After saying this, she abruptly fell silent, just as Zhao Jiao had that day in the Chancellor’s residence when he spoke of a secret matter. Then she lifted her foot lightly, her expression growing more uneasy, and was about to leave.
The morning sunlight poured in through the open palace doors, flickering bright and dim as though unable to illuminate the gloom of the dark-green palace hall.
Zhao Jiao stood facing the sunlight. After a moment of slight astonishment, his expression turned solemn, and he caught hold of Wei Nanxu’s sleeve.
Inside the hall, palace maids and eunuchs stood silently at a distance, like wooden puppets.
Zhao Jiao and Wei Nanxu were standing close together; there was no need to worry that others would overhear them.
“That explains why there was a bruise on the queen’s wrist.” Zhao Jiao’s expression was somewhat complicated. He shook his head and said, “Sister Wei, don’t make pointless guesses. Royal Brother merely… trusts no one.”
Trusts no one?
Wei Nanxu looked at Zhao Jiao in surprise. Her clear eyes darted away, and in the end, she lowered them.
That day, in Zhao Zheng’s bedchamber, she had seen rope fallen by the head of the bed. Then she recalled how the queen had delayed for so long before answering. After returning, she had thought about it over and over, tossing and turning, and all she could come up with was that Zhao Zheng had bound Jiang He.
As for the reason, Wei Nanxu had not thought about it.
Today, she had told Zhao Jiao these things in order to borrow the momentum and see whether, after learning of it, he would make some use of the matter.
She had not expected him to point out the reason in a single sentence.
Zhao Jiao’s brows knitted, his nostrils flaring slightly. Holding the gold-threaded sachet at his waist, he turned it gently and inhaled its fragrance, then knelt behind the low table with Wei Nanxu.
He looked toward the cups, and someone immediately brought him tea.
The tea was clear, its aroma rich.
Zhao Jiao lifted the cup and drained it in one gulp.
“Royal Brother only drinks plain water that has been cooled to warm. He only eats meals prepared by the small kitchen in his own bedchamber. He never leaves the palace to amuse himself. When he sleeps, if anyone intrudes within ten zhang of him, they are killed without mercy. Since he ascended the throne, the searches conducted on court officials each morning have become far stricter than before. He trusts no one, and naturally that includes the princess who came all the way from Qi in marriage.”
Because he could not trust her, he had to bind her.
It was not some peculiar whim or special predilection.
Wei Nanxu’s face grew slightly warm.
Since childhood, she had heard plenty of strange tales about royal courts and noble clans. Yet she had not expected that the sovereign she admired would be so cautious and guarded.
Wei Nanxu let out a long breath. “His Majesty had a difficult youth. When he was held captive as a hostage among the six states, who knows how he managed to survive? But if he binds the queen like this, and some sudden danger occurs at night, wouldn’t it be very hard for her to escape?”
Zhao Jiao seemed not to hear Wei Nanxu’s words. He picked up a piece of steamed pumpkin cake and ate it slowly, chewing with care.
He lived wantonly and freely, never worrying that someone might poison or assassinate him.
Unlike some people, who were far too cautious and might one day end up trapping themselves in a cocoon of their own making, injuring themselves in the end.
Pitiable, that princess of Qi, married here from so far away, forced to endure unbearable suffering night after night.
“So, Sister Wei,” Zhao Jiao said with a smile, leaning toward Wei Nanxu as though he might collapse into her arms at any moment, “grant this lord’s proposal of marriage, won’t you?”
Wei Nanxu’s face changed drastically. She rose, freed herself from Zhao Jiao, and took one step away. Maintaining her composure, she gave a light salute, then slowly left.
Zhao Jiao looked at her retreating figure, propped both hands on the rush cushion, and tilted his head back in dejection. “Abandoned by a beauty—this lord is truly miserable.”
The sky was as black as an ink-washing basin after a day’s use; scattered across it were faint specks, the bleak Milky Way.
Between heaven and earth, beneath the rolling stretches of the Qinling Mountains, beside the Wei River, a bonfire was burning.
This was the borderland between Wei and Yong.
At Yong’s invitation, the Wei diplomatic mission was hurrying to Yong’s capital to attend the special sacrifice held at Jiuzong Mountain on account of the sovereign’s grand wedding.
The flames blazed high, dyeing the waters red and reflecting the few people seated around the fire.
Though their faces could not be seen clearly in the night, by the firelight one could make out a striking young man among them.
He wore white robes, a red silk sash wrapped about his waist, and a three-edged arrowhead hanging at his side. Though his clothing was simple, it could not conceal the air of grace and nobility surrounding him.
This was the younger brother of the ruler of Wei, Prince Wei Ji.
Wei Ji possessed the bearing of dragon and phoenix, his natural gifts effortless; sword-like brows and starry eyes, a straight nose and crimson lips; bright and clear as though sun and moon were held in his breast, elegant as a jade tree facing the wind. He was refined, courteous, benevolent, and magnanimous, always leaving room in his speech, and when he walked, it was as though he carried the auspicious aura of the Nine Provinces with him. Those eyes of his often held a smile, and in the right brow was a red mole that would lift with his brow, adding a few more degrees of gentleness to him.
Though only twenty years old, Wei Ji had already shown respect for the worthy and recruited retainers far and wide. Now, he was already a figure of great importance in Wei.
The six states eyed Wei, caught between them, like tigers watching prey. Yet as long as Wei Ji was there, they dared only covet from afar and did not dare invade.
After several subordinates reported important matters and withdrew, only Wei Ji and the young girl seated opposite him remained by the fire.
The little girl was clumsily holding a roasted fish, carefully gnawing at it while unable to stop herself from praising him.
“When did Elder Brother learn to roast fish? This fish is so delicious!”
Wei Ji’s originally smiling expression suddenly gained a trace of sorrow. Pressing his lips together, he raised his hand and turned the fresh fish on the roasting rack.
“It was Jiang He again, wasn’t it?”
Seeing him like this, the little girl had already guessed most of it. She curled her lip and said, “Elder Brother insisted so strongly on going as envoy to Yong this time because you heard that Jiang He, who was supposed to be able to leave after escorting the bride, was assassinated and died at the posthouse. But listen to your little sister—she definitely isn’t dead.”
“Yes.” A trace of hope appeared on Wei Ji’s face. He rubbed fine salt into the belly cavity of another grass carp and nodded. “This elder brother believes Sister Zipei’s words. She isn’t dead.”
That year, in the wind and snow, they had escaped Luoyang and fled east all the way; he had escorted her to Qi.
They had not seen each other for three years, and every letter Wei Ji sent had sunk like stones into the sea.
At last, unable to endure it any longer, he went once more to Linzi in Qi, only to be told that Jiang He had accompanied the princess to Yong for her marriage. The empress dowager personally summoned Wei Ji and told him that Jiang He had already requested an imperial decree allowing her to leave on her own after the princess married.
Leave on her own—would she come find him?
Wei Ji had returned to Luoyang in high spirits, riding at full speed, but he had not waited for Jiang He. His retainers hidden in Yong told him that Jiang He had been assassinated and buried.
She had clearly promised that no matter what circumstances she found herself in, she would live well.
Wei Ji’s younger sister, Wei Zipei, picked out the fish bones and cheerfully finished gnawing one fish. The fish was tender and delicious; after eating several more mouthfuls in a row, she could not help teasing her elder brother again.
“Then what if she’s injured?”
“It doesn’t matter.” A few traces of tenderness appeared in Wei Ji’s eyes. “This elder brother will naturally take care of her.”
“What if her face is ruined?” Wei Zipei continued, carrying a hint of jealousy.
“It doesn’t matter.” Wei Ji thought of Jiang He’s lovely yet spirited face. “This elder brother will still take her with me to meet guests from all under heaven, and like a clumsy country bumpkin, proudly show off my wife.”
Wei Zipei’s motion of gnawing on the fish suddenly stopped. She raised her head and asked, “Then what if she marries someone else?”
The young man across the fire suddenly froze.
As though even if this matter were only a conjecture, it was already enough to make his heart ache unbearably.
Wei Ji set down the roasting rack and slowly rose. Looking at the ceaselessly flowing Wei River, he took a deep breath.
“This elder brother has only two great wishes in this life. The first is that all under heaven will speak the language of Wei, that from Tianshan to the East Sea, everyone will live in peace and cease all wars. The second is to share deep affection and mutual respect with one person as husband and wife. The children she bears will take my surname, and I will see her day and night, never parting from her by even a step.”
Wei Zipei stood up as well.
Waving the complete fish skeleton in her hand, she said anxiously, “So your little sister is asking you, Elder Brother—if she marries someone, what will you do?”
“That’s easy.” Wei Ji threw a pebble into the Wei River, stirring up ripples. His expression was resolute, carrying the decisive spirit of youth. “This elder brother will snatch her back!”
And in the imperial palace of Yong’s capital, only several hundred li away from the Wei-Yong border, not long after night fell that evening, Jiang He entered the bedchamber.
In her hand she held a warhorse-shaped sugar figurine made from maltose. After entering the chamber, she licked it. So sweet.
“Where did that come from?”
Zhao Zheng, sovereign of Yong, was sitting properly on the bed, as though waiting for her.
“I made it myself,” Jiang He said. “Testing whether my skills have gone rusty.”
Making sugar figurines required controlling the heat, and blowing and shaping them took great effort. In the past, Jiang He had once gone to great pains to make them for someone’s birthday. Today, when she saw maltose in the small kitchen, she could not resist melting it down and trying again.
His birthday was coming soon. Now that he was already twenty, he probably would not like sugar figurines anymore, would he?
Thinking this, Jiang He smiled faintly and opened her mouth to bite off one horse leg.
“No eating on the bed,” Zhao Zheng said, glancing at her.
Fine, she wouldn’t. Did he think she coveted his bed that much?
Jiang He turned and sat before the dressing case, licking the sugar figurine on her own.
“How is the investigation of the spy going?” she asked out of the blue.
Once they found the spy and released the Qi hostage, Jiang He would be able to leave.
If she moved quickly, she could still make it in time for that person’s birthday banquet.
Zhao Zheng nodded. “The assassin we released was killed. The other party’s methods were covert. They used poison.”
After that assassin was released, he had been trembling with fear and immediately disguised himself to flee the capital. Zhao Zheng’s people patiently followed him. After several days of living out in the wind and sleeping under the open sky, the assassin finally decided to rest at a relay station.
Once he stayed there, he never got up again.
“What poison did they use?” Jiang He asked carelessly.
“Drunken Death,” Zhao Zheng replied. “Mixed into the food.”
“That poison is very hard to concoct.” Jiang He bit off the horse’s head. The maltose stuck somewhat to her teeth, and her speech grew muffled.
Zhao Zheng looked at her in distaste.
“The Chancellor’s residence has it,” Zhao Zheng said coldly, while looking toward the hidden compartment at the head of the bed.
That was why he had knocked down that coil of thin rope, letting Wei Nanxu guess that he bound Jiang He every night.
“Why would someone from the Chancellor’s residence want to assassinate the princess of Qi?” Jiang He shook her head in some confusion. “The Qi-Yong marriage alliance—he doesn’t agree with it?”
“He doesn’t,” Zhao Zheng said. “Back then, only Mother supported my decision.”
Jiang He sighed softly and finished eating the little horse.
“He really is stubborn enough.”
She lay down on the bed and stretched out both hands. “Tie me up.”
Her manner and expression were those of a warrior ready to brave boiling water and raging fire without hesitation.
That night, at the wei hour, when everyone was fast asleep,
a great fire suddenly broke out in Zhiyang Palace.
Fanned by the wind, the flames rose from one corner of the bedchamber and instantly surrounded the entire palace hall.
Because Zhao Zheng strictly forbade guards and palace maids from standing around the bedchamber, by the time someone discovered the fire, it was already beyond saving.
Jiang He woke with a start. Zhao Zheng had already leapt down from the bed.
Inside the hall, thick smoke billowed. The smoke and dust first gathered at the roof, then swiftly pressed downward.
By instinct, Zhao Zheng ran outside.
But Jiang He was still bound to the bed.
“You damned pervert!” she shouted.
A crossbeam fell from above, crashing down toward the head of the bed.