Li Ying thus directly asked her question: “If you are Ashina Jia, then who is the Turkic princess who came to the Daming Palace for a peace marriage?”

“She is my cousin… Ashina Wuduo…”

On a dark, windy night, when all was quiet, a woman wearing a veiled hat lifted the light gauze, revealing her striking face tattooed with brilliant lotus flowers.

A man with an owl perched on his shoulder bowed: “Princess Wuduo.”

Ashina Wuduo sneered and said in not-so-fluent Great Zhou language: “Jin Ni, you had the owl summon me to meet you. What exactly do you want?”

“This subject has come to congratulate the Princess on gaining the Great Zhou Emperor’s favor.”

Ashina Wuduo looked at Jin Ni’s thin, shrewd face and mocked him: “Jin Ni, you didn’t come to congratulate me. You came to blackmail me. You want to blackmail me to save your life, don’t you?”

Jin Ni straightened up and smiled: “The Princess is still as straightforward as ever.”

“I despise you Zhou people the most, with your roundabout way of speaking. We Turks are not like that. You found me simply because you think I’ve gained the Great Zhou Emperor’s favor, and you want to use me to save yourself. But I won’t help you.” Ashina Wuduo said contemptuously: “A two-faced slave like you, who betrayed both Great Zhou and then betrayed the Turks, has no backbone at all. I look down on you the most. You deserve to be captured by the Zhou people and sliced into a thousand pieces.”

Jin Ni was stunned. He knew Ashina Wuduo’s temperament, but he never imagined that, as a princess sent for a peace marriage, she would still have such a foul temper. After a moment of shock, he spoke with a threatening tone: “Princess Wuduo, don’t forget that you came to Great Zhou under the identity of Ashina Jia. If the Great Zhou Emperor discovers that you’re not Ashina Jia but the Ashina Wuduo who was rumored to have been served by Cui Xun, what do you think he will think? When that time comes, will you still be happily serving as his Consort Hui?”

Ashina Wuduo gave a contemptuous smile: “So, you plan to blackmail me with this?”

“Isn’t this enough?” Jin Ni said. “During those two years when Cui Xun was a prisoner in Turkic lands, the Princess surely hasn’t forgotten what you did? Would the Great Zhou Emperor tolerate his consort having previously recruited another man as her confidant? Not only would he not tolerate it, but he would also be deeply ashamed. When that time comes, the Princess’s life might not be secure either.”

Hearing this, Ashina Wuduo suddenly burst into laughter, the lotus tattoo on her right cheek as brilliant as rosy clouds. She said: “Jin Ni, you don’t think the Great Zhou Emperor doesn’t knows, do you?”

Jin Ni was completely stunned. Ashina Wuduo continued languorously: “The Great Zhou Emperor is no fool. On the contrary, he is an extremely intelligent man. He has long known that I am not Ashina Jia, but Ashina Wuduo.”

“That’s impossible.” Jin Ni couldn’t believe it. “If he knows, why would he still make you Consort Hui?”

“Because he likes me. He can’t leave me.” Ashina Wuduo said, “Even if you go to him and tell him, he won’t care.”

“No, that’s impossible…”

“Why is it impossible? Just because he’s the Emperor, must he care about a woman’s reputation? He is the Emperor, but he is also a man. Being human means having weaknesses, having affections. And I am his affection.” Ashina Wuduo’s lips curved into a smile. “So, Jin Ni, your calculations will probably come to nothing.”

Looking at Jin Ni’s ashen face, she mocked: “Get lost, Jin Ni. For the sake of your previous service to my father, the Khan, I won’t report you. Just don’t appear before me again. As for whether you live or die in the future, that depends on your fate.”

In the new residence in Yongxing Ward, Ashina Jia, with her two braided plaits and gentle appearance, looked at Li Ying bewilderedly: “You… have Cui Xun’s scent on you.”

Li Ying instinctively looked at herself, then came back to her senses. Full of questions, she inquired of Ashina Jia: “Are you a human or a ghost?”

Whatever she asked, Ashina Jia answered. She said: “I am neither human nor ghost. I am… a strand of obsession.”

“Obsession?” Li Ying recalled the dried rose and golden-scabbarded curved sword that had mysteriously appeared at her door, and how Ashina Jia said she smelled Cui Xun’s scent on her. The Turkic girl before her had eyes filled with longing and sorrow so intense they could not be dissolved. As a woman herself, Li Ying could guess her thoughts. Li Ying tentatively asked: “Your obsession, is it an obsession with Cui Xun?”

When she mentioned “Cui Xun,” Ashina Jia’s eyes brightened: “Do you know Cui Xun? Can you take me to see him?”

But before Li Ying could answer, Ashina Jia murmured: “No, I cannot see him. I have no face to see him…”

She seemed restless, appearing both hopeful and fearful. Li Ying became more certain that her obsession was indeed with Cui Xun.

A thought turned into obsession, an obsession turned into infatuation. Ashina Jia must have died long ago, but because she couldn’t let go of her infatuation with Cui Xun, a strand of obsession attached itself to the golden-scabbarded curved sword and came to Great Zhou with someone who had a purpose.

Just a strand of obsession, not even a remnant soul, let alone one capable of forming a human shape. Ashina Jia’s obsession must have slept in the curved sword for a long time. But when Cui Xun came earlier, the obsession sensed Cui Xun’s presence, finally awakened, formed a human shape, and reappeared in the world.

As for why the golden-scabbarded curved sword and the dried rose appeared together at Li Ying’s door, it must have been that night when Li Ying threw the dried rose on the ground. Someone carrying the golden-scabbarded curved sword happened to pass by. Ashina Jia, in the sword, sensed Cui Xun’s presence on the dried flower, so she took the flower and followed the scent, seeking Cui Xun. But instead of finding Cui Xun, she found Li Ying.

Such devotion made Li Ying deeply moved. She said: “Princess Ashina Jia, I do indeed know Cui Xun. Would you like to see him?”

After hearing this, Ashina Jia shook her head anxiously: “No, not anymore. I have no face to see him…”

Li Ying couldn’t help but ask: “Why do you have no face to see him?”

But Ashina Jia just kept shaking her head. Her form was growing fainter and fainter. She was only a strand of obsession and couldn’t maintain human form for long. Her figure, like a mist, gradually dispersed and returned to the golden-scabbarded curved sword.

Li Ying was stunned. Ashina Jia had disappeared just like that. But she still had many questions to ask her, such as who killed her, who brought her to Great Zhou, how Ashina Wuduo entered the palace, and what exactly Cui Xun experienced in Turkic lands.

But the golden-scabbarded curved sword lay quietly on the ground again, like any ordinary rusty short sword. Li Ying picked up the curved sword, thought for a moment, then had paper servant palanquin bearers carry her sedan chair to Jixian Ward in the Western Market.

Yu Fuwei was very pleased by Li Ying’s arrival. He had been playing the huqin with the Hu concubines in his mansion, everyone in high spirits. Upon seeing Li Ying, he dismissed the concubines, who left reluctantly. Li Ying said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Yu, I’ve disturbed your elegant entertainment.”

Yu Fuwei smiled and said, “Just amusing myself, nothing elegant about it.”

Li Ying glanced at the huqin, drums, and other instruments. She sincerely said, “Mr. Yu lives such a carefree life every day, it truly makes one envious.”

Yu Fuwei said, “Whether one lives carefree or not, a day still passes the same way. So why not live carefree?”

In her heart, Li Ying couldn’t help but admire Yu Fuwei more. He couldn’t participate in the imperial examinations, unable to fulfill his ambitions, yet he hadn’t become dejected. Instead, he focused on business and accumulated this vast fortune. If this man could participate in government, he would surely become a renowned minister of his generation.

But Yu Fuwei was still young. If the Taichang reforms could continue to be implemented, he might yet have a chance to take the imperial examinations.

Li Ying had previously not been interested in political affairs and hadn’t researched the Taichang reforms much. But since leaving Lotus Pond, she had consecutively met people of humble origins like Sheng Yunting, Yu Fuwei, and Hu Nu. She began to understand the Taichang reforms better. If possible, she hoped her mother could continue the reforms, giving more talented people from humble backgrounds a chance.

Yu Fuwei asked: “May I know the purpose of the Princess’s visit today?”

Only then did Li Ying come back to herself. She said: “Has Mr. Yu heard of obsessions taking human form?”

Yu Fuwei nodded: “In one’s lifetime, there are always people and things one desires but cannot obtain. Even after going to the underworld, one cannot let go of these attachments. If the attachment is too deep, it becomes an obsession, takes human form, and wanders in the human world. Only by resolving this obsession can the ghost in the underworld be reincarnated. Otherwise, they will be trapped in the underworld forever.”

Li Ying asked: “This human form cannot gather for long, can it?”

“Of course not. An obsession is neither human nor ghost, neither soul nor spirit, just a thread of thought. Even if it forms a human shape, it cannot last long, let alone walk in daylight like the Princess.”

Li Ying nodded: “Is there any way to make this human form last longer?”

“That’s easy,” Yu Fuwei said. “Just let the obsession see the person they’re fixated on, and they can gather for longer.”

So, if she brought the sword to Cui Xun, the obsession of Ashina Jia with the sword could appear for longer, and she could ask the questions she wanted to ask.

But without even thinking about it, Li Ying rejected this method.

For some reason, Ashina Jia was unwilling to see Cui Xun. Though she was just a thread of obsession, as Yu Fuwei said, neither human nor ghost, neither soul nor spirit, Li Ying still wanted to respect her wishes. Since Ashina Jia was unwilling to see Cui Xun, she would not bring the sword to him.

Li Ying asked: “Mr. Yu, are there any other methods?”

Yu Fuwei thought for a moment: “There is one. The red spider lily of the underworld, growing on the path between life and death, is a guiding flower. If the red spider lily is lit, the obsession’s form can gather for longer.”

Hearing this, Li Ying was overjoyed: “Does Mr. Yu have any red spider lilies in his storehouse?”

“Indeed, I do,” Yu Fuwei smiled. “I can sell some to the Princess.”

“Thank you.”

After obtaining the red spider lilies, Yu Fuwei couldn’t help but ask her: “Whose obsession has the Princess encountered?”

Li Ying hesitated and didn’t answer. Instead, she asked: “Does Mr. Yu know of Ashina Wuduo?”

“Ashina Wuduo?” Yu Fuwei said. “You mean the princess of Nidu Khan of the Turks, Ashina Wuduo?”

Li Ying nodded: “What kind of person is she?”

Yu Fuwei pondered, then said: “I’ve only heard from Turkic merchants. Ashina Wuduo is Nidu Khan’s most beloved daughter, extremely beautiful, and considered the most beautiful woman in the Western Regions. She is exceptionally skilled in martial arts and archery, but her temperament is arrogant. Just like her family name, she is as cruel and violent as the wolves of the grasslands. And she has a particularly cruel hobby.”

“What hobby?”

“She particularly enjoys ‘eagle taming.'”