Wei Shufen looked at Li Yuangui, who was leaning against the opposite wall, and let out a long sigh.
The fourteenth son of the Supreme Emperor, younger brother of the current Son of Heaven, and His Highness Prince Wu of the Great Tang—now drenched from head to toe, his turban torn off and discarded, his outer robe removed, shivering under a tattered felt blanket. There was no room for dignity at this moment. His long legs were curled beneath him as he slumped in the corner, staring blankly, a damp lock of black hair clinging to his forehead and cheek. He looked utterly disheveled, a far cry from his usual composed and dignified self.
What had happened?
It was a long story.
Two nights ago, Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi had escorted her out of the warehouse district in the Western Market. Soon after, the man surnamed Pei and the rest of the servants joined them, explaining that An San and his group of foreigners had been taken away by Cheng Yaojin. Official matters would be handled by Zhang Zhuangtou. After a hasty night’s rest, the group returned at dawn to the Pei family estate outside the town. It was then that Wei Shufen learned the estate belonged to the children of Pei Ji, the renowned chancellor of the previous dynasty. The young Miss Pei, who tended to her wounds, was also the betrothed of Prince Zhao—Li Yuangui’s sixth elder brother.
Miss Pei and the foreign girl Fen Dui cleaned, medicated, and bandaged Wei Shufen’s injuries in the inner chamber, chatting idly for half the day. Meanwhile, outside, Li Yuangui and the estate’s master, Pei Lvshi, had settled on their next steps: Zhang Zhuangtou would take Fen Dui to continue gathering information about the Xianyang foreign merchant group and the city guard. A-Chen and the others would return to the Great Peace Palace to question Chen Changshi about developments in the palace. The servants Wei Shufen had brought from the Chai household would return to Guangde Ward to try contacting Chai Yingluo and inform her of Li Yuangui and Wei Shufen’s current whereabouts.
As for Li Yuangui, Yang Xinzhi, and Wei Shufen themselves, Pei Lvshi regretfully informed them: it would be best if they left the estate.
The reasoning hardly needed explanation. Cheng Yaojin had already spoken with Pei Lvshi. The two had crossed paths many times during the WuDe Era and were acquaintances. That night, Pei Lvshi had even half-heartedly invited "General Cheng" to "visit my humble abode for a chat." Though Cheng Yaojin had declined, citing pressing matters, he had taken note of Yang Xinzhi—the distinctive-looking "grandson of the Supreme Emperor," whose background was anything but ordinary. Once Cheng entered Chang’an at dawn and heard the imperial guards were ordered to arrest Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi, he would likely direct them straight to the Pei estate.
Previously, the pursuit of Li and Yang had not been publicly announced, so Pei Lvshi could feign ignorance. But if imperial guards arrived with an explicit edict and he still refused to hand them over, he would be guilty of harboring Imperial prisoners. Thus, upon hearing the request to leave, Li Yuangui immediately rose to go—only for Pei Lvshi to grab his arm.
"Fourteenth Young Master, wait! Let me finish!"
Pei Lvshi explained that he had anticipated this situation days ago and had discussed it with Zhang Zhuangtou, arranging an alternative hideout for Li Yuangui and the others. However, the place was exceedingly crude—a vegetable garden a few miles northwest of the Pei estate, far from villages and irrigation channels, nestled against small hills and hidden by trees, quiet and secluded.
The garden was managed by someone who had entrusted it to Zhang Zhuangtou’s care. It wasn’t registered under the Pei name, so it wouldn’t appear in official records. The gardeners had been temporarily reassigned to help with canal and field work, leaving only two elderly women to mind the place, minimizing the risk of leaks. The garden wasn’t too far from the Pei estate, allowing for timely communication. After some thought, Li Yuangui agreed—they truly had nowhere else to go.The servants had already left in groups, and the trio of Li, Yang, and Wei were the last to bid farewell. In front of the Pei family's estate servants, they exchanged many polite words, implying they were leaving on a long journey and wouldn't return. Pei Lvshi humbly insisted on seeing them off and, together with Zhang Zhuangtou, escorted them westward beyond the estate gates all the way into the vegetable garden.
Before even stepping through the bamboo-fenced entrance, Wei Shufen caught a whiff of the stench—Zhang Zhuangtou explained, "Watering the vegetables requires plenty of fertilizer and manure." The manure pit was at one end of the garden, with chunks of it spread out to dry on the ground, filling the entire garden and its surroundings with an inescapable sour, pungent odor.
The garden covered a sizable area, with over a dozen plots of varying sizes terraced in layers, the green seedlings thriving under the sun, a vibrant sight of life. Besides the vegetable plots and manure pit, within the fenced enclosure stood a three-room thatched hut, a well without a platform, a shed piled with firewood and farming tools, and a chicken coop.
Amidst the barks of "Woof woof!" and clucks of "Cluck cluck!", Pei Lvshi ushered Li Yuangui and the other two into the thatched hut. The hut, unoccupied during the cold winter months when farming was idle, was even cruder than an ordinary farmhouse—packed earth walls, a rough dirt floor, and two drafty branch partitions dividing one main room from two bedrooms, each with a brick kang bed.
Inside the main room by the entrance stood a large stove, with firewood and a water vat piled behind the door. A wooden table missing two legs was propped up with stones, holding only earthen bowls and rough chopsticks—the sole furniture. There were no sitting mats, just a few straw mats spread on the ground for meals.
Once inside, there wasn’t even a place to sit properly. Pei Lvshi wore a look of constant apology, repeatedly begging their pardon, while the old man Zhang seemed entirely unfazed. He first instructed the two elderly women, then returned to say, "The vegetable growers will be back in three to five days—don’t laze around. When you have time, lend a hand. The garden needs work now—fetching water, hauling manure, plenty to do. You youngsters, tall as you are, eating two jin of rice a meal, can’t just eat without working..."
As he spoke, the old man kept glancing at Yang Xinzhi, whose tall, sturdy frame darkened with irritation, though he couldn’t lash out. Wei Shufen and Li Yuangui exchanged a look, struggling to suppress their laughter. Pei Lvshi chuckled, "Old Zhang’s words may not sound pleasant, but there’s some truth to them. After all, the owner of this garden is someone you all know—doing some farmwork here isn’t for nothing."
"The garden’s owner? Who?" Li Yuangui asked curiously.
Pei Lvshi raised a hand and pointed directly at the young prince’s nose.
At the sight of Li Yuangui’s stunned expression, Zhang Zhuangtou was the first to burst into laughter. Between chuckles, he explained that the garden was registered under the Pingling Dou family’s name. Locals only knew it as the property of Dou Dan, the Princess of Xiangyang’s consort and Duke of Xin. A couple of years prior, Zhang had overheard the Xianyang County magistrate and the village head mention that, according to the records, this garden and some nearby fields and households were listed as "fiefdom households of the Great Peace Palace princes," with Consort Dou merely managing them on their behalf. Of course, whether these households were further allocated to specific princely estates or which estate this garden belonged to, the old man hadn’t inquired in detail. But calling Li Yuangui the garden’s owner was pretty much accurate.
To think he didn’t even recognize his own property... Everyone had a good laugh at Prince Wu’s expense. Pei Lvshi then gave them a few more detailed instructions, left them a bundle of clean coarse cloth clothes and supplies, and departed with Zhang Zhuangtou.Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi stayed in the eastern room, while Wei Shufen slept on the heated brick bed in the western room with two elderly women who tended the garden. Any words spoken at night could be heard by all, and the snoring from both sides rose and fell like thunder throughout the night. Wei Shufen endured the pain and itching of her wounds, drifting in and out of consciousness until dawn, unsure whether she had truly slept at all.
Yet she had no complaints—this was the path she had chosen. Li Yuangui, too, never grumbled. Apart from recounting his experiences after their separation, he spoke little, often lost in thought with a furrowed brow. Instead, Wei Shufen found herself comforting him:
"Since Seventeenth Miss was taken to the city guard, she should be safe now. The imperial guards will report immediately and escort her back to the palace. Great Peace Palace is currently overseen by Consort Yuwen, or perhaps the Empress will place her back in the Hall of Established Governance. Either way, she’ll be well cared for. Even the Crown Prince wouldn’t mistreat Seventeenth Miss. I know the Crown Prince’s consort, Lady Su—she’s inherently kind-hearted and will surely protect her. By any measure, Seventeenth Miss has escaped this ordeal. Fourteenth Young Master needn’t worry so much."
"I know no one will likely try to harm her again," Li Yuangui said with a bitter smile. "But to say she’s escaped her troubles... that’s not certain. You, and Yingniang, are no different."
Wei Shufen understood his implication. The primary reason they had exposed this conspiracy of colluding with foreign enemies was to thwart the plan by Consort Yin and Crown Prince Chengqian to marry off Princess Seventeen, Chai Yingluo, and herself as brides to foreign tribes. Now, not only had this plan not been abandoned, but it had become even easier for Li Chengqian to push forward—with Consort Yin dead, he no longer feared exposure for conspiring with his parents' enemies. Princess Seventeen had been returned to the palace, making arrangements all the more convenient.
So now, the only obstacles were her and Chai Yingluo’s disappearances... But neither of them held royal status. Li Chengqian could simply propose marrying off the Seventeenth Princess to Gaochang for alliance, without needing to tie them into the arrangement.
"I must return to the palace," Li Yuangui suddenly declared. "I’ll turn myself in and confess everything from beginning to end before His Majesty. This was all my doing to begin with. Whatever punishment the Emperor decrees, I’ll accept it. I can’t drag you all down any further."
"Mm. And then His Majesty and the Empress will surely conclude that Yang Ku-zhen, High Truth Master, and I bear no responsibility whatsoever. Yang Ku-zhen will continue his rise through the ranks in another prince’s household, High Truth Master will return to Purple Void Monastery to refine elixirs and serve the Empress with his medical skills, and I... I’ll go home and marry General Cheng in exchange for fifty thousand bolts of silk as dowry, so my elder brother can marry a daughter of the Cui family. All will be peace and prosperity?"
She couldn’t tell whether her tone was biting or bitter—perhaps both. Li Yuangui’s gaze was tender yet sorrowful, the result of painful contemplation, no longer the clear simplicity of before:
"Wei... Shufen, I’ve thought about that snowy day in the Hall of Established Governance... You were right. Thank heavens you were right. And you’re also right—marrying General Cheng may come with its dissatisfactions, but in the end, he’s better than me... I’m someone who’ll never be able to decide my own fate. Even my future is at the mercy of others. What right do I have..."
His voice broke, his chest heaving, his face flushed. Wei Shufen, too, felt her cheeks burning, a fire raging in her heart as she rasped, "So then?""I'm not worthy to marry you, so go ahead and marry someone else." She waited for him to say those words, like snow falling and freezing the world, allowing her to let go of everything. But Li Yuangui simply gazed steadily at her. In those dark, mist-filled eyes, was that... reluctance to part?
"What if... what if I were just the son of a moderately well-off rural family... tending a few acres of land, living in such a garden..."
Would you propose to me again? Wei Shufen thought vaguely. Rising with the sun, resting at its setting, drinking from a well we dug, eating from fields we plowed—what need have we for the emperor's power?
To be a reclusive farming couple in the countryside wouldn't be so bad either...
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