In Wusang Town, there was a custom of going up the mountain to visit the temple on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month. Although the town was small, the number of people heading up to offer prayers was surprisingly large.
Qiang Ning originally had no interest in such things, but since RuoRuo was with them, the little girl insisted on pestering the two elder sisters to go up the mountain for fun. They had no choice but to follow the local townsfolk up the mountain early in the morning.
“Always so superstitious. If praying to gods and Buddhas actually worked, these people wouldn’t resort to petty theft,” Qiang Ning remarked. Tired from the walk and watching the pious crowds pass by, she let out a light scoff. “I wonder if they feel a twinge of guilt for their crimes of theft when they step into that temple.”
Seeing that she was exhausted, Lin Dongruan stopped as well. “Rituals are born from abundance and discarded in times of want. It has been barely twenty years since the end of the Great Chaos; the people in these remote areas have yet to solve the problem of basic warmth and hunger. To demand they suppress their material desires through sheer willpower is, in itself, contrary to human nature.”
Qiang Ning was momentarily speechless. Did Lin Dongruan—the “saint” who advocated for a world where “doors need not be locked at night”—actually just use the phrase “contrary to human nature”?
Looking around, the person with the most unrealistic thoughts here was Lin Dongruan herself.
“They say that three years of peace after a war is enough to rebuild order and etiquette. It’s been twenty years now, and who knows what the Emperor is doing? The commoners still starve and freeze just the same.” Qiang Ning couldn’t help but curse her overly soft and weak imperial younger brother.
This time, Lin Dongruan did not refute her.
The two walked for a long time leading RuoRuo by the hand. Suddenly, Qiang Ning had a realization—it was true that Lin Dongruan hadn’t agreed out loud, but wasn’t her silence the best confirmation?
Did the Imperial Preceptor… also feel that the current Emperor was not doing well enough?
The moment this thought surfaced, Qiang Ning glanced at Lin Dongruan with a hint of nervousness. The woman walked with a graceful, upright gait, treading the stone steps one by one. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Had she not heard, or did she agree?
For all these years, the reason Qiang Ning loathed her imperial brother was simply that her own ambitions had nowhere to go. If she hadn’t been born a woman, how could the throne have ever fallen to that weak Crown Prince?
How weak was he? To give a simple example—when the Imperial Preceptor left the capital years ago, a dignified Emperor couldn’t even manage to keep her there.
How laughable.
Qiang Ning wanted to laugh out loud every time she remembered it. It was a pity she wasn’t the Emperor. If she sat in that position, why would she worry about failing to keep Lin Dongruan? Whether through soft or hard means, threats or lures—or at the very least, shameless pestering—she would have found a way.
Anyone who cannot keep the person they love, man or woman, is a useless coward.
“A-Ning, you should not be trapped in a small town. If the opportunity arises in the future, you should go to a better place,” Lin Dongruan suddenly said amidst the silence.
Qiang Ning found the remark bizarre. “In our dynasty, women cannot serve as officials. Even if I went to a ‘better place,’ I couldn’t earn fame or fortune. Sister, your thoughts are too detached from reality.”
This time, her reply was met with an even longer silence from Lin Dongruan.
Lin Dongruan merely shook her head.
“To achieve such a thing, one would have to revolutionize the official system and overthrow the old frameworks of previous dynasties. Those old stubborn fools in the noble families would have to commit ‘blood remonstrance’ by bashing their heads against pillars several times. How could the current Emperor withstand such pressure? He only knows how to play peacemaker.” Qiang Ning knew without thinking that her brother couldn’t do it.
“Sister A-Ning, what are you talking about? Why can’t RuoRuo understand?” Ruo Ruo had never heard such political discourse. A girl born in the rural mountains had no chance to hear of things beyond Wusang Town, let alone matters of state.
Qiang Ning didn’t bother explaining and just said it was nothing.
The two of them discussed current politics on the mountain path as if no one else were there. Since the surrounding people were mostly illiterate commoners, they didn’t fear being overheard or suspected.
Many wild butterflies fluttered along this path. As Qiang Ning spoke, countless butterflies approached her affectionately. She had attracted butterflies since childhood; she wondered if it was due to some special constitution.
“Why are there so many butterflies…”
Several white butterflies swarmed her face. The fluttering scales made her sneeze several times, forcing her to wave away the clinging insects.
Qiang Ning was like a wild cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumping and dodging frantically. In a daze, she thought she heard Lin Dongruan say something, but the words weren’t clear and vanished with the mountain breeze.
RuoRuo, who was helping catch butterflies, happened to cup a white butterfly in her small palms. Panting, she ran to Lin Dongruan’s side and caught that low murmur.
—Sister Lin had said to Sister A-Ning: In this world, there is one person who will do it, and can do it.
But Sister A-Ning didn’t seem to hear.
The temple in Wusang Town was very small, accommodating at most three people at a time. Any more and it would be impossible to move.
Qiang Ning saw Lin Dongruan buy three incense sticks, hold them carefully in her palms, and raise them to worship the gods and Buddha. Her manner was more earnest than that of any commoner. To an outsider, she looked merely pious, but Qiang Ning knew Lin Dongruan inside out. She knew the woman’s skill in divination and divine inquiry was supernatural—why would she need to ask a minor deity in this broken temple?
If it were anyone else acting so “ignorant,” it wouldn’t matter, but this was Lin Dongruan. Would Lin Dongruan really come to a small temple to burn incense like an ordinary person?
Qiang Ning couldn’t describe the feeling in her heart; it just didn’t feel right.
She stood behind Lin Dongruan, observing her. Then, she noticed the three incense sticks were burning much faster than usual. By the time Lin Dongruan finished her prayer and opened her hands, the sign was already evident—three sticks: two short and one long. An omen of great misfortune.
Great misfortune?
Qiang Ning’s expression changed instantly. She hurried to check Lin Dongruan’s face. Sure enough, the woman’s usually gentle expression had dimmed. If one looked closely, there was even a trace of severe coldness in her eyes.
What did she ask? What did she wish for to receive such a disastrous result?
Both Qiang Ning and RuoRuo sensed her mood; neither dared to speak. It was the first time they had seen Lin Dongruan look so cold—as if something very, very big was involved, forcing a gentle person to put away all tenderness and reveal a sliver of ruthless edge.
Afterward, Qiang Ning could only lead RuoRuo by the hand, following behind Lin Dongruan as she descended the mountain alone with an aura of lofty isolation.
That day, Lin Dongruan rarely skipped going to the medical clinic. Instead, she stayed home alone to cast a divination. Every hexagram resulted in “Great Misfortune.” She asked the heavens again and again until she found a way to break the curse.
Seeing Lin Dongruan’s furrowed brows, Qiang Ning’s mood also soured. She didn’t pester Lin Dongruan but went to the clinic to summon her subordinates, learning about the movements of the imperial court.
“Perhaps war is coming again. The Di and Qiang tribes are invading; we do not know how the Emperor will handle it.”
“How else can he handle it? Just fight,” Qiang Ning said while peeling lychees one by one with a handkerchief. “It’s not like we haven’t fought them before. They are but defeated foes; invading the Empire is like hitting a rock with an egg. After so many years of peace, since they want to provoke us once, we should teach these small tribes a good lesson, raise their tribute, and take the chance to seize some land and gold.”
This wasn’t a hard problem to solve.
She thought something huge had happened to make Lin Dongruan so worried.
Qiang Ning peeled a plate of plump, white lychee flesh, personally pitting each one. She ordered, “Keep a close eye on these movements. I want the freshest news. I don’t care how many horses are worked to death; the Emperor has no time to notice us here right now.”
Lychees were not native to this area. Even after decades, they were still a luxury the common people could not afford. Qiang Ning loved beautiful, rare things, so her subordinates naturally found ways to transport lychees from the Lingnan region to the Princess.
It was lychee season, and they were fresh, sealed in bamboo tubes. By bypassing the war-torn areas, the Emperor wouldn’t notice them being delivered to Wusang Town.
However, they could only be preserved for a day or two.
Perhaps because she was in a bad mood, Qiang Ning felt they were too sweet after a few bites. She gave some to her subordinates and kept a portion, peeling them herself to give to Lin Dongruan.
Seeing her intent, Song Luo said hesitantly, “Your Highness, if you give them to the Imperial Preceptor, she might become suspicious. After all, ordinary people in the north cannot get lychees right now.”
Being so far away, and during a time of war, how could anyone get such fresh, sweet lychees so easily unless they were of royal blood?
Qiang Ning looked at the peeled lychees with some regret. “Is that so?”
Song Luo added, “The Imperial Preceptor is meticulous. She wouldn’t have to think twice to suspect Your Highness’s identity.”
“She is in a bad mood today; I want to bestow them upon her.” Qiang Ning thought about it and still felt it was feasible. “Lin Dongruan always looks like a transcendent being who doesn’t eat common food. She’s too lazy to cook all year; she can eat that coarse ‘Twenty-Four Tonic Rice’ for months. I bet she has never even tasted a lychee.”
Song Luo’s head throbbed. How could the Imperial Preceptor not know what a lychee was? Even if she never went out of her way to eat one, she must have seen them at imperial banquets! The Princess was simply worried and wanted to feed her.
All those excuses were just justifications. The Princess… simply wasn’t listening.
“But what if? If the Imperial Preceptor realizes something, how will you handle it?” Song Luo tried hard to persuade her to give up. “Once the seed of doubt is planted, she will question your origins. How will we then quietly take her away from Wusang Town?”
Qiang Ning’s eyes darkened. She said coldly, “I do not want to stay here any longer. This act is to test her—to see if she will take the bait. We cannot delay anymore. War has broken out; if Wusang Town is affected, I won’t be the only one who can’t sit still. Once the Emperor regains his senses, it will be hard for me to snatch someone from his territory.”
She intended to use the chaos of war to take Lin Dongruan away under a cloak of deception.
“I have waited so long. It is time for Lin Dongruan to give me an answer.”
Qiang Ning looked deeply at the lychees on the plate, as if looking at prey within her reach. “After being away from court for so long, can she truly retire in peace? Seeing the Emperor act foolishly, I don’t believe she can stand by and watch… This kind of ‘saint’ who cares for the world loves being a teacher most of all.”