Chapter 35 Part 1

 

Xuyu felt as if she was walking in an illusory world.

In this early summer dusk, bathed in hazy twilight, the evening drums of Chang’an echoed as passersby hurried home. Yet, she was heading towards a world that she had long since left behind. The door to that world had been sealed shut, but from this moment on, she would be guided back, returning to the dusty, forgotten days behind that closed door.

It was dark, the gate of Pingkang Lane closed behind her, and she was taken to Jinfeng Tower.

This famous brothel in Chang’an was brightly lit and filled with distinguished guests. Xuyu was led around the gate of Jinfeng Tower, approached a winding alley next to it, quietly entered from an independent small side door, passed through a deep courtyard planted with flowers and trees and dotted with strange rocks, climbed a long-lacquered ladder, and came to a hidden pavilion.

The few most renowned courtesans within the lane, though still under the authority of their madams, each had their own private residences. These homes were spacious and luxurious, with exquisite furnishings and daily provisions that rivaled those of noblewomen. In order to facilitate meeting guests, these residences often had private entrances, allowing direct access between the inside and outside.

The servant led her here, bent down and went downstairs. His figure then disappeared in the shadows of the flowers and trees in the courtyard.

At this time, the surroundings were silent, with only a few faint sounds of singing and laughter coming over the wall from the direction of the front building with the wind, adding to the tranquility.

Xuyu calmed herself down, knocked on the door several times, but heard no response, so she slowly pushed the door open and walked in.

Facing her was a small hall, with sitting beds on both sides, each surrounded by embroidered cabinets, writing brushes, inkstones, and elegant arrangements. It should be a place for meeting guests. After passing through, there was an inner corridor leading to the bedroom.

In front of the bedroom hung an embroidered curtain. When the curtain was opened, one could see a bright candle burning on a silver candlestick, illuminating the surrounding with a warm glow. Next to the four-panel mica screen was a pot-door bed, which was popular at the time. It was covered with a mattress and an embroidered pillow. There was a table in front of the bed, on which there was a silver pot for storing incense. Next to the pot, incense was simmering in a silver duck stove. The fragrant mist slowly spread out from the opening on the duck’s back and rose into the air.

From the moment she pushed the door open and walked inside, Xuyu’s nose was filled with a scent that she was all too familiar with. She followed the scent trail and at this moment, she finally found the source of the scent.

This was the smell produced by the smoke from ambergris borneol.

Ambergris was rare even in the inner palace, and it was even more difficult to find outside. In the past, every festival, the palace would distribute it the prince mansions as a reward. In the summer, her mother liked to mix ambergris with borneol to make fragrant pallet. The fragrance of the scent lingered for many days, and it was very refreshing.

Xuyu stood in front of the incense burner for a moment, then slowly turned around.

A beautiful lady holding the painting that Xuyu sent to her that day quietly came out from the small side room connected to the bedroom and stopped in front of the cloud screen.

She was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, with her hair styled in a lazy bun, and no other decorations except for a few plain hairpins. She wore a dark jade-purple ruqun and a goose-crowned red long skirt. Her face was as bright as the spring moon, and her charming yet serene eyes were now fixed steadily on Xuyu, not blinking even once.

Xuyu recognized her at a glance.

She was Wei Yinniang, the elder sister of the Wei family who had accompanied her for several years and took her to eat sesame cakes.

She turned herself completely around, facing the beauty, so that she could see her eyebrows, eyes, and her entire appearance clearly.

“Sister, it’s me.”

She raised her hand and wiped away the makeup on her forehead that she had applied since her first day of studying painting, revealing the scar.

“I’m Li Hao’er.

“I grew up and didn’t die.

“I’m back.”

She smiled.

After she finished speaking, the room fell into complete silent.

The beauty was still gazing at her steadily. Just as Xuyu’s heart turned uneasy and her smile slowly disappeared, suddenly, the beauty smiled back and nodded. Two lines of tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto the scroll in her hand bit by bit.

“Wei Yinniang, daughter of guilty minister, pay my respects to Princess Shouchang.”

Wei Yinniang choked with sobs and knelt down in front of her, kowtowed, and did not get up for a long time.

Xuyu forced back the tears that were about to fall from her eyes, took a deep breath, and quickly went over to help her up.

“I am not Princess Shouchang, and in my eyes, you are not daughter of guilty minister. You are my sister, the sister of the Wei family who always took me to eat sesame cakes when I was a child. I just want to hear you call me younger sister.”

Wei Yinniang couldn’t stop smiling and crying, and under Xuyu’s comfort, she finally wiped away her tears, put down the scroll in her hand, asked Xuyu to sit on the bed, and served her tea.

She pushed aside a pile of hot ashes in a gilded silver fire basket, making the charcoal buried under the snowy ashes red again. She took out a firm tea cake from a silver tortoise-patterned box, crushed it finely, and used a long-handled silver spoon to measure some of the tea powder, which she gently sprinkled into a kettle filled with spring water from West Mountain.

The tea in the pot gradually began to bubble and boil, filling the room with a strange yet pleasant aroma, a blend of hot tea and incense. Once Yinniang respectfully offered her a cup of tea, served in a Yue kiln celadon cup with a floral rim that had been thoroughly rinsed, they had already shared their respective experiences from the past years. There was a mutual understanding between them, as neither mentioned the troubling events surrounding the Wei family’s downfall. With that, their emotions slowly settled.

“Sister, since you were lucky enough to be adopted and now you are back, why don’t you let others know your identity and find a way to meet His Majesty? You only need to tell the county magistrate of Chang’an or Wannian County your identity and they will report it immediately.

“Everyone in the world knows that His Majesty always remembers the late Empress Zhaode, and he misses you even more. Just yesterday, a prayer meeting was held for you in Zanxing Nunnery. The whole city knows about this, and it happens every year.”

Xuyu raised her eyes.

“Sister, you should also know the rumors about my mother.”

“That’s just a rumor, don’t listen to it! Empress Zhaode is a virtuous and kind person, how could she do such a thing!” she said immediately, her tone very firm.

“So do you know why there are such rumors?”

This time Yinniang did not answer.

“How much do you know about what happened the night before Chang’an City fell?” Xuyu continued to ask.

“Mother was summoned to the palace. After she left, I was in a daze because of fever. I only knew that Guo Zong came back and said a few words to Zhao Zhongfang through the screen. I didn’t know what they were talking about. Then I was sent to a carriage, and then the people who wanted to kill me caught up with us…”

The ferocious face that had become distorted in the light of the fire stick reappeared in front of her eyes. She paused and looked at Yinniang opposite her again.

“I remember that you were with me in the bedroom that night, and then you were hurriedly sent home. When Guo Zong and Zhao Zhongfang were talking, you were also nearby. Did you hear what they said? Why was Zhao Zhongfang so frightened that he almost stumbled when he was walking?

“That’s why I didn’t reveal my identity immediately after I came back. I’m not sure what happened to Mother, why those people wanted to kill me, and even, I’m not sure…”

She stopped.

She was not sure whether her father was really unaware of what had happened that night.

This was extremely important to her, so important that it was more significant than the heavens themselves!

Wei Yinniang remained silent after hearing this.

“Sister! If you heard anything, please tell me!” she begged.

Wei Yinniang finally forced a smile, avoiding Xuyu’s gaze, and said, “Sister, I was only concerned with taking care of you that night, I didn’t hear anything—”

Xuyu stood up from her sitting position and was about to kneel down in front of Wei Yinniang, who was so frightened that she hugged Xuyu tightly and half-knelt down herself: “Princess, what are you doing! You must not do that!”

“Sister! You must have heard something! It’s about Mother’s whereabouts. If she’s alive, I want to see the person. If she’s dead, I want her to be buried and rest in peace! For so many years, Father was the person beside her pillow, but he did nothing! If even I don’t care, then no one in the world will care about how she died, whether those rumors are true or false!

“Sister! I beg you!”

Speaking with so many emotions, Xuyu burst into tears.

Wei Yinniang hurriedly wiped her tears, and she also shed tears and need to take a long breath.

“Sister, even if you knew, what can you do? I…”

She met Xuyu’s pair of hazy teary eyes, gritted her teeth, and finally whispered, “I didn’t hear it very clearly at the time. I only vaguely heard that Ding Baiya came to report the news halfway, saying that Liu shi’s people were chasing them.”

“Later, I figured it out slowly. The emperor had already left quietly that night with Empress Dowager Wang, but no one knew about it. You also know that Liu shi is Empress Dowager’s grandniece and she stayed with her in the palace during that period. She must have known about it, but she didn’t leave immediately.

“Do you remember, at that time your father had already sent someone to pick you up, and they would arrive soon? This happened because of Crown Prince Li Mao, and Liu shi was aware of it too. She wanted to marry your father many years ago, but it didn’t work out, so she used the excuse of retreating into religious practice and never discussed the marriage. I guess, maybe she hated you and your mother, so she pretended to act on Empress Dowager’s behalf, intending to lure you into the palace to harm you both.

“If she really had such intentions, that was her best opportunity. The emperor and the empress dowager had left the palace at that time, and it was empty. The people sent by your father had not yet arrived. If she waited until you were taken away, she would have no chance to act.

“Ding Baiya was a very popular painter in the palace at that time. He had many friends, from princesses and noble ladies to palace maids. Perhaps he learned about Liu shi‘s conspiracy and came to inform your mother, and they met halfway. At that time, Liu shi‘s people must have discovered it and chased after them. Your mother knew that she would not let you live, so in order to win more chances for you to escape, she asked Guo Zong to come back alone to take you away. As for herself…”

She stopped.

“If I’m not mistaken, she must have fallen into Liu shi‘s hands and met with an accident…” After a moment, she spoke again, slowly.

Tears fell silently, wetting Xuyu’s clothes.

“But, as I said just now, I didn’t hear it clearly that day. It was all my guess later. Maybe I heard it wrong and your mother is still alive! Please don’t be too sad!”

Wei Yinniang kept comforting Xuyu while she herself was crying.

Xuyu shed tears silently for a moment and then wiped them away.

“Zhao Bandang, Zhao Zhongfang, is he dead or alive now, do you know?”

This time Wei Yinniang did not hesitate and nodded immediately.

“Uncle Zhao should still be alive, not dead!

“About ten years ago, when I was still in the Music Bureau, he suddenly came to see me quietly one day. That was the only time in all those years.

“After His Majesty ascended the throne, he became the Deputy Supervisor of the Palace Office. I had a pretty good life in the Music Bureau. Although learning was hard, I was almost never beaten or scolded by the teacher. I didn’t know why at first, and I just thought I was luckier than others. That’s when I realized that he had been protecting me in secret before. But when I saw him that time, he didn’t look good.

“Uncle Zhao said that because you have always been close to me, he took care of me on your behalf. That was also the last time he came to see me on your behalf. He can no longer protect me in the future, and told me to take good care of myself.

“He didn’t say it clearly at the time, but I guess he must have offended His Majesty for some reason and was expelled from the palace. Although he didn’t say where he went, he must still be alive. If you can find some old people in the palace, you may be able to find out his whereabouts.”

After Wei Yinniang finished telling this story, she forced a smile and said, “He thought you had passed away long ago and felt extremely guilty, blaming himself for not being able to protect you. If he knew that you were back now, and had become such a handsome young man, he would definitely be very happy.”

Xuyu also smiled: “Thank you, sister. I will go find Zhao Bandang. I have something else to ask. I remember Guo Zong had a son who was only half a year old. His nickname seemed to be Guo’er? Are the child and his mother still alive? Do you know where they are?”

Wei Yinniang showed an expression of surprise and delight.

“Sister, I didn’t expect you still remember Chief Guard Guo’s son!”

“If Guo Zong hadn’t sacrificed himself to cover my retreat, I wouldn’t have been able to escape. How dare I forget?”

“After you were sent away that night, Madam Guo brought Guo’er to my house temporarily. No one expected that the city would fall the next day, and we escaped from Chang’an together. Madam Guo’s health was not good to begin with, and she contracted an illness on the journey, so the child stayed with me the whole time. Finally, we survived until the rebellion was quelled, and we returned to Chang’an with Guo’er. Unexpectedly—”

She paused, then quickly glanced at Xuyu.

Xu Yuzhi knew what happened then, and she couldn’t help but feel extremely guilty. Wei Yinniang quickly skipped this part and continued, “When I learned that my house was going to be raided, I was forced to send Guo’er to an old couple who had worked in my family before, and asked them to raise him. Then I joined the Music Bureau, and my family was scattered. Two years later, I finally found a chance to see him, but I learned that the old couple had passed away, and Guo’er’s whereabouts were unknown, it seems he was sent to the orphanage. I have been looking for him all these years, and God has mercy on me. Just last year, I finally found him.

“That child is very determined despite growing up in the orphanage. Now he is sixteen or seventeen years old, and lives in the West Market, following a man named Gu Twelve to make a living by delivering goods and doing hard labor. I once looked for him, but I didn’t dare to let him know my background. I just said that I was an old friend of his parents and wanted to buy him a house so that he could do some business and live a stable life in the future. But he refused, saying he couldn’t accept something he hadn’t earned. Sister, if you want to find him, go to the West Market and ask for Gu Twelve. You can find him by asking him.”

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