Chapter 18: Severing the Head to Use as a Ball

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The biting cold wind howled, cutting across the face like a blade. In the dim light of dusk, a pair of eyes fixed intently on the direction of the imperial garden, as if trying to uncover every secret hidden within. Something significant was undeniably unfolding in the garden; the emperor’s actions were unusually erratic! Qian Cheng, that man, had been executed without any warning. The reason given was that he had committed the grave crime of treason against the sovereign.

He knew Qian Cheng fairly well—his character was questionable, greedy, and prone to underhanded schemes. But that was the extent of it. What could have happened to provoke the usually lenient emperor to accuse Qian Cheng of such a heinous offense and have him killed outright?

Moreover, as far as he knew, Qian Cheng had not done anything excessively wrong recently. In fact, he had been staying in the imperial garden these past few days, guarding a poor young man introduced to the emperor by the Second Prince.

The emperor and the Second Prince had both entered the garden together, and soon after, Qian Cheng’s corpse was carried out. Before leaving, the emperor summoned four imperial guards into the garden. After the emperor departed, those guards remained inside, and shortly thereafter, a dozen more elite guards arrived outside the garden to stand watch.

From these events, it was clear that Qian Cheng’s death was intimately connected to that impoverished youth—or perhaps, to a large extent, directly caused by him. This only deepened Wang Jien’s confusion. Who exactly was this poor boy that the steward cared about so deeply? And if he was so precious, why keep him confined within the imperial garden?

Even someone as astute as Wang Jien could not make sense of it. More crucially, the emperor remained tight-lipped on the matter, revealing nothing even to Wang Jien, his trusted attendant of many years. Those dispatched on official missions were equally uninformed about the boy’s identity or the reason behind the emperor’s strange treatment of him.

This overwhelming sense of being out of control was deeply unsettling. After a long while, he withdrew his gaze from the garden, penned a secret letter detailing these unusual occurrences, and arranged for it to be discreetly delivered to the Prince of Jin.

This matter could not be taken lightly—especially since the youth had been brought by Zhao Dezhao. Wang Jien did not believe Zhao Dezhao could contend with the Prince of Jin, even with this new development; the prince remained far superior. But vigilance was still required.

For safety reasons, Zhao Guangyi rarely contacted Wang Jien. Consequently, Wang Jien was unaware of the news Zhao Guangyi had received—that Li Cheng hailed from a thousand years in the future.

…

At the Flower Pavilion Cottage, after dinner, Li Cheng tidied away his perfume-making tools and materials into a corner. For now, he had no use for them. He couldn’t help but recall the girl who had braved the snow to come to the imperial garden to admire the scenery and who had accepted his perfume.

He had originally intended to save the perfume as a backup plan, just in case. But now, it seemed that backup would never be needed. Zhao Kuangyin would never kill him.

His curiosity about this young woman’s identity grew stronger.

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From the mouth of the now-deceased eunuch Qian, he learned that the girl was the daughter of Zhao Kuangyin. There was no doubt about it—the eunuch always referred to her as “Her Highness the Princess,” which was surely not a lie.

Precisely because of this, Li Cheng’s curiosity deepened. According to the history he knew, Zhao Kuangyin had six daughters in total. Three of them had died young, while the remaining three who reached adulthood were Princess Zhaoqing, Princess Yongqing, and Princess Yanqing.

Princess Zhaoqing was married to Wang Chengyan; Princess Yanqing to Shi Baoji; and Princess Yongqing to Wei Xianxin.

He was quite certain that by the eighth year of the Kaibao era, all three princesses had been married. Of course, there was the possibility that after marriage, they might return to their parents’ home and reside temporarily in the palace.

But the girl he saw today clearly wore the hairstyle of a maiden who had not yet married. The three married daughters of Zhao Kuangyin would no longer wear such a style.

This puzzled Li Cheng. Could it be that Zhao Kuangyin had another daughter not recorded in the historical records? And if so, why had she been omitted from the annals?

He had to admit, she was quite beautiful—more so than the many digitally enhanced ancient costume beauties he had seen online. Most importantly, she possessed the refined charm of a classical beauty, evoking the image of Lin Daiyu.

He wondered if her personality might resemble Lin Daiyu’s as well…

During the early Northern Song dynasty, having just emerged from the turmoil of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and still carrying some legacy of the Tang dynasty, the social atmosphere was relatively more open. The later dominance of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy, with its rigid moralism and inward-looking scholars, had not yet taken hold.

Otherwise, it would have been nearly impossible for him to think about giving away perfume like this today.

He also wondered if the girl, having heard a poem by the famous poet Su Dongpo from him today, would later find herself puzzling over it.

In later times, readers waiting for novel updates often suffered greatly. Especially when a story reached a climax and the author liked to cut chapters abruptly—such frustration was unparalleled! One might wish to lock the author in a dark room and refuse to let them out unless they updated with ten thousand words a day.

…

“Ahem…”

In the Pavilion of Clear Radiance, the girl had removed her fox fur cloak and sat at the table, covering her mouth with a handkerchief as she coughed intermittently, her brows furrowed in pain.

“Your Highness, the weather outside is bitterly cold. You must not go out again. Going out today only worsened your condition… Please take this medicine; once you do, you’ll start to feel better…”

An elderly nursemaid spoke with concern, tinged with a hint of nagging, holding a bowl of medicine before the girl.

“Madam Hua, I’m… cough cough… fine… cough cough…”

“Oh dear, my little ancestor, my little ancestor…”

Sudden coughing startled Madam Hua, who quickly set the medicine aside and began patting the girl’s back tenderly, her face full of worry.

Tears welled in the girl’s eyes as she coughed.

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After calming down slightly, she accepted the medicine bowl from Madam Hua, brought it to her lips, and drank it all in one gulp.

Her brows barely shifted.

It wasn’t that the medicine wasn’t bitter; over the years, she had drunk so many medicines she had grown numb to the taste.

In truth, she had long wished to stop taking medicine, but if she didn’t, her father—the emperor—would be heartbroken.

Suppressing the bitterness in her mouth and the emotions in her heart, she sighed softly and rose to stand by the window.

Outside, the courtyard was blanketed in pure white snow, making the night seem several shades brighter.

She stood quietly at the window, lost in thought…

On the corner of the desk behind her sat a palace lantern, its orange glow illuminating a sheet of paper upon which a line of delicate calligraphy was written:

"Life is like what everywhere? It is like a flying swan treading on snow mud..."

…

“Madam, you wouldn’t believe how ridiculous Zhao Dezhao is! A few days ago, he met a young man who told him he came from a thousand years in the future. Guess what happened?”

“Did Brother Shuan arrest him?” Fu’s expression was weary and her figure thin, but seeing her husband so animated, she perked up and chimed in.

“If that were true, he’d be a real man,” Zhao Guangyi shook his head, suppressing a smile.

“Keep guessing, madam.”

Fu guessed several times without success. Zhao Guangyi, having teased enough, finally revealed the answer.

“He actually took that fraud directly to meet his elder brother! Ha ha ha…”

As soon as he said this, Zhao Guangyi burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face. Though days had passed, the thought still filled him with uncontrollable amusement.

He could hardly bear to be amused to death by his nephew’s foolishness.

Fu was dumbfounded, clearly shocked by this outcome.

“What… what was Brother Shuan thinking? How could he do such a thing?”

“Who knows what he was thinking? Madam, isn’t it funny? Ha ha!”

“It really is funny. Brother Shuan is too reckless. How can he expect his elder brother to entrust the realm to him like this?”

Afterwards, Fu hesitated and said, “Husband, Brother Shuan isn’t usually reckless. Do you suppose… could it be true?”

“Impossible! Madam, do you really believe that? If that youth really came from a thousand years later, I’d cut off my own head and kick it like a ball!”

Zhao Guangyi’s words fell with unmistakable certainty.