Thousand Verdant Mountains – Chapter 18
Chapter 18
“Hey! Where did you come from! Get out of the way——”
Suddenly, she heard a voice driving her away. When she came to her sense, she found herself standing under the pomegranate tree. The eunuch closed his mouth suddenly, his eyes widened while staring at her feet, as if something extremely terrible had happened.
She looked down following the eunuch’s gaze and saw that her feet were stepping on a fallen flower. The flower bud was flattened by her and its flower petals was torn.
The eunuch’s face suddenly changed. He looked around, bent down, picked up the withered flower from under her feet, and was about to put it in his pocket. But then he stopped and put it in his mouth instead, swallowing it in one gulp without blinking. After doing that, he seemed to calm down a little, and cursed at Xuyu in a low voice: “You suicidal bastard! If someone sees you, you’ll die. You can die but don’t harm me! Get lost!”
Another flower fell. The eunuch didn’t bother to scold her again, and immediately turned around to sweep the flowers.
Xuyu calmed herself down, and after some hesitation and wavering, she finally followed the indescribable subtle feeling in her heart at this moment and walked into the gate under the pomegranate flowers.
She followed the flow of people around her, walking aimlessly from street to street, passing by the Imperial College, Baiyun Temple, and other streets that she had never been to before, yet each place felt strangely familiar. Before she reached the corner, she seemed to know what the scenery would be like in the next moment.
In her mind, the thing that had been in blurry for a long time seemed to be transforming, like a cocoon gradually gaining blood and breath, forming bones and flesh. Only the outermost layer, still encasing it, remained.
Just one more push, one more, and it would break through, spreading its wings and bursting forth…
Nunnery.She stopped in front of the Taoist nunnery called Zanxing Nunnery, and the gleam of mystical light in her heart that she was about to capture disappeared again.
She was confused again.
As if it shouldn’t be like this.
This shouldn’t be a nunnery. But if it wasn’t, she couldn’t figure out what it was…
Under an elm tree by the roadside, the flower aunt’s basket was filled with a few leftover peony flowers, each of which had just been carefully sprinkled with water, and the flowers were delicate and red, very beautiful. As dusk approached, the flower aunt wanted to finish her sales and go home early. She saw Xuyu staring at the Taoist nunnery and smiled and called out to her.
“Young Master, come and buy one! Even if you didn’t give it to a young lady as a gift, it’s good to keep it as a companion while studying. Maybe you’ll be inspired to write a good essay! A flower costs two pennies, if you want it, I’ll sell you two flowers for the price of one!”
Xuyu walked over, took out her money and put it down gently.
“Does Amu know what this place used to be?”
The flower aunt smiled and took the money.
“This is a blessed place! It used to be Prince Ding Mansion, and it was the residence of the current emperor before he was crowned the emperor!”
“Why has it become a nunnery now?”
“Young Master, you just arrived, aren’t you? No wonder you don’t even know this.”
The predecessor of this Taoist nunnery was not only the residence of the emperor, but also its name, which had a history. “Zanxing” was the title of the little of the prince mansion.
Prince Ding and his Princess Consort Yin were like a celestial couple, deeply affectionate and inseparable. They loved the little princess like a pearl. Unfortunately, things in the world were unpredictable. When the little princess was four or five years old, a turmoil that shook the world occurred. When Chang’an fell, Prince Ding was leading troops to suppress the rebellion and was out of reach. Tragically, the princess consort and little princess were ambushed by the rebels on their way west and met an untimely end, with the little princess going missing in the chaos.
When the emperor recovered the capital and ascended the throne, he made the daughter of the Liu family his empress due to the national system, but he also posthumously named Princess Consort Yin as Empress Zhaode and built a mausoleum for her, expressing his infinite grief. He was even more convinced that the little princess was still alive, so he named her Princess Shouchang and sent people to search for her everywhere. However, even for an emperor, there were limits to power, and the search proved fruitless. In despair, in order to pray for his beloved daughter, he converted his former residence into a Taoist nunnery, and named it after the princess’ former title, which was the appearance of today.
“Every year on the princess’ birthday, His Majesty will send people back to set up an altar and hold a ceremony here, giving food to all the beggars in the city to pray for blessings and ward off disasters for the princess. This happens every year, and this year will surely be no exception. The princess’ birthday will be next month, and if you’re still here, you can come and watch the fun.”
The flower aunt asked her customer to choose the flowers by himself. Seeing that the customer was still staring at the Taoist nunnery, she continued, “Have you seen the old pomegranate tree outside the south gate? There was no tree there at first. It is said that when the princess was born, she was weak and frail. A master pointed out that the princess lacked wood in her five elements, asking them to plant a pomegranate tree in the south of the gate to avoid bad luck and ensure long-term safety. His Majesty loved his daughter so much that he asked for the late emperor’s permission to transplant the pomegranate tree there. That’s how we have this unique view today.
“By the way, young master, since you’re new here, remember my advice. If you pass by there, be sure to avoid it. Have you heard of the Little Lord in the palace now? He said that this pomegranate tree was planted for the well-being of Princess Shouchang. The tree has spirits, and even if the flowers and leaves fall, they cannot be disposed casually, let alone be trampled on. So people are sent to guard it day and night in shifts, and collect the fallen leaves and flowers at any time. Anyone who dares to trample or damage it will be severely punished.
“What do you think of these two, young master?”
The flower aunt picked out a pair of flowers for the customer, looked up, and saw that the customer had left.
Xuyu walked into the Zanxing Nunnery, passed the archway and the bell and drum tower, came to Linggong Hall. Passing by Linggong Hall, she saw Sanqing Pavilion. As she stepped on the green bricks of the ground, she paused in the middle of the wide and long courtyard in front of the pavilion and looked around.
Her intuition told her that the left and right sides of this courtyard used to be the flower hall and the west tower, but now, the structure remained, but the hall and tower had become Yuanjun Hall and Zhenwu Hall.
She stood there for a long time, hesitating, and then continued walking. Suddenly, a hibiscus garden appeared in front of her. She stopped for a moment, then subconsciously walked through the hibiscus garden and went to the right.
A silent corridor stretched out under her feet, with no one around. She walked slowly along the corridor, and at the end, she suddenly saw a wall.
The gate of the wall was locked, but through the latticework window blocked by trees on the wall, she could still vaguely see some of the scenery inside the wall. There was a small bridge there, and there was a flat land under the bridge.
Many years had passed, and many traces of the old days had disappeared, but there was clearly a pond that had been filled in under the bridge
The surroundings were quiet and deserted, the wind blew and the trees inside the wall rustled. From somewhere deep in the corner of the eaves, the sound of a wind chime could be heard, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, crossing the wall and adding to the silence.
She withdrew her gaze from inside the wall, looked up, and looked at the stone inscription above the locked gate.
“Aichun Garden”.
The setting sun quietly shone on the stone plaque that was eroded by moss over the years. She looked at it for a long time, until her eyes seemed to be stinging, and a faint mist slowly spread in her eyes.
“How did you get in here?”
Suddenly, a scolding voice came from behind.
Xuyu turned around and saw a female Taoist coming up hurriedly.
“Go away! This is a forbidden area!” the female Taoist shouted to drive her away.
Behind this gate was the former inner house of Prince Ding Mansion, where the sleeping quarters of Princess Consort Yin and County Princess Zanxing was located. When the emperor gave this residence to be a Taoist nunnery, he marked this place as a forbidden area, and eunuchs swept it as usual so that the emperor could come here at any time to commemorate the deceased.
Xuyu walked out along the way she came. Her steps were hurried at first, then slowed down, and then she walked slower and slower. Finally, when she finally returned to the gate of the Taoist nunnery, her legs felt as if they were filled with lead, so heavy that she couldn’t even step over the threshold in front of her.
She had remembered.
The fog that had troubled her mind for years disappeared as if illuminated by a bright light when she walked to the closed gate a moment ago.
She remembered it completely.
That night many years ago, she, who had been weak since childhood, had a fever again, and A Niang was guarding her, never leaving her side.
Just a few days ago, the well-connected chief eunuch of the Prince Mansion, Zhao Zhongfang, heard a piece of terrifying news from the palace that had been suppressed but not yet spread. The situation at the eastern gate of Chang’an, the city’s shield, was critical and might soon be lost. The emperor was already considering leaving the capital to avoid danger, though no final decision had been made yet.
For many days, A Niang couldn’t sleep day and night, very worried. The only consolation was that she had received news that the people sent by A Ye to pick them up were on the way and would soon arrive.
That night, in the dead of the night, someone suddenly came from the palace, saying that the Empress Dowager had summoned their mother and daughter to the palace immediately for an urgent matter.
Zhao Zhongfang had previously learned secretly that the Empress Dowager had quietly left the palace a few days ago, so why did she suddenly summon them tonight? Could it be that the information he had received earlier was wrong?
She had a high fever and looked very weak. A Niang was worried that she would catch a cold again on the road. Although the palace messenger repeatedly emphasized that the empress dowager had ordered that mother and daughter must go together, A Niang, who had always revered the empress dowager, still insisted on leaving her. She asked Zhao Zhongfang to accompany her well, kissed her forehead, and then hurried away.
The cool, jade-like touch of the kiss on her feverish forehead and hurriedly leaving back became the last memory Xuyu had of her A Niang.
After she left the mansion, she never came back. The one who came back was Guo Zong, the chief guard of the prince mansion, who had accompanied her to the palace.
In a daze, she vaguely heard Guo Zong and Zhao Zhongfang talking to each other behind the screen in front of the bed in the bedroom. Zhao Zhongfang seemed so shocked that when he ran in, he tripped over his own feet and fell. Then she was hurriedly taken out from under the quilt, changed into servant’s clothes, and stuffed into a carriage.
She didn’t know where they were taking her, nor why her mother hadn’t come back. She asked her mother’s wetnurse, who was traveling with her, but she just shook her head and held her tightly in her arms, looking extremely frightened. She felt as if she was being taken on the run.
Someone was chasing them.
Could it be that the rebels have already arrived?
Those people were getting closer and closer. Guo Zong led his followers to block the way on horseback and told Zhao Zhongfang to continue to escape. In a panic, the carriage that was moving fast overturned. The old wetnurse broke her neck and died on the spot. She was also thrown out. When the rolling carriage was about to crush her, Zhao Zhongfang rushed over desperately and protected her tightly under his body, but one of his own legs was crushed by the carriage body.
At that time, Guo Zong, who was covering their retreat, should have been dead. The pursuers approached again with fire sticks in their hands, so close that she could clearly see those people’s face.
She recognized the leader among them.
She didn’t want to abandon her Zhao , so she cried and tried to pull him out from under the carriage, but she couldn’t. Zhao Zhongfang pushed her away fiercely and yelled at her to run away by herself.
It was pitch black, she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. It seemed like there was nothing around her but wilderness. She stumbled forward alone, not knowing the direction. Suddenly, she fell heavily, hitting her head on the ground, and kept rolling down, then she lost consciousness. After an unknown amount of time, when she woke up, she found herself lying in a deep ditch. When she climbed out, the world had changed.
She couldn’t remember anything. The only thing that remained in her mind was that her mother had left home and gone somewhere and had never come back, and she wanted to find her.
She did not find her mother, but there, under a wall painted with the most magnificent mural in the world that was about to be engulfed by fire, she met her grandfather in this life.
From then on, the little girl originally named Li Hao’er became Ye Xuyu.
Translator’s note:
Yes, another princess’s story!