After the New Year, Princess Qingyang had been living in the palace, reuniting with Lady Qi who had raised her since childhood and with the Shu ruler Wang Jian. She was waiting until after the Lantern Festival to depart for Tanzhou under the escort of the wedding delegation led by Han Qian, where she would marry the Third Prince of Great Chu, Yang Yuanpu.
These past days in the palace did not mean Princess Qingyang had nothing to do.
The dazzling array of dowry items needed to be prepared and inventoried, and in two more days they would be transported out of the palace treasury to be loaded onto ships in advance.
The magnificently beautiful wedding garments also required rushing to complete the final embroidery and tailoring.
Although the palace had a Bureau of Weaving and Embroidery with the finest embroiderers in Shu, Princess Qingyang disliked the aesthetic tastes of the palace matrons. As a woman, she could only have one grand wedding in her lifetime—how could she not concern herself with her wedding garments?
More importantly, there was the selection of palace officials and maids who would accompany her into Chu.
Although Qingyang had been cared for by a group of palace officials and palace maids since childhood, and could basically confirm they were reliable with no suspicious or messy entanglements, just because these people were reliable in the Shu capital didn’t mean that forcing them to leave their homeland and accompany her to Chu—separated from their families for life with no possibility of reunion—wouldn’t leave them with some resentment.
Going to Chu, behind her there would only be a former homeland whose relationship with Great Chu was ambiguously unclear as friend or foe. If she didn’t have one or two reliable people by her side, marrying Yang Yuanpu would be like a sheep entering a wolf pack, her situation worrisome.
Although Prince Tan’s consort Li Yao also had countless connections with the Divine Mausoleum Bureau, this not only didn’t mean Li Yao and the Marquis of Xinchang’s household behind her would remember old affections—they would actually suppress her vigorously because she was competing for favor. Moreover, once Yang Yuanpu ascended the throne, the three palaces and six courts would all need to be filled with daughters from minister families, each one becoming her formidable rival.
At that time, alone and isolated, how could she manage without one or two people by her side who could offer counsel?
Although her brother ultimately chose to adopt Han Qian’s strategy and successfully took the position of Prefect of Yuzhou, undertaking affairs to administer the south of Ba, Qingyang always felt this man Han Qian was not trustworthy.
However, besides Han Qian, among the trusted generals and ministers around the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu of Chu, who else could she turn to as a strong ally?
Qingyang sat anxiously by the window, watching the continuous drizzle falling on the eaves.
At this moment, a matron serving at her side came in to report: “The Marquis of Changxiang’s household just sent someone to the palace saying the wedding envoy Han Qian has fallen seriously ill and is bedridden in the southern courtyard of Jinhua Tower. They may need to petition His Majesty to delay a few days before escorting the princess back to Chu for the wedding!”
Qingyang started in surprise, stood up and said: “I’ll go inform the Lady, then head to the Marquis of Changxiang’s household.”
Although deep in her heart she believed Han Qian was the type with a sinister temperament who couldn’t be trusted, as things stood now, without Han Qian, she would become a caged bird completely trapped within Prince Tan’s inner palace or the Chu palace.
Although this age didn’t have strict etiquette regarding separation between men and women, Qingyang couldn’t directly go to the southern courtyard of Jinhua Tower to visit Han Qian. She thought to first return to the Marquis of Changxiang’s household, as she also had other matters to discuss and seek advice from Liang Wan.
These years, under the governance of Shu ruler Wang Jian, though the capital of Shu couldn’t be said to leave doors unlocked at night, incidents of bandits rampaging through the streets had basically been eradicated.
Princess Qingyang left the palace in haste with only five or six people clustered around a magnificent carriage passing through streets and alleys. There couldn’t be any ceremonial procession, nor could there be hundreds or thousands of guards clustering for protection.
Even if Liang scouts wanted to sabotage the marriage alliance between Chu and Shu, they couldn’t possibly accomplish this through assassinating Princess Qingyang. That would only cause the relationship between Liang and Shu to completely rupture, pushing Shu entirely to Chu’s side.
Passing through Nanhua Alley, they saw an old man in shabby clothes leading a donkey and driving a charcoal cart for selling firewood and charcoal in the city, turning in from the other end of the alley.
Perhaps the charcoal cart was too old, or perhaps the firewood and charcoal loaded in it was too full—after turning into the alley and going no more than seven or eight zhang, they heard a creaking sound. The wooden wheel collapsed, the charcoal cart toppled over, and pitch-black charcoal immediately spilled all over the ground. Together with the collapsed cart body, it blocked the narrow five or six chi wide alley completely.
The old donkey was also suddenly pulled down by the chest strap, thrashing its hooves and braying.
Qingyang felt the carriage stop. She lifted the curtain and a cold wind rushed in. Seeing the situation at the alley entrance, her delicate brows furrowed slightly. Just as she was about to have the driver lead the horses on a detour, she saw several beggars holding broken bowls crowding forward from both sides. When she sensed something was wrong and was about to scream, these beggars along with vegetable vendors who had followed from behind had already swarmed forward, subduing the several palace attendants clustered around the traveling carriage.
“How dare you abduct me! Aren’t you afraid of having nine generations executed?” Qingyang shouted sternly. But before she could draw the decorative dagger hidden in her bosom, a figure incredibly swift leaped onto the carriage, unfurling a large black cloth and wrapping it over her head and body.
Qingyang then felt her hands clamped as if by iron pincers, unable to struggle. She screamed shrilly, but the sound was muffled within the black cloth and the carriage compartment and couldn’t carry outside. Soon an iron-pincer-like hand pried her mouth open, using a rope to bind it across, forcing it into her compelled-open mouth so she could no longer make a sound. At the same time she heard voices ordering others to disguise themselves as palace attendants and lead the carriage out through a detour from Nanhua Alley.
Qingyang still thought that once the carriage left Nanhua Alley she could create some disturbance, but unexpectedly the next moment she was forcibly dragged down from the carriage. Together with several other palace attendants and matrons, they were pulled into a residence on the side. Only then did she realize the other party’s abduction of her in Nanhua Alley had been premeditated. This residence was located on the necessary route from the palace to the Marquis of Changxiang’s household and should have been prepared in secret long ago.
Entering the courtyard, she was separated from those palace officials and matrons, pushed through halls and across courtyards. By intuition she could tell they exited from the other side of this residence and she was stuffed into a cart full of fishy, foul odors, her hands and feet fixed to the cart body with additional ropes.
At this point, let alone breaking free, she couldn’t even create any disturbance.
The carriage traveled through the web-like streets and alleys of the Shu capital. Qingyang quickly lost her sense of direction, not knowing from which city gate she was transported out, until she heard the gurgling sound of flowing water and the carriage finally stopped.
She was dragged down from the carriage, and only when the black cloth covering her face was removed did she see, to her shock, Han Qian—who was supposedly seriously ill and bedridden in the southern courtyard of Jinhua Tower—now standing by the riverside, surrounded by a crowd, gazing intently at the mighty river flowing into the distance.
In just these few short days since they’d last met, Han Qian now had disheveled hair and beard, his cheeks and chin unshaven for several days, covered with dense stubble, making him appear rough and down-and-out overall. His cheeks were gaunt and his eye sockets had sunken, as if he’d truly suffered a serious illness these past days.
When he occasionally glanced over, his eyes were so sinister, harboring a chilling resentment that made one’s hair stand on end.
Yang Qin saw that after Xi Fa’er and Guo Que released Princess Qingyang from her bonds, she surprisingly didn’t make a big fuss or commotion. Rather puzzled, he said: “The princess seems quite calm?”
“You went to such great lengths to prevent me from making any unusual sounds, yet didn’t knock me unconscious with a club. Presumably you don’t dare harm me in the slightest, so what do I have to worry about?” Qingyang rubbed her wrists that were numb and red from being bound, suppressed the fury in her heart, and said in as calm a tone as possible, “Why did you bind me and bring me out of the city? Can you tell me the reason now?”
Yang Qin, Zhou Chu and the others were secretly shocked to see Princess Qingyang able to remain so composed at this moment.
Han Qian didn’t move or make a sound.
Yang Qin said:
“A great upheaval occurred in Jinling. His Majesty was murdered. The treacherous Empress Xu Hui usurped power to enthrone the Crown Prince, yet falsely accused the Imperial Consort and the Marquis of Xinchang of conspiring to murder His Majesty. His Highness is also in danger. My lord worries there may be changes to the marriage between the princess and His Highness, so he could only use this method to ask the princess to return with us to Great Chu first to marry His Highness. We ask the princess to understand our difficulties.”
Qingyang’s heart surged with towering fury wanting to tear these people before her into pieces, but what she found even harder to endure was that even now Han Qian hadn’t even looked at her directly, as if Guo Que and Xi Fa’er had just brought over some insignificant kitten or puppy.
Qingyang asked through gritted teeth:
“What if I cannot understand?”
Han Qian remained like a statue, gazing at the mighty river flowing into the distance, completely unmoved by Qingyang’s words, as if Qingyang’s resentful words were no more than a moist river breeze brushing past his ears in the afternoon.
Yang Qin gestured for Guo Que to bring forward the black cloth and ropes that had just been removed, letting Princess Qingyang clearly see the cruel situation and facts before her.
Of course they hoped Princess Qingyang could have a cooperative attitude; otherwise they could only bind Princess Qingyang all the way back to Great Chu.
Qingyang wished she could rush forward and claw several marks into this dog thief Han Qian’s face, but at present she could only aggressively question Yang Qin:
“When I don’t arrive at the Marquis of Changxiang’s household, someone will soon report to the palace. When they confirm the wedding delegation has departed without notice, do you really think you can escape pursuit by the Hidden Dragon Bureau’s elite cavalry across a thousand li of Shu territory? And can the troops you’ve left behind to cover your tracks escape Shu’s extreme punishments?”
Yang Qin said:
“They say when daughters grow up, fathers can’t control them. We can only ask the princess to leave behind a letter declaring that after learning of the upheaval in Jinling, the princess feared the Shu ruler would renege on the marriage, so willingly conspired with us to escape the Shu capital. I believe the Shu ruler will be moved by the deep and sincere affection between the princess and His Highness, and will forgive our disrespectful crimes.”
“What if I don’t write it?” Princess Qingyang said.
Yang Qin said:
“We’ve already written the letter. The handwriting resembles the princess’s by at least seventy to eighty percent. Now we only need to borrow one of the princess’s beloved personal items as proof. And those around the princess probably wouldn’t dare shoulder the clan-exterminating crime of losing the princess, so they’ll also testify that everything was the princess’s scheme, that everything was the princess’s willing choice!”
Qingyang hadn’t expected everything to be within Han Qian’s calculations, leaving her unable to struggle whether she lived or died. At this point she no longer concealed the hatred in her heart, asking resentfully, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll bear a grudge over this matter in the future?”
Yang Qin said: “Everything we do is for His Highness’s sake. The princess is angry now, but given the deep affection between you and His Highness, in time you’ll understand my lord’s loyal devotion is truly rare.”
Qingyang cursed in her heart—what damn affection did she have with Yang Yuanpu? She knew she couldn’t expect this dog thief Han Qian to simply let her return intact, but how could she willingly let this dog thief Han Qian bind her and take her back to Chu?
Taking advantage of Yang Qin’s lack of vigilance, Qingyang suddenly reached toward a guard beside her, snatched the sword from his waist, and was about to cut her own throat. But Guo Que and Xi Fa’er were even faster—from behind they knocked the sword from her hand and firmly pinned both her hands behind her back, preventing her from harming herself.
Yang Qin and Zhou Chu’s expressions changed dramatically. They hadn’t expected Princess Qingyang to have such a fierce temperament. Forget about Princess Qingyang dying here today—even if she harmed herself and lost a little finger, they would have difficulty explaining when they returned to Tanzhou.
Qingyang said proudly: “I’ve fallen into your hands and cannot struggle, but if I’m determined to die, what can you do to me? See how you explain this to your master when you return to Great Chu!”
Only then did Han Qian turn around and glance at Qingyang.
This glance devoid of any emotional coloring was so cold, seeming to harbor a hint of killing intent, that it shocked Qingyang profoundly. It was as if in this dog thief’s eyes she was already a corpse. She didn’t know what had happened in Jinling to cause such a great change in this dog thief’s temperament.
Han Qian took out a book from his bosom, walked to the riverside to wet it, then walked before Qingyang. Page by page he tore off the moistened paper pages and plastered them over her face, covering her mouth and nose. With cruel, merciless eyes fixed on Qingyang’s face as it gradually flushed red and then purple, he said word by word:
“What I need to do is merely make Shu ruler Wang Jian and the Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong believe you left Shu with us. But actually bringing you along would only be a burden—who knows how many more people would have to die for you…”