Prince Shao, Ying.
Huo Qi Lang was stunned. With all the grand ceremonies he had witnessed since entering the manor, even the most obtuse person would realize that the bedridden figure was the emperor’s son, a Prince who served as Governor of Youzhou. He could not possibly be Yang Xingjian’s adopted son.
Steward Li Chengyin respectfully explained: “Wang Ying is the Prince’s assumed name. To ensure the confidentiality of correspondence, Yang the Secretary used this name as the recipient. Now that you meet him in person, please deliver the letter to the Prince.”
Huo Qi Lang remained immersed in shock. Thinking carefully, although he had met Yang Xingjian two or three times, they had barely exchanged more than a few words. The person who had entrusted him with delivering and writing the letter had always been Lady Yang. At the time, that young lady’s heartfelt concern for her brother had seemed utterly sincere.
She clutched the carp-shaped letter case in her saddlebag, hesitating: “But this is a letter Yang Fangxie wrote to her brother…”
Li Chengyin frowned: “What are you talking about? Lady Yang was the Prince’s concubine who died of illness two years ago before the wedding ceremony. Where would Yang the Secretary get a second daughter? There may be some misunderstanding here, but Yang the Secretary’s letter must certainly be written to the Prince. We need to examine the letter’s contents to understand its meaning. Please give the letter to Prince Shao, and the Prince will reward you handsomely.”
Having traveled thousands of miles to get here, she could not return empty-handed due to some minor discrepancy. Huo Qi Lang surveyed the positions of the doors and windows in the room, confident that if the situation changed, she could snatch back the letter from these three people and force her way out. Thus resolved, she took out the carp-shaped letter case and placed it in Li Chengyin’s hands.
Li Chengyin held the letter case and stepped forward, passing it through Lady Li to the Prince Shao lying on the bed.
Huo Qi Lang heard the subtle sounds of breaking the clay seal and opening the letter from behind the screen. After the paper unfolded, there immediately followed the sound of the fish-scale wooden board falling to the ground after slipping from someone’s grasp.
“This handwriting!… cough cough…”
Only the rustling of clothing and bedding could be heard from the bed as Prince Shao seemed to struggle to sit up. Lady Li hurriedly stuffed a cushion behind him, supporting him in a half-lying, half-sitting position.
“Am I… am I seeing things? Nanny Li…”
Li Yuanying thought he was experiencing dying hallucinations and could not believe it. Lady Li glanced at the letter in his hands and showed the same expression of shock, crying out: “How is this possible!”
Lady Li came from an official family. In her youth, she was enslaved to the palace due to her family’s crimes and sent to the Inner Palace. Later, because of her virtue and talent, she was selected as Prince Shao’s wet nurse, serving him in the imperial court since he was two or three years old. Prince Shao and Princess Wangshou had grown up together as siblings, and the wet nurse was very familiar with everyone’s handwriting. Seeing the vigorous and powerful calligraphy on the letter paper was like seeing the person herself.
“Could this have been written before the Princess died?” Lady Li felt uneasy and, disregarding propriety, called Steward Li Chengyin to the bedside to read the letter together.
The letter contained only ordinary content of a subject greeting their lord, yet several rather abrupt phrases made their hearts race wildly: “a pearl lost in the vast sea finding life in desperate straits” and “siblings of the same blood reunited like a waning moon becoming full again”—all hinting at an extremely shocking truth.
The date was merely eighteen days ago, which was more than two months after Princess Wangshou’s burial.
Li Chengyin panicked and knocked over a medicine bowl by the bed, spilling medicine all over himself. He rushed out from behind the screen, urgently asking: “What did that Yang Fangxie who wrote the letter look like?!”
Huo Qi Lang saw the three shadowy figures behind the screen, each losing their composure, and was very puzzled. She answered: “A young lady of sixteen or seventeen, both charming and imposing, with four feet of beautiful hair. Round ears close to her head with full earlobes—a rare noble physiognomy.”
She thought for a moment and added with emphasis: “Oh yes, she’s also an archery expert whose arrows never miss their mark.”
As soon as Huo Qi Lang finished speaking, a sudden gust of sourceless wind swept through the room. All the curtains and silk hangings fluttered loudly in the wind, and the two gilded dragon-patterned lamps beside the bed suddenly blazed with brilliant light, as if some magical life force had been injected into this lifeless great hall.
“She’s still alive… still alive! Baozhu!…”
Li Yuanying’s eyes, which had lost their vitality, regained their luster, and his fading breath gained a bit more strength.
Both Lady Li and Li Chengyin knew that his exile to the frontier had left him depressed, and combined with his sister’s inexplicable early death—with many suspicious circumstances surrounding her death—these continuous blows had caused his severe illness. With this letter’s arrival, it was like a withered tree meeting spring; his heart disease was more than half cured, and perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope for recovery.
Huo Qi Lang heard the labored breathing from behind the screen and inexplicably wanted to turn around and get a close look at that person’s appearance. However, this transaction had not been completed, and for the sake of money, she must maintain politeness before her wealthy client, so she restrained herself from moving.
She asked: “Was this letter delivered to the right person or not?”
Li Chengyin said excitedly: “Yes! Absolutely certain! Thank you, messenger, for your emergency assistance. Please follow me to receive your reward.” He planned to pay a sum to seal her lips and immediately have Huo Qi Lang leave Youzhou to prevent the secret from leaking.
Li Yuanying examined the letter’s contents once more and commanded in a low voice: “Have her stay. Baozhu specifically wrote that this person has remarkable skills and can be put to great use—she’s someone Baozhu trusts.”
Lady Li supported him, tears in her eyes: “She must stay—this is our lucky star!”
Huo Qi Lang was completely confused: “Who is Baozhu again? The young lady who asked me to deliver this letter told me that after delivering it to the Youzhou Governor’s residence, I should find work as a guard here, specifically to protect her brother. But you say Wang Ying is a false name, and there’s no such person as Yang Jiu Niang.”
Li Yuanying exchanged a meaningful glance with his steward, who understood and, after carefully considering his words, asked: “May I ask how you came to know the woman who asked you to deliver the letter and Yang the Secretary?”
Huo Qi Lang said straightforwardly: “My eldest senior brother is the bodyguard for the Yang father and daughter. Through that connection, I got the job of delivering the letter. That young lady promised that if I delivered the letter to Youzhou and worked as a guard for a year or two, I could live freely and at ease for the rest of my life.”
“And how did your senior brother come to know them?”
“I don’t know about that. They’re heading toward Youzhou, but since the young lady is delicate, she can’t rush day and night like I can. They’re traveling slowly, so she had me come ahead to deliver the letter and report their safety.”
Upon hearing the words “report their safety,” the steward glanced once more at Li Yuanying’s expression behind the screen, then said solemnly to Huo Qi Lang: “Since this is the Princess’s recommendation, we won’t hide this matter from you. However, it involves state secrets, so please don’t reveal a single word to anyone—not even to people within the Prince’s residence. The woman who asked you to deliver the letter is not Yang the Secretary’s daughter. Her real name is Li Baozhu, and she is the current Emperor’s biological daughter, Prince Shao’s sister—Princess Wangshou.”
Huo Qi Lang’s expression froze. She asked again: “Who?”
The steward repeated: “Princess Wangshou.”
“I’m from Chang’an and know who Princess Wangshou is, but didn’t she die in the fifth month? I even went to see her funeral—it was truly luxurious and magnificent, incomparable to any other.”
Steward Li Chengyin said: “We also find this matter extremely surprising, but based on your description of her appearance and archery skills, as well as the calligraphy in this letter that was learned from Master Liu, we’re certain it’s the Princess herself—no one else could forge it. She called herself Yang the Secretary’s daughter, presumably to conceal her identity so she could safely reach Youzhou. ‘Wang Ying’s’ sister—in the entire world, only the Princess fits this description.”
Huo Qi Lang nearly laughed: “There’s no principle by which dead people can come back to life. My senior brother, he…”
She paused, gradually understanding, and muttered to herself: “My senior brother is the most skilled among the living tomb robbers. Could it be that he…”
Huo Qi Lang recalled how all the senior and junior disciples had gathered in Lingbao County at that time, and Wei Xun had bragged to his fellow disciples about stealing a peerless treasure, as well as his meaningful smile when accepting the job—it all seemed a bit too smug. Could it be that the lad had dug into the underground palace before the Princess had even grown cold, and excavated such a large and beautiful treasure?!
Recalling that young lady’s distinctive manner of speech and behavior, she had judged by physiognomy that her appearance was unspeakably noble—it turned out to be the “unspeakably noble” of true dragon bloodline? The more she thought about it, the more real it seemed. Huo Qi Lang suddenly understood, both shocked and delighted, knowing that as long as the man on the bed didn’t die, tremendous wealth was about to come.
Hearing her words, the steward’s expression became somewhat stiff: “Your senior brother is a tomb robber…”
Huo Qi Lang quickly distanced herself, laughing awkwardly: “That’s his personal bad habit. We at Remnant Sun Academy are an upstanding orthodox sect in Guanzhong. Our disciples who travel the martial world have always emphasized chivalry and justice, operating with honor and integrity, without such foul practices.”
Li Yuanying had already deduced the truth from her few scattered words, saying in a low voice: “So, she was buried alive.”
Lady Li feared that excessive thinking would consume his remaining vital energy, and quickly advised: “No matter how she survived, the Princess has turned danger into safety. Now under Yang the Secretary’s protection, she’s heading toward Youzhou. When the time comes, you can ask her about the whole story in person—there’s no need to rush.”
Li Yuanying closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time. Enduring various discomforts, he said softly to his wet nurse: “Bring some thin porridge—I’ll try to drink a little.”
Ever since receiving news of the Princess’s sudden death, his condition had worsened day by day. In recent days, he had been unable to swallow anything. Seeing him regain the will to live, Lady Li immediately burst into tears of joy, choking up as she nodded and summoned the attendants to arrange food.
Li Chengyin knew that at this crucial moment, Prince Shao must not be overtaxed, so he had Huo Qi Lang come out first. He immediately signed a treasury warrant and ordered a steward surnamed Zhou to take her to collect the reward and arrange lodging for her in the Prince’s residence.
With a hefty two hundred taels of gold in hand, Huo Qi Lang beamed with joy, thinking to herself that Wei Da’s eye for locating burial sites was indeed superb—he could actually dig up a living princess, and his fellow disciples could benefit by association. She also thought that despite the lad knowing she was the Emperor’s own daughter, he still dared to harbor such treacherous thoughts. Once a completely clueless person gains understanding, they become truly unscrupulous.
However, recalling all of Princess Baozhu’s endearing qualities, who wouldn’t love her? If it weren’t for Wei Da’s ruthlessness, Huo Qi herself would have been quite smitten.
Steward Zhou saw that she had received an enormous reward for delivering just one letter. Though envious and jealous, he knew that such wandering martial artists had fighting skills, and even if ordinary people wanted to earn such dangerous money, they couldn’t. The steward had just ordered him to take good care of this person and provide her with clothing and supplies according to the high-ranking standards of the Prince’s residence, which troubled him.
He looked up at Huo Qi, estimating that she was at least six feet and one inch tall. Even in the frontier regions with many foreign peoples, military recruitment only required five feet seven inches. This woman was broad-shouldered and long-legged, half a head taller than ordinary men. He muttered quietly:
“Where am I supposed to find clothes for such a big girl?”
Huo Qi Lang laughed: “Male or female doesn’t matter—I’ll wear whatever you have. After traveling so far, I should indeed take a bath and change clothes.”
Author’s Note: Tang dynasty measurements were between 29cm to 31cm, so let’s assume 30cm. Lao Qi’s height is 183+cm, Wei Xun is about 178cm (Wei Da: I don’t appear in this volume, don’t @ me)
Old Yang once had great political ambitions too, but unfortunately…