Chapter 1: The Princess of Promises

**The Princess of Promises** is the first chapter of Chang Ge Xing. The first part was released on April 23, 2011 while the last part was released on May 25, 2011.

## Summary

### 1.1

A man on a horse carriage is seen rushing through rough terrain. From the carriage, a woman dressed in elegant clothing reaches out and knocks the man off. With a dagger, she slices the connection restraints and rides off on a single horse towards a river canyon with a broken bridge as multiple horsemen follow in pursuit. She stabs the horse in the side to inflict pain in order to get the horse to lunge her across the canyon. Her horse falls into the river below, but the woman stands watching her pursuers on the other side. A horseman coming to a halt at the edge aims to shoot an arrow at the woman, but is stopped by his general who tells the horseman to let the woman go as it is expect of his disciple.

In Chang'an, the bustling capital of the Tang, despite the Xuanwu Gate Incident recently taking place, city life goes on without worries as countless foreign merchants visit, sell and display their valuable goods and unique wares. In the imperial court, General Yuchi Jingde informs Chancellor Fang Xuanling that he failed his mission to kill Princess Yongning. Fang Xuanling remarks that it was unavoidable and that he will inform the emperor of the events, but lie that she fell deep into the canyon river and hence he was unable to retrieve her body. Fang Xuanling who has envisioned before that such an outcome is possible, states that Yongning is female and thus unable to become the emperor. However, giving thought to the current situation, says maybe things are better this way. He requests an audience with the emperor and is greeted by Chancellor Du Ruhui. Fang Xuanling informs the Emperor that he may rest with ease, as all of the families of the former princes have been put to their deaths. Du Ruhui remarks that they must not let their guard down for the sake of Tang and they must weed out any possible dissidents. Fang Xuanling then informs them that princess Yongning fell to her death in a canyon and her body was carried away by the river's rapids. Du Ruhui says it is unlike of General Yuchi Jingde to not be able to find a body, but Fang Xuanling says it could not be helped. Du Ruhui suggests retrieving her body to confirm her death, however the emperor tells them it is unnecessary and to hold a funeral for the princess and her mother at Rongen temple. He thanks his chancellors and dismisses them.

In a dream, two young boys with bruises run away yelling they will tell their father that Princess Yongning has entered the Prince of Qin's mansion again. Snapping back that she will fight them again if they meet her, a voice from behind takes Princess Yongning's attention by calling out her name. She turns around to see Wei Zheng and eagerly tells him that General Yuchi Jingde has taught her a new capturing technique, but Wei Zheng says he doesn't know martial arts. Yongning asserts that if he doesn't know martial arts, he will be picked on. Wei Zheng asks if that is why she has learned martial arts to which Yongning replies that she has, but she won't use it on others. Wei Zheng says to her that the line between protecting oneself and attacking others is thin and it could be difficult to recognize between the two.

The Princess Yongning awakens, dresses up and heads out to leave from an inn. She is wearing male clothing and has taken on the guise of a merchant boy. On her way out, she sells some of her jewelry to the innkeeper as pawning them off the streets could be risky. As she walks away, she slips out a hair ornament from her sleeve and wonders if her mother slipped it into her bag. She decides to keep it as a memento in her memory. On horseback, she heads out of the city gates and mutters a goodbye to the city of Chang'an.

### 1.2

Yongning thinks to herself that if she is able to survive, she won't be like her mother who lived as a target of mockery. Riding through a forest, she encounters two rogue bandits who demand that she hand over all of her valuables or else she will be killed. Yongning tells them that they will kill her anyway to which, they respond by pointing a sword to her neck. One bandit observes that her valuables are of exceptional quality and speculates that she likely stole them from the imperial palace during the commotion. In a quick act, Yongning slashes the arm of one of the bandits and shoots the horse of the other with a crossbow to ground him. Pointing the crossbow at the bandit on the ground, she tells them that she has a copper-platted, poison-tipped repeating crossbow and with a slip of the finger, it may easily go off. In fear, the other bandit pleads for her to show them mercy. Yongning ties the both of them to a tree and loots them off their coins. As she is about to leave, one of the bandits attempts to bargain that by blurring out that he could help her with looting the funerary offerings of the late Princess Yongning and her mother if she frees them both. Taking this information, she leaves them tied to the tree and rides off anyway.

Back in Chang'an at a restaurant house, Yongning orders sweets. Two boys arguing come out with a takeaway box. The older boy kicks the younger boy away and orders him to do the delivery as he throws the takeaway box into his hands.

### 1.3

Yongning takes the takeaway box from the boy and tells him that she does not need it delivered. The boy coming after her, is halted by a group foreign traders walking the streets with elephants and dancers. Seeing Yongning's stunned expression at the traders, he asks if she is from another city. Yongning throws a coin into the boy's hands and tells him to not follow. As Yongning leaves, a voice behind the boy asks where that customer went. Turning around and seeing a man, he refuses, but the man shows a golden nugget and asks his question again.

At the entrance of the Rong'en temple, Yongning asks the guarding soldiers who ordered a delivery from Pinxiangzhai. The guards become tempted after recognizing that they are the city's famous sweets. One guard orders Yongning to eat one first out of suspicion. Yongning follows the guard's order, eats one and proclaims how delicious they are. The guards fall for her trick and eat the sweets. Next, Yongning is seen, standing in front of the altar as all the soldiers lie dead on the ground. Speaking to herself while looking at the funeral altars, she tells that the one that should have been alive is dead, while the one that should have been dead is alive.

### 1.4

She says to herself that didn't know that her mother was ready to die. From behind her, Wei Zheng appears in the doorway holding the delivery boy unconscious under one arm. He tells Yongning that if she knew her mother would kill herself, she would have never ran away. Dropping the boy, Wei Zheng tells her he cannot fight and will leave it to Yongning to clean up her mess. She remarks that he only recently narrowly escaped death and must be asking to die by getting involved with her. Looking down at one of the dead guards, he replies that luckily no one remains alive as a witness. He questions how did she manage to get all the guards to eat poisoned sweets, to which Yongning reveals that all were poisoned, but she kept the antidote hidden under her nails. Wei Zheng praises her ability to have a victory without battle, but wonders if she is not afraid if the soldiers had a chance of recognizing her as the imperial princess. Gleefully, she tells that if they had recognized her and revealed her as the princess, then all those who have covered up her death would be put to death. Wei Zheng warns her that for that exact reason, she must be careful. Yongning, angered that by the fact that he along with most of the Tang Imperial Court turned a blind eye to her uncle, Li Shimin, murdering her father and other uncle, questions why he covers up her death: if it is out of pity as she was once his disciple or if he wants to ease his consciousness from the events, or if it is out of pity for her as a woman that cannot become an emperor of Tang. In response, Wei Zheng states that the path he follows puts the people first, his country second, and his emperor last. Laughing at his answer, Yongning returns a sinister stare at Wei Zheng as breaks her hair piece and unveils that her path is, for as long as she is alive, to kill her uncle and emperor, Li Shimin.

Under a starry night in Chang'an, a long, white-haired figure stands atop a building with an enormous celestial sphere. Observing the stars, he predicts that Tang shall become felled by a woman's hands. He tells his servant to immediately inform the emperor.

## Characters in order of appearance

1. Yongning
2. Fang Xuanling
3. Yuchi Jingde
4. Du Ruhui
5. Li Shimin
6. Wei Zheng
7. Li Jin (flashback)
8. Delivery boy
9. Imperial astronomer