Chapter 16: Agreement

“This humble Pei will bring Yang Quan’s head as a betrothal gift and welcome the Princess in a phoenix carriage.”

“This…” Li Rong trailed off in an anticlimactic manner, then smiled, “You’ll know when the time comes.”

“Do you want to hide this from me too?”

Seeing Li Chuan give her the cold shoulder, Li Rong sighed: “To tell you the truth, I’m not hiding anything from you.”

As she spoke, Li Rong turned her head and looked out of the carriage window, expressionlessly saying: “It’s just that I really don’t know.”

After all, this marriage will not be solely for her to decide.

Pei Wenxuan did not say anything, and she didn’t mention it either.

She didn’t think that it was a good thing to marry a reborn Pei Wenxuan. There were too many entanglements between them. If they were to be in the same place again, they would only wear each other down even more.

Pei Wenxuan has his Qin Zhenzhen. With his ability, even if he did hold the position of Prince Consort, it was not to say that he could not hold another high-ranking position. He could try to choose another path in this lifetime. Although it might be more difficult, perhaps it was better than having to marry her.

And she…

Li Rong slowly closed her eyes. There was no such thing as an uneven road for her. She had her own plans whether or not Pei Wenxuan was willing to help her.

As the carriage swayed, Li Rong gradually fell asleep. A while later, she heard the voice of an eunuch outside respectfully saying: “Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the Princess.”

Li Rong slowly reopened her eyes upon hearing that voice. Li Chuan went ahead and lifted the curtain, and a broadly smiling face appeared before them.

This person wore the attire of a senior palace eunuch. He looked to be almost 40 years old and had particularly pleasing big eyes and a round face. Li Rong recognized him as the senior eunuch by her Empress Mother’s side, Shan De.

Li Chuan had a slightly strange expression when he saw Shan De and said, “Shan De gonggong? Why were you waiting here?”

“The Empress heard that the Crown Prince came back with the Princess, so she ordered this old servant to specifically wait here. The Empress said that the Crown Prince must be exhausted after the long journey last night and should go rest first. This old servant will lead the way for the Princess,” Shan De bowed to Li Rong as he spoke, then he paused and turned to look back in the direction of the carriage, “And Pei gongzi to Wei Yang Palace to see the Empress.”

“Pei Wenxuan?”

Li Chuan was a little surprised: “Mother Empress wants to see him?”

Shan De smiled and nodded: “Yes, Niangniang1 wants to see Pei gongzi.”

[1] Niangniang — honorific for high-ranking women in the imperial harem. Its meaning ranges from Her Majesty, Her Grace, Her Ladyship for the Empress, (noble) imperial consorts, and other consorts respectively.

After he responded, Shan De stood to the side, revealing two palanquins behind him. He said to Li Rong: “The palanquin is ready. Please watch your step, Princess.”

Li Chuan heard this and looked back at Li Rong. Li Rong nodded and reached out to place her hand in Li Chuan’s hand. Li Chuan helped Li Rong up, then a servant helped Li Rong down from the carriage and onto the palanquin.

After she was seated on the palanquin, she looked back and saw that Pei Wenxuan was also on a palanquin. She nodded in Li Chuan’s direction, then the palanquin was lifted up. Li Rong held onto her golden fan and closed her eyes to rest.

After a while, the palanquin arrived at the gates of Wei Yang Palace. Shan De lifted the sedan curtain and respectfully said: “Princess, we have arrived.”

Li Rong opened her eyes and reached out her hand to be helped down the palanquin. When she raised her head, she saw the steps of Wei Yang Palace.

Pei Wenxuan walked behind her. The two were led by Shan De up the steps, one after another. Li Rong lowered her voice and whispered to Pei Wenxuan, “Pei daren, there are some urgent matters, have you carefully thought about it?”

Pei Wenxuan’s eyelashes slightly trembled, and he whispered back: “Not yet.”

Li Rong chuckled: “In any case, there is not much time left for Pei daren to think about it.”

The two arrived at the entrance of Wei Yang Palace just as they finished talking. Shan De went ahead to announce their arrival while Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan stood at the doors, one behind the other. The palace attendants were scattered around them. Li Rong slowly said: “Actually, Bengong has not carefully thought about it either. It’s an obvious choice considering personal interests and gains, but there will always be some reluctance in my heart.”

If the two of them marry one another again, it will naturally be the best-case scenario because it will be mutually beneficial.

However, when they learned that the other party was also reborn, their interests seemed to have unseen constraints, which made them hesitant and uneasy.

Pei Wenxuan understood this feeling. He lowered his eyes and did not answer.

After a while, Shan De returned and respectfully said: “Please come this way, Princess.”

“Let’s go together.” Li Rong ordered Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan responded with an “en,” and the two walked into the hall together. When they reached the doors to the inner chamber, Li Rong pointed to him with her golden fan and whispered, “You wait here and come in when you are summoned.”

Pei Wenxuan respectfully answered with a “yes,” and Li Rong walked in.

Li Rong stepped into the inner chamber and immediately saw a woman dressed in red phoenix embroidered brocade robes and golden talons2 on her hand, reclining on a divan as if asleep.

Li Rong came forward and respectfully knelt down before softly saying: “Erchen greets Mother Empress. Long live, long live Your Majesty, may Mother Empress live thousands of thousands of years.”

[2] golden talons — hollow claw-like protectors worn on pinky and ring fingers by women in the Palace who grow their fingernails out, a symbol of power and status.

The Empress did not speak. Li Rong continued to kneel on the ground in silence. After a while, the Empress slowly spoke up: “I heard you and Pei Wenxuan spent the night together.”

“Yes.”

Li Rong answered without hesitation. The Empress opened her eyes and looked at Li Rong with scrutiny in her eyes as she calmly said: “What do you plan to do with your marriage?”

Li Rong smiled. She brought her eyes up to meet the Empress’s gaze and gently asked: “Dare to ask Mother Empress, what does Niangniang think this daughter should do?”

“You already have a plan.”

The Empress spoke up and confirmed, but Li Rong continued to ask, “Could it be that Mother Empress does not?”

The Empress was silent. In the moment when the two spoke and confronted one another, the Empress intuitively felt that Li Rong was different from before.

Although Li Rong was smart in the past, she absolutely would not act in such a way. Her words and mannerisms resembled that of an old court official that had seen the wind and rain of officialdom for a long time, pushing an issue back and forth while simply refusing to address the root of the problem.

The Empress mumbled to herself for a moment, but she didn’t want to beat around the bush with Li Rong and directly said: “Bengong wants you to marry Yang Quan.”

Li Rong didn’t say anything. There was one possibility that had not occurred to her yet. Considering that the Yang family visited two palaces last night, it was impossible for them to have not taken action. After thinking it over for a moment, she said: “What did the Yang family promise Mother Empress?”

The Empress didn’t expect Li Rong to be so calm. She was somewhat not used to it, but it was also good that things were this way. It saved her a lot of trouble, so she serenely responded to Li Rong: “Military power.”

“The Yang family still has military power?”

Li Rong said sarcastically, “Does Mother Empress not know what Father Emperor has done to the Yang family in court?”

“I know.” The Empress calmly replied, “So they are greatly panicking now. When they entered the Palace last night, they said that if you married Yang Quan, Yang Quan will become the Yang family head and simultaneously take over as the main branch of the Yang family…”

“Their main branch has been wiped out on the battlefield, how many still remain!”

“We can rebuild.”

The Empress raised her voice, suppressing Li Rong’s words, and proceeded to say: “We have people and soldiers. As long as the Yang family remains in the Northwest, that position will be theirs. The army rations can be rapidly increased in no time. What problem can there be?”

“Mother Empress,” Li Rong stared at the Empress in disbelief. She reminded her in a low voice, “You’re hounding Chuan’er to death!”

“Your Father Emperor is hounding us to death!”

The Empress suddenly raised her voice, “Do you know why he wants to destroy the Yang family? It was because he wanted to push Li Cheng’s maternal uncle up to the position of the Lord of the Northwest! He wants to give Li Cheng military power! He’s only 10 years old! He has already been named a first-rank Imperial Prince, and now he also wants to give this little brat military power!”

Li Rong wasn’t shocked when she heard this. Later, Consort Rou’s elder brother, Xiao Ziguang, did indeed assume the position of the General of the Northwest Garrison in the Northwest territory. Li Ming wouldn’t destroy the Yang family for no reason either.

He destroyed the Yang family because the Yang family’s accomplishments began to threaten the monarch and because he had someone he wanted to promote to that position.

The Yang family’s downfall would come sooner or later. In the past, the Yang family was wiped clean because of Li Ming’s firm iron fist. The Empress had no idea of how many pawns he buried to destroy the Yang family.

Li Rong looked at the Empress and calmly said: “Please calm down, Mother Empress. I don’t know what you heard, but Chuan’er is currently the Crown Prince. As long as His Majesty cannot grasp his flaws, he will not be able to do anything for the time being. You want me to marry Yang Quan, but His Majesty has been targeting the Yang family for a while now. I’m afraid that a lot of evidence has already been gathered. By then, their crimes will fall onto Chuan’er’s head.”

“So what?” The Empress looked at her coldly, “As long as we hold military power, so what if Chuan’er is at fault?”

Li Rong brought her eyes up to look at the Empress.

The Empress looked back at her. An unspoken battle seemed to have already broken out between mother and daughter.

Li Rong knew that when Li Cheng was made a first-rank Imperial Prince, it was already a great humiliation to the Empress, but now that Li Ming wanted to give Li Cheng military power, it has become a full-on threat to Li Chuan.

In truth, when Li Chuan was almost deposed that year, the source of the problem was indeed military power.

In the previous life, she married Pei Wenxuan because the Empress had no say in the marriage. By the time she found out about it, the marriage edict had already been bestowed. In the previous life, the Yang family did not know that they had an opportunity to marry her, nor were they forced to the extent that they were even willing to surrender their military power to the Empress. The Empress was not drawn in by a great temptation of power, so she had asked her to endure and just marry Pei Wenxuan.

When she advised Li Rong to marry Pei Wenxuan, she told her that a woman must have power, so at that time, she thought that it wasn’t that her mother didn’t want to save her but because she was also powerless.

However, her marriage in this life was linked to the Yang family’s military power. The Empress had the opportunity to take part in the decision, so she immediately decided to have her marry Yang Quan.

Li Rong quietly looked at the Empress. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she suddenly asked: “Has Mother Empress ever thought about me?”

The Empress was stunned to hear her say that.

Li Rong did not regret asking. She remained kneeling on the ground, but she straightened up and looked directly at the woman sitting high above in magnificent garments and golden crown. She calmly said: “Mother Empress has been talking about military power and the Crown Prince’s position. Dare to ask Mother Empress, regarding this marriage, has there ever been a moment when Mother Empress thought about this daughter?”

The Empress heard Li Rong questioning her and slowly recovered. Her lips slightly quivered, mouth parting and closing several times before she finally managed to say: “We have no choice in this matter.”

“Aren’t we making a choice right now?”

Li Rong solemnly said: “I have spent the night with Pei Wenxuan. Mother Empress also knows that I do not necessarily have no choice.”

“So you want to choose that little pretty boy that can’t give you anything?!”

“It’s not that he can’t give me anything,” Li Rong clarified, “ His identity can keep me safe. He just can’t give Niangniang military power like the Yang family.”

Li Rong no longer called her “Mother Empress” and changed the form of address to “Niangniang.” The Empress tightly clenched her fists and heard Li Rong calmly continue: “In Niangniang’s heart, my marriage is just a bargaining chip, and I am just a pawn. No need to be concerned with the pawn’s joys and sorrows, who she likes or does not like, let alone worry about whether or not she is living well. Since Mother Empress thinks so,” Li Rong looked at the Empress and couldn’t hold back her smile, “Why didn’t you say so sooner, that I am not your daughter but merely a sharp blade in the hands of Your Majesty the Empress…”

Before she could finish her sentence, a slap struck Li Rong square in the face as a resounding “pa” rang out.

The sound was so loud that it suddenly made Pei Wenxuan’s heart clench.

Pei Wenxuan stood outside the doors. The two people in the inner chamber seemed to have completely forgotten his existence, but he clearly heard everything they said. This was a Li Rong he had never seen before.

The Li Rong in his memory was always high above in the sky, aloof and distant like the moon that all the stars embraced in worship. No one in this world could hurt her in the slightest. She was always proud and headstrong.

He loathed her arrogance and hated her viciousness, but at this moment, when he heard the slap that suddenly rang out, he felt as if his heart had been stabbed.

He tucked his hands back into his sleeves and listened to the Empress’s voice from within, trembling with sobs: “How can you say that? How have I treated you up until now? Don’t you have a heart? Just because I have something to ask of you this one time, you’re going to talk to me like this?”

No, not just once.

Pei Wenxuan closed his eyes. He knew all too well what Li Rong cared about at the moment.

In Li Rong’s heart, in regards to the emotional aspect, relationships must be untainted and clearly defined, so that she can fully understand what she has with that person.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t tolerate ambiguity, but she couldn’t tolerate emotions that had been tainted and taken advantage of.

Just like back then when she asked him the same thing, “Why didn’t you say so sooner?” It wasn’t that she couldn’t tolerate Qin Zhenzhen’s existence, but she couldn’t tolerate the fact that the person she thought of as her husband went and got himself involved with Qin Zhenzhen behind her back.

He felt something in his chest tighten, and then he heard Li Rong calmly respond: “Mother Empress, then I will also beg you this once.”

Li Rong stood up as she spoke, “Please tell me if you have any troubles, and I will solve them. But just this once, you ought to be my mother, not the Empress.”

The Empress looked at Li Rong in a daze. When Li Rong stood up, Li Rong was almost as tall as her. Li Rong quietly eyed her before saying: “You are now blinded by hatred, but in the coming days, you will understand why we cannot be involved with the Yang family. Chuan’er should have military power, but it should not come from the Yang family. I will arrange for it in the future, and while my marriage can be used as a bargaining chip, it should be exchanged for something of higher value.”

“I don’t need you to do anything, Mother Empress. You’re not suitable for politics, so leave these things to me and Chuan’er. There is only one thing you need to do.”

Her expression slightly wavered as she looked at the Empress. The Empress was still blankly staring at her. Li Rong looked at this woman who had been vaguely aged by time and continued in a low voice: “Be a good mother.”

Having said that, she turned around and began to walk out of the palace.

The Empress stared at Li Rong with an empty gaze. When she saw Li Rong had reached the doors, she suddenly laughed: “Am I not a good mother?”

“I have personally taught you, accompanied you, and given you and Chuan’er my love, more than any of the other imperial concubines in the inner palace! Now, I only hope that I can live and that Chuan’er can also live!”

Li Rong still kept her back to the Empress and coldly asked: “What has the Yang family threatened you with?”

“They want to commit treason…” The Empress firmly closed her eyes, pained, “Once they rebel, they will confess and say that Chuan’er is the mastermind.”

“Your Father Emperor has been looking for Chuan’er’s fatal flaw. If the Yang family confesses that Chuan’er is the mastermind behind the rebellion, His Majesty will not pass up on this opportunity.”

Li Rong was silent. She quietly stood in place for a moment and then said: “Rest assured, I will take care of this. If you want to summon Pei Wenxuan, please do so. I will go find Chuan’er first.”

After she said that, Li Rong walked out.

When Li Rong walked out the doors, she saw Pei Wenxuan had been standing by the door for a while.

Pei Wenxuan’s hands were hidden in his sleeves, clasped behind his back. He quietly observed her beautiful eyes, but their clarity made it difficult to grasp the emotions within them.

He looked at the Li Rong in front of him and felt that she was someone familiar yet also very unfamiliar.

The person in front of him was still the proud phoenix from the previous life. She was always calm, always unperturbed, always composed, and even if Mount Tai3 collapsed right in front of her, her face still would not change.

But he felt that this person had somewhat changed. He vaguely saw the vulnerability and tenderness deep down in her heart. He vaguely sensed that that innocence has never faded, even after going through 50 years of a lifetime of trials and hardships.

At the present, she was like a butterfly that had fallen on a spider’s web, and the moment she struggled to escape, she unfurled a terrifying sense of beauty.

[3] Mount Tai — one of the Five Immortal Mountains in China with historical, religious and cultural significance.

Both of them were like lonely cranes forced down a dead end. Even though their feet have sunken into the mud, they still desperately try to crane their necks to look at the blue sky above.

They quietly looked at one another. For a moment, it seemed as if 50 years had passed before their very eyes. After a while, Pei Wenxuan let out a low chuckle.

“Does Your Highness feel that we should go through this marriage again?”

Hearing Pei Wenxuan’s question, Li Rong knew that he had thought it through. She couldn’t help but smile: “Is Pei daren pitying me?”

“Your Highness naturally has a way to resolve this predicament on your own, so there is no need for this humble one to pity,” Pei Wenxuan looked calm, “This humble one just suddenly felt that perhaps there are many differences between Your Highness and the person that this humble one once knew. There will be an opportunity to experience and learn something new in repeating this all over again, which is not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Pei daren is right,” Li Rong looked into his clear, unfazed eyes. The sincerity and sense of security in those eyes eased away the original anxiety in her heart little by little. She nodded and said, “So be it then.”

“Then, this humble one cannot tolerate Your Highness’s ‘Guest Official.’” Pei Wenxuan smiled. He seemed to be joking around. Li Rong raised her eyebrows, “You think I will accommodate Pei daren’s sweetheart?”

The two looked at each other for a moment and immediately burst out into laughter.

Pei Wenxuan flicked his sleeves back and calmly said: “It seems that Your Highness and I have reached an agreement. Let’s go ahead with this marriage like in the past and bear with each other for the time being. In two years, when we each have power in our hands, you and I will reconcile. From then on, if there are grievances, settle those grievances, if there are grudges, settle those grudges. What does the Princess think?”

“Alright,” Li Rong brought her hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear and sighed: “Let’s go ahead with it first, but in order to marry me,” Li Rong turned her head and glanced back at the Empress, who was still absentmindedly sitting in the inner chamber. She said with a blank smile: “It will depend on Pei daren’s own ability. If Pei daren does not have the ability, then Bengong will not be able to marry you either.”

Pei Wenxuan calmly smiled. He clasped his hands in front of him and bowed to Li Rong: “Princess, rest assured, this humble Pei will bring Yang Quan’s head as a betrothal gift.” Afterwards, Pei Wenxuan raised his head and solemnly continued, “And welcome the Princess in a phoenix carriage.”

The author has something to say:

【Mini Theater 1】

Yang Quan: Scholars can be killed but not humiliated, Pei Wenxuan, you dog thief, you can’t use me to please your wife!!

Pei Wenxuan: In my mind, you’re no different from a wild goose.4

[4] wild goose — has connotations “bearing a love letter from afar” in Chinese poetry, generally by people who are separated by great distances, usually north and south since that is how wild geese migrate (Geese in Chinese poetry, Wikipedia).

Yang Quan is basically being used as a poetic and romantic prop…except in a very bloody and political fashion.

【Mini Theater 2】

Onlookers: Pei Wenxuan is poor, powerless, and has no martial arts. I want to see how an eighth-rank minor official like him kills Yang Quan!

Pei Wenxuan: It’s time to show some real skills.

【Mini Theater 3】

Li Rong: I didn’t think you were so handsome before, when did you suddenly become like this?

Pei Wenxuan: This is my merit.

Li Rong: What merit?

Pei Wenxuan: I don’t unleash my charms on anyone other than my wife.

Li Rong: So…

Pei Wenxuan: You will be Madam Pei soon. Please go home and prepare. I will bring that wild goose here right away, ah no, bring Yang Quan’s head.