From that day onward, Huo Qilang stayed in Prince Shao's room as his personal overnight guard. In name, she was Yuan Shaobo's subordinate, and when off duty, she rested in the Guard Captain's House outside the Main Hall.
Everyone in the residence said Huo Qilang was the ward against ill fortune that Madam Li had carefully chosen for Prince Shao. One look at this wandering warrior told them her birth chart was hardy enough to withstand calamity. Madam Li trusted her deeply and had even bestowed her own Persian Goldware on her.
After she arrived at the Prince's Residence, Prince Shao's condition stabilized somewhat. Though his illness still lingered and relapsed, with no sign of recovery, he could at least take a little food and drink. He no longer looked as though they needed to hurry with the funeral arrangements, and the Household Steward ordered the mourning canopy, coffin, and other such items returned to storage.
Perhaps Huo Qilang had brought good fortune with her. A few days after her arrival, just after the Double Ninth Festival, a convoy of carts slowly entered Youzhou City. Leading it was a pale-faced, beardless eunuch who declared that he had traveled all the way from Chang'an on the Sage's orders to bestow five cartloads of silk cloth and one cartload of raw silk on Prince Shao as an External Appointment Subsidy.
In the early Tang, imperial princes appointed as commanders, regional governors, or to similar posts could receive two thousand lengths of silk each year as compensation for the hardship of traveling far from home on official business. This was the so-called External Appointment Subsidy.
After Emperor Xuanzong seized the throne in a coup, he feared that his descendants might threaten his rule by the same means. He established the Ten Kings' Residence