Chapter 49: The Night Before the Reward (Part 2)

“I, An Lushan, humbly bring my wretched son to confess his faults to the Prime Minister!”
Standing in the snow, An Lushan bowed deeply toward the gate of Li Linfu’s residence. Nearby, in the ice and snow, An Qingxu’s stretcher lay aside, guarded by several guards.
One of the gatekeepers, seemingly given instructions in advance, rushed down without announcing his arrival and said, “General An, our Prime Minister has not returned home yet. Please come back another day!”
An Lushan was stunned. He certainly knew Li Linfu had already returned. The gatekeeper’s refusal without prior notification showed that Li Linfu must have known he would come that night and had made arrangements in advance.
An Lushan grew anxious. Could it be that Li Linfu truly intended to take this opportunity to get rid of him? Not daring to leave, he said to the gatekeeper, “Since the Prime Minister hasn’t returned, I’ll wait a little longer.”
With that, he quietly took out a gold ingot and quickly handed it to the gatekeeper, saying, “If the Prime Minister returns, please inform me at once.”
“No! No! I can’t accept it.”
The gatekeeper’s hand seemed burned by fire as he dropped the gold ingot and ran inside. An Lushan stared blankly at the gold in the snow, sighing inwardly, “Even the gatekeeper betrays me?”
An hour passed slowly, and there was still no news from Li Linfu’s residence. An Lushan, who was obese, was drenched in sweat and trembling violently, barely able to stand. At that moment, a guard stepped forward anxiously and said, “In such cold weather, the young general might not last much longer.”
An Lushan glanced at his son and gritted his teeth, saying, “It’s all because of you, this troublemaker. It’s better if you die.”
Just then, the side door of Li Linfu’s residence opened, and Li Linfu’s scribe came out. An Lushan became extremely nervous and quickly asked, “Brother, is there any news from the Prime Minister?”
“General An, the Prime Minister said that in the future, you must strictly discipline your children and subordinates and focus on defending the country’s borders. As long as the Anxi Army doesn’t mind, he can overlook this matter. Tomorrow, the general should write a guarantee, and then the case can be closed at the county office.”
An Lushan was overjoyed and bowed repeatedly, saying, “Yes! Yes! I will definitely discipline my troops strictly and never cause trouble again for the Prime Minister.”
Having received word from Li Linfu, An Lushan finally felt relieved. With a wave of his hand, he left in haste with his son.
……
The Daming Palace was in disarray, filled with boxes and packages. Soon, the emperor and the imperial concubine would move to Xingqing Palace, so everyone was busy preparing.

Yang Yuhuan was officially granted the title of Imperial Concubine the year before last. With no empress, she became the head of the six palaces. Starting from the first month of the 29th year of the Kaiyuan era, after entering the palace to become a female Taoist priestess, she had lived in Daming Palace for seven full years. She gradually grew to dislike Daming Palace, especially as it always reminded her of her past days.

She slowly walked over to a large chest, frowned slightly, and pointed at the green jade chime inside, saying to the two maids, “Don’t rush to put this away. I still need to use it these days.”

“Yes!” The maids took out the green jade chime from the chest.

“Fourth sister, why don’t you want to live in Daming Palace anymore?”

A cheerful laugh came from behind her. A young woman dressed in a green silk dress approached. She had a beautiful face, lightly arched eyebrows, and no makeup at all—she was Yang Yuhuan’s third sister, Yang Huahua, who had just arrived in Chang’an at noon the previous day.

Yang Yuhuan loved her third sister the most. She affectionately took Yang Huahua’s hand and said with a smile, “Third sister, please sit down.”

The two sat on the couch. Yang Yuhuan sighed softly and said, “Daming Palace is too big and empty. It takes half an hour just to get to a garden. Living here makes me feel empty inside. I don’t like it. I prefer the elegance of Xingqing Palace.”

“I actually really like Daming Palace. I adore its grandeur and splendor.”

Yang Huahua stood up, spun around, and pointed at the 36 brilliantly shining night pearls on the ceiling, saying with a smile, “Just for those 36 night pearls, I’d like to live here permanently. Fourth sister, it’s a shame if it stays empty. Go talk to the Emperor and ask him to assign me a small palace in Daming Palace, okay?”

“Why didn’t third sister come to see me directly?”

At some point, Li Longji appeared behind them, smiling. Yang Yuhuan hurriedly stood up and bowed, “Your humble servant pays respects to Your Majesty!”

“I’ve said many times—don’t call me Your Majesty anymore. Call me Sanlang in the palace. It feels more intimate.”

“Yes! Your humble servant will remember.”

Li Longji turned to Yang Huahua and said with a smile, “I remember it’s your birthday in a few days. Would you like me to arrange a splendid celebration for you?”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness.”

Yang Huahua was secretly delighted. With the Emperor stepping in, she would receive generous gifts. But she didn’t show it on her face. She stepped back and said shyly, “Your humble servant spoke rashly just now. Please forgive her, Your Majesty!”

Li Longji waved his hand nonchalantly and said, “Daming Palace was originally my palace. It really doesn’t matter if I give one to you, but it’s against etiquette, and it would also be difficult for the ministers in the court to handle. How about this! I’ll give your third sister a large mansion—the former residence of Princess Taiping. It’s no less luxurious than the imperial palace. Consider it my birthday gift for her.”

Yang Huahua was overjoyed, her face beaming with happiness. She subtly sent Li Longji a flirtatious glance and said in a coquettish voice, “Thank you, Your Majesty’s brother-in-law, for this generous gift.”

Seeing her third sister’s frivolous behavior, Yang Yuhuan felt somewhat displeased, so she changed the subject and said with a smile, “Third brother, you seem very happy these days. Why is that?”

“I am happy because I received news from Anxi a few days ago. My troops there have captured Xiaobolue. Since I ascended the throne, Xiaobolue had been lost, but after 35 years, it has finally been reclaimed. How could I not be happy?”

Li Longji was extremely excited. “The brave soldiers from Anxi have arrived in the capital. Tomorrow, I will reward them properly in Hanyuan Hall.”

“Your Majesty, I also encountered those Anxi soldiers at the city gates when I entered the capital yesterday at noon. They were really interesting!” Yang Huahua interjected with a smile.

“Interesting?” Li Longji was puzzled and asked, “What did they do to make your third sister find them interesting?”

“There was a bearded barbarian who kept trying to flatter me, and there was also one named Li Qilang who showed no mercy at all. He actually shot and killed the supposedly extremely beautiful Tubo princess with an arrow.”

“Ah!” Yang Yuhuan gasped, covering her mouth lightly. “To shoot and kill a princess—that’s terrifying.”

Li Longji, however, frowned. He remembered from the reports that the Tubo princess died after falling into a deep ravine from a vine bridge, not from being shot. What was going on?

He immediately turned to a eunuch and said, “Go quickly to my study and bring me Gao Xianzhi’s battle report.”

The eunuch rushed off. Shortly after, he returned with a military report. Li Longji took it and flipped straight to page four, where it read: “The Tubo princess rushed to the vine bridge. The Tang army pursued her, and Tubo reinforcements also arrived. The wind in the ravine was strong, and the Tubo princess fell in and died. The Tang army then cut the vine bridge…”

Yang Huahua and Yang Yuhuan also stepped forward to take a look. Suddenly, Yang Huahua said, “Fourth sister, do you see? There’s something wrong with this passage.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Yang Yuhuan asked, puzzled.

“The person who wrote this report is very cunning. He’s afraid of committing the crime of deceiving the emperor by lying, but he also doesn’t want to tell the truth, so he evades the issue by claiming that the strong wind in the ravine caused the Tubo princess to fall, when in fact the wind had nothing to do with her death at all. He didn’t even explain why the princess fell off the cliff. Needless to say, she must have been killed by that Li Qilang with an arrow.”
“It’s quite possible. The general who achieved merit at the Broken Bridge is named Li Qing’an,” Li Longji said to himself.
“It’s not just possible; it’s definitely so, because that bearded man blurted it out, and the other officers were very angry.”
Li Longji pondered for a moment before smiling slightly and saying, “I really want to see this heartless Li Qilang. What does he look like?”
“On his forehead…” Yang Huahua hesitated before saying with a coquettish smile, “This Li Qilang is truly unique. Your Majesty might as well see him in person tomorrow.”