Chapter 87: Foes on a Narrow Road

In the dead of night, under a sky dim and heavy, the rumble of the wheels and the jostling of the carriage kept Wu Yueling from sleeping. Lying awake inside, she could not help grumbling.

It was all because of that baffling imperial decree. In the middle of the night, in such bone-chilling cold, she still had to make her way to the Imperial Academy to study...

She could not really blame her foster father, either. In truth, part of this had been her own doing. Who had told her, as a princess, to go dabbling in commerce? Such a nuisance. Being a princess had once seemed rather interesting, but now she was being dragged around by the nose. Ah, how she wished she could crawl into a warm bed and hide there...

But who, exactly, had dug up her dirt like some gossip-mad little rat and even turned it into a nursery rhyme to spread around? All this resentment, all this fury, was caused by that hidden hand behind the curtain. If she ever found them, she would have Chuer search them top to bottom first, then toss them into a filthy ditch.

Still, the most important thing was the Qi family. After the last lesson they had learned, they ought to keep quiet for a while, surely.

If she did not think of the Qi family, she would not think of Wang Lizhi. But the moment she did, her teeth seemed to ache. He had been the first man to call her a bastard, and then had the nerve to be in the right about it!

If she were to pretend to be pitiful, smear tears over her face, and go crying to her foster mother, saying that Wang Lizhi had insulted her daughter and thus insulted her as well... no, better stop there. She could not pull off such an act. A gentleman does not shed tears lightly. She, magnanimous and broad-minded as she was, would not deign to quarrel with him.

“Princess, are you not sleeping... gurgle?” Hua Chuer sat hugging a food box, a half-eaten twisted bun in her hand, her little thief’s eyes gleaming.

Wu Yueling sat up with a cloud of resentful black fire around her, and looked at Chuer, who was quite unceremoniously devouring the food Xiaochun had prepared for the princess. She reached out, took the half of the twisted bun Chuer had left behind, stuffed it into her mouth without a care in the world, and then held out her hand again.

“I’m hungry.”

“Oh!”

Hua Chuer wiped the crumbs from the corners of her mouth with her sleeve and obediently handed over the food box.

Wu Yueling opened the top layer. Empty.

Her eyelid twitched. The second layer: empty too.

“Chuer, you ate it all?”

Unable to bear looking any longer, she opened the third layer. Only a few scraps of pastry skin remained stuck to the bottom. She plucked them off and tossed them into her mouth. After she finished, her stomach gave a protesting rumble.

“Mm. Chuer accidentally ate it all. It was just too delicious... I couldn’t stop.”

She rolled her eyes at Chuer, lifted the curtain, and only then realized she had no idea how much time had passed. Outside, the light was still a murky gray.

Her resentment surged anew. She flopped back into a lazy sprawl, leaning against the wooden wall of the carriage with the look of someone who had lost the will to live.

“Princess, what are you doing?”

Hua Chuer was baffled. What sort of pose was that? She felt as if she had learned yet another interesting thing from the princess.

“Don’t touch me. Let me lie here a while...”

After who knew how long, Wu Yueling finally managed to fall asleep for a brief moment. But then the carriage came to a halt and jolted violently, waking her.

“Princess, this humble servant will go buy you some breakfast. What would you like to eat?”

Hearing the voice outside the carriage, Wu Yueling lifted the curtain and saw that dawn had already begun to pale the sky. She glanced at Yu Chaoen, whose eye sockets were dark with exhaustion.

“You’ve worked hard. Just... two flatbreads, then.”

She turned back toward the carriage interior and found that Chuer was already gone. Looking back out, she lowered the curtain.

“I only need one flatbread. Little Chaoen, you should buy something for yourself too! You didn’t sleep all night, so make up for it in the daytime!”

“Yes, thank you for your concern, Princess.” Yu Chaoen turned away happily, then reached into his chest and froze. Bad news: his money pouch was gone. He stood there stunned. He had clearly put it inside his robe last night...

“No need to thank me... um, gurgle—”

At that moment, Hua Chuer tossed him a flatbread wrapped in oiled paper. While chewing on one herself, she sprang lightly through the small carriage window and landed inside.

Yu Chaoen was still none the wiser. His purse had long since fallen victim to Chuer’s thieving hands. He only knew that Hua Chuer was formidable in martial arts; he had no idea she was a roaming bandit, and would never have made the connection. Looking at the flatbread in his hands, he decided to take it to the princess after all. The result was that the princess already had a flatbread and told him to eat it himself.

That at least was pleasing. It meant all these days of servitude had not been for nothing. He only hoped that what lay ahead was not a lucky guess, but the truth: Gao Neisheng and Chancellor Li of the Right had probably already noticed that something was amiss on their side. He sighed, biting into the still-warm flatbread. Better to be careful.

At last they entered the imperial city. Guided by Yu Chaoen, Wu Yueling arrived at the Imperial Academy.

As soon as she entered, she heard the noisy drone of reading voices. Now and then she could see students bobbing their heads as they recited, along with a few who had only just gotten up.

After walking for a long while and passing through two courtyards, she learned from Yu Chaoen’s explanation that the first one had been the Academy of Classics, while the second had been the Academy of the Four Gates.

Crossing a stone bridge, she came to another courtyard. In front of her stretched a row of neatly arranged stone walls, with a gate in the center.

Above the arched entrance hung a stone plaque bearing three large characters for the Imperial Academy. Wu Yueling could read them. The brushwork had a sense of upright grandeur; it must have been the hand of Master Yan. Of course it was. Who else but Yan Zhenqing could have written such a thing?

She could not help but find it a little absurd. The man had gone, yet his stern and righteous calligraphy still remained here. She did not understand politics very well, but it still seemed a pity for a person like Yan Zhenqing to have been demoted.

“Princess, this humble servant will escort you only this far. If my memory serves, once you go in and walk straight ahead, you will reach the place where the master gives his lessons. It is an open-air ground, with a large bronze incense burner between the master’s seat and the students’ seats.”

Yu Chaoen stepped aside and bowed as he was used to doing.

“Mm, I understand. Chuer, wait here as well.”

With that, Wu Yueling went inside. She had come to study, yet had not brought a single book. Still, it did not matter. The decree had merely said that she was to come to the Imperial Academy for one day every ten days.

As she walked along the narrow path, she noticed pine trees on both sides, and the ground was carpeted with dry pine needles. Among the slightly reddish fallen leaves were many pine nuts.

Continuing onward, she passed through the pine grove. Ahead, she heard the sound of flowing water, and beyond that, the murmur of reading voices. It was much more subdued than the noisy branches of the academies outside.

That meant there were not many people here.

She kept walking until at last she saw the place where classes were held: an open-air courtyard with a large incense burner that was no longer smoking.

At a glance, the rows of seats seemed to number around a hundred. A few students were sitting upright, reciting with their heads swaying.

Closer up, she noticed a set of ritual bells she could not name. From left to right they grew progressively larger, each engraved with different patterns, some floral, some beastlike.

Curious, she went up and struck them one by one. They really did sound in the notes of do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti. But that single act drew a loud rebuke, in a voice she knew all too well.

“Who is meddling with the ritual instruments?”

Master Song came striding out from beside the bronze ceremonial vessels, and without caring in the least how important the chime bells were, she continued striking them, beating out a bright, jaunty rhythm.

“Bold girl, you—”

Before he could finish, Wu Yueling raised her middle finger at Master Song in full view of the assembled students, then struck the great bell again with renewed annoyance.

Dong!

What a perfect meeting of enemies. Only a few days ago he had smashed her tavern...

At the same time, on a sesame flatbread stall in the newly lively streets of Chang'an, Zhang Heng, Chief Constable of the Constables, who had just paid for a flatbread, ran into Constable Cao.

“Where are you rushing off to, Chief Constable?”

“Hmph. None of your business. Chang'an nights have not been peaceful lately. Constable Cao would do well to stay obediently in the Ministry of Punishments if he values his safety!”

With a mouthful of flatbread still in his mouth, Zhang Heng narrowed his panda-dark eyes and let the hidden crossbow on his arm draw tight, ready to fire.

“Hand over Old Ox!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Old Ox? Isn’t he dead?”

“Hmph. If the Constables don’t want trouble, they’d best be sensible. The man behind me is not someone you can handle!”

“I’ll tell you this too: I’m no coward to be frightened easily. On the streets of Chang'an, the Constables make the rules. Don’t think that because your old chief is dead, you can stir up storms as you please! And don’t imagine I don’t know about the filthy dealings happening in the shadows!”

Constable Cao watched Zhang Heng’s departing figure, eyes slightly narrowed.

I hope you can hold out when the time comes. I have no choice in the matter either.

And with that thought, he left in silence.