HNYWEF -Chapter 41 A Desperate Measure

Third day of the seventh month, first year of Zhenguan.

The candles in Liangyi Hall burned until the third watch before finally going out.

Li Shimin lay on the couch with his eyes open, staring at the canopy overhead. Outside the window, insects chirped endlessly—zhi zhi zhi—the sound irritating enough to set one’s teeth on edge. He turned over once, then again. After all his tossing, the pillow had long since shifted out of place, half hanging off the edge of the couch, but he ignored it.

Empress Zhangsun woke from all the movement.

“Can’t sleep?”

Li Shimin said nothing.

Supporting herself on one arm, she looked at him.

The candles had already gone out, but moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the side of his face.

That face was tense, brows tightly furrowed, as though a stone were pressing down on them.

He had been like this for days now—unable to sleep after lying down, waking again even after finally drifting off, then staring blankly at the ceiling beams.

“Still thinking about what happened today?”

Li Shimin gave a muffled “Mm.”

Empress Zhangsun fell silent for a moment. She knew what had been troubling him—the appointment of the Left and Right Pushe. The matter of Xiao Yu and Zhangsun Wuji had dragged on for nearly half a month before finally being settled. But that was definitely not what was keeping him awake tonight.

It was Li Chengqian.

She had heard what happened that day. Li Tai had gone alone to the Zhou household while Li Chengqian hid in Hongwen Hall and refused to show himself.

Li Shimin had ordered him to stand outside the Zhou residence. He had gone, stood there the entire morning, and after Zhou Xiong handed him a steamed bun, he came back.

Was that the end of it?

No.

The hurdle in Li Shimin’s heart remained uncrossed.

“As for Chengqian…” Empress Zhangsun carefully began, “he’s still just a child—”

“When I was thirteen, I was already on the battlefield.”

Li Shimin interrupted her, his voice dull and heavy.

Empress Zhangsun stopped speaking.

She knew his temperament. Once he got stuck in a dead end, nobody could pull him out.

She lay back down and closed her eyes, thinking she would try persuading him again tomorrow.

The room quieted.

Only the insects could be heard outside.

Zhi zhi zhi. Zhi zhi zhi.

One sound after another, like someone grinding their teeth in the dark.

Li Shimin turned over again.

Then again.

Who knew how many times he rolled over before he suddenly sat up.

Empress Zhangsun opened her eyes and looked at him.

In the moonlight, there seemed to be a faint glow on his face, as though he had finally figured something out.

“I’ve decided.”

Empress Zhangsun waited for him to continue.

Li Shimin turned his head to look at her.

“I’m going to betroth a princess to Zhou Yi.”

Empress Zhangsun froze.

Slowly, she pushed herself upright, more slowly than before, as though she needed to confirm she had heard correctly.

Moonlight shone across her face. There was still drowsiness lingering in her features from just waking, but her eyes had already sharpened with clarity.

“You’re going to marry off a princess?”

Li Shimin nodded.

She looked at him, confusion in her gaze—but even more than that, an expression that plainly said: Go on.

“To whom?”

“Lizhi.”

Two words.

Very soft.

Yet when they landed in the room, they were like a stone thrown into a pond.

Empress Zhangsun’s brows slowly drew together.

Not a sharp frown—more like a gradual gathering, little by little, until they formed a small mountain.

She stared at Li Shimin for the space of three breaths. Her expression shifted several times: from confusion to certainty, from certainty to disbelief, and from disbelief to—

Was Erlang joking with her?

Finally, she spoke.

“You… are serious?”

Her voice was quiet, but every word sounded squeezed out through clenched teeth.

“Lizhi is only seven years old, and you’re already this eager to arrange her marriage?”

Li Shimin opened his mouth.

He wanted to say something.

He wanted to say age wasn’t the issue—they could arrange the engagement first.

He wanted to say he had met Zhou Yi before; the boy was sensible, well-behaved, worthy of her.

He wanted to say there had always been a barrier between them and Zhou Xiong, and if they became family, maybe that temperament of his would finally—

But nothing came out.

Because of the look in Empress Zhangsun’s eyes.

It wasn’t anger.

It wasn’t reproach.

She was simply looking at him as though she were looking at…

Even she probably didn’t know what she was looking at.

But she just kept looking at him like that.

Li Shimin grew a little uncomfortable under her gaze.

“I was thinking…”

He finally spoke, though his voice was lower now.

“Zhou Yi is twelve this year, and Lizhi is seven. The age gap is a little much, but they could get engaged first, and in a few years—”

Empress Zhangsun said nothing.

She simply looked at him.

Her gaze rested on his face without moving.

Li Shimin’s voice grew quieter and quieter until it disappeared entirely.

The room fell silent again.

Outside the window, the insects were still chirping.

Zhi zhi zhi. Zhi zhi zhi.

Exactly the same as before.

And yet somehow, it sounded completely different now.

Li Shimin sat there and suddenly felt that this idea of his…

But he still did not take it back.

He simply sat there, facing that gaze.

Empress Zhangsun looked at him for a very long time.

Long enough for her to finally confirm that he truly meant it.

Then she lay back down.

Turning her back to him.

Without saying a single word.

Li Shimin sat there, staring at her back. Moonlight filtered through the lattice window, illuminating her shoulders, the loose strands of hair scattered across the pillow.

She did not move at all, as though asleep.

But he knew she wasn’t.

He wanted to say something.

Wanted to ask if she was angry.

Wanted to explain that he truly meant well for Zhou Xiong, for Zhou Yi, for—

But he couldn’t say it.

Because even he knew that if he said those words out loud, he himself would not believe them.

He lay back down.

The two of them faced away from each other, separated by a narrow gap.

It wasn’t wide—barely the length of an arm.

But the longer they lay there, the wider it seemed to grow, farther and farther apart.

Outside the window, the insects continued chirping.

Zhi zhi zhi.

Zhi zhi zhi.

Li Shimin stared into the pitch-black night with open eyes.

He remembered the look Empress Zhangsun had given him earlier.

There had been a sentence hidden inside that look, one she never actually said aloud.

So he said it for her—

“Don’t you think this is completely absurd?”

He closed his eyes.

And still couldn’t sleep.

Not until dawn.