Before he could even swallow the sesame cake he was chewing, Li Yuangui suddenly stood up and strode outside in two steps, questioning the shop assistant A-qi who had come to fetch the cakes:
"Did three guests arrive at your shop? Two men and a woman? And the woman is a foreign girl?"
"Uh..." The assistant took half a step back at his aggressive demeanor. "That... that woman was wearing a veiled hat. I didn’t... didn’t see her face, but she must be quite... quite pretty..."
"A-Chen!" Li Yuangui called over his shoulder, and the young servant nimbly emerged, one hand still holding the basket of sesame cakes while the other tossed a few cash coins into the money tray on the table. With a quick exchange, the two followed the shop assistant.
The eatery they were heading to was also on the same street, just two intersections away. Before even entering, Li Yuangui heard a familiar loud voice:
"...No meat? What kind of lousy shop is this! And you dare hang a sign saying 'Banquets Welcomed'? Your idea of a banquet is just yellow gruel and pickled vegetables?..."
The young prince sighed and walked into the shop, which was lined with dining tables, heading straight for his imperial guard. The shop owner, surnamed He, was still facing away, apologetically explaining:
"...Please don’t be angry. It’s just bad luck today—the lunch crowd was heavy, and we’ve sold out all the meat. The butchers in Xianyang Ferry all follow the same rule: no slaughtering pigs or sheep after noon. At this hour, even if you wanted fresh meat, you couldn’t buy it! If you need meat for strength, we still have salted fish and dried meat in the kitchen, just as tasty..."
Yang Xinzhi was about to protest further when the veiled foreign girl sitting beside him spotted Li Yuangui first and quickly tugged at his sleeve to stand up. The other young servant from Prince Wu’s residence also scrambled to his feet, calling out "Fourteenth Young Master," though they refrained from formal greetings in the shop.
"Bring whatever you have, as long as it’s edible, and make it quick," Li Yuangui instructed the shop owner. The older man, seasoned in reading moods, bowed and retreated to the kitchen.
Once the bystanders were gone, Li Yuangui lowered his voice to scold Yang Xinzhi:
"I sent you out to find someone—a matter of life and death—and all you care about is eating! Where’s Seventeenth Miss? You’ve been wandering all day—have you found anything?"
The three of them were still together, with the two greyhounds they had brought along fighting over leftover bones nearby, clearly having failed to locate the kidnapped Seventeenth Princess. Yang Xinzhi gave an awkward smile to his lord:
"Don’t be impatient, Fourteenth Young Master. We haven’t had a decent meal all day and were starving... But we didn’t waste our time entirely. We’ve got some leads—clues to finding her!"
"Then out with it!" Li Yuangui urged.
While waiting for the food, Yang Xinzhi and the foreign girl Fen Dui took turns explaining. They had captured the ferryman from the thatched shed at the private dock on the southern bank of the Wei River, forcing him to row them, along with the two dogs, safely across to the northern shore. However, once across, the greyhounds lost the scent, leaving the trio to rely on asking around: "Have you seen any foreign merchants with a Han girl?"—with little success. Someone directed them to "the nearby foreign merchant quarter at Xianyang Ferry’s Little Western Market." They reasoned that An Yan-na, with Seventeenth Princess in tow, would need both a hiding place and provisions for the young lady, making it likely he’d seek refuge among familiar kin. So they hurried straight to Xianyang Ferry.Entering the West Market, they continued their inquiries shop by shop along the streets. While Han merchants were manageable, the foreign traders were highly wary of the tall and imposing Yang Xinzhi, reluctant to speak much. Fortunately, they had brought Fen Dui along—her gentle words and fluent speech as a beautiful young girl proved somewhat beneficial. Eventually, they found a jewelry shop that mentioned taking an order for "a middle-aged man and a young girl who came to commission jewelry," with the items to be collected before sunset when the market closed.
"Commissioned jewelry?" Li Yuangui was stunned. Why would An Yan-na have the kindness—no, the leisure—to buy jewelry for his Seventeenth Miss?
"It's the jewelry shop next door," Yang Xinzhi pointed eastward. "We also thought it seemed off, but... after searching all day, this is the only lead that somewhat fits. With no other options, we decided to check it out first. Besides, we're starving..."
A-Chen had already distributed the sesame cakes they brought from the shop, and the famished group devoured them in moments. Luckily, the eatery soon brought out more porridge, cakes, and dishes. As Li Yuangui ate, his eyes kept scanning the street.
The southern side of the eatery facing the street had no walls, supported instead by a row of wooden pillars holding up the roof. The interior was well-lit, making it easier to attract passersby. Li Yuangui’s seat was close to the eastern wall, and he deliberately listened for any movement from the neighboring jewelry shop. Before long, a young, delicate female voice drifted over.
The voice likely didn’t belong to his Seventeenth Miss, but... whatever, he’d check it out first.
Pushing off the dining table, Li Yuangui leaped from his seat straight into the street. He hurried to the entrance of the eastern jewelry shop and indeed saw a broad-shouldered man and a slender girl stepping out.
Li Yuangui halted, pondering how to approach them, but A-Chen, who had followed him out, impulsively shouted, "Seventeenth Miss!"
The group blocked the exit of the jewelry shop, forcing the pair to stop and turn to face them. Upon closer inspection, it was neither An Yan-na nor the Seventeenth Princess—the man wasn’t even a foreigner.
The stout man, with sparse mustache and in his thirties, had a familiar, open countenance. The woman was entirely concealed under a black veiled hat, her features obscured, but she stood half a head taller than the Seventeenth Princess and appeared older.
Confronted by four or five black-clad men with furrowed brows and swords at their waists, the veiled woman let out a startled cry and hid a brocade pouch behind her back. A young maidservant following her also screamed in fear, dropping the wooden box she was carrying with a clatter.
The composed middle-aged man stepped protectively in front of the woman and demanded:
"In broad daylight, under the Son of Heaven’s rule, do you gentlemen intend to rob my sister and me?"
This chapter includes reference images of "veiled hats" and "Veiled Hats." For the images, visit the author’s Weibo. Search for the ID "Tang Dynasty Tour Guide Forest Deer" on Sina Weibo. Welcome to engage!
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