Thousand Verdant Mountains – Chapter 19 Part 3
Chapter 19 Part 3
Chang’an was too big. On this day, when Xuyu finally returned to the inn in Yongping Lane, the evening drum had already echoed again above the streets and alleys, urging people to go home.
She came back on foot. It wasn’t that she couldn’t catch a ride back, after arriving in the West Market, there were many rides available. She just wanted to walk until her legs were almost numb and her whole body was exhausted. As if only in this way that she could no longer feel the suffocating pain brought by the huge mass pressing on her chest.
The words she said to Zhou He before leaving were also a declaration to herself.
She would never believe that her mother would abandon her and her father that night and elope with a young painter.
That night, she had hoped so much that her father, who had always been omnipotent in her heart, would come down from the sky and save her from the terror that she had never experienced before.
After Zhao Zhongfang told her to run, she turned back while crying, and saw the people who were chasing her. In the dark night, their faces jumped and twisted in the light of the fire sticks as the horses galloped. She had seen one of them before.
One thing Zhou He said was indeed right. She had a half-brother who was nearly ten years older than her. His name was Li Mao. People from his mother’s family, the Liu family, often came to visit him in prince mansion. The one who came the most was Li Mao’s aunt, which now the young Empress Liu.
Just a few days before that night, that woman came again and took Li Mao away, saying that her mother missed him very much and wanted to see her grandson.
Her mother was a stepmother, but she was devoted to Li Mao, and her attention and care for him were no less than for her own daughter. However, the young Xuyu could still feel that although Li Mao was submissive on the surface, when he was behind his father’s back, there was always a bit of silent disgust in his eyes when he looked at her mother and her.
The distorted face in the firelight was the head of the Liu family’s guards who had accompanied Liu Nu to pick up Li Mao that day.
Many years had passed since that nightmarish night.
She did not die and returned to the city where she was born.
Her former father had become the emperor today.
Empress Dowager had become the Grand Empress Dowager.
The daughter of the Liu family became the empress.
Her half-brother was the crown prince.
Everyone was doing well, better than before.
Only her mother, the most beautiful and gentle woman in the world, seemed to have died. The person who was her lover built a huge mausoleum for her, visible to everyone in the world.
But she seemed to still be alive, living in the words of others in the most humiliating way.
At this point, she finally understood who Grandpa had been looking for all these years.
He must have known about this rumor, that’s why he was so persistent. For many years, he had been trying to find the disciple he valued the most but who was carrying a stigma. This was his unfulfilled wish. After accompanying her to settle down for three years, Grandpa still entrusted her to Pei Ji, leaving alone regardless of his health, and went to a place she didn’t know.
The intense urge to rush to her father’s side and tell him she had returned, which had surged up when her memories first came back, was now completely gone.
Zhao Zhongfang did not die that night. Like her, he survived by chance and continued to serve her father for several years.
At that time, it was impossible for him not to have seen that face, and it was even more impossible for him not to know who the other person was.
She could figure out what that face appearing there meant, and Zhao Zhongfang would not fail to think the same.
In Xuyu’s mind, it was as if a blazing fire appeared in the air once again, along with the pomegranate tree full of flowers outside the gate of Wuben Lane.
Zhao Zhongfang had just been flogged and was lying on the couch, unable to move. She secretly ran to see him, her eyes red and her heart full of remorse.
“Oh, oh, it’s all my fault. I made you like this. Are you angry with me?”
He waved his hands hurriedly.
“Don’t cry, little princess! This servant doesn’t feel any pain at all! How could this servant be angry with you? It’s a blessing that you’re fine. Go away, little princess, and don’t let anyone see you coming here!”
As luck would have it, on the night when she was picking out the flowers, she was naughty and slipped into the pond in front of the courtyard of the bedroom. She drank some dirty water and got a little scared. Her father ordered people to fill up the pond overnight, and the matter was over. However, someone tattled about Zhao Zhongfang taking the little princess to pick pomegranate flowers, which reached her father’s ears. Enraged, her father would have killed Zhao Zhongfang on the spot if not for her mother’s fervent pleading and the little princess clinging to her father’s leg, crying loudly. Additionally, Zhao Zhongfang had served him since childhood, so he was spared.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ve asked Mother, and she allowed me to come. I brought you some honey. Eat it.”
She took out a piece of honey from a small and exquisite backpack decorated with gold foil patterns on her back and put it on Zhao Zhongfang’s mouth.
The honey was as white as jade. It was made by frying the best sugarcane juice and milk. It was then made into the shape of a little rabbit, which was very lovely.
Zhao Zhongfang refused to eat it at first, but later he couldn’t resist her begging and took a small piece.
“Is it delicious?” she asked, tilting her head.
“Delicious!”
“I also have kitten, fish, and puppy. I’ll give them all to you! Eat them and get better soon. Then play with me again!”
With a clang, she poured out all the honey in her backpack.
“Princess Consort is kind-hearted, and Little Princess is also so good to this servant!”
Zhao Zhongfang’s voice was choked with sobs and he was almost crying with gratitude.
“You are my Zhao Bandang! Forever!”
The little girl shouted in a loud voice.
Where is Zhao Zhongfang now? Is he dead or alive? That night, when Ah Niang didn’t come back, and Guo Zong came back alone, what did he say to him? Are those people who were chasing her really sent by someone in the Liu family as she saw, and what was their purpose?
Also, did he tell the emperor what happened on that night?
Xuyu returned to the inn exhausted.
It was the busiest time of the day, with guests coming in and out. Two drunk guests got into a fight over gambling. Aunt Gao scolded and yelled at people to separate the drunks, but the people around were all busy jeering. Aunt Gao was furious, so she brought out a bucket of water and poured it on the two people’s heads, and only then the drunks were separate. Suddenly, she saw her come in and her eyes lit up.
“Young Master, you’re back! You didn’t come back last night, so I thought you didn’t want live in my place anymore. I went to your room and saw that you didn’t take anything with you. I thought you had an accident and I was worried all night…”
Xuyu pretended not to hear anything, leaving Aunt Gao’s concern and all the noise behind her, went into the room, and fell asleep.
At the moment when she closed her eyes, there was only one thought in her mind.
She wanted to confirm with him, her Zhao Bandang.
Was it him who betrayed his former mistress and his little princess, and did not tell the present emperor, her father, everything he had seen that night.
And her father was ignorant of everything, completely in the dark.
…
A young man, unassuming in attire but with a tall and imposing presence, arrived outside the black lacquered gate of a near the imperial city.
There were many similar places on the long streets in this area, all of which were places for the vassal princes, local officials or the military governors outside the capital to make reports and communicate in the capital. Therefore, the area was not as noisy as other streets, and since it was afternoon, there were not many carriages and horses on the road. He reported his name to the gatekeeper of the Jinzouyuan and waited quietly outside.
After a while, a noise came from the gate, breaking the quietness of the afternoon. A young man who looked like a nobleman ran out from the inner hall. He didn’t even have time to put on his boots, as it was left in the courtyard. He didn’t care, and ran out of the gate in his white socks.
The man waiting outside the gate turned towards him with a slight smile on his face.
“Erlang!”
Amidst the loud shouts of surprise, Chengping stepped over the threshold with a swift kick, and with “thud,” his fist hit the young man’s shoulder.
“You are so good Pei Xiaoyuan! Why did you only arrive today? You kept me waiting for so long! I spent the whole day looking for you yesterday! I thought something happened to you on the way! When did you arrive? Which gate did you go through?”
Pei Xiaoyuan did not dodge, and took the heavy punch from his friend. He then smiled and apologized: “I’m really sorry for making you worry. I arrived last night and came in through Tonghua Gate.”
Chengping was furious when he heard this: “That old bastard! I think the Changle Postmaster is tired of living! I went there to look for you this morning, but he told me he didn’t know! See if I don’t whip him next time!”
Pei Xiaoyuan asked, “I didn’t stay at Changle Inn, so how could he know?”
Chengping paused, then laughed, “Forget it! I’m glad you’re here!” He stretched out his arm to pull him inside, and then he found that he was missing a boot. An attendant had already picked it up and brought it up to him. He jumped back with his feet and put it on, and then led Pei Xiaoyuan in, chatting and laughing. After they sat down, he naturally asked him about the result of the search. He was disappointed to hear that Pei Xiaoyuan didn’t find the person.
“Me too. I kept asking on the way here, but there was no news at all. If the person is really gone, I’m afraid I won’t dare to see Lord Pei in the future.”
“You worry too much. You’re going to the capital, she’s unlikely went the same way with you. Nothing should happen to her. She has been traveling with her grandfather since she was a child. She may have returned by now. Uncle He will surely have news soon.”
Pei Xiaoyuan comforted Chengping, but he himself was not very sure.
Chengping sighed and complained a little: “Where on earth did this girl go? It’s so hard to find her!”
Pei Xiaoyuan was silent for a moment.
Chengping glanced at him and said, “Forget it, let’s not talk about this. You have done your best.” After that, he changed the subject and called people loudly, ordering them to immediately prepare a banquet at the Chunfeng Tower, the best restaurant in Chang’an, to welcome Pei Xiaoyuan. Without waiting for him to respond, he smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter what you say. This banquet is inevitable. Many of the young men in various guards in the capital who are close to me have long admired you. Knowing that you are coming to the capital this time, they have repeatedly asked me. If you don’t go, it won’t be a problem for me, but ask them if they agree!”
Pei Xiaoyuan thought for a moment and smiled: “Thank you very much. I’ll go there by myself later. I still have to go to Cui Mansion later.”
The Cui family was known as the best noble family in the world, and his maternal uncle was one of them. Chengping had long known it, so he no longer forced him to stay and nodded, “Fine, then I won’t keep you. Before you arrived, your uncle had sent people to tell me several times that if I see you, I should report it to him immediately.”
After he finished speaking, he asked him about his next residence and invited him to stay with him.
Pei Xiaoyuan said that he had settled in the Jinwu Guard’s dormitory, and would move to the government office in a few days, which would be equally convenient.
Chengping knew that he didn’t want to stay at his place, and didn’t force it. After chatting for a while, he stood up to see him out and repeatedly reminded him about the welcoming banquet in the evening. Only then did the two of them part.