Jambudvipa, Chang’an, Qinwangfu.
Li Shimin stared blankly at the egg on the desk.
If something looked like an egg and felt like an egg, then it should be an egg… right?
But this was his child.
Li Shimin had no idea how he and Changsun Wuyou, two ordinary people, could have produced an egg. Had he not been standing guard outside the delivery room the entire time, certain that no one had swapped the baby, he wouldn’t have believed it himself.
This was an era where most people believed in gods and ghosts, yet few had actually seen them. Thus, Li Shimin, who had just been titled the Prince of Qin and was barely twenty years old, was still in a daze.
Was it a ‘he,’ a ‘she,’ or an ‘it’? He didn’t know how to address this egg. It was a premature birth; Changsun Wuyou was only four months pregnant when she suddenly suffered from abdominal pain and heavy bleeding. In the ensuing panic, everyone assumed she was miscarrying.
The midwives and physicians performed their duties in a frantic rush. Li Shimin paced anxiously outside until he suddenly saw a brilliant golden light burst forth, accompanied by a faint, otherworldly fragrance.
And then, he was given this egg.
Upon its black egg shell, dark gold patterns wound and spiraled like an incomprehensible Formation Talisman, or like wondrous scales shimmering beneath the surface of the sea.
Li Shimin stared at it for a long time. He felt a subtle, instinctive connection of blood, as if thousands of invisible threads pulled from those vine-like patterns directly to his heart. It was the undeniable bond of kinship.
He tentatively reached out his hand, holding his breath as if afraid of disturbing it. His fingertips moved very, very slowly until they touched the egg shell.
The black-gold egg remained motionless, showing no reaction.
Was it alive? Would it ever hatch? Would it turn into a ball of flesh like the legendary Nezha? If so, should he take a sword and split it open?
No, no, no. Using a sword would be too cruel. What if he killed it?
Nezha was only born after Lady Yin had been pregnant for three years. Why was this child in such a hurry, coming out after only four months?
The golden light and fragrance in the delivery room had long since dissipated. The oval egg was smaller than Li Shimin’s fist and lacked the weight a baby should have. He couldn’t help but worry about its condition.
“Are you… are you still alive?” Li Shimin asked in a low whisper.
The black-gold egg trembled slightly, like a fetus stretching lazily within the womb. With this tiny movement, it seemed to tell him: I’m still alive, don’t throw me away.
Li Shimin stared at the egg in astonishment for a long while, but it didn’t move again.
Refusing to give up and fearing it had been an illusion, he gently stroked it again, muttering, “Why are you an egg? What will you be when you hatch?”
The imaginative young man’s thoughts wandered all the way to the Western Heaven. He considered everything from chirping birds—a broad category with over a hundred species—to reptiles like turtles and snakes, before jumping to ancient myths like the Shan Hai Jing and Huainanzi. His thoughts drifted further and further afield.
After pondering for a long time without reaching a conclusion, he learned that Changsun Wuyou had woken up. After taking her herbal tonic, she urgently asked for him.
Li Shimin didn’t need to be asked twice. The moment he heard movement in the inner chamber, he moved faster than a galloping horse. A blurred afterimage swept past the maidservants, but then he seemed to remember something. He braked sharply, turned on a dime, and strode back to the desk. He scooped up the egg with both hands, pushed aside the curtains, and rushed to Wuyou’s bedside.
“Is the child…” Changsun Wuyou’s face was pale, her voice weak and mournful as she spoke.
This was their first child since their marriage, and it held extraordinary significance for both Li Shimin and Changsun Wuyou.
However, since the start of her pregnancy, she had often felt unwell, vomiting whatever she ate. No matter how many varieties of food the cooks prepared, she had no appetite.
She always forced herself to eat a little, only to end up vomiting until nothing but stomach acid remained. Not only did she grow haggard day by day, but the pregnancy was also unstable. The physicians had look of distress, hinting that the child would likely be lost.
The couple was devastated but had no other choice.
She thought she had prepared herself mentally, but when the day finally came and the tiny life vanished from within her, she was still overcome with uncontrollable sorrow.
“No, no, it’s still very much alive.” Li Shimin knew her well; before she could finish, he hurried to comfort her.
Changsun Wuyou looked at her flat belly in shock. It had been slightly distended; a four-month fetus already showed a bit, and though it wasn’t much, she could feel it.
Now, she had clearly lost that unspeakable, subtle sense of presence.
But Li Shimin never lied to her, especially regarding something so important.
“Look, it’s here.”
Though he was impatient, he forced himself to move gently. He opened his closed fingers like a blooming lotus, cradling their child for her to see.
Changsun Wuyou froze.
She almost thought this was some absurd and ridiculous joke.
Li Shimin would never joke about such a thing, not even if he had gone mad. So, this object, which looked like an egg no matter how one viewed it, was her… their child?
“…An egg?” she murmured, dumbfounded.
“Mhm.” Li Shimin nodded vigorously. Finally having someone to share this with and vent to, he breathed a sigh of relief, the pressure on him instantly diminishing.
“Are there any wondrous legends in the Changsun family? Like the wife of Yu the Great, who was said to be a Tushan Clan Nine-Tailed…” Li Shimin looked at her expectantly.
He was trying to find a logical explanation for the egg’s origin.
Changsun Wuyou replied dazedly, “I do not know… As you know, I lost my father when I was eight. I was pushed out by my half-brother, Zhangsun Anyue, and had no choice but to move into my uncle’s house with my brother Wuji. The secrets of the Changsun family would not have been told to me.”
Her father, Zhangsun Sheng, had been a famous general of the Sui Dynasty. He had served as an envoy to the Turks many times and achieved great merit. He was a top-tier diplomat, a man of endless ideas and a master strategist on the grasslands, comparable to Su Qin and Zhang Yi.
Her mother was Zhangsun Sheng’s second wife. While her father was alive, all was well. Unfortunately, as soon as he passed away, the son of her father’s first wife, Zhangsun Anyue, drove Wuji and Wuyou out of the house.
Given that Zhangsun Anyue was the eldest legitimate son, they couldn’t win that fight. They could only leave and live with their uncle, Gao Shilian. Fortunately, their uncle took good care of them, and it was Gao Shilian who had worked hard to arrange her marriage to Li Shimin.
“Should we call Wuji over to ask?” Li Shimin consulted her.
He urgently needed to find a convincing origin for this egg. This was vital. Otherwise, unless he threw the egg away and kept this bizarre situation a secret, nasty rumors would easily spread.
If nothing else, those two—Zhangsun Anyue and Li Yuanji—would never let such an opportunity pass.
They were incapable of achieving anything significant, but they were more than capable of causing ruin.
“The Li family likely has no such stories,” Li Shimin said, feeling a bit troubled.
He knew his own family’s history inside out and had never heard of any strange anecdotes. As for his mother’s side, his mother had passed away five years ago. Although his uncle, Dou Kang, was still alive, he was close to Li Yuan. If he contacted Dou Kang about this, Li Yuan would surely find out.
He didn’t want Li Yuan to know just yet.
Rather than seeking help from his elders, Li Shimin preferred to try and solve it himself.
Although the Qinwangfu was newly established, it was staffed by Li Shimin’s people; the news wouldn’t leak out immediately. They still had time to discuss a contingency plan.
“Brother…” Changsun Wuyou hesitated. “Very well. Perhaps there are secrets in the Changsun family that I simply do not know.”
Li Shimin then sent someone to invite Zhangsun Wuji over. The wait was agonizing, so he occupied himself by studying the egg in his hands.
“What do you think it will be?” His tone carried a hint of inexplicable excitement and strange curiosity.
“…” Changsun Wuyou glanced at him speechlessly, saying nothing.
But it didn’t matter; he could ramble on to himself for quite a while.
Though she was still physically weak and worried, she couldn’t allow herself to rest. She gazed at this tiny, non-human life form and slowly placed her hand upon it.
Fearing she lacked the strength, Li Shimin carefully handed the egg over, supporting her delicate hand. Together, their hands wrapped around and protected it, looking even more like a pure, blooming lotus.
“Do you feel anything?” he asked eagerly. “I think it’s alive.”
“Yes,” she responded softly.
The oval egg shell obligingly gave a small twitch, like the beat of a heart. The intricate, mysterious gold patterns seemed to flow like blood, radiant and shimmering. Through this shell that separated the inside from the outside, it communicated with them.
“It’s actually quite beautiful,” Li Shimin remarked, rather satisfied. “I hope it stays good-looking after it hatches.”
He was somewhat of a person who valued appearances, likely inheriting that from his mother.
Li Shimin’s fourth brother, Li Yuanji, had been so ugly at birth that Empress Dou threw him away, refusing to even raise him. Had it not been for the wet nurse Chen Shanyi’s compassion, who took him back and raised him until Li Yuan returned home and kept him, the day of Li Yuanji’s birth would have been the day of his death.
Li Shimin wasn’t that extreme, but he did have an initial preference for people and things that were aesthetically pleasing.
“They say a mother and child are the closest. Can you feel if it’s a boy… er, is it male or female… a cock or a hen?” His voice grew smaller and smaller as he became unsure of how to describe it.
Changsun Wuyou almost laughed. She hesitated before saying, “Actually, I had a dream.”
“What dream?” Li Shimin’s eyes lit up.
“I dreamed of a divine dragon circling above the clouds, appearing and disappearing. A voice told me that my body was too weak to nurture him, and that if this continued, both mother and child would perish…”
“Why didn’t you tell me something so important? No wonder you woke up in the middle of the night yesterday, looking so unsettled,” Li Shimin whispered.
“I was afraid…”
Changsun Wuyou didn’t finish, but Li Shimin already understood what she feared.
She feared it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“And then?”
“He did not finish either before he vanished,” Changsun Wuyou sighed. “Perhaps for my sake, he was born so early… so small…”
It really was a very, very small egg, lying quietly in their palms, motionless and appearing to lack vitality.
“A dragon? Then how do we raise it?” Li Shimin poked the indifferent egg in confusion. “You can’t even feed this… there are no books to check, and no one to ask…”
Husband and wife fell into deep thought as they stared at the egg.
“Your Highness, a guest has arrived,” a personal guard hurried over, stopping outside the door.
“Is Wuji considered a guest? Just show him in,” Li Shimin said, puzzled.
“It is not Master Zhangsun. It is a Daoist priest calling himself Yuan Tiangang. He claims he can resolve Your Highness’s troubles.”
Yuan Tiangang?