The previous night’s covert reconnaissance by spies was publicly explained by Yuan Shaobo as roof timber decay, accidentally damaged by ravens in the middle of the night, with guards mistaking it for an assassin attack and thus breaking down the doors in their response. This cover story was used to conceal the truth, with only Madam Li and a select few trusted confidants knowing what really happened.
The next day, household steward Li Chengyin sent people to repair the roof and main gate. At noon, Steward Zhou gathered the craftsmen and brought them to the main house courtyard, only to see Madam Li’s maids standing outside the gate blocking them, one by one covering their mouths and waving their hands, whispering that the Great King hadn’t awakened yet and no noise or commotion was allowed in the courtyard.
Steward Zhou hurriedly ordered the craftsmen to return to the outer residence to wait, feeling quite puzzled and muttering to himself: “Usually he can’t sleep, so why can’t he wake up now?”
He caught sight of Huo Qi Lang standing at the entrance of the guards’ quarters, leaning against the doorframe with a melon in his hand, crunching away happily, so he walked over to inquire: “What’s wrong with the Great King today?”
Huo Qi Lang shrugged: “I finished my shift this morning, how would I know what’s happening inside the house?”
Seeing no one around, Steward Zhou covered his mouth with his hand and asked in a lowered voice: “Could it be that his body is failing?”
Huo Qi Lang pondered for a moment, then said seriously: “Actually, he’s quite vigorous.”
Upon hearing it wasn’t a life-threatening condition, Steward Zhou immediately felt relieved: “If he can sleep, then he can gradually accumulate vital energy.”
As he was about to leave for the outer residence, Huo Qi Lang stuffed the last piece of melon into his mouth, wiped his fingers on his clothes, and caught up saying: “Steward, wait! I also have something I’d like to ask about.”
Steward Zhou stopped and asked: “What is it?”
Huo Qi Lang smiled: “The military supervisor is strict, but are there any secret places in this mansion where one can gamble?”
Steward Zhou’s face turned cold: “What are you talking about? Gambling and drinking are both activities strictly forbidden by the household steward’s explicit orders.”
Huo Qi Lang put on that irresistibly brilliant smile and asked again: “Really, there’s none?”
Steward Zhou held out for a while but eventually surrendered, saying in a low voice: “Even if there were, you couldn’t get in. They all play quietly a few rounds late at night to lift their spirits. You’re on night duty in the main house – how could you slip out?”
Huo Qi Lang sighed regretfully, muttering: “Money that can’t be spent is just like stones, isn’t it?”
Knowing she was now a favored person before Madam Li, Steward Zhou smiled and said: “The entire Youzhou city doesn’t have many decent taverns. You should save your money well – if you get a chance to return to Chang’an, you could buy a small residence to settle down.”
Huo Qi Lang lacked such steady temperament, only shaking her head and sighing over the absence of immediate pleasures.
Now back to Madam Li – she sat in the bright area of the main house doing embroidery, but being absent-minded, she kept making mistakes with her stitches. When she came in the morning and learned from Yuan Shaobo about the previous night’s spy reconnaissance, she was greatly shocked, worried that Prince Shao’s condition might worsen as a result.
Who would have known that Li Yuanying was sleeping deeply wrapped in brocade quilts, except the bed curtains were in complete disarray, with thin silk nightclothes crumpled into a ball and thrown in a corner. The first time this happened, she thought it was coincidental, but the second time she detected something amiss.
Madam Li was a married woman who understood intimate matters, and roughly guessed what was happening. She quietly hid away the torn nightclothes, brought new clothes to place by the bedside, and ordered the attendants to leave without prying or disturbing.
In recent years, Prince Shao had been caught in the whirlpool of imperial suspicion. Except for some joking words when seeing his sister, he was heavy-hearted at all other times. Under such pressure, his lack of interest in intimate affairs was not surprising. However, during his illness, he had undergone such a transformation – it was hard to say what to make of it.
He didn’t wake until past noon. Li Yuanying fumbled to dress himself properly, then pulled back the curtains to call for someone to bring water for washing. Afterwards, he ate half a bowl of ginger juice noodles with orange silk fish vinegar.
Madam Li quietly observed his complexion. Perhaps due to several consecutive nights of good sleep, he looked better than during his critical illness a few days ago, and his appetite was slightly stronger than usual. She felt greatly comforted and decided to turn a blind eye and keep silent. Since they had invited someone to ward off evil spirits, as long as it could save his life, who would care about the specific method of protection? She only hoped that what the wandering knight had brought was not just the fish-scale letter, but could also indirectly transmit her robust vitality to her lord.
Come evening, when Huo Qi Lang arrived for night duty, Madam Li specially left her a midnight snack – some flower-wrapped cloud dream meat and fragrant crossing-threshold cakes. Unfortunately, the madam’s hints were too subtle, and Huo Qi didn’t recognize what they were, simply smiling in thanks and eating them all up as ordinary additional meals.
After another four or five days, just before the city’s curfew time, Military Supervisor Ruan Ziming took advantage of the dim twilight to visit incognito, carrying several rare and precious tonic medicinal materials under the pretense of visiting the sick. After Prince Shao dismissed his attendants, he spoke briefly with him on the sickbed, after which Ruan Ziming respectfully took his leave.
After summoning his trusted followers, Li Yuanying spoke concisely: “Liu and Ruan have split. From now on, as long as I don’t leave Youzhou city, whatever else I do, Ruan Ziming will pretend not to see.”
Everyone was overjoyed, knowing that the scheme of capturing Liu Kun’s spy and throwing him at Ruan Ziming’s house a few days ago had succeeded. In any frontier garrison, the military governor and military supervisor were naturally opposed. Without communication between them, they would certainly start suspecting each other. Now that the conflict had intensified and Ruan Ziming urgently needed to win allies, the imperial court’s overt shackles monitoring Prince Shao had been removed, allowing them to breathe easier temporarily.
However, Huo Qi Lang was puzzled: “Why can’t you leave Youzhou city? I have a martial uncle who’s a famous physician in Xiangzhou. I was thinking of introducing you to see him for treatment once the Great King’s health improves.”
Upon hearing this, Madam Li immediately said: “A famous physician in Xiangzhou? Could we invite him to come to Youzhou for consultation?”
Huo Qi Lang shook her head: “She’s a strange old cripple in her seventies or eighties who refuses to leave home. If the Great King took a carriage, a trip to Xiangzhou would only take about a month.”
Household steward Li Chengyin sighed: “That won’t do. The imperial court… has explicitly forbidden the Great King from leaving Youzhou city.”
Huo Qi Lang was startled: “Doesn’t that mean being confined within this city?”
Everyone remained silent, which amounted to acknowledgment. Youzhou was one of the nine ancient provinces, yet the character “You” darkly implied imprisonment. Though Prince Shao now found it difficult to travel due to illness, even when he had been in good health, he couldn’t leave the city at will.
Seeing his wet nurse’s disappointed expression, Li Yuanying calmly said: “The Book of Sui states: ‘Having illness without treatment often achieves medium-level medicine.’ Physicians are divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Countless quack doctors bear the title of famous physician. Not taking medicine and relying on natural recovery already counts as receiving treatment from a medium-grade physician. Whether to go or not makes no difference.”
Everyone knew that since he fell ill, he had seen countless doctors. Acupuncture alone had used up a basin of silver needles, and he had suffered greatly, yet none had been effective. His heart for seeking medical treatment had long grown cold. Even when Zhu Minhuo’s headache medicine was prepared, he would only drink a few sips before stopping.
Whenever Prince Shao’s illness was discussed, the atmosphere in the great house became stagnant. Yuan Shaobo wanted to boost morale and specifically said to Li Yuanying: “Huo Qi captured the secret agent and successfully executed the alienation scheme. Please judge whether this merits upper, middle, or lower grade reward.”
This was the military system for measuring merit through battle achievements and awarding honors accordingly. Li Yuanying had not yet made a decision when Huo Qi Lang spoke first: “Then let me also have ‘merit without honor, constantly achieving freedom.’ No need to give official titles.”
Yuan Shaobo had intended to request merit for her, but unexpectedly she was so ungrateful, refusing in front of their lord. His face immediately darkened: “All your brothers are cavalry lieutenants and flying cavalry lieutenants now, yet you remain a commoner. Don’t you find this shameful and backward?”
Huo Qi Lang said carelessly: “I’m a mercenary – no need to accumulate battle merit. Fight when there’s money, disperse when there isn’t. I said from the start when joining that serving as a maid was fine, serving as a guard was also acceptable, but doing it for one or two years would be sufficient. I never planned to stay long. Youzhou city can confine the Great King, but it can’t trap Old Seven.”
She had developed skills in reading people’s expressions under years of martial suppression by her senior brothers and sisters. However, after staying in Prince Shao’s mansion for over twenty days and gradually becoming familiar with the surrounding environment, she instinctively sensed that no one in the mansion had the ability to defeat her. Thus, her words no longer carried the same caution, occasionally revealing some of that particularly arrogant and unrestrained temperament characteristic of Canyang Academy disciples.
When this wandering knight spoke these relaxed yet arrogant words, Yuan Shaobo and the others’ faces immediately turned iron-blue with anger. Li Yuanying didn’t make a sound, but his heart kept echoing these carefree words: “Youzhou city can confine the Great King, but it can’t trap Old Seven,” and he actually felt some yearning.
He asked in a leisurely, gentle voice: “Then what reward do you want? Still money?”
Only then did Huo Qi Lang show a smile: “I wish the Great King would grant a few days of leave, letting Old Seven occasionally go out for leisure. If I’m free outside for one day, the Great King can also rest for one day. Balancing tension and relaxation prevents overwork.”
Upon hearing this, Yuan Shaobo and Li Chengyin both failed to understand the meaning, while Li Yuanying’s face showed extremely complex emotions – unclear whether it was shock or embarrassment. Madam Li turned her face away, pretending she hadn’t heard anything clearly.
After a moment, Li Yuanying stiffly uttered two words: “Ten-day rest.” Then he angrily shouted: “Everyone withdraw!”
As everyone left the main house, Yuan Shaobo was still not appeased and scolded Huo Qi: “This was originally a good thing, yet you were so ungrateful. Have all those eye-reading skills you usually use been fed to the ravens?!”
Huo Qi Lang muttered impatiently: “This royal mansion is fine everywhere, except the people managing it seem to be serving sentences. From top to bottom, everyone’s in prison – it’s suffocating.”
Li Chengyin sighed: “You wandering knights are used to freedom in the martial world – you’re not acclimatized.”
Huo Qi Lang asked: “What did those two words he said mean? Was this leave approved or not?”
Li Chengyin explained to her: “This is the work schedule for court officials – one rest day every ten days, called ten-day rest. You get one day off every ten days.”
Huo Qi Lang’s face immediately showed a purely happy smile: “Though it’s less, it’s better than nothing.”
Because her inappropriate words had angered Prince Shao and she was driven out, Yuan Shaobo temporarily changed the duty roster and ordered Huang Xiaoning to substitute and go in for night duty. However, within two hours, Huang Xiaoning was also expelled.
Feeling wronged, he returned to the quarters and complained to the other guards: “The Great King’s headache has flared up again. He finds every sound and movement unbearable, complaining that my breathing is too loud, my turning too heavy, and my feet smell. It’s as if even being alive and breathing is wrong. I didn’t even take off my boots and was quite far away – where exactly was the smell?”
Huo Qi Lang laughed heartily as she rolled up from her bed, tucked her horizontal sword into her waist, and smiled: “You don’t understand his thoughts. I’d better handle this myself.”
Author’s Note:
Today continues with Canyang Academy’s worker organizing the workplace.
Though this story references Tang dynasty background, I’m ultimately an outsider. History is very serious and profound – knowing only A without knowing BCD would produce nothing worthwhile. Everyone should treat this as fictional entertainment, definitely not take it seriously. Of course, for referenced parts, I’ll still try to list sources according to usual practice.