“What a coin—!” Xiao Jin greeted them with a beaming smile, though he continued to mutter to himself, “This humble official is truly a man of great fortune, to encounter the Young Prince and then the Prince of Pacification. I suppose it makes sense, it’s just one Luyi Mountain, after all. We’re bound to run into each other eventually, haha... ha... I’ll... I’ll take my leave.” With that, he threw a few frantic glances at Xin Yi and scurried into the maple forest like a startled rabbit, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Xin Yi suppressed a laugh. “He’s like a cat seeing a tiger when he looks at you.”
“If he were truly afraid, he wouldn’t have come,” Bai Jiu said, his brow arching slightly. “Xiao Yan raised him to be bold. Right now, he fears no one and is as clever as a monkey—hard to catch.” He stepped forward to take Xin Yi’s hand. “The manor sent a batch of grapes. Let’s go back and have a taste.”
Xin Yi went with him.
To his surprise, he encountered Xiao Jin again that afternoon. Xin Yi was speechless as he watched the man darting across the courtyard walls as if walking on level ground. “Do you really intend to keep spying on me?”
“Of course not,” Xiao Jin said, perched atop the wall. He pulled a fruit from his robes and crunched into it loudly. “I am a capital official, after all. How could I spend all my time watching you? It’s just a coincidence that I’m stationed near Luyi Mountain lately, so I’m making the most of my time.” He leaned forward, his expression turning mysterious. “I’ll tell you a secret. Do you want to hear it?”
Xin Yi simply turned and walked toward the veranda. Unable to keep his composure, Xiao Jin forced out a few bursts of boisterous laughter. “Fine, fine, I’ll just say it! Do you know why Bai—Lord Bai chose this specific time to bring you to Luyi?”
Xin Yi looked back at him with a profound, knowing gaze. Before Xiao Jin could even start his explanation, he ducked his head and laughed nervously. “Ah, what a coincidence again, Prince of Pacification! Hahaha...”
Bai Jiu was leaning his head on his hand by the study window, looking somewhat languid under the sun. “Coincidences don’t come easy,” he said. “How about this? I shall give Lord Xiao a gift.”
“What gift?”
Bai Jiu smiled gently. “Come down first.”
Curious, Xiao Jin slid down from the wall. Before he could even steady himself, Bai Jiu called out for Old Qu. At the steward’s response, doors all around the courtyard flew open, and a pack of sturdy hounds charged out. In an instant, they surrounded Xiao Jin, sniffing him aggressively. Xiao Jin’s face went pale. Like a cat with its fur standing on end, he was chased in circles by the dogs until he reached the veranda. He scrambled up a pillar with lightning speed, clinging tightly to the beam and refusing to come down. He closed his eyes and shouted, “What did I ever do to you?!”
Bai Jiu said idly, “The crime of eyeing my wife.”
“When did you—cough, I... you two... oh, heavens!” Xiao Jin broke into a cold sweat as the dogs barked below. “I won’t look! I won’t look at him!”
Bai Jiu ignored him and beckoned to Xin Yi, who was standing below, unable to stop laughing. Xin Yi walked over and looked up at him with a smile. “If you tease him any further, he might actually cry.”
As he looked up, his eyes curved into crescents and his dimples deepened. The sight made Bai Jiu’s eyes darken with affection. After staring for a long moment, Bai Jiu simply said, “He’s an eyesore.”
Hearing this, Xiao Jin immediately shouted, “I’m leaving!”
Only then did Xin Yi head upstairs. Bai Jiu sat on the daybed by the window, watching with a smile as Xiao Jin took his usual unconventional exit over the wall. Bai Jiu patted the empty space beside him. Xin Yi sat down, but before he could settle, Bai Jiu was already leaning lazily against him.
“Is My Lord looking at books or at a person?” Xin Yi raised a hand and gently ruffled Bai Jiu’s hair. He smiled at the sensation. “Why is it so soft?”
“Looking at a person,” Bai Jiu replied, letting him touch as he pleased. He sighed. “Perhaps I should have him posted to the provinces tomorrow.”
“Then he would likely stand guard outside your gates every day just to see you.” Xin Yi found the texture of Bai Jiu’s hair particularly pleasant and boldly continued to stroke it for a while. After a moment of thought, he asked, “I want to know too—why come to the mountain now?”
Coming to the mountain wasn't strange, but staying here for several days was.
“Too much trouble,” Bai Jiu said, his brow furrowing at the thought.
Xin Yi guessed that the "trouble" likely had something to do with him. There were very few people or events that could make Bai Jiu choose to avoid a confrontation. He looked out at the distant red maples that seemed to set the sky ablaze. Moved by the sight, he murmured, “Autumn has arrived.”
Autumn was here, and the grasslands would be turning yellow. Once the grass withered, the nomadic tribes of the steppes would need to trade for grain in a few months. If there was heavy snow this year, trading alone might not be enough. Xiao Jin had mentioned being at Luyi Mountain on business; Luyi was outside the capital, near the post station of the Changting Official Road. For the Capital Guards to be active here, it was almost certainly to escort foreign envoys.
Thus, Xin Yi ventured a guess. “Has someone from Dayuan arrived?”
As expected, Bai Jiu gave a soft hum of affirmation.
Dayuan had sent envoys. It wasn't a simple matter of begging for winter supplies; the fact that Bai Jiu had brought him out here suggested the visitors were extraordinary. Whenever Dayuan was mentioned, one had to speak of their deep-seated blood feud with Beiyang.
The fifty-fourth year of Hongxing was a nightmare for Dayuan. That year, the Prince of Yan had first forcibly redrawn the borders, leading the Beiyang Army into Dayuan territory. The most fatal blow, however, was delivered by the Prince of Yan’s eldest son, Xin Jing. With unstoppable momentum, Xin Jing drove out the various tribes of Dayuan, forcing the thirty-two clans to flee north to the edge of the glaciers. This battle caused the Qiyan clan—the ruling branch of the Dayuan Khans at the time—to weaken rapidly, allowing the Habugeqin clan to seize power. The current Khan of Dayuan was a Habugeqin. If Xin Jing had not died in the ambush at Wanze, it was uncertain whether Dayuan would even exist today. After Xin Jing’s death, the Prince of Ping took over the front lines. Once the war ended, the Crown Prince proposed trading grain for horses. From then on, Dayuan relied on their horses to trade for food from Great Lan every year, allowing them to catch their breath and recover. Now, they had re-established themselves south of Wanze, becoming a powerful nation of nomadic cavalry.
The lineage of the Prince of Yan was gone. Xin Yi’s reputation as a "mute" was not considered a threat. The capital was embroiled in factional struggles, and among the peripheral princes, only the Prince of Tang remained alive. The Crown Prince favored a policy of "reduction through civil means" and had no desire for war, while the Emperor, addicted to Five Minerals Powder, was in his twilight years. Great Lan no longer had the lions and tigers to guard its borders, and Dayuan was gradually revealing its restless claws. In truth, when the news first arrived, it coincided with Xin Yi’s return to the capital. With the Dayuan envoys approaching, the Emperor had intended for Xin Yi to join the Court of State Ceremonial to receive them outside the city. Sending Xin Yi to greet the people of Dayuan would inevitably lead to humiliation and harassment; the Emperor naturally intended to use Xin Yi as a gesture of goodwill. However, under Bai Jiu’s influence, this plan was pushed further and further away until Xiao Jin was eventually roped in, allowing Xin Yi to enjoy his current peace.
“The one who came this time is Habugeqin’s fourth son, named Chagatai. Although he isn't the first in line for the throne, he is Habugeqin’s favorite son. His mother’s side is the Borjigin clan, and his uncle is the leader of the Borjigin tribe,” Bai Jiu said, fiddling with Xin Yi’s fingers. “The Borjigin are terrified of the Beiyang Army. Xin Jing killed the leaders of fourteen Dayuan tribes. When the Borjigin fled north, they were placed at the rear by the Qiyan clan to cover the retreat. It’s said that for a year, they dreamed of your eldest brother holding his blade and charging on horseback.”
Xin Yi stopped stroking Bai Jiu’s hair and smiled. “It seems they’ve come with aggressive intent this time, looking to settle scores with my brother’s youngest sibling.”
Bai Jiu chuckled. “You have someone to back you up.” Xin Yi glanced at him, and Bai Jiu rubbed his chin against Xin Yi’s shoulder, saying languidly, “The lingering prestige of the Prince of Yan and Xin Jing isn't so easily faded. Besides, I’ve found a new pleasure lately.”
“Oh?” Xin Yi asked. “What pleasure?”
Bai Jiu leaned close to his ear and whispered, “I quite enjoy watching you slap them right in the face.”
The warm, slightly damp breath tickled his ear, sending a jolt of tingling heat through him. Xin Yi’s face instantly flushed red.
By the time they returned to the capital, the Dayuan delegation had already entered the city. Many remained at the post station outside the walls, but the key figures had entered. For instance, the Fourth Prince Chagatai, and Arslan of the Zhadalan tribe. Chagatai went without saying, but this Arslan was no ordinary man.
The Zhadalan tribe was a major power second only to the Qiyan, and they had been the strongest contenders for the Khanate. When Habugeqin took the throne, Arslan, the leader of the Zhadalan, earned his complete trust. He was a *Darkhan* of Dayuan—a "hero"—who enjoyed great prestige among all the tribes. He was known as the "Lion of Zhadalan" and the "Lion King of Dayuan." This man had clashed with the Prince of Yan at least three times. Had Xin Jing not taken over and changed the tactical style, the Beiyang Army might never have reached the heart of Dayuan. After Xin Jing’s death, the Prince of Ping gathered five hundred thousand troops but could not cross Canaan Mountain behind Wanze, all because this man had blocked Great Lan’s advance like a slab of iron. It was worth noting that when he retreated south to block the Prince of Ping, he had only sixty thousand cavalry from the Zhadalan tribe and forty thousand irregulars from seventeen other tribes. With a mixed force of just over a hundred thousand, he had forced the Prince of Ping’s five hundred thousand to return empty-handed.
In the Great Lan military, this man was known as the "Iron Wing of Canaan." It was once rumored that as long as the Lion King guarded Wanze, Great Lan would never cross Canaan Mountain—he was like a great iron wing spanning the sky, forever unbreakable.
Xin Yi stood on the high steps, his gaze passing over the Emperor and the crowd of officials. The first person he saw was Arslan, and he looked at no one else. This was his father’s lifelong nemesis, and the mountain his eldest brother had ultimately failed to cross.
The man was forty-six years old, yet he still walked with the powerful stride of a tiger. He had a rough, dark stubble, and even standing before the Emperor of Great Lan, he remained unkempt. His features were deep-set, and his eyes were a distinct yellow, identical to the eyes of a lion.
His gaze locked onto Xin Yi almost instantly, like a predator finding its prey. A faint, scrutinizing look in his eyes carried a heavy sense of battle-lust.
Xin Yi remained expressionless, refusing to yield an inch.
After the formal greetings, they could not remain on the steps. The two parties moved to the palace banquet in a show of harmony. The Crown Prince was absent, and the Prince of Qin was in seclusion, so the seat below the Emperor was occupied by the Prince of Pacification, Bai Jiu, placing him on equal footing with Chagatai opposite him. Arslan and Zhang Taiyan sat to the left and right respectively—one martial, one civil, a fitting arrangement. However, Xin Yi’s seating was quite interesting; he was placed right behind Zhang Taiyan, facing the Dayuan envoys. Even officials with formal ranks like He Anchang and Xiao Jin had to sit a row behind him.
After three rounds of wine and the presentation of gifts, it was finally time for the officials to clash.
Dayuan’s intent for this visit was simple: they wanted a princess. They were blunt about it—they wanted the Emperor’s daughter.
“An alliance through marriage is a joyous occasion for both nations,” said Liu Qusheng, Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. “However, currently, only Princess Mingheng remains unmarried in our Great Lan. She is not only the Emperor’s beloved daughter but the pearl of our nation. If your esteemed country wishes to propose, it must be done according to proper etiquette. These are the rules of Great Lan, and they cannot be treated lightly.”
The envoy replied, “Lord Minister may not know, but we have come with the utmost sincerity to seek Princess Mingheng’s hand. Our Fourth Prince has traveled a thousand miles specifically to demonstrate his resolve.”
Chagatai, seated above, raised his cup with a bashful expression. “I have long admired the Princess’s virtuous reputation. It is exactly as the Great Lan books say: ‘Seeking her but finding her not, tossing and turning in bed.’ For this proposal, I have not only brought the precious horses of Dayuan but have also invited Uncle Arslan to serve as the witness.”
The Lion King’s fame was known to everyone in Great Lan. At the mention of his name, a silence fell over the banquet. An unfriendly atmosphere surged beneath the surface of the wine cups. Dayuan’s message was clear: they had brought precious horses, but they had also brought a lion.
The Emperor’s expression was faintly displeased. He twitched the corner of his mouth and scanned his ministers, but he could find no name capable of intimidating them back. His gaze paused briefly on Xin Yi before quickly moving away.
Xin Yi kept his eyes down as he peeled an orange. Not only was he playing the role of a perfect mute, but he was also doing a fine job of acting deaf.
“The Lion King, eh?” Xiao Jin suddenly spoke up. He popped a grape into his mouth and smiled at Chagatai. “Then the Prince has made a tactical error. The Princess is a fairy raised in the depths of the palace, and fairies cannot bear the sight of fierce beasts. The Lion King’s fame is widespread; even I am afraid just hearing it, so what of the Princess?”
Arslan, who had been pouring his own wine, laughed loudly at this. He raised his cup to Xiao Jin. “Young people truly speak their minds. Yet you sit here and show no fear, which proves that reputations are often misleading and shouldn't be taken too seriously. You look familiar—how are you related to the Marquis of Huiyang?”
Xiao Jin rubbed his face and sighed. “Do I really look that much like my old man?”
Laughter broke out across the banquet, somewhat diffusing the sword-drawn tension. Xin Yi put a segment of orange into his mouth, thinking to himself that there truly were no fools in the capital. Even someone like Xiao Jin knew how to play the fool perfectly when the occasion called for it.
“The clever son of the Marquis of Huiyang,” Arslan said, raising his hand to drink without even mentioning a return toast.
“I have admired the Princess for a long time, and I expect she is not one to judge a person solely by reputation,” Chagatai said with deep affection. “I wonder what His Imperial Majesty thinks? I know the journey is long, but I would never fail the Princess.”
The Emperor turned to Zhang Taiyan. “What does the Grand Preceptor think?”
Zhang Taiyan was squinting as he sipped his tea. He said placidly, “This old official is aged and can only offer a few stale words. Princess Mingheng is the legitimate daughter of the Empress and the younger sister of the Crown Prince. She will be the Eldest Princess of Great Lan. Her status and position are not something that can be matched by mere gold, jade, or mundane objects. Her husband must naturally be extraordinary—the crowning touch to her life. Furthermore, the Fourth Prince has traveled ten thousand miles; surely he does not expect to marry our Eldest Princess based solely on mundane gifts like horses?”
Xin Yi finished his orange bit by bit as he heard Arslan speak.
“Setting aside what is considered extraordinary in this world, let us address Lord Zhang’s words. The Fourth Prince has traveled a thousand miles, enduring the hardships of the road. His devotion to the Princess is such that even the eagles on Canaan Mountain would weep. This is a rare thing, something that cannot be measured by mundane wealth. If this level of sincerity is still not enough...” He slammed his wine cup down, his voice ringing through the hall. “Then let the Prince of Yan of Beiyang come and talk to me!”
The moment those words were spoken, the weight of a thousand gazes suddenly pressed down on Xin Yi’s shoulders from all sides. A stifling silence gripped the hall. Xin Yi lifted his eyes, staring directly at Arslan. Before he could stand, the sound of wine being poured broke the silence.
Bai Jiu spoke in a slow, deliberate manner. “I will talk to the Lion King.”
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 察合台 | Chagatai | Fourth Prince of Dayuan. |
| 阿尔斯楞 | Arslan | "Lion King" of the Zhadalan tribe. |
| 札答兰 | Zhadalan | A powerful tribe in Dayuan. |
| 哈布格钦 | Habugeqin | The current ruling clan/Khan of Dayuan. |
| 明恒 | Mingheng | The Emperor's daughter, Princess Mingheng. |
| 迦南山 | Canaan Mountain | A strategic mountain range near Wanze. |
| 鸿胪寺 | Court of State Ceremonial | Government office handling foreign envoys and rituals. |
| 孛儿只斤 | Borjigin | A tribe in Dayuan; Chagatai's maternal clan. |
| 乞颜 | Qiyan | The former ruling clan of Dayuan. |
| 迦南铁翼 | Iron Wing of Canaan | Arslan's nickname in the Great Lan military. |
| 达尔罕 | Darkhan | A title meaning "hero" or "exempt" in Mongolian/Dayuan culture. |
| 太常寺卿 | Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices | A high-ranking official in charge of religious ceremonies. |
