It was a clear early spring day after a light snow, the sky a deep blue. The noon sunlight poured down through the towering walls of the inner palace, so bright it dazzled the eyes, gilding the silhouette of the Crown Prince who stood facing south.
Though Li Chengqian was a generation below Li Yuangu, he was two years older and somewhat taller. Looming over his young uncle with a downward glare, he cut quite an imposing figure, though his face in the shadows appeared blurred and shifting.
“You and Cousin Chai go return the Seventeenth Princess to Da’an Hall and apologize to Lady Yin. Don’t force me to take action personally!”
Was this unreasonable command truly out of concern for the Emperor Emeritus’s health, or deliberate revenge? Li Yuangu couldn’t think clearly for a moment and could only argue based on principles:
“Seventeenth Sister is also His Majesty’s sister and Your Highness’s aunt. She suffered greatly under Yin – does Your Highness truly feel no compassion? After the High Priestess and I took Seventeenth Sister to Lizheng Hall, the Empress’s kindness was as vast as the sea, agreeing to raise her motherless young sister. This news has spread far and wide, with everyone praising such virtuous grace. Your Highness now orders me to return Seventeenth Sister to Da’an Hall – might I ask if this follows the Inner Palace’s wishes?”
He instinctively felt this was Li Chengqian acting on his own, without the Empress’s knowledge — based on what he’d seen and heard at Lizheng Hall that day, the Empress’s illness was serious, and she likely had no energy for miscellaneous matters. Li Chengqian probably wouldn’t dare trouble his mother with such an absurd and cruel notion. Sure enough, the Crown Prince coughed lightly, his face showing some discomfort:
“The Empress… has been bedridden these days, unable to handle palace affairs. Since His Majesty has ordered me to oversee Da’an Palace, such small matters don’t need to trouble her! Go to the Chai residence to find the High Priestess – however, you two brought Seventeenth Aunt into the palace, take her out the same way, and return her to where she was. No more arguing!”
As they talked, they reached Jiayou Gate. Li Chengqian threw these harsh words at his young uncle, took the reins from an attendant, and put his foot in the stirrup to mount, apparently intending to gallop away without further discussion. Li Yuangu rushed forward in one motion, grabbing the horse’s bridle and shouting: “Your Highness!”
“What do you want?” Li Chengqian glared down at him.
“If Your Highness is displeased with Yuangu over that jade ring, please don’t take it out on Seventeenth Sister!” Li Yuangu blurted out without thinking. “That matter from beginning to end was my doing alone, no one else was involved! Your Highness can punish me as you see fit!”
Li Yuangu had practiced archery since childhood and had keen eyes. For an instant, he saw Li Chengqian’s pupils dilate dramatically, his lips trembling spasmodically several times before he threw back his head and laughed loudly:
“Jade ring? What jade ring? Nonsense! Fourteenth Uncle, have you had some romance with a lady or are you jealous of someone? Your mind is confused, coming to babble nonsense to me? How ridiculous! How shameful!”
Well, this wasn’t exactly skillful concealment.
But Li Yuangu bringing up the blood jade ring now wasn’t any clever strategy either. As the Crown Prince casually denied it, his tone shifting from slight panic to certainty, a sinister smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as he turned to his brother Li Tai: “Qingque, look at our Fourteenth Uncle – thinking about ladies to this extent, shouldn’t we report to Father and Mother to quickly select a Fourteenth Aunt for him?”
Li Tai was large-waisted and short, making mounting difficult – it took several young servants’ combined effort to boost him up. Still catching his breath in the saddle, he responded to his elder brother’s teasing query with a laughing pant:
“Qingque only knew that Fourteenth Uncle was clever and capable, quite favored by His Majesty these past years – I didn’t know he was so romantic! But it’s no wonder – at last year’s Double Ninth Festival archery competition, Fourteenth Uncle’s heroic bearing when he won first place still dances before Qingque’s eyes. Surely many beauties must have fallen for him…”
Why bring up the Double Ninth Festival archery competition for no reason… Li Yuangu glanced at Li Chengqian and saw the Crown Prince’s expression growing even uglier.
Li Chengqian had been lively and active since childhood, loving to roam and hunt, and had always prided himself on his skill with bow and horse. At last year’s competition at Da’an Palace, he had been eager to participate but was stopped by his father, deprived of the chance to compete with his uncles and brothers for glory. Everyone present understood that the Emperor did this to maintain the distinction between ruler and subject, avoiding the awkwardness of “the heir apparent losing to subjects” or everyone deliberately letting the Crown Prince win and not performing their best. If Li Chengqian had competed that day, Li Yuangu truly couldn’t say whether he would have been able to focus on archery and take first place.
So while this had brought him glory, it had left Li Chengqian feeling very frustrated and unhappy, maintaining a sullen face all day — and now that expression appeared on his face again, giving Li Yuangu a splitting headache.
He had already misspoken and knew he should humble himself before the Crown Prince to plead for mercy, to quench his anger and the jealousy stirred up by his brother. But he too had been proud and arrogant since childhood, and now having to suddenly speak humbly to please someone, he didn’t know where to begin. With no time to carefully choose his words, in his urgency he said:
“At last year’s Double Ninth archery competition, Your Highness didn’t display your prowess, allowing Yuangu to win by luck. If Your Highness feels my victory was unfair, I am willing to accompany Your Highness to the archery field for another competition…”
Before finishing, he realized his mistake and quickly stopped. He hadn’t meant to challenge “if you’re not convinced, come fight”!
Li Chengqian raised his eyebrows and smiled coldly: “Oh? Fourteenth Uncle is quite full of himself! It was just an archery ceremony, an annual formality – why dwell on it so? Unable to publicly humiliate me on the training ground, Fourteenth Uncle is unsatisfied?”
As Li Yuangu opened his mouth to explain, Li Tai quickly interjected with a laugh: “That archery competition – there’s a saying that circulated privately among uncles and brothers that’s quite vivid and interesting. I wonder if Brother has heard it?”
“What saying?” Li Chengqian asked.
“Fourteenth Uncle, don’t be angry – just consider it something to make Your Highness laugh,” Li Tai first smiled apologetically at Li Yuangu, his fat face squeezing his eyes almost shut. “People say that last autumn’s Double Ninth was like ‘with no true hero in the mountain, the monkey claims to be king’…”
Li Chengqian’s eyes swept over Li Yuangu’s thin frame and he burst out laughing involuntarily. Li Tai also kept laughing, and many servants in the escort couldn’t hold back either – laughter erupted all around. Li Yuangu clenched his teeth, his face taut and silent.
After laughing his fill, the Crown Prince’s expression darkened as he leaned down toward Li Yuangu: “Either today or tomorrow, you all return Seventeenth Sister to Da’an Hall yourselves. If you miss the deadline, don’t blame me for being ruthless! The Emperor Emeritus’s safety is paramount – I have no time for your nonsense — let go!”
At this shout, Li Yuangu helplessly released his horse’s bridle. Li Chengqian’s legs tightened on his horse’s flanks, and it leaped forward. The stallion galloped west first, with Li Tai and the attendants following closely, none sparing Li Yuangu another glance.
After the thunder of hooves and settling dust, only Li Yuangu remained outside Jiayou Gate. He gathered his thoughts with effort, then mounted his horse and rode west toward the forbidden garden — to find Chai Yingluo at Zixu Temple to discuss the matter.
But after riding for a while, he remembered something: he had just had a huge argument with his niece two days ago and had been driven out of the temple. Chai Yingluo might not be willing to help him and his sister anymore.
A northern wind blew, bone-chillingly cold. Li Yuangu suddenly felt utterly alone, just one man and one horse as companions in all heaven and earth.
Weariness welling up from deep in his marrow overwhelmed him like a great flood. In the bright, dazzling sunlight, he grew dizzy, unconsciously bending forward to embrace his horse’s neck.
He desperately wanted to find some warm, dark place where no one knew him, to fall asleep until the end of time, forgetting both self and world, never questioning anything in this world again.
His mount obediently slowed its pace, as if afraid he would fall, wandering at a walk. After who knows how long, when Li Yuangu finally managed to rouse his spirits and straighten up, opening his eyes, he found himself near the Northern Gate garrison camp, the banners atop the corner tower visible against the blue sky.
Good – he remembered something he could do — ask about the results of the garrison guards’ investigation into those murderous arsonists they’d discovered outside Zixu Temple two days ago.
The Right Guard General Zhang Shigui wasn’t in camp, but the duty general was quite polite and respectful to Li Yuangu. Unfortunately, their investigation results were barely satisfactory — the hounds had followed the group’s scent north to the banks of the Wei River. From the traces on the road and riverbank, it seemed the group had jumped into the Wei River and swum out of the forbidden garden, making further tracking impossible.
Li Yuangu asked about some details, confirming no useful information had been missed, then rose to take his leave. The duty general escorted him out of camp, and as they stood inside the camp gate exchanging a few more polite words, a group of men and women carrying boxes and baskets walked past them toward the gate. Among them, several women in Daoist robes caught Li Yuangu’s attention.
“These are from Zixu Temple delivering medicine,” the duty general explained. “Many of our soldiers were burned helping fight the fire at Gangye Temple. We didn’t have enough medicine in camp, so we asked Zixu Temple for help. The High Priestess and Master Jingxuan were both very generous, immediately agreeing to decoct and deliver medicine to our camp, and even sent people to help treat the wounds…”
Li Yuangu barely heard him speaking, his eyes fixed on the young woman leading the group. She glanced up at him too, her gaze sweeping past, and her steps suddenly stopped.
This young woman dressed as a female Daoist was Wei Shubin.
“Fourteenth Young Lord, I have just one question.”
“What question?”
“My mother’s case… do you still intend to investigate it?”
After her serious illness, Minister Wei’s eldest daughter had grown somewhat pale and haggard, her already thin face appearing even more pointed at the chin, making her eyes seem larger. Those clear large eyes stared directly at Li Yuangu without any concealment, making the young prince feel somewhat flustered.
The two met at the camp gate, staring at each other in shock for a moment before Wei Shubin blushed, lowered her head, and quickened her pace out the gate. Li Yuangu, not knowing why, forgot even to bid farewell to the duty general and hurried after the group from Zixu Temple, catching up with them outside the gate.
After catching up, he had nothing to say and could only stand there dumbly, watching the group walk away. Just as Wei Shubin’s leading figure was about to disappear into the grove, the young woman paused, seemingly saying something to the others, then unexpectedly turned back alone.
Some of the other female Daoists in the departing group turned to watch her with smiles. Wei Shubin walked lightly, head lowered, quickly approaching Li Yuangu. The young prince hurriedly strode to meet her, but before he could say “Lady Wei,” the young woman raised her head and said:
“Fourteenth Young Lord, I have just one question.”
“What question?” Li Yuangu reflexively asked.
“My sister’s case… do you still intend to investigate it?”
Li Yuangu took a deep breath. Since that day when Chai Yingluo urged him to stop and he had that huge argument with his niece, he had been avoiding this question deep in his heart.
In his heart, he wanted to investigate, truly wanted justice for his innocent, wrongfully killed niece. He wasn’t afraid of the toil or trouble – he didn’t have many official duties anyway. But he wasn’t an otherworldly immortal detached from human affairs; he couldn’t ignore many complex worldly entanglements — like Empress Zhangsun, who was raising his young sister of the same mother, ordering the case closed; like the Zixu Temple master who had strongly supported him now wavering and retreating; like Wei Zheng, who was supposedly investigating the case, probably shirking this responsibility; like… Crown Prince Li Chengqian’s hostility and pressure.
Even the Emperor himself, who had encouraged him to continue investigating two days ago, made no mention of it when they met today – perhaps his wife had convinced him to agree to close the case. Counting them up, in this world now, besides himself, there probably wasn’t a single person who still wanted to pursue the County Princess of Linfen’s murder case to the end.
Perhaps… except for young Lady Wei?
Wei Shubin stood prettily before him, her expression calm, her gaze gentle and clear. Somehow, Li Yuangu felt her demeanor contained an encouraging reassurance, and he unconsciously nodded to her:
“I want to continue investigating, but all leads and clues have been cut off, and I can’t find any angle to approach it. Moreover… it involves the Eastern Palace…”
At this point, he suddenly felt it inappropriate for a single man and woman to discuss secrets standing by the main road. Looking around, he gestured for Wei Shubin to follow him, tracing upstream along the roadside ditch, crossing a stone bridge into the grove.
The sun had already shifted westward, its light filtering down through the treetops, scattering multiple rays through the early spring forest, creating an unreal sense of tranquil comfort. As they walked, Li Yuangu talked, telling Wei Shubin everything he knew about investigating Yi Niang’s case, and without hesitation, spoke of his conflicts with Crown Prince Li Chengqian, his grievances and worries. Hearing him say “I don’t know if the Crown Prince is only seeking revenge against me,” Wei Shubin spoke to comfort him:
“Fourteenth Young Lord is probably overthinking. The Crown Prince is just anxious about something happening to the Emperor Emeritus. Yesterday he went to Zixu Temple looking for the High Priestess, probably to discuss returning the Seventeenth Princess to Da’an Hall. The High Priestess had gone home to handle Yi Niang’s funeral matters and wasn’t at the temple, so Master Jingxuan dealt with the Crown Prince and sent him away.”
“Has Ying’er been busy with the funeral at the Chai residence these past two days?” Li Yuangu looked at her with concern. “Then you’re staying at Zixu Temple alone, with no one accompanying you? Has your illness recovered?”
Wei Shubin smiled slightly bitterly: “I told the High Priestess I wanted to go with her to the Chai residence to help, but Sister Ying wouldn’t allow it. She means well – she said my father and mother had already been to the Chai residence to complain to Third Prince Consort General Chai, saying Sister Ying was harboring me in defiance of my parents…”
“Ah?” Li Yuangu was startled. “What did the Third Prince Consort say?”
“The Third Prince Consort said his daughter had been a nun for a long time and mostly stays in the inner temple of the forbidden city, no longer under her worldly father’s control.” Wei Shubin smiled bitterly. “That’s how he brushed off my father and mother. But the Chai residence is in the imperial city – it’s easy to find. If I went to the Chai residence and my father came to take me away, neither the Third Prince Consort nor his daughter could openly intervene… so I’d just hide at Zixu Temple for a few more days. Sister Ying specifically left Master Jingxuan behind to look after me.”
Li Yuangu nodded: “That’s thoughtful of Ying’er. Just stay at the temple – if you need anything, send someone to find me at Da’an Palace.”
Wei Shubin glanced at him, her jade cheeks slightly reddening as she cleared her throat: “I’ve strayed from the topic. When I asked Fourteenth Young Lord earlier if you’re still investigating Yi Niang’s case, it’s because… I may have learned some important news.”
“What news?” Li Yuangu asked urgently.
Wei Shubin explained slowly. It turned out that when the garrison requested medicine for burns from Zixu Temple, Master Jingxuan, who was managing temple affairs, was too busy to handle it, so she volunteered to lead people to deliver medicine and learn from the garrison doctors how to apply ointment to burn victims. By chance, one of the critically injured patients she treated was one of the guards who had been stationed at the main gate at noon on the day Gangye Temple caught fire, unconscious since being burned while fighting the fire…
Li Yuangu grew increasingly amazed as he listened. He had seen the garrison guard who was severely burned that day – his skin was so badly damaged he was unrecognizable, terrifyingly gruesome. Li Yuangu himself hadn’t dared look too long, yet this delicate young woman dared to personally care for the patient… When she mentioned “the guard stationed at the main gate that noon,” he pondered for a moment, just beginning to understand, when Wei Shubin continued:
“After I applied a layer of cooling ointment to his burned skin, the guard had a moment of clarity and could open his eyes and speak. I asked him who had come to Gangye Temple that noon to take away the Prince of Hailing’s wife and daughters. He managed to struggle out three words before taking his last breath… Alas…”
The young woman’s expression darkened. Li Yuangu sighed with her and asked softly: “What three words did he say?”
That noon before Gangye Temple caught fire, who had come to take away the Prince of Hailing’s wife Lady Yang, her two birth daughters, and their servants? To walk openly through the main gate, they must have had official tokens and documents, and the person must have had appropriate status – the gate guards would only allow passage after verifying credentials.
Three words emerged from Wei Shubin’s lips:
“Prince Consort Yang.”
Note: The struggle for succession between Crown Prince Li Chengqian and Prince Wei (titled “Prince of Yue” in the ninth year of Zhenguan) Li Tai was a major event in the political life of the Zhenguan era (hmm). However, in the ninth year of Zhenguan, when Empress Zhangsun was still alive, the conflict hadn’t intensified yet – it was just beginning to show. In those years, both the Emperor and Crown Prince were playful, and father and son had high expectations of each other, so they were both displeased with each other. Then Li Shimin, being a warrior, thought scholars were more refined and particularly favored Li Tai’s talents in this area.