Chapter 21

Shen Qing was a woman whose mind was as deep as an abyss, shrouded in mist from head to toe, every inch of her a riddle. Her motives for acting were always veiled and impossible to read.
He’d already been caught in this girl’s schemes time and again. His temper was at its limit. If it weren’t that the Glass Heart required its master’s willing surrender to work, he would have taught her a lesson long ago.
This time, Li Daoxuan was doomed to fail.
“I’m not marrying. If someone must marry, let it be you.”
When Emperor Jingren heard this request from his son, he grew so angry his breath came in rough bursts. “You insolent brat! If you dislike Miss Shen, then why did you carry her back that day? You’ve already damaged the girl’s reputation, now you want to pretend it never happened? Who taught you to behave like this?”
Li Daoxuan said, “I already explained that day, I only did it because I was afraid she’d die on the way. I had no choice. From start to finish, I never once stated that I wanted to marry her. This was all your own decision.”
Emperor Jingren replied, “I have already consulted General Shen and his wife, and Miss Shen has personally agreed. This marriage is absolutely not to be withdrawn!”
Li Daoxuan’s face darkened. “Shen Qing really agreed in person?”
Emperor Jingren snapped, “Is that how you address a young lady? Such disrespect!”
Seeing that the Emperor’s brain had been clouded over with pig fat and he was dead set against calling off the marriage, Li Daoxuan pressed his lips into a hard line. “In that case, I’ll simply pay the Shen residence a visit myself.”
Emperor Jingren, recalling his youngest son’s stubborn, rebellious nature, felt his heart lurch. “What for?”
Li Daoxuan turned his head. A lock of hair brushed across the side of his face, and under the dim candlelight his cold eyes were as deep and dark as a frozen pool. His voice was ice. “To make her agree to break the engagement, personally.”
He truly was determined to dissolve this match.
If he were really allowed to go and make a scene at the Duke of Han’s estate, never mind General Shen, just the memorials from the censors at the Censorate would be enough to bury Li Daoxuan alive.
After all this commotion, it was obvious he hadn’t fallen in love at all. He’d merely been moved by a rare moment of pity. Yet he, Emperor Jingren, had foolishly mistaken that for genuine affection toward Miss Shen. He really was blind as if someone had smeared muck over his eyes.
A sharp throbbing rose in the Emperor’s temple. For the first time in his life, he regretted one of his own decisions.
But regret was all it could be.
What was done was done; spilled water could not be gathered up again. Calling off the engagement was absolutely out of the question. Given Shen Congzhi’s indulgent, doting love for his daughter, if Li Daoxuan really showed up to break the betrothal, the man might well rebel on the spot.
It was a half-jest, but Emperor Jingren truly had no way to explain such a thing to the Shen family.
He said, “A ruler’s word is not a jest. With this behavior, where does that leave me?”
The words were light, but to Li Daoxuan they sounded like the punchline to some monstrous joke. He slowly turned back, his eyes roiling like a dark tide. “Where does it leave you? Before you went and made this decision on my behalf, did you ever once ask what I wanted?”
Emperor Jingren looked into that all-too-familiar pair of eyes and suddenly drifted off. From them, another face slowly emerged in his mind, a woman with the same furious expression, her words of outrage still echoing in his ears.
It was as if she were seeing the true nature of the man beside her for the first time, breaking down as she cried, “The lives of the people of Chang’an count as lives, the lives of those noble families and officials count as lives, but the thirty thousand soldiers on Ghost-Slope don’t count as lives? Ah Lang, you have no feeling, no heart at all!”
“The world is too foul, grinding human lives to dust!”
Her words were needles in the heart, blades in the gut; each syllable a barbed arrow lodging in Emperor Jingren’s chest and erupting in his lungs, leaving him sleepless and heartsore, his old vigor eroded day by day.
He felt his spirit suddenly drain away. The back that had always been held proudly straight now seemed to sag like a withered branch, hinting at collapse. Under his fourth son’s sharp gaze, he seemed to see, through those eyes, countless shadows thronging behind.
His lips moved, but for a long time no sound came out.
Li Daoxuan’s words were like a blade slashing through the polished surface, tearing away the bright varnish to reveal the bloody, raw truth beneath.
“‘Misunderstanding’? That’s just a pleasant word for it. In truth, you’re using me as an excuse, seizing the chance to test the balance of power among the court factions. How utterly hypocritical.”
Ever since the late crown prince, the eldest son, had died, the heir’s seat had been empty. Great ministers scrambled to choose sides anew, slowly forming two camps: one rallying behind the second prince, and the other behind the third.
Before the new crown prince was named, these two sides fought like cats and dogs, red-faced and relentless, until at last the position went to the second prince.
Years had slipped by, yet the struggle between the two camps never fully ceased. At the same time, there were always a few officials who refused to get their feet muddy in factional disputes, choosing instead to tend to their own duty with a clear conscience.
Such men were the so-called “pure officials.”
Men like the Censor-in-Chief, Gu Ze, and like Shen Qing’s father, the Grand Cavalry General.
With heavy military power in his hands, General Shen was an unspoken threat in Emperor Jingren’s heart. The factions around the second and third princes were already at each other’s throats; no matter whether Shen chose a side or not, and no matter which side he chose, the court would be thrown into turmoil.
And so, Li Daoxuan, beloved by the throne yet motherless and lacking any backing in the harem, naturally became the perfect tool to hold this delicate balance in check.
Emperor Jingren said quietly, “What I’ve done is not harmful to you.”
Marry the Shen family’s daughter, and Li Daoxuan would at least have a wife by his side. That was surely better than being alone.
But how much worth did a heart hold when it was tangled up in calculations?
Li Daoxuan’s laugh was cold. “This prince wants no part of it.”
He turned on his heel, about to walk away, when Emperor Jingren’s voice called out behind him, sounding almost like a concession.
“Behave yourself and get engaged to Miss Shen, and I will permit you to remove your mother’s remains from the imperial tomb. How about that?”
Li Daoxuan froze in place. He couldn’t quite still the slight tremor in his fingertips.
Ever since his mother’s death, even her last wish to go home had gone unfulfilled. Bound by layer upon layer of worldly rules, she had ultimately been buried under imperial earth, confined to the royal house in life, and shackled to its soil in death.
“A-Man, Mother wants to go home so badly.”
In a world of bitter cold and raging karmic fire, bones piled like a mountain, a woman in bloodstained white sat in a river of gore, clinging to her thin child as she wept those words.
He shut his eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbed as though he were dragging the words up from his very blood. At length, he said softly, “All right.”
“I agree to the engagement.”
Ever since Shen Qing learned that Shen Ling had come to live in their household, she’d felt unbearably ill at ease, itching to bundle the girl up and toss her right back out the door.
Even though Madam Shen considerately arranged for her to stay in the side wing farthest from Shen Qing, Shen Qing still grew visibly thinner.
Cuizhi was so worried her own cheeks had puffed out rounder by the day. Shen Qing pinched her soft, smooth face and teased, “How is it that your lady has lost a whole circle of weight, yet you’ve turned into a dumpling? Don’t tell me you’ve been stealing all the flesh off my bones?”
Cupping her face, Cuizhi scrunched her brows and eyes. “My lady, please don’t make fun of this servant…”
Once Shen Qing had had her fill of pinching, she let go, and, rarely in a playful mood, started swinging her legs. “Push higher!”
Creak, creak, The wooden ropes groaned under the strain, as if drawing ragged breaths, while the girl’s bright laughter rippled through the courtyard, sweet fragrance scattering with it.
“Wait, ” Shen Qing’s smile abruptly froze, just as she felt the swing suddenly drop lower beneath her.
They’d been playing too wildly. Cuizhi hadn’t managed to pull back her strength in time; just as she let go, there came the sharp sound of rope drawn to its limit and snapping clean through.
A feeling of weightlessness swept through Shen Qing’s body.
“My lady!” Cuizhi screamed, lunging to grab her, but all she caught was a flash of watery blue slipping from her fingers like rippling water, as Shen Qing pitched forward beyond her reach.
Fortunately, while Shen Qing’s martial skills were poor, she wasn’t completely helpless.
All Cuizhi saw was her lady, in the instant before impact, brace one hand against the ground and spin lightly in midair several times. Then, like a pale blue butterfly alighting, she landed steadily on her feet.
Shen Qing dusted off her hands, her expression already gone cold.
The swing she played on was inspected every day for wear, and the ropes were made of cowhide her father had specially ordered. Cowhide was tough and resilient; with Shen Qing’s light little body, there was no way she could snap it in one go.
Sure enough, when she leaned in to examine the broken ends, she saw the frayed fibers were jagged and uneven, not cleanly cut by a sharp blade, but worn and gnawed through bit by bit.
Cuizhi fumed, “Who would dare cause trouble in our household! This servant will report to Madam at once!”
If not for her lady’s quick reflexes and decent reactions, at best she would have broken an arm; at worst, she might have suffered internal injuries.
Shen Qing caught Cuizhi’s sleeve. “Wait.”
She carefully studied the tear again and again, then suddenly said, “Go inside and fetch my yellow talismans.”
Cuizhi jumped, thinking some new evil thing had appeared. Cold sweat broke out down her back as she bolted off to get the papers, her hands and feet suddenly very quick.
The courtyard was fairly quiet, but if one listened closely, there seemed to be the faintest trace of movement.
Once she had the talismans, Shen Qing immediately began chanting under her breath, eyes sharpening as she flicked the paper toward the tangle of tree trunks.
A shrill, baby-like scream split the air, and a black shadow scrambled down the trunk, all four limbs clawing frantically for purchase, racing away in the blink of an eye.
Shen Qing reacted first, calling the household servants to her with a shout. “Catch it for me!” Then she added, “Don’t be too fast, watch which courtyard it runs to!”
“Yes, miss!”
At their lady’s command, the Shen servants pelted after the little black shape in chaotic pursuit, no formation at all, like a flock of chicks pecking at rice. Some clutched brooms, some ladles, and on one ladle a trail of oil and what looked suspiciously like bits of baby bamboo shoots splattered to the ground.
Naturally, Shen Qing was the head chick. Lifting her skirts, she sprinted in the lead, her steps glued to the fleeing shadow.
“This way, this way! Surround it!” she ordered crisply.
As the saying went: when you beat a dog, look at its master.
A dog was just a beast that followed orders. When it was beaten and frightened outside, of course it would scamper back, rolling and crawling, to its most familiar, closest master.
Sure enough, the black ball soon squeezed through a dog-sized hole in a low wall.
Eyeing the short courtyard wall in front of her, Shen Qing grabbed a nearby servant. “Who lives here?”
The servant tilted his head, squinting as he answered with a fawning smile, “Young miss, this is the residence of Miss Shen Ling, the young lady who came to acknowledge kin a few days ago.”
Shen Ling,
Shen Qing slowly rolled that name on her tongue, feeling as if she could grind sparks from her back molars. She had thought the girl would behave for two months like in her previous life, at most playing a few petty tricks. She hadn’t expected her methods to upgrade so quickly, already learning to borrow a knife to kill.
And this “knife”… who had handed it to her?
Her pale eyes chilled; Shen Qing strode forward in a storm, ordering the servants to smash the courtyard gate. Cuizhi, every bit the vicious maid of a vicious mistress, puffed herself up and barked at the door like a fox under a tiger’s shadow. “Didn’t you hear? My lady said to smash the gate open!”
“Yes, miss!”
At the mistress’s command, the servants quickly fetched a few stout poles and began battering the door. After a while, seeing brute force alone wasn’t doing much, they started throwing their shoulders into it instead.
A handful of thin, scrawny lads slammed themselves against the wood again and again to no effect, which only proved how solid the door really was. In the end, a broad-shouldered servant drew a deep breath and growled, “Move aside!”
The others scattered left and right. With a thunderous crash, the door finally burst inward. When the dust settled, the man brushed off the splinters clinging to his clothes and bowed. “Please, my lady.”
Shen Qing’s mood instantly improved. “Cuizhi, see he’s rewarded later.”
The servant’s eyes lit up, joy all over his face. “Thank you for your grace, my lady!”
Shen Qing strode in with all the swagger of a conquering general, a crowd of people trailing in her wake.
Perhaps Shen Ling knew she couldn’t hide in her room forever, or perhaps she’d been in the middle of thinking up a countermeasure. She bit her lip and stepped out, face pale, white skirts flowing softly around her, her expression all timidity and wronged innocence.
She looked from the battered gate to Shen Qing’s calm, composed figure, and finally couldn’t hold back. “Elder sister, I do not know what I have done wrong, to make you bring so many people to my courtyard…”
Shen Qing had never been one to indulge her. “Cuizhi, if someone bullies your lady, what do you do?”
Cuizhi immediately grabbed her hem and sniffled in fury, eyes flushing red. “So it was you, you little hussy, who harmed my lady!” She had seen with her own eyes that black blur slip into Shen Ling’s courtyard.
At the thought, anger surged hotter. Cuizhi’s foot snapped out in a vicious kick.
“Ah!”