Xu Lingyue did not insist on getting to the bottom of Mu Nanzhi’s identity, but this “elder” who had suddenly slipped into the Xu residence and then been taken into the palace carried herself with a nobility and arrogance that even the daughters of great households could not hope to match.
She was clearly so ordinary, so why was she so confident?
Of course Xu Lingyue was curious too.
In any case, she was rather idle at home. She made robes and boots for her father and two brothers, read books, and beyond that there was not much for her to do.
In the past there had still been a Little Pea at home who would cling to her, but ever since her youngest sister went to the Southern Marches, the house had become much quieter.
From time to time she would read Human Sect Daoist texts and study the Human Sect’s heart methods. Back when Xu Qi’an had entered the jianghu, to deal with her mother’s “arranging marriage”, she had borrowed her big brother’s name and successfully entered the Human Sect, becoming a registered disciple of Lingbao Temple and cultivating under a Daoist nun.
She had asked big brother about it at the time, and he had agreed.
When she had nothing to do, she liked finding something to occupy herself with, and just then this woman called Mu Nanzhi had arrived.
“Aunt Mu, I’ll go with you.”
Xu Lingyue rose as well and said softly,
“You may not know where Fengqi Palace is. I have been to the palace once before, so I can show you the way.”
Mu Nanzhi waved a hand. “No need, I’ll go by myself.”
She thought to herself, When I was making my way through the harem back then, you little brat hadn’t even been born yet.
Xu Lingyue reminded her:
“Then you absolutely mustn’t offend the Empress Dowager.”
Mu Nanzhi waved again and walked out as she spoke:
“You needn’t worry about me.”
She thought, At fourteen, I had already overshadowed the Empress Dowager until she paled beside me. Why would I fear that old woman?
Xu Lingyue watched Mu Nanzhi’s retreating figure and fell into thought.
After half a quarter of an hour, Auntie came out from the back courtyard with a pot of miniature bamboo in her arms, her lovely face full of smiles.
“Oh? Where’s your Aunt Mu?”
Auntie had been about to share this pretty, delightful bamboo with her dear older sister. She looked around but did not see her.
“Gone to Fengqi Palace to cause trouble for the Empress Dowager.”
Xu Lingyue said this in a gentle, delicate tone.
Auntie was startled. She quickly set the bamboo on the stone table and said anxiously:
“Cause trouble for the Empress Dowager? She’s just a common woman. If she goes provoking the Empress Dowager, isn’t that just being tired of living?”
Xu Lingyue said softly:
“Mother, is Aunt Mu an idiot?”
Auntie was taken aback, then scolded fondly:
“Listen to the way you put that. You’re the idiot, no better than Lingyin.”
She poked Xu Lingyue with a finger.
Xu Lingyue said with a wronged expression:
“If she isn’t a fool, then Aunt Mu naturally knows what she’s doing. Mum, haven’t you noticed? Aunt Mu is very familiar with the palace. All those messy official titles, like the seal-holding eunuch and brush-holding eunuch, she rattles them off at the drop of a hat.
“If I am not mistaken, she is either a member of the imperial clan or a consort from the inner palace.”
“Really?” Auntie opened her mouth wide, full of suspicion.
“If she were a palace consort or imperial relative, why would she come to our house? You silly girl, always letting your imagination run wild.”
Silly girl Xu Lingyue sighed and lost interest in discussing it with her mother. Resting her chin on one hand, she stared blankly at the miniature bamboo.
Auntie said:
“Mum will go to Fengqi Palace and have a look. We can’t let your Aunt Mu offend the Empress Dowager. I know now, it turns out even the Empress Dowager dares not offend me.”
As she spoke, she glanced at her daughter’s fresh and refined face. Her eyes were large and bright, her features well-defined, her cherry lips small, and her skin fine and fair. She had already grown into a graceful young woman.
“When the weather turns warmer, I’ll choose a suitable husband for you. It’s time you married,” she said.
“Oh, Mum, do hurry up and go. If you’re late, your dear older sister will be tormented to death by the Empress Dowager,” Xu Lingyue said impatiently.
“Help me put the bamboo in the flower bed so it can get some sun.”
Auntie hurried out of the courtyard, her skirts flying.
Xu Lingyue propped up her chin and narrowed her lively eyes.
To react so fiercely upon hearing about big brother and Princess Lin’an’s marriage, this Aunt Mu, whether a palace consort or an imperial relative, clearly did not have an ordinary relationship with big brother.
“Another one…”
Xu Lingyue sighed, her limpid eyes shifting as she looked at the miniature bamboo before her.
She lightly flicked her sleeve. A breeze carried the potted plant steadily over a distance of more than ten metres and set it down in the flower bed.
Come to think of it, she had recently learnt how to control objects, but she did not know what level this counted as. After all, she had not gone to Lingbao Temple for a long time, and had simply been fumbling along by herself according to the Human Sect’s heart methods.
Daoist seventh rank, Guiding Qi!
…
The imperial palace was huge, so huge that Auntie was panting for breath and covered in a fine sheen of sweat by the time she reached Fengqi Palace.
She entered the inner palace very easily. No one stopped her. First, her status and position were there for all to see, so who in the harem would dare offend her? Second, while the inner palace was forbidden ground for men, it was not forbidden to women.
Third, ever since the female Emperor had ascended the throne, the harem had ceased to be so important.
Although men were still not allowed in, this place had already become a place where the dowager consorts spent their retirement.
As soon as she reached the entrance to Fengqi Palace, Auntie saw Mu Nanzhi coming out with her hands on her hips, proud and spirited, looking like a little hen that had won a fight.
“Lingyue said you’d come to Fengqi Palace.”
Auntie went up to her and asked with concern:
“Nothing happened, did it?”
“What could have happened? Coming here is just like coming home for me. Shangguan wasn’t my match back then, and she still isn’t now,” Mu Nanzhi said with a snort.
She had come to ask the Empress Dowager to call off the engagement, but the Empress Dowager had refused. One was an overbearing, supremely confident Flower God, the other a Empress Dowager who was strong because she desired nothing and could not be swayed by either soft or hard tactics. So they had quarrelled, mocking and sneering at each other with barbed words.
In the end, Mu Nanzhi had won.
The Flower God had never lost when it came to women tearing strips off each other. Once she took off her bracelet, she only had to stand on tiptoe a little to overawe any woman in the world.
And with the coarse language she had learnt while roaming the jianghu, she had infuriated the Empress Dowager thoroughly.
As soon as Mu Nanzhi finished speaking, she suddenly realised she had become carried away and let something slip. She quickly looked at Auntie.
Auntie let out a breath of relief.
“That’s good, that’s good. By the way, who is Shangguan?”
Has she not noticed… Mu Nanzhi relaxed, and a feeling of regretting not meeting sooner arose in her heart. She felt Auntie was a friend with whom she could speak openly.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go back.”
Mu Nanzhi took Auntie by the hand and started back.
The smile gradually vanished from her face, replaced by gloom.
Although she had won the quarrel, she had not achieved her aim. The Empress Dowager had not agreed to cancel the engagement. Of course, she also knew that with her own identity and power, there was no way she could influence the Empress Dowager’s decision.
We’ll talk again once Xu Ningyan comes back… the Flower God decided inwardly. She had not gone far when she saw Huaiqing approaching head-on, dressed in imperial daily robes and riding in a grand palanquin.
“Your Majesty!”
Auntie was a well-mannered noblewoman, and quickly bowed.
Huaiqing nodded gently and gave an “Mm”, then cast the Flower God a cold glance.
The latter returned it with a roll of her eyes.
As they passed each other, Huaiqing rode her grand palanquin into Fengqi Palace. Supported by palace maids, she got down and, without needing a eunuch to announce her, went all the way inside. She saw the Empress Dowager sitting by the desk with an ashen face, evidently still simmering with anger.
“What is wrong with that woman? Didn’t she die in the northern frontier?”
Seeing her daughter arrive, the Empress Dowager demanded loudly.
“Has Mother Empress taken a barrel of gunpowder?”
Huaiqing knew perfectly well what had happened, but pretended not to. She said coolly:
“She did not die on the northern frontiers. She returned to the capital with Xu Qi’an and became Xu Qi’an’s mistress.”
With one offhand sentence, the female Emperor settled the Flower God’s status once and for all.
Although the Empress Dowager had already guessed as much, hearing her daughter confirm it still struck her as absurd and unbelievable.
Mu Nanzhi was much younger than she was, but she was still seventeen or eighteen years older than Xu Qi’an. Yet he had hidden Mu Nanzhi away in a golden house and kept her outside. Did he have no sense of propriety, righteousness, integrity, or shame?
Another reason the Empress Dowager resisted in her heart was that Mu Nanzhi had also once been one of Emperor Yuanjing’s harem consorts, someone of the same generation as herself, while in the Empress Dowager’s eyes Xu Qi’an belonged to the generation of her children.
That made it very uncomfortable.
“So, Mother should call off the engagement,” Huaiqing finally revealed her true intent.
“Why should we call off the engagement?” the Empress Dowager said flatly.
“The one surnamed Xu is lacking in private virtue, but since he and Lin’an are mutually in love, it is still better than giving her to someone she does not love. Besides, in the Great Feng today, who is more worthy of Lin’an than he is?”
Huaiqing’s face darkened slightly, and her tone turned a few degrees colder as she said:
“Anyone who did not know better would think Lin’an was born of Mother.”
The Empress Dowager’s tone was equally cool:
“She’s a pure-hearted person, more likeable than you.”
There was also one very simple reason. She hoped that lovers would in the end become husband and wife. Just watching was enough to satisfy her, as though it made up for the regret of those years.
Huaiqing glanced at her and said expressionlessly:
“We are not a pure-hearted person, so even though we are very unhappy now, we still have to tell you something!”
The Empress Dowager looked at her.
Huaiqing said flatly:
“Yesterday, Wei Yuan came back to life. Before he gave his life, he had already prepared a way out for himself. For the past five months, Xu Qi’an had been trying to gather materials, refine magical artefacts, and summon back his soul.
“For the time being, he will not come to see you. He said that he hoped to come and see you lightly and with ease, rather than as he was back then, carrying the hatred of country and family on his shoulders.”
After saying that, Huaiqing turned and left.
The Empress Dowager sat blankly by the desk, her face expressionless, while two streams of tears slid silently down her cheeks, endless and unceasing.
…
A mighty force of heavy cavalry crossed the border of Yuuzhou and entered Qingzhou.
Nangong Qianrou was in no hurry to press on. After ordering the troops to switch to Yunzhou banners, he had them advance south at an unhurried pace.
Heavy cavalry could not make long-distance raids. Only by proceeding slowly could they keep going for long.
But the reason Nangong Qianrou ordered the troops to slow down was still not to conserve the horses’ strength, but to wait for someone.
“General Nangong, Yunzhou is a long way off. Our marching speed is slow, so why not change over to the water route?”
The experienced deputy general spurred his horse forward, caught up with Nangong Qianrou, and rode alongside him.
At the speed of heavy cavalry, the journey from Qingzhou to Yunzhou would take at least half a month.
Then from the Yunzhou border to Baidi City would take another three to five days.
That was not even counting the time needed to capture Baidi City.
Nangong Qianrou said coolly:
“No rush, let’s take our time.”
The deputy general looked as though he wanted to speak, but in the end chose to trust Nangong Qianrou, and trust Wei Yuan.
Nangong Qianrou said nothing more. As he rode, he surveyed the surroundings. Ever since entering Qingzhou, not a trace of human habitation had been seen along the way.
In only five months, the Central Plains had become so desolate and miserable. Even Nangong Qianrou, whose nature was somewhat cold, felt countless emotions stir in his heart.
Around noon, the slowly advancing heavy cavalry suddenly noticed an enormous shadow descending over them.
Nangong Qianrou raised his head and narrowed his eyes. Not only was he not flustered, the corners of his mouth even lifted slightly.
The enormous Wind-riding Boat descended in front of the heavy cavalry. Seven people stood by the edge of the deck, one of them with his back to all living beings.
Nangong Qianrou looked at a certain man whose face was stern and lacking in expression, and smiled:
“Long time no see!”
Yang Yan gave a slight nod.
The deputy general suddenly understood. Slapping his forehead, he said in delight:
“So you were waiting for reinforcements.”
Nangong Qianrou curled his lips:
“If you can think of a flaw, could Wei Yuan not?”
As soon as the heavy cavalry left that abandoned military town and was seen by more than three outsiders, the art that concealed Heaven’s secrets would undo itself. At that point, his adpotive father would remember that what he had left behind was a force of heavy cavalry.
With his father’s wisdom, as long as he remembered the heavy cavalry, every flaw in the plan would be filled in and remedied in his mind.
For example, the lack of siege weapons, the slow marching speed, and so on.
Having followed Wei Yuan for so many years, Nangong Qianrou still had that much faith in him.
Yang Qianhuan stood with his hands behind his back, facing away from the heavy cavalry, and said coolly:
“Ten thousand men will need to be transported in three trips. We are expected to reach Yunzhou before dusk tomorrow. However, Baidi City is not where we are going.”
Nangong Qianrou frowned:
“Not Baidi City?”
He had already learned from the captain of Huaiqing’s guards that the lineage from five hundred years ago had proclaimed itself Emperor in Baidi City at the start of winter.
Yang Yan was not someone who liked talking, so he glanced at Chen Ying beside him. The latter said with a chuckle:
“There cannot be any beyond-mortal experts in Yunzhou, and the main strength of their army has gone north to attack the Great Feng. Even if the garrison they left behind is not small, it will not be too large either. They must certainly have some means prepared against having the firewood snatched from under the cauldron. So, given Yunzhou’s situation, what sort of means would that be?”
Nangong Qianrou pondered briefly, then suddenly understood:
“Hiding in the mountains. Holding dangerous passes. Relying on the terrain, they could resist a force ten times their size.”
He looked at Chen Ying and clicked his tongue:
“The brain on you does work rather well, lad.”
Chen Ying grinned:
“It was all written in the brocade pouch Duke Wei left behind. I don’t need to think. Whatever Duke Wei says, I do. Wasn’t it the same when we attacked Mount Jing City? Anyway, we never lost.”
As he spoke, he patted the ship’s rail and said with a smile:
“Yang Qianhuan is responsible for finding them. We will take this magical artefact and drop straight in from the air, wiping out the rebel nest in one blow.”
Yang Qianhuan smoothly added:
“Picking the stars with the moon in hand, there are none like me upon this land.
“Enough nonsense, get up here at once.”
His tone was rather urgent. He could hardly wait to return in triumph, then urge the Hanlin Academy’s court historians to write this battle into the history books of the Great Feng.
He had even thought of the title already:
“Though Xu may be arrogant, only Huan can destroy Xu, Yang Qianhuan ends the Yunzhou Rebellion”
Xu could refer both to Xu Pingfeng and to Xu Qi’an, carrying two meanings in one word.
…
The next day, the capital.
The sky had only just begun to lighten. The cold wind on the face was no longer as bitter as it had been half a month ago.
To the sound of drums, the civil and military officials passed through the Meridian Gate, crossed the Jinshui Bridge, and took their positions on the grounds and steps according to rank, while the ministers entered the Jinluan Hall.
The Emperor did not keep them waiting long. Very soon, dressed in dragon robes, wearing the imperial crown, with an imposing and icy bearing, she slowly mounted the imperial throne with the support of eunuchs.
After the normal memorial proceedings, Huaiqing narrowed her phoenix eyes slightly and looked at the assembled lords in the hall.
“Yesterday, we already ordered Yang Gong and the others to withdraw from Yongzhou, fall back to defend the capital, and prepare the defences. We shall trouble all my beloved lords to assist in the matter.”
Her tone was cool and her delivery slow, as though she were speaking of some trivial little matter.
But to the ministers, it was like a bolt from the blue.
In an instant, the fear and fury welling up in their hearts nearly swallowed them whole.
They were furious at the Emperor’s arbitrary conduct and obstinate self-will.
Fall back to defend the capital?
What if the capital could not be held?
A vast Yongzhou, and she would abandon it just like that?
Was this not feeding the enemy?
“How could Your Majesty be so confused?” Prime Minister Qian Qingshu was both shocked and furious.
“Only because tens of thousands of soldiers fought with their lives was Yongzhou held, and only because they exhausted the enemy’s elite forces. How can we simply hand it over to the rebels?”
“Does Your Majesty wish to see the events of five hundred years ago repeated?” the more radical ones spoke more harshly.
“Confused, confused indeed!” The professional censor-officials were even less polite as they angrily rebuked her:
“Does Your Majesty mean to hand over the ancestral foundation of our forebears to others? How will Your Majesty answer to the ancestors of the dynasty?”
They very nearly blurted out words like incompetent sovereign, or that a woman really was unfit for great responsibility.
It was no wonder the ministers were on the verge of exploding, because the enemy had already reached their doorstep. In the past, when the Yunzhou rebels had advanced with great momentum, taking Qingzhou and then Yongzhou, the ministers had all remained poised and composed.
But that was because, whether Qingzhou or Yongzhou, they had after all not yet been the capital.
Now, however, there was nowhere left to retreat. Once the capital fell, everything was over. It now concerned their own interests, their own lives and safety.
Some were also angry because Huaiqing had made the decision without consultation. Such an important matter, decided by her alone, a disaster for the country.
“My Lords, be calm for a moment!”
In the Emperor’s clear, pool-like eyes, a trace of amusement was well concealed. The reason she had kept it secret beforehand was precisely to force the officials of the capital into a position where they would smash the cauldrons and sink the boats. Only then could hearts be united, and financial and material resources gathered.
Of course, the prerequisite was to let the civil and military officials see hope of victory.
Otherwise, it would merely be playing with fire and burning herself.
Inside the hall, the clamour subsided slightly.
The ministers’ still wore faces full of indignation, or panic, or worry. Those with weaker resolve had already begun to think about what posture they should adopt in surrendering to the enemy once the general trend became irreversible.
The Emperor said flatly:
“We wish to introduce an old acquaintance to all of you.”
“Introduce” and “old acquaintance” were contradictory expressions, and left the lords somewhat puzzled.
The Emperor looked towards the doors of the Jinluan Hall and called out in a clear voice:
“Summon Wei Yuan!”
The ministers suddenly turned their heads and saw, in the dark blue morning light, a figure in azure robes stepping over the high threshold. His temples were flecked with white, and in his eyes lay the vicissitudes that only the years could settle there.
He walked down that long carpet as if walking through a long stretch of time, returning once more before the assembled lords.
This man had returned!
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