A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 43

The main urban area of Liangxi City was still about twenty to thirty li from Jiuhua Mountain Manor. When Rong Jun returned from the manor, the twilight sky was already showing the outline of the moon.

The person was not as difficult to invite as they had imagined.

Pei Danxing, the current master of Jiuhua Mountain Manor, only asked a few shallow questions about the patient’s illness before following them back.

He was a man in his thirties. His black hair was fastened with a silver coronet, a pair of light eyebrows spanned beneath a clean forehead, and a broad white robe draped over his body, his figure straight as a pine.

His demeanor was gentle, and his words and actions were humble.

He possessed the character of a chivalrous physician.

Separated by a curtain, Pei Danxing placed a white cloth over Xie Wenjun’s wrist to take her pulse. His face immediately changed color.

He seemed to have just remembered something he had forgotten to ask.

“I apologize for my presumptuousness, but may I ask where you all are from?”

Chen Liangyu was about to say, “From Yongjia,” but then remembered what the grey-clothed physician had said—that Jiuhua Mountain Manor had a tradition of traveling to dispense medical care, specifically for poor families who could not afford doctors or medicine. Since they frequently traveled, they must be intimately familiar with the surrounding cities and populations, making it difficult to deceive him.

“Northerners,” Chen Liangyu said.

Pei Danxing looked around, his gaze passing over the Crown Prince’s guards dressed in headscarves and plain clothes outside the door, then surveying Yuan Rong and Dai Qing.

Although they wore simple cotton clothes, the two maids had been raised in the palace since childhood, where court etiquette was enforced in their every word and action. From walking to speaking, even sleeping and standing, everything was regulated beyond measure.

Their hands, which had never done rough work, had no calluses; they were fair and delicate.

Both maids looked like the young ladies of wealthy families, so who was the person inside the curtain?

The atmosphere in the private room instantly became tense.

Pei Danxing’s eyes did not linger on the two young women for too long, finally falling on the Lancang sword in Chen Liangyu’s hand.

The scabbard and hilt were wrapped in hemp cloth, making it impossible to tell the quality of the blade.

“Are you from Shangyong City?” Pei Danxing asked.

Without waiting for an answer, he asked again, “Are you members of the Imperial Family?”

He looked up, his expression wooden, at Chen Liangyu. The underlying color in his eyes subtly changed.

Damn it!

Exposed so easily.

Dai Qing, with a quicker mind, stepped forward and performed the palace etiquette, half-crouching and half-kneeling: “Physician Pei, this journey is solely to seek medical help. We heard that Jiuhua Mountain Manor does not treat officials, so we had no choice but to conceal our identities. Sickness does not differentiate between noble and humble; we sincerely hope for the doctor’s benevolence. Please treat our lady!”

Pei Danxing was momentarily in extreme distress, his chest heaving violently a few times.

“What a terrible sin. Causing so much harm.”

Chen Liangyu’s hand went to the sword hilt, tightening her grip. She silently moved her steps, interposing herself between Pei Danxing and Xie Wenjun’s curtain.

She recalled the words of Guan Ren on Bow Hill that day.

“How do you think Xie Lin ascended the throne? During the Rebellion of the Five Princes, he failed to seize the throne quickly, so he had the running dog Xun Xian search for a medicine and a book of devious secret arts from a medical mountain manor in Liangxi City. He captured hundreds of children for trials. Those who couldn’t endure and died were taken away and burned, and those who survived were turned into monsters that only listened to orders and killed…”

The annihilation of Lingxiao Mountain Manor over twenty years ago…

They thought this was a doctor meeting a patient, but they did not expect it to be a reunion of enemies. And they had delivered themselves to his door.

Chen Liangyu stared intently at the still-recovering Pei Danxing.

If he made any move unfavorable to the Princess, the sharp sword in her hand would be unsheathed instantly.

Pei Danxing’s face was deeply conflicted.

After a moment of silence, he said to Chen Liangyu, “You want me to practice medicine, yet why the posture as if you want to kill me?”

Yuan Rong and Dai Qing were confused, and Rong Jun also couldn’t guess what was happening. Why were they suddenly about to draw swords?

“General Chen?” Yuan Rong tentatively asked.

Pei Danxing said, “General?”

A woman? That was a rare occurrence.

“Has this young lady recently suffered a major family upheaval?”

Pei Danxing pointed to the person behind the curtain.

“Yes.”

“Was she harmed by a villain?”

“Yes.”

“Has she been unable to eat or drink for days?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, that is all it is.” Pei Danxing stood up and slung his medicine box over his shoulder. “This young lady is merely too weak, her heart exhausted. Dietary supplements will suffice.”

Chen Liangyu said, “Is that true?”

She then reconsidered. Xie Wenjun had been conscious for most of the day, and she genuinely seemed to have improved.

Pei Danxing said, “I am a doctor; I never joke about a patient’s condition.”

Chen Liangyu said, “But…”

“She sometimes loses consciousness, feels physical pain, and faints, is that right?”

“Precisely.”

“She has pulled through on her own,” Pei Danxing said. “If treated with medicinal meals, her recovery will be faster. However, General Chen does not trust me, so I imagine any medicine I formulate would not pass the lips of your lady.”

Speaking frankly, Pei Danxing broke the tacit understanding. “Given the General’s reaction, may I assume you are aware of an old incident from twenty years ago?”

Chen Liangyu remained silent.

Dai Qing, hoping the doctor would stay to treat the Princess, spoke up for Chen Liangyu, “Doctor, General Chen grew up in the Northern Region and has never been to Liangxi City. The General must be unaware of what happened in the city twenty years ago.”

Pei Danxing placed a medicine bottle down. “This can relieve pain. If you want the full medicine, come to the manor tomorrow. The General can weigh the consequences herself.”

After Pei Danxing left, Chen Liangyu pulled out the cork stopper of the medicine bottle and poured a few pills into her palm.

The smell and color were exactly the same as the medicine the female thief had today.

“Rong Jun, be vigilant tonight.” Chen Liangyu put on her outer coat and prepared to leave. “I’m going to the manor with the doctor to get the medicine. If anything goes wrong, signal me immediately.”

Jiuhua Mountain Manor was not too far from the inn where they were resting, but most of the road was mountain path and difficult to traverse. If she went now, she could return before the rooster crowed tomorrow morning.

In this time of trouble, they should not linger outside for too long.

“I will go with you.”

A corner of the curtain was lifted. Xie Wenjun had woken up at some point. The temperature at night on the mountain was low, and there was a slight chill in her breath.

Chen Liangyu quickly draped her outer cloak over her, tucking the collar inwards.

Chen Liangyu worried, “This matter cannot be explained in a few words. I don’t know the background of this Physician Pei, and there might be danger if the Princess goes.”

Xie Wenjun said, “In a strange place, danger can be anywhere.”

Rong Jun also seconded, “General Chen, it’s best we don’t separate right now.”

Chen Liangyu thought for a moment. “Very well.”

She crouched down in front of Xie Wenjun and gently lifted the jade-embroidered shoe with one hand.

Xie Wenjun was uncomfortable with this and shrank back slightly, causing Chen Liangyu’s hand to freeze there.

Both of them were startled.

Chen Liangyu: “I…”

Xie Wenjun: “You…”

Yuan Rong stepped in to ease the tension, “General Chen, please let this servant attend to the Princess.”

Chen Liangyu, feeling dizzy, handed the shoe over. She had overstepped her bounds.

She felt inexplicably lost.

Jiuhua Mountain Manor was a medicinal garden.

On both sides of the pebble paths in the garden were patches of grass intermingled with dry yellow and tender green, but the plants were not ordinary grass—they were all young medicinal herbs. After going around a rock garden and crossing a vermilion wooden bridge over a murmuring stream, they arrived at the manor’s dispensary.

The air was filled with a faint medicinal scent. A blend of various herbs that was not unpleasant.

It was already midnight.

A young pharmacy attendant wearing a child’s coronet was on duty in the dispensary, nodding off with sleep. Seeing the Manor Master arrive with a large group of people, he woke up with a start, chasing away his drowsiness.

“Manor Master, the Madam won’t drink her medicine,” the attendant said.

Pei Danxing coughed. The attendant was still groggy and added, “She spilled it all.”

Pei Danxing gave the attendant a few instructions, and the attendant slipped into a small door in the corner of the consultation room.

“My wife caught a common cold and found the medicine too bitter to drink.”

A little while later, the attendant came out holding several boxes.

The attendant said, “Manor Master, these few herbs are rarely used and are a bit old. Why don’t we collect fresh ones tomorrow and then prepare the medicine?”

Pei Danxing looked at the sky and said, “It’s late. We might as well rest for the night. It will be timely to gather fresh herbs early tomorrow morning.”

Chen Liangyu pondered for a moment and nodded.

“Then, everyone, please follow me.”

Pei Danxing raised his hand to point the way, and as he stepped out the door, he saw a woman approaching.

Willow leaf eyebrows, peach blossom eyes, and a red jadeite cloud hairpin swaying in her hair. She was quite beautiful, but the way her pregnant, swollen belly met her extremely slender waist created a sense of disharmony; she looked like she had been pieced together.

Pei Danxing tried to help her, “The weather is cold and the dew is heavy…”

He didn’t finish speaking when the woman gently pushed his hand away. Pei Danxing looked distressed and sighed, “A’wan. Be obedient.”

His eyes were filled with deep affection, but also a desolate weariness.

The woman’s long eyelashes drooped. She placed a hand on her lower abdomen and turned to return to her room.

The guest room door faced a small flower garden with a few scattered trees. In the moonlight, the branches looked as if they were frosted.

Xie Wenjun asked the manor people for writing tools. She wrote the same message on different pieces of paper. After setting down her brush, Rong Jun knelt and presented her with a small, palm-sized box.

Inside the box was an imperial seal, an inch in length and width.

The Imperial Seal of Great Lin.

“Now, the troops and population in the Zhu Dong region are all under my Second Imperial Brother’s control, and the Imperial Guards in Yongdu are also controlled by him. Marquis Lu Ping, Heng Jinan, is stationed in the South. The Heng family was ennobled through military merit and is now a powerful frontier general. Before Chancellor Zhang established the Ministry of Agriculture, the Heng family swallowed up a lot of farmland, and they already voiced dissent when Imperial Brother first implemented the new tax law. My Second Imperial Brother was the most vocal supporter of abolishing the Ministry of Agriculture in his fiefdom.”

As Xie Wenjun spoke, she stamped the seal onto the papers one by one.

Chen Liangyu said, “I have His Majesty’s decree, which can mobilize the Southern Region garrison. Even so, we must try to win over Marquis Heng. If the South is also loyal to Prince Qi, we will be attacked from both sides. I have already sent men to Linxia; Prince Shen must be prepared. Now, we only need to connect with Yongdu and the Northern Region to widely issue the decree and raise an army to support the emperor.”

However, there was one situation where Chen Liangyu’s decree might not be able to mobilize the Southern troops.

If Prince Qi assassinated the emperor and ascended the throne, or if Emperor Xuanyuan abdicated, Heng Jinan, by supporting the new sovereign, would no longer heed the decree.

Xie Wenjun thought of one person: Zhao Zhouqing.

This man was originally a general in the Southern Region and held considerable prestige in the army. He was promoted by Xie Yu to the Ministry of War and, in a moment of youthful vigor, wanted to reform military governance. He was then demoted to be a registrar in Cangnan.

Later, the Cangnan civilian suffering case had wide-ranging implications, and Zhao Zhouqing was implicated and executed.

But he had a eldest son who had followed his father in the army since childhood. Xie Yu once praised him for having his father’s spirit.

After Zhao Zhouqing was beheaded, the son was exiled and sent to the military.

If he was still alive, promoting him would allow them to mobilize Zhao Zhouqing’s former subordinates in the South, even if Heng Jinan was uncooperative.

Xie Wenjun pondered and said, “Rong Jun, tomorrow, send someone to the Southern Horse Depot to find a man named Zhao Mingqin and bring him back.”

Rong Jun: “Your subordinate obeys the command.”

Chen Liangyu said, “Is Heng Jinan’s youngest daughter, Heng Yang, still in the palace?”

Xie Wenjun nodded. “Imperial Brother selected a few people to be my study companions, and she is one of them.”

Chen Liangyu thought for a moment. “Rong Jun.”

“I’m here.”

“Tomorrow, send someone to Marquis Lu Ping’s mansion in the Southern Region to inform Marquis Heng that the Princess has recognized Heng Yang as her foster daughter.”

“Your subordinate receives… Foster daughter?”

Rong Jun pulled at his hair. “The youngest daughter of the Heng family is about the same age as the Princess.”

Chen Liangyu said, “Age is the least of the problems. Recognizing her as the Princess’s foster daughter gives her the status of an Imperial Relative.”

Rong Jun suddenly understood. “Your subordinate obeys the command.”

It was difficult to sleep that night.

With a heart full of worries, Xie Wenjun walked out into the courtyard and stopped under a plum tree in a secluded spot.

Chen Liangyu followed her.

“I wonder if anyone has collected the remains of Imperial Brother?”

The moonlight was cold, plating Xie Wenjun with a layer of silver light, making her look distant and aloof.

Her heart felt as if it had been grabbed, sore and heavy.

“Your Highness.”

Xie Wenjun looked up at the bright moon. Chen Liangyu called her from behind.

She turned her head.

Chen Liangyu forced a difficult smile. “It’s cold outside.”

Seeing the person standing there utterly alone, she felt distressed.

So, she took two steps forward, walking up to Xie Wenjun to stand side-by-side with her, so that the space next to her wouldn’t feel so empty.

Up close, a few butterflies were perched on the plum branches. Their bodies were small and translucent, and their thin wings fluttered slightly, resting there lazily.

The plum blossoms had already fallen this season, and the butterflies were also weak.

Chen Liangyu caught one and placed it on Xie Wenjun’s fingertip.

The butterfly surprisingly did not fear people, resting on her fingertip, faintly moving its nearly transparent wings—it was quite magical.

After observing it for a while, she didn’t know what kind of butterfly it was.

“That is a Cold Butterfly.”

A voice came from behind them.

Chen Liangyu and Xie Wenjun both turned around to see the female thief who had stolen the horse jumping down from a low wall.

The Crown Prince’s guards immediately drew their swords, surrounding her.

“Why are you here?” Chen Liangyu asked.

The female thief, amidst the flashing blades, did not dare to move. Her finger bumped against a blade, cutting a slit. She said, “This is my home. Didn’t you guess my identity?”

A Cold Butterfly flew to the cracked knuckle of her finger. The butterfly crawled over the wound, secreting a milky white liquid, and the bleeding stopped.

The female thief raised her hands. “Am I breaking any national law by coming home to pay respects to my father?”

Chen Liangyu made a gesture, and the Crown Prince’s guards stepped back. The female thief slipped away as if escaping.