Jiang Zuzhang was surprised, and the slight anger he had felt moments before due to his daughter leaving without notice was immediately cast aside.

He paused, turned to glance at the city direction still shrouded in the remaining darkness of night, ordered the personal guards waiting nearby to step away, then said: “Hanyuan, I know you’re unwilling. Father has already decided—I was just preparing to go to the city to give the Worthy King my final reply, declining this marriage. You don’t need to worry anymore. Go rest at ease—I’m going!”

After speaking, he walked toward his mount.

Jiang Hanyuan watched his retreating figure and spoke again.

“Father, you misunderstood. I just said the marriage is acceptable.”

Jiang Zuzhang stopped, turned around, and studied his daughter.

The torches near the camp gate burned through the night without being extinguished. The firelight danced in the cold wind, illuminating her face. Her expression was normal, only showing signs of weariness between her brows and eyes.

Jiang Zuzhang looked at his daughter for a moment, and a deep sense of guilt surged up again in his father’s heart.

The Regent King’s marriage proposal, even requesting someone like the Worthy King to come, was naturally determined to succeed and had his intentions.

Jiang Zuzhang knew what refusing the marriage at this time would mean, especially after learning of such major events in the capital.

However, if at first, upon suddenly learning of the marriage proposal, he indeed didn’t dare to defy the imperial will, after personally witnessing his daughter’s such strong resistance, his paternal instincts finally overcame everything else and gained the upper hand.

Previously, due to cowardice, he had already made a great mistake. If this time he acted the same way again, accepting orders against his conscience out of fear of imperial authority without fighting for even the slightest possibility, then even after death, he would have no face to meet his deceased wife.

“Follow me!”

He turned and walked inside.

Jiang Hanyuan followed and entered the main tent.

“Hanyuan, you don’t need to force yourself to agree for my sake, wronging yourself. Your earlier questioning was correct—the Regent King is not a good man. Not only can Father not marry you off like this, but given your temperament, you shouldn’t agree either. You’ve grown up in the borderlands since childhood and are accustomed to freedom. A place like the capital would be like a prison to you—you can’t bear it and it’s not suitable for you.”

As soon as they entered, Jiang Zuzhang spoke thus.

“Yanmen Xixing Pass will be where the world’s heroic soldiers gather in the future. The Regent King marrying you has his real intention in me—it should still be mostly to show favor and win loyalty. He needs to use me, so this matter is not entirely without room for negotiation. Moreover, when he toured the borders as a youth and came here, I spent several days with him. Though young, he had an open and magnanimous bearing with natural dignity, and should be someone who can accept others’ counsel. Regarding this matter, Father’s mind is made up—decline the marriage!”

Jiang Zuzhang’s tone was firm, no longer showing any of his previous hesitation and uncertainty.

After speaking, he saw his daughter’s eyes fall on his face without saying a word, still showing no reaction to his words.

“Are you listening to Father?”

She seemed to suddenly come back to herself.

“I said before, I accept the marriage.”

“Sisi!”

Jiang Zuzhang called her childhood name with increased emphasis. “Father told you, you don’t need to worry too much about anything! Father will bear everything! The court needs to use me now—the Regent King won’t do anything to me!”

She slowly raised her eyes to look at her father.

“Thank you for your consideration. However, please reply according to my wishes. Also—”

She paused. “I don’t know when the wedding date is, but if there’s time, I’d like to go to Yunluo.”

After speaking, she bowed to her father and left.

Jiang Zuzhang never expected that after his daughter’s disappearance for many days, she would return with such a changed attitude.

A father’s intuition told him that at the very beginning, when she first learned this news, she was extremely resistant. These days, where did she go? What exactly happened to cause such a great change in her?

He watched his daughter’s retreating figure and couldn’t help calling out to her again.

“Sisi! What’s wrong with you? Are you truly willing? Where exactly did you go these days?”

Jiang Hanyuan stopped at the tent entrance and stood for a moment.

“Father, you just said that this pass will be where the world’s heroic soldiers gather in the future.”

She slowly turned around to face Jiang Zuzhang.

“Shu Shenhui needs a great general like you, and you also need someone in a high position like Shu Shenhui. This marriage is not unacceptable to me. I’ve agreed to it willingly. Father, you need no self-reproach—just prepare your troops and horses and wait for that day to come.”

She walked out.

Jiang Zuzhang came to his senses and chased out of the main tent, only to see his daughter had already gone far. Her steps were steady, a solitary figure gradually disappearing into the pale dawn light.

The eastern horizon turned white. When the first ray of sunlight burst forth from the frost-covered plain’s horizon, the carriage carrying the Worthy King and his entourage left the city, heading south toward the capital at swift speed.

Deep in the night, the faint sound of water clocks drifted from the depths of the continuous palace buildings and reached human ears.

It was the second quarter of the Zi hour. The young emperor had long since returned to his sleeping quarters to rest. At this time, within the imperial palace, only this place remained brightly lit.

This place was the Wenlin Pavilion, located in the northwest corner within the palace’s second wall, not far from the main court hall Xuanzheng Hall. It was where the Regent King conducted daily affairs and held discussions after court sessions ended, also serving as his resting place.

The water clock sounds ceased. Li Xiangchun, the old eunuch waiting outside, saw that Zhang Bao beside him was beginning to fight sleep, so he turned his head to glance inside.

The Regent King still sat behind his desk, head slightly lowered, concentrating intently on reading memorials.

During this period, too many major events occurred in the capital.

First, on the night of Empress Dowager Lan’s birthday, the current Grand Marshal High King suddenly died of illness. The Regent King personally presided over the funeral rites—the High King’s posthumous honors need not be elaborated. During the funeral period, most of the six army generals—Imperial City Guard, Garrison Guard, Left and Right Guards, Elite Cavalry, and Mobile Cavalry—were also transferred from their positions and replaced with new personnel. Moreover, just a few days after the High King’s grand funeral, numerous meritorious officials from the Sacred Martial Emperor’s reign successively submitted petitions to retire. The court approved them all. To show appreciation for these old meritorious officials, each was granted generous rewards and hereditary fiefs ranging from one thousand to five thousand households. Subsequently, the court also abolished the previously used Martial Marquis Bureau and Gate Guard departments, establishing new Heaven Gate and Earth Gate bureaus under which were the Martial Might and Rising Yang camps, responsible for security inside and outside the capital region.

Similar reform measures had been attempted during the late Emperor Ming’s reign, but faced heavy resistance and ultimately came to nothing. Now, High King Shu Hui’s sudden death had frightened many people out of their wits. Certain ministers who had been accustomed to jumping out and making critical comments during court sessions just months ago had now become staunch supporters of the new policies. Policy after policy flowed smoothly without obstruction, reaching the lower levels directly. Not only that, recently secret memorials reporting King Cheng and his party members flew in like snowflakes from various places, piling up on the imperial desk.

As for the Regent King, that day he went to the High King’s mansion to pay respects. Everyone in the hall, from princes above to officials below, all bowed three times with bated breath. He gazed intently, and wherever his eyes fell, no one dared meet his gaze.

It seemed that from that day onward, a saying quickly spread that the Regent King was ambitious and ruthless, killing people invisibly.

These words were what Li Xiangchun had overheard from some reckless young attendants in the palace who had learned them somewhere and were repeating them privately. To the old eunuch’s ears, they were complete nonsense. He, too, was an old hand from the Martial Emperor’s reign, and to speak boldly, he had watched the Regent King grow up. From Lord Anle to Lord Qi to the current Regent King—what kind of person his master was, didn’t he know clearly?

At the time, those few attendants were scared, pale, and knelt begging for mercy. If the Regent King had heard, he would probably have just smiled it off. So Li Xiangchun didn’t make things too difficult, just having each given twenty rod strikes to teach them a lesson.

Even if someone died at the Regent King’s hands, they were all people who deserved to die, living only as wasted grain.

The old eunuch thought coldly. He only felt sorry for the Regent King, who already oversaw all court affairs, and the young emperor was also…

The old eunuch sighed inwardly. The Regent King didn’t have a moment’s rest, and recently various matters kept coming one after another. The degree of his busyness could be imagined.

It was midwinter now, and this year winter had come early, with cold invading at night. Though charcoal fires burned in the pavilion chamber, the place was spacious and empty. After waiting a long time, Li Xiangchun still felt his hands and feet getting somewhat cold.

Tonight, after the young emperor left, the Regent King remained bent over his desk like this without getting up once.

Zhang Bao, who had been dozing, suddenly shivered and became alert. Having followed the old eunuch for many years, seeing him look toward the warming brazier inside, he immediately understood and was about to enter, but saw the old eunuch shake his head at him.

Estimating that the charcoal fire in the brazier wasn’t strong, the old eunuch quietly walked in himself, lifted the cover, used the fire tongs to stir up the fire, added several pieces of charcoal, then carefully covered it again.

His movements were light, but Shu Shenhui was still disturbed and casually asked the time.

Li Xiangchun had been waiting for this. “The drum tower just sounded the second quarter of Zi hour, but Your Highness was probably concentrating on affairs and didn’t hear it.”

“So late already?” Shu Shenhui spoke without lifting his head, and the brush in his hand didn’t stop either.

“Indeed. This old servant knows there are many matters that all need quick handling. However, though this old servant can’t read many characters, I’ve heard it said that ‘if a worker wishes to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools.’ The Regent King is like our Great Wei’s important instrument. If you exhaust your body, how can you share His Majesty’s worries? Last night, Your Highness only slept for two hours. Always continuing like this, even if made of iron, one couldn’t bear it!”

Shu Shenhui finally stopped writing and looked up at the old eunuch. “Even more talkative than Zhang Bao.”

Zhang Bao, outside, heard himself suddenly mentioned without knowing what about, and his ears perked up.

The old eunuch bowed. “This old servant talks too much! If I spoke wrongly, Your Highness shouldn’t laugh at this old servant.”

Shu Shenhui smiled. After the ink dried, he closed the memorial he had just finished reviewing, gently placed the brush on a small jade mountain stand, rubbed his hands, got up, and walked to the window, pushing open the shutters.

It had been overcast and cold for days, and tonight, too, thick clouds covered the moon. Outside the window, the courtyard flowers and trees were withered and bare, presenting a scene of desolation, with a few withered lotus stems and remaining leaves by the pond. In the distance, the night outlined the heavy silhouettes of layered palace buildings. The ornamental beasts and roof creatures standing on the flying eaves and upturned corners no longer displayed their daytime solemn majesty—they looked ominously shadowed.

A gust of night wind carrying heavy chill rushed in.

Li Xiangchun quickly took outer garments and brought them over. “Your Highness, be careful of the cold.”

Shu Shenhui didn’t take them, stared out the window, lost in thought for a moment, then said as if to himself, “The Worthy King went out—it’s been some time, hasn’t it?”

As if by telepathy, just then an attendant hurried inside and spoke quietly to Zhang Bao, who quickly entered to relay: “Your Highness, General Liu just sent word that the Worthy King Old Highness has returned! The Old Highness is outside the palace gate, asking whether Your Highness has retired for the night.”

Shu Shenhui’s eyes flickered slightly. He suddenly turned around and immediately strode outside with large steps.