The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 2
by Little PandaAn Unusually Strange Shadow Guard
The ninth day. The streets of the Capital were even more bustling than usual.
The hour of the Horse1 had just passed, and the avenues were a lively throng of people, packed shoulder to shoulder like ants.
Though she was averse to the cold, the windows in Cangyue Tower were wide open. Murong Yan, her hair in a simple single-knot bun, lay listlessly on the couch. Her eyes, which had been staring out the window for a long time, were beginning to ache. She blinked, feeling a slight heat in her eyelids.
She casually tipped the cold tea out the window. The white porcelain cup struck the tea table with a crisp clink, a sound that was almost piercing in the silent tower.
She let out a bored yawn. As she closed her eyes to rest, she felt a cool breeze against her cheek.
Murong Yan’s eyes snapped open. She took a moment to focus, and when she saw who it was, she spoke without a trace of alarm. “This palace doesn’t recall Cangyue Tower opening its doors to guests, allowing people to come and go as they please.”
Her tone was so detached it was impossible to tell if she was surprised or angry. “What do you think, Miss Wanted Criminal?”
The woman who had been in night-walking clothes a few days ago was now dressed in a grey long-robe, her waist-length dark hair2 tied back. The stray locks at her forehead were a bit messy. Seen from behind, her lean, tall figure could have been mistaken for that of an ordinary scholar.
The young Shadow Guard stood before the window and first offered a respectful bow. “Commandery Princess, this subordinate is called Ming Qin.”
Then, as if unsure where to begin, she scratched her head. To Murong Yan, her helpless posture seemed almost oafish. “Today is the Double Ninth Festival3, so this subordinate thought…” Her voice trailed off, sounding somewhat guilty.
“So you decided to ‘climb high’ all the way to Cangyue Tower?” Murong Yan let out a soft breath and raised an eyebrow, finding the whole situation absurd.
“I…” Ming Qin stammered. In all the moments she had brushed with death on her missions, none had ever made her feel as flustered as this.
She carefully pulled a package wrapped in zongzi leaves and tied with hemp rope from her robes. Swiftly undoing the intricate knot, Ming Qin explained in a rush of anxiety, “This is chestnut cake from the Eastern Market. It’s delicious. It just came out of the oven.”
[Image: A small, intricately patterned Chinese chestnut cake]
She held the zongzi-leaf package out to Murong Yan. “This is a thank-you gift for the other day.”
Two neatly arranged pastries lay inside. The small chestnut cakes were carved with a simple floral pattern, their surfaces glossy. The rich aroma of chestnuts made them seem even more delectable, and they were garnished with a chrysanthemum, adding a touch of elegance.
Meeting Ming Qin’s anxious gaze, Murong Yan lowered her eyes and silently gestured for the Shadow Guard to place the package on the tea table. She then turned to add more charcoal to the brazier.
Once the water boiled, Murong Yan opened a hidden compartment beneath the tea table, revealing rows of white porcelain canisters filled with tea leaves. She chose one at random and began to steep the tea.
When the brew had taken on its color, Murong Yan poured a cup for herself. Only then did she unhurriedly pick up a chestnut cake, place it in her mouth, and take a small bite to savor it.
The soft skin and the dense, delicious chestnut filling were a perfect combination—sweet but not cloying, with the faint fragrance of bamboo leaves. Paired with the freshly brewed oolong, it was enough to impress even a woman accustomed to the craft of the imperial chefs.
For a rare moment, a hint of warmth appeared on her face as she studied the cake in her hand.
When she finished and turned her head, she saw Ming Qin standing to the side, twisting her fingers and cautiously observing her reaction.
After a pause, Murong Yan responded, “Not bad.”
Seeing the woman’s pleasant expression, Ming Qin finally let out a breath of relief, a smile spreading across her face. “Granny Li’s pastries are the best in the entire Capital. Usually, if you don’t line up early, you’ll be waiting for nothing.”
Seeing the Shadow Guard’s proud look, Murong Yan, who was always so placid, couldn’t help but smile. “The best in the Capital is a bit of an exaggeration.”
Ming Qin disagreed. As if to prove her point, she puffed out her chest. “I’ve eaten all the delicacies in the Capital, and I’ve tried every one of Granny Li’s pastries. If you don’t like chestnut, I’ll bring mung bean cake next time. That’s their specialty, you know.”
Her tone was a little desperate.
“This palace was under the impression that the palace’s Shadow Guards were occupied with a million matters of state.”
Watching Ming Qin’s anxious display, Murong Yan slowly picked up the second chestnut cake and said languidly, “I didn’t realize you were so idle you had time to run all over the Capital eating pastries.”
The image of the Emperor’s feared hawks and hounds dutifully queuing up, searching the streets for various pastry shops and critiquing their wares, made Murong Yan take a sip of tea to force down the smile at the corners of her mouth.
“I…”
Torn between defending the Shadow Guards to the Commandery Princess as anything but derelict in their duties and frankly admitting that she did indeed spend every rest and bathe scouring the Capital for delicacies, Ming Qin scratched her head in dismay.
As if to distract herself, she tossed the bamboo leaves from the table into the brazier, destroying the evidence, and squatted down to silently poke the ashes with an iron rod.
Ming Qin’s dejection made the other woman seem a bit mean-spirited. Murong Yan carefully wiped her fingers with a handkerchief, blinked, and then said lightly, “As a thank-you gift, it is acceptable.”
Ming Qin looked up, a childlike smile breaking across her face. “Really? That’s great! I’ll bring something else next time, then.”
Murong Yan looked at Ming Qin’s brilliant smile and felt a sense of wonder.
She had encountered many Shadow Guards in the palace before. With her keen eye, she could tell that even within the Shadow Guard camp, where every member possessed extraordinary skills, Ming Qin’s martial arts had to be among the best to have scaled Cangyue Tower. Yet she looked to be no more than twenty—far too young.
What’s more, though a Shadow Guard’s work was always mired in filth and hidden from the light, Ming Qin was as guileless as a child, allowing one to see right through her thoughts.
She was truly a strange person.
Lost in her own complex thoughts, Murong Yan absently nodded along to what the person before her was saying, not even snapping out of it by the time Ming Qin had left.
So when the young Shadow Guard appeared at her window again the next day after lunch, holding a wrapped parcel of mung bean cakes with a huge grin on her face, Murong Yan was genuinely astonished.
It really was improper. Ming Qin’s feet flew as she traversed the rooftops, employing her lightness skill4. While the first time had been a matter of absolute necessity, the second was certainly a breach of etiquette.
If she were a man, she’d be no different from a common peeping tom, and her target was a Commandery Princess, the noblest woman outside the Imperial City.
Ming Qin remembered.
That night, she had been rushing back to the Capital using her lightness skill with a secret letter when, before she could even enter the Imperial City, she was ambushed by the Crown Prince’s men, who had received intelligence of her movements.
Exhausted and wounded from her mission, she could barely fend them off, and she was unwilling to cause a disturbance in the Capital that might harm innocent people.
She thought of the Prince of Yu, who had always been loyal to the Emperor and stayed out of disputes. Seeking the protection of the Commandery Princess Murong Yan, who was closest to her position, was the best decision she could have made at the time.
With her internal injuries, she’d risked her life just to keep from falling to her death as she climbed the tower.
But the Commandery Princess’s unruffled reaction had been completely unexpected. And her appearance and demeanor were entirely different from when Ming Qin had first seen her, she thought.
She still remembered, ten years ago. She had been a child in training at Yelan Court. Besides the daily practice, there were regular whippings to temper her will and the torment of starving for days on end.
But even as her peers cried out in misery, she gritted her teeth and endured.
This pain and training were for her own good. Only by becoming strong could she survive.
It was this belief that supported her, keeping her from breaking down during the grueling training.
The only exception was when she was twelve. On the verge of graduation, to build her resistance to poison, her shiniang fed her toxins daily. Her body felt as if thousands of scorpions and vipers were crawling inside her. Her sinews, which she had thought long numb to pain, endured a heart-gouging agony day after day.
On that day, her taut nerves finally snapped like an overtuned zither string. A dissonant ringing in her mind seemed to scream at her. Overwhelmed by the pain, she reached her limit. Under the cover of night, she used all her strength to shatter her manacles and, for the one and only time, escaped Yelan Court.
Her frail, broken body gave out, and she collapsed at the edge of the Imperial City like a gutter rat about to die. Just as her consciousness was about to slip away, a bright red sleeve stopped at her wrist under the moonlight. Then, she felt herself being lifted onto a horse.
Over the sound of hooves, she vaguely heard a man’s voice nearby. 『Commandery Princess, let this lowly one do it. Don’t dirty your clothes.』
The woman did not reply. The man suggested, 『This is likely someone from Yelan Court. Should this lowly one send word for them to come and collect her?』
After a silence, the woman let out a soft sigh. 『Let’s deal with it tomorrow. She’s just a pitiful child.』
The young girl didn’t know how long she remained in that warm embrace, only that the piercing noise in her head had been completely wiped away.
When she found the strength to struggle and open her eyes, she dimly saw what looked like a celestial fairy who had descended to the mortal realm. The woman before her was as radiant as a blooming, crimson peony.
Feeling the movement in her arms, the woman reined in her horse and looked down. Her eyes shimmered, a smile played on her lips. Her free hand produced a piece of candy from somewhere and placed it in the child’s mouth.
Lying docilely in the woman’s arms, Ming Qin obediently opened her mouth, feeling the sweet rice candy slowly melt on her tongue.
It was the most delicious thing she had eaten in her twelve years of life.
That was the girl’s only thought before she lost consciousness again.
Waking from the memory, Ming Qin thought.
She had assumed the beautiful woman who was once so dashing in fine clothes on a spirited horse5 would still be in full bloom. But now, she was like a pearl coated in dust, a peony whose petals had all scattered, leaving only a withered stem.
If her heart hadn’t been moved, she wouldn’t have been perched on a tree branch during her rest and bathe on the Double Ninth Festival, and she wouldn’t have witnessed the sorrow and desolation on the princess’s face. And she certainly wouldn’t have been unable to bear it, leaping up to the tower, awkwardly and haltingly pulling out the freshly bought chestnut cakes, frantically trying to find an excuse for her own uncontrollable impulse.
Ming Qin’s body dropped. She landed silently at the entrance to the market street, naturally merging with the flow of pedestrians.
“Granny Li,” Ming Qin called out to the shop through the crowd.
“Miss Ming!”
A kind-faced woman hastily wiped her hands and wove through the other people in line, walking toward Ming Qin with a hemp-string-tied package.
Ming Qin handed over the copper coins and took the package, then offered a solemn, cupped-fist salute of thanks.
“Don’t be so formal! Miss Ming, you’re the benefactor who drove off those local thugs for me,” Granny Li said with a laugh. “Just come patronize my shop more often. I saved this mung bean cake specially for you. If I hadn’t wrapped it up secretly, people would have started a fight if they saw it.”
“With your skill, Granny Li, it’s no wonder people would come to blows over them,” Ming Qin said sincerely.
“You’re the sweet-talker.” Waving her hand, Granny Li turned around briskly. “Alright! I’m heading back to the shop.”
Ming Qin nodded, hurrying away as she protected the lotus leaf wrap in her hands.
I hope she finds this delicious, too.
If she hits me, I promise I won’t hit back.
Yes, I promise.
Footnotes
- Wǔ shí, one of the twelve two-hour periods of the traditional Chinese day, corresponding to 11 am–1 pm.
- Qīngsī, literally 'green/black silk,' is a poetic term for the long, dark, lustrous hair of a young woman.
- The Chóngyáng or Double Ninth Festival is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. Customs include drinking chrysanthemum wine and climbing high places (登高 dēng gāo) to appreciate the autumn scenery.
- Qīnggōng, a martial arts technique allowing the practitioner to run up walls, leap great distances, and fall without injury.
- Xiān yī nù mǎ, literally 'fresh clothes, spirited horse.' This idiom describes a young person in their prime — vibrant, high-spirited, and splendidly attired, often of noble birth.
Thank you so much for translating this story. I am one of those picky readers who usually do not go for translated baihe novels, but this story (and the writing quality) and more importantly, your translations has quality that made me actually invest in this story.
Thank you for translating this story ??? This story is addicting. Min Qin is someone that although she suffered a lot she is still nice and Murong Yan is so interesting too, I hope that they can be happy bcause poor girls they are suffering a lot. The flashback was so interesting and it gives place to make several theories.
Happy Valetines day ???