The evening palace banquet was no different from usual. Xia Xiuyan sat at his seat thoroughly bored, watching the scene of filial piety and parental kindness unfold—it was the same old thing year after year, decade after decade, with nothing new. However, fortunately, these palace banquets usually produced some minor, inconsequential incidents. As long as they didn’t implicate him personally, just watching the drama from the sidelines wasn’t entirely uninteresting.

Today, the first to start things off was Consort Wu Shu, all because the eldest prince, Li Hantai, would be having his coming-of-age ceremony after the new year, and so his marriage prospects had been brought to the table.

“Does Hantai have anyone he fancies?”

Li Hantai rose and replied: “I leave it entirely to Imperial Father and Imperial Mother to decide.”

He was the eldest among the princes. Though not born of the Empress, his mother was Consort Shu, the most favored by His Majesty, and her family background was excellent. Even before his coming-of-age ceremony, he had already begun gaining experience in court ahead of his other brothers.

Consort Shu spoke up at the opportune moment from the side: “This subject was thinking that after the new year, the palace will hold another selection. When the ladies enter the palace, we could also help Tai’er look them over. If there’s a suitable one, she could first enter the manor as a secondary consort.”

Emperor Xuande nodded: “Then this matter shall be entrusted to the Empress. When the selection comes after the new year, pay more attention on Hantai’s behalf.”

The Empress nodded in agreement. Then they heard the Empress Dowager suddenly ask: “After the new year, Ru’er will also come of age. Have you found a suitable family?”

Noble Consort Chen sitting to the side sighed: “You know Ru’er’s temperament. It’s all this subject’s fault for not disciplining her strictly from childhood. Now her character has grown as bold as a man’s. Which scholarly family in the capital would dare marry her?”

“If civil officials dare not marry her, marrying a military general would also be good.” Upon hearing this, Emperor Xuande stroked his beard and looked toward Li Hanru. “What kind of person does Ru’er herself like?”

“Scholars are weak. I’m your daughter, so naturally if I’m to marry, I should also marry a valiant man.”

Emperor Xuande laughed heartily: “Then what do you consider a valiant man?”

Though this was a family banquet today, not everyone seated below was from the palace—people like Xia Xiuyan and Zheng Yuanwu had also come. Li Hanru was, after all, still a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl. Though her temperament was usually bold, being asked about this publicly still made her somewhat embarrassed. She could only stubbornly stammer: “At least… in martial skills, he shouldn’t be worse than Second Brother.”

Hearing this, Li Hanyi snorted proudly: “Then I think you’ll never marry. Just speaking of those of our generation in the palace, there aren’t many whose martial skills surpass mine.”

Li Hanru glared at him: “Not many doesn’t mean none. Just because the instructor praises you a few times, do you really think you’re the best in the world?”

“Then who else is there!”

Upon hearing this, Li Hanru instinctively glanced quickly in Zheng Yuanwu’s direction, blushing as she muttered: “Anyway, not you!”

Though this glance was quick, it was enough for the observant to detect some clues. The Empress said with a smile: “Yuanwu is also the son of a military family. When you compete with Hanyi on ordinary days, which of you is superior?”

Zheng Yuanwu was suddenly called upon. He had always been an honest person, but this time he said: “The Second Prince wins more often.”

Xia Xiuyan found this interesting. Sure enough, he immediately heard Li Hanxing expose the truth: “I think Yuanwu is giving Second Brother face. Today in the Imperial Garden playing in the snow, Second Brother still lost to Yuanwu.”

Before Li Hanyi could refute, Zheng Yuanwu had already spoken: “Playing in the snow is just children’s play. The Second Prince is formidable, so he got pelted more. How can that count as winning or losing?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Hanyuan immediately stood up excitedly, stammering in accusation: “Then, then I’m not formidable, and you still threw snowballs at me!”

The little princess’s milk-voiced, loud complaint amused the entire room. Even Zheng Yuanwu couldn’t help but smile. Emperor Xuande took the little princess into his arms and pretended to scold her several brothers. The room was harmonious, and this matter seemed to be lightly glossed over.

Zheng Yuanwu sat down, but then heard Noble Consort De sigh to His Majesty as if unintentionally: “Young Master Zheng is so young, yet modest and low-key. He truly is a rare good child.”

Emperor Xuande, holding Li Hanyuan, looked over at him and nodded, saying as if casually: “Yuanwu is not young either. Is there a young lady you like?”

The hall suddenly quieted. Those with more active minds had already guessed Emperor Xuande’s intention. Zheng Yuanwu was the legitimate son of General Zheng Lu. The imperial family keeping him in the capital also had the intention of forming a marriage alliance to balance the forces on the southwestern border. Currently, there weren’t many princesses in the palace, and the only one of suitable age was Li Hanru. If he revealed some hint now, His Majesty could probably arrange a marriage for him on the spot.

For a moment, everyone in the hall had different thoughts. Looking at Zheng Yuanwu seated below, they all showed thoughtful expressions. Li Hanru especially kept her head lowered, not daring to glance across. She only felt that after a long while, she heard the rustle of clothing in the hall. Zheng Yuanwu stood up for the second time, his tone calm: “A man who has not yet established merit dares not start a family. Yuanwu has not thought about such matters.”

As his words fell, the hall was quiet for a long time. The smile on Emperor Xuande’s face diminished somewhat. The Empress smoothed things over from the side, covering her lips and laughing: “General Zheng was himself a solemn person when young. After Yiqing married him, she would often come to the palace to complain to me that he didn’t understand romance. Who would have thought that the son he bore would be exactly the same?”

The Empress Dowager also chimed in: “When young ladies are small, they’re all like this—looking down on those literary scholars who write poetry, instead preferring those military men who practice with swords. But if you ask this old one, after another two years, they’ll know that living life still requires someone steady and reliable. Otherwise, the one who suffers is yourself.”

Emperor Xuande’s expression relaxed somewhat, saying lightly: “It’s never a bad thing for young people to have great ambitions. That Yuanwu at such a young age can have such aspirations is commendable.”

The atmosphere in the hall gradually recovered, except for Li Hanru sitting to the side with her head lowered, biting her lower lip tightly, her expression still somewhat unpleasant.

However, this commotion reminded the Empress Dowager of something. She turned with a loving expression to look at Xia Xiuyan: “Has your father sent any letters recently?”

“He sent one,” Xia Xiuyan hadn’t expected the fire to spread to him next, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. “Father’s letter asked about recent circumstances. There wasn’t anything else particularly important.”

Emperor Xuande smoothly turned his attention this way: “This past half year, Xiuyan has indeed been frightened repeatedly. When Hongying learns of this, I’m afraid he’ll blame me, his uncle, for not taking good care of you.”

The Empress Dowager sighed: “I think it would be better to have Yan’er move here to stay with me, so he can be looked after.”

“They’re young—it’s the age for play. Being confined in the palace, they’d probably feel uncomfortable.” The Empress smiled. “I saw that a few days ago when Xiuyan was learning archery with Qiu Sichen, he seemed quite spirited. This shows he should go out and be active more.”

The people in the room suddenly began discussing his illness. Xia Xiuyan, however, was somewhat distracted. He suddenly recalled the earlier conversation with Qiu Xinran outside the observatory:

“With your archery skills, naturally you should wait to lead troops and fight enemies in the future.”

“With excellent archery skills, one can also engage in elegant pastimes like pitch-pot. Who says one must lead troops and fight enemies?”

“You learned riding and archery to engage in elegant pitch-pot games with others?”

“Everyone at the academy learns riding and archery. How many are doing it to fight enemies on the battlefield? At most they throw snowballs in the palace.”

“So do you plan to just be an idle young master in this prosperous Chang’an forever?”

“What’s wrong with being an idle young master?”

“If you like it, then it’s very good. If you don’t like it, then there’s nothing good about it.”

…

Talking about likes and dislikes in this place? Xia Xiuyan gripped the jade pendant at his waist and lowered his eyes in thought. Only a naive little Daoist from the mountains like her would say such innocent words.

“Xiuyan.”

He had been distracted for a moment when he realized Li Hanfeng beside him was calling him: “Imperial Father is asking if in a few days you want the palace to send some more people to the princess’s manor, to prevent such incidents from happening again.”

Xia Xiuyan looked up and indeed saw everyone in the room looking at him, waiting for his response. He hesitated for a moment before standing: “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Emperor Xuande nodded, but unexpectedly he continued: “However, while recuperating at the manor, I’ve also thought about many things. Relying solely on guards is ultimately not a foolproof plan. In the future, I still need to spend more time on martial training. At least when encountering danger, I’ll have some ability to protect myself, and won’t trouble Your Majesty to worry about me during your busy affairs.”

Emperor Xuande obviously hadn’t expected him to have come to such a realization during this time. He frowned: “Though your words are reasonable, martial training is not a matter of one day or night. You’ve been weak and sickly since childhood—you needn’t force yourself too much.”

Xia Xiuyan smiled bitterly: “In Qizhou, I always relied on my father and refused to focus on martial training. Now at this age, though it’s already late to start cultivating martial arts, if I can suffer less from illness, that would also be good. I already have Gao Yang and others for close protection. If Your Majesty sends more people, I fear I won’t persist for many days before slacking off again.”

“This stubborn temperament is exactly like his mother’s.” The Empress Dowager smiled and turned to the Emperor. “Xiuyan isn’t the type to cause trouble. Just let him do as he wishes.”

Having reached this point, Emperor Xuande could only nod. But today he had been rebuffed repeatedly by both Zheng Yuanwu and Xia Xiuyan, and his enthusiasm for the banquet had diminished by more than half. After everyone sat for a bit longer, the banquet quickly dispersed.

Xia Xiuyan left late. By the time he emerged from the banquet hall, most of the others had already left. Gao Yang waited outside and helped him put on his cloak. The two walked along the Imperial Garden toward the palace exit. Midway, the person walking in front suddenly spoke: “Today I mentioned to His Majesty my plan to practice martial arts in the future.”

Gao Yang’s footsteps behind him paused. After a moment, he said: “Acting too hastily might make His Majesty suspicious…”

“Three years—no matter what you’re raising, it should be useless by now.” Xia Xiuyan gave a cold laugh and said softly: “Besides, I can’t stay in Chang’an forever.”

He had always been a person with his own ideas. Gao Yang said nothing more. When passing by the observatory, Xia Xiuyan instinctively looked up. The lights were still on at the top of the building. It was the tallest structure in the palace and the only place in the palace that kept lights burning all night.

When Bai Jingming taught at the academy, he said that everyone was born with a star trajectory that foretold their life’s destiny. Xia Xiuyan scoffed at this notion. If a person’s fate was to be decided by a star, living would be truly boring. No matter how the stars moved, he would only walk toward the place he wanted to reach.