Chapter 301: Breaking the Engagement

Diwu Lun was a good man.

He was entirely sincere about exchanging Cen Peng back. Diwu Lun had also heard that Liu Xiu had already taken over a hundred men east to Liang, recruiting the Red Eyebrows for Liu Xuan, and now that he was at odds with his own elder brother, this friendship was probably truly beyond salvaging.

Yin Lihua thus became useless to him, but Cen Peng was of great use! Capable generals who could fight were always in short supply, let alone someone like Cen Peng, who had once routed the Greenwood forces, received the true teachings of Yan Erudite, and held the isolated city of Wanyi for half a year — a truly formidable figure.

To show his sincerity, Diwu Lun even permitted Yin Shi to make a trip to Yueyang, to the "Imperial Tomb Town of the Former Han's Retired Emperor," where he saw his younger brother Yin Xing and Yin Lihua — he was even willing to trade two for one.

"Elder Brother."

The moment Yin Lihua saw Yin Shi, all the grievance and bitterness she had kept bottled up all this time finally became unbearable. Though she smiled with her lips, tears spilled from her eyes.

It was not sorrow for the hardships she had endured, wandering destitute into Guanzhong. Rather, she thought back to a year ago, when the Yin clan was still the wealthiest family in Xinye, living in comfort and affluence, and most importantly, the family was united and full of fraternal love. Now, ravaged by war and disaster, their home shattered and their people dead, both their parents were gone.

"You have suffered much, Sister." Yin Shi was deeply ashamed. Though only a single year had passed, Yin Lihua was no longer the pampered, naive girl in silks and fine food of days past. Her face and hands bore no marks of beatings or harsh labor, but her eyes were vastly different. She had coiled up her hair, looking very capable and efficient. When Yin Shi arrived, she was earnestly sewing clothes with needle, thread, and scissors, her expression quite intent.

"No matter how much suffering, it is all behind us now." Yin Shi consoled Yin Lihua. "This past year, it was not only I who kept sending people to search for you — Wenshu has also never stopped thinking of you."

Yin Lihua recalled what Diwu Lun had made her do: "The King of Wei once ordered me to write a letter urging Wenshu to come west..."

"The letter was delivered, but..." Yin Shi did not know how to explain, and after thinking it over, he told the truth.

"Liu Wenshu has already married another?"

Even someone like Diwu Lun believed that Liu Wenshu would come west to Guanzhong for her sake. Though she knew the hope was slim, Yin Lihua could not help but harbor a little fantasy. After all, their betrothal had completed the six rites of marriage, lacking only the final step.

What a pity. She could not help but recall that poem: A simple-looking lad you were, carrying cloth to trade for silk. You came not to trade silk, but to scheme and talk to me.

Yet now, the woman has done no wrong, but the man has changed his ways. The man is utterly fickle, inconstant in his heart.

But Yin Lihua did not really blame Liu Xiu too much. Amid the chaos of war and displacement, her own life or death unknown, cut off from all news for half a year, partings and new unions were frequent — it was, after all, the norm in troubled times. She merely felt a slight disappointment in her heart.

After their betrothal was settled that year, Liu Xiu had exchanged a letter with her. In it, his words were gentle and tender, quoting "Shang Ye": "Only when mountains lose their ridges, heaven and earth merge together, would I dare part from you." Now, that declaration of love seemed rather ironic.

But what pained her most was her elder brother's subsequent explanation — it was truly gilding the lily, making things worse.

"Wenshu was also forced by circumstance." Yin Shi began to ramble. "At that time, his letter was seen by a petty man. Liu Xuan questioned him about it. If Wenshu had not married General Ma's younger sister to show he had no intention of defecting to Diwu Lun, his very life might have been in danger. I heard from his trusted aides that during those days, his pillow and mat were often stained with tears."

So, in other words, it was her fault?

Yin Shi smiled. "But it's no matter. Lihua, come south with me. I will personally take you to find Wenshu, so that you two may be reunited."

Yin Lihua frowned. "Where is Liu Wenshu now?"

"By Gengshi's order, he has gone to Liang to pacify and recruit the eastern commanderies and counties."

Was this asking her to drift from the west all the way to the east, traveling a thousand li to seek her husband? In such a chaotic world, was that truly easy? The exile and forced marches of the past had left many blisters on her feet. With marauding soldiers running rampant and danger at every turn, Yin Lihua did not want to experience being taken captive a second time.

"Elder Brother." Yin Lihua cut him off. "Since Liu Wenshu has already taken another wife, the former betrothal is as good as broken. I only wish to return to our old home in Xinye."

Yin Shi fell silent. Their old home in Xinye was already destroyed. The clansmen and servants had either fled or died in the chaos of war. Though the seven hundred qing of land remained, and could even be expanded to over a thousand qing, was such a heavy price worth paying for a mere patch of land and a hollow marquis title? He was not reconciled to this!

If the Yin clan was to revive, and he lacked the ability to do it himself, they had to bind themselves to the brothers Liu Bosheng and Liu Xiu.

Yin Shi thus continued to persuade his sister: "The Son of Heaven has a rear palace of one hundred and twenty consorts — one can say it is quite numerous. And the various feudal lords all have their concubines as well. Wenshu is a man who can accomplish great things. Though he has not yet received a princely title, in the future he will surely be a feudal lord of a region..."

Who said that? The King of Wei, honored with the Seven Cauldrons, still had only one wife, did he not? Though Yin Lihua resided in Wannian Palace, she often ran errands to Yueyang for the Empress Dowager Xiaoping and had heard some street gossip. She heard that those who tried to stuff women into Diwu Lun's rear palace all slunk away in dejected disappointment.

"Elder Brother, do you mean for me to become a concubine?"

Yin Lihua stared in astonishment at her elder brother, whom she could barely recognize anymore. Empress Lü had been taken captive by Xiang Yu, and when she saw Liu Bang years later, what she saw was Lady Qi in his arms. Lü Zhi at least still had her formal title, but she had even lost that.

Even if she truly went to find Liu Wenshu, or stayed temporarily with his wife, Lady Ma, bowing her head and acting the lesser, what good would it do? Though her brother kept insisting that Liu Wenshu "never stopped thinking of her," this experience of exile would lead others to assume she had been defiled. What awaited her was bound to be hardship. And if, when the time came, Liu Xiu said, "Now that I have you, I grow cruel," what was she to do then?

Thinking of this, Yin Lihua felt even more aggrieved, and her tone could not help but grow sharper. "Elder Brother, has our family not already paid enough for the Liu clan of Chongling? Why must you force your sister to humiliate herself further?"

These words struck Yin Shi's sore spot, making him immediately stand up. So his sister still blamed him after all! The words people speak to their own kin are often heavier than those spoken to strangers, especially in moments of anger.

"Lihua! Even Wenshu does not disdain you, and sent me to Guanzhong to search for you. How can you be like this!"

A thought suddenly struck him. He glanced left and right, then lowered his voice. "Lihua, did Diwu Lun..."

Yin Lihua no longer wished to weep. She raised her head and smiled. "The King of Wei treated me with far more respect than my own elder brother!"

Just as she thought. Her brothers did not understand, and merely laughed at her. Silently she pondered it, and could only grieve for herself.

She looked at her elder brother, now so "devoted to the family's interests." When Dou Rong breached Xinye, when her parents and younger brother were forced into captivity and marched west until their feet were covered in blisters, when she was in the side palace washing mountains of piled-up clothes — where was he? Where was Liu Wenshu?

Yin Lihua's nature had always been gentle, but perhaps from spending so long with Wang Yan, she now carried a touch of fierce resolve. Or perhaps, like Liu Xiu, she was timid in small matters but brave in great ones.

She actually snatched up the scissors beside her and grasped her glossy black hair. "You swore earnest oaths, never thinking you'd turn back. Since you've turned back and do not think of them — then let it be, let it end!"

"Elder Brother need not be so set on trading me back. I will not go! My only wish is to remain by the Empress Dowager Xiaoping's side and grow old alone!"

As the sharp blades closed, her long hair fell to the ground.

"My betrothal to Liu Wenshu — like my hair — is hereby severed!"

When Yin Lihua returned to Wannian Palace, not only was her hair cut, but her eyes were red as well.

Her hands clutched tightly at the hem of her clothes. She walked with her head lowered through the modest Wannian Palace. The matron attendants in the palace were all acquaintances; they bowed when they saw her, but then immediately put their heads together, casting astonished glances her way. And the simply dressed young palace maids, seeing the usually gentle and smiling Yin Lihua in such a state, looked at each other in dismay, none daring to approach.

Speaking of which, Diwu Lun was a peculiar man. Setting aside the matter of "holding the Empress Dowager hostage to control the Han Emperor," he actually thought that Wang Yan and the several dozen people under her had too much idle time, so he arranged a task for them: helping to care for girls who had lost their families in the chaos of war.

The boys had their own place to go, looked after by Zhang Yu and Zhu Di. The girls who were a bit older were manageable, but those not yet of hair-pinning age needed someone to care for them. So he simply sent thirty-four of them to Wannian Palace. His words were pleasant enough — he said he was providing Wang Yan with new palace maids — but in truth, he was making the Empress Dowager Xiaoping serve as a nursemaid!

"Since the Empress Dowager is the mother of all under heaven, in these troubled times, she naturally must shoulder some responsibilities."

The reasoning was high-sounding and irrefutable.

This caused Wannian Palace, which should have been desolate and quiet, to become quite lively. Wang Yan was initially baffled and found it annoying, but after a month or so, she grew accustomed to it. The chattering of little children was still better than being shut up alone in Mingguang Palace flying a wooden kite.

In troubled times, blood kin might speak harshly to one another, but those without blood ties, bound by shared dependence and mutual sympathy in shared hardship, could become closer than sisters.

Wang Yan had originally been happy that Yin Lihua could see her own brother. In contrast, her own brothers had all been killed by her father. She had heard that Wang Mang's head was already hanging in Wan, and she felt quite sorrowful about it. Yet Diwu Lun had sent someone to tell her that it might not be Wang Mang after all...

Now, seeing Yin Lihua in this state, she could guess a few things.

"You went to see your family. How is it that your hair has grown short?"

Wang Yan hurriedly beckoned Yin Lihua over and asked what had happened.

"It is not that I resent Liu Wenshu. It is my brother's words that were too hurtful."

Yin Lihua only gave a rough account of the matter. Looking at the mulberry trees in Wannian Palace, their leaves about to fall, and the sparrows circling above them, she recited: "Yellow birds, yellow birds, do not gather in the mulberry, do not peck at my grain. The people of this land are not ones to reason with. I will return, I will go back, back to my own brothers."

"Though both my parents are dead, I always believed that my home in Xinye still existed, that my elder brother was still there, that I could still return. But now, it seems..."

In these chaotic times, staying with Wang Yan under the King of Wei's protection in the Wannian Palace, one could still hear a young woman's laughter — but step outside, and what one would hear, I fear, would be wretched wailing, wouldn't it?

After hearing her story, Wang Yan let out a sigh.

"If blame must be placed, blame this world in turmoil."

War tears people apart; even gentlemen are left bewildered and at a loss, so how much more are women's lives not their own? Wang Yan had been lost in confusion for twenty years, and it seemed Yin Lihua would be just the same as her.

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Ever since Diwu Lun declared himself King of Wei, Wang Yan had glimpsed his surging ambition. Yet although many Han factions now stood outside, going over to them would not necessarily mean better treatment than she received now.

The Western Han had Liu Ying, who was nominally her son, but Liu Ying was a simpleton, nothing more than a puppet.

As for the Greenwood Han, needless to say, they were set up by Greenwood outlaws, and her father Wang Mang had died at their hands. When Wang Yan thought back, if it had been the Greenwood men rather than Diwu Lun who entered the capital back then, she would have had even less place for herself — perhaps she would have long since thrown herself into the flames, wouldn't she?

Though she was only just past thirty, her state of mind was already like that of a woman in her sixties. She would take each day as it came.

But in Yin Lihua's heart, there was a different thought. She was not resigned.

"This is not for you to decide!" The words her elder brother had flung down as he left came back to her, stoking her fury. She had no wish to walk into any more pits of fire.

She could not help clenching her hands. "Absolutely not. Yin Lihua's fate — I will decide it myself!"

……

In these degenerate times, those who could decide their own fate were few indeed — like the group of women in the Jianzhang Palace south of the Wei, who now had to be disposed of at others' will.

Wang Mang had no taste for women and no love of luxury; the palace was filled with holdovers from the Former Han. The youngest had entered the palace at ten and were now grown women.

After Diwu Lun entered Chang'an, he sealed the palace quarters. Palace women whose families were in the Guanzhong region were allowed to leave on their own; those willing to follow him north of the Wei were taken along; those skilled in weaving and needlework entered the women's camp. All had a path to survival — later they could marry soldiers and clerks, or go out and make their own living.

But there were still several hundred palace women who had entered the palace as children and never left since. The chaotic world outside terrified them, and they refused to leave the palace — just like birds grown used to life in a cage, who dared not take that step even when the cage door was opened wide.

So they stayed, shut away within the halls. When Diwu Lun distributed grain to the people of Chang'an, they received some too. After Diwu Lun withdrew, the Chang'an people entered the palace and began carting off its contents in great loads. Watching this scene, the palace women actually shed tears — after so long in the palace, it felt like their own home.

When Liu Bosheng entered the capital, their fate was once more left hanging.

Liu Bosheng's fierce general Liu Ji, ignoring the prohibitions, still went for a stroll through the inner palace. Though many were older women, half were young, and he discovered that these palace women were all very skilled at serving people!

That is to say, they could attentively and nimbly help him into his clothes and properly put on his cap and sash. Though such service was exceedingly elaborate, Liu Ji and the others, amid great unfamiliarity, accepted it with comfortable satisfaction.

Liu Ji came from the Liu clan of Chongling — nominally imperial lineage, but in truth merely a minor landowner. The women of his household were only the rough serving maids of a nouveau riche family, and could not compare to palace women who had received instruction in rites and decorum.

Now, looking upon those palace women — their powdered necks, peach-blossom cheeks, cloud-like coiffures, the light and graceful elegance of their bearing as they walked, the soft and melodious Jingzhao accent with which they spoke; on the day of the autumn sacrifice, they had even drummed and danced together, their clothes bright and vivid, and he had smelled that wondrous fragrance of rouge and powder and the delicate, secluded scent of incense clinging to their garments — Liu Ji was somewhat stirred, and so were the soldiers under his command.

So Liu Ji actually went to Liu Bosheng and said, "Grand Chancellor, Diwu Lun emptied out the palace — all that's left are these palace women. Why not bestow them upon the officers and men, divide them up as a reward!"

……

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00.