In the late winter of the eighteenth year of Yongping, Yu Bao'er was officially recorded in the imperial registry, with her mother naming her Yu.
That same spring, the seven-and-a-half-year-old Qi Yu ascended the throne, changing the era name to Yongxing. Wu'an Marquis Xie Zheng became the Prince Regent, assisting in governance.
General of the Cloud Banner Fan Changyu and General of the Western Pacification Tang Peiyi, among others, were rewarded for their merits in quelling the rebellion, each promoted another rank. General of the Cloud Banner Fan Changyu was appointed General of Huaihua and granted the title of First-Rank Guardian of the Nation. Tang Peiyi was enfeoffed as the Earl of Xuanguo, He Xiujun was appointed Military Governor of Jiannan, and Zheng Wenchang was made Commandant of the Upper Prefecture.
The factions of Li and Wei, who had forced their way into the palace during the New Year, were also formally charged.
However, Grand Tutor Li was a great Confucian scholar of the realm, with an extremely high reputation and disciples spread throughout the court and beyond. Many scholars were outraged by his death on the night of the palace siege, believing the Li family must have suffered some unjust grievance. They openly composed poetry and essays subtly mocking Xie Zheng, claiming that his support of the young emperor was merely a ploy to become the next Wei Yan. They lamented that the Li family, devoted to the nation and its people, had met such a tragic end, crying that the Great Yin Dynasty had no future!
When these voices reached Xie Zheng, he remained unmoved. He simply ordered the Ministry of Revenue to report the full inventory of the Li and Wei families' assets—seized after two months of meticulous accounting—during the morning court session.
The self-proclaimed "pure and upright" Li family was found to possess over a million taels of silver, more than 4,000 gold artifacts, over 1,000 jade pieces, more than 2,000 antiques and paintings, tens of thousands of bolts of fine silk, and over a thousand shops, estates, and a million acres of private farmland—surpassing even the wealth confiscated from the Wei Mansion.
This staggering figure left the entire court in shock. Grand Tutor Li's disciples dared not utter another word, their faces burning with shame during the morning court, wishing they could vanish into the ground.
Though some skepticism lingered among the populace, the silver was indisputably funneled into the national treasury. The Great Yin treasury had been severely depleted by the campaigns to reclaim Jinzhou and the eleven prefectures of Liaodong, as well as the suppression of the Chongzhou rebellion. With this infusion of funds, the court regained some financial flexibility.
To mark the new emperor's ascension, a general amnesty was declared, and annual taxes were reduced for the people. Additionally, at the suggestion of General Fan Changyu of Huaihua, the Great Yin Law was revised to include provisions allowing all children to inherit family property and orphaned women to establish independent households, among other clauses.
During Wei Yan's trial, an extraordinary crime from ages past came to light. The fall of Jinzhou had not been due to General Meng Shuyuan's failure in transporting provisions, but rather because the Sixteenth Prince had been trapped in Luocheng. The old emperor, in his folly, had ordered Meng Shuyuan to rescue the prince, entrusting the critical task of grain transport to Changxin Wang of Chongzhou. Yet Chongzhou never dispatched troops, standing by as Jinzhou fell. Later, when foreign tribes advanced south, Changxin Wang intercepted them with his forces. The court, unwilling to hold him accountable at the time, shifted the blame entirely onto Meng Shuyuan to placate the public.
This truth was eighty percent fact, twenty percent concealment.
Wei Yan was not implicated in the Jinzhou case because he, too, had been one of the old emperor's intended victims in that scheme. To involve him would inevitably drag Shu Fei into the narrative. For this innocent woman caught in the tides of fate, Wei Yan refused to let her name be tarnished in history, and Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng ensured she left no mark in the records. After all, the true culprits of the Jinzhou tragedy were the old emperor and Changxin Wang.
Yet the crimes Wei Yan had committed over the years to consolidate his power were undeniable facts, and he was sentenced to execution in autumn.After eighteen years of wrongful accusation, the old general was finally exonerated. The young emperor, moved by Old General Meng's loyalty and righteousness and saddened by his unjust suffering, posthumously honored him as the Duke of Loyalty, granting him a place in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
The world sighed in regret, filled with remorse for having vilified Old General Meng for over a decade. It was said that on the day the imperial proclamation was announced, many wept for him and spontaneously offered incense in mourning.
Only then did the common people learn that Fan Changyu, the Huaihua Grand General, was actually Old General Meng’s granddaughter. The tale of how she had enlisted in the army with a butcher’s knife in hand and risen step by step as a heroine to clear her grandfather’s name spread from the military camps to the populace, becoming a celebrated legend.
In the teahouses and taverns, no matter when one entered, they would inevitably hear the storyteller slam his wooden block and cry out in a dramatic voice:
"Now let us speak of the Lin’an maiden of the Fan family—her parents met untimely deaths, her younger sister was kidnapped, and her husband was conscripted into the army. Bitter! Tragic! Yet with a butcher’s knife in hand, she vanquished bandits, beheaded scouts, and slew enemy generals..."
The wooden block clapped sharply as the storyteller’s fervor rose, while the audience listened with rapt attention, their expressions tense as if they were witnessing the events themselves.
Before this fervor could fade, another major event occurred in the capital. The Prince Regent, the sole heir of the martial-noble Xie family and now the most powerful man in court, requested an imperial decree from the young emperor to marry the Huaihua Grand General, Fan Changyu.
Had the Prince Regent sought to marry any other woman, the people might have gossiped, but since it was the Huaihua Grand General, they unanimously praised it as a match made in heaven.
Even the noble ladies of the capital dabbed their tears with handkerchiefs, declaring that only if it were the Huaihua Grand General marrying the Prince Regent would they concede willingly.
This was a hero matched with a hero—though both were also "beauties."
Of course, some busybodies from who-knows-where spread rumors that when the Prince Regent had returned to the capital after quelling the rebellion and was being honored, he had plucked General Fan’s hair ribbon from among the countless silk handkerchiefs thrown at him during his parade and calmly tucked it into his robes without batting an eye. Thus, his request for the imperial decree must have been premeditated long ago.
But the entire court knew that the Huaihua Grand General had once been married.
Back when Qi Sheng was on the throne, she had even openly admitted in the throne hall that she had joined the army by accident while searching for her husband. Veterans from Yan, Jizhou, and Chongzhou even swore on their lives that it was all true—when they had been trapped in First Line Gorge, the Huaihua Grand General had charged up the mountain with Jizhou’s reinforcements to find her husband.
From the court to the common folk, discussions about the impending marriage between Xie and Fan reached a fever pitch.
Everyone agreed that the Huaihua Grand General had cherished her late husband deeply, and that the Prince Regent, as the newcomer, could hardly compare to the former.
But since men in this world could take multiple wives and concubines, wasn’t it only natural for a heroine like the Huaihua Grand General, after losing her humble first husband, to gain a perfect match like the Prince Regent?
Some men even sighed for Changyu’s "ill-fated" first husband, saying that if he had lived, he would now be basking in wealth and glory. But since he had died young, it only proved he lacked the fortune to bear such immense blessings.
Still, everyone tacitly believed that in the Huaihua Grand General’s heart, the "humble first husband" held more weight than the Prince Regent—after all, they had been through hardship together.
If that first husband were still alive, would the Huaihua Grand General ever have agreed to marry the Prince Regent?Xie Zheng, who had remained unruffled even when scholars across the land composed satirical verses claiming the Li family had been wronged, turned ashen upon hearing these folk rumors. After receiving hints from Xie Wu and Xie Qi, Xie Shiyi shrewdly began spreading the word that their prince was indeed the "humble husband" of the great general.
This revelation unsurprisingly caused another uproar.
However, it was soon discovered that Xie family guards were daily distributing silver to beggars in alleyways to spread this tale. The public's mood grew subtly amused, unanimously concluding: The Prince Regent must be utterly smitten with General Huaihua, even eagerly claiming the title of a lowly live-in son-in-law!
Rumor had it an aspiring scholar, unable to secure an official post, cleverly wrote an opera titled The Female General about General Huaihua and the Prince Regent to curry favor.
When performed by capital troupes, the opera drew thunderous applause. Onstage, the warrior actress with bold eyebrows, pheasant plumes, and battle flags belted out: "To rescue my husband I left home, never thought I'd join the army and command..."
Upon learning of this, Fan Changyu found it both hilarious and embarrassing. She secretly booked a private box with Xie Zheng to watch a performance.
Outside their curtained booth, gongs and drums clamored as the actress's piercing voice carried every word. Each lyric seemed to resurrect memories—their first snowy encounter, the curling smoke from Fan family's hearth, him teaching her property laws, annotating classics, the vambrace gift before parting, their shared battles... Unknowingly, they'd journeyed so far from that Lin'an townlet.
She unconsciously smiled, teasing Xie Zheng: "Remember in Qingping County? You said you wanted to marry a gentle, virtuous homemaker."
"Golden crown weighs on my brow, longsword shakes heaven's vault..."
The opera reached its climax—drums frenzied, the warrior actress's voice soaring as she dramatically crossed blades with opponents, her swordplay more aesthetic than practical.
Performed nightly to packed houses, their ground-floor box overlooked the circular theater's central stage. Lanterns hung below every window, their glow like fiery trees and luminous dragons when lit.
Turning back, Changyu's half-lit profile glowed warmly against the fading lights. Beyond the open window, the actress portraying her twirled with battle flags and sword—a frozen tableau that struck Xie Zheng's eyes.
Long after, he finally replied: "Mm. But after meeting you, I knew—I only wanted to marry Fan Changyu."
Perhaps it was the lantern light, but Changyu's cheeks suddenly flushed crimson.
As the crowd dispersed post-performance, they waited until nearly everyone had left to avoid recognition and complications.The moon hung above the willow branches as the two walked side by side on the quiet, chilly street, neither on horseback nor in a sedan chair. The moonlight stretched one's shadow long, and occasionally their shadows intertwined, as if merging into one.
Xie Zheng then firmly took Fan Changyu's hand and never let go.
He said, "There's a golden temple in the city, said to be very efficacious with thriving incense. Would you like to visit?"
It was just past the hour of Xu, still too early to return home, so Fan Changyu nodded.
When they arrived at the temple gate and saw the closed doors along with the notice posted beside it—"No visitors admitted after the hour of You"—both fell silent.
Fan Changyu turned to Xie Zheng. "The temple is closed today. Should we come back another time?"
But Xie Zheng lifted his gaze to the temple's wall, over ten feet high.
Moments later, two agile figures leaped over the temple wall like panthers.
Even after her feet landed on the green bricks inside the temple, Fan Changyu was still a bit dazed.
After walking a short distance with Xie Zheng, she finally remembered why she was puzzled and asked, "We sneaked in over the wall in the middle of the night just to pray to a Bodhisattva?"
Xie Zheng was momentarily taken aback by the question. For the first time, he avoided Fan Changyu's gaze, turning his face away with a light cough. "The most famous thing in this temple is the Bodhi tree. It's said that all the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital come here to make wishes and hang wooden tablets."
His finely chiseled jawline tensed slightly under the cold moonlight, as if that could conceal the heavy, erratic beating of his heart, while an inexplicable dampness formed in his palms.
Though called a Bodhi tree, it was practically known throughout the capital as the "Tree of Matrimony," frequented by young men and women praying for love.
Fan Changyu seemed unaware of this. After a brief pause, she smiled and said, "Alright. Given our current status, if we came openly to hang a tablet, who knows what rumors would spread. Might as well sneak in tonight to hang one."
Perhaps her smile under the moonlight was too dazzling, too radiant. Xie Zheng turned his head and quietly watched her for two breaths before withdrawing his deep gaze and leading her onward.
The tree, adorned with red silk ribbons and wooden tablets, stood in the courtyard of the temple's main hall. They found it easily. The wooden tablets and writing tools for wishes were prepared in a side hall nearby, far from the monks' quarters. After entering, Xie Zheng left a large ingot as an offering, then took two wooden tablets and writing tools.
He finished writing quickly and stood aside, waiting for Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu, however, clutched the brush, deep in thought for a long time. Drawing on all her knowledge, she finally came up with eleven characters.
Afraid Xie Zheng might peek, she shielded her writing with her hand the entire time.
The wooden tablet wasn't large, and her handwriting was bold. She squeezed and squeezed, and though the characters ended up crooked, she managed to fit them all in.
When she finally exhaled and lifted the brush, Xie Zheng chuckled. "What did you write that took so long?"
Fan Changyu turned the tablet away from him, guarding it tightly, the tips of her ears slightly red. Yet she maintained a serious tone. "If you say a wish out loud, it won't come true. Let's just hang it up."
With that, she clasped the tablet between her palms, closed her eyes, and silently murmured something. Then, with a sudden swing of her arm... she flung the tablet to the very top of the towering Bodhi tree.
Others lacked such strength, so most tablets ended up hanging on the middle or lower branches.Fan Changyu was extremely satisfied with the height. She clapped her hands and turned to Xie Zheng, asking, "What about yours?"
Xie Zheng glanced at the wishing plaque Fan Changyu had tossed and, with an unchanged expression, raised his arm to throw his own. His plaque landed near hers.
Fan Changyu laughed. "Were you also afraid of throwing it too low and letting others see?"
Xie Zheng tilted his head slightly to look at her, his face as cold as jade, his dark eyes deep and unfathomable. "Your plaque looked too lonely up there all by itself. I threw mine up to keep it company."
Fan Changyu was momentarily stunned. Gazing at his refined features bathed in moonlight, she felt her heart race like a startled deer, thumping wildly—even after all this time together.
Though Fan Changyu had been appointed as a general, her official residence was still under construction, so she continued to stay temporarily at the Office of Presentations.
That night, after Xie Zheng escorted her back, he swiftly rode back to the temple. Scaling the wall once more, he climbed to the top of the bodhi tree and retrieved the wishing plaque Fan Changyu had thrown up there.
On the brand-new plaque, the clumsily written ink strokes clearly read: "Morning and night, year after year, I wish to spend them with you."
Xie Shiyi stood guard at the base of the wall, keeping watch for his master. He had no idea what had come over Xie Zheng, but suddenly, his master burst into laughter from the treetop—a laugh so joyous that Xie Shiyi, having served him for so many years, had never heard anything like it.
The laughter not only startled a flock of sparrows but also alarmed the temple's martial monks.
The monks, treating it as a grave threat, searched the area but found no one. Upon entering the main hall, they discovered the ingot Xie Zheng had left earlier. Assuming someone had sneaked in late at night just to offer incense and prayers, they finally relaxed.
The abbot, also disturbed by the commotion, noticed the disturbed ink brush and the missing wishing plaque. Fingering his prayer beads and pressing his palms together in a Buddhist gesture, his deeply wrinkled face broke into a serene, time-worn smile. "The Buddha is merciful. May all lovers in this world be united in the end."
To allow enough time for the six rites of marriage, Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng set their wedding date for the following year.
Before that, she wanted to relocate her parents' graves—hastily buried on a wild slope in Jizhou—back to the Meng family cemetery. With the help of officials from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, an auspicious date was chosen for the relocation: the ninth month of that year.
When returning to Jizhou, she also requested an imperial plaque inscribed with "Loyalty and Righteousness" from the young emperor in honor of Head Constable Wang and his wife, who had died protecting the people of Qingping County from bandits. She presented the plaque to their daughter, who had married into a neighboring county, and later repaired their graves upon returning home.
When Aunt Zhao heard about it, she wept, recalling the honest and loyal couple. Holding Fan Changyu's hand, she reassured her that with the imperial plaque, even without her parents, Head Constable Wang's daughter would never be mistreated by her in-laws.
In the same month, the remnants of the Li and Wei factions faced their fates—some executed, others exiled.
On the day of the executions, Xie Zheng went alone to see Wei Yan one last time. No one knew what passed between uncle and nephew.
Wei Yan's body was taken away by Qi Xingzhou, the adopted son of Old General Qi and Military Governor of Lingnan. Xie Zheng never showed himself throughout the process, only watching from afar at Shili Slope on the outskirts of the capital as Qi Xingzhou carried Wei Yan's coffin away.Fan Changyu rushed to Shili Slope upon receiving the news to find Xie Zheng, but by the time she arrived, Qi Xingzhou's carriage had almost disappeared at the end of the official road.
Xie Zheng's expression was unreadable as he said, "Eighteen years ago, he entrusted his own remains to Qi Xingzhou."
"Shu Fei is buried in Lingnan. He must go there too."
...
...
First month of Yongxing Year.
The Prince Regent took a bride, and the Grand General of Huaihua married down. The peach blossoms of early spring stretched for miles, yet still could not match the length of the bridal procession for the Grand General of Huaihua.
Knowing the Grand General had no family left, the common folk spontaneously gathered to send her off. Even people from the surrounding prefectures near the capital came to witness the ceremony, forming a massive procession that extended all the way beyond the city walls.
The long street welcoming the bridal party was carpeted with bright red firecracker remnants and dazzling peach blossom petals. The bustling crowd lining the streets, all beaming with joy, cheered for the "Grand General of Huaihua" and the "Prince Regent," just as they had once welcomed the triumphant army. Some still habitually called Xie Zheng the "Wu'an Marquis." Every sight and sound was filled with nothing but the most heartfelt blessings.
Under the arrangements of the imperial merchant Zhao Xun, the city's taverns and teahouses set up endless feasts, offering free banquets to celebrate the grand wedding of the Grand General and the Prince Regent.
It was no exaggeration to say that even the beggars in the city cleaned themselves up that day, squeezing into the crowd to offer their congratulations.
Fan Changyu had no elder brother, so He Xiujun escorted her as the bridal companion. Riding on horseback and witnessing such grandeur, He Xiujun felt deeply moved and remarked to Zheng Wenchang, who accompanied them, "I dare say even the emperor's future wedding procession won't surpass today's spectacle."
The sincere joy and blessings of the entire Great Yin populace were something no mere power could orchestrate.
Zheng Wenchang replied, "How many peerless heroes like Grand General Fan could this world possibly produce?"
He Xiujun chuckled. "True, my sworn sister is no ordinary woman. The Prince Regent is marrying a grand general."
As he spoke, he glanced at the groom riding at the forefront.
Xie Zheng was clad in crimson wedding robes, his jet-black hair tied up with a golden crown, making him appear even more radiantly handsome. The perpetual frost in his eyes had melted away, and though he remained solemn, the faint joy in his gaze was unmistakable.
The clip-clop of hooves blended with the sounds of gongs, drums, firecrackers, and the cheers of the crowd as the bridal sedan, carried by sixteen bearers, arrived at the gates of the Xie residence.
Fan Changyu held one end of the red silk ribbon and was helped out of the sedan by the matchmaker. The bridal veil obscured her vision, so she couldn't see the scene around her, but she could hear the cheers of the guests.
Though her sight was blocked, her steps remained steady and sure.
Knowing that the person holding the other end of the red silk ribbon was him, Fan Changyu felt not a trace of fear. From the moment she woke up drunk in Lucheng that year, when he had reddened eyes and told her he regretted everything, and she promised to walk the road ahead with him, she had never again considered leaving him to tread the path alone.
Henceforth, whether it be mountains of blades, seas of fire, or quagmires, she would stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
In the wedding hall, Grand Tutor Tao, as Fan Changyu's adoptive father, sat in the place of honor, smiling benevolently at the newlyweds. Behind him were the ancestral tablets of her parents.
Aunt Zhao and her husband brought Changning, while Yu Qianqian accompanied the now-renamed Emperor Qi Yu (formerly Yu Bao'er) and the other guests, all watching the ceremony with joyful smiles.
The master of ceremonies proclaimed, "First bow to heaven and earth—"Unlike the previous sham marriage when Xie Zheng had hastily bowed to heaven and earth in a daze, all the guests clearly witnessed the usually cold and stern Prince Regent wearing a faint smile at the corners of his lips. There was even a trace of tenderness hidden in his eyes as he gazed at the bride, as if he had been anticipating this wedding for a very, very long time...
"First bow to the elders—"
Grand Tutor Tao's smile deepened the wrinkles at his eyes as he stroked his beard and nodded, accepting the couple's bow. The old man, who had weathered countless storms in his long life, actually found his eyes growing slightly red at this moment.
Aunt Zhao and Zhao Mu Jiang stood to the side, one hand holding Changning's, the other constantly wiping their tear-filled eyes, having long since cried themselves into a mess—though these were tears of joy.
And in the hearts of the newlyweds, this moment was also a sincere wish for their departed parents to know: they were married.
"Bow to each other—"
Just like in those years past, as Fan Changyu lowered her head in the bow, a sudden gust of wind from nowhere lifted the corner of her red bridal veil. The bride, adorned in lavish makeup by the palace matrons, curved her crimson lips in a smile. A single glance from her glistening almond eyes, brimming with joy, could intoxicate the very mountains and rivers.
The guests erupted in cheers, but just as the veil threatened to be blown away entirely, a slender, elegant hand reached out to press it back into place. Before the veil settled, Fan Changyu caught a glimpse of the deep, affectionate gaze of the man before her.
Her red lips curved even higher.
This lifetime—it would be him.
The officiant, too, beamed with delight.
"The ceremony is complete! Escort the couple to the bridal chamber—"
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