Chapter 94: The Spring Equinox

That day, waking again during the second watch of the night, she set off toward the imperial city.

Carrying a heavy, drowsy head, she arrived at the location of the Imperial Academy and encountered a young man in a blue robe outside the outer wall of the Four Gates Academy.

“Princess!”

Wu Yueling forced her eyelids open to look at him. The young man seemed somewhat familiar, yet she couldn’t retrieve any memory of him.

“I am Yuan Zai. Last year, I went to congratulate your household on the completion of your new residence...” Yuan Zai maintained a smiling face as he carefully observed the princess’s weary yet pristine eyes—her appearance as pure and untainted as a white lotus. Though slender, she was surely a celestial being.

“Yuan Zai!? Oh, I remember now, aren’t you the lad scolded by Master Yan? No wonder you look familiar!” Due to her fatigue, she spoke whatever came to mind almost without filter.

Yuan Zai’s face flushed instantly, embarrassed that the impression he made on a woman he admired was so awkward. That morning, he had merely happened upon the princess. As a clerk of the Imperial Academy, responsible for organizing its library, he was eager for promotion and thus had been harshly rebuked by Master Yan.

“Princess, the morning reading session will begin soon...”

“I know, I’m off now!” Wu Yueling ignored him and, half asleep, headed toward the academy courtyard. Sitting beside Cui Zongzhi, she found him slumped over his desk, reeking of alcohol.

Had he been drinking? Tilting her body, she pinched the sleeve of Cui Zongzhi’s robe and discovered a wine jar hidden beneath the puffed fabric. Indeed, he had been drinking—so early in the morning? This man named Cui Zongzhi was truly extraordinary.

“Look, the Duke of Qi seems to have indulged in drink again!”

“Yes, this morning we can finally study in peace without his noisy interruptions!”

Wu Yueling glanced at the whispering students. So Cui Zongzhi was the Duke of Qi? She had heard from Yu Chao’en that his ancestors had once been high officials in Chang’an, granted noble titles, which had been passed down through generations. Therefore, his family was both wealthy and influential.

That made sense—those who studied at the Imperial Academy typically came from prestigious families.

***

Morning was indeed exhausting, so she decided to rest by leaning on the desk, mimicking Cui Zongzhi.

Master Song had just taken his seat when he saw the Duke of Qi and the Princess of the Protectorate both fast asleep with their heads down. He gritted his teeth, inwardly furious but refrained from waking them out of respect for the Duke.

Sunlight soon filled the room, and Cui Zongzhi awoke, noticing the princess still asleep. He called to her with a cheerful smile, reminding her class was about to start.

Wu Yueling groggily lifted her head, greeted the warm sunlight, murmured a casual response, and flipped open her notebook, idly doodling.

In class, she drifted off as Master Song meticulously dissected and repeated a passage. Just as her head began to droop, she heard his reprimand.

The ruler’s cane tapped sharply on the desk. Master Song’s expression was anything but pleasant. He never had a favorable view of the Protectorate Princess. Ever since he taught a student like Chao Heng, whose excellence had spread his perfect reputation of the Imperial Academy far and wide, his own status had subtly surpassed that of Minister He.

But with the princess’s arrival and a prior confrontation, rumors circulated that Master Song had been overwhelmed by her temper. Some even sneered at his narrow-mindedness. Determined to restore his dignity, he seized this opportunity to chastise the princess for dozing in class, hoping to suppress her arrogance and reclaim his honor.

“Princess! Cherish your time! Do not slumber during lessons!”

The moment his words fell, a ripple of suppressed laughter arose.

“You speak so slowly, like a snail. How can I not be sleepy?” Wu Yueling retorted. (Cough—feeling like she was insulting herself…)

“Hmph! Princess, the punishment writing I assigned last time should be ready! Copying the text once is far more useful than merely reading it!”

Master Song’s stern gaze swept over the curious students, then fixed on Wu Yueling as if intending to devour her.

Resigned, she opened her notebook and respectfully handed it to him.

“Deputy Song, you’re such a—” She paused, revealing the first page of the Analects.

Master Song was baffled by the inscription.

Seeing his confusion, she pointed to a drawing beside the sage’s words—a steel turtle with annotations. An arrow pointed directly at the turtle’s head, labeled as Master Song, followed by a phrase implying he was a...

“Not-so-pure lotus?”

Wu Yueling made a victory sign with her fingers, then looked away.

Master Song fainted once again. Now he understood—the notebook insulted him as a steel turtle! Unable to contain his anger, he collapsed. Fellow students hurried to support him and escort him to the imperial physician’s residence.

Wu Yueling returned early. Within days, the city buzzed again with news of Master Song fainting from the princess’s vexation.

Some mocked the princess as a wild village girl, saying his collapse proved prior rumors. Others claimed Master Song was thin-skinned, fainting just because someone doodled a turtle.

***

With the spring equinox arrived, the princess’s household began preparations for spring plowing. The estate contained vegetable gardens and farmland, with large fields outside the compound. The Qujiang Pond easily supplied irrigation.

According to plans, chili peppers were to be planted extensively. Over two thousand five hundred men were divided into two groups, each leading cattle and iron plows prepared before the New Year, commencing the spring sowing.

After much contemplation, Shao Qinglin decided to sever ties with the emotionless Manichaeism sect and fully join the princess’s household. Here, he felt an unprecedented sense of belonging—a feeling of dependence unlike in the sect, where only the powerful mattered, food was fiercely contested, the weak starved, and the lowly suffered unjust beatings as scapegoats.

Out of ten disciples trained by the sect leader, only half survived. Shao Qinglin had always thought of himself as a ruthless, vicious wolf, but he now realized he was a wolf with flesh, blood, and feelings.

As the princess had said, here everyone was equal. He need not harm others just to survive. Brotherhood and loyalty softened his once-numb heart and became motivation for change.

After much reflection, he concluded that staying was the right choice. Here, he lived as a man; in the Manichaean sect, he had been a soulless corpse.

Eleven-year-old Shao Qinglin pushed open the dormitory door. Passing the gatekeeper, he greeted him and brushed past Ling Feiyu, briefly distracted by a fluttering unfamiliar sensation and a scent he had never noticed before—the unique fragrance of a young girl’s femininity.

Rubbing his head, he headed toward the princess’s residence, the Blessed Pavilion, eager to share all he had learned, including why he had been assigned here—because of that ‘lord’!

***

A thousand miles away, Zhang Xu, kidnapped into a bandit camp, was causing a ruckus, demanding to leave. The bandits refused, but he made a scene with tears, tantrums, and threats of hanging himself.

In the end, the bandit chief and his deputy were enticed away by this troublesome old man, riding a donkey, singing operatic tunes, drinking wine in the spring rain.

The three, with one donkey and two horses, set off toward Chang’an!