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The sky had just begun to lighten. A carriage with a grand canopy came from Wan Commandery, crushing over the snow as it traveled along the path leading to the eastern gate of Yedu.
Jie Yun turned his head and said:
“Young Master, Yedu will be here soon.”
Inside the carriage, Tan Xun was covered with a velvet blanket, holding a hand warmer in his arms. On that crescent-like face, his brows were tightly furrowed, not loosening even in sleep.
Hearing “Yedu,” he slowly opened his eyes.
Before setting out, Second Aunt Madam Guo’s words still echoed by his ears:
“…The Xue family and the court have already become like water and fire, one of them must perish. You know your mother’s temper. If I go to persuade her, I fear it will only backfire. Only you—your words, she will listen to.”
“Lay everything bare, make it clear to her. We have no ability to protect the Xue family. Even if we exhaust all our thoughts, at most we can only save one Xue Xiwen. The lives of the others are beyond our control. If she keeps associating closely with the Xue family like this, I fear the Tan family will also incur His Majesty’s suspicion.”
Madam Guo placed the hand warmer into his arms. On her light, faint face, her expression was solemn.
“—Don’t forget, if Princess Qinghe’s refugee army rises, His Majesty may not necessarily rely only on the Tan family to suppress the rebellion.”
Tan Xun pressed his aching temples.
The young man, not yet come of age, only showed confusion when no one was around.
How was he to tell these things to his mother?
Mother could manage the inner residence in perfect order, but her view on politics was very naïve.
If he really told her about the Xue family’s intention to rebel, according to what he knew of his mother, she would not draw a clear line from the Xue family.
She might even instead beg Father to help the Xue family rebel.
How could that be possible?
But if he did not obey, she would suspect that Madam Guo was behind instructing him and his brother, thinking they sided with Madam Guo and not with her, then fly into a great rage.
…He could not say it.
Things could not be made so complicated.
He would not form a marriage alliance with the Xue family. This trip was only to bring Mother back to Luoyang.
Tan Xun lifted the curtain, gazing at the snow-clad world outside, his eyes becoming somewhat wistful.
He vaguely remembered that when he was young, he came to Yedu once every year, traveling and playing with several brothers and sisters of the Xue family. Counting it up, it had already been five or six years since they last met…
His gaze suddenly fixed on a certain place.
“Jie Yun, stop!”
Tan Xun suddenly leaned out, pointing to that gnarled, twisted weeping plum tree outside the east gate and said:
“Isn’t there someone there!”
In less than an hour, the news that the Xue family’s Second Young Master, Xue Huaifang, had been found drugged and hung outside the east gate spread throughout Yedu.
Today was the first day of the month, and many young nobles had come for the Monthly Appraisal. Hearing of this matter, they all pretended concern but in truth went toward the east gate to watch the spectacle.
Just as Lizhu came downstairs in the morning, she heard people in the post station discussing this matter.
“……I heard the one who discovered it first was the young master of the Tan family from Wan Commandery. When he ordered people to take Xue Huaifang down, his clothes were tidy, yet for some reason, the crotch of his pants had been cut open to the size of a bowl. In such cold weather, that thing of his was left hanging outside, frozen stiff for an entire night!”
Sensing Lizhu’s gaze, Pei Zhaoye turned his head and looked at her calmly, as if saying:
It was me. So what?
He didn’t cut it off directly, count that as mercy.
Xue Huaifang’s reputation in Jiangzhou was clearly not good.
So when such a thing happened, everyone cared about only two things:
First, who was the hero bold enough to defy power and strike at the Xue family?
Second, could Xue Huaifang still be a man afterward?
Especially the second point—people were full of enthusiasm, discussing it with vivid voices and spirited gestures, as if life no longer felt bitter and even work became easier.
Even when Lizhu’s carriage and her party were squeezed tight outside the east gate, unable to move, they could hear the noble sons and daughters on both sides lifting their carriage curtains, exchanging glances, and whispering about the matter.
Pei Zhaoye, blocked atop his horse and unable to move, stroked the horse’s mane leisurely and said:
“So, we can’t really say we country folk are vulgar. Look at these nobles from the grand families—they’re quite interested in these indecent affairs too, aren’t they?”
Lizhu lifted the curtain and let out a light hum toward him:
“I don’t know about others, but Xie Ji is different from them. He definitely wouldn’t be interested in such things.”
The tone of her words was extremely certain, as though Xie Ji were some immortal untouched by worldly dust.
Pei Zhaoye turned his face away with disdain.
An immortal?
Untouched by worldly dust, yet able to father a bunch of children?
What an act.
“—What did you just say! Say that again!”
From within the crowded, jammed line, a familiar sharp female voice suddenly rang out.
“How dare you gossip about my Xue family behind our backs, what kind of thing are you!”
Lizhu and Pei Zhaoye exchanged a glance and turned toward the sound.
Not only them—many noble youths stuck at the east gate craned their necks to look.
The young girl scolded by that haughty lady instantly blushed scarlet.
She wasn’t very old, only about eighteen or nineteen.
She had merely been talking with a friend inside another carriage about the Xue Huaifang affair, teasing a few words, never expecting that beside her sat Xue Huaifang’s younger sister!
“…It was wrong of me to speak of others behind their backs. Third Young Lady Xue, I apologize…”
“Just saying you’re sorry and that’s it?”
Xue Xiwen had learned of what happened at the east gate that morning and had been furious half to death.
She was strong-willed and refused to stay home over this matter, unwilling to let the other noble girls in Jiangzhou laugh at her. So she came as usual.
Catching someone speaking ill of her right on the spot—well, that person was simply unlucky. She would take her as an example to warn the rest, to see if anyone else would dare mock her again!
“…What does Third Young Lady Xue intend to do?”
The young girl broke out in a cold sweat.
Xue Xiwen’s eyes rolled, and she suddenly snatched the horsewhip from a nearby groom, tapping it against her palm.
“ ‘The rat has a body, yet man has no propriety. Man without propriety, why not hurry and die?’ You’re also a girl from one of Jiangzhou’s noble families, yet you gossip about my Xue family behind our backs. So ignorant of manners—today I’ll grant you three lashes, to make sure you remember this lesson!”
The girl was horrified, and the onlookers instantly erupted in commotion.
What kind of status did the Xue family think they had?
To beat the daughter of an official family and even use the word ‘grant’—did she really think herself the emperor of Jiangzhou?
Such arrogance—it was truly unheard of!
Lizhu watched the whip rise in Xue Xiwen’s hand and suddenly said:
“This is bad. Pei Zhaoye, stop her quickly!”
At that very moment, Xue Xiwen’s whip came down.
The girl knew the Xue family’s power and dared not strike back, yet she could not simply stand still and take the blows. Protected by her maidservants, she dodged left and right, making Xue Xiwen miss twice.
Xue Xiwen grew furious, and the third lash came down with full strength—
But it didn’t land on the girl. Instead, it accidentally struck a horse standing very close by.
Hiss—!
The horse’s hooves reared up, and screams rippled through the crowd one after another.
That was exactly what Lizhu had feared!
Because all the carriages were jammed outside the east gate at this time, packed so tightly there was no space at all.
Xue Xiwen’s whip startled the horse, which bolted wildly, setting off chaos among the twenty or so carriages nearby. People and horses toppled over in confusion!
So many frightened horses trampling in panic—people could die from that!
“—Wu Yan! Restrain Her Highness’s horse!”
Pei Zhaoye shouted over his shoulder, and Wu Yan immediately leapt from his own horse, wrapping the reins tightly around his arm and pulling hard.
Outside the carriage, Gu Bing’an and Danzhu helped steady the horses; inside, Xuan Ying and Chang Jun shielded Lizhu.
Fortunately, Lizhu’s carriage was on the outer edge. It jolted a few times but soon settled down.
The carriages near the east gate, however, were not so lucky.
“Third Young Lady! Third Young Lady!”
Xue Xiwen was suddenly struck by a panicked horse and thrown straight off the carriage head!
The ground was full of hooves, thrashing wildly like falling rain.
Xue Xiwen fell backward, eyes shrinking—in her vision, a pair of horse hooves was about to trample her face the next instant!
“Whoa—!”
An arm suddenly seized the reins hanging in midair and yanked hard.
The horse was instantly pulled to turn its head aside, its hooves brushing past her ear.
She remembered that arm.
Still shaken, Xue Xiwen was helped up by her maidservants and guards.
She climbed back onto the carriage.
Amid the chaos of overturned people and carriages, that broad-shouldered, long-armed figure moved swiftly through the turmoil, agile as an eagle.
A toppled carriage had pinned down a young nobleman beneath it. The man raised his foot and kicked the heavy carriage aside, pulling the youth up firmly.
The rescued young man looked at him as if beholding a god descending from heaven:
“Brother, such powerful legs…”
Not only he—everyone present turned astonished eyes toward Pei Zhaoye.
Where had this person come from?
His hair was short, barely past his collarbones, too untidy to wear a crown—clearly not of noble birth.
Then he must be a bodyguard or retainer raised by some great house?
To possess such fearless strength—this was truly… money well spent.
Xue Xiwen turned to her guards and shouted:
“Look at him! If not for him just now, I’d be dead! What are you all doing? Do you know how much silver the Xue family spends to keep you?”
The guards trembled and knelt in silence.
Before long, the frightened horses were subdued, the runaway carriages halted.
The chaos finally began to settle.
Lizhu stepped down from her carriage, quickly crossing the mess-strewn ground, and said to the guards near the east gate:
“What are you standing there for! Go to the nearest clinic in the city and fetch physicians. Then send word to the Xie clan members outside the city attending the Monthly Appraisal—today’s event is certainly canceled. Ask them to spare some men to help here.”
The gate officer, hearing her words, found them reasonable. Without asking who she was, he immediately carried out her instructions.
After giving her orders, Lizhu lifted her skirts and hurried toward Pei Zhaoye.
Today, Lizhu wore no veiled hat, and as she stepped down from the carriage, countless eyes turned toward her.
“Are you alright?”
Pei Zhaoye was lowering his head, flexing fingers that had gone somewhat stiff.
Across the back of his hand, several blood marks crisscrossed—wounds from gripping the reins while subduing the frantic horse.
When he looked up, he met a pair of misty eyes.
He chuckled: “It’s nothing, doesn’t hurt at all, really—don’t cry.”
Lizhu pressed her lips tight, holding the tears back.
Turning around, Lizhu looked toward Third Young Lady Xue, who was peeking and watching this side.
“Displaying violence in the marketplace, letting horses injure people, nearly causing a death, Third Young Lady Xue, do you know what you have done?”
She rarely spoke in a harsh tone.
She just lowered her face, gazed intently, and when she opened her mouth to state the facts, there was naturally an inviolable dignity.
The many scholars and noble daughters present moved awkwardly to the side.
Although they did not speak, Xue Xiwen could tell from their expressions that they sided with the woman opposite.
“Th-Third Young Lady……”
The maid beside her, somewhat timid, said in a low voice:
“These people are either county academy students or noble sons and daughters of Jiangzhou, it’s not good to offend them all, for today’s matter, indeed it is our fault, still……”
“Shut up.”
Xue Xiwen scolded.
What right or wrong—what stupid words.
Commoners discuss right and wrong; even if the Xue family is wrong, they absolutely cannot undermine their own position, otherwise how to establish authority and make these Jiangzhou clans fear and obey?
Xue Xiwen said to Lizhu:
“Who are you, why have I never seen you in Jiangzhou?”
Her tone was disdainful, seemingly not regarding Lizhu’s questioning, and her gaze drifted to Pei Zhaoye beside her.
Pei Zhaoye stared at her.
To be precise, he was looking at the golden buyao in her hair bun.
…So Lizhu went to the jewelry shop yesterday to sell her jewelry.
He had Gu Bing’an transfer money to her; it should be enough to buy supplies for the Yanshan army. Why did she still sell her beloved golden buyao?
Turning the thought, he quickly had an answer.
It was to buy him a gift.
Of all people, she sold it to the Xue family who had gossiped about her behind her back.
Pei Zhaoye sometimes truly admired her; she could endure so much, whoever offended her would be as if offended for nothing, paying no price.
Xue Xiwen asked: “Is he a guard you keep?”
Lizhu frowned, slightly nodded.
“Are you short on money? If so, make a price and sell him to me. I happen to need such a guard.”
The noble youths and daughters watching had complex expressions.
It begins again.
The Xue siblings were alike in their domineering nature—whatever they fancied, they must take as their own.
Gu Bing’an and Danzhu exchanged glances, only finding it amusing.
How novel.
They had been mountain bandits for so many years, yet never imagined there would come a day when the bandit chief himself was the one being robbed.
Lizhu also found it inconceivable.
How could she so calmly make such an impolite demand?
Who exactly was the princess here?
“…Though your taste is quite good, I will not sell him. Give up that thought.”
Lizhu refused firmly.
Meeting Pei Zhaoye’s deep gaze, she asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing.”
He withdrew his gaze.
“It’s just—you endure humiliation so well, I was afraid you’d tell me to bear it too, and let me go with her in exchange for money.”
Lizhu knew he was being sarcastic and gave a soft hum.
“How could that be? My patience has its limits.”
Pei Zhaoye turned his head slightly, a faint smile in his eyes.
“Really has limits? That limit won’t lower any further depending on the situation?”
Lizhu swept her gaze over the surrounding noble sons and daughters who were seething inwardly yet dared not speak.
She rose slightly on tiptoe and whispered beside Pei Zhaoye’s ear:
“No, no. In this situation, I permit you to use a fox’s might under the tiger’s name.”
From what she observed today, the Xue family’s way of dealing with local gentry relied more on oppression than alliance.
That was why Xue Xiwen had insisted on raising her whip.
Just as an emperor uses dismissal and confiscation to suppress disobedient ministers, or a household’s matron uses beating and killing to subdue servants—violence can, at times, indeed be an effective method.
But ministers too harshly oppressed will rebel and cause chaos.
A mistress who does not treat her servants as people may also be killed by them.
Humans are not beasts who become docile after a few strikes; the power that ferments within human hearts is far more unstoppable than brute force.
Lizhu did not have vast fortresses or wealth like the Xue family, and thus no true power of violence.
What she could rely on was only people’s hearts.
Pei Zhaoye also glanced at those around them and nodded.
“Understood.”
Lizhu watched quietly as Pei Zhaoye walked toward Xue Xiwen.
Xue Xiwen swallowed unconsciously.
…This man was too tall.
From afar, one could still notice his handsome, cold-edged features and his straight, well-proportioned figure.
But at such close distance, an instinctive sense of danger was stirred.
Broad shoulders, firm arms, thick veins rising along the back of his hand—
And when his lips parted, that cold, strange glint of the silver ring on his tongue.
Everything about him was unlike ordinary men, existing outside worldly norms.
“My mistress asked you something just now, and you have yet to answer.”
Pei Zhaoye lifted his eyes slightly, fixing them on Third Young Lady Xue standing atop the carriage.
“Everyone here is a person of name and standing in Jiangzhou. Third Young Lady Xue displayed violence in the marketplace, set horses upon people, nearly caused deaths—will you not even offer a single word of apology?”
