The Minister of Revenue had been handed the Empress Dowager's mess, and it had kept him up all night, breaking out in mouth sores from the stress.
He had to send provisions to the three armies, fund a mausoleum for the Empress Dowager, and somehow conjure money out of the treasury to appease that mad emperor, all without raising taxes.
The minister felt his good days were numbered.
He was venting at his subordinates inside his residence, unaware that just outside his back gate, two newly appointed junior officials were having a quiet argument of their own.
"Since it was my idea," Li Yunxi said angrily, "I should be the one to present it."
Er Lan, still dressed as a man, kept his composure. "And how does Brother Li plan to present it? Stand on your scholar's principles and give him a proper scolding?"
Li Yunxi glanced coldly at the elegant gift box in his hands. "And how does Brother Er plan to win the minister over? Dress up a bribe as an honest proposal?"
He did not care for Er Lan.
This young scholar had fine features, almost as pretty as a woman, and spoke in an unhurried way that put people at ease.
Li Yunxi, blunt by nature, saw how easily this man had settled into court life, as if born to it, and it bred a quiet contempt in him.
Er Lan said evenly, "If His Majesty's trust matters to you, the method hardly does. Have you forgotten how the two of us got our positions in the first place? If this gift box goes in, would His Majesty really mind?"
Using the emperor to pressure me? Li Yunxi wasn't having it. "If he doesn't mind, then that failing belongs to him as a ruler!"
Er Lan said nothing for a moment, then smiled. "Fair enough."
"So," Li Yunxi began.
Before he could finish, Er Lan spun around and bolted for the back gate.
Li Yunxi had spent his whole life sparring with words. He had never once encountered someone who simply ran when he couldn't out-argue him. He stood frozen as he watched Er Lan hand both the gift box and a letter through the door.
A moment later, a servant came out to receive the visitor.
Er Lan stepped through the gate, glanced back at Li Yunxi, who was practically fuming, and mouthed with a smile: wait for my news.
The Minister of Revenue sat in his study reading the letter. The gift box had already vanished.
"An excellent plan," the minister said, full of praise. "Truly excellent."
The letter laid out Li Yunxi's idea for the Kaizhong system: the court would recruit merchants to transport grain and provisions to the army. In return, the merchants would not be paid in cash but in salt licenses. With those licenses, they could later distribute government salt and profit from the trade.
This way, the court wouldn't need to drain the treasury. The cost of supplying the three armies would fall to the merchants instead.
"To ease even a fraction of your burden is the greatest honor of my career," Er Lan said with a smile.
The minister studied the details a while longer, then hesitated. "But reforming the salt administration is no small matter. The Empress Dowager..."
"My lord, judging by His Majesty's intentions, this reform is inevitable regardless. If we don't propose it, someone else will." Er Lan leaned in a little closer, his tone flattering. "As for who eventually receives the salt licenses and who doesn't, that can be discussed at length, later."
The minister understood the implication at once: there was fat to be skimmed here. Once the licenses existed, merchants would compete fiercely for them, and that competition would become a business of its own, depending on how it was handled.
Er Lan gave a small wink. "With the Empress Dowager's discernment, she'll surely recognize the gem she has in you, my lord."
The minister laughed heartily and clapped him on the shoulder. "The young ones truly are something to be feared."
A few days later, the Ministry of Revenue submitted a thick memorial requesting that the Kaizhong system be enacted.
Xiahou Dan skipped past pages of flattery and explanation and went straight to the last page.
At Er Lan's suggestion, the minister had listed the recommended grains for transport. Among the usual staple crops, one had been quietly slipped in: Yan millet, justified as slow to spoil, easy to store, and suitable as fodder for army horses.
Since the reform had come from the Empress Dowager's faction and benefited the frontline troops, Prince Duan had little reason to obstruct it.
Because of this, after countless rounds of revision, those two unassuming characters, "Yan millet," miraculously survived every edit and reached Xiahou Dan's hands untouched.
Xiahou Dan wrote a bold "Approved" across the memorial.
And so the Kaizhong system was formally enacted.
Granaries across the country began collecting grain according to the list, and merchants who had gotten wind of the opportunity hauled it toward the border.
In the drier regions, when the common people heard that even the dry, weedy-looking Yan millet could count toward their tax obligations, they laughed that the officials must be fools, and went out to the wild fields to gather what they could find. The more industrious ones had already planted a crop and started fertilizing it.
Beyond that, merchants looking to cut transport costs soon began hiring people to clear land directly at the border and grow only what was on the list. The harsh terrain near the State of Yan in the northwest could support little besides Yan millet, and eventually the first true field of it took root there.
Everyone was satisfied. The army got its grain, and the Empress Dowager got her mausoleum.
At this moment, only a handful of people in the entire world were moved to tears over what looked, to everyone else, like a joke of a crop.
The seeds they had managed to gather were still nowhere near enough. But at least, in the soil of Great Xia, the first seeds of hope had been planted.
The next day, this small group of ruler and officials gathered at a hidden private residence, not daring to celebrate openly, only raising their cups quietly to mark the occasion.
The residence had been arranged for Cen Jintian's use. A small experimental plot had been opened in the back garden, planted with several drought-resistant crops that were currently thriving.
A great weight had lifted from Yu Wanyin's chest, and she had had a little too much to drink. She stood by the field and hummed a tune. "Ah, the joyful gongs and drums, ringing out the good fortune, year after year."
Wang Zhao, who happened to be standing beside her, said nothing.
Wang Zhao was the steadiest of the officials present, with a full beard that made him look like a little old man.
He stroked that beard for a long while, and finally managed to squeeze out, with visible effort, "Your Highness has captured the hardships of the common people in song."
On the other side of the field, the two troublemakers Li Yunxi and Yang Duojie stood muttering to each other.
Li Yunxi's face was dark with anger.
The Minister of Revenue, riding high on his great achievement, had promptly promoted Er Lan.
Er Lan's expression had flickered for a moment when it happened, and he had glanced at Li Yunxi, but said nothing at the time. Afterward he had explained: he had meant to put in a good word for Li Yunxi, but in front of the Empress Dowager's faction, he hadn't dared show too much closeness to him, for fear of raising suspicion.
"You say that like I care," Li Yunxi said.
Yang Duojie protested on his behalf, "So he just stole your credit and..."
"Brother Li." Er Lan walked over to them, his expression unchanged. "A word, if I may?"
"No need." Li Yunxi had long since seen through this man's ambition, and his tone was scornful. "Don't waste your breath, Brother Er. To each his own path. Rank and wealth mean nothing to me."
Er Lan smiled. "Whatever rank we hold under the Empress Dowager is fleeting anyway. This realm belongs to His Majesty in the end. When the day comes for him to reward true merit, he will remember what you've done, Brother Li."
Li Yunxi nearly choked with fury. "Whether it's before the Empress Dowager or before His Majesty, my ambitions lie elsewhere entirely!"
He said this so loudly that Xiahou Dan, some distance away, glanced over.
Er Lan lost his patience too. "Yes, yes, Brother Li's ambitions soar so high he'd rather walk into court today and die tomorrow for them. As for me, I'd much prefer you stay alive a while longer and keep writing me a few more policy proposals to ride on."
Li Yunxi said nothing.
Then: "Do you really think that of me?"
Er Lan rolled his eyes and walked off.
Li Yunxi turned to Yang Duojie. "Him, him, him... What manner of conduct is that!"
"Your Majesty. Your Highness."
A gentle breeze blew as Cen Jintian approached, a handful of crops in his grip. He opened his palm to show them. "So far, it does seem that Yan millet is the most drought-resistant, and it's growing the best. But we won't know the true yield until the autumn harvest."
"Lord Cen," Yu Wanyin asked, "can you determine what soil suits Yan millet best, and the right way to irrigate and fertilize it, the way you did before?"
Cen Jintian thought it over. "I will certainly do my best, but weighing all factors, it may take two or three years."
At the mention of time, the group fell into a brief silence.
Yu Wanyin had no way of knowing when the drought would come, and Cen Jintian had no way of knowing if he would still be alive by then.
Yu Wanyin looked at his young, worn-down face, and a sudden pang of guilt struck her. "Please take care of yourself, Lord Cen."
Cen Jintian smiled. "I'll do my best to live a little longer."
"No, I mean it, truly take care. To gain even a small improvement in yield, you've already changed your name and left your home behind. Your parents, your family..."
Xiahou Dan cut in. "Is it worth it, spending the rest of your life this way?"
Yu Wanyin elbowed him. Too blunt.
But Cen Jintian only waved a hand and smiled. "I consider it a fortunate thing, to know one's own death is coming. As a young man, I thought long and hard about what I could do so that this life would not be wasted. My parents have my brothers to care for them, and my hometown will honor my memory after I'm gone. When my day comes, I only hope the ground where I'm buried yields a bountiful harvest."
On the carriage ride back to the palace, Yu Wanyin's mood had clearly darkened.
Ever since arriving in this world, she had felt herself growing quickly, no longer the clueless newcomer stumbling blindly through everything the way she had at first.
But there were always people whose existence reminded her how far she still had to go.
"Thinking about Cen Jintian?" Xiahou Dan asked.
"Yes," Yu Wanyin sighed.
When she used to read novels, she always favored the thrilling, large-scale scenes: warlords vying for power, clashing armies. The sections about Cen Jintian farming, she had always skipped.
"It wasn't until I got here myself that I realized he's the one truly saving the common people from disaster. A life like that really can't be called wasted, can it."
The carriage rocked gently. Xiahou Dan said, half joking, "No need to sell yourself short. You're saving them too."
"Me?"
"Objectively speaking, if you can help Great Xia survive this drought, your name should go down in history."
Yu Wanyin laughed under her breath and lowered her head.
A moment later she took a breath and lifted her head sharply. "Right. I don't want to waste this life either."
Xiahou Dan blinked. "What?"
"According to the original story, Prince Duan pays the highest possible price to seize the throne. So I want to make sure he pays the smallest price for his defeat instead. Preventing the drought is only the first step. He's supposed to fight a war to the death against the State of Yan, one general's glory built on ten thousand corpses. Let's not even let him have that war."
She fixed her eyes on him, a new resolve stirring in her chest. "I think I still remember a little about how Yan was set up. That war doesn't have to happen. Diplomacy."
"All right," Xiahou Dan said.
"And there's also the battle he's supposed to fight against the Empress Dowager when he marches to your aid. But if we grow strong enough before that happens, if we can intimidate both sides, we can win without ever fighting."
"All right."
"And..." Yu Wanyin paused. "Are you laughing at me?"
Xiahou Dan shook his head. "I just find it strange to think that everything we're doing is happening inside a book."
She had already considered this. "But like Zhuangzi and the butterfly, how do you know that 'real world' outside isn't just another book?"
"I really don't know."
"Right? Who can prove that their own existence is real? I've stopped worrying about it." She waved a hand, as though scattering the question like smoke. "Even if this is destined to end in death, I want to do as much as I can before it comes."
"All right," Xiahou Dan said.
"Why do you keep saying 'all right'?"
"All right, then I'll risk my life alongside you." He smiled.
Zhang San had grown up, year by year.
The clematis still bloomed on schedule every year, but it had been a long time since he'd thought of that flowerbed.
Because as the emperor grew older and he himself grew up, he had realized a new possibility: that "demon favorite consort" female lead might not be his father's consort after all. She might be his.
She wouldn't appear until he became emperor.
The discovery brought him little comfort. Because before he'd crossed over, he'd only glimpsed the story summary, but he remembered clearly: the female lead was a consort, but the male lead was not the emperor.
Which meant, by the usual conventions of these stories, the emperor, meaning him, was probably the villain. The kind fated to die badly.
Worse than that, he'd begun to suspect the male lead was his older brother.
Xiahou Bo had survived long enough to leave the palace and establish his own household, granted the title Prince Duan.
The young prince had no foothold at court, so he often volunteered for border duty. He spent several years at the frontier, transforming from a delicate young man bullied by others into a general skilled in both letters and warfare, forging bonds with the military men. He returned each time with military merit large and small, and the old emperor eventually granted him a ceremonial guard.
Xiahou Bo was walking the classic male lead's path.
And Zhang San was being pushed, by the malice of the entire world, down the path of the villain.
By all rights, Prince Duan was clearly better suited to be crown prince than Zhang San. But the empress consort, of course, would never allow that. What she needed was a puppet she could control.
Caught between the two contending factions, Zhang San survived four assassination attempts in a single year. Stabbed in his sleep. Poisoned after a meal and left vomiting blood. Grievously wounded again and again, then saved each time. Prince Duan wanted him dead. The Empress Dowager wanted him alive.
He stopped sleeping through the night. His migraines worsened. Sometimes he heard things that weren't there, and sometimes what he thought was imagined turned out to be a real assassin.
When the old emperor finally died and Zhang San took the throne, he looked out from the dragon throne and saw that the court, beyond the empress consort's faction, now called the Empress Dowager's faction, also contained a rival Prince Duan faction standing in open opposition.
There was almost no faction loyal to the emperor himself. Even his own tutors had been arranged by the Empress Dowager.
In this world, his background as a modern man was not an advantage. It was a liability. When it came to scheming and political maneuvering, nine years of compulsory education back home was of no use whatsoever.
Among the entire court, he could not find a single person he could trust.
The whole structure was about to collapse, and he had nothing to prop it up with.
But Zhang San refused to accept fate.
Even if death was coming, he was going to fight before it did.
Going on instinct alone, he sought out Elder Xu, because unlike other officials who flattered him with honeyed words, this old minister often set his face and lectured him with grand principles instead.
It also helped that Elder Xu wasn't doing particularly well at court, and was pushed aside at every turn.
Zhang San decided this man was genuinely on his side, and treated him with great respect, asking him many questions. Whenever Elder Xu recommended a policy, it always ran into resistance, and the more resistance it met, the more reassured Zhang San felt. Because if the advice had been wrong, neither the Empress Dowager nor Prince Duan would have bothered to block it.
Until, one time, Elder Xu urged him to remove a certain high official.
Elder Xu spoke with great earnestness: this man had been deceiving his superiors and enriching himself for years, and he was in league with Prince Duan, his influence spreading like tangled roots. He had to be uprooted before it was too late.
Zhang San believed him, spent great effort gathering evidence, and struck suddenly at morning court, having the corrupt official dragged off to the Court of Judicial Review. He was executed not long after.
That was the eighth man Zhang San had killed.
The operation went unexpectedly smoothly.
Almost too smoothly. He met no resistance at all.
After court that day, a minor official with a mustache came running to him in tears, claiming Zhang San had been deceived.
This mustached official had always belonged to the Empress Dowager's faction, but now he swore great loyalty, claiming he could no longer bear the Empress Dowager's cruelty and wished to serve the emperor instead. He said Elder Xu was in truth the Empress Dowager's most trusted confidant, cunning and treacherous by nature, and had been leading the emperor around by the nose the entire time.
"He used Your Majesty's hand to remove that corrupt official, but in truth he was cutting away Prince Duan's allies and clearing an obstacle for the Empress Dowager!"
The mustached official presented a mountain of evidence, in both the Empress Dowager's handwriting and Elder Xu's.
Zhang San couldn't believe it. He went to spy on the Empress Dowager in secret, and happened to see Elder Xu walking beside her, deep in pleasant conversation.
Two months later, the mustached official stepped forward to impeach Elder Xu.
Zhang San did not have Elder Xu executed. He ordered his household confiscated and the man exiled instead.
Elder Xu said nothing. He kowtowed to Zhang San several times, hard enough to bruise, and let himself be dragged away.
This operation, too, went unexpectedly smoothly.
Zhang San sensed something was wrong, but couldn't untangle exactly where the mistake had been made.
It took him years of quiet endurance to piece together the truth.
The mustached official had been the Empress Dowager's man all along. And the impeachment of Elder Xu had actually been a joint scheme with Prince Duan.
That single feat let the mustached official secure his footing in the Empress Dowager's faction, and he climbed steadily toward the center of power, eventually being granted the title of Grand Tutor. His surname was Wei.
By that time, Zhang San could no longer touch him at all.
Whether Zhang San believed in fate hardly mattered anymore.
The world needed a villain. The Empress Dowager needed a puppet. And Prince Duan needed the common people to remember someone as the guilty party, someone to blame for the natural disasters, the human calamities, the years of failed harvests.
Zhang San had arrived, and that someone became him.
The carriage lurched to a sudden stop, then just as suddenly sped up, jolting Xiahou Dan out of a light doze.
Yu Wanyin was startled too, and lifted the curtain to ask, "What's happening?"
The guard driving the carriage answered, "The hidden guards spotted someone following us. Only one person, but his skill is very high, and our men couldn't hold him. Lord Bei has gone to deal with him. The rest of us will escort Your Majesty and Your Highness back to the palace first."
"Wait." Xiahou Dan frowned. "Only sent one assassin? That doesn't sound like Prince Duan's style. Tell Beizhou to take him alive for questioning."
The guard glanced back, narrowing his eyes as he looked. "Lord Bei hasn't been able to settle it yet."
Yu Wanyin was alarmed. "How is that possible?"
Beizhou was the ceiling of combat power in this entire story. He had never met his match in a one-on-one fight.
"It looks like they've traded over thirty blows now," the guard reported, playing narrator. "Strangely, neither of them has gone for a killing strike."
Yu Wanyin couldn't hold back any longer. She leaned out the carriage window to look, and the wind immediately whipped her hair into disarray.
To move discreetly, they had been taking a roundabout route, and were currently passing through an alley so narrow it could barely fit the carriage.
At the end of the alley, dust and gravel flew and blades cut through the air in a blur, two nimble silhouettes locked in a fight so fierce it seemed to darken the sky.
Yu Wanyin leaned further out. Xiahou Dan leaned out from beside her shoulder. "Was there a character like this in the original story?"
"I don't remember one at all."
"Ha!" A sharp shout rang out, followed by the whistling sound of something cutting through the air.
The narrating guard called out, "Damn it, the assassin's thrown hidden weapons!"
The alley was too narrow to dodge in, but Beizhou suddenly kicked off the wall and launched into the air like a great roc spreading its wings, tucking into a somersault mid-flight. The assassin's projectiles clattered uselessly to the ground.
Beizhou finished the flip before he even landed, whipping his long sleeve toward the assassin. The whistling sound started again.
His hidden weapons were clearly far denser, a rapid clattering that didn't let up, and from the sound of it, the man had already been peppered like a sieve.
"Take him alive," Xiahou Dan called out.
The assassin shouted at the same moment, "Stop! I'm not an assassin, can't you tell? Mercy!"
He sounded young.
Beizhou said, at ease, "If you were an assassin, you wouldn't still be breathing."
The guard brought the carriage to a stop and escorted Xiahou Dan and Yu Wanyin closer, watching the stranger warily.
None of Beizhou's projectiles had actually hit him. They had all landed around his head and limbs, pinning him to the wall in an outline of his own body.
He stood frozen, unable to move, and could only say, defeated, "I yield. I yield."
Beizhou asked, "Who are you?"
The young man seemed to turn his head slightly to glance at Xiahou Dan, and smiled. "My surname is Bai. You can call me A Bai."
As they drew closer, Yu Wanyin could make out his features against the light. He was tall, his face wrapped in black cloth except for his eyes. Those eyes were startlingly bright, clear as tempered glass even in the darkness of the alley. She recalled that this was supposed to be a sign of deep internal cultivation.
"Don't move. Where did you learn skills like these?" Beizhou hadn't relaxed at all. He kept one arm raised toward the man, fingers curled halfway between a claw and an open palm, in some stance Yu Wanyin didn't recognize. The projectiles that had outlined the man's body were now buried deep in the wall, and plaster dust drifted down in a fine powder.
A Bai stood frozen, then asked suddenly, "You're Beizhou?"
Beizhou paused.
"We've never met," A Bai went on, "but you must remember the Nameless Guest. He's my master."
Though the Nameless Guest had no name of his own, his reputation echoed across the martial world, a peerless master with the air of an immortal. In his younger days, wandering the land, Beizhou had crossed his path and received some guidance from him, forming an unlikely friendship despite the age gap between them.
Once, over drinks, the Nameless Guest had asked why Beizhou wandered so aimlessly. Beizhou, in low spirits, had spoken of the late Empress Cizhen who had died young in the palace. "She's gone now, and I don't know where I'm meant to go either."
The Nameless Guest had dipped his finger in wine and drawn a divination on the ground, and finally advised him, "Go back to the capital and take a look. Perhaps you'll meet the child of an old friend."
"My master read the stars a while back," A Bai said, "and for some reason got it into his head that I needed to finish my training right away and come to the capital to serve under you."
He pulled a wrinkled, grimy piece of paper from inside his robe and handed it to Beizhou.
Beizhou read it once, a puzzled look crossing his face. "This is his handwriting, no question. But I can't make out what he's written."
"Oh, he said the letter isn't for you," A Bai said. "It's for the emperor."
Xiahou Dan, who had been standing quietly nearby, spoke up. "Let me see it."
A Bai turned his head sharply, his reaction theatrical. "The emperor? A living emperor!"
Xiahou Dan said nothing.
He shot A Bai a warning look.
A Bai only got worse. "So handsome."
Xiahou Dan blinked.
Xiahou Dan read the letter once, his expression turning grave, then passed it to Yu Wanyin.
Two lines were written on the page in bold, flowing strokes: "The mandate has changed hands, the emperor's star shines again. Mars watches over the heart, fortune and ruin hang by a thread. Five stars align, misfortune turns to fortune."
Yu Wanyin startled at the first four words alone.
The mandate has changed hands. This wasn't ordinary fortune-telling language. Only someone who had crossed over could understand it. It was a clear message: I know your soul has been swapped out.
The whole passage, translated, meant: I know you're not the original occupant of this body, and I know the person who took over can change this nation's fate. But your path is dangerous, and you have only a single thread of survival. You must be pushed to the brink before you can find safety.
Yu Wanyin and Xiahou Dan exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: now this was true insight.
"My master said you were an extraordinary talent, practically a senior disciple of his," A Bai said. "He told me to learn from you. I thought to myself, how extraordinary could he be, could he be as extraordinary as me, so..."
"So you looked for a fight with me first," Beizhou finished.
A Bai gave a small snort.
Beizhou looked at this reluctant junior disciple, feeling a flicker of appreciation despite himself, though his tone stayed teasing. "Had enough?"
A Bai changed the subject. "So you're the emperor's guard here in the capital? Can you take me on too?"
Beizhou looked to Xiahou Dan.
"I already have Uncle Bei," Xiahou Dan said. "That's enough."
"Come on, my master went to the trouble of sending me here for you, out of nothing but goodwill." A Bai showed not the slightest fear in front of the emperor, his manner almost playful. "One more won't hurt, will it? My skills are pretty good too. I can protect this... whoa, gorgeous."
He was looking at Yu Wanyin.
"...Thank you," Yu Wanyin said.
Xiahou Dan glared at him again.
Yu Wanyin was weighing things too. A Bai hadn't existed in the original story, but now that there were two transmigrators, it made sense that they might have drawn the attention of a master from the original world.
Just then, Xiahou Dan asked quietly, "Uncle Bei, this Nameless Guest..."
Beizhou vouched for him. "The Nameless Guest has been in seclusion for years, uninvolved in worldly affairs. If he sent this letter, it's likely because his readings show that you, Dan'er, can keep this nation stable. And the skills this boy uses are genuinely the ones he taught. He should be trustworthy."
Xiahou Dan nodded and said to A Bai, "Come back with us, then."
The group returned to the palace as the sun set.
Xiahou Dan said he would arrange a position for A Bai, and took him away.
Beizhou used his bone-compression technique to shift back into the guise of Nanny Bei and accompanied Yu Wanyin back to the Noble Consort's residence. "This old woman will head to her room then."
"Uncle Bei." Yu Wanyin followed him inside anyway. "I have something to ask you."
"What is it?"
Yu Wanyin smiled. "Today, when you used those projectiles to punch through a wall, that wasn't purely a matter of skill, was it? Don't look at me like that, I'm only guessing."
Beizhou still looked uncertain. "How did you..."
"The first time we met, your dagger went straight through a wooden door without losing any force, and killed that assassin on the spot. And later, on the boat, the projectiles that came out of your sleeve didn't just fly straight to shore, they fired in rapid succession, one after another, with no pause at all."
Yu Wanyin studied his sleeve with interest. "Uncle Bei is truly clever with his hands. I've always had an interest in mechanical devices myself, but I could never work out what kind of exquisite mechanism could produce an effect like that."
Her whole line of reasoning was made up on the spot.
She knew Beizhou was a mechanical genius because that was simply how the original story had written him.
Back when she'd first brought Xiahou Dan to find this man, she'd already had a plan in mind. It was just that Beizhou treated his invention as an absolute secret, and it would take time spent together to build trust before she could bring it up naturally.
Sure enough, Beizhou froze for a moment, then laughed. "Wanyin really is sharp. Though it's no wonder you couldn't figure it out. Only I can operate this mechanism."
He raised his arm, fingers curling and extending, and something inside his sleeve clicked. "The components are fitted along my body, and they need a great deal of internal energy to drive them. Once my true energy starts flowing, it can fire projectiles continuously, with tremendous range and enough force to pierce anything."
Yu Wanyin marveled appropriately, then let a troubled look cross her face.
Beizhou assumed she wanted to examine the device up close and was about to gently decline, when she said instead, "Has Uncle Bei ever thought about building something even more powerful? Something driven not by internal energy, but by gunpowder?"
"Gunpowder?" Beizhou's interest was piqued.
"Yes. I think, given His Majesty's current position, he could use something for self-defense."
Meanwhile, A Bai was shoving a great handful of pills at Xiahou Dan. "Try all of these. I gathered them from all over during my travels, all kinds of folk remedies and secret medicines."
"We should probably give up on this by now," Xiahou Dan said, resigned.
"No. This was one of the tasks my master gave me. He calculated that I could help you, so I definitely will."
"Fine," Xiahou Dan said.
A Bai sat down across from him and poured himself a cup of tea with practiced ease. "How's the court?"
"Some changes. It's a long story. Tell me about your end first."
"Also a long story... I've taken out two key figures recently, and it took real effort to keep it discreet..."
Xiahou Dan turned the wrinkled, grimy letter over in his hands.
That the Nameless Guest had somehow calculated that Xiahou Dan's soul had been swapped, and then written this letter and sent his apprentice to deliver it, was all true.
Except the letter had been written five years ago. And their first meeting had also happened five years ago.
A Bai finished his report and noticed the motion of Xiahou Dan's hands, and smiled. "Going through all that trouble to put on a show for me, was that to fool my senior brother?"
"Beizhou's easy to fool. It wasn't for him."
A Bai realized. "Then it was to fool that gorgeous woman."
"Show some respect. That's the Noble Consort. In front of her, you're supposed to act like you and I only just met. Don't slip up."
A Bai's thoughts spun, and he lit up. "She's the one you've been waiting for all this time, isn't she?"
"No. Someone else."
"Huh?"
Xiahou Dan's face stayed blank. "I waited for the wrong person. But she came, and she came for the right reason. If she hadn't come, I'd already be dead."
A Bai frowned. "Am I being slow, or did you just not explain that clearly?"
"You're being slow."
A Bai fell silent, then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "You like her, don't you?"
Xiahou Dan blinked.
"Calling it 'like' would be too narrow a word."
"So you don't like her?"
Xiahou Dan said nothing.
A Bai, surprised not to hear a denial, studied him with fascination. "Really don't like her?"
Xiahou Dan stayed silent.
Liking, admiration, affection, he felt that whatever churned inside his chest didn't deserve any of those bright, flowery names. It was a bottomless, poisonous sea, where only black seaweed could grow.
A Bai suddenly leaped up and bolted out the door. "Then I won't hold back."
Xiahou Dan blinked.
A Bai pulled his black cloth back over his face and made his way to the Noble Consort's residence, meaning to slip in unnoticed, but he tripped the hidden guards' alert instead, summoning Yu Wanyin out.
He announced, with great swagger, "Noble Consort, I've come to spar with my senior brother."
"Shh." Yu Wanyin pulled him inside and lowered her voice. "Here, Uncle Bei goes by Nanny Bei, and he doesn't show off his skills. I can take you to see him, but the two of you will need to find somewhere else to fight."
"...Nanny what?"
Yu Wanyin led him into the side courtyard and knocked on Beizhou's door. "Nanny Bei."
Nanny Bei looked at A Bai in confusion.
A Bai trembled all over as he stared, and finally couldn't hold it in. "Hahahaha, what is this?"
Nanny Bei clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Haven't had enough of a beating yet, have you? Come along, then, let old nanny show you some love."
The door closed. A round of clattering and crashing followed, and A Bai emerged looking thoroughly disheveled.
Yu Wanyin couldn't hold back a laugh. "What did you even get out of that?"
A Bai scratched his head, and even with his face covered, it was clear he was grinning sheepishly at her.
After so long shut away in the deep palace, meeting these free-spirited people from beyond its walls naturally struck her as delightful. Yu Wanyin turned to go. "Come have some tea and rest a while."
A Bai watched her graceful figure. "Your Highness."
"Yes?"
A Bai glanced around and spotted a flower bed nearby, full of blooms in riotous color.
He struck a stance on the spot, swept his arms through a flowing motion, and a gust of wind swirled up around his palms.
Yu Wanyin had barely taken two steps when countless petals drifted up from behind her, dancing before her eyes in the last golden red light of the sunset.
She found herself wrapped in a cloud of fragrance, and turned back in surprise.
Xiahou Dan was standing right behind her.
The two of them looked at each other in that dreamlike scene.
Yu Wanyin's face suddenly warmed. "What are you doing here?"
Xiahou Dan smiled. "Came to have dinner with you."
Not far off, A Bai, who had been reduced to a human leaf blower without warning, said nothing at all.
Xiahou Dan led Yu Wanyin back inside for dinner, and A Bai showed a remarkable persistence, tagging along shamelessly. "Mind setting an extra place?"
Yu Wanyin was taken aback. Did people from the martial world have no shame at all?
Xiahou Dan glanced at him, expression flat. "Go clean up that field of petals."
A Bai looked back. "There are palace staff already sweeping it up."
"Then go replant the whole flower bed."
"Don't be so stingy, just let me have one meal..."
Xiahou Dan cleared his throat and gave him a warning look: don't push your luck, we agreed you'd act like you barely know me.
A Bai paused, and reined in his tone. "I won't be freeloading. I hear His Majesty's interested in news about the State of Yan?"
Yu Wanyin blinked. "You know about Yan?"
The State of Yan in her memory was a hazy blur, she vaguely recalled some kind of internal conflict subplot, but she'd never paid close attention to the details. Now that she wanted to introduce Yan millet and avoid a war, she'd been thinking of first finding a fault line within their leadership, then using it to their advantage.
"I know, I know, I know all kinds of things. I even killed..."
Xiahou Dan clapped a heavy hand on A Bai's shoulder, cutting him off, his tone dropping. "Sit down."
Xiahou Dan waved off the servants who had been serving dishes, leaving only the three of them at the table, and A Bai got his wish, seated right beside Yu Wanyin.
He looked left and right, then reached up and pulled down his face covering, and started eating.
Yu Wanyin studied his face with curiosity. He was fairly handsome, in a way that was the complete opposite of Xiahou Dan. His skin was a bit darker, as if he spent a lot of time outdoors. A row of white teeth, going straight for the meat, his cheeks bulging.
A Bai took a swig of wine, then suddenly turned to Yu Wanyin with a stifled laugh, a look in his eyes that seemed to say: looking at me? Do you like what you see?
Yu Wanyin said nothing.
Did people from the martial world truly fear nothing?
She couldn't help glancing at Xiahou Dan. Whether he'd noticed this little exchange or not, he only said calmly, "Let's talk business."
"Oh, right, right. Yan." A Bai smirked. "Yan is a small, backward country. Poor. Not enough grain, not enough cloth, so they're always looking to take ours."
"That's just banditry," Yu Wanyin said.
"Call them bandits, and they'll hate us all the more for it. They're hoping every last person in Xia dies off so they can have the land for themselves."
"What about the Yan royal family?" Xiahou Dan asked.
"An uncle and nephew fighting for power. The current king is called Zhaluowahan. His nephew is called Tu'er, the strongest fighter in Yan. The two of them don't agree on anything, except for one thing they share, they both hate Great Xia. There's a rumor that they compete to send assassins into Xia, seeing who can kill more nobles, not for any strategy, just out of pure hatred."
Yu Wanyin rubbed her temple. "Where does that much hatred even come from? Is either of them someone who could be turned to our side?"
A Bai shook his head firmly. "Neither, probably. The king lost an eye to a Xia soldier on the battlefield. And Tu'er has some history with our emperor here."
"History?"
Xiahou Dan kicked A Bai under the table.
A Bai only picked up speed instead. "Has Your Highness never heard of the beauty Shanyi? Shanyi was Tu'er's childhood sweetheart. Years ago she was sent into the Xia palace to perform a dance, and she was quite the sensation. But His Majesty was cold about it, only gave her the rank of Beauty. Not long after, she attempted to assassinate the emperor and failed, and was executed for it. Yan used that as their excuse to declare war."
Xiahou Dan said nothing.
"...Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten," Yu Wanyin said.
This kind of hidden palace history, even the original owner of her body might not have known. Then again, how had A Bai heard of it?
Just as that thought crossed her mind, Xiahou Dan reached over with his chopsticks and placed a piece of fish on her plate. "Whether it succeeds or not, let's send someone to speak with each of them separately. Peace talks to end the war are a matter of national importance. If either of them is a wise enough ruler, he should be able to set personal grudges aside. Wanyin, who do you think would be a good choice to send?"
Yu Wanyin's attention shifted at once. "Among the scholars we recruited earlier, Wang Zhao has a real talent for diplomacy, and he speaks the Yan language too."
"Good, him then."
"But to keep Prince Duan from suspecting anything, we'll need to be discreet about all of this. We can't openly send an envoy, we'll have to sneak him out secretly. The northwest frontier has central army forces guarding it. Can a scholar like him really slip past them safely?"
A Bai spoke up. "Then why go out through the northwest at all?"
"Great Xia only borders Yan through the northwest."
A Bai rubbed his hands together and explained. "Here's the thing. General Luo of the central army and Prince Duan go way back, they're close as blood brothers. Compared to that, the left and right armies have looser ties to him. The right army is stationed in the south, and General You, who commands it, happens to be back at court to report right now."
Xiahou Dan frowned slightly.
A Bai glanced at him, seeking his opinion. "Here's what I think. Why not arrange a minor post for this Wang Zhao, slip him into the right army, and have him travel south with General You? If you're worried about safety, I'll enlist alongside him too. I can escort him, and together we find a way to slip out through the southwest, cut through the State of Qiang, and circle around into Yan."
"What is the State of Qiang like?" Yu Wanyin asked.
A Bai waved a dismissive hand. "Smaller and more closed off than Yan. Sometimes they help Yan play bandit, but the moment a fight goes badly, they scatter and run. Not worth worrying about."
Xiahou Dan was still frowning. He shook his head. "Enlisting isn't safe. Right under General You's nose, he'd be more likely to be exposed. Slip him into a merchant caravan instead."
A Bai opened his mouth.
Xiahou Dan didn't give him the chance to speak. "You can't leave the country. There's other use for you here."
Xiahou Dan sent several hidden guards to escort Wang Zhao.
When Wang Zhao set out, there was no imperial decree, no official title, and no one to see him off. A single merchant's cart, traveling light, set out along the highway in the quiet of the morning dew.
They would each approach the uncle and the nephew of Yan separately, proposing an end to the war and the opening of trade.
What Great Xia needed most urgently right now was Yan millet, but to avoid drawing attention and to make the proposal more appealing, Wang Zhao suggested drawing up a long list of goods, letting the Yan people trade their local specialties for Xia's grain and cloth. As for the Yan millet itself, it stayed quietly buried within the accompanying list.
Xiahou Dan went to court, and sent A Bai to secretly see Wang Zhao off.
When A Bai returned, he brought Yu Wanyin the latest bit of gossip. "The commander of the Imperial Guard got drunk last night and drowned in a pond."
Yu Wanyin recalled something. "Did that Vice Commander Zhao take his place?"
"That's how it seems to have gone. How did you know?"
Yu Wanyin shook her head.
Prince Duan was working exactly through the plans Xu Yao had left behind, chipping away at the Empress Dowager's faction bit by bit.
This was good news, since it meant his main efforts right now were focused on dealing with the Empress Dowager. Their own side could keep quietly building strength for a good while yet, until...
Yu Wanyin suddenly went rigid.
She had forgotten a major problem. Xie Yong'er also knew about the drought.
The books Xu Yao had left behind hadn't mentioned the drought, which meant Xie Yong'er hadn't told Prince Duan about it yet. Perhaps she thought that future was still too distant, and revealing such a prophecy out of nowhere would be hard to explain. Or perhaps she believed it was already set in stone, and there was no difference between telling him or not.
But watching the Kaizhong system roll out step by step, and the border trade that was about to happen, she was bound to eventually piece together their entire plan.
The moment she said a word before the Yan millet was planted, everything would fall apart.
She had to keep Xie Yong'er's mouth shut.
But what could she use to persuade her? If she told her the whole truth, would that be enough to move her?
Xie Yong'er was walking her own path toward becoming the empress of legend. If she discovered there were two other transmigrators threatening her position, would she go so far as to burn every bridge and have Prince Duan simply kill them?
Could they even afford to take that gamble?
Before she'd had a chance to seek out Xie Yong'er, a note arrived, sent by Prince Duan's people.
Xiahou Bo was waiting for her in their usual run-down hideout for secret meetings.
"Wanyin, have you seen anything with the heavenly eye lately?"
Yu Wanyin made up a pile of useless leads on the spot, everything from certain flowers blooming somewhere to a certain minister's impotence.
Xiahou Bo listened to her ramble on, smiling the whole time, and finally said, "I hear that skilled fighter beside the emperor has shown himself again. This time, inside the palace."
Yu Wanyin's heart lurched.
How was that possible? How had he found out about Beizhou? Ever since Beizhou had been exposed once on the lake, he'd switched to his Nanny Bei disguise and never once showed his skills inside the palace...
Prince Duan's brow furrowed. "This man is a serious danger if he isn't dealt with. Can you tell me how we should remove him?"
Yu Wanyin said nothing.
She probed carefully. "Is this information reliable? Where did Your Highness hear it?"
Xiahou Bo looked at her and gave a light laugh, as though amused by the shallowness of her cultivation. "I saw it in a dream, through the heavenly eye."
Yu Wanyin thought, you were just saying you'd heard it a moment ago, you scoundrel.
Yu Wanyin stalled for time, sitting cross-legged on the spot, forming a lotus mudra with her hands, playing the mystic. "Let me try."
Xiahou Bo watched her with interest. "Please, go ahead."
Yu Wanyin closed her eyes and pretended to doze off, her mind racing.
Who had informed on her? Who could possibly have seen through Nanny Bei's flawless disguise?
Then it hit her: Beizhou had never shown his skills. But someone else had.
Those petals dancing wildly on the wind.
That mess of fallen flowers scattered across the ground, left for the palace staff to sweep away.
Yu Wanyin hastily built a rough story in her head, opened her eyes, and said slowly, "I seem to see a tall man, walking through a corridor."
She glanced at Xiahou Bo.
Xiahou Bo raised no objection. "Which corridor?"
Good, whoever had informed on her had seen A Bai.
Yu Wanyin calculated furiously in her mind while stumbling through her words. "It seemed to be near the imperial garden... or maybe not... there was someone else with him... ugh, it happened so fast, I couldn't see it clearly. Has Consort Xie divined anything for you?"
Xiahou Bo said gently, "I came to you first. If you still haven't worked it out in three days, I'll go ask Yong'er."
Yu Wanyin dragged her feet back to the Noble Consort's residence.
Xiahou Bo's words had been soft as silk, but she knew what it really was: a final warning. One last chance to prove her loyalty. If she still couldn't be useful to him, she would need to disappear.
She still couldn't figure out who the traitor was. Beizhou, the hidden guards, all of them were people who, in the original story, remained loyal to Xiahou Dan to the very end.
If the hidden guards had been disloyal, Prince Duan would have gotten word back when Beizhou first started secretly training them, and he wouldn't have been caught unprepared during the fight on the lake.
Whoever this traitor was, they only knew about one skilled fighter, not two...
Yu Wanyin's steps toward her bedchamber stopped short. She turned back halfway and went to the rear courtyard to find a guard on duty. "Did you see who was sweeping up the fallen petals in the courtyard that day?"
"Miss, don't just eat the sweets, drink some tea too." Xiaomei smiled brightly as she brought a cup of tea over to Yu Wanyin.
Yu Wanyin studied this maid who had come with her from her old life, giving nothing away.
In the original story, Xiaomei hadn't survived half the book. She'd been killed off by Xie Yong'er in the course of the palace power struggles.
Yu Wanyin had never once suspected her, because in the original story she'd always been a simple, honest tool of a character, someone who never caused trouble.
Yu Wanyin sighed.
Xiaomei asked curiously, "Miss, why the long face?"
"Ah, I saw Prince Duan outside just now. It looked like he'd offended His Majesty somehow, and was being punished with a caning."
Xiaomei's hand jerked, and scalding tea splashed across it.
She didn't dare make a sound, and set the teapot down with shaking hands, hiding her reddened hand behind her back.
Yu Wanyin pretended not to notice. "I don't know how badly he was hit, or how serious the injury is."
Xiaomei bit her lip. "Should this servant go check for Miss?"
"Are you out of your mind? If His Majesty caught you, how would I explain that?"
Xiaomei paused, then lowered her eyes obediently. "I can find out later just the same."
She withdrew.
Yu Wanyin nodded toward the guard stationed in the corner.
The guard followed her out without a sound, and a moment later, dragged Xiaomei back by the collar and forced her to her knees in front of Yu Wanyin. "Your Highness sees clearly. This maid tried to sneak out and was searching for something. I caught her."
Xiaomei looked panicked. "Miss, what is this about?"
"When did you first take up with Prince Duan?" Yu Wanyin asked.
Xiaomei said nothing.
"Don't bother denying it. I've already checked into everything," Yu Wanyin bluffed.
Xiaomei gritted her teeth and still refused to admit it. "This servant doesn't know Prince Duan at all... aaahh!"
The guard crushed one of her finger joints.
Xiaomei wept openly. "The New Year's Eve before you entered the palace, Miss, this servant was following you and first met His Highness on a street in the flower market. This servant was captivated by his bearing and grace... later, he would sometimes come find this servant, just to talk. It was the first time in this world anyone treated me like a person..."
Yu Wanyin's voice turned cold. "So whatever he asked, you answered? So you've been passing him my information all along?"
Xiaomei breathed heavily and said nothing.
"Have I not treated you like a person?"
A flicker of resentment crossed Xiaomei's eyes. "Miss has always been kind to me. That's exactly why, when I saw the mutual affection between you and His Highness, I buried my own feelings deep and never dared show them."
"If that's so, then why—"
Xiaomei burst out, "But you'd already given your heart to His Majesty. Why did you keep His Highness dangling, letting him waste away for you day after day!"
Yu Wanyin almost laughed out of sheer disbelief.
Then something else occurred to her. "I've never been able to figure out how Prince Duan found the lake that day. Now that I think of it, you were the one who helped me disguise myself before I left the palace. But I never told you where I was going. How did you guess?"
Xiaomei had already given up resisting. "When His Highness asked, I told him which gate you'd left through. He immediately sent men after you."
Her expression turned smug. "His Highness is far too clever. He stopped trusting you a long time ago."
Yu Wanyin genuinely laughed in disbelief now. "Good. Good for you. What else have you told him?"
"What, afraid now, are you..."
Xiaomei screamed like a stuck pig. The guard crushed a second finger joint.
Yu Wanyin's ears rang. She forced herself to concentrate and think it through carefully, and felt a little relief settle in: whenever she and Xiahou Dan discussed anything important, she always sent everyone away first. A palace maid wouldn't have overheard any of the real secrets.
The guard asked, "Your Highness, shall we kill her?"
Yu Wanyin's instinct was to shake her head, but she stopped halfway through the motion.
If she left this threat alive, even if she cast Xiaomei out of the palace, Prince Duan would immediately understand exactly where Yu Wanyin's loyalties truly lay. And he would certainly rescue Xiaomei and put her to further use, having her recount every detail of Yu Wanyin's daily life.
Yu Wanyin couldn't even imagine how much he might piece together from that.
"Your Highness?" the guard prompted.
Yu Wanyin nearly nodded again, then found her head impossibly heavy.
Xiaomei curled up on the floor, trembling.
After a long moment, Yu Wanyin took a deep breath. "If you don't want to die, go do something for me. Consort Shu has made things difficult for me from the day I became Noble Consort. Go poison her for me. If you're not caught, I'll spare your life."
Xiaomei scrambled out, half crawling.
The guard looked at Yu Wanyin.
Yu Wanyin's nails dug into her own palms. Struggling to steady the tremor in her voice, she said, "Follow her. Let Consort Shu catch her in the act."
She couldn't leave a witness alive.
Not only that, she needed to kill by proxy, to keep Prince Duan in the dark.
Yu Wanyin sat alone in her chambers, feeling as though she'd been plunged into an icy pit.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed before the guard returned and reported, "Consort Shu discovered Xiaomei poisoning food in the kitchens, and had her beaten to death on the spot. She's on her way now to demand justice from His Majesty."
"I understand," Yu Wanyin said. "You may go."
Yu Wanyin threw up on the floor.
She called for a servant to bring water, rinsed her mouth, and threw up a second time, until she felt like she was retching up bile itself.
This was the first person she had ever killed.
Xiahou Dan arrived. "That Consort Shu says you sent someone to poison her. I already sent her away. What happened here?"
He studied her face carefully, his tone turning grave. "What happened?"
Yu Wanyin forced herself to calm down and recounted the whole thing, then said, "For appearances, you'll need to punish me. Demote me to a lower rank, put me under house arrest, something like that."
Xiahou Dan nodded silently.
"I'm sorry," Yu Wanyin said.
Xiahou Dan gave a faint laugh. "What's there to be sorry for..."
"I'm sorry, for that day on the lake. I shouldn't have suspected you staged the whole thing."
Yu Wanyin kept her head down, and caught a strange, hesitant movement of Xiahou Dan's arm, as though he wanted to pull her into an embrace and stopped himself.
"It's all right. I know you're afraid."
Grief welled up in Yu Wanyin, and she buried her face against him, crying.
"It's over now," Xiahou Dan said, slowly patting her back. "Being betrayed hurts, doesn't it? Even if she was just a background character, you'd still known her a long time. Killing someone hurts too, doesn't it? You didn't expect it to feel like this, did you?"
"I'm so useless," Yu Wanyin said. "How am I this useless!"
Xiahou Dan let out a soft laugh. "You're just a normal person."
He kept patting her, absently. "From now on, if there's ever someone who needs to be dealt with, tell me. Let me handle it."
Yu Wanyin shifted, uneasy, trying to lift her head. "Why?"
Xiahou Dan pressed her back against his shoulder. "Maybe because I acted in period dramas before I crossed over. I'm a little more used to this than you are. It'll turn out the same either way if I'm the one who does it. You won't have to get used to it."
Where she couldn't see it, his expression was far more serious than his voice let on. "You never have to change."
Yu Wanyin's emotions settled somewhat, and it was then she suddenly remembered Prince Duan's blunt threat.
She took a deep breath and pushed herself up, switching into her dutiful, businesslike mode. "This is a difficult situation. He won't allow you to gain any advantage. He's already decided to eliminate A Bai, and he wants me to bring him word within three days."
Xiahou Dan glanced at the damp patch on his shoulder, seeming lost in thought.
"I've been getting too close to you, and Xiaomei, that traitor, gave it all away. Winning his trust back now is nearly impossible. But until you've quietly managed to accomplish whatever it is you're working on, I can't afford to end up on his blacklist."
Xiahou Dan asked, offhand, "You mean, play along with his plan?"
Yu Wanyin knew this would be difficult. "But we can't actually send A Bai to his death."
"A Bai's always kept his face covered. We could find someone with a similar build to take his place."
"Prince Duan isn't that easy to fool. Even if the build could be matched, what about the fighting skill? The only person who could possibly imitate A Bai's ability is probably Uncle Bei..."
Yu Wanyin's eyes suddenly lit up. "I have an idea."