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There was nothing particularly deserving of notice about Cairen Wu, at first.
Certainly, she was fair of face, but so were the other nine Cairen standing in the procession. There was something doe-like, to be sure, about the startled expression that crossed her face as she lurched backwards, flailing, blocking Li Tai's path as she narrowly regained her footing—but that, too, was nothing he'd never seen before.
Li Tai's senses were honed as sharp as the dagger hidden within his right sleeve. When Cairen Wu was shoved directly into his path, of course he'd caught the sudden movement from the corner of his eye at once.
What use was there to be had of a mere fifth rank Cairen who could scarcely hold her own?
With that thought in mind, Li Tai resolutely strode onwards.
When the naïve Cairen who'd almost fallen into his path managed to acquit herself of the murder of Vice Chancellor Jiang's daughter at the Banquet of the Flower Festival, Li Tai's interest was… admittedly piqued. Perhaps there was some use that could be found of Consort Yang's silver-tongued niece, after all.
The opportunity to assess the Cairen's value came when one of his spies reported, along with Brother Chenqian's confinement, the imperial order for her to bring The Emperor's Precepts to the Eastern Palace for him to study.
"If I help Your Highness, what's in it for me?" asked Cairen Wu when Li Tai waylaid her en route to Yeting Palace, the residence of all incoming Cairens. The wide-eyed, innocent look on her face belied the wariness behind the question that'd just left her mouth.
Upon hearing Li Tai's offer of protection, she agreed and unsubtly tried to pry about Chen Xin. He fended off her curiosity with a mild warning.
Not as naïve as she seemed, but still very much a greenhorn was Li Tai's concluding impression of Cairen Wu when his orchestrated chance meeting drew to a close. The soft brush of her fingers, as she took back the fish token she'd carelessly dropped while leaving, made his palm tingle in a manner that was not unpleasant.
Li Tai ignored the sensation. Were he to allow himself to succumb to every little attempt at feminine wiles aimed his way, he'd have lost his life a long time ago.
It was only after returning to his residence that Li Tai made the belated discovery that his favored azure finch jade pendant, a prized gift from Imperial Father, was no longer hanging from his belt. For one fleeting moment, Cairen Wu's face came to mind.
A spy tasked with keeping abreast of the goings-on within the Eastern Palace brought word of Cairen Wu successfully sneaking Chen Xin to Brother Chenqian's side. Another spy, charged with surveillance of Shujing Palace, the residence of Consort Yang, reported her murder of Chamberlain Zuo mere shichens later.
Li Tai, running a thumb across the fish pendant which had fallen into his hands once again by serendipity, let out a thoughtful hum. "Continue keeping watch over Shujing Palace," he ordered. "If Cairen Wu goes to her aunt again, I want to hear a full account of their conversation."
When she refrained from mentioning their bargain, proving she might yet be of further use, Li Tai summoned her to his favoured meeting place.
This time, Cairen Wu didn't bother at all to keep up appearances. Even as she stood on the shores of Lake Taiye, waiting, she cut an arresting figure with the way she carried herself: tall and unflinching, her sharp eyes locking with his own as his boat sailed close. Gone was all pretense of being the delicate flower, the tender-footed doe untimely flung into a den of wolves.
"Trusting someone is like handing them a dagger," Li Tai told her when she rejected his offer of wine, accusing him of being unworthy of trust.
The sly smile that spread across Cairen Wu's face before she triumphantly held up his missing azure finch jade pendant, declaring the ornament as the only thing that she could trust, was surely something to behold.
Li Tai's smile sharpened in return.
When one of Li Tai's spies reported that Director Li Chunfeng of the Astrology Bureau had studied the positioning of the stars and made a declaration of prophecy, he was intrigued.
After three generations of imperial rule, the Tang Dynasty shall fall.
The ursurper, a woman of the surname Wu, shall be styled ruler—
A woman ruler of the surname Wu. Now, who on earth could the prophecy be referring to?
Briefly, Cairen Wu's face floated across his mind.
Li Tai thought of how the Cairen wandered the Palace, her petite nose buried ostensibly in The Code of Women when in actuality she was reading Records of the Grand Historian. Of how her suggestion that Chen Xin incite his eldest brother to rebel had proven itself to be the final tipping point Imperial Father needed, to strip him of his title once and for all.
When his spies brought word that almost every women of age from the clan of Wu had, on the order of the Emperor, been promptly arrested and imprisoned, Li Tai decided to refrain from making an appearance at the imperial prisons.
This was his final assessment of Cairen Wu.
When the Cairen succeeded—and Li Tai had no doubt that she would—then she'd have finally proven herself worthy enough to stand by his side.
Li Tai rode into battle against the Xueyuantuo and claimed a decisive victory for the Tang. On the way back, to the bewilderment of his men, he made a long roundabout detour to Li Prefecture so that he could commission a goldsmith to fashion an ornate two-pronged hairpin carved in the shape of a soaring red kite.
Needless to say, when he returned to Chang'an and sought out Cairen Wu, only to find himself an unwitting witness to a private conversation between her and his ninth brother, his consternation knew no bounds. He watched as his brother touched the Cairen's own hand. Gave her his umbrella to shelter her from the falling snow.
Complimented how nice the jade hairstick that he'd bestowed upon her looked in her hair—
All at once, Li Tai was seized by the all-consuming impassioned urge to pull Ninth Brother's umbrella out of her grasp and break it into tatters. Instead he drew a deep breath, composing himself, and waited for the Cairen to walk away from his rogue of a brother.
When Cairen Wu slipped onto his boat, Li Tai greeted her with a wily smile. "Looks like there is something Cairen Wu requires of me," he remarks.
"There is," she agreed.
"And?" he prompted. "What is it that you wish for?"
"You," said the Cairen, striding up to him.
Li Tai's heart skipped in his chest. "You're insane!" he exclaimed, breathing heavily.
"If I am insane," said Cairen Wu, pressing her lithe body flush against him and peering up at him with wide, shining eyes, "then what does that make Your Royal Highness?"
Li Tai awoke with a gasp, his fists gripping his quilt so tightly it was a miracle they hadn't torn even a little.
"Insane," he muttered to himself, dragging a hand down his face.
Li Tai wanted Cairen Wu—no, Wu Yuanzhao. There was no use in lying to himself any longer.