In order to clarify for Cuihua who in the palace required caution, Pei Huaiche had practically questioned every person in the Princess Residence who had ever had dealings with the imperial nobility.
And this Third Prince, who was nearly three years younger than Cuihua, while not someone requiring vigilant caution, was nonetheless in quite a special situation.
According to Steward Di, the current Male Empress had not become a monk midway through life—he had been an abandoned infant taken in by the temple's abbot since childhood.
Without needing any deliberate precepts, he possessed congenital purity, and was naturally blessed with deep Buddhist affinity, showing extraordinary comprehension of Buddhist doctrine. Before even reaching twenty, due to his outstanding talent, he was selected by his master to accompany the temple's eminent monks in establishing a Dharma assembly for the Empress.
Who would have thought that it was precisely during this altar sermon that he was singled out at first sight by the Empress, who had lost her original consort a year prior, and was forcibly ordered to return to secular life.
This matter sounded rather like defying heaven's will, and indeed it proved to be exactly that.
The Third Prince—the first child born to him and the Empress—was suspected of having been subjected to divine punishment.
Ordinary infants typically begin teething around six months, but the Third Prince had already grown a tooth before reaching one month. By the time his baby teeth were complete, they were a full set of beast-like sharp fangs. By the time he reached six years old, the matter had spread throughout Xiangjing, known to every street and household.
The city's common folk all said that the Male Empress was originally a Buddhist bodhisattva sent down to cultivate in the mortal world, who should have seen no evil colors, heard no wanton sounds, spent his life in pure meditation, never straying half a step from Buddhist ground. Yet he had been forcibly seized into the mortal world by the Empress, breaking his precepts and returning to secular life. Thus, their offspring were born having fallen into the demonic path—the Third Prince's mouthful of sharp teeth being precisely the Yaksha demonic visage. If no method were found to resolve it, it might invite the calamity of national ruin.
Fortunately, a reclusive master later provided guidance, using the ancient method of Yin-Yang Lotus Embroidery to tattoo his face, and only then did the matter subside. Not only did the Third Prince's teeth gradually align after his baby teeth were replaced—leaving only four canine teeth as sharp as before—but the Fourth Prince and Fifth Prince born after him also displayed no further anomalies.
Pei Huaiche had merely listened in silence at the time, without saying much.
He was born of the imperial house, and from childhood had grown accustomed to seeing his improperly enthroned imperial brothers use various ghosts, gods, and heavenly omens to embellish power struggles, emphasizing that the throne beneath them was indeed heaven-mandated. He found it difficult to attribute such superstitious talk to divine will.
Moreover, while the Third Prince's condition was uncommon, there were also children among the common folk who teethed early or had uneven baby teeth—most would naturally straighten after losing them. He had never heard of anyone making such a grand production of facial tattooing to ward off evil.
Back when Pei Huaiche was regent, he had heard that the neighboring Empress's Liang Kingdom governed with the people as the foundation and had never believed in promoting Buddhism and Daoism to seek heavenly governance. How could he believe that the Empress, renowned for her keen discernment and wise judgment, would actually trust such flawed rumors—which he could tell at a single hearing must contain something fishy—and regard her own flesh and blood, carried for ten lunar months, as a demonic seed?
If that were the case, then rather than punishing those who spread the rumors, she instead went along with their wishes and had the Third Prince's face tattooed—this was quite thought-provoking.
Pei Huaiche's gaze swept past the carriage curtain that Cuihua had lifted, and indeed, beneath the boy's copper-coin face veil, twin lotus patterns could be seen spreading from behind both ears down to his cheeks.
Rather than saying the red lotus tattoo was applied to suppress evil due to a demonic visage, it would be more accurate to say that this tattoo, vivid as blood with its layers of strangely beautiful lotus petals, added a chilling ghostly air to what was otherwise a handsome young face.
When Cuihua heard the coachman say this was her never-before-met younger brother, she was startled and couldn't help staring at him closely. Naturally, she also noticed the red lotus tattoo barely concealed beneath the boy's face veil, and asked in a puzzled whisper: "Husband, look at his face… Whether in Yuan Kingdom or Liang Kingdom, isn't facial tattooing a severe punishment? How could he…"
Pei Huaiche frowned thoughtfully, pondering how much he should tell Cuihua, when the coachman said urgently: "Princess, please don't look anymore. This Third Prince is very inauspicious—bad luck. You and Master Huai should sit steady; this servant will drive the carriage farther away at once…"
Before he even finished speaking, Cuihua suddenly cried out in shock.
It turned out that the horse had been charging toward them all along. Though the able-bodied adults on the road had scattered out of the way, an old woman carrying a basket had tripped on her trouser hem in her panic and fallen sitting in the middle of the road, about to be trampled under the horse's hooves!
Cuihua was so frightened she clutched Pei Huaiche's sleeve, her voice trembling: "Husband…"
Pei Huaiche's voice brooked no argument as he immediately ordered the coachman: "Unfasten the horse bell and toss it one chi above the horse's head, making sure the bell lands behind its tail."
The coachman was also frozen by the sudden danger, and cowed by Pei Huaiche's authority, he quickly unfastened the horse bell from the horse's neck in front—but hesitated when it came to throwing it. The panicked horse was still seven or eight zhang away, charging wildly and unpredictably—how could he be sure of his aim?
In that critical moment, it was Pei Huaiche who braced himself with both hands and hurled himself off the wheelchair.
Though his knees slammed heavily against the carriage floor, sending excruciating pain through his shattered leg bones, he ignored the agony in his urgency, dragged his crippled legs out of the carriage, snatched the horse bell from the coachman's hand, and flung it with a snap of his wrist.
Pei Huaiche had once been a prince on horseback, with archery and horsemanship skills unmatched across the three armies. He had drawn a three-dan strongbow and shot enemy generals off their horses from a hundred paces away.
Even now, after two years of intermittent illness that had sapped much of his strength, his arms had lost little of their power—for throughout those years, he had relied almost entirely on them to support himself with his cane.
With the precision and force of one who could pierce a willow leaf from a hundred paces, the bell flew like a shooting star through the air, whistling past the brow of the startled horse—now less than two zhang from the old woman—before landing steadily beneath its rear hooves.
The bell's chime indeed gave the horse pause. It stamped its feet, startled, and twisted its body warily toward the source of the sound.
Cuihua let out half a breath of relief and hurriedly scrambled out of the carriage to support Pei Huaiche. "Husband, are you all right? Was that fall hard?"
The dull thud of his knees hitting the ground had made her heart lurch. She remembered what Doctor Qu had said—that her husband's leg injuries had never fully healed, that the tendons were still torn and the bones still broken inside. She dared not imagine how much pain that fall must have caused him.
Pei Huaiche rested his hand on her wrist but only shook his head, his gaze fixed on the still-terrified horse and on Third Prince Li Jing, who had finally caught up to it.
Li Jing stood with his heavy black-iron sword held horizontally, planting his feet and sinking his weight—clearly preparing to use brute force to contend with the maddened horse.
An ordinary person could never match a horse in strength, but since he had been able to chase it down while carrying his sword, his physical power was clearly beyond the ordinary. His face showed not a trace of fear, as if he had done this before and was confident of success.
But regardless, what he was doing now was unwise.
The horse was still in a panic, and he had no one to back him up. If he failed in one attempt, he might easily provoke the beast into even greater frenzy, endangering both himself and the old woman who had narrowly escaped disaster.
Weighing the situation, Pei Huaiche raised his voice to address this brother-in-law he would rather Cuihua not have too much contact with: "Don't use brute force. Grab the reins, but don't grip them tightly—give the horse some room to maneuver. Then cut in from its right side to break its momentum."
Though Li Jing had no idea which master was offering him advice from the shadows, his reaction was swift.
He rolled on the ground, narrowly dodging the dust kicked up by the horse's hooves, then moved like the wind. Following Pei Huaiche's instructions, he reached out from the right side and seized the reins in one firm grip.
Pei Huaiche's judgment proved correct—Li Jing's strength was indeed formidable. One tug, and he managed to yank the maddened horse stumbling to the side.
Pei Huaiche had led troops for years and was exceptionally skilled at spotting talent. Often, a single drill was all he needed to pick out the most promising soldiers from a batch of new recruits, then nurture them according to their aptitudes. That was why his ranks were filled with elite warriors and capable officers.
Seeing now that Li Jing possessed not only devastating strength but also naturally agile footwork, Pei Huaiche's mind shifted, and he immediately adjusted his strategy: "Use your strength wisely. Try to leap onto the horse's back. If you succeed, don't press it immediately—wait until its breathing steadies, then stroke the highest point of its neck with your palm."
Li Jing's horsemanship was far less practiced than his raw strength. Fortunately, after two attempts, he managed to swing himself onto the horse's back through sheer coordination and sat there steadily.
Then, following the advice, he gently stroked the horse's neck. Before long, the horse's pace truly began to slow, its frantic snorting gradually calming. The wild beast that had been bolting in terror moments ago now lowered its head beneath his hand in a posture of submission.
About the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, Li Jing, with his heavy sword slung over his shoulder and leading the now-docile young horse, walked slowly to the carriage where Cuihua and Pei Huaiche sat.
Though the coachman had earlier been bold enough to protect his mistress by hinting to Cuihua that Li Jing was a "demonic seed," he now had to respect the man's princely status. He hurriedly scrambled down and knelt in obeisance: "Your subject pays respects to His Highness Prince Jin."
Li Jing swept his gaze over the coachman's attire and the carriage's style, deducing that whoever was inside must be someone of prominence from the capital. It came as no surprise that his identity had been recognized by their servant.
He raised a hand to adjust the swaying curtain of copper coins hanging from his face veil, his voice clear and bright: "Rise. Ask your master to come down. Since they helped me capture this horse, I must thank them in person."
His words landed with weight, yet a long moment passed and the coachman remained kneeling, never turning to summon his master.
A servant naturally had to obey his own master's orders first. Moreover, it was hardly a secret that Li Jing was not favored by the Empress, and the nobles of the capital mostly kept their distance from him. Their princess, however, was a true jewel of the imperial house—a body of gold and jade. How could she be casually approached by this ill-omened "demonic seed"?
Li Jing seemed accustomed to the fact that despite bearing the titles of prince and king, he commanded no respect from anyone. He let out a low, derisive chuckle, slung his sword onto his back, and clasped his fists in a salute toward the carriage: "If you'd rather not meet, I won't press the matter. But I will remember today's kindness. Should you ever have need of me, come straight to the Jin Prince's residence, and I will repay this debt."
He did not know that the two people inside the carriage bore him no real ill will.
Cuihua had just been anxiously examining the injury on Pei Huaiche's knee and hadn't had a chance to respond.
And though she had felt a measure of wariness toward him—both because of the coachman's half-spoken words about the "demonic seed" and the red lotus tattoo on Li Jing's face—he was, after all, her younger brother from the same mother. His words had been courteous and he had properly thanked them. She simply could not bring herself to view the young man before her as some untouchable monster.
As for Pei Huaiche, his experience leading troops and selecting generals had unknowingly fostered a measure of appreciation for Li Jing's talents.
He could see that although Li Jing carried a long sword, he had never received formal martial arts training. Even so, he had managed to tame a wild horse with just a few words of guidance from Pei Huaiche—clear evidence of a natural-born vanguard. With proper instruction, he could become a rare and invaluable asset on the battlefield, excelling at surprise attacks and leading the charge.
However, Pei Huaiche was still unclear about the true reason the Empress had cast aside her only son, and so he found himself weighing the matter, uncertain whether he should allow Cuihua to have more dealings with him.
As he lowered his gaze in contemplation, he caught sight of Cuihua's lightly pressed crimson lips and let out a soft sigh.
He knew his young wife's temperament all too well.
She was never one to follow the crowd in her dealings with others. Even if she were to learn where Li Jing's reputation as the "demonic seed" came from, she would not be willing to distance herself from her own flesh and blood over mere rumors.
He could tell she wished to acknowledge her younger brother, but he feared she might act rashly, leaving him to fret and scheme on her behalf. So he said gently, "It's all right. Whether the Third Prince is a demonic seed or not, you'll have to meet him eventually anyway. Seizing this opportunity to exchange a few words is perfectly fitting."
Cuihua nodded. Her slender hand drew aside the carriage curtain, and seeing Li Jing about to lead his horse away, she quickly raised her voice: "Hey! Bro—… Your Highness, please wait a moment!"
Li Jing turned at the sound, surprise flickering in the almond-shaped eyes above his face veil.
Earlier, he had only caught a distant glimpse of Pei Huaiche on the carriage shaft and the driver. Before he had fully subdued the horse for a closer look, the man had already retreated back into the carriage. Now, hearing a clear, bell-like female voice call out to him, he was momentarily taken aback.
It was then that Cuihua noticed his eyes above the coin-tasseled veil resembled her own—both inherited from their mother, the Empress. This set them apart from Li Chan and Li Yuan, whose noses and lips favored their mother but whose brows and eyes more closely resembled their respective fathers.
Li Jing had evidently sensed this subtle resemblance as well. He turned back, leading his horse with hesitant, probing steps toward the carriage. "You are…"
Before he could finish, a somewhat shrill voice called out from the street corner: "Your Highness! This servant has finally caught up with you! I told you that horse couldn't be caught, but you wouldn't listen! If Her Majesty the Empress learns of today's doings, she'll likely confine you to your quarters again…"
Li Jing furrowed his brow and, together with Cuihua, looked toward the panting youth rushing over.
The newcomer was about Li Jing's age, with delicate features and a pair of phoenix eyes that gleamed with shrewdness. At the moment, however, his hair was disheveled, his back soaked with sweat, and his appearance rather bedraggled.
Li Jing seemed not to have expected him to catch up all the way here. He looped the reins around his left hand, hoisted the heavy sword onto his shoulder with his right, and casually waited for the youth to reach him. "Wasn't it you who said Qingci's beloved horse had only just arrived in the capital a few days ago before it died of acclimatization sickness? She and I haven't seen each other in nearly two years. Can't I personally catch a good horse to cheer her up?"
The youth wiped the sweat from his brow, his face full of helplessness. "If you want to give her a horse, couldn't you have this servant find a horse dealer to buy one? Why must you insist on catching one yourself out in the wild?"
Li Jing shrugged dismissively. "Can a bought horse compare to one I caught with my own hands? Besides, her father is a great general, and all her siblings serve in the military. What's so special about a horse you can buy on the market to her?"
The youth's smile grew even more bitter. "But you can't tame the ones you catch, Your Highness! You can't just tie one up with rope and dump it at Third Miss Sang's doorstep! Especially since it already got away once before you could even deliver it. I beg you, Your Highness—please come with me out of the city and let this wild beast go!"
Li Jing snorted. "Not letting it go. It's a wild horse, and I'm a demonic seed. If it runs, I'll catch it. If it runs again, I'll catch it again. Catch it enough times, and I'll surely break its spirit!"
Only then did the youth notice that the half-grown colt was now standing obediently at Li Jing's side. He blinked in astonishment. "You… you actually caught it again? You really do teach this servant something new. My elder sister is a military officer in Her Majesty's service, and I've never heard of anyone under her command who could catch a horse with bare hands—let alone catch the same one twice…"
Li Jing's brow arched slightly with pride, but then he remembered that the one who had helped him was riding in the same carriage as the woman before him. He gave a light cough and said with some awkwardness, "This time… it wasn't entirely my doing. That woman over there—there's a man in her carriage too…"
He turned to direct the youth's gaze toward Cuihua. But the moment the youth's eyes landed on her face, his expression shifted in alarm. He hastily prostrated himself on the ground, forehead touching the blue bricks. "S-Second Your Highness, forgive this servant! This servant deserves ten thousand deaths… for failing to look after the Third Prince properly and disturbing Your Highness's carriage!"