Princess Wangshou swayed as she stood up, her eyes red-rimmed as she said in a trembling voice: “If you won’t escort me, I’ll walk back to Chang’an myself.”

Shisan Lang wanted to step forward to support her, but Wei Xun held him back.

This matter was truly thorny. By rights, the emperor’s beloved daughter returning from the dead should go back to the palace, naturally bringing joy to all. But the suspicious circumstances surrounding her life and death made it seem this was no accident. Having already reported all the facts truthfully, the princess understood the situation, so Wei Xun naturally had no reason to stop her.

Her outer robe was already stained with tomb dirt, so the princess set out wearing only her close-fitting high-waisted ruqun dress.

The saying goes “roads everywhere lead to Chang’an,” so the direction wasn’t hard to find. Not long after leaving Cuiwei Temple’s mountain gate, they reached the official road leading to the city. However, this was the first time in her life she had gone out alone without guards or servants, so she was naturally bewildered and at a loss. The gold-inlaid, jade-embedded upturned silk shoes on her feet were formal funeral shoes that came with her ceremonial outfit and didn’t fit properly. After walking less than three li, they caused unbearable pain, making her limp.

“Proud spring breeze makes horse hooves swift, seeing all Chang’an’s flowers in one day.” The thirty-li journey on her beloved Jade Hoof Black horse would pass in a flash; if she rode in a fragrant carriage, slowly admiring the flowers along the way, it would also be quite pleasant. But walking on her own two legs, the distance seemed so far, so long.

The pain was nothing compared to the truth hidden in the mist, which troubled her even more. Why did Father treat her this way? Her death was so strange – why didn’t he pursue the real culprit, only giving her a grand burial? And that soul-suppressing demon head… The princess was terrified beyond words, not daring to think deeply. She wiped away her tears and forced herself to keep walking with her head down.

Wei Xun and Shisan Lang followed at a distance, watching as she sat by the roadside, removed her shoes, and continued walking in only her silk stockings. Passersby were all amazed and stared when they saw this beautiful young woman walking barefoot in a dazed state.

Shisan Lang muttered quietly: “This princess is quite stubborn.”

Wei Xun said nothing.

Shisan Lang asked again: “We still didn’t find that thing on this trip. What will you do, senior brother?”

Wei Xun sighed and raised his chin, pointing at the young woman ahead: “What else can I do? Good luck gets a reward, bad luck gets death.”

Shisan Lang felt dejected and hung his head: “You might not necessarily die.”

“It’s still not too late to join Second Brother and the others, or Seventh Brother’s group would work too. Following me has no future.”

The boy shook his head: “At least Senior Brother doesn’t beat people.” He paused, then muttered to himself: “Senior Brother was rushing to save someone, which is why he missed finding the thing. This is a great deed of charity and accumulating virtue – by rights, he shouldn’t wash his hands of this business.”

Wei Xun disagreed, shaking his head: “Sweet words.”

Shisan Lang asked: “If it’s not for money, and you’ve already saved the person, then why are you still following?”

Wei Xun sighed: “Ah, curiosity killed the cat. You know I can’t let go of such strange matters. If I don’t get to the bottom of it, my heart will itch unbearably.”

Chatting intermittently, the two men followed Princess Wangshou all the way to Anhua Gate in the southwest outside Chang’an city. Groups of people about to enter the city were queuing at the gate waiting to have their identities verified. There were countless scholars going to take exams, traveling literati, peddlers with carrying poles, wandering monks and Taoists, servants and laborers. Oxen and horses pulling cargo carts crowded together with Hu merchants’ camels, creating waves of animal stench.

Shisan Lang suddenly remembered something important: “Does the princess have travel documents?”

Wei Xun thought about it and said: “At least she’s not carrying any.”

The boy glanced sideways at Wei Xun, wanting to say something but didn’t.

This senior brother of his had always been clueless about matters between men and women. When he brought the princess back to Cuiwei Temple for treatment, whether holding or embracing her, pressing acupoints or checking her pulse, Wei Xun was neither evasive nor embarrassed, frank and open, treating her merely as an object. Clearly she was quite beautiful…

At this moment, Princess Wangshou stood helplessly in the crowd. In the past when she entered or left the city gates, her guards had already dispersed the idle people, clearing the streets and roads. She would ride straight through surrounded by maids and eunuchs, never needing to stop.

The gate officer examined everyone’s travel documents one by one. When it was Princess Wangshou’s turn, he immediately became suspicious, staring at her up and down.

This young woman wore no makeup on her plain face, with almond eyes and peach cheeks that were quite bright and lovely. But her hair was disheveled, she wore no shoes, her silk stockings were covered in mud, and though the fabric of her clothes could be seen to be extremely fine, they were ill-fitting and covered in dust and wrinkles.

Was she an escaped slave? Or a good family’s daughter abducted by kidnappers?

The gate officer immediately asked her to step aside for separate questioning: “Where do you come from, young lady? What is your surname and name? Why are you alone?”

Princess Wangshou stammered: “I am, I am from the palace, named Zhu’er.”

“Do you have travel documents?”

“I accidentally lost them…”

“You say you’re from the palace – what’s your ancestral home, when did you enter the palace? Which noble person do you serve? Who did you leave the city with? And how did you come back alone?”

Princess Wangshou had originally fabricated a set of lies, but having lived deep in the palace all her life, she was inexperienced with worldly matters. The gate officer at Anhua Gate had worked this job for many years and had trained his eyes sharp. He could tell at a glance that this young woman was full of flaws, and with just a few words had her cornered with no escape.

Seeing she couldn’t answer, thinking she was some noble family’s beautiful escaped slave, the gate officer sneered and called over several Imperial Guards, asking them to take this woman into custody and bring her to the county office for interrogation.

The princess originally planned to submit meekly, and once at the county office, find a way to meet with the Governor of the Capital for further planning. Who knew these several men in round-collared robes would reach out to grab her body. The summer clothing was light and soft, revealing her graceful curves. One hairy hand squeezed her chest, and the man said with a leering grin: “Young lady, you smell so fragrant!”

Princess Wangshou had never heard a harsh word since birth – how could she endure such hands-on humiliation? She immediately trembled with rage and cried out:

“Don’t touch me! Do you know who I am!”

“Who are you? Go ahead and say!”

“I am the princess’s person! Don’t touch me!”

The gate officer and Imperial Guards exchanged glances, their thoughts racing. No one wanted to cause trouble, but no one dared let this nameless woman speak wildly at the city gate. An Imperial Guard went up to cover her mouth and dragged her down sideways.

The princess struggled desperately, her hair ornaments completely scattered. After being kicked heavily, she rolled on the ground trying to escape these men, but unfortunately rolled right into where the livestock were gathered, getting covered in horse manure and cow dung. Now no one wanted to touch her.

At this moment there were many onlookers. Wei Xun saw the timing was perfect and stepped forward, smiling and constantly bowing: “This is my master’s young lady. She’s not quite right in the head. Today the family wasn’t careful and she escaped, speaking nonsense here and disturbing all you gentlemen’s work. Please be understanding.”

He then moved close to the gate officer, speaking mysteriously in a low voice: “She was rejected in an engagement and went mad from it.”

At that time, from the court down to beggars, everyone wore their hair in topknots. Only those bearing punishment or the insane wore their hair loose over their shoulders.

The gate officer frowned at the woman, seeing her disheveled hair, filthy all over, and indeed appearing mentally unclear – so she was a madwoman. Though he really wanted to inquire about which family she belonged to, the south of the city was full of villas and estates belonging to current powerful nobles. Questioning publicly might offend any family, which would be more trouble than it was worth.

He immediately shouted sternly: “Take her back quickly! Keep her locked up properly at home and don’t let her out again!”

According to current law, the foolish and insane could receive lighter punishment even if they committed crimes. Moreover, no one wanted to touch her, and since a family servant had come to claim her, they were naturally happy to be rid of the trouble.

Wei Xun pulled the wretched young woman to her feet and returned the way they came to Cuiwei Temple.

On the return journey, the young woman said nothing, her steps unsteady as if her soul had left her body, but surprisingly she didn’t cry.

Shisan Lang nudged Wei Xun with his elbow and asked quietly: “We didn’t get a reward and weren’t beheaded either. What do we do with her?”

Wei Xun shook his head and remained silent.

By the time they returned to Cuiwei Temple, it was nearly dusk. The sky was filled with steaming clouds and glowing sunset, red light shooting in all directions, burning from west to east like fresh blood – a disturbing wall of fire clouds. Walking through the mountain gate, Shisan Lang stretched lazily and complained quietly: “We rushed about all day on the road, didn’t get a penny, and it was like we purposely went to the city gate to get beaten.”

Princess Wangshou’s filth had dried on her body. Passing by the liberation pond, she deliberately looked down and saw it was full of wild grass and weeds, the pond water having long since dried up.

Suddenly she gave an order: “Bring water!”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but carried the natural imposing authority of one accustomed to being above others. The two brothers naturally ran to comply, finding wooden buckets and going to draw water from the well behind the rear hall.

The princess didn’t go to the meditation room, but knelt upright in the front courtyard under the open sky, washing herself fully clothed. The water from the deep well was extremely cold. There were no servants to heat fragrant bath water for her now. The princess poured ladle after ladle of ice water over her head, shivering violently from the shock.

Wei Xun watched coldly, seeing her solemn movements, her expression sorrowful but not hurt, yet her eyes already held a death wish. He thought this was not good.

After washing away all the filth, the princess bowed once toward the direction of the imperial throne, then rose and went to the meditation room, wanting to find a rope to hang herself. She searched everywhere but found nothing. The flowered silk shawl was made of fine gauze, light and transparent, and likely couldn’t support her body weight. If she used her sash, her skirt would fall – extremely undignified.

While hesitating, she saw Wei Xun standing nearby with his arms folded. The princess called out loudly: “Do you have a knife?”

Wei Xun nodded, drew a gunmetal gray dagger from his chest, and stuck it in the wooden pillar before the princess, reflecting her pale, haggard face.

Now even Shisan Lang could see she wanted to kill herself. Frantically scratching his head, he shouted: “She wants a knife and you actually give it to her?!”

Wei Xun smiled: “If someone else commits suicide, by law it has nothing to do with us two. Once she’s completely dead and the corpse goes unclaimed, we’ll wash away the bloodstains, find a buyer, arrange a ghost marriage, and exchange it for over ten strings of good money to go to the city to buy wine, cut meat, and buy candy. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Shisan Lang was greatly shocked and stared at his senior brother, but saw his expression was crafty as he winked at him. The boy was clever and immediately understood his senior brother’s meaning, following his lead:

“Senior Brother is asking too little. An unmarried, beautiful fresh female corpse would fetch at least twenty strings in the ghost market. There are plenty of lonely old bachelors competing for them.”

Then he chattered on about the prices for ghost marriages, how much burned to ashes would cost, how much aged dry bones would cost, how much old women’s rotted corpses would cost – in short, the fresher and younger, the more expensive.

These two tomb robbers were actually discussing the price of her corpse after death right in front of her, even talking about selling her to be a ghost bride to an old man. The princess was shocked, angry, furious, and afraid, overwhelmed with mixed feelings. Suddenly she wailed and burst into tears, tears rolling down like broken pearls.

This crying was earth-shattering, frightening birds into flight, heart-rending and soaring to the clouds, venting all her grievances and fears. Even if she could endure humiliation to enter the city and see the Governor of the Capital, what good would it do? Even if the Governor immediately reported it and she could have an imperial audience, what then?

Princess Wangshou was legally already dead, and moreover dead under some kind of heavenly grace and expectation. Even though her chest was now beating and she still drew breath, everyone under heaven could only treat her as a dead person. On the road to Chang’an, she had vaguely thought of this, but was too afraid to think deeply about it.

Now publicly humiliated, besides suicide to preserve the imperial family’s dignity, what other option was there?

After listening to the crying for a while, Wei Xun asked calmly: “I brought you back to the human world. Does the princess have any regrets?”

The princess cried and cursed: “Vile thieves! Don’t you dare think about my corpse! I won’t spare you even as a ghost!”

Wei Xun was somewhat relieved. Those seeking death were most dangerous when their will was firm. Once they could cry and curse, having found an outlet, they were less likely to rush toward death.

After crying for a long time until her throat was hoarse, the girl looked at herself in the dagger’s reflection and saw her disheveled hair, swollen red eyes, and gaunt cheeks – never had she looked so hideous. She was practically a ghost already. She thought that if her body would be sold, she must slash her face before dying so the thieves couldn’t get a good price – but that would be even less dignified…

Tangled in such thoughts, Shisan Lang brought her a ladle of cold water to soothe her throat, which she took and drank completely.

After crying softly for a while longer, it had grown completely dark around them. She looked up and didn’t see the two thieves. Going outside, she saw the two brothers squatting under the corridor, slurping soup noodles with great satisfaction.

She was fine not looking, but once she saw, hunger immediately burned within her.

At this point the princess’s death wish had somewhat retreated. Calming down, she began to understand the situation a bit. If it were for money, Wei Xun could have casually taken anything from her tomb, enough for them to live comfortably for half their lives. He had even returned all her jewelry intact. Why would he still care about a corpse? Talk of ghost marriages was just rambling nonsense, a provocation strategy.

Once she figured this out, looking at these two men again, she immediately found them much more agreeable.

Today from morning to evening she had traveled back and forth sixty li on foot without eating a single grain of rice. Now she was almost too hungry to stand. (One Tang dynasty li was about 450 meters)

“Boy, go serve me a bowl!”

Shisan Lang agreed and quickly swallowed the noodle pieces in his bowl. There were only these two bowls total – without clearing one, there would be none for the princess to use. He had originally felt resentful toward the young woman because of his senior brother’s situation, but who knew she seemed naturally gifted at commanding people. With a narrowing of her eyes and raising of her chin, before he even realized it, he was already running errands for her.

Shisan Lang carefully washed the bowl and chopsticks with well water and presented the soup noodles.

Thus the noble imperial blood, precious as gold and jade, with a fief of three thousand, the foremost beauty of the capital region – Princess Wangshou – sat barefoot with disheveled hair, holding a broken bowl, slurping clear water soup noodles with only a bit of salt added, beside two tomb robbers who should have been dragged to Goujiling for execution.

Wei Xun wore a crafty smile that made one want to hit him: “Hungry, weren’t you?”

The girl’s face reddened as she wiped the tear stains from her cheeks: “Hmph, even if I die, I want to be a well-fed ghost.”

Wei Xun praised her, half jokingly, half sincerely: “The princess is free-spirited and has great wisdom indeed!”

After eating and drinking her fill, Princess Wangshou felt her whole body aching and drowsy, not wanting to think about anything. She collapsed onto the bed and slept until the sun was high. When she naturally awoke to bright sunlight streaming onto the bed, looking again at the dagger stuck in the wooden pillar, she suddenly no longer wanted to die.