Chapter 20

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Chapter 20: \"You don\’t need a suanni; now you have a pig.\"

The Li family had bought ten days of provisions at Sanqiao Post Station, but now they only went to the guards to get hot water for each meal. Li Dayong, thoroughly frustrated after his encounter at the cart, returned to his spot and squatted silently. Nearby, Li Xiaojuan sat by a tree, her eyes red with anger, occasionally stomping the dirt beneath her feet in frustration.

What seemed straightforward had spiraled into chaos… Sun Xinang, heavy with worry, took two bowls from her bundle and walked toward the bonfire where guards distributed food and water. How could a mere kitchen maid possess such sharp words and dare speak so boldly? In just a few sentences, she’d reduced Sun Xinang—the wet nurse who had suckled Jiang Wu—to a common servant earning wages and rewards, while stripping Jiang Wu of all blame, painting him as entirely innocent. Whether the maid’s words were nonsense or held truth, the damage was done. What grounds or justification remained for tormenting Jiang Wu now?

If she couldn’t torment Jiang Wu, she’d lose her purpose. Would she truly spend her life as an exile in the northern lands?

Sun Xinang joined the water line, clutching her bowls. Watching Jiang Wu just a few people ahead, bitter resentment swelled in her. She was only a servant who’d sacrificed everything for her survival and children. Jiang Wu’s innocence never mattered—only completing her task did.

When the steaming bowl was placed beside him, Li Dayong ignored it, looking up at Sun Xinang as she handed water to Li Xiaojuan. \"Mother, why did Jiang Wu know martial arts?\"

Sun Xinang froze briefly, then gave a pained smile. \"Yes, why would he? It’s impossible… Dayong, could you have mistaken it? Perhaps he only blocked you by chance?\"

Li Dayong shook his head. He’d replayed their brief clash repeatedly since returning, confirming not only that Jiang Wu knew martial arts, but that his stance might have been steadier and his strength greater than his own. \"Impossible. He must be trained.\" He studied Sun Xinang. \"Mother, you managed his courtyard. Didn’t you know his daily activities? Did the Empress—the former Empress—send someone to teach him? Or His Majesty…\"

This time, Sun Xinang shook her head. \"The former Empress cared only for His Majesty. To her, Jiang Wu was merely a necessary but dangerous tool. She’d never have allowed him to learn martial arts. I couldn’t tell you before, but when the Crown Prince fell ill after his first martial arts lesson—which you believed was due to frailty—it was actually the former Empress who drugged him. Proper training would’ve involved sparring and close contact, risking exposure of Jiang Wu’s female identity.\"

So he’d resented the wrong person? No…

\"Mother, I don’t understand,\" Li Dayong said, scratching his head irritably. \"The former Empress should’ve had him trained. It would’ve helped conceal his identity in emergencies, and every prince who ascended that position mastered both civil and martial arts.\" Even bold Li Dayong lowered his voice at the last words, glancing around furtively.

\"The former Empress pursued another prince after Jiang Wu’s birth,\" Sun Xinang murmured, eyeing the rising sun. \"Two suns can’t share the sky. If Jiang Wu gained too much self-sufficiency, how could she elevate the next one?\"

Thus, Jiang Wu learned no martial arts, knew no medicine, and had no allies. Raised in Kunning Palace under the former Empress’s iron grip, he remained dependent solely on her appointed guards—kept perpetually vulnerable for easy disposal.

Sun Xinang drifted into momentary daze. What a child-devouring tigress of a former Empress! Even hot-tempered Li Dayong felt a chill, gulping two mouthfuls of hot water.

If he was a discard, the arrangement made sense. Eliminating a favored Crown Prince outright was simpler than undermining him. No wonder he’d been barred from the Eastern Palace—establishing his own powerbase would’ve made killing him harder.

\"Wait, then who taught Jiang Wu?\" Li Dayong circled back. \"If the former Empress opposed it, only His Majesty could’ve defied her under her nose. But that makes no sense!\" Why bypass the Loyal and Brave General’s official lessons for covert training?

\"Not His Majesty,\" Sun Xinang insisted. \"Though he cherished the Crown Prince, he revered the former Empress too. Having promised her no martial training, he wouldn’t arrange it secretly. Unless Jiang Wu begged him privately—but impossible. Jiang Wu cared most for the former Empress. He avoided His Majesty unless necessary and wouldn’t orchestrate such deception.\"

\"Then who?\" Li Dayong flung his bowl down, exasperated. \"He couldn’t have mastered that level after one lesson!\"

Li Dayong’s curiosity wasn’t unique. Chu Xiulan had asked Jiang Wu at Sanqiao Post Station if he’d trained in martial arts, receiving only a slow headshake. Back then, they were strangers, but now—after pushing carts, picking flowers, and whispering about \"pig girl\" together—Chu Xiulan struggled to contain her curiosity politely.

Today, whether exhausted or lenient, the guards not only freed everyone from the trees early but didn’t hurry to assemble for departure after distributing rations. When a few bold souls washed by the river unchallenged, others soon crowded the bank. Heaven be praised—they could finally scrub off the grime.

The sunlight was perfect. Though undressing fully for a proper wash risked exposure, those without spare clothes could wash themselves and their garments together, then dry off in the sun.

Yes, this is about the penniless Jiang Wu, Du Yinsui, and the Qin family.

By the river, Chu Xiulan and Qin Chongli saved time by each handling a child, scrubbing them first before washing themselves. The water in that small patch quickly turned dark. Luckily, it was flowing water and cleared soon, avoiding any awkwardness.

Jiang Wu didn’t rush to clean himself. He first removed the bandages from Du Yinsui’s wounds. Whether it was the ample honeysuckle from the day before or the medicine bag from the Sanqiao Post Station granny that Du Yinsui had brought out at night, the swelling had gone down, looking much better than during her high fever the previous day.

Ignoring the murmurs about wanting to get into the river, Jiang Wu picked up a bowl not yet taken back by the guards. \"Your wounds shouldn’t touch the river water. I’ll fetch water for you to clean the uninjured parts.\"

Du Yinsui eyed the bowl, doubtful it was big enough for much. \"Forget it; I won’t wash. You clean yourself.\" She lay back flat, resigned, and closed her eyes.

Du Yinsui might have given up, but Jiang Wu hadn’t.

He brought bowl after bowl of river water, hauled Du Yinsui up to rinse her mouth and wash her face, then moved to her hands and feet. He prepared a cloth… \"You can wipe yourself,\" Jiang Wu said, offering a clean, wrung-out cloth.

Now refreshed, Du Yinsui didn’t mention giving up again. Instead, she raised her good right hand and waved it before Jiang Wu. \"By myself?\"

\"Then I’ll… help with your back, you handle the rest…\" Jiang Wu murmured, turning to stand behind Du Yinsui. He pressed the back of his hand to his cheek, cooling the rising heat.

\"Of course, I wouldn’t want you taking liberties,\" Du Yinsui said, enjoying the soothing rub on her back, her words careless.

Taking liberties? Why say \"taking liberties\"? In your eyes, am I not a woman? Even if I once dressed as a man, I am a woman.

Du Yinsui never guessed her words stirred such a storm in Jiang Wu’s heart. The cloth was still cleaned, wrung out, and carefully passed to Du Yinsui’s uninjured hand, then taken back to wash again… But Jiang Wu fell silent, even turning away whenever Du Yinsui wiped herself casually.

Sadly, Du Yinsui missed these little details while busy washing. When she was nearly done and noticed Jiang Wu’s sudden over-politeness, always facing away, she meant to ask why—but the dripping-wet Chu Xiulan came over.

\"A reminder: take off your prison clothes before going in the water, or they’ll cling when soaked,\" Chu Xiulan said, lifting her own garment to show how tightly the wet fabric stuck.

Du Yinsui nodded, agreeing while teasing Jiang Wu about not letting her enter the water. Jiang Wu, caught off guard by Chu Xiulan’s display, quickly looked away, unsure if he should turn his back.

Chu Xiulan’s openness made Jiang Wu’s caution seem odd. But if Du Yinsui didn’t see him as a man, would she think it strange he didn’t react to another woman’s wet clothes?

Despite the uncertainty, Jiang Wu slowly turned around.

\"By the way, Jiang Wu,\" Chu Xiulan cut in, stopping his hesitant turn, \"I heard Li Dayong used to be an imperial guard. How did you block his shove? Was he really as weak as two ounces of force?\"

Given Li Dayong’s fury earlier, he wouldn’t have held back when pushing Jiang Wu. If Jiang Wu truly had no martial arts training, then Li Dayong must be weak—but how could that be, since he reportedly saved the emperor?

Chu Xiulan was burning with curiosity.

\"More than two ounces,\" Jiang Wu guessed. \"About fifty… no, forty-seven or forty-eight pounds of force.\"

Chu Xiulan gaped, watching Jiang Wu’s hands lift slightly as he answered. \"You can tell that?\"

\"It should be close, not quite fifty pounds,\" Jiang Wu added, pausing. \"But the vertical force might not be exact.\"

On the cart, Du Yinsui felt dazed, as if physics formulas—where force isn’t measured in pounds—drifted before her eyes.

\"That was impressive you could block it!\" Chu Xiulan thought, \"And you didn\’t even move.\"

\"Back then, was it Fan Zaizhi who started your martial arts training? Later, after the martial arts classes were canceled, did His Majesty or the former Empress get someone to keep teaching you?\" Qin Chongli placed his grandson by the riverside, lying him next to his granddaughter to dry, and walked over with big steps.

Jiang Wu stood up straight at once when Qin Chongli spoke, but shook his head. \"No.\"

\"Then how could you stop Li Dayong?\" Qin Chongli frowned a little. He needed more details to fill in the gaps in his guesses and make his ideas closer to the truth.

Jiang Wu pressed his lips together.

\"When I began training, General Fan talked about running, jumping, horse stance, and lifting stone locks. During breaks, he showed lifting a three-hundred-pound cauldron and told me the story about carrying a pig. After the martial arts classes stopped… I did horse stances in my free time. With no pig to carry, I lifted the suanni in the hall.\" Jiang Wu apologized silently to General Fan; he\’d said this didn\’t count as learning martial arts from him, but since his teacher asked, he couldn\’t avoid answering or lie.

\"What\’s this pig story?\"

\"What\’s a suanni?\"

The questions came at the same time, one from Chu Xiulan and one from Du Yinsui.

Chu Xiulan turned to answer the second one: \"It\’s like the big stone cat heads at palace gates.\"

\"Those are lions…\" Qin Chongli added, unable to hold back. \"Suanni is one of the dragon\’s nine sons.\"

Du Yinsui searched her memories for this bit of knowledge. Well… she was uncultured, not minced garlic, she thought.

\"The pig story is about a man who raised a small pig and carried it every day from when it was tiny. As the pig grew big, he could still lift it easily because he did it daily. His strength got bigger without him noticing.\" Jiang Wu smiled, a bit shy. \"I didn\’t have a pig, so I used the suanni instead.\"

\"No wonder, I heard you loved stone lions and often asked the Bureau of Internal Affairs to send you a pair.\" Qin Chongli understood.

Jiang Wu nodded. \"Yes, since suannis don\’t grow, I had to replace them often, switching to a larger pair every few months.\"

\"So you just practiced horse stances and carried stone lions in your free time to get strong enough to block an imperial guard?\" Chu Xiulan couldn\’t believe it, and the words slipped out. \"You must have had so much free time…\"

So much free time…

Jiang Wu lost himself in thought for a moment.

In the quiet, empty hall, with candle shadows flickering, it was just him and the cold stone lions, day after day…

Chu Xiulan wanted to hit herself after saying that.

Slap!

A sharp sound rang out.

It was the sound of skin hitting skin.

Chu Xiulan looked at her own hands, still still, and turned her head.

Slap!

\"Ah!\" Du Yinsui slapped her thigh again, looking at Jiang Wu regretfully. \"What was General Fan thinking! Isn\’t the pig story always told with the tree-jumping story? About planting a tree seed and jumping over it daily, and when the tree grows, you learn light-foot skills! Why didn\’t he tell you that? If he had, we\’d have hope for bird eggs! One tree, one nest of eggs—think how many eggs we\’ve lost on this trip!\"

As she spoke, Du Yinsui pointed angrily at a big tree nearby.

No wonder, on the way to the river, she\’d suddenly asked if anyone could climb trees…

\"…\" Chu Xiulan slowly turned back to Jiang Wu and whispered playfully, \"You don\’t need the suanni anymore; now you have a pig.\"