Li Yuanji had never wanted to draw his sword and cut the Kuchean guard into pieces as much as he did at this moment.

Judging from Yang Xinzhi’s behavior and expression as he stepped into the room and hastily retreated as if burned, he too probably wanted to disappear into the mountains or seas. In the end, he only slapped himself and laughed self-mockingly outside the reed wall, saying loudly, “How strange, where did Fourteenth Prince and Lady Wei go? It’s too dark in there…”

“Stop pretending! You fool!” Li Yuanji angrily put on his shoes and got down from the kang, going to the outer room to ask what the matter was. It turned out people had come from the Pei estate, along with Fendu the Hu courtesan.

The messengers brought them some clothes and provisions and reported recent news gathered by Lawyer Pei and Steward Zhang – the Xianyang Bridge garrison had indeed sent the Seventeenth Princess and the foreign youth to the Northern Army camp, while An San and his trusted Hu followers were taken to the capital by Cheng Yaojin. The aftermath of the murder at the Small Western Market mule stable was being handled jointly by local officials and Hu merchant leaders – all as expected. Another piece of news was that the Chang’an Imperial Guard and Xianyang local military had begun organizing inspections and sweeps of private ferry docks and boats along both banks of the Wei River. The previous lax management wasn’t just due to bribes from Hu merchant groups – reportedly some imperial relatives and nobles in the capital had also profited from it.

The Pei household people were after all only on the periphery. When the two Prince of Wu’s servants from Da’an Palace secretly brought news, it was closer to the core of court politics: Zhang Shigui had indeed been stripped of his Great General position and sent with reserve troops to reinforce the Tuyuhun campaign on the Qinghai front. The Northern Army camp was now under Cheng Yaojin’s command, and the two were handling the transfer of duties. Crown Prince Li Chengqian hadn’t appeared in Da’an Palace recently – rumor had it he was confined to the Eastern Palace on the Emperor and Empress’s orders to reflect on his behavior and listen to lectures from his newly appointed tutor. The previous night, True Master Chai Yinglu had broken the night curfew to bring the Medicine King Sun Simiao into Da’an Hall to treat the Emperor Emeritus…

“Sister Ying found Sun Zhenren?” Wei Shubin was overjoyed at the news. “I knew she would find him!”

Li Yuanji glanced at her with a smile. After recuperating for several days in the vegetable garden cottage, the wounds and burns on Minister Wei’s daughter had improved greatly, and her spirits were up. Being a young girl, she recovered quickly. Even dressed in a peasant woman’s brown dress without makeup, her youthful beauty shone through – truly “all looks becoming in simple dress and loose hair.”

After that day of water and fire, he hadn’t been able to be alone with Wei Shubin again, because Fendu had come to live with them. He had written a letter for Aqin to deliver to Chai Yinglu via the Chai residence, but couldn’t arrange separate accommodation for Fendu.

The well-behaved Hu courtesan carried herself as a maid, always keeping her distance and trying to stay out of their sight. But the entire garden cottage was too small – with six people living there, it was impossible to avoid others’ eyes, and the shy young lady Wei would no longer speak with Li Yuanji alone.

The two young women quickly became close though – at night, their whispers and laughter could be heard across the reed wall. During the day, they worked with the two old women watering vegetables, loosening soil, transplanting seedlings, and cutting grass, while Li Yuanji and Yang Xinzhi did the heavy labor – “It’s the Fourteenth Prince’s garden after all, might as well work it properly.”

To be honest, he had participated many times in the Emperor’s ceremonial plowing of the imperial fields, read plenty of Xie Lingyun and Tao Yuanming’s poetry, and heard the old scholars in the Eastern Palace Literary Institute frequently extol the pleasures of returning to farming. He hadn’t thought farming would be so hard and troublesome. But when he had to do it every day… well, after just a bit he was already thinking of ways to slack off.

Yang Xinzhi and Wei Shubin seemed to feel the same way. As the sun set in the west and smoke rose from the cottage chimney, Wei Shubin walked toward the woodshed behind the house, apparently to get firewood for cooking – her steps light but slow. Li Yuanji, also outside, threw down his hoe and followed. When they were some distance from the cottage, he saw Wei Shubin emerge from the woodshed carrying a large bundle of straw. Her brows furrowed slightly and her not-yet-healed left arm drew back. He quickly hurried forward to take more than half the firewood from her:

“Why carry so much? Be careful of your arm.”

“It’s fine, the wound has scabbed over,” Wei Shubin replied. Without thinking much, Li Yuanji reached to lift her sleeve: “Let me see.”

He moved quickly, grabbing hold of the young lady’s sleeve. Wei Shubin hastily pulled back her hand: “Let go!”

Only then did Li Yuanji realize his action was inappropriate – how could he casually look at an unmarried lady’s skin? He quickly released her hand, his face flushing hot, stammering as he tried to think of how to apologize. Wei Shubin also looked away, her lips slightly parted-

“You’re already betrothed, what’s wrong with looking? Why not just hug and kiss while you’re at it, come on!”

That clear, bright female voice… was not Wei Shubin’s.

Both of them jumped in shock, turning to look toward the source of the voice. Beyond the man-high fence, the laughing female voice continued:

“Fourteenth Uncle, you spineless shrimp! Can’t you show some Li family manly spirit? Go for it! Are you your father’s son or not?!”

True Master Chai Yinglu, dressed in men’s clothes and accompanied by a eunuch servant, had somehow approached the back of the vegetable garden by the woodshed and seen the young couple across the fence. As Li Yuanji cursed in embarrassment and Wei Shubin fled with a coquettish cry, Chai Yinglu entered through the gate amid loud laughter.

Her eunuch servant carried a bundle containing a box of travel food – though it was just some pickled chicken and cured meat, it seemed like treasures to those who had been eating millet porridge with just pickled vegetables for days. They called the two old women to join them and quickly devoured everything.

Chai Yinglu gave her eunuch a look. Understanding, he called Fendu and the two old women to take the bowls and dirty clothes to wash by the well. When only the two men and two women remained in the room, before Chai Yinglu could speak, Li Yuanji impatiently asked a string of questions:

“Sister Ying, you’ve been to Da’an Palace? How is the Emperor Emeritus? What’s the situation in the palace? Any news of my Seventeenth Sister?”

“Look how anxious you are, let me explain slowly.” The female Taoist pulled a cloth bag from her sleeve and placed it on the table, asking with a smile:

“Guess what this is?”

The fine cloth bag was tied with hemp rope, plain and clean without any markings. From its shape, it contained paper scrolls. As Li Yuanji answered “Is it a letter from someone?” and reached to take the bag and pull out the papers, Chai Yinglu stopped him:

“Wait! Listen to what I have to say before you decide whether to open it.”

“What’s wrong?” All three in the room looked at the female Taoist. In the dimming light from outside, the beautiful woman in men’s clothing’s face grew dark and serious:

“I went to see the Empress in the palace…”