Chapter 88: Old Resentments Revisited at the Foot of Mount Fugu

Ah!

Ye Chang sprang up in bed, drenched in sweat.

He was not often troubled by dreams, but the one he had just had nearly frightened him to death. In it, Xiang'er and Chongniang were fighting inside the room. They began by scratching and biting at each other, and before long it had escalated to needles and scissors, the bed soaked in blood until both were killed together.

The scene in the dream had truly shaken him. Of the two girls, he was naturally much closer to Xiang'er, but he also had affection for Chongniang—not in any calculating sense, only because they were suited to one another. If either little girl suffered any mishap, he would be grieved and heartbroken, and if he had the chance, he would certainly do everything in his power to prevent such a tragedy.

At the thought, he rose, threw on his clothes, and opened the door. Outside, the starry river hung cold and deep, and the snow that had not yet fully melted reflected the faint light of day, leaving the surroundings dimly visible.

Xiang'er's room was just to Ye Chang's west. He walked over, stopped outside her door, and listened. All was silent; not a sound came from within.

"It should be... nothing happened. It was only a dream." Ye Chang did not push the door open.

He was not the sort to place all his hopes on Chongniang's affection for him. Last night, after settling Chongniang in, he immediately summoned Jiao Sui, wrote a letter, and entrusted Jiao Sui to hurry to the capital through the night. In the letter, he asked Tan Qinshou, Jia Mao'er, and others to seek favor through Yang Yuhuan, requested that Princess Zhangsun of Jade Truth put in a kind word, and also asked Han Chaozong to speak on his behalf.

In short, if anything changed on this side, arrangements on the other side would be set in motion at once; indeed, everything had to be prepared before Chongniang even returned to the capital.

Forewarned is forearmed.

As the sky brightened, Wolong Valley gradually grew noisy. There were dozens of people who had come with Chongniang, and the valley itself could not accommodate them all, so they had been arranged in the village. Now that dawn had come, they naturally hurried over to attend her. Ye Chang was careful and had specifically inquired about them; though they had rather proud tempers, they had not caused any serious disturbance.

Even then, there was still no movement from Xiang'er and Chongniang's room, and Ye Chang truly began to panic. Ignoring everything else, he pounded on the door hard. "Xiang'er! Xiang'er! Your Highness, Your Highness!"

With Chongniang's attendants standing by, he certainly could not call her by her intimate nickname.

He knocked several times, but there was no response. Ye Chang shoved at the door with all his strength, only to find the bolt fastened from within. Alarmed, he lifted his foot to kick it in, but just then the door opened, and his kick landed on nothing. He lurched forward, stumbled over the threshold, and rolled headlong inside.

Xiang'er, who had just opened the door and was still half asleep, suddenly saw a figure rush toward her, and faintly recognized it as her master. She reached out to help him, but she was too small and too weak to hold him up. Ye Chang carried her down with him in his fall.

Then another pair of hands came to catch Ye Chang. It was Chongniang. By then Ye Chang had recovered his balance, and with the lesser force of his stumble, he steadied himself at her touch.

"You... are you two all right?" Ye Chang asked, looking at the two girls standing whole and unharmed before him.

"What could happen while sleeping?" Xiang'er and Chongniang exchanged a glance.

"Then it's fine, then it's fine... Xiang'er, what happened to your face?" Ye Chang suddenly noticed a bruise on Xiang'er's cheek.

"She was restless in her sleep and scratched me," Xiang'er said.

Chongniang snorted. "As if you were so obedient yourself. I don't know what wild cat left marks on my neck. Look, Eleventh Brother, look."

As she spoke, Chongniang stretched out her neck for him to see. Near the base of her slender pink throat, close to the collarbone, there really was a scratched mark.

Xiang'er... had always been very quiet in her sleep, had she not? He had seen it himself. Before they moved to Wolong Valley, Xiang'er slept just outside his room, and at night, whenever he got up, he would sometimes see her curled up like a little cat in one corner of the bed, as though afraid of taking up too much space.

Both girls, seeing the suspicious look in Ye Chang's eyes, showed a trace of panic and exchanged glances with each other. Watching them, Ye Chang suddenly felt there was nothing worth pursuing further.

"Wash up. It's time for breakfast. Since Your Highness has come this time to pay respects at the Medicine King Temple, we ought to set out early."

Having said that, Ye Chang left. Behind his back, Xiang'er and Chongniang made faces at each other. Once Ye Chang was a little farther away, Chongniang threatened in a low voice, "If you dare be rude to me again today, I'll pinch you to death!"

"I'll scratch you to pieces!"

"Don't think that because I promised not to hit your face, I'll be nice to you. I'm a noble princess, and you're only a little maid. Hmph, let's see whether Eleventh Brother Ye likes you, a maid with nothing to your name, or me, a noble princess, in the end!"

"My master doesn't care whether you're a princess or not. If you're not obedient, he won't like you. He'll spank you!"

The two of them were afraid Ye Chang might hear, so they crowded together and quarreled as if whispering in one another's ears. When Ye Chang glanced back, he saw how intimate they looked and thought the quarrel of young girls must end quickly indeed, for the two of them already seemed to be friends.

"Since Your Highness has come to make offerings at the Medicine King Temple, a visit there is unavoidable. But the mountain roads are slippery with melting snow, and it would not be easy to walk. Would Your Highness not rather ride the palanquin up the mountain?" Ye Chang asked Chongniang after breakfast.

He phrased it formally, of course, with Chongniang's attendants present. Besides the eunuchs and maids in attendance, there were Taoist officials among those who had come with her, and especially the female attendants, who had been assigned elsewhere to sleep the previous night, leaving them already frightened and uneasy. If anything unusual happened today, who knew what report they would take back to the palace?

Now that they heard business being discussed in earnest, they finally felt somewhat relieved.

"Everything will follow your arrangement, sir." Chongniang smiled and replied. "But if there's any amusing or interesting place, I want to get down and have a look."

Those young princess had been so proper and restrained in the palace, never once overstepping a rule, but here in Xiuwu she seemed like a different person altogether, no longer like a princess of the court, but more like an ordinary family's daughter. The female attendants, watching Chongniang's expression as she spoke with Ye Chang, were secretly amazed.

Two villagers familiar with the mountain path were hired to carry the palanquin, and with Ye Chang leading as guide, the group set off up the mountain. The Medicine King Temple lay a little farther off, but in recent years its incense offerings had grown abundant, and so a stone stairway had been built along the mountain road. At first Chongniang rode in the palanquin, but soon she found it uncomfortable: Ye Chang was walking, and speaking to him from above made him uneasy.

So by the time they reached the foot of the mountain, she insisted on getting down to walk.

"You..."

Ye Chang was about to persuade her when suddenly he sensed something was wrong.

Because the Medicine King Temple enjoyed such thriving worship, the imperial road passed directly below this mountain. At that moment, far ahead on the road, he saw a large body of men and horses approaching.

Even from a great distance, their arrogance was visible. There were no fewer than a hundred horsemen.

"It's the army!" The villagers following around them panicked somewhat. The discipline of the troops was not very good these days.

"No matter." Ye Chang frowned.

Before he had even finished speaking, two riders came flying toward them. "Get out of the way! Move aside!"

Ye Chang signaled for everyone to make way by the roadside. Chongniang curled her lip slightly. "Actually, I could have my ceremonial escort raised."

"Not yet... let's try playing the pig to catch the tiger."

Seeing the other's overbearing air, Ye Chang grew quite displeased.

"I'm not a pig," Chongniang muttered, but still followed his lead.

They merely moved aside a little, leaving half the imperial road clear. Seeing this, the newcomers flew into a rage and raised their whips from afar, about to lash down.

The soldiers who had come with Chongniang were also from the newly established Left and Right Dragon Guard, the emperor's personal guard in the Tang capital. Accustomed to arrogance in Chang'an, how could they endure such insult? Seeing the other side raise whips, one of them immediately lifted his own, ready to strike back.

As the two sides' horses crossed, the two opponents actually slipped aside at that instant, yet the whips in their hands still lashed out. With two cries of pain, two Dragon Guard soldiers tumbled from their horses, blood streaming across their faces.

"How dare you!" The rest of the Dragon Guard soldiers were shocked and furious, cursing all at once. Some had already drawn their weapons.

"Keep them in check," Ye Chang said quietly to Chongniang. "They outnumber us!"

Chongniang immediately understood and sternly ordered them, and only then were they barely brought under control. Ye Chang frowned toward the other side. He had intended, seeing their arrogance, to teach them a lesson so they would not dare be so presumptuous again. But now he felt something was profoundly wrong.

The ones accompanying Chongniang should have been imperial guards. Their horsemanship and battle skills could not have been poor, yet they had suffered a great loss before the other side's two scouts. That could only mean the other force was extremely elite.

Facing such a crack troop, and with their own numbers so small, the only thing they could rely on was Chongniang's status.

This was still the glorious age of the Tang dynasty, and no one within the realm dared challenge the emperor's majesty. Therefore Ye Chang said to Chongniang, "It would be better to set up your ceremonial escort..."

But Chongniang waved him off with an angry laugh. "Sir Ye, I cannot let the royal dignity be diminished outside. That is what you taught me yesterday."

No matter what, she was Li Longji's daughter. It had nothing to do with petty squabbles with Xiang'er, that little maid ignorant of the world's greatness. Those were merely private matters. But this was different: she was here on the emperor's command to offer sacrifice at a famed mountain, and that was official business.

Since it was official business, if her subordinates were wronged and insulted, she had to avenge that insult for them!

"You pack of dogs, you dare lay hands on us? If you don't get down and kneel at once, we'll take your lives!"

The scouts on the other side wheeled their horses around and shouted abuse.

"Who are you!" At Chongniang's signal, someone stepped forward and demanded, "How dare you run wild like this on the imperial road?"

"What, you still have the nerve? This grandfather is a brave man in the camp of General An, Military Governor of Pinglu and Grand General of Cavalry. On the border, this grandfather has no idea how many..."

The scout was still bragging shamelessly when a whistle suddenly sounded from the main formation. He instantly shut his mouth and spurred his horse back.

Ye Chang looked toward the other formation and saw that its ranks were in no disorder. In a moment, a rider came out and went straight to stand before him.

"Who are you, and why do you block our way?" The man fixed Ye Chang with a cold stare. Behind him, dozens of riders were already preparing to charge.

"Hm?" Ye Chang felt something was terribly off. Narrowing his eyes, he swept his gaze across the other men's faces, then suddenly noticed someone among the riders behind the speaker who looked strangely familiar.

After another thought, he drew a breath and remembered.

A barbarian.

The barbarian in Chang'an who had clearly shown hostility toward him.

The barbarian suspected of being behind the attempt to assassinate him that night.

In an instant, Ye Chang felt every hair on his body stand on end, as though a basin of ice water had been poured from head to foot. His first instinct was to look to his left and right, to see whether Monk Shang Shanzhi was by his side.

But today they were going to a temple, and Ye Chang had not imagined there would be any danger along the way. Besides, Chongniang had brought dozens of guards, so he had not asked the monk to come.

With only these Dragon Guard soldiers beside Chongniang, there was no chance they could protect him and Chongniang properly. Their greatest reliance was still the deterrent power of the Tang Empire over the barbarians.

Especially these barbarians, who should be of the acculturated sort. From what they had just said, they belonged to the Pinglu Military Governor's command...

At that moment, the second wash of ice water swept over Ye Chang.

Pinglu Military Governor, surname An. If he had guessed correctly, could it not be An Lushan?

Was the destroyer of the Tang dynasty's golden age standing right before him?

For a brief moment, Ye Chang's mind went blank. Why would An Lushan want to kill him, and even send men to do so in Chang'an?

But that blankness lasted only a second. He knew full well that at such a moment, Chongniang's identity was his only support, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "You brazen bandits! Her Imperial Highness, the twenty-ninth princess, has come here under imperial command to offer sacrifice. You have dared to obstruct her carriage—do you mean to rebel?"

His voice was by no means small, and now, in his anxiety, he cried out with all his strength.

The words carried far, reaching the other formation nearly a hundred paces away.

"The twenty-ninth princess?" There was a slight stir in the opposing ranks, and the man who had come to challenge them also changed color. "Nonsense! Impersonating nobility—deserve to die..."

"Ceremonial escort!" Ye Chang waved his hand.

At once, the Dragon Guard soldiers and palace attendants around him raised the escort poles, and even the folded banners and canopies were opened within moments.

Chongniang pressed her lips together, anger flashing in her eyes. She was clever enough to sense the killing intent in the other man's conduct just now. He had even intended to kill Ye Chang before she could display her escort!

This was not merely an insult to her, but a challenge to the imperial house itself. And worse, the one being harmed was Ye Chang, the only person in her complicated life whom she truly held in regard!

"Misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!" Once the escort was displayed, one of the men on the other side came running over. After whispering with the first man for a moment, he put on a smiling face and stepped forward.

He was a Han Chinese, all smiles, the sort of man who seemed smooth and worldly. Coming up, he looked at Ye Chang and said, "Since Her Highness the twenty-ninth princess is here, then let each side proceed on its way."

The words left everyone dumbfounded. Chongniang had not expected her name to be so useless. The other side was indeed a border general under a military governor, but to put it bluntly, they were nothing more than guard dogs for her Li family. And yet they dared ignore her like this!

Still, seeing that pack of haughty and fierce soldiers, Chongniang also understood that if her status could not frighten them, there was nothing she could do to them.

In such circumstances, it seemed there was nothing for it but to swallow their anger.

The two ceremonial escorts passed one another. Ye Chang fixed his gaze on the middle of the opposing group and saw, among the crowd, a bearded, broad-shouldered giant of nearly eight feet in height and almost eight feet around the waist ride past with great dignity.

This man should be An Lushan. He did not look to either side, and Ye Chang felt a slight easing of tension. The danger of today, it seemed, had been survived.

Just as the other side was passing by, the eunuch who had spoken in a sharp, mocking tone to Ye Chang the day before suddenly shrilled, "Seeing Her Highness and still refusing to bow and salute? You barbarian, how dare you behave so!"

At those words, the bearded giant turned his head and glared fiercely, murderous aura rising from him, while Ye Chang felt cold sweat pouring down.

"Crap teammates!" he thought in anguished fury.