Chapter 32

 

At this hour, the six streets of Chang’an were deserted, with not a soul in sight. He rode his horse southward, passing the first crossroads, then turned the horse eastward.

On the first night of his arrival, the emperor gave him a precious horse named Jinwuzhui. However, since he usually traveled within the city, riding such a conspicuous horse would attract too much attention, so he had kept it temporarily stabled at the Horse Archery Bureau, entrusting its care to a stable hand.

This place and Ci’en Temple were almost at the opposite side of Chang’an, and the road was not close. At first, he had no intention of looking for her, but tonight he couldn’t stop the thought and couldn’t wait to ask her immediately. Even if she had fallen asleep, it would be fine just to see where she was working. He suddenly remembered Jinwuzhui just now, so he turned around first.

The Horse Archery Bureau was near the Tonghua Gate where he first arrived that day, two or three blocks to the east. The stable hand led Jinwuzhui out with its bridle and stirrups ready, and a cloud-patterned black lacquer saddle painted on its back. He climbed on it, and after a little adjusting, he quickly got the hang of it, and rode towards the south of the city.

Jinwuzhui was good at running. Although the stable hands had often taken it out of the city for exercise over the past month, it was still a precious horse from the emperor under their care, so they dared not let it run at full speed. Having been eager to gallop for days, the horse, sensing its master’s intent tonight, raised its hooves and raced forward with barely a touch on the ground, like a heavenly steed under the moon, galloping down the long street that ran from north to south. The grand houses and tall buildings behind the walls on either side gradually gave way to lower and sparser structures, until they finally reached the area near Ci’en Temple. At this time, Jinwuzhui’s breath was only slightly wheezed, but Pei Xiaoyuan forcibly stopped it. It kept raising its front hooves and gently tapping the ground, as if it was still not satisfied, begging to run again.

Pei Xiaoyuan hugged the horse, stroked its head and rubbed its ears several times. After calming it down, he dismounted and asked for the gate to be opened.

Although this place was far away, the people who come and go on a daily basis were not ordinary people. He had also been here for inspection before, so the gatekeeper naturally recognized him. When the gatekeeper saw him coming, he thought Pei Xiaoyuan was here on official business. Without asking any questions, he immediately opened the gate and let him in. He only wondered in his heart why he couldn’t seem to sleep tonight. Just now the county prince’s shizi also came, and now here comes a Jinwu officer.

Pei Xiaoyuan arrived at Ci’en Temple and entered through a side gate that was guarded by monks at night, and found his way to the foot of the mountain where the blessing caves was carved out in the back mountain.

Right now was the third watch of the night, the moon was bright, and the wind was clear. From a distance, the foot of the mountain appeared pitch black, except for one spot where a bright light shone from within.

He knew that this must be the place where she was painting.

He had assumed that by this hour, she would have already retired to her quarters for the night.

He hadn’t necessarily intended to speak with her when he arrived so late at night. However, things had gone unexpectedly smoothly. Thinking about Qingtou’s words again, he could not help but feel slightly excited and quickened his pace towards the direction of the light.

At this moment, in the stone chamber, Xuyu stood with her back to the cave entrance, looking at Yuwen Zhi as he approached. When he suddenly asked her such a question, she couldn’t help but be extremely surprised.

She soon understood that he must have overheard the conversation between her and Chengping in the garden of Shenshu Palace that day.

It was precisely because the young master of the Pei family was a good person that she did not hesitate to offend him but was unwilling to implicate him. She feared that if others found out, it might one day harm him, let alone let the son of the Yuwen family in front of her know about their past relationship?

But thinking carefully about her conversation with Chengping that day, if it was indeed heard by Yuwen Zhi, it would be useless for her to deny it now.

“You don’t want to admit it?”

This Yuwen Zhi was extremely perceptive. Just by observing her brief silence, he seemed to discern her emotions. He let out a couple of mocking snorts, “I heard clearly that you two broke off your engagement. The more you refused to admit it, the more curious I became. From what that mixed-blood dog said, it seems that this Pei guy still has lingering affection for you and even sent that dog to speak on his behalf?”

Hearing such vulgar and mocking words from Yuwen Zhi, Xuyu could no longer hold back her anger.

“Shizi Yuwen, I have heard about the old grudges between you and Master Pei. But if you think you can humiliate him like this, you are underestimating him too much. He and I did not know each other before, let alone have a close relationship. Now there’s nothing between us at all. To say we are strangers might be an exaggeration, but we are merely acquaintances—nothing more. Where is this so-called lingering affection?”

A gust of night wind swept across the foothills, causing the branches and leaves of the champaca and sala trees nearby made a rustling sound. The wind also swept into the stone chamber, making the fire stick swayed, and the light flickered.

As Xuyu was talking, she noticed that Yuwen Zhi seemed to be distracted. His eyes seemed to be drifting outside the entrance of the stone chamber, and his expression gradually became strange.

“I’m really tired and I still have work to do tomorrow. Please do as you please, Shizi.”

Whether he had listened to her or not, she did not want to stay any longer and turned to leave.

“Wait a moment!”

He called her.

Xuyu watched him patiently. He walked to a corner of the stone chamber, pointed at a painting on the top, and asked what it was.

It was a golden lion lying in a propitious posture, with its legs folded together and lying on its right side. There was a similar lying lion painted on each of the four corners of the stone chamber.

In the Buddhist world, the lion represents strength and wisdom, and has the great power to enlighten ignorant beings.

She explained.

“No. Why does it have one more beard than other lions?”

The light from the fire stick could not reach the corner, and it was completely dark. Xuyu looked up and was about to move the ladder, but Yuwen Zhi had already moved it over.

Xuyu climbed up the ladder, took the fire stick handed to her by Yuwen Zhi, and shone it around.

It turned out that a gecko had crawled over and its tail was resting on it. Because of the dim light, it looked like it had one more beard.

She tried to explain again and was about to step down when suddenly, the ladder beneath her wobbled, and she lost her balance. The fire stick in her hand slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground, and with a startled cry, she tumbled from the ladder.

Yuwen Zhi stretched out his hand and caught her steadily.

Xuyu looked up and met Yuwen Zhi’s eyes, which were looking down at her with a hint of pride, and she understood immediately.

The ladder was shaking, it must be his fault.

As for him saying that the lion had an extra whisker, it seemed that it was also intentional, just to trick her into going up.

She was furious, cursed, and struggled to get him to let her go.

He seemed extremely happy. His eyes flicking toward the cave entrance as he burst into wild laughter. Then he put her down as he was told, and put his face closer to her: “You want to hit me? Go ahead, hit me as much as you want. I’ll gladly take it!”

Xuyu, who had just calmed down from the shock, felt that the man in front of her was crazy, very crazy. Filled with disgust, she stepped back and quickly turned to leave, walking away quickly.

Yuwen Zhi quickly caught up with her and blocked her near the entrance of the stone chamber.

“Do you still remember that back then when you were wandering in the mountains, in the end I found you and carried you all the way out?”

At that time, Xuyu’s feet were worn out and covered with scratches, and she was so weak that it did seem like he was the one who carried her out. But seeing him now, so shamelessly taking credit, she couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation: “So according to Shizi, I still owe you a thank you?”

He shook his head and stared at Xuyu: “I was wrong!”

Xuyu was startled, then looked at him coldly.

“I mean, I knew I was wrong at that time. I was willing to accept the beating. I even still have the scars on my back, and every time it rains, the scars hurt so much that it keeps me awake at night. And I’m afraid this kind of pain will accompany me for the rest of my life, but I’m gladly accept this punishment.

“By the way, your name also contains the word ‘rain’ (yu). Isn’t that destined by heaven? This is the mark you left on me. I will never forget you for the rest of my life.”

He was clearly talking nonsense, but he sounded very affectionate.

Xuyu forgot to be angry at this moment, she just felt extremely weird, and the hairs on her body suddenly stood up. She didn’t know why this person seemed to have been possessed by a ghost and suddenly turned into a different person.

“I was really wrong!” he continued.

“After you left, I regretted it every day, hating that I couldn’t lower myself to admit my mistake to you in person. In the past few years, I have been thinking about how to meet you again. God is merciful and has made my wish come true. Look what I have brought for you——”

He walked to a corner of the stone chamber entrance, and Xuyu discovered that there was an object covered with black cloth that looked like a birdcage.

Sure enough, after he pulled off the black cloth, a small gilt mica cage was revealed. On the horizontal bar stood a small parrot with a red head and green feathers, and a thin golden rope was tied to its feet. He brought the bird back to her and teased it for a while. The parrot then said, “I was wrong, please forgive me! I was wrong, please forgive me!”

Xuyu was dumbfounded.

Yuwen Zhi smiled and said, “I saw this bird by chance after I came to Chang’an. I thought of you at that time and bought it so that you can play with it.”

Xuyu hadn’t reacted yet, but when he finished speaking, he knelt on one knee in front of her, holding the bird in one hand and holding her sleeve with the other, looking up at her and shaking her hand gently.

“I was wrong! I really want you to forgive me—”

Xuyu was startled and quickly pulled her sleeve back from his hand and took a few steps back.

“Get up right now! If you keep making trouble, you’ll have someone else finish the painting tomorrow!”

Yuwen Zhi then slowly stood up from the ground and said, “This is something I owed you from before. Besides, in my heart, you are like a jade figure. Kneeling before the jade figure I cherish—what does that even matter?”

Xu Yu frowned: “Shizi, respect yourself! What’s the point of you saying these things to me?”

Yuwen Zhi remained calm: “Fine, fine, since you don’t want to hear it, I won’t say it. Then please forgive me! I will definitely turn over a new leaf in the future. I will do whatever you ask me to do!”

As he spoke, the parrot kept jumping beside him, shouting, “I was wrong, please forgive me.” For a while, the stone chamber was only full of this noise.

Xuyu felt dizzy from the noise and hurriedly asked him to stop the bird chirping.

Yuwen Zhi whistled at the parrot, and the flat-haired bird really stopped making noises, and her ears finally became quiet.

“How about it, do you like it?”

He looked at Xuyu eagerly, his face full of flattery.

Xuyu had never expected that things would turn out like this. She didn’t know what the son of the Yuwen family wanted, and why he changed so drastically. While she was still hesitating, she saw his expression change again, and he stretched out his hand towards the bird’s neck.

“What are you doing?”

“If you don’t like it, what’s the point of me keeping it? I bought it for you!” He said in a nonchalant tone.

Xuyu was speechless, so she could only say, “It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s inconvenient to keep it. It’s a good bird, does it make sense to kill it just like that?”

“I was wrong again!” He immediately stopped and looked annoyed.

“If it’s just inconvenient for you to raise it, I’ll take care of it for you temporarily. I’ll teach it more when I have time, and I’ll bring it back to you next time!”

Facing such a capricious person who could do anything, Xuyu could only agree. After a moment of thought, she finally spoke seriously: “Shizi Yuwen, I don’t know why you said those words just now, but if you really have a heart of repentance, it’s naturally a good thing. I hope that from now on, you will remember today—think twice about everything, and try to show more leniency.”

“Yes, yes, I will need you to give me more advice in the future, so that I can commit fewer sins!”

Xuyu was too lazy to talk to him anymore. She glanced at him and walked out: “I’m going to sleep. The work here will be finished in a day or two. Shizi, you should go back too.”

He immediately picked up a fire stick, held it in his hand, and considerately lit the way for her, diligently escorting her out of the stone chamber and guarding her all the way to the intersection leading to the Buddhist hall. At her repeated urging, he finally stopped and stood still, watching her figure disappear.

At this moment, he let go and dropped the fire stick in his hand. The tip of the stick fell to the ground, flickering, then the fire slowly went out.

The surroundings fell into darkness again.

A clear and sharp sword, gleaming like water on a cold night, was pressed against his neck from behind.

“Yuwen Zhi, listen carefully. Hate me as much as you want, but if you take your anger out on her or have ill-intention towards her, and cause her any harm, you will become my enemy.

“This is a warning!”

A cold voice came from behind his head, accompanied by a flash of sword light. The hair crown on Yuwen Zhi’s head broke and fell to the ground, making his long black hair fell down.

The person behind him sheathed his sword and walked away.

Yuwen Zhi slowly turned around and stared at the back of the person who was leaving.

“Pei Er!” He suddenly called out to the figure from behind.

“Even if you give me ten more guts, I won’t touch her. But do you think it’s because of your warning?

“Listen carefully. I won’t touch her because she is the jade figure I have been thinking about for three years. I just said this to her face. Do you dare?”

He laughed.

“If she doesn’t like me killing people, then I won’t kill. If she likes good people, then I can be a good person too! What’s so hard about that? If you cannot tolerate me getting close to her, it’s also easy. Just ask her to renew the engagement with you. Only then will you be qualified to say this to me!”

Yuwen Zhi left with a loud laugh, and his laughter sounded extremely joyful.

At dawn, when the stable hand of the Horse Archery Bureau took the horse back from its owner, he found that the precious horse was sweating all over and snorting constantly, looking extremely excited. It was obvious that it had run the same route outside the city and had just returned. When he heard Pei Xiaoyuan’s instructions to take care of it and let it out for walks more often in the future, he quickly agreed.

Pei Xiaoyuan walked on the street shrouded in morning mist.

Last night, he rode his horse outside the city until dawn. By the time the horse was finally satisfied, his hair was damp, and his clothes were soaked with night dew, sticking uncomfortably to his body. He decided to return to his residence to change into clean clothes. As he approached, he saw Liu Bo standing outside the door, talking to Qingtou, who was inside, still bleary-eyed from sleep.

It seemed that he had come to look for him early in the morning.

“Master is back!”

Qingtou shouted, and suddenly saw his appearance, and cried out in surprise: “Master, where did you go last night? Why are you like this?”

Liu Bo came up and whispered a few words to Pei Xiaoyuan. Without even having time to change his clothes, he turned around and hurried away with Liu Bo.

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