Since arriving in the Northern lands, Zheng Hu had witnessed many times the arrogance of those aristocratic clans. Previously at celebration banquets, those high officials and nobles looked at them with eyes full of condescending scrutiny and pickiness.
In ordinary matters, they needed to submit visiting cards multiple times with nearly deliberately difficult formalities. Dealing with them was troublesome to death.
He said unhappily: “Bah! Breaking their rules? That Pei Song rebelling—whose rules did he break? Even the Emperor’s words no longer count. In these chaotic times, isn’t it whoever has the harder fist that people listen to?”
Hearing this, Zhang Huai laughed and said: “Indeed as General Zheng says, we… it’s also time to re-establish the rules for these wealthy noble clans in the Northern lands.”
When Zheng Hu heard Zhang Huai say this, he knew he must have a plan in mind, and his heart finally felt at ease. Remembering what he had said earlier about Xiao Li going out after reading a secret letter sent back from the south, he couldn’t help but worry more: “What secret letter did the scouts send back from the south? It’s not that sister-in-law has had some trouble, is it?”
—
The sun was setting in the west, and flocks of birds swept past the hills.
Xiao Li sat on his horse at the top of the weed-covered slope. The letter paper clutched in his palm had nearly been crushed to pieces. His jet-black steed beneath him, after galloping urgently for dozens of miles in the scorching heat, was also snorting and panting.
His eyes stared almost obsessively toward the further south obscured by the continuous mountain ranges.
Since Wen Yu returned to Southern Chen, his scouts secretly deployed to Southern Chen had sent back word that Wen Yu was already three months pregnant.
The Chen royal palace had been guarded by Wen Yu like an iron fortress, and his people could not gather more information.
But this timing could not possibly be from their time at the mountain temple.
Moreover, that Wen Yu could openly announce this child’s existence in Southern Chen also indicated that she was not afraid of the Southern Chen ministers and Empress Dowager Jiang in the palace suspecting this child.
The veins at Xiao Li’s temples throbbed one after another.
So… was that child truly the Chen King’s?
Hadn’t she already gained control over the Jiang family and obtained Chen Kingdom’s power? Why would she still conceive a child with that waste Chen King?
Just to make the power in her hands more stable, to make the Chen Kingdom ministers completely loyal to her unto death?
From a political struggle perspective, this was not wrong, and was in fact the most correct method.
But dark fury and murderous intent still grew uncontrollably in Xiao Li’s heart.
He had known early on that she had almost sacrificed herself to these rivers and mountains for revenge, so for the sake of power and strategy, she could use any means necessary.
When she was humiliated by those lackeys back then, she told him she didn’t care.
For troops and power, she had never wavered in her determination to marry far away to Southern Chen.
After discovering that the Chen King was a powerless good-for-nothing, she could agree to conceive a child with Jiang Yue to make the Jiang family serve her purposes.
After falling into his hands, to make him lower his guard, or perhaps as compensation, she could also go that far with him.
Enormous rage, unwillingness, and hidden pain seized all of Xiao Li’s mind at this moment. He gripped even more forcefully the crushed letter paper in his palm, his eyes staring at the southern mountains obsessively to the point of viciousness.
He softly spoke that name: “Wen Yu.”
The tenderness at the mountain temple—was it just her way of repaying the affection he had demanded from her?
Once she had finished repaying it, she could leave without any debt.
He had repeatedly refused to return to the Liang camp precisely because he was unwilling to be a subject who could be discarded by her at any time under the identity of ruler and subject.
Only when he became strong enough to tie down her footsteps could he truly demand a future with her.
But she would not wait for him, nor would the times.
The beast that had always been trapped in the depths of his heart crashed against its cage, leaving cracks, letting out a ferocious roar.
He had been too slow.
The letter paper in his palm had been ground to shreds. Xiao Li used those eyes tinged with bloodlust to take one last look toward the south, then pulled the reins to turn his horse around and leave the high slope.
—
Wen Yu, supporting herself on Tongque’s hand, turned from the towering drum tower. The long wind blew her complicated skirt and sashes, and the earrings made of threaded fine jade beads at her ears also swayed slightly in the wind.
Tongque said: “Calculating the time, Commander Zhaobai should be escorting General Gu into the palace now.”
After Jiang Yue’s death, the position of palace imperial guards commander was vacant. Wen Yu, overriding all objections, had Zhaobai take over this position.
Now Zhaobai was not only the Qingyun Guard commander, but also the imperial guards commander within the Chen royal palace.
Earlier in the year, Wen Yu had temporarily used the grain seeds within Liang territory as disaster relief grain to provide porridge for refugees suffering from hunger and cold, allowing them to settle peacefully in the southern border. This greatly weakened Pei Song’s popular support among the people, forcing Pei Song through several defeats to retreat again and again.
But to fill the gap left by these grain seeds, they had rushed to transport the silk from within the pass outside the pass before spring began, exchanging it from Southern Chen and various surrounding small kingdoms for grain seeds.
To thoroughly open this trade route, after returning to Southern Chen, Wen Yu had also refined the trade laws and added garrison troops to cities open for trade to ensure the safety of traveling merchants.
Now trade between Liang territory and outside the pass was becoming increasingly frequent, no longer fearing that when war spread and sealed state borders, resources would be monopolized together.
Gu Xiyun had been injured in the battle with Han Qi at Xiangzhou. Though her injuries had not yet healed, she could not stay idle. To prevent her from returning to the battlefield with injuries, Chen Wei could only assign her the task of transporting a batch of military supplies to Southern Chen.
It was also at this time that the Qingyun Guard secretly brought back news that Wen Yu was pregnant and needed to bring Maternal Uncle Yang’s family to help. Southern Chen had selected a batch of female officials, and Liang territory also needed to select them quickly.
As female officials who would directly serve close to Wen Yu, this undoubtedly concerned power after the unification of the two kingdoms.
Therefore, after the precedent in Chen Kingdom, selecting female officials from the daughters of Liang ministers and opening female civil examinations to recruit additional candidates from among the people through examinations did not encounter much obstruction.
On this trip, Gu Xiyun also escorted Maternal Uncle Yang’s family, Wen Yu’s cousin, and other daughters of Liang ministers selected as female officials to Southern Chen.
Wen Yu’s body had now become somewhat heavy. Her thin summer garments could not conceal her increasingly obvious abdomen. Fortunately, both inside and outside the palace now were her own people. After publicly announcing her pregnancy, she used the excuse of protecting the fetus to refuse to see guests.
The female officials she had settled in Zhaoyun Pavilion also needed to be separated by a curtain when coming to see her.
Supporting herself on Tongque’s hand, she walked slowly and said: “When the ministerial daughters from Liang territory arrive, also arrange for them to stay in Zhaoyun Pavilion first.”
This was another form of checks and balances.
The female officials from Chen territory aristocratic families might previously have watched this regent princess together for their families’ sake, but after having female officials from Liang territory working alongside them, they could only strive to do well with the tasks at hand and compete for her favor.
—
Not long after Wen Yu returned to Zhaohua Palace, Zhaobai led Gu Xiyun through the palace gates: “Princess, General Gu has arrived.”
The courtyard of Zhaohua Palace had no flowers or plants, but had been converted into a rice paddy. On both sides of the stone path, rice stalks nearly half a person’s height grew promisingly, and among the glossy green rice leaves hung rice ears with tips still light green in color.
Wen Yu wore casual home clothes, her sleeves rolled up a section to reveal half of her snow-white wrists. In her palm with its faint lines lay a small handful of green grain picked from the rice ears. Hearing the sound, she raised her head. Seeing Gu Xiyun entering the palace in full armor, travel-worn and dusty, she said: “I received word this morning that you would arrive at the royal court, and I was wondering how you came two days earlier than scheduled. You probably didn’t rest well along the way, did you?”
Gu Xiyun stepped forward and said: “If I deliver this batch of military supplies earlier and exchange them for the crossbow arrows Lord Chen wants to bring back, I’ll feel more at ease. Madam Yang was also very worried about you, Princess, and urged me to march urgently the whole way. Who would have thought that just upon arriving in Chen territory, the mother and daughter both fell ill. They’re currently recuperating at the courier station and probably won’t be able to enter the palace to see you, Princess, until tomorrow.”
Hearing this, Wen Yu’s brows furrowed slightly. She said: “I’ll have the imperial physicians go examine Maternal Uncle and Cousin.”
She added: “It’s nearly a month’s journey. No matter how you rush, you can’t save more than a few days. Why exhaust yourself?”
The small path through the rice paddies was wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Gu Xiyun fell back half a step to follow behind Wen Yu, walking inward with her. Further behind followed Zhaobai and Tongque.
She replied somewhat helplessly: “It’s not like you don’t know Madam Yang’s temperament. After hearing about your situation here, she was so anxious she wished she could just whip the horse’s back twice and arrive at Southern Chen.”
As one thing led to another in conversation, Gu Xiyun’s gaze finally fell on Wen Yu’s abdomen. She asked Wen Yu: “How far along is the child?”
Wen Yu answered: “Nearly seven months.”
Gu Xiyun calculated the time in her mind and knew the child was conceived during the period when Wen Yu was trapped in Northern Wei. Previously when she had felt nauseated smelling the pig trotter soup Madam Chen stewed for her, it must have been due to morning sickness.
Her expression was somewhat unpleasant, fearing that Wen Yu had been violated by someone in Northern Wei. But after calming down slightly, she knew that if that were truly the case, given Wen Yu’s temperament, she could not possibly keep such an evil spawn.
Moreover, it was said that Wen Yu’s ability to return to the Liang camp was largely thanks to a Wei general in the Wei camp who had once been a Liang minister.
Others might not understand Wen Yu, but as her close friend, whether it was when Wen Yu was willing to use supplies from Luodu and Fengyang cities to exchange that Wei general back from Wei Qishan’s hands, or when the other party was entangled in infamy recently and Wen Yu took the initiative to have the Liang camp clear his name, Gu Xiyun had vaguely detected something unusual about Wen Yu’s feelings toward that Wei general.
She didn’t know how to broach the topic. As she half-squatted down to gently touch Wen Yu’s abdomen, she asked: “Have I heard the name of this child’s father?”
Wen Yu’s long lashes lowered slightly as she said: “You should have heard it.”
In the past half year, Xiao Li’s name had become thunderously famous throughout the Northern border and even all of Liang territory.
After a moment of silence, Gu Xiyun continued asking: “After he learned this news, he didn’t come back to the Princess’s side?”
This “he” clearly referred to the child’s biological father.
Wen Yu crushed away the grain husks from the green grain in her palm and said calmly: “He may not necessarily know.”
Gu Xiyun realized that Wen Yu was publicly claiming the child’s age to be a few months less. She frowned, about to say something more, when she heard Wen Yu say: “This child’s nominal father will only be the Chen King.”
Gu Xiyun understood the meaning in Wen Yu’s words.
This child, born from her womb, would be the royal heir of both Liang and Chen kingdoms.
Wen Yu was not an ordinary woman. She did not need a man who could not stand openly in the light to take so-called responsibility for her, and might not even need to let the child know their true identity after birth.
For an instant, Gu Xiyun felt somewhat sad—sad that her elder brother had died when Pei Song attacked and conquered Luodu, sad that Wen Yu had to shoulder so much.
Yet she also felt relieved.
—Wen Yu would never depend on any man.
Only those chosen by her could briefly accompany her.
Even the Chen King, with the entire Chen Kingdom’s power, had now only obtained the nominal title of being her prince consort.
The princess who once made her brother look up to her still made everyone look up to her even after the Great Liang dynasty had collapsed once.
Gu Xiyun said: “When the child is born, it should be late autumn, right?”
She looked at the green rice in Wen Yu’s hand with the husks rubbed off, then glanced at the courtyard where granite bricks had been pried up and replaced with rice planting, and said: “Then I’ll come to Chen territory again after autumn to bring you new rice from Liang territory.”
Wen Yu, who had been twisting the green rice grain husks in her hand, paused slightly in her movements and said “alright.”
Ahead was the covered corridor. Gu Xiyun sat on the ground at the base of the corridor steps, gazing at the green waves of rice that rolled when the wind blew through the courtyard, and said: “I remember that in the few years before the Prince entered the capital, he also planted green rice in the rear courtyard of the prince’s residence.”
Wen Yu gave a soft “mm” in acknowledgment.
—
Author’s Note: Clarifying the timeline:
Wen Yu returns to Great Liang: Last November
Captured: Last December
Trapped at mountain temple: January
Wanting to save Xiao Li: February
Returns to Southern Chen: March
Learns of Xiao Li’s troubles: May
Xiao Li receives news of her pregnancy: June-July