Chapter 318: Princess of Yan

"Close the door," the mysterious woman said softly after entering the hall.

Niu Youdao paused. A lone man and woman shutting themselves inside the same room?

Was that entirely appropriate?

Still, he did as she asked and closed the doors of the main hall.

The doors were closing?

Linghu Qiu and the others, watching from outside, looked at one another in bewilderment. What was with all this secrecy?

Inside the hall, Niu Youdao had no idea who the mysterious visitor was and, for the moment, did not even know how to address her. The woman extended both hands from beneath her cloak, grasped the hood, and slowly pushed it back. A face lovely enough to shame flowers and eclipse the moon was revealed. She had a delicate, graceful appearance and seemed quite young, perhaps even younger than Niu Youdao.

Yet there was a maturity in her brows and eyes that did not match her age, together with an air of nobility that seemed innate. The woman was beautiful, but Niu Youdao did not recognize her at all.

He asked, puzzled, "And you are, young lady...?"

The mysterious woman answered with a question of her own.

"The Chief Steward didn't tell you?"

"No. He only said that someone from the State of Yan wanted to see me."

"My surname is Shang. My given name is Xue."

Shang?

That was the imperial surname of the State of Yan. Niu Youdao froze again. Anyone personally introduced by Bu Xun, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace, could hardly be ordinary.

He asked suspiciously, "You're a member of the State of Yan's imperial clan?"

Shang Xue said, "My husband is Hao Hong, Second Prince of the State of Qi. His Majesty the emperor of the State of Yan is my father. I have been married into the State of Qi for four years."

A princess of the State of Yan? Niu Youdao stared. Shang Jianxiong's daughter. Would that not make her and Shang Chaozong paternal cousins? He looked over her clothing.

Her appearance was that of a beautiful Yan woman, but her dress was already in the style of grassland nobility.

Shang Xue added, "What? Do I not look like one?"

"No, no." Niu Youdao came back to himself and hurriedly saluted. "Greetings, Your Highness." Then he smiled. "I merely thought Your Highness looked very young. I didn't expect you had already been married into the State of Qi for four years."

Shang Xue smiled. "Sir certainly knows how to speak. I'm not young anymore. I'm already nineteen and the mother of two children."

"..."

Niu Youdao was rendered speechless.

Nineteen was not young?

And at nineteen she had already borne two children? That meant she had married at fifteen. He had to force his mind back into the values of this era before the dissonance settled. Here, women marrying at fifteen or sixteen seemed perfectly ordinary. A woman like Shang Shuqing, already in her twenties and still unmarried, apparently counted as an old maid.

Shang Xue asked, "Does Sir intend to make me stand here for the entire conversation?"

"Hm? Ah! My apologies, my apologies."

Niu Youdao hurriedly gestured toward the seat of honor.

"Your Highness, please sit."

Shang Xue moved to the upper seat and slowly sat down. She gave a rather emotional sigh. "In Wu Calendar 520, the State of Yan and the State of Han went to war. Father Emperor married me into the State of Qi. In the blink of an eye, four years have passed. I have never returned to the State of Yan since. As for my homeland, I can only wander through it in my thoughts. I don't even know how Father Emperor and my mother consort are doing now."

Despite her youth, she spoke with a maturity beyond her years. Yan and Han at war? Niu Youdao understood. She must have been one of the princesses married away during the political marriages of that war.

He had heard that the emperor of the State of Yan married off several daughters around the same time.

"May I ask why Your Highness wished to see me?" Niu Youdao asked.

Shang Xue said, "You are one of my cousin's people, aren't you?"

"I hear my cousin Shang Chaozong and my father have developed some conflict."

Niu Youdao chuckled.

"That's an affair within your family. I don't know much about it."

"Your Highness and the Prince should know each other well enough, shouldn't you?"

The implication was clear. This was her own family affair.

Why come asking him?

Shang Xue nodded. "I wouldn't say we're especially close. It would be more accurate to say that I paid attention to my cousin, while my cousin may not have paid much attention to me. There are so many princesses. He could hardly pay attention to every one of us. Besides, in those years he spent most of his time with the army. Father Emperor has many sons and daughters. I was only the daughter of one of his consorts. I might have carried the title of princess, but I could hardly compare with the daughter of Uncle Prince Ning, who commanded an enormous army. There were many princesses. There was only one daughter of Prince Ning, the man who held the State of Yan's strongest army in his hands. One can imagine which carried more weight."

"I still remember Mother Consort often warning me in those days. She said even Father Emperor showed Uncle Prince Ning a measure of deference. Whenever I met my cousin and his younger sister, I was never to act rudely and should lower myself before them. And it wasn't only me. Among the princesses born of concubines and consorts, I doubt there was a single one who wasn't courteous toward the two of them. Uncle Prince Ning held the strongest army in all of the State of Yan. Later, Uncle Prince Ning met disaster. His subordinate Shao Dengyun rebelled, which led the State of Han to attack the State of Yan and ultimately led to my being married into the State of Qi. If Uncle Prince Ning were still alive, my fate would probably have been very different."

In Niu Youdao's eyes, there had never been such a thing as an absolute good man or absolute bad man. People stood in different positions. The same matter could look right from one side and wrong from another. He could understand the emperor of the State of Yan's fear of a younger brother who commanded such overwhelming military power. Even the emperor's own wives and daughters had to behave cautiously around Prince Ning's children. One could imagine how that felt. The emperor's anxieties were understandable. But from the standpoint of Prince Ning and his son, the emperor's conduct would naturally inspire bitterness and resentment of its own.

Still, Niu Youdao had his own position. Each served his own lord. So he could not resist speaking one sentence on Shang Chaozong's behalf. "Before Your Highness was married away, the Prince had already been thrown into the imperial prison by His Majesty. He nearly lost his life there."

The implication was equally clear. Shang Chaozong had suffered even worse than she had. Shang Xue said, "That is exactly why I came. All beneath Heaven is filled with disturbance. The various states contend for supremacy, and countless lives rise and fall because of it. No matter what old grievances there may be, in the end we are one family. Father Emperor does not wish to see the State of Yan fall apart. Can my cousin truly wish to see that either? We are all family. Why struggle until one side lives and the other dies, only to let outsiders profit from it? I will try to persuade Father Emperor. As for my cousin, I hope Sir will advise him as well. Do not do something that pains your kin and delights your enemies..."

The two spoke for a long time. Only late into the night did the conversation finally end. Before rising to take her leave, Shang Xue gave Niu Youdao a personal token. Niu Youdao personally escorted her out.

Before departing, Third Madam Pei once again gave him a deeply meaningful look. She could not understand the changes around him either. First Bu Xun had come personally. Now a princess consort had come to meet him. After the guests left, Niu Youdao returned inside the residence. As expected, Linghu Qiu immediately followed him like a shadow and began asking questions.

"That visitor was wrapped up so mysteriously. Who was she?"

"Princess Consort Shang Xue."

Linghu Qiu was surprised.

"Shang Xue, wife of Second Prince Hao Hong?"

"Second Brother really is well informed." Niu Youdao smiled.

"How is this princess consort situated in the State of Qi at present?"

Linghu Qiu said, "I've never paid much attention to her, so I don't know the details. I imagine her life isn't too difficult. After all, she's the daughter of the emperor of the State of Yan. The State of Yan is still one of the major states. With such a powerful natal family behind her, The State of Qi has no reason to mistreat her. But this Second Prince is a strong contender against the First Prince for the position of heir apparent. The State of Qi has not yet settled the succession. Have you ever heard of Shang Youlan, Empress Dowager of the State of Zhao? If the Second Prince succeeds to the throne, this woman may one day become empress of the State of Qi. She could become another Shang Youlan!"

Niu Youdao fell into thought. Shang Xue had come to mediate. She hoped Shang Jianxiong and Shang Chaozong could reconcile. That also made Bu Xun's purpose in visiting him much clearer. Hao Yuntu plainly did not want the State of Yan thrown into great disorder at this time. He was probably trying to stabilize the situation through several different channels. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to approach Niu Youdao. At first, Niu Youdao had assumed Shang Xue's visit was simply Hao Yuntu's intention.

He had not expected the struggle over the State of Qi's future succession to be mixed into the matter as well.

Looked at this way, Shang Xue's earnest efforts at persuasion were not solely about keeping the State of Yan stable. She also had her own interests in the State of Qi to consider. Hao Yuntu did not want chaos in the State of Yan. Shang Xue did not want chaos in the State of Yan. Shang Jianxiong naturally did not want chaos in Yan either. Nor did Shang Chaozong wish to see it. Unfortunately, some matters would probably not be decided by Shang Chaozong's wishes.

The people beneath him, along with Tianyu Sect, would likely keep pushing him forward. Whether that eventually caused members of House Shang to slaughter one another was not something those people cared about. Everyone had interests of his own. Niu Youdao himself was no exception. Why had he risked his life coming all the way here to obtain warhorses? Because he too wanted to push Shang Chaozong forward.

If Shang Chaozong stopped where he was and contented himself with modest wealth and security, Qingshan Commandery would eventually face annihilation. That would be an enormous threat to Niu Youdao as well.

Now that he had stepped into these muddy waters, tiny Qingshan Commandery could not protect him for the rest of his life. That was not the future he wanted. Once Shang Chaozong set foot on this road, he was no longer free to turn back. Niu Youdao understood that clearly. Even if Shang Jianxiong wanted peaceful coexistence, it would not be enough. The moment conditions allowed, Shang Chaozong would sooner or later move to seize Nanzhou.

Niu Youdao did not believe Hao Yuntu could fail to see that. Yet Hao Yuntu had handed him warhorses with one hand and sent Shang Xue to mediate with the other. Niu Youdao could not understand what game the emperor was playing. His own strategic horizon was still limited. He had never truly incorporated the larger balance among the states into his calculations. So for the moment, he could not see the full design.

But after this conversation, his gaze had already begun to rise of its own accord. His thoughts had started moving between states. Linghu Qiu, meanwhile, continued rambling beside him.

"You know, the Wu Dynasty broke apart several hundred years ago, but the Shang clan's lingering status as an imperial house is still buried deep in people's minds."

"Just look at all the chaotic dating systems. No one can standardize them, yet when people actually deal with one another, they still use the Wu Calendar."

"And everyone knows the women of the Shang clan are beautiful."

"That bloodline is absurdly strong. No one can compare with it."

"Of course, your prince's younger sister is the exception."

"On top of that, the women of House Shang are descendants of the man once ranked number one beneath Heaven."

"In people's minds they carry an invisible aura of aristocratic birth."

"That seems to be why quite a few people like marrying women of the Shang clan."

"It displays identity and status..."

Linghu Qiu rambled on for quite some time before finally returning to what he actually wanted to know.

"Right. What did this princess consort want with you?"

"Nothing much."

"She hasn't returned to the State of Yan since she was married away."

"When she heard I came from the State of Yan, she missed her homeland."

"And since my prince is her cousin, she came to chat with me and ask how things are back in the State of Yan."

Niu Youdao gave him a sidelong glance, tossed out the explanation, and walked away. He knew perfectly well what should be said and what should not. This was exactly how he intended to keep Linghu Qiu dangling. He would withhold the points that mattered most and leave the man wanting more.

"..."

Linghu Qiu remained where he was, watching him go. He cursed inwardly. What a story. A dignified princess consort came to spend half the night alone in a room with you just to chat?

Hongxiu moved closer and murmured, "Sir, first the Chief Steward of the Inner Palace, now this princess consort."

"They must be secretly plotting something that can't see daylight."

"Ah!" Linghu Qiu sighed.

"Understandable."

"Looks like if I want this fellow to trust me, the fire still isn't hot enough."

[End of Chapter 318]