Consort of a Thousand Faces

A row of horse carriages and bull carts stopped on the grass, followed shortly by various imperial guards who began to carry away the corpses.

 

When an imperial guard spotted her, he immediately pointed at the horse carriage at the front. “Are you Prince Hao’s servant girl, Su Xi-er?”

 

Su Xi-er nodded, prompting the imperial guard to continue speaking, “Quickly get onto that horse carriage and head for the capital’s posthouse. Prince Hao doesn’t have that much patience.”

 

Another imperial guard immediately walked to the front of the carriage and raised the horse whip before urging her to hurry. “Quick.”

 

Su Xi-er was soon sitting inside the horse carriage as it began to fade away into the distance, heading towards Nanzhao’s capital.

 

Behind the trees, the man in blue slightly narrowed his eyes. Her name is Su Xi-er, and she is the servant girl of Beimin’s Prince Hao.

 

~~~

 

In less than half an hour, the horse carriage had entered Nanzhao’s capital. Su Xi-er couldn’t help but lift the carriage curtains to look at the scenery on the streets. It was roughly the same as what she remembered, with people walking to and fro, peddlers hawking, restaurants and teahouses filled with customers, as well as children frolicking in front of the stalls.

 

However, this street is wider than it was in the past. Yun Ruofeng must have dispatched people to renovate the capital’s streets before the state banquet to show off Nanzhao’s power.

 

With the horse carriage having slowed down due to the number of civilians, Su Xi-er took the chance to examine the current state of the capital. After all, this was the place where she was born and raised, prompting a feeling of nostalgia to rise up. This feeling however, was tainted by hints of resentment.

 

Su Xi-er’s gaze slowly drifted in the direction of the imperial palace’s direction.

 

All of a sudden, the horse carriage came to the stop despite having yet to reach the posthouse.

 

“I’m not sure what has happened ahead, but the horse carriage can’t go over, so we can only wait.”

 

Su Xi-er nodded before raising the carriage curtain and disembarking. “Wait here. I’ll go ahead to take a look.”

 

Before the imperial guard could stop her, Su Xi-er had already begun heading forward. After only several dozen meters, she found a large group of people on the road. So it’s this crowd of people that have blocked the road.

 

Su Xi-er made her way to the front of the crowd, only to see two women lashing out at each other from either side of the street. However, the reason for hurling curses at each other was...

 

A middle-aged woman at the side shook her head. “Beimin’s Prince Hao has just arrived in Nanzhao, and they’re already fighting over him out of jealousy. The person in question hasn’t even said anything about taking them in.”

 

Su Xi-er took the chance to ask, “Have they seen Prince Hao before?” Her voice was pleasant to the ears, like a yellow oriole.

 

The middle-aged woman sized her up carefully, her eyes suddenly lighting up. This woman is really beautiful! So beautiful that I have no words to describe her!

 

“Auntie, have they seen Prince Hao before? Why did they suddenly start lambasting each other?” Su Xi-er asked again, pulling the dazed middle-aged woman back to her senses.

 

The woman immediately replied, “With how high and mighty Prince Hao is, how is it possible that they have seen him? These two women just saw a handsome man on a horse riding past, and insisted that he was Beimin’s Prince Hao. They have been fighting about who will marry him since then. Someone has already gone to call the bailiff runners[1].” 

 

Nanzhao’s women had always adhered to a sense of propriety, and never dared to step out of line. Yet, here were two women berating one another on the streets; and it was even for the sake of fighting over a man.

 

Based on Pei Qianhao’s personality, he wouldn’t grandiosely ride a horse past a bustling street. He would definitely pick a desolate alley, or ride in a horse carriage to the posthouse.

Even if the two women had seen him, it was probably nothing more than a glimpse of his side profile. 

1. You can also think of them as yamen runners.