Chapter 4

Prince Yan?

Maybe it was because Lin Wei Xi looked so dumbfounded, but the county magistrate thought she didn’t know who Prince Yan was, so he could only add, “That person is His Highness Prince Yan. He entered the capital to subdue the rebellion and support the new emperor. The previous emperor named him one of the three Regent Ministers before his death. He’s just returned from suppressing the uprising at the border, and specially came to Shunde District to return Marquis Zhongyong’s remains back to his hometown.”

Of course Lin Wei Xi knew who Prince Yan was. She looked at the man outside in a trance. This was the famous and powerful Prince Yan, and the father-in-law she never met in her previous life.

Because Lin Wei Xi married Prince Yan’s only son in her past life, she was scorned by numerous other noble ladies for the entirety of two years. After her messy break up with Gu Cheng Yao, the slander died down a bit. But even so, no one could deny that Lin Wei Xi married very well in her past life. She was the di granddaughter of a Duke and the granddaughter of a Princess Royal. Even with such a prominent status, she still married up when she married Prince Yan’s son.

Lin Wei Xi’s maternal grandmother was an imperial princess, and she spent most of her time in the Princess Residence every year, so Lin Wei Xi listened to stories of Prince Yan’s accomplishments growing up. According to accounts, Prince Yan led soldiers to battle at the age of fifteen. In the first year of Jianzhao, the previous Prince Yan passed away, and the seventeen year old Gu Hui Yan became the new Prince Yan. In the past ten years, he defended the country from all sides and Emperor Muzong also put him in an extremely important position. Later when the palace was embroiled in chaos, Emperor Muzong’s first secret edict was issued to Prince Yan. Prince Yan lived up to his expectations, suppressing discord in the capital and cleaning up the government. Afterwards, Emperor Muzong entrusted Prince Yan to assist his then eight years old eldest son, who was the current young emperor.

Lin Wei Xi grew up listening to Prince Yan’s story. When she first married Gu Cheng Yao, she couldn’t be happier. But in the end, she and Prince Yan Residence were not meant to be. Lin Wei Xi married Gu Cheng Yao in the first month of the fourth year of Yuanjia. In the second year of Yuanjia, Prince Yan left the capital to quell the Dughlat tribe’s rebellion, even missing his son’s marriage. Then she died afterwards.

Lin Wei Xi couldn’t believe that she never got to meet Prince Yan while married into the Prince Yan household, but it was after being reborn that she met the legendary God of War in a small village.

Lin Wei Xi’s feelings were very complicated. She and Gu Cheng Yao ended their relationship like that, so based on Lin Wei Xi’s temperament, she shouldn’t want anything to do with those related to him, and would no longer maintain goodwill towards those of the Prince Yan Residence. But at that moment, when Lin Wei Xi saw the god Prince Yan, she realized that she couldn’t be angry at all. Prince Yan merely stood there, an invisible and overwhelming aura enveloping the entire field, and no one dared to even harbour ill-will, much less complain.

So this was Prince Yan… Lin Wei Xi’s shock simply couldn’t be expressed. Unexpectedly, Prince Yan was very young and his looks, extremely outstanding. It’s just that with such a position, no one could notice his appearance. With a high rank came greater responsibility, and he talked about nothing except work. Under this kind of deathly aura, who would dare evaluate Prince Yan’s appearance.

Perhaps Lin Wei Xi had been staring for too long, but Gu Hui Yan, who was used to receiving stares, lightly lifted his eyebrows. He was the commander of the army and the head of a Prince Residence; he never lacked attention, but very rarely did he come across girls the same age as Lin Wei Xi. He had been fighting in the campaign for many years, so his murderous aura was awe-inspiring. Even the Empress Dowager felt awkward when she met him, not to mention other women. While in the capital, young women would bow their heads and hold their breath when they saw him and the noble girls who hadn’t left their boudoir yet were so scared that they didn’t dare lift their heads. There were few people like Lin Wei Xi who took the initiative to watch him, and she was the only one who looked at him without flinching. Furthermore, this little girl’s eyes were also very interesting.

Gu Hui Yan faintly smiled back, an almost imperceptible inquiry hidden in the depths of his eyes. Lin Wei Xi locked eyes with Gu Hui Yan, and after looking at each other for a short while, Lin Wei Xi quickly lowered her head to avoid Prince Yan’s gaze.

Seeing Lin Wei Xi lower her head, Gu Hui Yan no longer forced the little girl. If Lin Wei Xi hadn’t stared at him for a long time with a strange expression in her eyes, he wouldn’t have looked back at this little lady. He was very clear about the kind of strain it took to look at him. She was just a little kid, so he would pretend he knew nothing, and let it go.

Lin Wei Xi lowered her head, her heart pounding in her chest. Too scary. The father-in-law from her past life turned out to be this scary. She thought there wouldn’t be much of a difference between father and son, but after seeing it for herself today, she knew that the image she had of Prince Yan in her head was too superficial.

After everyone knew that Prince Yan had arrived, the atmosphere at the scene immediately changed. County magistrate He Li felt like he was facing an enemy while Matchmaker Wang and Aunt Lin had long retreated to a corner, trembling. Lin Wei Xi also hung her head, like a rabbit with drooping ears, her previously imposing bout of verbal sparring nowhere to be seen.

Gu Hui Yan didn’t deliberately take a detour to listen to Lin Wei Xi quarrel with her aunt. After irritating the county magistrate, he asked, “Where is Lin Yong’s cenotaph?”

He’d come to Shunde District to bury Lin Yong’s remains and while he was at it, take a look at Lin Yong’s only daughter, who was Lin Yong’s only concern before his death.  But it seemed like Lin Yong’s description of his daughter was very inaccurate. Gu Hui Yan had settled Lin Wei Xi’s affairs, so naturally he was now going to open Lin Yong’s coffin to bury his bones.

Opening the coffin wasn’t a trivial affair. Li Zheng and the village head lead Gu Hui Yan to Lin Yong’s cenotaph, and the village men noisily followed them halfway. During situations like these, Lin Wei Xi hated that she was a daughter. Because she was a woman, she couldn’t even participate in major events like burying her birth father’s remains.

Because of this disturbance, Aunt Lin stood in a trance. She had long discarded her intentions to arrange a marriage for Lin Wei Xi. Lin Wei Xi also returned to her room, preoccupied by the commotion. She’d originally come out to grab a cloth to wipe the water on the ground, but after such a long time, the water on the ground would’ve dried up. Lin Wei Xi blankly stared at the water stain for a while, the confusion in her eyes dissipated, and her expression slowly cleared.

She couldn’t stay in this ignorant little village, where everyone had the same surname. She could escape Li Da and Li Yuan Wai, but she couldn’t escape Li Er and Li San◇. She was very wealthy but didn’t have the strength to protect herself. If she continued to stay in this village, she would only bring about her own death.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

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Lin Wei Xi had been given a second chance at life, and that was what she cherished the most.

However, she was but a single lone woman, without parents to shelter her, without a family to protect her, and with an appearance that would only drag her down. Even if she converted all her property into silver and planned to escape from the village, she wouldn’t have the stamina to travel on the road for long.

The only option she had was Prince Yan. Although Lin Wei Xi was reluctant to continue being in contact with Prince Yan’s family, but for now, only Prince Yan could take her away unscathed and also find a place for her to live in peace.

As for how to convince Prince Yan… Lin Wei Xi, who’d never acted coquettishly before to gain a man’s affections, felt embarrassed. But this time she would just have to try her best…

Opening the tomb was not an easy thing to do, and the sky was already dark by the time they’d finished toiling in the dirt. The village head was extremely polite, immediately inviting Prince Yan to his humble home. The county magistrate also urged Prince Yan to the county mansion, the wine already prepared.

Gu Hui Yan didn’t want to hang around for too long. He’d marched with the army for many years, and hadn’t been picky about his living conditions for the longest time. So instead of dragging the crowd of people to the county mansion, he led his people to the village head’s house to stay for the night.

This time, Gu Hui Yan was returning to the imperial court with his troops after his victory. Halfway through, he left the main troops with his trusted subordinates, and came to Shunde District in advance to bury Lin Yong’s remains, directly setting off the next day to catch up with his troops. After all, they were still in the middle of the march and it wasn’t good for him to be absent for too long.

Gu Hui Yan declined to stay at the county mansion. Although the county magistrate felt disappointed, he also felt deeply relieved. Accompanying the monarch was like accompanying a tiger. Although Gu Hui Yan wasn’t a monarch, he was no less influential, and the county magistrate didn’t want to bet his career prospects.

When the village head learned that His Highness Prince Yan really wanted to stay in his home, he felt very flattered, and immediately sent someone back to clean up the house and notified the other villagers who had extra space in their houses. Prince Yan had brought many of his subordinates on this trip. Even though the large countryside had many empty houses, it wasn’t easy to settle so many people at once.

The village head hurried away. Gu Hui Yan wasn’t in a hurry to head back, so he got off his horse, dismissed his entourage, and slowly walked on the moonlit country road. He rarely had the time to relax like this, with no war, no paperwork, and no need to socialize. Above him spanned a vast and endless starry sky, below him lay the frost covered ground. He could wander aimlessly and undisturbed.

The countryside was extremely dark at night, and the stars in the sky faintly outlined the trees on both sides of the road. Gu Hui Yan’s ears suddenly twitched and he stopped in his tracks.

The dark clouds in the sky covered the moon, the thick forest shrouded in shadow. He couldn’t see clearly and could only make out a vague shadow, “… Father, this unfilial daughter has let you down. I’ve had a weak body since young, not to mention, I killed my mother when I was born, yet you still ran around from place to place for me. Six years ago you said you would save a dowry for me, letting me go home with a peace of mind to wait for good news, but I didn’t think that I would be forever separated from you. Father, because you sacrificed yourself for the country, you became the country’s hero. Daughter should be proud of you… but Daughter would rather Father never went to the capital. Daughter doesn’t want a dowry. We’ve depended on each other all our lives, it would’ve been best to just live well. Now that your spirit has returned from the war and your remains have returned home, I can’t even personally make sure that you’re buried safely… “

Gu Hui Yan paused in place, his face hidden in the dark of the night, and he couldn’t see clearly. The people following Prince Yan from far behind saw that he hadn’t moved for a while and wanted to inquire, but Gu Hui Yan stopped them with a gesture.

The sky was dark and Gu Hui Yan walked over quietly by himself without making much disturbance. Lin Wei Xi didn’t know what was happening outside on the road. She was immersed in her grief and mourning her father, squatting under the tree where she used to play as a child, “Father, daughter respects you as a hero, please be well. When I was born, Mummy died due to a difficult birth, and you raised me while acting as both father and mother. Daughter doesn’t want to marry, really doesn’t want to marry. I just want to stay by Father’s side and be your little girl. You finally returned home today, so your daughter will send you the rest of the way. If you can hear me from the other side, no need to worry about this unfilial daughter.”

“If you really don’t marry for your entire life, he won’t be able to rest in peace.”

Lin Wei Xi stood up from the ground in surprise, dry trails of tears clung to her face. She looked at the person approaching her and stared for a long time before recognizing the speaker in the dim night, “Your Highness Prince Yan?”

“It’s me.” Gu Hui Yan slowly walked out of the shadows. He stopped three steps away from Lin Wei Xi and looked at the delicate, pale girl in front of him, who had a waist that was thinner than his arms. He couldn’t help but sigh, “You’re young and still in the best time of your life, why would you say such depressing words?”

“It’s not depressing.” Lin Wei Xi wasn’t used to others seeing her crying face. She wanted to raise her hand and wipe her tears but felt it was too obvious, so she turned her face away and glared to the side, “Prince Yan must think this is funny. Since this little girl’s ugly side has been seen, and there’s no need to worry about family affairs, I might as well tell Prince Yan directly. You’ve seen my current situation, even if you help me retrieve my father’s Honorary Deed Medallion, do you think I can hold onto it? My biological aunt is already like this, let alone the other people in the village. All of them have the surname Li, and mine is Lin. If something were to happen in the future, I wouldn’t even be able to run.”

Gu Hui Yan quickly realized the crux of the issue, “You don’t want to marry?”

“There are so many women in the world and everyone has their own way of living, so why must I get married!” Lin Wei Xi couldn’t help raising her voice, and then she realized that she’d gotten too emotional. She took a deep breath, lowered her head and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry, this little girl has been rude.”

Did children nowadays all object to getting married? Gu Hui Yan wasn’t good at explaining this to an unmarried little lady, so he could only drop the subject without pursuing the matter, and instead he quietly asked, “Then what do you plan to do?”

“Your Highness Prince Yan.” Lin Wei Xi suddenly gave a salute to Prince Yan solemnly, raised her eyes, and firmly looked at Gu Hui Yan in concentration, “This little girl has admired Prince Yan’s achievements since young. Being able to see you in person this time is this little girl’s fortune for two lifetimes. Thank you for your help today. This little girl may seem insatiably greedy, but I’d still like to make a presumptuous request and ask you to take me out of this village full of Li’s. After leaving this place, Prince Yan can randomly leave me in a small obscure town. This little girl doesn’t want the reputation of Marquis Zhongyong’s orphan daughter. I will guard my father’s imperial decree, reciting scriptures and worshipping the Buddha every day. Being able to live my life in tranquillity is satisfying enough for me.”

Gu Hui Yan looked at her and said without emotion, “Do you want to leave like this? Think this through, this is your hometown and your only relatives live here.”

“This little girl has already thought it through. It can’t be said that this place is my hometown. Father and Aunt fled here because of famine. Aunt assimilated into the village after marrying, but Father travelled all over the place because my condition wasn’t stable. To me, this is not even my hometown. My hometown is where my father is.”

Gu Hui Yan’s gaze paused on Lin Wei Xi before raising his eyes and looking up at the vast starry sky behind her. Lin Wei Xi was so nervous that her palms were practically oozing sweat. She’d taken a risky gamble today, but Prince Yan would be leaving tomorrow. If she didn’t make a move tonight, there wouldn’t be another opportunity.

Gu Hui Yan withdrew his gaze from the star-scattered sky, glanced at Lin Wei Xi, then turned and left. Lin Wei Xi’s heart almost leaped out of her throat. Prince Yan, what did this mean? She’d deliberately imitated Gao Ran’s trick of “accidentally” crying and being heard. Did she actually fail?

Lin Wei Xi couldn’t help taking two steps, “Your Highness Prince Yan…”

“It’s late and it’s getting colder outside. Go back first.”

“You still haven’t told me if you’re going to take me away or not!”

Gu Hui Yan sighed internally. He’d been in power for many years, but this was the first time he was being questioned like this. Fortunately, his subordinates were standing far away, otherwise his private affairs would’ve spread by tomorrow if they heard that sentence. These men had been following Prince Yan for many years, from the cradle to the grave, entrusting each other with their lives, and Gu Hui Yan regarded these people as his hands and feet. But if these coarse men had a flaw, it was that they were too concerned with his private affairs.

A Wangfei wasn’t a necessity, and the Prince Yan Residence was doing well, plus he wasn’t lacking in heirs. Thus, there was no need to marry a new Wangfei.

Not to mention, the young girl in front of him was tender like shallots. She looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, even younger than his own son. Gu Hui Yan knew that Lin Wei Xi only yelled those words out of anxiety and had no other meaning, and he was also quite a bit older. He didn’t want his reputation to be ruined in such a place so he stopped walking and, for the first time in his life, explained his plan to someone, “I will find you a safe place to live and settle you in. Please don’t worry. I owe Lin Yong my life and you are his only daughter. I won’t abandon you.”

Lin Wei Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she received Prince Yan’s affirmation. Ever since Gu Hui Yan became Prince Yan at the age of seventeen, or even earlier than that, since he joined the army at the age of fifteen, he‘d never been so rudely shouted at like this. Gu Hui Yan wouldn’t go so far as to fuss with a little girl, so he continued to walk forward. But he hadn’t taken two steps before more footsteps sounded from behind. That little girl caught up with him again, “Your Highness Prince Yan, if I go with you tomorrow, will I have to pack up my things tonight? When will I be joining you tomorrow?”

It was this kind of ambiguity that would make others doubt his character if they overheard. Gu Hui Yan could only stop and say to Lin Wei Xi, “You don’t have to worry, I will send someone to take care of it. Miss Lin, it’s getting late, you should go back first.”

She could understand it if she didn’t need to pack her things, but he didn’t even tell her the time? Lin Wei Xi was very sceptical and couldn’t help but say, “Your Highness Prince Yan, you’re not deceiving me right?”

Gu Hui Yan didn’t expect there’d come a day where he’d actually hear such words from someone. He smiled lightly and asked, “What did you say?”

Lin Wei Xi shut up and quietly lowered her head under Gu Hui Yan’s gaze. Seeing this, Gu Hui Yan looked away from her and continued to stoically walk towards his horse.

After Gu Hui Yan had walked a distance, Lin Wei Xi thought that he couldn’t hear, and mumbled in a small voice, “None of them are good people.”

Gu Hui Yan’s footsteps stopped and his eyes deepened slightly; this was the first time his self-restraint had been repeatedly tested by someone. He didn’t turn around, but lightly said to the person behind him, “The wind is cold at night, Miss Lin should head back quickly. The next time you want to talk to me, just come to me directly. There’s no need for you to run all the way out here to put on an unnecessary show under a tree.”

Lin Wei Xi regretted speaking as soon as the words left her mouth. She was emotional just now and somehow thought of Gu Cheng Yao. In her mind, there were no good people in the Gu family, but who would’ve thought that she’d really say the words out loud. As soon as she blurted it out, she regretted it. It was true that Gu Cheng Yao had wronged her, but Prince Yan hadn’t done anything to be sorry for. He was the patron saint of the dynasty, and even more so, he’d helped her. How could she say such ungrateful words? When Lin Wei Xi heard Prince Yan’s last sentence, her face turned red and she could barely speak, “You know?”

How could he not know? Her acting and technique were too clumsy. Gu Hui Yan didn’t stop again this time, and walked straight into the night.