A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 10.2

“After this incident, Imperial Brother the Crown Prince took me to the Eastern Palace and kept me under his care. I escaped the sea of suffering, but I could imagine that without me by her side, my Consort Mother’s life must have become even more difficult.”

Chen Liangyu said, “So you deliberately provoked Noble Consort De and made her lose composure in front of the Emperor?”

Xie Wenjun propped up her head and said, “I don’t just want her to lose composure and favor; I want her to die.”

Not just want her to die; she wants her to die!

It was still a very gentle voice, incredibly calm, as if she were merely saying she was tired and wanted to sleep, hungry and wanted to eat, or thirsty and wanted a drink.

The case of selling official positions and accumulating wealth did not cause much uproar. The Yao family’s assets were recorded in the Ministry of Revenue’s ledger, and the Emperor spared their lives. The parasites of the nation were transformed into meritorious officials.

Noble Consort De’s arrogance grew even stronger.

“A’Li, have you ever been to Cangnan?” Xie Wenjun asked this seemingly irrelevant question.

The fire in the charcoal basin softened a little. Yuan Rong and Dai Qing were soundly asleep. Chen Liangyu picked up the small shovel beside her, poked through the charcoal ashes, and added a few new pieces of charcoal.

“Cangnan Commandery? No, I haven’t been, but I have heard of it,” Chen Liangyu said.

Her nominal relatives, who had been banished, were there.

During the Five Princes’ Rebellion in the Yingtong era, the Chen family itself split into two factions. Chen Yuanqing supported Prince Hui, the current Emperor. However, the Chen clan elders at the time staunchly supported Prince Fengde, who had more power. Due to the discord, the Chen family held a clan meeting, expelling Chen Yuanqing’s branch from the family register and driving them out of the house.

After Emperor Xuanyuan ascended the throne and eliminated the rebels, because Chen Yuanqing repeatedly pleaded with the new Emperor, the Chen clan was spared their lives, and the entire clan was exiled to Cangnan Commandery.

Xie Wenjun wanted to say more but swallowed the words back. She rested her elbow on the side of her face. “Since the Marquis of Xuanping will not return to the northern frontier, it is best not to interfere with court affairs.”

The charcoal fire intensified again. Chen Liangyu put down the shovel and warmed her hands in the light. “Is the Princess referring to the Crown Prince’s plan to change the tax system?”

Xie Wenjun realized she could not say anything more, turned her head away, and remained silent.

Chen Liangyu asked, “Why is the Princess telling this to your servant?”

Xie Wenjun struggled to sit up and pulled back the bed curtain with one hand. Chen Liangyu was half-turned, looking at her.

Xie Wenjun said, “I did not come to warn the Marquis of Xuanping on behalf of my Imperial Brother.”

“Your servant knows.” Chen Liangyu turned her body a little more towards the side, forcing out a smile that didn’t look too stiff. “Sleep now. Your servant will find something to plug your ears with so you won’t hear the thunder.”

Xie Wenjun put down the curtain, lay back in the quilt, closed her eyes, and murmured, “You don’t know. I am…”

I am reminding you.

Chen Liangyu searched around but couldn’t find anything usable. She simply tore a small opening in the quilt and pulled out a clump of mulberry silk, dividing it into two small balls and rubbing them in her hands.

Although it was a little unconventional, she was not an overly particular person to begin with.

She rolled the two small clumps of silk into shapes that resembled the contours of an ear canal and gently inserted them into Xie Wenjun’s ears.

“Your servant truly knows. Thank you for your admonition, Princess.”

The Yao family’s ancestral home was in Cangnan Commandery, and the Chen clan was also there. Xie Wenjun’s implication was to warn her that the Crown Prince was about to make a move against the Yao family and against Cangnan.

It was likely that the silver the Yao family had “donated” to the state treasury this time could not fill the Ministry of Revenue’s deficit, and the one in power intended to undermine them by pulling them out root and branch.

When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat are inevitably affected.

Although the Chen clan members were nominally exiled, they had certainly hidden some of their vast property. The Crown Prince’s tax reform first required settling the national treasury’s deficit. Once Cangnan was targeted, the Chen clan would inevitably be exploited.

At that time, it would be hard to say whether the fire would reach the Marquis of Xuanping.

By the latter half of the night, the rain in the sky had finally drained completely. The thunder stopped, and sleet began to fall with a rustling sound.

Xie Wenjun was soundly asleep. Yuan Rong and Dai Qing were dozing on either side of the door. Only Chen Liangyu maintained a sitting posture, resting on her knees, guarding Xie Wenjun’s bedside. Her bright and charming face was alternately revealed and obscured by the play of light and shadow between the clouds and the earth.

This unseasonal rain and snow of early winter fell all night, knocking down the remaining leaves from the canopy of the lone ginkgo tree in the courtyard. They lay flat on the bluestone pavement, washed into the cracks between the bricks.

Her favorite scene of falling autumn leaves was completely ruined by a night of rain and snow. The courtyard was full of withered leaves and fallen snow, and the fresh Liangyuan was left a chaotic mess.

The sky was still hazy and dark. Chen Liangyu returned to the Liangyuan, pressing her dark, greenish-black eye sockets. Xie Wenjun was still asleep when she left Guanjulou.

She barely slept that night; her bones felt brittle, as if they had been beaten with a sledgehammer.

Mama Shan came to deliver the clothes sent from the tailor shop. Seeing Chen Liangyu lying there fully clothed with her boots still on, she couldn’t stand it and insisted on sending two maidservants to her courtyard.

Chen Liangyu was woken up. She wasn’t on duty this morning, so she saved the time for checking in. She caught up on sleep for a quarter of an hour, but her rest was interrupted by the sounds of bustling activity: servants had come to sweep the courtyard, and there were two young maidservants working inside the room.

Seeing her awaken, Mama Shan said, “They are two rough maidservants for sweeping, mopping, and laundry. If Miss doesn’t like noise, just tell them not to talk.” Then, she instructed the two female servants dressed in light red cloth: “When you are in Miss’s courtyard, just do your work. No shouting, understood?”

The two maidservants replied in unison, “Understood, Mama Shan.”

Mama Shan unfolded the newly made clothes and compared them to Chen Liangyu’s body. She had grown a lot taller in the past year, and her usual clothes were all a bit short. Chen Liangyu looked at the rows of dark green and light gray robes and genuinely wasn’t interested in wearing them, so she instructed Mama Shan to put them away.

While swiftly putting away the new clothes, Mama Shan also sorted the laundered and dried inner and outer robes into the clothes chest. She didn’t forget to grumble, “Miss, it’s not for this old woman to speak out of turn, but you really can’t manage your daily life without someone to look after you. Since Jing Rong left, you haven’t even had a personal maid. Shangyong City is not the northern frontier; you can’t fight here…” Her throat choked up as she spoke, and she paused, a look of shame washing over her weather-beaten, rough face. “Look at this old mouth of mine, mentioning Jing Rong again. I only cause Miss grief. I won’t say any more, I won’t say any more.”

She had a playmate who had grown up with her since childhood, two years older than her, whom Jing Ming had found and brought back from a ditch. Mama Shan, liking the girl, took her in, trained her, and sent her to be Chen Liangyu’s personal maidservant.

During the army’s retreat from Dingbei City, she put on Chen Liangyu’s clothes to cover the rear and lure the enemy. She was pursued by the closely following enemy forces, fell from her horse, and tens of thousands of iron cavalry trampled over her like a scroll unfurling.

When Chen Liangyu went back to look for her, not a single complete bone could be pieced together from beneath that familiar red dress.

“It hasn’t even been a year since Jing Rong died. If I let someone else replace her so quickly, I would be like an ungrateful traitor.”

As she spoke, her throat felt sore, and her eyes welled up with a layer of mist.

Mama Shan stopped her work and rubbed Chen Liangyu’s icy cold hands, feeling guilty. “Alright, this old woman won’t say any more. If you say you don’t want a personal maid, then we won’t have one.” The hands she couldn’t warm up, no matter how much she rubbed them, instantly shifted Mama Shan’s focus, and she began to fuss again: “Your hands and feet are always cold in winter. Put on another layer before going out. You are still wearing too little! Which one should you wear?”

Chen Liangyu reluctantly put on another inner garment, pointing to the light apricot-colored regular clothes with subtle patterns. Mama Shan helped her dress properly and only then walked away with a satisfied sway of her plump waist.