The Six Arts of a gentleman were rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.
Princess Fang was no gentleman, and neither were her adopted sons. But they had spent years among the capital’s nobles, where they presented themselves as young heirs trained in both scholarship and war. To keep up with fashion, they had also learned to drive and race carriages. Their lessons had involved guiding four fine horses and a brand-new war chariot at the highest possible speed, but they could manage an earthen cart drawn by three inferior horses just as well.
Chen Liang held the reins while Wang Qian sat beside him. Wang Qian lifted the carriage curtain and leaned inside.
“Mother, forgive me for saying this again. Things have come too far. The only way to keep you safe is to kill him.”
Princess Fang remained silent.
Zhang Hua said evenly, “Who would go? If anyone has a chance of assassinating him, it is Jin Wu… and he knows that.”
The flesh on Princess Fang’s face twitched twice. She clenched her teeth, shut her eyes, and refused to speak.
Zhang Hua watched her from the corner of his eye and deliberately continued. “Although nothing remains of Jin Wu’s body, at least he died quickly and did not suffer much. You need not take it too much to heart, Mother.”
Zhang Hua was not showing off, acting willfully, or trying to avenge Jin Wuniang by provoking her. He had thought it through carefully. *When* they killed the grand chancellor did not matter. What mattered was forcing Princess Fang to make a final decision now, while she was gravely wounded and had just lost her favorite adopted son.
Once her injuries healed and Jin Wuniang faded from memory, the grand chancellor might decide she was too difficult to kill and lay some intricate trap to capture her instead. Softhearted and loyal as she was, she would surely reconcile with him. Killing the grand chancellor would be best. But even if they failed, an attempt on his life would prevent Princess Fang from returning to him and falling into another trap.
She might not agree at once to send someone to kill him. But if her heart left him completely, she would be like an eagle soaring into the open sky or a dragon returning to the sea. Nothing could bind her again.
Chen Liang had not considered anything so complicated. In his simple, gentle way, he said, “Mother, I know you cannot bear to act because you fear for your own children’s safety and position. You worry that once he dies, you will not be able to control the court, the martial world, and the outlaw strongholds alone, and our family will be in danger. But you cannot keep putting old loyalties first.
“If you die, will he truly spare your own blood? Could he care more for your children than he cared for you? The two of you spent your lives facing death together and supporting each other. At court and throughout the martial world, people praise you as the perfect devoted couple. But what is the truth? One person’s heart is hidden inside their body, and no one knows what another will do.
“You believe he would never harm the children you share. But you also believed he would never raise a weapon against you. Every time you went to see him, you removed your soft armor so he would understand your feelings. Even when danger surrounded you and the situation left no room to breathe, you still met him with an open heart. And what did he do? Does he understand? Has he treated you as you deserve? Mother, he is beyond your predictions. You care for him too deeply to guess what he might do.”
Wang Qian suppressed his impatience and said earnestly, “Eldest Brother is right! Mother, you owe him no consideration.”
Zhang Hua said patiently, “Eldest Brother is right. Put aside the bond between husband and wife and think about his nature. Would he leave three children alive when they are all likely to avenge their mother? A tiger may not devour its cubs, but people are different.”
“I feel little affection for him. Otherwise, I would not have arranged concubines for him just to buy myself some peace,” Princess Fang said calmly. “What I care about is martial skill, power, and wealth. He is merely a rare talent. But now I have lost everything I valued, and Jin Wu is dead. Anger clouds the mind. I do not know whether the decision I make now will be right.”
With a trace of bitterness but complete honesty, Princess Fang said, “I have never been trapped in such a wretched position. I do not know what to do. I am no longer young. In the past, no matter what I did, how far I fled, or how many people I killed, I never felt the least bit tired. Sometimes, the more dangers and difficulties I faced, the sharper my mind became. I always felt my strength could never run out.
“But I am only human. Now I am an old woman whose whole body aches and whose heart is full of worry.
“I struggled and fought all my life. The blood and sweat I shed would surpass that of ten ordinary people combined. Yet now I must keep hiding and fleeing like a wild beast pursued by hunters. I once possessed the greatest stretch of land in the world, and now I do not even have a place to rest. Worst of all, I trained the hunter chasing me, and I trained his hounds too.
“My household, my reputation and authority, my servants, everything I love–all of it belongs to someone else now,” Princess Fang said. “But if I live, I can take it all back. Jin Wu is dead. I do not want you to follow him.”
Wang Qian said quickly, “Mother, all four of us brothers are willing to die for you. We only want you to… It does not matter what for, as long as you live. Live with the same courage you had before, roaring at heaven, charging through every obstacle, cutting roads through mountains, throwing bridges across rivers, defeating generals and seizing banners all the way. Then our deaths will have been worthwhile. You are one of the great heroes of this age. You cannot let this destroy you.”
“I know. I will not fail Jin Wu or you three.” Princess Fang closed her eyes briefly. “My good sons. You truly are good children. Zhang Hua will remain with me. Chen Liang, Wang Qian–use every ounce of strength and every method you can devise to kill the grand chancellor. If you cannot, spread word that he tried to murder his wife.”
Wang Qian was overjoyed and repeatedly accepted the order. The two brothers prepared with murder in their hearts, checking their gear, rubbing poison onto their blades, and altering their appearances.
Chen Liang remained as gentle as ever. With some unease in his heart, he asked, “Mother, what should we do?”
“I do not know.” Princess Fang raised her head. “I used to know everything because I had enough information. Now I have none.”
Chen Liang looked a little dejected. “Mother, you have made friends everywhere and shown kindness without limit. Your popularity is famous. Anyone who mentions the Golden Saber Princess raises a thumb in praise. Even martial artists a generation older than you call you ‘Your Highness’ or the ‘Golden Saber Overlord.’ You also planted countless hidden agents across every mountain and province. Yet now–”
Zhang Hua ground his teeth and said softly, “Mother’s friends are also his friends. Anyone who owes Mother a favor owes him some goodwill too. He stands in the light while Mother hides in the dark, and ordinary people do not understand what happened. Mother has treated him far too generously.”
Princess Fang said calmly, “A friend does not cease to be a friend merely because you cannot see them. We never would have reached this place if friends had not hidden us along the road and transferred their inner energy to me one after another.”
Wang Qian asked doubtfully, “Mother, are you making that up to comfort us?”
“Do you remember the poor man whose hand I held while telling his fortune? He is the father of the Green Phoenix Sword Sect’s leader and an old friend of mine. He was trying to reopen my energy center.”
Wang Qian still did not believe her. “But I heard you talking to him. How could either of you speak while transferring inner energy?”
Zhang Hua smiled sweetly. “The poor man was not the one speaking. The young woman who let Mother use her lap as a pillow was throwing her voice. She is the new leader of the Green Phoenix Sword Sect. She is beautiful, virtuous, and highly skilled–one of the possible wives chosen for Second Brother Wang. Come. It is time for our elder brothers to leave.”
Wang Qian asked one last question. “Why has our uncle, the Duke of Wei, not come to save you?”
Zhang Hua replied, “Uncle has devoted himself to arresting every corrupt official under heaven. He holds posts in both the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate. In his eyes, affairs of state come before affairs of family.”
Wang Qian sighed. “The man I sent to deliver a message to Uncle was killed too. Otherwise, the grand chancellor could not have escaped the law.”
Princess Fang shook a packet of powder from her sleeve.
“This poison kills as soon as it enters the blood. While we were at the inn, the innkeeper was an old friend who had disguised himself to meet me. I asked him to obtain it. Use it without concern. It is the same sort of poison those men use all the time.
“When he captured the two of you, the grand chancellor was disguised as the head constable. His reports told him you had brought a poor monk with you. He saw me but failed to recognize me. Take three signal arrows. Firing one to startle anyone who approaches may help you determine who they are.”
Chen Liang and Wang Qian leaped down from the carriage and onto the two horses tethered alongside it. Chen Liang turned his mount and called, “Mother, will you stay alive?”
Princess Fang answered without hesitation. “I will!”
Wang Qian was delighted. “Then we will come back alive too!”
Zhang Hua moved outside to drive the carriage. After a while, he asked softly, “Mother, do you intend to remain in the capital?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Only because you have enough secret places to hide there?”
“Because fate has decreed that I will live if I remain in the capital and die if I leave it.”
“Can the person who told you that be trusted?”
“He said my mother would be killed, and she was. He said I would marry my younger brother, and I married the man who had become my sworn younger brother. He said I would take the outlaw’s road into the greenwood and finally walk straight onto the road of official rank. That came true too. He said I would have one daughter and six sons. Counting all of you, I do. He said fate would turn husband and wife against each other and make enemies of their children.”
Zhang Hua shuddered almost imperceptibly. “By taking you away from the capital, we might have caused your death? Mother! I did not know.”
Princess Fang said calmly, “I knew. I do not blame you.”
With a trace of hope, Zhang Hua asked, “That man must make mistakes sometimes, mustn’t he?”
“That man is a Great Golden Immortal. Blades and spears cannot pierce him, fire and water cannot harm him, and he can turn stone into gold. He once saved my life in the midst of a vast army.” A faint sneer entered Princess Fang’s voice. “If he told the truth, then everything he said will come to pass. But who can say whether even a Great Golden Immortal might lie?”
“Would he lie?”
“He played a trick on me the first time we met. I was so furious I wanted to kill someone, and you know how rarely I kill.”
* * *
After leaving Princess Fang, Chen Liang and Wang Qian turned their horses around to meet the grand chancellor.
Wang Qian studied their surroundings for a long while. Then he carried his paired bronze maces up a century-old tree beside the road.
Chen Liang coated both his treasured saber and his arrowheads with the poison that killed as soon as it entered the blood.
He had never used poison before. But he had to keep Princess Fang alive and avenge Jin Wu, whose body had been crushed to powder. What did poisoned weapons matter now?
To ease the hatred in his heart, he would cut down his enemy with his own hands.
The brothers were too young to rank as more than second-rate fighters in the grand chancellor’s residence. But even its first-rate experts did not know the defensive formations the household normally used, much less how to pass through those formations and reach the positions assigned to the grand chancellor and Princess Fang.
Chen Liang and Wang Qian, however, knew those most important and confidential arrangements by heart.
That was what they relied upon.