The eighteenth year of Yuanshou, midsummer.
The Shenghua Tower of the Benevolent Mother, built to celebrate the late Empress Dowager’s sixtieth birthday, collapsed in a thunderstorm.
After thorough investigation by the Three Bureaus, it was found that Shen Hui, Shangshu of the Ministry of Works, had embezzled public funds, cut corners in construction, and was the true culprit behind the collapse.
According to Great Liang law, the penalty was beheading. Out of past regard, the Emperor commuted the Shen family’s extermination to confiscation of property and exile to Lingnan.
On the day of exile, the heavy rain that had drenched all of Chang’an that summer had just ceased, and the air already carried a chill of autumn.
At Ba Bridge, seventy li outside Chang’an, a place of partings since ancient times, today, no one dared to come see them off.
“I don’t want to… wuwu… Mother, I don’t want to leave Chang’an, let’s go home, all right?”
“Ah Yu, be good.”
A young woman in coarse prison garb, heavily pregnant, face haggard, still forced herself to hold strong, wiping the tears of her three-year-old daughter: “Didn’t you promise Mother yesterday that you would not cry anymore?”
“But Mother, why must we leave home and go so far away?”
At three years old, the little girl did not understand confiscation or exile. Tearful, she clung to her mother: “Mother, can’t we not go?”
The young woman did not know how to explain. Holding the child close, tears fell one by one:
“My poor child, at such a young age to suffer with us, it is your mother who has wronged you…”
As mother and daughter wept together, a gentle voice came: “Sister-in-law, let me comfort her.”
The young woman’s sobbing paused. She looked up and saw, by the withered willow not far away, that elegant figure release her mother-in-law Madam Li’s arm and walk slowly forward.
The world said: noble daughters of Chang’an bloomed like flowers.
And Shen Yujiao, legitimate daughter of the Shen clan, was undoubtedly the most refined and dignified among them.
Even in worn prison garb that hid the budding grace of her sixteen-year-old figure, it could not cover her elegance and poise. Let alone that porcelain-pale face, lips red without rouge, brows green without paint, truly graceful and beautiful, bright as the moon.
Madam Xu, herself of noble birth, was always moved by this sister-in-law’s refinement,
Raised since childhood by the standards of the Pei clan’s future matron, her bearing and manners surpassed ordinary noble girls.
Yet once the family was ruined and exiled, a noble daughter reduced to a prisoner, all that cultivation seemed in vain.
As for the wedding day set next spring with the famed Pei clan of Hedong, it was now but a dream, never to be realized.
While she was lost in thought, Yujiao had already come forward.
Taking her little niece in her arms, comforting her with a few soft words, she then turned to Madam Xu and spoke gently: “Sister-in-law, I know your heart grieves. But things are as they are… we must think of the good. At least our family is still alive… And you, with child, must not be overcome with sorrow. Ahead lies a long journey. If you were also to fall ill, what then could we do…”
As she spoke, Yujiao’s eyes turned toward the prison cart not far away.
There lay the Shen men, father and brothers, battered and bloodied, breath faint, barely clinging to life.
In such lack of medicine and care, whether they could even survive the journey to Lingnan was unknown. If her sister-in-law also met misfortune, she truly did not know how she alone could care for so many old, weak, sick, and young.
Madam Xu also knew the hardship of her sister-in-law. She raised her sleeve to wipe her tears: “Yuniang, don’t worry. I… won’t cry anymore.”
At this point, self-pity was useless, staying alive was the foremost task.
Only, “These yamen runners are usually fierce as demons, chasing souls like death incarnate. Why have they rested here for nearly the time of one incense stick and still not urged us on?”
Madam Xu looked at Yujiao in confusion. Yujiao pressed her lips together, not answering, but turned her gaze toward her own mother, Madam Li, beneath the willow tree.
Madam Li sat with eyes closed, hands calmly turning prayer beads, her demeanor serene, but the speed at which the beads slipped through her fingers betrayed her agitation.
“Ah Yu, go with Aunt to your grandmother, let your mother have some quiet.”
According to Great Liang’s penal code, when escorting female convicts, only the ankles were bound with iron chains, no need for cangue or neck restraints.
Yujiao bent down, took her little niece’s hand, and led her toward the willow tree.
With every step, the iron shackles clanked harshly.
Compared with the cold heaviness of the chains, the humiliation of wearing them gnawed at her dignity without pause.
Keeping her eyes straight ahead, Yujiao tried her best to ignore the fetters at her ankles and approached Madam Li: “Mother.”
Madam Li opened her eyes. Seeing the daughter she had raised so tenderly now dressed in ragged prison garb, shackled at the feet, a trace of sorrow flashed across her gaze. But she quickly covered it up, forcing a smile: “Was Ah Yu making trouble for your sister-in-law again?”
“She is still young,” Yujiao replied softly. “And Sister-in-law is with child and already weary. When we continue on, I will take care of Ah Yu.”
Madam Li said neither yes nor no, but her beads slipped faster through her fingers, and she cast a glance eastward.
Yujiao hesitated: “Mother… you are waiting for someone?”
Madam Li faltered. Meeting her daughter’s clear eyes, she knew she could not hide it, and at last said: “After the decree of exile came down, when your aunt visited the prison… I, I entrusted her with a letter to the Pei family.”
Yujiao was startled, then her brows furrowed tightly: “Mother, how foolish. Father’s case is filled with injustice, yet even Grandfather and Uncle, running day and night, could find no flaw. The Pei family, far away in Wenxi, long absent from Chang’an’s court, though we have an engagement, the rites are not yet completed. They avoid us if anything. How could they overturn Father’s case, and risk dragging themselves into scandal?”
Her voice grew heavier: “If Aunt is implicated, her own situation in her husband’s family is already difficult enough…”
“Yuniang, I never expected the Pei family to clear your father’s name.”
Madam Li gripped Yujiao’s hand. On her haggard face, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes revealed her desperate resolve: “I only hoped that disaster would not extend to a married-out daughter, that at least one could be spared. The Pei family has always passed down the virtues of filial piety and keeping faith. Pei Xia is famed in Hedong as a gentleman like jade. If they honor their word and take you as their wife, then you need not share our suffering.”
Pei Xia. Wife of the clan heir.
Yujiao fell dazed. Words she had heard countless times since childhood now seemed like something from another world, strange, distant.
“Mother, I am now but the daughter of a criminal. How could I still be worthy of the heir of the Pei clan?”
Her long lashes lowered. She stroked her niece’s messy little bun, her throat tightening: “Even if they truly came, how could I abandon you all for my own safety?”
“Good child, I know your heart is filial. But if the green hills remain, there will be firewood yet.”
Madam Li’s eyes burned with urgency: “If you can gain a foothold in the Pei family, perhaps your father may one day be cleared of his injustice. But if our whole family is driven to Lingnan, that place of miasma and danger, then truly, heaven will not answer, earth will not respond, and there will be no hope left!”
Yujiao choked with silence.
If her mother’s plans were only for her, she would rather share hardship with her family than enjoy ease alone.
But if the Shen family’s innocence now rested upon her shoulders…
Another half-incense passed. The yamen runner who had pocketed Madam Li’s string of pearls lost patience. Rising, he barked: “Time to move on, move on! Delay any longer and we’ll be stuck in the mountains overnight!”
“Officer, please wait a little longer…” Madam Li pleaded anxiously.
“No. We’ve already delayed too long!”
“Just one more cup of tea’s time, only that!” Her face ashen, her eyes still clung desperately eastward. “I beg you, have mercy…”
Madam Li had been a noblewoman of a great house, a titled lady of second rank, yet now she humbled herself before a petty yamen runner. Yujiao’s eyes stung. She stepped forward and held her mother’s hand: “Mother, don’t wait anymore. From Wenxi to Chang’an, riding hard is but two days there and back. Now half a month has passed. If the Pei family meant to come, they would have long arrived, how could it be today?”
“But…”
“Seeking benefit and avoiding harm is human nature.”
On her porcelain-white face, Yujiao was calm, her tone faint: “The Pei family’s choice is nothing strange. Better to set out early. Do you truly wish to spend the night in the mountains?”
Seeing her daughter so clear-eyed and steady, Madam Li felt an even sharper bitterness. Through clenched teeth she muttered low: “What noble house of Hedong, what virtuous gentleman? To me it’s all empty name and false fame, nothing more!”
Yujiao gave a small laugh. One hand supported her mother, the other held little Ah Yu’s hand: “Come, child. Let’s go.”
Just as they turned, a squat, pockmarked yamen runner sauntered up to Sister-in-law Xu, grinning lewdly as he stretched out his hand: “Pretty lady, with that big belly of yours, it must be hard to walk. Let big brother lend a kindly hand and help you along.”
Madam Xu’s face went pale as flowers, clutching her belly with a cry: “Don’t touch me!”
Seeing her reaction so fierce, the runner’s face darkened with shame. He spat, voice harsh: “Laozi’s being kind, offering to help you walk, and you scream like that! Still think you’re some highborn lady, do you?”
As he spoke, he glanced at the leader of the guards. Seeing no word of rebuke, his heart leapt with glee.
So this beautiful woman was fair game… As for that delicate little miss, no doubt the leader had reserved her for himself. For now, not their turn.
“Best not be ungrateful,” the pockmarked one sneered, threatening. “If you behave, when we reach the post station I might even get your man some medicine for his wounds. Otherwise… heh! Let’s see if he can even survive out of Chang’an’s borders!”
Madam Xu had never encountered such a situation before; her beautiful eyes brimmed with tears as she looked in panic toward her husband inside the prison cart.
Shen family’s eldest son also noticed what was happening. From within the cart, he let out a weak, beast-like roar: “Beast… beast…”
Overcome with agitation, he coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.
“Husband!!”
“Brother!!”
In an instant, the escorting troop fell into chaos.
Seeing that mangy-headed yamen runner once again reaching his hand toward her sister-in-law, Shen Yujiao’s face suddenly changed. She hurried forward.
But the heavy shackles on her feet prevented her from moving fast. That greasy, filthy hand was just about to touch her sister-in-law’s face. Yujiao’s eyes flushed red, and she shouted harshly: “Scoundrel, stop right there!”
Yet a woman’s cry at such a moment did nothing but fuel their arrogance.
Just as Yujiao was about to despair, there came a sharp “swish” tearing through the air.
Before anyone could see clearly, that mangy-headed runner let out a ghost-wailing scream, leaping up: “Aaaah, my hand!”
At once, another sound followed, the drumming of horse hooves.
“Da-da-da, da-da-da…”
From far to near, it grew clearer and clearer.
Not only Yujiao, but the escorting yamen runners and the Shen father and son within the cart all lifted their eyes to follow the sound.
In the dim light of early autumn, they saw a man in white, bow in hand, riding swiftly toward them, the dust rising like mist.
As that figure drew near and his features came into view, all were struck with awe.
The young man looked about twenty, tall and upright. Beneath a plain white inner robe, he wore an outer jacket of white gauze patterned with dark bamboo and woven with gold, his waist bound with a jade belt. A longbow was in his hand. Despite the dust of travel, his features shone like jade, clear and lofty as moonlight after rain.
This attire, this bearing, this skill in mounted archery, he was clearly a son of a great family.
And by no means of ordinary gentry!
The small leader of the escort was the first to recover, stepping forward with reverence yet wary vigilance: “May… may I ask this gentleman’s honored name?”
Hearing the inquiry, the young man atop the horse cast him only a cold glance, saying nothing.
His hand tightened on the reins as he sat astride the dark stallion. His calm gaze swept over the faces below, finally landing on a delicate figure clad in plain garments amidst the crowd.
In the cool air of early autumn, their eyes met, hers startled, his still.
A moment later, the man lowered his bow and dismounted.
Seeing him stride toward her, Yujiao’s heart pounded violently. She instinctively retreated half a step, the chains at her ankles clashing with a crisp sound.
The owner of those deep black eyes paused, his gaze flicking briefly to the iron shackles beneath her skirt. His brows knit slightly, though his expression remained composed.
Without lingering, he turned toward Madam Li, raised his sleeve, and bowed from a short distance: “Aunt, forgive me, this junior has come late.”
Madam Li was taken aback: “You… you are…”
The man lifted his head, his peripheral gaze brushing across the still-unnerved Yujiao, and spoke again, his deep voice calm and steady: “Pei Xia of Hedong, come to bring my wife home.”
