They say the first thing a man does when he reaches shore is cut down the one he loves. Li Xuanji had ground through ten bitter years, then survived two more that nearly stopped his heart.
Now, at last, things had settled. It seemed he wanted to sever all ties with the past.
The next day he went to work as usual.
"Um, Brother Li…"
Li Xuanji wore a smile at the corner of his mouth. "Haven't you always just called me Old Li? I haven't given you any money—why the sudden 'Brother Li'? You're not trying to borrow some, are you? Because sorry to tell you, your Brother Li is even broker than you."
Little Liu, who had been somewhat tense, relaxed. Old Li was still the same Old Li—cracking jokes, shooting the breeze. Everything was fine.
"Brother Li, was that really your wife yesterday?"
"What, you wanted a longer look?"
"No, no, nothing like that. I just thought—a woman that beautiful, you must come from a good family."
"It's all right, I suppose. We're originally from the capital. These past two years the capital's been in tremendous turmoil, so we fled."
"Makes sense. There's no safer place in the world than our Dragon City! They say our Eight Hundred Wolf Soldiers are invincible under heaven!"
"If they wanted to, they could probably take the capital without breaking a sweat."
Li Xuanji nodded along obligingly, though inwardly he thought nothing of it.
The Wolf Soldiers were formidable—that much was true. But he was not an ordinary man of limited experience like Little Liu.
No matter how fearsome cavalry were in open-field combat, they were not unstoppable.
Leave aside traps, leave aside the wearing down of men and horses—cavalry, however powerful, could not take a city.
If they could, the northern barbarians would have broken through the capital's walls countless times by now.
Come to think of it, if those Ming traitors hadn't handed the capital over on a platter, it never would have fallen.
All these years, the barbarians had swept south season after season and had never once breached a single major city.
They simply didn't have enough men.
But now—now was another matter. Word had it that after the barbarians seized the northern capital, they had been steadily moving their people into the city.
It seemed they had no intention of leaving. They were settling in, planting roots, ready to play the long game.
The barbarians' fighting strength, now backed by cities and vast stretches of territory.
It would be difficult. Very difficult.
Li Xuanji's thoughts had drifted far away when the squad captain arrived. Catching sight of him, the man's expression was a sight to behold—three parts astonishment, three parts flattery, three parts hesitation, and one part suspicion—as he took the initiative to call out a greeting.
"Old—Old Li, your family just arrived, didn't they? Why don't you take a few days off?"
"No need, Captain. They're all settled in. Nothing for me to worry about."
"Well, well, don't get up, don't get up—sit, sit. We're on duty at the corner intersection again today. Take a rest first, then head over."
Li Xuanji passed another unremarkable day.
That evening, returning home, he saw the front door standing open again. He frowned. Who was it this time—Wen Jingran, or Lin Zhenghui?
One or the other kept showing up to let themselves into his place every few days. He felt too awkward to say anything, but apparently they had no such compunctions.
Though in fairness, one couldn't entirely blame Old Lin. After all, Li Xuanji's place was only so big—it would hardly do for Old Lin to stand waiting at the door outside. Lin Zhenghui was the Governor of Jiangxi, after all. If someone spotted him loitering outside a modest apartment, Li Xuanji's true identity could very well be blown.
Li Xuanji pushed the door open with a furrowed brow and stepped inside—and a woman's figure met his eyes. Her clothes were plain, yet they could not conceal her bearing or her beauty.
"Jiang Ying?"
The woman was clumsily pushing a mop across the floor. When she saw Li Xuanji come in, her face broke into a smile that put every flower in the world to shame.
"Husband, you're home."
"You—what are you…"
"Whether you're emperor or not, I am still your wife—the one you married first."
"I was raised on the Three Obediences and Four Virtues. I understand what it means to follow where a husband leads."
"Living like this, with nothing to manage and nothing to fret over, is actually rather wonderful."
"We used to worry about the country every single day. Now let us simply live quietly and tend to our own little life."
"Jiang Ying…" Li Xuanji felt a sting behind his eyes. He crossed the room and folded Empress Jiang into his arms.
"Oh—have you eaten? I haven't yet. I could make something for you… never mind, I'm no good at cooking. And we have no servants anymore. I'll learn, little by little."
"It's not easy to cook here anyway. Come on—let's go eat downstairs on the street."
The two of them went down side by side and stepped into the fast-food restaurant on the ground floor. Li Xuanji picked up two bowls of rice, one meat dish and one vegetable, and handed over two yuan and one jiao.
They sat together and ate. Empress Jiang sighed with quiet contentment. "It tastes good. And all this for just twenty-one wen—so cheap."
"I think it's ordinary, myself. You're probably just in a good mood, so everything seems better."
Li Xuanji said nothing aloud, but privately reflected: *not cheap at all—twenty-one wen could feed a common family outside these walls for several days.*
After dinner they returned home. As night fell, husband and wife lay side by side on the narrow double bed and talked.
"I went to see that young girl today—the one called Jinyuan. I asked her all sorts of things."
"I have to say, that girl is as innocent as the day is long."
"I know we need money to live here. I still had some private savings, so I went to that place—the bank—and had it exchanged. It should be enough to keep us going for a while."
As she spoke, Empress Jiang drew a paper package from the bedside drawer.
Li Xuanji opened it. Three neat stacks of crimson banknotes met his eyes, and our Emperor's breathing quickened.
A mere thirty thousand yuan—three hundred taels of silver by the old reckoning—and it had shattered the composure of an emperor.
That was because Li Xuanji had not truly understood the value of money until he came here.
In the old days, no matter how much money he had, it was nothing more than numbers—an instrument of rule.
"I still have some gold and silver jewelry. If it isn't enough…"
"It's enough, it's enough! The two of us can live comfortably on ten yuan a day at most. This will last us ten years!"
In his excitement, Li Xuanji actually leaned over and kissed Empress Jiang on the cheek.
"Your Maj—Husband." Empress Jiang flushed with mingled joy and shyness. Had it not been ten years since His Majesty had kissed her?
Well, one couldn't blame Li Xuanji for losing his composure. A single coin can bring a hero to his knees, as they say.
The pressure of the court was gone—but a new pressure had taken its place.
What he earned wasn't enough to live on, and on top of that he owed Jinyuan three hundred yuan. The weight of a debt is something only a debtor can truly know.
But now, all of that was put right. He could pay off his debt.
To owe nothing to anyone.
What a fine feeling that was.