The Third Scholar of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 42

Stepping outside into the corridor, Li Xinyun pinched his arm hard: "Li Yuxuan is awake. Where's Zhao Yun?"

Xu Zhu rubbed his head: "Prince Xin hasn't come home yet. I heard that Cong went in yesterday and hasn't come out. I went to the palace and grabbed a little eunuch to ask him. Apparently, Prince Xin did something to anger the emperor, so he's been placed under house arrest in the palace."

Having grown up in the palace, Li Xinyun immediately thought, "Could it be that Prince Xin really asked the old emperor to let him leave the court and go with Li Yuxuan? Doesn't he realize that the old emperor of the Song Dynasty has no sons, only two nephews? How could he possibly let him leave?"

When Xu Qingzhi saw Xu Zhu return and Li Xinyun leave, he looked at Li Yuxuan's still tightly furrowed brows and slightly upturned phoenix eyes, and asked softly, "Does it still hurt?"

Li Yuxuan nodded: "Much better. It's late, you should go back. If you stay here, people will become suspicious."

The hand on his forehead paused for half a second: "It's alright, I'll stay at this inn tonight. I'll just tell the princess later."

"I'm hungry. Tell Xiaolei to bring me some food." She didn't say anything more. Once this man made up his mind, no one could argue with him.

A warm, moist sensation spread from between her eyebrows, a tingling sensation that made her involuntarily shrink her head and widen her eyes: "Big Brother!"

Xu Qingzhi had already stood up, still with that gentle smile: "You go to sleep first, I'll go out and call Xiaolei."

Li Yuxuan reached out and touched his brow, where a trace of warmth still lingered.

Xiaolei entered, followed by four maids, each carrying snacks, side dishes, and congee, which quickly filled the table.

Li Yuxuan sat up, and Xiaolei helped her up, draped a coat over her shoulders, and helped her sit down at the table. She then called out to the outside, "You can come in now."

Li Xinyun, Xu Zhu, Xu Qingzhi, and the imperial physician walked in together from outside the door.

Li Yuxuan was not a weak person to begin with. What made her collapse was her mental illness rather than a physical one. After waking up, she figured out some entanglements and made a certain decision. Apart from feeling a headache and hunger, she did not feel any other discomfort when she got up.

Seeing the imperial physician holding medicine, she quickly took the spoon from Xiaolei and drank the porridge. Xiaolei took the medicine from the imperial physician: "Thank you for your trouble, sir. Please go back, sir. This servant will serve my princess here."

The imperial physician bowed and withdrew.

Li Yuxuan drank two bowls of porridge and ate a few pine nut pastries with some side dishes, and felt much more energetic: "Strange, why did I faint for so long this time? I've been starving since this morning."

Xiaolei covered her mouth and smiled: "Miss Li can remember this historic moment."

Li Xinyun rolled her eyes at Xiaolei: "You brat, Prince Xin has been placed under house arrest in the palace."

"Is that so?" Li Yuxuan picked up a bowl of porridge again, lowered his head, and slowly scooped it out. "This is something I can think of. His decision to leave and my decision to stay are both things I know are impossible."

"Then what should we do?"

He continued ladling porridge. "Don't do anything. Trust the king's wisdom. He was placed under house arrest from the start, which proves he never really wanted to leave. Unless he's blinded by his own involvement and lost his head."

"How is that possible?" Xu Zhu rubbed his head and sat down next to her. "Miss Li, if he didn't want to leave, why would he be under house arrest? It proves that he really wanted to leave."

Li Yuxuan sighed, remaining noncommittal: "If he really wanted to leave, he wouldn't be foolish enough to go directly to the emperor; he would go to the person who desperately wanted him to leave."

"Who wants him to leave?"

“Of course it’s the Crown Prince,” Li Xinyun interjected. “Idiot, you can’t even think of that. Yes, he could easily conspire with the Crown Prince, and everyone would be happy.”

"What if the Crown Prince betrayed us?"

"What secrets did he go to report?" Li Xinyun rolled her eyes at Xuzhu: "His only rival for the throne is Prince Xin. Who would want to keep a time bomb by their side? Court struggles are always a matter of life and death with no way out. Now that Prince Xin has voluntarily withdrawn, he's probably all smiles."

As expected of someone from the royal family, Li Xinyun understood everything Li Yuxuan wanted to say.

Xu Qingzhi sighed softly, "Your Highness is too hasty; haste makes waste."

Li Xinyun glared at him: "You're just too stupid. I've never seen anyone as stupid as you."

"Princess!" Li Yuxuan stopped her.

Li Xinyun chuckled: "Xu Zhu and I are going back to sleep. You two can continue chatting. Xiao Lei, tidy up the table, let's go."

She took Xu Zhu's arm, and the two walked to the door, about to open it. The door opened automatically from the outside, and a dark shadow flashed in.

Li Xinyun reached out to grab the shadow, and hissed, "Who's there!"

The shadow swiftly moved into the room: "Princess, it's me."

In the lamplight, Zhan Zhao, dressed in a black outfit, stood there.

"Brother Zhan?"

"Why did you come in like that?" Li Xinyun withdrew his hand, smiling maliciously. "You wouldn't be thinking of sneaking in to check on that brat late at night, would you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhan Zhao's handsome face flushed red. "I received a message from the prince, telling Miss Li to be patient and wait quietly here for a few days. He will find a way to get out."

"Then why are you acting so furtively? Don't tell me you're just trying to cover your tracks; you're up to no good."

“Princess!” Li Yuxuan smiled wryly: “Go bully your Xuzhu, go ahead, don’t bully everyone you catch in my room. Otherwise, when I’m better tomorrow, I’ll bully your Xuzhu until he can’t find his way around.”

"You dare!" Li Xinyun hugged Xu Zhu's hand tightly: "If you bully him, I'll fight you to the death and bully your prince, your fool, your elder brother, and everyone else until they can't find their way out of the world."

Xiaolei tidied up the table and said with a smile, "Princess, let's go. We can't defeat the three of them."

Li Xinyun smiled at Li Yuxuan: "You brat, I'm leaving now. Don't let me see you looking sickly tomorrow."

Zhan Zhao gestured for her to leave: "Princess, have a safe journey!" After watching Li Xinyun leave, he closed the door and looked at Li Yuxuan: "You look very energetic. I've been busy with other things all day and still came to see you so late."

Xu Qingzhi poured him a cup of tea: "You've wronged her. She just woke up and kept complaining of a headache."

Zhan Zhao sighed and stood by the table, watching Li Yuxuan scoop up porridge slowly: "Duanzheng, I'm afraid Lord Bao's illness will not get better. The Emperor has already ordered Grand Secretary Ouyang to temporarily take over the position of Prefect of Kaifeng."

"Didn't they not mention it in court this morning?" Xu Qingzhi's expression turned serious. "I heard this morning that Lord Wang submitted a ten-thousand-word petition to the Emperor, advocating for new reforms. Judging from the Emperor's tone, I thought the position of Prefect of Kaifeng would go to Lord Wang."

Zhan Zhao slumped back in his chair: "I'm exhausted today. I had to come here so late. Li Yuxuan, you're such a troublemaker."

Li Yuxuan finally finished scooping out the last bowl of porridge, pushed the bowl away, and glanced sideways at Zhan Zhao: "I didn't ask you to come, did I? I wish you could all go back to sleep. You're disturbing people's sleep and chattering away. Look at you, where is your demeanor as the great hero Zhan?"

"What should a great hero like Zhan be like?" Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow: "Could he be like Lord Li, whose gender is ambiguous?"

Li Yuxuan crossed her arms and smiled sweetly: "You know what? When I didn't know you but only knew your name, in my mind you were the kind of person who was iron-willed, chivalrous, tender-hearted, handsome, and stern, but whose smile was breathtaking. And look at you now, slumped in the chair like a spineless pig. How can I bear to see you with those fleeting feelings for me!"

"You!" Zhan Zhao pointed at her: "If you keep making fun of me—don't think I won't do anything to you just because you're a woman. Do you really think you're some kind of beautiful woman? In my eyes, you're still that neither-here-nor-there Li Yuxuan. Only someone who's broken their head would see you as a woman and treat you like a treasure."

"Hehe." Li Yuxuan laughed: "You're absolutely right. I wonder who said just now, 'Don't think I won't do anything to you just because you're a woman.' Don't worry, if I walk down the street in this women's clothing, no one will chase after me and call me 'Hero Zhan,' nor will they say I'm a beauty that could topple kingdoms."

Zhan Zhao stared at her expression for a long time, then smiled instead of getting angry: "Are you telling me that you used to really like me, the great hero Zhan? Unfortunately, I don't like you, so you're throwing a tantrum because you're jealous?"

"Ahem." Xu Qingzhi coughed twice. "Could you two stop your battle of wits for now? Brother Zhan, didn't you come to deliver a message to Prince Xin? Why has Prince Xin been placed under house arrest?"

Zhan Zhao sat up straight, feeling embarrassed: "This girl is so ungrateful. I came all this way, and she still insults me like this. Doesn't she even think about who I'm doing all this for?"

Li Yuxuan sneered at him: "Speak, your purpose in coming here isn't just to deliver a message, is it? Why is Prince Xin under house arrest?"

"It's all for someone else."

"Don't try to fool me like a child. With friends like you and his own shrewdness, would Prince Xin really be imprisoned for something like this? I don't believe it." She truly didn't believe it.

"Li Yuxuan." Zhan Zhao's smile vanished, and he looked at her seriously: "You've never truly believed in the Prince, have you?"

……silence.

"But why didn't you refuse him?"

"I……"

"Do you know that you're hurting him by doing this?"

Tears streamed down her face; it was clearly him who had ruined her life.

"Do you know how important the prince is to the balance of power in this court?"

have no idea……

Do you think the Emperor would let him leave so easily?

She knew: "I didn't ask him to leave."

"Do you think he would stay in Bianliang after choosing you? Even if he did, would you obediently become his princess in his palace? Would you watch his other women fight over him without running away?"

Won't……

“Li Yuxuan, we all know you too well. You’re just a heartless, selfish little woman. If you really cared about him, you shouldn’t have gotten involved with him in the first place. Now that you’ve gotten involved with him, you should trust him. He’s a man any woman could entrust her life to.”

Snowflakes fluttered down: "I didn't distrust him." She was stubborn on the outside but soft on the inside. "Brother Zhan, besides feeling indignant on behalf of Prince Xin, you haven't said why he's under house arrest?"

"The Empress Dowager's own niece has taken a liking to the prince. After yesterday's banquet, the Empress Dowager arranged the marriage, but the prince refused. In a fit of anger, the Empress Dowager kept the prince in the palace, saying that he would be allowed to return home once he had thought things through."

“Great, a match made in heaven—” Li Yuxuan’s expression darkened, though a slight smile remained on his lips. Seeing Zhan Zhao’s angry gaze, he said, “I mean I’m very jealous, very envious, and very heartbroken. My heart was already broken, I don’t care if it gets broken again.”

"You!" Zhan Zhao sighed deeply and stood up. "I don't know what's so good about you. There's not a single part of you that's like a woman, yet... sigh! I'm leaving now. I'll come back tomorrow. You all should get some rest." With that, he opened the door and disappeared as before.

Xu Qingzhi followed him out, saying, "I'm going to rest now. I'll come see you again after court tomorrow."

Chapter 71

Seeing that Li Yuxuan was alright and that Prince Xin was under house arrest in the palace and it was unknown when he would be released, Li Xinyun simply decided to stay at the inn. During the day, he would go out to admire flowers and watch birds, and at night he would come back to sleep, enjoying himself immensely.

On the morning of the third day, Yinzi sent someone to tell Li Yuxuan that everything was fine. In the afternoon, Li Yuxuan avoided them and went for a walk in Xizi Hutong alone. Seeing that the Li residence was closed, he knew that Yinzi had left.

Li Yuxuan knew that he was finally leaving too.

Neither Xu Qingzhi nor Zhan Zhao came that evening. One was busy welcoming his parents to the capital, and the other was busy with the handover work at Kaifeng Prefecture. She claimed she wasn't feeling well and needed to rest, so she closed the shop early. She had intended to write something for Prince Xin and the others before leaving, but as she spread out the paper and looked at the pristine white surface, she couldn't find the words. What should she say? Should she be called cowardly and afraid to face reality, or should she be called heartless and betray their expectations?

None of this is true. She didn't want to write something against her conscience. Could it be that she left to fulfill their wishes because she cared too much about them? It seems to be part of that, but it's not the whole story.

In this era where communication relies solely on sight and footsteps, she knew that this separation would mean an indefinite separation. Even if they searched, who could possibly find whom in the vast sea of people?

In this vast sea of people, we are worlds apart...

Li Yuxuan's eyes welled up with tears. She had already felt the pain and cried, but the thought of truly leaving them still brought tears to her eyes.

Tears dripped onto the white paper in front of me, quickly spreading into circles, one, two, three, and more circles.

At the fourth watch of the night, Li Yuxuan, who hadn't slept all night, changed back into men's clothing and walked out of the inn through the back door.

The air in early spring was frozen, as cold as a harsh winter in the north.

The city gates opened, and she was the first to walk out.

More and more pedestrians were coming from behind.

She dared not look back. She feared that even a single glance would fix her gaze and halt her progress. She knew the people at the inn were still asleep; by the time they realized she was gone, she would be truly gone.

She bought a horse outside the city and galloped off towards Guojiazhuang.

Fifty li will be covered quickly.

The little courtyard where I used to live is still as tidy as it was before I left. Even the spider plant is growing wildly on the wall.

She knocked on the door and heard Yinzi answer from inside, "Who is it?"