Since the Fifth Prince was in that other group, Xie Yuzhang was no longer the person of highest rank present, and she rose along with A’Mei, calling out, “Fifth Brother.”
“You came out too?” The Fifth Prince was very pleased to see that she had followed his advice from that day and come out to clear her head. “Jingshan is here too.”
Xie Yuzhang shaded her eyes with her hand to peer over, and sure enough her maternal cousin Yang Huaishen was also in that group.
“Second Older Brother,” she called, “Have you all come out for hunting and riding as well?”
The Fifth Prince paused slightly.
In the past, Xie Yuzhang had called him “Fifth Elder Brother” as well. Ever since that afternoon she had been afflicted by that nightmare, she had changed to simply “Fifth Brother.” It didn’t sound particularly wrong, but the person herself could naturally feel it — the former warmth was gone.
With Yang Huaishen there as a point of comparison, that feeling was especially vivid.
Still… it was not such a great matter. Besides, she was about to be married away in the near future.
The Fifth Prince did not take it to heart.
Yang Huaishen had already dismounted, tossed his riding crop to a servant, and strode over with long steps. “Baohua.”
He examined her carefully, and seeing that her brow was smooth and unstrained with no trace of dejection, he felt a slight relief, and said, “Ziyi and Fucheng sent over several Liangzhou horses for us, so we came out to give them a run.”
Since Liangzhou was mentioned, it must have something to do with Li Gu and his group, but who were Ziyi and Fucheng? Xie Yuzhang naturally looked toward Li Gu.
Li Gu, seeing her gaze fall on him, folded his hands in a greeting. “This subject’s courtesy name is Fucheng.”
Li Weifeng quickly followed with a greeting of his own. “This subject’s courtesy name is Ziyi.”
Xie Yuzhang suddenly understood.
In later years, people would only address Li Gu as “Your Majesty” or “The Holy Sovereign.” Xie Yuzhang had truly not known what his courtesy name was.
She smiled and asked, “Was it General Li who chose it?”
Li Weifeng had been about to answer out of habit, but Li Gu had already replied, “Indeed. This subject was born of humble origins, and it was only after the General took him in as an adopted son that he received a courtesy name.”
Li Weifeng shot Li Gu a sideways glance and sensibly held his tongue.
Yang Huaishen moved sideways and slipped between Xie Yuzhang and Li Gu, cutting off the line of sight between them, and said with a smile, “You all came out hunting? What did you catch?”
Xie Yuzhang smiled. “All the usual things — nothing extraordinary. You might as well help decide how best to prepare them.”
Yang Huaishen smiled back. “You should go easy on the roasted meat — you don’t want to break out in heat blisters on your face and end up crying over it.”
He bantered with Xie Yuzhang while she turned away, and he quietly breathed out in relief.
He had been at the great banquet that day, serving at his father Duke Yang Changyuan’s side, and had witnessed with his own eyes the moment Xie Yuzhang had playfully teased Li Gu. Under ordinary circumstances, this would have made for a small bit of gossip for everyone to chat and laugh about over tea. But on that same day, the Emperor had agreed in person to betroth Xie Yuzhang to Mobei, and so the incident had been overlooked and no one had brought it up again.
Only Yang Huaishen felt a pang of pain in his heart.
First she had entrusted him with her care, then given him a jade pendant, then flirted openly in front of the court. When had Baohua ever paid that kind of attention to any man? She must be fond of Li Gu!
Under any other circumstances, this would be the sort of small, sweet girlish thing that would make one smile knowingly, and even years later, when each of them had wed, it could be looked back upon as a tender memory from one’s youth.
But Xie Yuzhang was now about to be sent in a marriage alliance to Mobei, to be wed to an old man old enough to be her grandfather, and so this small stirring of a young girl’s first feelings became, all at once, cause for sorrow.
At the time, everyone was laughing. Only he and his father had not.
Yang Huaishen had feared that seeing Li Gu would cause Xie Yuzhang grief and heartache, and so he had hurried to step between them. But looking at Xie Yuzhang’s retreating figure now, he thought… his cousin did not seem quite as fragile as he had imagined.
He quietly breathed out in relief, then could not help glancing back at Li Gu. He saw that Li Gu’s gaze had already moved away, and he was speaking with Li Weifeng.
Both of them seemed fine. That was for the best.
Since they were all acquainted, the two groups simply merged into one.
The younger brothers and sisters asked about it, and learned that the elder brothers had recently acquired some fine horses and had made a special outing to give them a proper run.
The Li family, in their dealings with people these days, used the Liangzhou horses they had brought as gifts. The Liangzhou cavalry was renowned throughout the land, and the Liangzhou horses were no small part of the reason why. Fine jade and treasures were easy to come by, but good horses were hard to find. These young lords had received Liangzhou horses and had been itching to ride them, so today they had arranged to meet outside the city and ridden to their hearts’ content.
“Speaking of which, my black horse… is that also a Liangzhou horse?” Xie Yuzhang suddenly remembered.
The Fifth Prince remembered this clearly. “That was one of the tribute horses sent from the northwest back then. Among them were two young foals — one was given to you and one to Anle.”
At the time the previous Crown Prince was still alive, and along with the current Crown Prince both had received Liangzhou horses. The Fifth Prince had been a few years younger and had not gotten one, something he had resented for a very long time.
Li Gu turned his head to look at the horses.
Xie Yuzhang told him, “It’s the one with four white-socked hooves.”
Li Gu looked for a moment, then turned back and told her, “It’s been kept too comfortably.”
A’Mei, sitting beside Xie Yuzhang, clapped her hands in admiration. “Isn’t it? Such a beautiful horse.”
But Xie Yuzhang looked back at Li Gu with a serious expression. “You are right.”
Li Gu was somewhat surprised that Xie Yuzhang understood what he meant.
That black horse with four white-socked hooves had a sleek, gleaming coat and a plump, rounded belly, and it did indeed look, on the surface, quite beautiful — and in truth, most horses belonging to the nobility in the capital were raised to look exactly like this. But it only looked beautiful. To Li Gu’s experienced eye for horses, it had been kept far too comfortably and indulgently, and if it were ever brought before a battle formation, it would likely be trampled into pulp by the other horses.
Li Gu also understood that the person raising the horse might not be unaware of this fact — it was simply that a noble’s horse was first and foremost expected to look impressive.
Princess Baohua had no need to ride into battle, and it was likely the same for her, so after he said what he said, he swallowed the second half of his thought — it should be ridden more — keeping it on the tip of his tongue and saying nothing more.
Xie Yuzhang thought to herself: this future Emperor had always been a man of few words, even from his youth.
Reticent in speech but swift in action — this was the assessment the world would later give of Li Gu.
Their encounters had been few, and they had barely spoken. The memory that stood out most was still that single phrase, “Too thin.”