Liang Feng was stripped of his royal title and reduced to a commoner, placed under house arrest at Grand Xiangguo Temple. The imperial decree was harsh: he was to be tonsured and become a monk, leaving for the Western Regions on a pilgrimage the next day, forbidden to ever set foot in the East again.
I was dragged home, still struggling. “Let me go! Let me go!”
With a heavy thud, the doors closed behind me.
“Father, untie me!” I shouted.
Father’s face was drawn. “The Emperor forbade it. He said you’re to be tied up until Liang Feng departs.”
“All this happened because Liang Feng took the blame for me and our family. If I just let him leave like this, what kind of man would I be?”
Father sighed deeply. “If you understand that, then don’t be reckless. He’s the Emperor’s own brother and still ended up like this. If this trouble really fell on you… The Emperor already warned me: if you so much as try to see his brother again, he’ll have you torn limb from limb.”
I was stunned, left alone in the ancestral hall. The place was cold and gloomy if the ancestral hall was like this, how much colder must the temple be? How could I let Liang Feng spend the rest of his life alone, under the cold light of a Buddha lamp?
His hair was always so beautiful like silk.
I worked at the ropes with a blade hidden in my sleeve, finally freeing myself. Kneeling before the ancestral tablets, I bowed deeply.
“Grandfather, Great-grandfather, Ancestors, I’m torn between loyalty and love, but today I have to save Liang Feng. If I die for it, at least you’ll still have my sister. She’s much more capable than I am , if you need anything, ask her in your dreams.”
I added my sister’s name to the family register, shouldered my spear, and led my horse quietly into the night.
The road to Grand Xiangguo Temple felt endless, like I was running for a lifetime. But the temple shone like a beacon on the mountain, just as Liang Feng always waited for me with a lantern, even if he could only sleep on the floor.
I charged in, white horse and silver spear, to find Liang Feng in monk’s robes, his long hair uncut, kneeling before the Buddha, a blade poised above his head.
He turned to me, eyes shining with a thousand stars, just as he had every night since our marriage, waiting for me to come home.
That look said it all: what you yearn for will always echo back.
“Liang Feng, I’ve come to save you!”
I grabbed Liang Feng’s hand and pulled him onto my horse, drawing the attention of the monks. I flashed the Crimson Bow, a gift from the Emperor. “This is the Emperor’s own bow , see it as seeing His Majesty himself!”
The monks dropped their staves and knelt, clearing a path for us.
We galloped out under the bright moon and warm spring wind. After five miles, I stopped. “Are you alright?”
Liang Feng nodded, clutching his prayer beads. “I’m fine.”
I stuffed rations into his arms. “Go! The world is vast once you’re out of the capital, the Emperor can’t touch you.”
“You’re just here to send me off?” he asked quietly.
I nodded. What was a life, if not worth risking for him?
But Liang Feng turned to leave. “Then you should go home.”
“Hey! I risked everything to save you , why go back to that place?”
He fingered his beads, looking up at me. “A fortune-teller once said I had a Buddhist destiny, that I might become a monk at twenty. But all these years, only one person ever tied me to the mortal world.”
I was speechless.
“The world is big, but without you, it’s all the same.”
Tears spilled down my face. “You knew it was me?”
“I knew.”
“You always liked me, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Seeing me cry, he wiped away my tears. “These days with you have been enough. Just remembering them, I could live to eighty.”
I drew my blade and cut a lock of my hair, tying it with red string and handing it to him.
He stared, stunned. “I haven’t answered your third question yet.”
“The third question: How can you promise we’ll be together for life?” I pressed the hair into his hand. “A lifetime ,here, I give it to you.”
Liang Feng accepted it solemnly, and I led him toward Chao Yun Temple.
“If the world won’t have us, we’ll both become monks under that big camphor tree.”
“Hmph, some people throw breakup letters at me, but secretly write my name and hang it on trees.”
“When you left the palace, I heard you hated me. I was so angry.”
“I was just a kid!”
“Did you think the rumors about my precociousness were false?” Liang Feng laced his fingers with mine, his gaze soft as spring water. “I’ve wanted you a thousand times over.”
His eyes drew me in, and I kissed him sweetly for a long while.
Then I worried aloud, “If we become monks, will I have to study Buddhist scriptures? What if I can’t understand them?”
Just then, laughter rang out from the woods. “The Buddha doesn’t bother with fools, haha!”
I never expected to run into my sister there dressed in bright red, but on closer look, it was the official robe of a newly minted top scholar.
I gaped. “Didn’t you elope with a scholar? Why are you dressed as one?”
She dismounted, hat bobbing. “Unlike you, I couldn’t inherit the title, so I secretly took the exams. This year, some get married, some top the imperial exams our Qiao family must be blessed!”
“You’re the new top scholar, Bu Gaosheng, who hosted the banquet at Azure Pavilion?” Liang Feng asked.
My sister bowed. “Prince Liang please forgive me Qiao family’s daughter eloped with the new top scholar Bu Gaosheng~”
“Truly, my sister is remarkable. But why are you here tonight?”
“To clean up your mess, of course , come along.”
We all mounted up, but this time, Liang Feng held the reins while I sat in his lap, happily munching on yam pastries.
“How will you fix things for us?” I asked.
“Simple , cling to the Emperor’s leg and cry.”
I shuddered at the mention of the Emperor. “Liang Feng, he said if I so much as look at you, he’ll have me torn apart.”
Liang Feng looked grim, but my sister just laughed. “The Emperor loves setting challenges for people. It’s his favorite game.”
“What do you mean , is this a test?”
She just smiled. “If you answer right, you’re rewarded. If not, well, that’s the palace exam. You’ll see soon.”
She said no more, leaving Liang Feng and me to exchange worried glances.
In the palace, the Emperor lounged on his throne, book in hand, looking half asleep. When we were announced, he yawned. “Brought them back?”
My sister sat. “I didn’t save him ,Xiao Qiao did.”
I knelt quickly, Liang Feng at my side.
“I told you, one more time and you’d die, right?” The Emperor straightened, suddenly sharp.
“Shut up!” he snapped, slamming his book down. I realized it was our family register , my name was already crossed out.
“So you’re really set on being with Liang Feng? Even if you’re both men, even if the world mocks you, even if he’s lost everything you’ll risk your life for him?”
I looked at Liang Feng, nodded furiously. “Willing! Absolutely! A hundred thousand times willing! So does he still have to go west?”
“He’s my brother! My only brother!” the Emperor thundered. “He never knew our father, lost our mother as a baby I’d never really send him away! Why do you think I gave you the Crimson Bow?”
“He doesn’t have to go?!” I was so happy I grabbed Liang Feng’s hand and laughed like a fool.
The Emperor rolled his eyes. “Qiao Yulin, remember what you said today. If you ever wrong Liang Feng, I won’t forgive you.”
“Yes, Uncle!”
“Who’s your uncle!” The Emperor slammed the table. “Liang Feng married you!”
I collapsed into Liang Feng’s arms. “You married me”
“Yes, I married you” Liang Feng wrapped his arm around me, kissing my hair. “Only you.”
Once, I was his study companion, always outshone by him. Now, as his spouse, he let me win at everything. Being his wife was so much better than being his brother!
So, at nineteen, I, Qiao Yulin, became the Princess Consort of Prince Liang both a decorated officer and the imperial son-in-law.
The next year, after top scholar Bu Gaosheng took two months’ leave for illness, we helped my sister raise her little daughter.
End
Chapter 05
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