaus and Imperial Guard protection, thousands of hidden sentries were arranged along the route to closely monitor the crowds watching on both sides of the road and the buildings, including rooftops, to prevent anyone from lurking and causing trouble.

Finally, at this moment, the Regent and Princess Consort Jiang’s bridal carriage procession, this vast company, had arrived outside the mansion gates.

Once through this gate, tonight’s grand wedding ceremony that had captured the entire city’s attention would be considered successfully completed.

Chen Lun stood at his position, moving his gaze from the Regent’s back as he walked toward the bridal carriage, and swept the surroundings once more.

The wedding ceremony was presided over by officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Hong Lu Bureau. Everyone was dressed in official robes, each in their position, waiting for the Regent to escort the Jiang woman down from the bridal carriage before entering.

Tonight, all personnel who could stand close here, from the second-rank court officials before him down to various department attendants and guards, had all been secretly investigated thoroughly with no problems found.

The area around the mansion’s main gate was open with no blind spots.

Chen Lun finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. At this moment, his gaze swept to the street intersection several zhang away and suddenly fixed.

There gathered many city residents who had followed the bridal carriage procession to observe the ceremony tonight, all blocked outside the intersection where barriers had been preset. However, at this time, a child was seen breaking away from the crowd.

From Chen Lun’s distance, the child appeared six or seven years old, looking mischievous, having escaped adult supervision and bouncing toward them alone.

Before Chen Lun could give orders, two guards immediately went up to the nearest point to the intersection, intending to turn the child back.

Unexpectedly, the child seemed to stumble and fall to the ground. As the guards bent to catch him, the child suddenly curled into a ball shape, his entire body rolling on the ground like a ball, actually slipping through between one guard’s legs with unusual speed, then continuing to roll forward.

Chen Lun’s pupils suddenly contracted sharply.

He could see now. This wasn’t a child but a dwarf!

In the music halls and taverns throughout Chang’an, such performers who used their physical defects to amuse people for a living were not uncommon. But appearing here tonight, disguised as a child, his identity was obvious.

The other seven or eight guards around the intersection had also reacted, joining their two companions who had missed, all leaping forward toward the still-rolling dwarf, quickly surrounding him.

The dwarf was forced to stop, but at that same moment, he drew a crossbow from under his clothes.

Instantly, an arrow bolt shot out.

Crossbows had shorter range than bows, but within effective distance, their speed and force exceeded arrows. Bolts fired from specially made crossbows could even penetrate from a person’s front chest through their back, with terrifying force.

Chen Lun desperately threw himself toward the Regent, who wasn’t far from him.

But it was already too late.

Even exerting all his strength, he still couldn’t catch up to this arrow shot like a violent storm. He watched helplessly as it swept past before his eyes like lightning. In that instant of passing, the dark, cold iron arrowhead drew a faint blue line in his pupils. This was the color of deadly poison. This poisoned arrow continued past the Ministry of Rites’ chief official and several ceremony officials who stood closer but were completely unaware, shooting toward the figure who had stopped before the bridal carriage.

Chen Lun’s heart was about to burst in his chest from overwhelming despair and terror. He could even clearly hear the roaring sound in his ears from the blood pressure rushing through.

Inside the bridal carriage, Jiang Hanyuan suddenly bent down and lifted her skirts, quick as lightning, drawing the dagger she had never left her body, about to burst through the door. At this moment, the driver who had quietly hidden beside the carriage like a nonentity after stopping had already leaped from the shadows, five fingers spread wide. Where his hand passed, he drew a blade from beneath what had been his seat.

The crossbow bolt that had been shot at close range broke in two in the air. The rear arrow shaft spun and fell with a clatter, while the front arrowhead twisted direction, but its force remained undiminished, accompanied by a dull thud as it shot deep into a patch of shadow beside the bridal carriage, leaving only a section of broken shaft exposed above ground.

The torchlight revealed that person’s face—it was actually Imperial Guard General Liu Xiang. Tonight he had personally served as the driver of the bridal carriage used for the Regent’s wedding.

All of this happened from beginning to end in just one breath.

At this time, the ceremony officials presiding over the rites before the mansion gate had just reacted. The chief official and the group behind him suddenly stopped, faces showing terror. As for the people at the intersection, their view was blocked by guards swarming up; they were even more confused, thinking it was a great fuss over catching a mischievous child who had mistakenly entered the restricted area, causing a small commotion.

Jiang Hanyuan stopped behind the carriage door. Soon she heard the congratulatory voices that had been interrupted moments before resuming outside the carriage. Attendants came forward to open the door. She quickly retreated, bent down, and had just hidden her dagger away. Before she could raise her head, her eyes suddenly brightened as brilliant courtyard torchlight from inside the mansion gate surged into the carriage.

The two carriage doors painted with golden pheasant and cloud patterns before her were opened from left and right by two ritual officials.

Regent Shu Shenhui stood properly before the carriage in formal dress.

As the carriage doors opened, he raised his eyes to look at the woman inside.

Her fingers released the dagger’s handle, and she lifted her head.

The two thus found themselves looking directly into each other’s eyes.

The blazing light of the courtyard torches, along with the shadow of this man who had come to escort her at the carriage door, also leaped and reflected in her pupils.

As if nothing had happened moments before, his gaze was clear and bright, unblinking as he watched her, raising his arm to extend his hand toward her inside the carriage.