“It’s something I heard by accident.” On second thought, Wu Du still doesn’t think it’s safe enough where they are, and on spying a skiff by the riverbank he says, “Come on, let’s go to the middle of the lake.”
Duan Ling doesn’t know how to pole a skiff, but he gets on with Wu Du. Wu Du does his best to stand up straight, and picking up the pole he pushes its end against the riverbank. The skiff flies towards the middle of the lake like an arrow until it slowly eases in to a stop.
There’s no one else here. Wu Du sits down and beckons Duan Ling closer. He puts an arm around Duan Ling and they both sit at the prow.
“That night,” Wu Du says, “I was looking for something in the chancellor’s estate.”
“What something?”
Wu Du folds Duan Ling’s collar back to reveal the Shining Armour while meeting Duan Ling’s eyes. Duan Ling nods.
After Helan Jie’s death the other day, Wu Du had peeled off the armour and disdainfully soaked it in a medicinal solution for several days, and only asked Duan Ling to put it on once he made sure it had been thoroughly cleansed. He also told him to keep it on from now on, and never told him whether he had to return it. And now that he knows Duan Ling is the crown prince, he’s really never going to ask for it back.
“I hid on the roof beam in the study and happened to overhear half a conversation between Chang Pin and Mu Kuangda. It sounded extremely suspicious. What Chang Pin said was, ‘when the bump shows must be calculated precisely. No mistake can be allowed when it comes to this.’”
Duan Ling is full of questions.
“When the bump shows?” Duan LIng mumbles. “Is it in regards to a pregnancy? Whose pregnancy?”
“All Chancellor Mu did was make an agreeing hum before they moved on to another topic. That’s why I suspected that Chang Pin was talking about the empress. If Mu Jinzhi gives birth to a prince for His Majesty, Chancellor Mu would naturally become an imperial uncle. And once His Majesty’s been … he would be able to govern as Regent as is his right.
“Now that the crown prince has returned to court though,” Wu Du continues, “Chancellor Mu must not have simply given up that plan. His enemy is the crown prince. Whoever sits in that position is going to invite danger.”
If that’s the case, then Mu Kuangda’s previous actions against Li Jianhong becomes quite comprehensible, since Li Yanqiu’s future son is going to be his nephew. Lang Junxia coming back with Cai Yan in the meantime has upset Mu Kuangda’s entire plan. But knowing how resourceful Mu Kuangda is, Duan Ling has a feeling that it can’t possibly be that simple.
“But what could they have been saying before that?” Duan Ling says, “That’s his sister, not his wife. Does he think she could somehow be promoted so that Great Chen would change hands from the Lis to the Mus?”
Staring out at the river water at first light, an extremely shocking idea surfaces in Duan Ling’s mind.
If that’s really the case, Duan Ling thinks he’s managed to get a glimpse of the conspiracy in Mu Kuangda’s grasp. And to the Mu family, this is fatal. By revealing this news to him, Wu Du has essentially helped him take back the advantage over the whole battlefield.
Duan Ling spends the rest of the day puzzling out this problem, while Wu Du is so worn out that he starts dozing as soon as he gets in the carriage. The shock that initially hit him has passed, and by the time he wakes up again, they’re back to being as they were.
Having just woken up, Wu Du stares at Duan Ling in a daze, and as for Duan Ling, who is no longer agonising about his own identity and position, tells him to look outside through the carriage’s shades. The sights along the Min River on the way to Jiangzhou are gorgeous, interspersed frequently with miles and miles of red maple leaves.
They reach the harbour at Xijiang River and their carriage is moved onto a ship, where they’re carried the rest of the way with the current.
It’s the time of year for the great geese to fly south, and the petrified state of mind Duan Ling had when he passed by Jiangzhou half a year ago has faded gradually, leaving nary a trace. Wu Du has also slowly come to a conclusion along the way.
“We can’t go see your fourth uncle without a thorough plan.” Wu Du says to Duan Ling, “The consequences of failure are too great to contemplate.”
Duan Ling gives him a nod; he’s sitting in the dark after all, while Cai Yan is in the full path of the sun. The situation may look perilous, but after he’s won over Wu Du, it’s the same as coming in possession of the means to gamble with — he has a fighting chance now.
The future may still be unclear and in the dark, but for now there is at least one thing he can do.
Wu Du says, “We’ll continue to lie low in the chancellor’s estate, and as long as we consider every step we make carefully, Wuluohou Mu won’t be able to do a thing about you, and he wouldn’t dare rashly come to kill you either. As you can see, he hasn’t tried to kill you since that night he realised you were still alive.”
Nothing worries Duan Ling more than Lang Junxia; he wonders if Lang Junxia has returned to the capital by now, and if he has, whether he has told Cai Yan about him. Duan Ling would be in big trouble if he has.
“Why is that?” Duan Ling asks.
“He fears drawing Chancellor Mu’s attention. Why would he ever go out of his way to kill a retainer in the Chancellor’s estate and for no good reason? Mu Kuangda is hardly simple in the head. He’d definitely track down the truth.”
Now that Duan Ling thinks about it, he agrees; even if Cai Yan finds out Duan Ling is with Wu Du, he wouldn’t dare send Lang Junxia to try to kill him. Otherwise if he should fail Mu Kuangda would definitely get suspicious, as would Li Yanqiu. After all, there’s no reason for the crown prince himself to kill someone he has no feud against.
Unless Cai Yan and Lang Junxia are absolutely certain that they can make him disappear completely, they’re never going to make a hasty move.
The green hills are just barely visible ahead, and the river glistens behind them like jade; Jiangnan’s autumn is almost at its end, and the trees have lost all their greenery.2
Jiangzhou has always been regarded as the grandest city of the central plains, and ever since ancient times it’s been called the Emperors’ Final Rest, filled with the auspicious blessings of imperial aura. Throughout many dynasties and generations when foreign forces invaded the empire, this was always where the throne chose to relocate the capital. It is also the hub that connects Xichuan and Jiangnan. Leaning against Mount Yuheng and facing the relentless Yangtze, it is blessed with abundant natural resources.
The last time, Duan Ling had passed by Jiangzhou’s gates without entering, and now he’ll finally get to see the place his father told him about. He’d heard Jiangzhou is adorned with peach blossoms in spring, turning to a jade green summer filled with the call of cicadas, which fades to maple-swept autumn skies, and its winter is covered in bright white snow. It’s truly as beautiful as a painting, the most splendid view one can find in the mortal world.
A bell rings as their ship stops at the harbour; it is the time of the capital of Great Chen’s relocation, and there are boxes of stuff everywhere on the pier.
Duan Ling helps Wu Du off the ship and onto the carriage again. He pulls the curtain open to look outside curiously.
An impressive city stands towering before them. Since antiquity, Jiangzhou has never experienced the ravages of war, and with a thousand years of continuous gradual construction, it has grown to be home to five hundred thousand households, a hundred miles of city walls, and ten-mile long avenues as densely packed as tightly woven tapestries.
“Hey, Wu Du.” Duan Ling pokes him. “This place is so much more affluent than Xichuan. So how come my grandpa never wanted to move the capital here?”
“Because of Zhao Kui. Xie You and Zhao Kui had always been sworn enemies. The late emperor once said that by compromising and each taking one step back, Xie You and Zhao Kui saved a million people from their violent deaths.”
Duan Ling has an inkling that the struggle for military might affects far more people than the struggle for political power, and the repercussions are also significantly more disastrous. Xie You and Zhao Kui both controlled key divisions of the army, and in the end his grandfather had to take the commoners’ wellbeing into account and relocate the capital to Xichuan in order to prevent internal strife between these two high-ranking generals of Great Chen — which would cause far more harm than good.
Their coachman has never been to Jiangzhou before, and he’s lost his way before they know it. Jiangzhou is different from Xichuan, as it’s separated into inner and outer cities; the city centre used to be the seat of the local government, and now it’s been set up as the forbidden palace, while the outer city is built in a ring formation that radiates from the city centre. In the outermost ring is a hundred and eight blocks with a thousand households each; move one ring inwards, and you’ll find the businesses, merchants, and warehouses arranged in a long street that circles the entire city. Move farther inwards, and through a gate you’ll find a mixed zone filled with schools, inns, and more residences — ninety-six blocks altogether. Like the ten heavenly stems and twelve earth branches, it’s one ring within another that corresponds layer by layer to a magnificent geomancy compass, with the Yangtze flowing in a half circle outside the compass, connecting six harbours.
All the loops and turns have even Wu Du a bit disoriented. Duan Ling asks, “Haven’t you been here before?”
“Oh, I forgot. I got lost the first time I came and wandered all over the city for ages. Zheng Yan ended up taking me to the palace with him.”
“Does Benxiao know the way? Maybe we should follow Benxiao?”
Benxiao knows the city well and it takes a turn into an alley, guiding the carriage to follow, then it goes through the lane to emerge into a wide avenue.
Duan Ling is used to the square city blocks of Shangjing and Xichuan; in a place like Jiangzhou he can’t even figure out which way is north. By the time he realises where they are, Benxiao has already stopped outside the palace, waiting impatiently for the carriage to proceed.
And right at that moment, guards come down the main street ringing gongs to clear the road, while a resplendent carriage drives towards them. A warrior dressed in black armour approaches on a tall horse and says, “Who’s there blocking the way?!”
Duan Ling says, “Oh no, who’s in that carriage?”
“I’ll take care of it. Don’t come out. Don’t worry.”
“Is it Wu Du?” It’s Cai Yan’s voice in the distance, going so far as to step off his carriage to greet him personally. “You’re finally here!”
Cai Yan didn’t recognise the carriage, but he recognised Benxiao.
Duan Ling peers through a small gap in the curtain at a caravan of carriages stretching all the way down the street. All at once he realises that the two of them must possess exceptional luck — they’ve actually managed to meet up with the crown prince and the emperor on the same day they reached the city!
There’s a less decorated, simpler looking carriage behind the crown prince’s coach, with eight horses hitched to the breeching. By the pomp and circumstance, it must be his uncle, the present emperor Li Yanqiu!
Cai Yan has stepped off the carriage, and Wu Du starts walking towards him, supporting himself on a cane. But Cai Yan has come over on his own, holding out a hand to tell Wu Du he shouldn’t walk around, and standing outside the carriage, Cai Yan asks after his health.
“How did you get so badly injured?” Cai Yan asks.
“I wasn’t skilled enough,” Wu Du replies nonchalantly. “A lapse of judgement had me underestimating my enemy. It’s alright. Several months of rest and I’ll be as good as new.”
As soon as he says this, everyone around them falls quiet. Xie You studies Wu Du as though he’s never met him before.
Cai Yan replies, “I’ll have to send a doctor over to check on you. Thank you so much for your hard work, truly.”
“I’ll pay my respects to His Majesty once I recover from my injuries.” Speaking of which, he puts one fist in hand in a salute and says to Cai Yan, “Congratulations on the successful move to Jiangzhou, Your Highness. It’s a majestic location, its favourable conditions bound to bring peace and prosperity to all under heaven.”
Cai Yan gives him a knowing smile. “I heard that there was someone else who went to Tongguan with you …”
Inside his carriage, Duan Ling’s heart skips a beat, but outside, Wu Du is replying, “Wang Shan did not come back with me. He’s still in Tongguan. I’m sure he’ll be setting off in several days as well.”
“Great. Wonderful. When he comes back, we should all meet.”
Duan Ling can’t see Cai Yan from the window, and with too many emotions tied up into a complicated knot, he raises the curtain just enough to stare at the emperor’s carriage from afar.
And yet it is just then that Xie You opens the imperial carriage’s curtain, and Li Yanqiu steps forth.
“I was just wondering where Benxiao’s gone.” Li Yanqiu says without much emotion, “I see now that Wu Du’s taken it with him.”
In that very moment, Duan Ling feels lightning going down his spine as though he just saw the one he’s been dreaming about both day and night. His eyes, his brows, his lips, even his manner bears close resemblance to his father.
A strange sense of belonging seems to have always flowed in his veins, not unlike that feeling he got when his father had stood behind him when he was working in the garden in Shangjing. As soon as he lays eyes on his uncle, it feels as though Li Jianhong has come alive again.
“Your Majesty.” Wu Du salutes.
“I suppose it’s fine.” Li Yanqiu says without fanfare, “Since you’ve taken the Li family’s horse away, why not come stay at the Eastern Palace at some point as a retainer. You’re meant to serve Rong’er, it seems.”
Li Yanqiu takes several steps forward, waiting for Wu Du to answer, but to everyone’s surprise, Wu Du is not answering him. Neither does he thank His Majesty’s grace; he doesn’t even nod.
Cai Yan’s expression darkens immediately. It’s become a terribly embarrassing situation.
In the end, it’s Xie You who reminds him. “Wu Du, did you hear?”
Quite at ease, Wu Du replies, “I heard.”
Fortunately, Cai Yan can adapt, and he says to Li Yanqiu, “Uncle, let’s wait until he’s recovered from his injuries.”
“Well, whatever … but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”
“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty …”
But to their surprise, those words were not meant for Wu Du, but Benxiao. Benxiao turns its head, and upon seeing Li Yanqiu, trots slowly over to him. Li Yanqiu puts his hands on the saddle and swings his leg up to get on its back. He turns the horse’s head around, saying to Xie You, “I’ll be going ahead to the palace.”
Li Yanqiu reaches out for Cai Yan from his mounted position on the horse, attempting to pull him up onto Benxiao’s back, but Benxiao ignores Cai Yan and turns its head. With a few clip-clops of its hoofbeats, it takes him slowly to the side of Duan Ling’s carriage.
Duan Ling is still looking out from the window, and just like that, without any warning, Benxiao has taken Li Yanqiu to the side of the carriage, where he’s a curtain away.
Oh no! Wu Du’s expression turns grim in an instant. Even Duan Ling could never have imagined that Li Yanqiu would unintentionally look over and meet Duan Ling’s eyes through the gaps of the bamboo curtain.
They gaze at each other through the curtain, and Duan Ling immediately turns away to avoid Li Yanqiu’s eyes. His heart feels as if heavily stricken.
It seems like Li Yanqiu has managed to sense something, and he stays silently near the carriage for a heartbeat before he says, “Benxiao, now that you have a new master, are you going to disobey now?”
Benxiao snorts. Li Yanqiu shakes the reins. “Gup!”
Benxiao stirs, and it takes a moment for it to turn around, looking all unwilling, to canter slowly along the avenue. Both Xie You and Cai Yan start to smile.
“To the palace!” Li Yanqiu says in a clear, bright voice. Then he turns to Wu Du again. “Lend me the horse for the next few days. I’ll give it back soon enough. Judging by your injuries you probably can’t ride anyway.”
Wu Du nods. Xie You jests, “You didn’t get hurt ‘cause this fierce little horsie threw you off, did you?”
Everyone bursts out loudly in laughter, even Li Yanqiu. Cai Yan turns to Wu Du, adding, “Rest well and get better.”
Li Yanqiu spurs the horse onward, and Benxiao starts to gallop. A breeze blows by to fill the air with maple leaves. Li Yanqiu steers the horse straight towards the Imperial City, his bright yellow cape fluttering in the wind behind him, beneath a sky full of blood-red maple.
Wu Du stares at Li Yanqiu’s back until he’s out of sight before he turns around to board the carriage.
“I’m sorry,” Duan Ling says to Wu Du.
Wu Du is lost in his thoughts, and when he hears this he says, confounded, “Whatever for?”
Duan Ling thinks that both Xie You and Li Yanqiu are utterly rude to Wu Du, mocking him and ridiculing him, and it has made Duan Ling quite sad, listening to them. And besides, Wu Du is only hurt so badly because of him. When all’s said and done, the Lis owe him.
When Wu Du realises what he means, he suddenly finds it quite funny. He shakes his head. “That doesn’t matter at all.”
Duan Ling could never have expected for Wu Du to become so tolerant — once, even Chang Liujun’s bouts of sarcasm used to send him into a fit that left him angry for hours, but now he looks like he doesn’t give it any mind.
Wu Du puts his elbow on the window frame, his gaze lingering on the yellow leaves scattered through the streets. Duan Ling scoots over and leans on the back of his shoulder. Wu Du turns around. “His Majesty didn’t see you earlier, did he?”
Duan Ling shakes his head, recalling that briefest of moments. Their eyes did meet, and their gaze had parted as soon as they met. But it was no more than the blink of an eye and there was a curtain between them, so Li Yanqiu mustn’t have recognised him.
“What’s he like?” Duan Ling asks.
“He has a weak constitution and gets sick often. Someone who’s ill all the time is going to have a bad temper, to a degree.”
《End of Book 2: Eat, Drink, and be Merry》
I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
This is ALMOST a line from a poem by Du Mu. Almost. But in that one the grasses are still green. The title is “寄揚州韓綽判官” if you want to look it up. ↩︎
“It’s something I heard by accident.” On second thought, Wu Du still doesn’t think it’s safe enough where they are, and on spying a skiff by the riverbank he says, “Come on, let’s go to the middle of the lake.”
Duan Ling doesn’t know how to pole a skiff, but he gets on with Wu Du. Wu Du does his best to stand up straight, and picking up the pole he pushes its end against the riverbank. The skiff flies towards the middle of the lake like an arrow until it slowly eases in to a stop.
There’s no one else here. Wu Du sits down and beckons Duan Ling closer. He puts an arm around Duan Ling and they both sit at the prow.
“That night,” Wu Du says, “I was looking for something in the chancellor’s estate.”
“What something?”
Wu Du folds Duan Ling’s collar back to reveal the Shining Armour while meeting Duan Ling’s eyes. Duan Ling nods.
After Helan Jie’s death the other day, Wu Du had peeled off the armour and disdainfully soaked it in a medicinal solution for several days, and only asked Duan Ling to put it on once he made sure it had been thoroughly cleansed. He also told him to keep it on from now on, and never told him whether he had to return it. And now that he knows Duan Ling is the crown prince, he’s really never going to ask for it back.
“I hid on the roof beam in the study and happened to overhear half a conversation between Chang Pin and Mu Kuangda. It sounded extremely suspicious. What Chang Pin said was, ‘when the bump shows must be calculated precisely. No mistake can be allowed when it comes to this.’”
Duan Ling is full of questions.
“When the bump shows?” Duan LIng mumbles. “Is it in regards to a pregnancy? Whose pregnancy?”
“All Chancellor Mu did was make an agreeing hum before they moved on to another topic. That’s why I suspected that Chang Pin was talking about the empress. If Mu Jinzhi gives birth to a prince for His Majesty, Chancellor Mu would naturally become an imperial uncle. And once His Majesty’s been … he would be able to govern as Regent as is his right.
“Now that the crown prince has returned to court though,” Wu Du continues, “Chancellor Mu must not have simply given up that plan. His enemy is the crown prince. Whoever sits in that position is going to invite danger.”
If that’s the case, then Mu Kuangda’s previous actions against Li Jianhong becomes quite comprehensible, since Li Yanqiu’s future son is going to be his nephew. Lang Junxia coming back with Cai Yan in the meantime has upset Mu Kuangda’s entire plan. But knowing how resourceful Mu Kuangda is, Duan Ling has a feeling that it can’t possibly be that simple.
“But what could they have been saying before that?” Duan Ling says, “That’s his sister, not his wife. Does he think she could somehow be promoted so that Great Chen would change hands from the Lis to the Mus?”
Staring out at the river water at first light, an extremely shocking idea surfaces in Duan Ling’s mind.
If that’s really the case, Duan Ling thinks he’s managed to get a glimpse of the conspiracy in Mu Kuangda’s grasp. And to the Mu family, this is fatal. By revealing this news to him, Wu Du has essentially helped him take back the advantage over the whole battlefield.
Duan Ling spends the rest of the day puzzling out this problem, while Wu Du is so worn out that he starts dozing as soon as he gets in the carriage. The shock that initially hit him has passed, and by the time he wakes up again, they’re back to being as they were.
Having just woken up, Wu Du stares at Duan Ling in a daze, and as for Duan Ling, who is no longer agonising about his own identity and position, tells him to look outside through the carriage’s shades. The sights along the Min River on the way to Jiangzhou are gorgeous, interspersed frequently with miles and miles of red maple leaves.
They reach the harbour at Xijiang River and their carriage is moved onto a ship, where they’re carried the rest of the way with the current.
It’s the time of year for the great geese to fly south, and the petrified state of mind Duan Ling had when he passed by Jiangzhou half a year ago has faded gradually, leaving nary a trace. Wu Du has also slowly come to a conclusion along the way.
“We can’t go see your fourth uncle without a thorough plan.” Wu Du says to Duan Ling, “The consequences of failure are too great to contemplate.”
Duan Ling gives him a nod; he’s sitting in the dark after all, while Cai Yan is in the full path of the sun. The situation may look perilous, but after he’s won over Wu Du, it’s the same as coming in possession of the means to gamble with — he has a fighting chance now.
The future may still be unclear and in the dark, but for now there is at least one thing he can do.
Wu Du says, “We’ll continue to lie low in the chancellor’s estate, and as long as we consider every step we make carefully, Wuluohou Mu won’t be able to do a thing about you, and he wouldn’t dare rashly come to kill you either. As you can see, he hasn’t tried to kill you since that night he realised you were still alive.”
Nothing worries Duan Ling more than Lang Junxia; he wonders if Lang Junxia has returned to the capital by now, and if he has, whether he has told Cai Yan about him. Duan Ling would be in big trouble if he has.
“Why is that?” Duan Ling asks.
“He fears drawing Chancellor Mu’s attention. Why would he ever go out of his way to kill a retainer in the Chancellor’s estate and for no good reason? Mu Kuangda is hardly simple in the head. He’d definitely track down the truth.”
Now that Duan Ling thinks about it, he agrees; even if Cai Yan finds out Duan Ling is with Wu Du, he wouldn’t dare send Lang Junxia to try to kill him. Otherwise if he should fail Mu Kuangda would definitely get suspicious, as would Li Yanqiu. After all, there’s no reason for the crown prince himself to kill someone he has no feud against.
Unless Cai Yan and Lang Junxia are absolutely certain that they can make him disappear completely, they’re never going to make a hasty move.
The green hills are just barely visible ahead, and the river glistens behind them like jade; Jiangnan’s autumn is almost at its end, and the trees have lost all their greenery.2
Jiangzhou has always been regarded as the grandest city of the central plains, and ever since ancient times it’s been called the Emperors’ Final Rest, filled with the auspicious blessings of imperial aura. Throughout many dynasties and generations when foreign forces invaded the empire, this was always where the throne chose to relocate the capital. It is also the hub that connects Xichuan and Jiangnan. Leaning against Mount Yuheng and facing the relentless Yangtze, it is blessed with abundant natural resources.
The last time, Duan Ling had passed by Jiangzhou’s gates without entering, and now he’ll finally get to see the place his father told him about. He’d heard Jiangzhou is adorned with peach blossoms in spring, turning to a jade green summer filled with the call of cicadas, which fades to maple-swept autumn skies, and its winter is covered in bright white snow. It’s truly as beautiful as a painting, the most splendid view one can find in the mortal world.
A bell rings as their ship stops at the harbour; it is the time of the capital of Great Chen’s relocation, and there are boxes of stuff everywhere on the pier.
Duan Ling helps Wu Du off the ship and onto the carriage again. He pulls the curtain open to look outside curiously.
An impressive city stands towering before them. Since antiquity, Jiangzhou has never experienced the ravages of war, and with a thousand years of continuous gradual construction, it has grown to be home to five hundred thousand households, a hundred miles of city walls, and ten-mile long avenues as densely packed as tightly woven tapestries.
“Hey, Wu Du.” Duan Ling pokes him. “This place is so much more affluent than Xichuan. So how come my grandpa never wanted to move the capital here?”
“Because of Zhao Kui. Xie You and Zhao Kui had always been sworn enemies. The late emperor once said that by compromising and each taking one step back, Xie You and Zhao Kui saved a million people from their violent deaths.”
Duan Ling has an inkling that the struggle for military might affects far more people than the struggle for political power, and the repercussions are also significantly more disastrous. Xie You and Zhao Kui both controlled key divisions of the army, and in the end his grandfather had to take the commoners’ wellbeing into account and relocate the capital to Xichuan in order to prevent internal strife between these two high-ranking generals of Great Chen — which would cause far more harm than good.
Their coachman has never been to Jiangzhou before, and he’s lost his way before they know it. Jiangzhou is different from Xichuan, as it’s separated into inner and outer cities; the city centre used to be the seat of the local government, and now it’s been set up as the forbidden palace, while the outer city is built in a ring formation that radiates from the city centre. In the outermost ring is a hundred and eight blocks with a thousand households each; move one ring inwards, and you’ll find the businesses, merchants, and warehouses arranged in a long street that circles the entire city. Move farther inwards, and through a gate you’ll find a mixed zone filled with schools, inns, and more residences — ninety-six blocks altogether. Like the ten heavenly stems and twelve earth branches, it’s one ring within another that corresponds layer by layer to a magnificent geomancy compass, with the Yangtze flowing in a half circle outside the compass, connecting six harbours.
All the loops and turns have even Wu Du a bit disoriented. Duan Ling asks, “Haven’t you been here before?”
“Oh, I forgot. I got lost the first time I came and wandered all over the city for ages. Zheng Yan ended up taking me to the palace with him.”
“Does Benxiao know the way? Maybe we should follow Benxiao?”
Benxiao knows the city well and it takes a turn into an alley, guiding the carriage to follow, then it goes through the lane to emerge into a wide avenue.
Duan Ling is used to the square city blocks of Shangjing and Xichuan; in a place like Jiangzhou he can’t even figure out which way is north. By the time he realises where they are, Benxiao has already stopped outside the palace, waiting impatiently for the carriage to proceed.
And right at that moment, guards come down the main street ringing gongs to clear the road, while a resplendent carriage drives towards them. A warrior dressed in black armour approaches on a tall horse and says, “Who’s there blocking the way?!”
Duan Ling says, “Oh no, who’s in that carriage?”
“I’ll take care of it. Don’t come out. Don’t worry.”
“Is it Wu Du?” It’s Cai Yan’s voice in the distance, going so far as to step off his carriage to greet him personally. “You’re finally here!”
Cai Yan didn’t recognise the carriage, but he recognised Benxiao.
Duan Ling peers through a small gap in the curtain at a caravan of carriages stretching all the way down the street. All at once he realises that the two of them must possess exceptional luck — they’ve actually managed to meet up with the crown prince and the emperor on the same day they reached the city!
There’s a less decorated, simpler looking carriage behind the crown prince’s coach, with eight horses hitched to the breeching. By the pomp and circumstance, it must be his uncle, the present emperor Li Yanqiu!
Cai Yan has stepped off the carriage, and Wu Du starts walking towards him, supporting himself on a cane. But Cai Yan has come over on his own, holding out a hand to tell Wu Du he shouldn’t walk around, and standing outside the carriage, Cai Yan asks after his health.
“How did you get so badly injured?” Cai Yan asks.
“I wasn’t skilled enough,” Wu Du replies nonchalantly. “A lapse of judgement had me underestimating my enemy. It’s alright. Several months of rest and I’ll be as good as new.”
As soon as he says this, everyone around them falls quiet. Xie You studies Wu Du as though he’s never met him before.
Cai Yan replies, “I’ll have to send a doctor over to check on you. Thank you so much for your hard work, truly.”
“I’ll pay my respects to His Majesty once I recover from my injuries.” Speaking of which, he puts one fist in hand in a salute and says to Cai Yan, “Congratulations on the successful move to Jiangzhou, Your Highness. It’s a majestic location, its favourable conditions bound to bring peace and prosperity to all under heaven.”
Cai Yan gives him a knowing smile. “I heard that there was someone else who went to Tongguan with you …”
Inside his carriage, Duan Ling’s heart skips a beat, but outside, Wu Du is replying, “Wang Shan did not come back with me. He’s still in Tongguan. I’m sure he’ll be setting off in several days as well.”
“Great. Wonderful. When he comes back, we should all meet.”
Duan Ling can’t see Cai Yan from the window, and with too many emotions tied up into a complicated knot, he raises the curtain just enough to stare at the emperor’s carriage from afar.
And yet it is just then that Xie You opens the imperial carriage’s curtain, and Li Yanqiu steps forth.
“I was just wondering where Benxiao’s gone.” Li Yanqiu says without much emotion, “I see now that Wu Du’s taken it with him.”
In that very moment, Duan Ling feels lightning going down his spine as though he just saw the one he’s been dreaming about both day and night. His eyes, his brows, his lips, even his manner bears close resemblance to his father.
A strange sense of belonging seems to have always flowed in his veins, not unlike that feeling he got when his father had stood behind him when he was working in the garden in Shangjing. As soon as he lays eyes on his uncle, it feels as though Li Jianhong has come alive again.
“Your Majesty.” Wu Du salutes.
“I suppose it’s fine.” Li Yanqiu says without fanfare, “Since you’ve taken the Li family’s horse away, why not come stay at the Eastern Palace at some point as a retainer. You’re meant to serve Rong’er, it seems.”
Li Yanqiu takes several steps forward, waiting for Wu Du to answer, but to everyone’s surprise, Wu Du is not answering him. Neither does he thank His Majesty’s grace; he doesn’t even nod.
Cai Yan’s expression darkens immediately. It’s become a terribly embarrassing situation.
In the end, it’s Xie You who reminds him. “Wu Du, did you hear?”
Quite at ease, Wu Du replies, “I heard.”
Fortunately, Cai Yan can adapt, and he says to Li Yanqiu, “Uncle, let’s wait until he’s recovered from his injuries.”
“Well, whatever … but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”
“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty …”
But to their surprise, those words were not meant for Wu Du, but Benxiao. Benxiao turns its head, and upon seeing Li Yanqiu, trots slowly over to him. Li Yanqiu puts his hands on the saddle and swings his leg up to get on its back. He turns the horse’s head around, saying to Xie You, “I’ll be going ahead to the palace.”
Li Yanqiu reaches out for Cai Yan from his mounted position on the horse, attempting to pull him up onto Benxiao’s back, but Benxiao ignores Cai Yan and turns its head. With a few clip-clops of its hoofbeats, it takes him slowly to the side of Duan Ling’s carriage.
Duan Ling is still looking out from the window, and just like that, without any warning, Benxiao has taken Li Yanqiu to the side of the carriage, where he’s a curtain away.
Oh no! Wu Du’s expression turns grim in an instant. Even Duan Ling could never have imagined that Li Yanqiu would unintentionally look over and meet Duan Ling’s eyes through the gaps of the bamboo curtain.
They gaze at each other through the curtain, and Duan Ling immediately turns away to avoid Li Yanqiu’s eyes. His heart feels as if heavily stricken.
It seems like Li Yanqiu has managed to sense something, and he stays silently near the carriage for a heartbeat before he says, “Benxiao, now that you have a new master, are you going to disobey now?”
Benxiao snorts. Li Yanqiu shakes the reins. “Gup!”
Benxiao stirs, and it takes a moment for it to turn around, looking all unwilling, to canter slowly along the avenue. Both Xie You and Cai Yan start to smile.
“To the palace!” Li Yanqiu says in a clear, bright voice. Then he turns to Wu Du again. “Lend me the horse for the next few days. I’ll give it back soon enough. Judging by your injuries you probably can’t ride anyway.”
Wu Du nods. Xie You jests, “You didn’t get hurt ‘cause this fierce little horsie threw you off, did you?”
Everyone bursts out loudly in laughter, even Li Yanqiu. Cai Yan turns to Wu Du, adding, “Rest well and get better.”
Li Yanqiu spurs the horse onward, and Benxiao starts to gallop. A breeze blows by to fill the air with maple leaves. Li Yanqiu steers the horse straight towards the Imperial City, his bright yellow cape fluttering in the wind behind him, beneath a sky full of blood-red maple.
Wu Du stares at Li Yanqiu’s back until he’s out of sight before he turns around to board the carriage.
“I’m sorry,” Duan Ling says to Wu Du.
Wu Du is lost in his thoughts, and when he hears this he says, confounded, “Whatever for?”
Duan Ling thinks that both Xie You and Li Yanqiu are utterly rude to Wu Du, mocking him and ridiculing him, and it has made Duan Ling quite sad, listening to them. And besides, Wu Du is only hurt so badly because of him. When all’s said and done, the Lis owe him.
When Wu Du realises what he means, he suddenly finds it quite funny. He shakes his head. “That doesn’t matter at all.”
Duan Ling could never have expected for Wu Du to become so tolerant — once, even Chang Liujun’s bouts of sarcasm used to send him into a fit that left him angry for hours, but now he looks like he doesn’t give it any mind.
Wu Du puts his elbow on the window frame, his gaze lingering on the yellow leaves scattered through the streets. Duan Ling scoots over and leans on the back of his shoulder. Wu Du turns around. “His Majesty didn’t see you earlier, did he?”
Duan Ling shakes his head, recalling that briefest of moments. Their eyes did meet, and their gaze had parted as soon as they met. But it was no more than the blink of an eye and there was a curtain between them, so Li Yanqiu mustn’t have recognised him.
“What’s he like?” Duan Ling asks.
“He has a weak constitution and gets sick often. Someone who’s ill all the time is going to have a bad temper, to a degree.”
《End of Book 2: Eat, Drink, and be Merry》
I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
This is ALMOST a line from a poem by Du Mu. Almost. But in that one the grasses are still green. The title is “寄揚州韓綽判官” if you want to look it up. ↩︎
