After agreeing on the marriage proposal, Song Zang intended to immediately return home and find Tian Yue Xiang, only for Yin Chen to press him back onto the bed by the shoulders.
Apparently, Song Zang’s low fever still had not completely disappeared. The instant Yin Chen touched him, he noticed.
Song Zang’s forehead remained burning hot, and even his fingertips were much warmer than usual. He resembled a little furnace radiating heat from head to toe.
Song Zang did not resist. He lazily lay on Yin Chen’s bed, rested his head on the finely woven bamboo cooling pillow, and closed his eyes for half an hour.
Song Zang had not been ill in a very long time. His body’s response to weakness seemed oddly delayed. Not long ago, he had still been jumping over walls without difficulty. Now his head felt dizzy. He could not fall asleep but lacked the energy to cause any more trouble. Weak, listless, neither truly awake nor able to sleep… especially in front of Yin Chen. Once someone reliable was nearby, Song Zang lost all desire to force himself into independence. Being spoiled only made him increasingly frail and helpless.
“The culprit is absolutely that thing that licked your face.”
The killing intent in Yin Chen’s voice was impossible to miss. He was extremely unhappy.
But he did not immediately hunt down the “hair monster” for revenge. Instead, wearing a terrible expression, he measured Song Zang’s temperature and turned around to have the pageboy boil water.
A low fever did not require an ice compress. Yin Chen prepared a cup of bitter herbal tea containing honeysuckle, Hangzhou chrysanthemum, and forsythia, then coaxed Song Zang into eating several bites of sweet osmanthus cake.
“Sometimes I suspect you’re deliberately trying to make me dependent on you,” Song Zang whispered.
Yin Chen did not deny it. He pinched Song Zang’s warm cheek with a half-smile. “Whatever you say must be true. If I treat you badly, I’m a violent lunatic. If I treat you well, I have ulterior motives. You’re always right.”
Song Zang’s eyes curved too. “You feel guilty. Don’t think I can’t tell.”
He did not actually care whether Yin Chen was doing it deliberately. As long as Yin Chen continued treating him well, what did it matter if he had ulterior motives?
For all Song Zang knew, one day he might suddenly drop dead inside some unbelievably perverted instance and never enjoy this kind of treatment again. Since that was possible, he might as well enjoy life while he could. He absolutely refused to waste energy torturing himself over minor romantic worries.
Yin Chen fell silent briefly and decided not to continue the subject.
Sitting beside the bed, he casually played with Song Zang’s hand. To redirect the conversation, he simply returned to serious matters.
The Lin Dynasty was currently in a prosperous period. Its armies were powerful, its people lived comparatively stable lives, and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism did not yet exist. Women still faced restrictions everywhere, but economic conditions shaped social attitudes. Their position had not yet fallen to the horrifying degree seen in certain later periods.
Elio’s Notes: Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is the influential philosophical tradition associated especially with the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi. The novel is using its absence as part of this invented dynasty’s social backdrop.
An Eldest Princess possessed especially high status. Within the limits tolerated by the emperor, she could even openly interfere in state affairs.
Aside from being unable to inherit the throne, a princess could live just as freely as princes and royal lords. She did not need to fear being forcibly married into a political alliance. Keeping several male favorites was perfectly reasonable.
And once a princess voluntarily left the capital and permanently resided on her own estate, she gained even more freedom. She could maintain a group of elite private soldiers for self-defense and sponsor scholars into government positions. After all, examination candidates who emerged from the princess’s estates would inevitably carry the mark of her influence once they entered officialdom.
That young scholar was one of Yin Chen’s loyal subordinates.
His name was He Wen Bin, courtesy name Zichuan. He came from a collateral branch of an established aristocratic family.
He had grown up without worrying about food or clothing but received little attention from the clan. Only after the Eldest Princess noticed and promoted him did He Wen Bin gradually gain opportunities to display his quick mind and scholarly ability. After taking first place in the county examination, he maintained a top-three ranking through the subsequent examinations and successfully became a xiucai. He was even a linsheng, the most privileged category.
Elio’s Notes: A courtesy name is an additional name used alongside a person’s given name in traditional Chinese society. A linsheng was a student who received official grain or stipend support, so He Wen Bin’s status marks him as academically well established.
The pale, neat pageboy traveling with him had been given the name Xiu Zhu and was equally loyal to the Eldest Princess.
The two only knew that Yin Chen was fleeing enemies and needed to hide his identity in the countryside. So Scholar He had reluctantly announced to outsiders that Yin Chen was his maid.
In reality, neither of them knew Yin Chen’s true identity. They did not even know Yin Chen was male.
The longer Song Zang listened, the more impossible he found it to understand. “Why can none of them tell you’re a man?” Yin Chen slowly shook his head, equally confused. “Suspicious, isn’t it? Not only can they not tell I’m male, apparently they also haven’t noticed… that I’m beautiful.”
The second half of that sentence was a new suspicious point Yin Chen had only recently added.
Because Yin Chen trusted Song Zang’s aesthetic judgment. Dressed as a woman, he unquestionably qualified as beautiful.
Yet the Eldest Princess had never become famous throughout the Lin Dynasty for her beauty. Not even a single rumor had spread through the streets.
More absurdly, when villagers from Tianjia Village came to the school to watch the excitement, their eyes focused entirely on He Wen Bin. Even creepy elderly bachelors who could not find wives paid almost no attention to Yin Chen…
Their only impression seemed to be: “Pale and clean, exactly what you’d expect from Scholar He’s personal maid.” Nothing more.
This complete lack of attention suggested two possibilities.
First, everyone in the Lin Dynasty was blind and possessed deformed aesthetic standards.
Second, the Imperial Noble Consort had used some subtle method to blur the Eldest Princess’s appearance and protect her safety.
Yin Chen favored the second explanation.
This was not the first instance in which he had cross-dressed. In the past, he had attracted obsessively infatuated admirers and found them endlessly irritating.
This time, he was finally no longer standing at the center of everyone’s attention every moment. The sensation was comfortable and unfamiliar.
Unfortunately, extremely low presence was not necessarily good for clearing an instance efficiently.
Only when people paid attention to him could Yin Chen attract endless trouble. And only by solving that trouble could he rapidly uncover the instance background and locate more main-mission clues.
Yin Chen decided to conduct a comprehensive search and determine exactly where his lack of presence came from. He especially intended to inspect all the furniture and personal possessions brought into the village.
Song Zang did not interfere. He was less sensitive than Yin Chen toward concealed supernatural forces. If he remained nearby wandering around, he would probably only reduce Yin Chen’s efficiency. Better to split up.
After finishing his chrysanthemum tea, Song Zang’s temperature had dropped considerably. Yin Chen no longer kept him trapped in bed. Instead, he ordered the pageboy to search through trunks and cabinets and found several sets of brand-new clothing that also fit Song Zang.
The instant Song Zang changed into a soft moon-white robe, his entire appearance transformed. He looked exactly like a pampered, precious young master.
Yin Chen examined him repeatedly. Extremely satisfied, he insisted, “You’re never wearing ragged clothing again.”
Song Zang hesitated. “I can’t be the only one wearing expensive clothes every day while my parents keep wearing rough hemp. That would look bad, and people would gossip…”
“Then hurry up and marry me.” Yin Chen raised an eyebrow. “Once I marry you, all my money becomes yours.”
“…Then I’m absolutely living off my wife!”
＊
Song Zang left the school wearing the new clothing. He walked boldly and proudly, practically swaggering.
Ignoring the shocked gazes of villagers passing by, he headed toward the river and found Tian Yue Xiang still washing clothes.
“Mother!”
“Erlang? Why aren’t you resting properly at home? What are you doing at the river? Hurry back. Is your head still hot? Let Mother feel…”
Concern filled Tian Yue Xiang’s eyes. She did not even immediately notice Song Zang’s clothing had changed.
She wiped her wet, rough hands quickly against the bottom of her clothes and touched Song Zang’s forehead. Only after confirming his fever had not continued did she finally relax. Then her expression abruptly froze.
“…Erlang, where did those clothes come from?”
“Scholar He gave them to me. He said I have talent for studying and told me to attend school starting tomorrow. No tuition. He even waived the cost of books.”
Song Zang looked extremely proud and began lying without hesitation.
“Really?! You lazy brat. You’re almost old enough to marry. Where did this mysterious talent for studying come from?”
Tian Yue Xiang insulted him verbally while an uncontrollable smile blossomed across her face. She carefully examined Song Zang’s clothing and clicked her tongue in admiration. “This fabric isn’t cheap. Look, there’s even gold thread embroidered around the cuffs… Erlang, if Scholar He gives you expensive clothing for free, you absolutely cannot refuse to pay tuition, understand?
“You need to respect your teacher and follow proper etiquette. The gentleman is kind enough not to ask you for money, but our family still needs to show proper manners. You absolutely cannot walk into school empty-handed and let people laugh at us.”
Song Zang’s eyes brightened. “So I really can study?”
“Of course. Mother wishes you’d learn a few more characters. You were the one who refused to attend school when you were little. You cried like someone was killing you.”
Tian Yue Xiang cheerfully exposed Song Zang’s embarrassing childhood while taking his hand and walking a long circle along the river. She deliberately passed every woman washing clothes along the bank so she could enthusiastically show off her beautiful son.
The women stared with delight and envy. They could not even bring themselves to act bitter.
After all, in a tiny mountain village, people rarely saw the standard clothing of educated men.
He wore a zhiduo robe with a crossed collar and wide sleeves, cinched by a fitted belt with a jade tassel hanging from one side. Respectable and expensive, it immediately made him look like “a young gentleman from the city” with obvious future prospects. Song Zang’s reputation instantly rose several levels. In everyone’s eyes, the spoiled, useless young wastrel who did nothing but receive affection had suddenly transformed into a pale, beautiful future scholar.
Elio’s Notes: A zhiduo is a traditional long robe, later especially associated with scholars, religious figures, and respectable male dress. Here the clothing immediately changes how the villagers read Song Zang’s social status.
People in the old days cared deeply about appearances. Song Zang’s reputation reversal depended entirely on the combined power of clothing and face.
After showing him off ruthlessly, Tian Yue Xiang was finally satisfied. She picked up the basin of washed clothing and walked home with Song Zang.
Smiling brightly, she began fantasizing about the future. “Erlang, if you really manage to learn something, our old Song family will become remarkable. Several aunties back there already took an interest in you! In a few years, once you qualify as a tongsheng, how about marrying a girl from town?”
Song Zang paused. He immediately seized the opportunity to raise the crucial subject. “Mother, actually, I already have a girl I like. I want to find a matchmaker and propose as soon as possible.”
“Oh? In such a hurry? Whose daughter?”
“Scholar He’s maid, Miss Yin…”
Tian Yue Xiang’s expression changed dramatically. “What?! Absolutely not. With a brilliant gentleman like Scholar He right in front of her, how could that girl possibly look at you?”
“Why wouldn’t she? Miss Yin already met me today. She’s very satisfied. She’ll bring one hundred taels as dowry. Our family only needs to provide fifty taels.”
“Fifty taels! Fifty taels!” Tian Yue Xiang looked even more horrified. “Erlang, do you know how much bride-price your father gave when he married me? Fifteen taels! It shocked every village around here!
“My god, Erlang. Fifty taels is enough for us to marry the older daughter of the neighboring landlord. Why insist on a maid?” Tian Yue Xiang suppressed several things she wanted to say. Most maids were household-born bonded servants whose contracts were held by the master’s family. Merely buying their freedom could easily cost more than fifty taels.
And a young maid who had followed some wealthy gentleman since childhood… whether her body was still “clean” was extremely difficult to know.
But Tian Yue Xiang did not say any of that aloud. She did not want to create resentment between mother and son later.
“Mother, I just like him!”
Song Zang knew Tian Yue Xiang would never agree easily, so he simply began acting spoiled. “I don’t care. I’m marrying him. Scholar He already agreed!”
“…Stop making a scene with me. Go home and ask Great-Grandfather. He controls the family’s large expenses. If Great-Grandfather agrees, Mother can’t stop you.”
Tian Yue Xiang sighed and said nothing further.
She had never been capable of truly controlling Song Zang. At most, she scolded him occasionally and tried to suppress the tyrannical temperament of her younger son. Most of the time, all she could do was spoil him.
The entire family spoiled the youngest. As a daughter-in-law from another surname, Tian Yue Xiang simply did not have the authority to overrule everyone.
Forget it. She was used to it.
Things proceeded far more smoothly than Song Zang expected. Once they returned home and explained everything, Great-Grandfather Song agreed to the marriage very quickly.
The old man had not initially intended to give in. Then he noticed the jade tassel hanging from Song Zang’s new belt. For some inexplicable reason, he froze. After that, he stopped objecting.
He returned to his room and searched for quite a while before producing a banknote worth fifty taels and handing it to Song Zang’s father. “Wei Yi, keep this. On the next school rest day, hire an ox cart and take Erlang into town. Exchange this note for silver at the bank. Remember, be careful. It must be official government silver ingots. Not a single piece of loose silver.”
Tianjia Village’s school operated five days before resting one. The nearest rest day was the day after tomorrow. Only one final step remained before Song Zang could marry Yin Chen!
Song Zang was extremely excited. His father showed little emotional reaction.
Ever since losing the ability to father children, Song Wei Yi had become another almost invisible man inside the household. Quiet and withdrawn, he spent every day buried in labor. Carefully accepting the banknote, he respectfully said, “Understood, Great-Grandfather.”
Great-Grandfather nodded. His expression became complicated as he rubbed Song Zang’s head. “Erlang, once you marry, live properly. Study seriously. Stop causing trouble. You’ll accomplish something.”
Song Zang obediently answered, “Yes.” At the same time, he discreetly studied the stern, authoritative old man.
Great-Grandfather Song was not simple.
Nearly seventy years old, already a great-grandfather, yet his health remained excellent. There was almost no sign of frailty.
In an era when the average male life expectancy barely reached fifty, Great-Grandfather Song practically qualified as an ancestral relic. If he survived another decade or two, even the emperor might invite him to a celebratory banquet.
Song Zang secretly examined the old man’s arms. Great-Grandfather had definitely practiced martial arts when he was younger. Song Zang sensed no existence of “internal energy,” but the distribution of muscle across his body remained unusually dense and balanced. He looked powerful, stronger than ordinary farm workers.
During the old war, the fact that this man had dragged his entire family here as refugees absolutely concealed some hidden history. Perhaps… he was even one of the characters connected to the main mission. Asking directly would definitely produce nothing valuable. Song Zang could only observe him secretly and wait for opportunities to investigate.
He did not return to the school that afternoon. Instead, he obediently remained at home.
After all, Song Zang had already become the village’s second most attention-grabbing person today. After Tian Yue Xiang dragged him around showing him off, every household knew Scholar He had personally selected him and waived the tuition from his own pocket. To avoid unnecessary trouble, keeping a low profile now was better.
Tian Yue Xiang also forbade him from casually visiting Yin Chen again. According to her, meeting privately without a matchmaker counted as illicit relations. If discovered, people could be drowned inside a pig cage.
Elio’s Notes: “Drowning in a pig cage” refers to a notorious form of extralegal punishment associated in later traditional accounts with illicit sexual relationships or adultery. Tian Yue Xiang is warning Song Zang against private meetings before the marriage is formally arranged.
Combined with his elder brother and sister-in-law refusing to let him help with chores, Song Zang was once again forced into being a useless stay-at-home son.
He pretended to lie around doing nothing. In reality, he secretly climbed onto the roof and observed the movement patterns of villagers and his own family.
Tianjia Village was large. Its customs appeared simple. There were roughly five immigrant households. Aside from the Song family, who possessed money and land, none had achieved much. Everyone else remained ordinary, honest farmers toiling with their faces to the yellow earth and their backs to the sky.
Great-Grandfather and Grandfather followed an extremely regular routine. Every morning, they smoked a pipe of water tobacco. After lunch, they went out to play cards. After dinner, they took a walk. The rest of the time, they helped with assorted household tasks.
Song Zang decided to act during their evening walk.
Summer was hot, and darkness arrived later.
His sister-in-law deliberately cooked an enormous pot of soft corn porridge. The side dishes were two plates of pickled vegetables, one dish of greens with tofu, and flatbread left over from lunch.
There was no meat. But during a severe drought, this still qualified as an extravagantly generous dinner. After eating, his father and elder brother carried shoulder poles to fetch water. Both older men left for their evening walk. Song Zang acted without hesitation.
Taking advantage of Great-Grandfather’s absence, he avoided his sister-in-law’s gaze, silently slipped into the main building, and opened Great-Grandfather’s bedroom.
One bed, one table, one battered wardrobe. Very simple. No decoration. A faint tobacco smell lingered in the bedding.
Without making a sound, Song Zang tore the entire room apart in his search. He actually found banknotes worth a total of five thousand taels, along with scattered gold beans and fragments of silver.
They had been hidden separately inside different wooden boxes and pillows, sewn into the linings of underclothes, stuffed into cracks between bricks on all four walls, buried among miscellaneous junk beneath the bed… Song Zang had never imagined the Song family was this unbelievably wealthy. The combined businesses of several village landlords could not compare.
After recovering from the shock, Song Zang became even more suspicious that Great-Grandfather Song had once offended someone extremely powerful.
Five thousand taels in banknotes was not money an ordinary person could simply earn. The Song family could have purchased an enormous residence in the county seat and operated several low-risk businesses. As long as no one became addicted to gambling, four entire generations could eat and drink recklessly for the rest of their lives without spending five thousand taels.
Yet Great-Grandfather lived this quietly. He had deliberately settled inside an inconvenient mountain village and maintained a simple, almost impoverished lifestyle.
There was definitely a huge problem behind this. He had very likely come to Tianjia Village to escape disaster. It was even possible that the Song family’s ancestors had never been surnamed Song at all.
Unfortunately, Song Zang found nothing capable of proving any special identity. No jewelry, official tokens, jade pendants, nothing.
Great-Grandfather truly was so “poor” that all he had left was five thousand taels of silver. Song Zang restored the disturbed wardrobe with perfect precision. He erased every footprint left on the floor and silently slipped away.
He did not go interrogate Great-Grandfather. Instead, he turned his attention toward Grandfather Song, who had fled the war with him. Grandfather had already possessed a wife and child at the time, and his wife had died during their escape… This quiet, honest old man definitely knew part of the truth.
The elderly men returned from their walk. Great-Grandfather went to sleep early. Grandfather sat inside the courtyard enjoying the cool night air.
Song Zang carried over a small stool and sat beside him. He slowly nibbled an osmanthus cake Yin Chen had stuffed into his hands earlier and casually gave Grandfather half. At the same time, he discreetly examined him.
The widowed old man’s beard was rough and unkempt. During dinner he had slurped his porridge without any concern for appearances, even leaving wet corn kernels stuck inside his beard. He had not cared. Now, while eating the sweet cake, crumbs sprayed from his mouth. He looked exactly like an ordinary rural farmer: simple, coarse, entirely without refined education, and paying no attention whatsoever to his appearance.
Song Zang rested his chin on one hand and tilted his head. “Grandfather, what kind of person was Grandmother?”
Grandfather froze. “Erlang, why are you suddenly asking about that…”
“I never met her, so of course I’m curious. My future wife said her grandmother was very beautiful. So was my grandmother beautiful too? Was her hair all white, or black and shiny like Mother’s?”
Song Zang asked casually like an immature child curious about everything. Yet the corner of his gaze remained firmly fixed on Grandfather’s slightly cloudy eyes.
Grandfather Song fell silent. He tucked the remaining cake inside his clothes, picked up the nearby water pipe, and took several deep pulls before finally saying in a low voice, “Of course she was beautiful. She was the most capable woman in the world. Music, chess, calligraphy, painting, horse riding and archery. She mastered everything.”
Song Zang became even more curious. “If she was that capable, why didn’t Grandmother survive? She was clearly so strong.”
“Because I was useless. I burdened her. I was a worthless man. I failed her…” Grandfather sighed. “Erlang, whatever you do, don’t become like me. Study properly. Take responsibility like your elder brother. Treat your wife well. Understand?”
“I know, I know.” Song Zang deliberately nodded impatiently and stopped asking.
His grandmother had most likely been the daughter of an official family. Her status could not have been low. Otherwise, there was almost no possibility she would have learned horseback riding and archery.
Following that logic, Grandfather Song’s original family could not have been ordinary either. Perhaps it had been an alliance between a military family and a civil-official clan?
More specific details could not be uncovered immediately. Asking too much would easily make people suspicious.
Today’s investigation ended here.
The sun set. Everything fell silent. Time to sleep.
There was almost no entertainment inside a small mountain village. The instant sunlight disappeared, the entire village hurried to extinguish lamps and sleep. Even the livestock and poultry raised inside the households seemed to rest at exactly the same time. The silence was almost unsettling.
Song Zang neatly folded his outer robe. Under Tian Yue Xiang’s repeated urging, he fetched water, washed, and climbed into bed early to preserve his energy for school tomorrow.
Then he tossed and turned for an entire hour without falling asleep.
Because it was simply too quiet.
No one snored. No insect wings fluttered. No mice scratched through soil. There was not even the faint rustling sound of wind moving through treetops…
It was midsummer. How could there not even be mosquitoes buzzing?
The more Song Zang thought about it, the more wrong everything felt. A steadily strengthening chill quietly rose through his heart.
Unable to resist, he abruptly opened his eyes. The sight nearly made his blood flow backward. He froze on the bed, incapable of moving.
A pair of human eyeballs threaded with dense red veins floated in midair. Inside the pitch-black night, they stared directly into Song Zang’s eyes, so close that only the width of his trembling eyelashes separated them. There was no lamplight. The moon was dim. Raised, tangled blood vessels spread across the whites like spiderwebs, leaving two hollow, dark, widely dilated pupils. The sight was grotesque and horrifying.
These were the eyes of a dead person.
Recently dead. The blood was still warm. The capillaries were severely swollen and distorted. Before death, the victim had suffered a tremendous shock and might have experienced extreme terror.
Song Zang gathered numerous clues within one instant. But most people in this era suffered from night blindness.
By normal logic, Song Zang should not have been able to see the eyes at all.
So the safest response was to continue pretending he could not see them.
Song Zang forced his body to relax. As though merely sleepy, he yawned, narrowed his eyes, turned onto his side, and continued pretending to sleep.
Until faint, cold breathing slowly brushed across the side of his face, little by little breaking apart the deathly silence.
Who was standing beside the bed?