Chapter 130 Part 2

 

As dawn barely broke, Xuyu had already dressed and get ready, carrying her painting tools as she set out on her journey. Yang Zai’en led a few attending eunuchs and palace maids, while Zhang Dunyi commanded the guards. Together, they departed from the city wall passage and exited Chang’an.

She had originally planned to ride a horse to quicken the journey, but Zhao Zhongfang, who was overseeing the trip, refused to allow it. He insisted that the cold winds were too harsh and arranged for a carriage instead. When she declined, he went so far as to kneel on his crippled leg to beg. Unable to refuse the old eunuch, she finally relented and boarded the carriage, setting off for Empress Zhaode’s mausoleum.

After leaving the city, they traveled dozens of miles toward the wooded mountains. The road was slick with ice, slowing the carriage to a crawl. What should have been a half-day’s ride on horseback now seemed likely to stretch into most of the day.

The carriage was covered with thick felt and there was a blazing brazier inside. Xuyu was completely submerged in a thick and soft fur blanket. Perhaps because she did not sleep well last night, she felt tired again not long after the departure and felt drowsy.

She fell asleep in a daze, and when she woke up, she didn’t know how long she had slept. She asked casually and found out that it was almost noon, but they had only travelled half the way.

“Just another mile or two ahead, there will tent peddlers. Once we’re there, the Princess can rest for a while, have something to eat, and then continue at a more leisurely pace,” Yang Zai’en called from outside the carriage.

Now that she was a princess, she had to conduct herself as one—otherwise, those around her would be at a loss as to how to serve her.

Xuyu responded with a vague murmur and let the carriage carry her onward until they reached the resting place. She got off and entered a warm tent set up by the roadside. The attendants served her food, exquisitely prepared as if she were still in the palace, but she had no appetite at all. Forcing down a few bites, she soon felt a wave of nausea rising up and gave up. Resting briefly, she then reboarded the carriage and resumed the journey—only to drift into sleep once more.

When she woke up again, she was told that it was almost dusk and they were about to reach the mausoleum.

She didn’t want to move at all. She curled up lazily on the fur blanket, staring at a sachet hanging in the corner of the carriage, which swayed slightly as the carriage moved forward. Her thoughts gradually became vague, and all the events of last night appeared in her mind again.

The rift between her and that man finally and inevitably showed up, revealing what it should be.

After last night, he might have guessed what she knew, just as she understood what he knew, so he turned around and left after she asked him to leave.

Staying was meaningless. It was just like the kiss she asked him to give her. Apart from the tacit awkwardness, there was no trace of excitement and sweetness she had felt before.

Xuyu frowned slightly, closed her eyes, turned over in the fur blanket, and buried her face deeply in a soft pillow.

Suddenly, she felt something was wrong.

She had uncovered a secret—one that made her unwilling to return to Yongning Mansion but also too afraid to face the emperor. But the Emperor found out anyway. He personally picked her up overnight, and then, without warning, suddenly arranged something she could not refuse, sending her out of Chang’an and asking her to return after a few days…

Something felt off.

All this time, her father had kept no secrets from her when it came to matters of the country. Everything had been transparent.

And yet, he had been secretly investigating Wei Juren’s whereabouts all along—without letting her know a single thing.

If it weren’t for the fact that she accidentally met Gu Twelve in the Orchard Square looking for him, she would have no idea that such a thing had happened.

A sense of foreboding came over her.

Xuyu slowly opened her eyes, sat up, and lowered her head in thought. Suddenly, she heard a slight noise coming from the back of the carriage, as if someone was come close but was blocked behind and not allowed to approach.

“What happened?” At first, she thought it was some hunter or mountain villager passing by nearby, so she asked Yang Zai’en who was following outside the carriage.

“Let’s go slowly. If there are others taking this road, let them pass first and don’t block them!” she ordered.

Yang Zai’en responded with a yes.

“Aunt—”

It was as if there was a faint calling voice, but before it was finished, it stopped abruptly.

This voice…Li Hui?

The carriage was still moving forward. Xuyu pushed open the window and looked outside.

In the gradually deepening dusk, from a distance, she saw Zhang Dunyi and several guards stopped behind her, actually intercepted the road and forcibly stopping two horses coming up from behind. The two people on the horses were both young men.

One was Guo Guo’er, and the other was indeed Li Hui!

Guo Guo’er dared not resist too much and had already been restrained by several guards at the roadside, his mouth stuffed so he could not make a sound. Li Hui attempted to break free through by force. However, though his riding and archery skills had improved over time, he was no match for Zhang Dunyi, one of the most skilled warriors in the Jinwu Guard. With a single strike, Zhang Dunyi pressed him down against his horse’s back, leaving him unable to move, and his mouth was tightly blocked as well.

As he struggled in vain, his face flushed red with exertion. Suddenly, he caught sight of Xuyu’s face emerging from the carriage ahead, which had been slowly moving away. Summoning all his strength, he lurched forward and sank his teeth into Zhang Dunyi’s hand. Zhang Dunyi let out a cry of pain, and in that brief moment, Li Hui broke free and shouted, “Aunt”.

After all, he was the eldest grandson of Prince Ning Mansion—Zhang Dunyi dared not truly harm him. He hastily lunged forward again, pinning Li Hui’s face firmly against the horse’s back once more.

“Shut up! His Majesty has ordered that you are not allowed to disturb the Princess!” he shouted in a low voice.

But it was too late. Xuyu had ordered the carriage to stop. Yang Zai’en tried to refuse, and only advised her to continue forward and hurriedly went to rest. Xuyu got off the carriage and walked back quickly. Yang Zai’en paused, hurriedly took a cloak from the carriage, and chased after her.

“Let them go!” she ordered.

Zhang Dunyi slowly loosened his grip, and the guards also had no choice but to let go of Guo Guo’er.

As soon as Li Hui was free, he jumped off his horse, rushed to Xuyu, and shouted, “Aunt, something bad has happened!”

Guo Guo’er also walked over quickly at this time, and without waiting for Xuyu to ask, he recounted what happened in the West Market in the morning.

“He came to me and told me what happened. I quickly went to look for Master, but I couldn’t find him anywhere.”

His hair was blown into frizz by the wind and his cheeks were red from the wind, but he didn’t care at all and looked extremely anxious.

“These past days, so much has happened in the palace. I listened to Mother and stayed out of trouble, hardly going anywhere outside. I didn’t even visit Master to avoid disturbing him. But now I fear Master is in danger! When I heard that you were leaving the city, I followed after you! I can’t do this without you, Aunt! Please go back and check on him!”

Before Li Hui finished speaking, Xuyu’s heartbeat quickened.

The uneasy feeling she had felt a moment ago was actually confirmed! Without thinking too much, she immediately turned to Zhang Dunyi and ordered him to bring her a horse so she could return at once. But Zhang Dunyi did not move.

She frowned, unwilling to waste time arguing with him. Instead, she strode toward a fine steed stood nearby and commanded a guard to dismount. Yang Zai’en hurried after her, urging her to put on more layers, his voice filled with desperate pleas for her not to return. But Xuyu would hear none of it. When the guard got off the horse in panic, she grabbed the reins and was about to climb on. At this time, Zhang Dunyi came up quickly and called his men to form a line in front of her, blocking the road back to the city.

“This subordinate has been ordered to escort the Princess to the Empress’ mausoleum. Please return to the carriage and continue on your journey.”

He knelt down and spoke in a respectful tone, but it was obvious that his actions did not yield at all.

She had been away for nearly an entire day and had no idea what had transpired in her absence. She was extremely anxious. Seeing this, she became furious and pulled out a sword from the waist of a nearby guard, pointed at Zhang Dunyi and said, “Will you step aside or not? If you refuse, do you believe I won’t kill you where you stand?”

Zhang Dunyi kowtowed respectfully: “His Majesty’s decree cannot be defied. Princess, you can kill this subordinate. But unless you kill every last one of us here, as long as one person is still alive, we will see you safely to your appointed destination.”

He said, and stood up from the ground. “Someone! Escort the Princess to the carriage!”

The coachman had already driven the carriage back, opened the door, and bowed to wait for her to get in.

Xuyu stared into Zhang Dunyi’s eyes. He lowered his eyes, not daring to look at her, but he still refused to move.

Xuyu slowly raised the sword.

Zhang Dunyi closed his eyes as he saw a flash of sword light in front of him. However, the blade did not fall on him.

He opened his eyes and saw a deep gash on the princess’s snow-white left arm.

The bright red blood quickly flowed out along the wound on her wrist, soaked her sleeves, and then kept dripping onto the ground like raindrops.

“Aunt!”

“Princess!”

No one present expected her to act this way, and they all cried out in surprise. Zhang Dunyi reacted the fastest, horrified, and stepped forward to grab the sword.

Xuyu took a step back, and this time, she placed the sword across her neck.

“I know you’re just following orders, so I will not kill you. But if you dare to stop me again, I will cut my neck right here. Don’t test my words.”

She looked at the guard opposite her, her tone resolutely calm.

Zhang Dunyi still hadn’t recovered from the shock he had just experienced. His eyes passed over her injured arm that was still bleeding, then slowly and silently lowered his head.

Li Hui rushed forward, tore off a piece of white silk from the robe he was wearing underneath, and wrapped her wrists tightly with it.

Xuyu threw away the sword, without saying a word, mounted her horse, turned around and galloped towards Chang’an.

The day had turned dark.

Pei Xiaoyuan still sat alone by the banks of Wei River, where he was assassinated while offering sacrifices on the eve of his wedding. His figure seemed almost petrified, merging seamlessly with the night.

In front of his feet, the turbulent waves had just rolled past, flowing onward to the distant lands where the vast waters would ultimately reach—Hedong, the place where his father lay buried.

It was here, long ago, on the night before he was to kneel before the Danfeng Gate of the imperial palace and plead for justice on behalf of his father and eight hundred fallen warriors, that his mother had brought him.

She smiled and told him that in the future, no matter when or what happened, if he ever wished to speak to them, all he had to do was face this flowing river. Whatever was in his heart, the souls of his homeland would surely sense it.

So today, he came here again, to the bank of this never-ending river, and sat like this for a long time, through the brightness of day into dusk, from nightfall deep into the late hours.

A cold, feather-like fragment drifted weightlessly in the wind sweeping across the water’s edge. It descended from the sky, floating down like willow fluff, and finally landed softly on his brow.

A little snow fell from the sky.

The people of Chang’an had been looking forward to this winter snow for some time, and finally, on this night, it fell silently on the earth.

Pei Xiaoyuan watched from afar, watching pieces of white snow being blown onto the water by the wind, and then quickly disappearing without a trace as if they fell into a huge black mouth opened from the ground.

It’s time for him to go too.

Because this was his original intention for entering Chang’an.

He stood up from the water’s edge, mounted his horse, raised his wine flask, drank the last sip of cold wine in the flask, and in the midst of the faint first snow, he urged his horse forward towards the city ahead.

If one’s original intention could be weighed against betrayal, then what in this world would still be truly worthy of admiration?

If such a choice could so easily grant him everything he desired—a world as intoxicating as sweet nectar, as blissful as plunging headfirst into paradise—then for the rest of his life, he would never know true peace.

Previous     TOC     Next