No one could help Zhuzhu. They could only watch helplessly as she was sent away.
That sense of powerlessness — it was truly unbearable.
Yang Huaishen tightened his grip on the reins.
Xie Yuzhang rode up to join them. “Wait for me, elder brothers.”
She answered the Fifth Prince, “I asked some questions about conditions beyond the frontier. The young General Li and his brother are always in contact with the Khanate’s side, are they not?”
Identical to what Yang Huaishen had said. The Fifth Prince nodded, and the three of them rode on side by side.
By the time they returned to Yunjing, the sky was approaching dusk, and those young men still had a drinking engagement to attend.
Xie Yuzhang took her leave from them, and smiled at Li Gu, saying, “I will have someone send that saddle to General the Eleventh later.”
She had not managed to get Li Gu’s dagger. But sending him something of her own was at least something, and not a poor showing.
Li Gu watched her depart as the group made their way toward He Chun Restaurant.
With the younger crowd gone, the young men finally drank their fill freely and openly. Li Gu and Li Weifeng drank everyone else under the table.
The household servants of each family were well practiced at handling these situations, and had long since arranged for carriages to come from home. One by one they were helped along — some supported by the arm, some carried on the back — into the waiting carriages.
Even Li Gu and the others, having drunk more than was sensible, switched to riding in a carriage.
At one point Li Weifeng climbed out of the carriage at the side of the road and retched. A servant passed over a water flask, and he gulped down some water in long pulls. The cool night breeze blew over him, and with his head still swimming, he climbed back into the carriage.
The carriage had no lamp lit inside. In the deep darkness, the light from the night market filtered through the bamboo curtain in thin stripes. Li Gu lay sideways, propped against the carriage wall, his face pressed near the bamboo curtain, peering out at the scene beyond, the lattice of shadows falling across him in fine lines.
“What are you looking at?” Li Weifeng mumbled. He curled his body directly into a ball, his head resting on Li Gu’s legs.
Li Gu did not, as he usually would have, kick him off. He simply went on gazing at the lights outside.
Li Weifeng shifted, muttered something, and closed his eyes.
After a while, he heard Li Gu say something.
His mind was slow from the wine, and it took him quite some time to process it. Finally he realized: Li Gu was asking, “Are all the young women of Yunjing this composed when faced with difficulties?”
After a long circuit of thought, Li Weifeng finally understood who he meant.
“Are you talking about Princess Baohua? But she’s a princess — imperial blood of the highest standing. Can she really be compared to any ordinary young woman?” Li Weifeng said, yawning widely.
He had been born of humble origins, and even now that he had official rank, he still harbored a deep awe for imperial power and the imperial family in his heart.
Li Gu’s background was similar to his, and he understood him. But Li Gu, gazing out at the lights beyond the window, thought to himself: if the imperial house were truly so worthy of reverence, why would it need to send its own daughters, raised in golden luxury, to distant lands in marriage?
If men could hold up their half of the sky, why should women need to bow down and shoulder it?
Li Gu frowned, staring at the splendor of Yunjing, and felt his awe — both for this city heavy with history and for imperial power — diminish by several degrees.
On returning to the Li residence, servants had already prepared sobering soup. The two drank it down before going to see Li Ming, where they reported on the day’s outing with the noble sons and daughters.
“Yang the Second from the Duke of Xun’s family is passable enough. The rest — nothing to speak of.” Li Gu said.
Li Ming shook his head. “The Duke of Xun’s residence is one of the Eight Founding Dukes, and has produced many generations of fierce military men. Only now… it is not what it once was.”
The three of them chatted a while longer about the noble families of the capital. As Li Gu and Li Weifeng were about to take their leave, Li Ming suddenly said, “By the way, Princess Baohua sent over a gold saddle. What is that about?”
Li Weifeng let out a grin. “She actually sent it?” So she was a young woman who kept her word. He then told Li Ming, “It was an archery competition — the Eleventh took first place, and this was the stake the Princess put up.”
Li Ming was surprised. “Princess Baohua went with you all?”
Li Gu said, “She did not. Her Highness was out on an excursion with other people and we happened to meet.” He recounted the circumstances briefly.
Li Ming looked thoughtful. “This girl has a great deal of ambition.”
Li Weifeng jumped in eagerly. “The Princess acted as though nothing at all was wrong. She asked us openly and without hesitation about the north, saying she wanted to know in advance and be mentally prepared.”
Li Ming sighed once more. “What a pity.”
Li Gu lowered his gaze.
On returning to his own courtyard, his personal guard came forward in delight, holding out the saddle. “General, look! It’s gold!”
Not just gilded — it was inlaid with pearls and precious stones, beautiful and dazzling to behold. At a single glance Li Gu could see it was an exact match to the one Xie Yuzhang used herself.
Li Gu froze. In the flickering candlelight, his expression was layered and unreadable.
“Store it away carefully,” he said to his guard after a long while. “Be very careful with it.”
The guard, seeing and touching such a precious saddle for the first time in his life, had not needed telling to be careful — but he could not help asking, “General, are you not going to use it? Just think how impressive that would look!”
Li Gu stroked the finely inlaid gemstones and said softly, “If I use it, it will wear out. Better to put it away properly.”
The moment Xie Yuzhang returned to Zhaoxia Palace she gave an instruction, “Where is that matching pair of gold saddles of mine? Find them for me.”
Lin Fei came to meet her, startled. “Whatever is the matter? What do you need that for?”
“I put it up as a stake and lost the competition, so I have to send it over — I am not the sort of person who goes back on her word.” Xie Yuzhang said with a smile.
Lin Fei was already glad she had gone out to clear her head, and seeing her in such good spirits, her own mood lifted in kind. She smiled teasingly, “Then it had best go out quickly — otherwise people might think our young princess is like that other time, when she clearly lost that jade tiger to the Fifth Prince but absolutely refused to hand it over.”
If Lin Fei had not brought it up, Xie Yuzhang, reborn into this new life, would have nearly forgotten the whole incident.
She changed out of her riding clothes, freshened up, and while a palace maid served her by redoing her hair, she looked into the mirror and suddenly asked Lin Fei, “A’Fei, what do you make of Fifth Brother?”
Lin Fei raised her clear bright eyes. “Why do you ask me that?”