A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 53.2

In her lifetime, she wanted to guard the peace of one region.

There was another reason: she had initially believed that promoting women’s education would be easier to implement in a place like Yongdu, which was known for its academic atmosphere and dense population of Confucian scholars, but she had completely overlooked that this ran counter to the current governing ideology. She gradually discovered that the more a capital esteemed learning and reading, the more corrupt it was.

Those vested interests who had soared by reading scrolls were rigid, antiquated, and extremely exclusive. They were unwilling to share the benefits with others, especially women. If the soil was unsuitable, the seeds would be hard-pressed to survive.

With Xie Wenjun in Yongdu, and the support of Shen Yan and Gu Xie, once the Imperial Academy was opened, the rest could be implemented slowly. She could then temporarily let go and return to the Northern Frontier to forge a new path there.

Chen Liangyu did not say a word, but Xie Wenjun already knew the answer.

She asked, “Is there no one in Yongdu you cannot stop worrying about? What about the Third Prince? Do you not care about him either?”

“His Highness, the Prince of Shen?” Her expression shifted between surprise and realization before she understood what Xie Wenjun was talking about. That year, she requested an imperial marriage from Emperor Xuanyuan based on her merits. Now, that memory was hazy, so distant it felt like it belonged to a past life.

Chen Liangyu suddenly let out a laugh. “I was young and naive. Does His Highness still remember that?”

“I remember,” Xie Wenjun’s voice was very soft, trembling slightly. “What are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing at how reckless and unrestrained I was then, relying on the support of my father and elder brother behind me. If it were now, I would absolutely not dare to be so rash again.”

The shadow on the ground lengthened and drew closer. Chen Liangyu crouched down in front of Xie Wenjun, holding an object in her hand. “There is indeed one person in Yongdu I cannot stop worrying about.”

It was an iron-riveted message cylinder.

Handing it to Xie Wenjun and explaining the purpose and use of the iron-riveted message cylinder, Chen Liangyu said, “As long as I’m not dead, you can find me with this.”

The near-death state Xie Wenjun was in at Qing Manor in Yongjia City was something she never wanted to see a second time. She truly felt like she was going crazy.

“What about you, then? Without the message cylinder, how will you contact the Marquis of Wu’an?”

“I have Elder Yan.”

Xie Wenjun accepted the message cylinder and said, “There will soon be other movements in Yongdu. Before that, I need to go meet with Heng Jinan.”

“Please be careful.” Chen Liangyu thought for a moment. “Zhao Mingqin won’t be able to persuade those southern frontier generals in such a short time. I will rush over as quickly as possible.”

Several recruitment stations were set up in busy marketplaces. When Pu Ping’er rode her horse to the location, a long, winding line had already formed. Only one spot looked completely disorganized, surrounded by a large crowd loudly discussing something. She could vaguely make out words like “women” and “enlisting.”

Pu Ping’er dismounted her horse and stood still for a long time.

Zhao Zhouqing’s lifelong regret, the one thing he couldn’t let go of even in death, had been achieved so easily by another person just a few years later.

“Are your injuries healed?”

Chen Liangyu approached from behind, with a woman in an unlined robe and a scholarly appearance standing beside her.

Pu Ping’er had washed her face and changed into clean, crisp light armor, holding a fine sword. She truly had the bearing of a general’s daughter.

She hadn’t misjudged her.

“They’re only minor surface wounds. I’ll be fine after a few days of rest. I brought someone for you.”

Chen Liangyu turned to see the soldier accompanying Pu Ping’er leading a one-armed old man.

Jiang Bojin was so angry he practically snorted through his nostrils.

He glared at Chen Liangyu, utterly silent.

Pu Ping’er said, “I heard you were looking for a one-armed person. On my way here, I came across this man stealing and eating rice seeds in a field. When he was spotted, he fled very quickly. I thought he might be the person you were looking for, so I caught him with a fishing net.”

Chen Liangyu waved her hand. “Kill him. Kill him.”

Jiang Bojin scoffed. “If you kill me, the Feimeng will be gone.”

“Then keep him for now.”

This immediately angered Jiang Bojin. “So careless!”

Chen Liangyu first ignored him, pointed to the messy recruitment station, and said to Pu Ping’er, “It’s yours. Redeem yourself through service.”

Du Peixun personally re-examined Pu Ping’er’s case, considering that there were mitigating circumstances, and commuted her death sentence to conscription. So, as soon as Pu Ping’er could move, Du Peixun urgently pressed Zhao Mingqin to release her and sent her, packaged up, to Chen Liangyu.

Pu Ping’er finally squeezed her way in. There was a worn, worm-eaten old table and chair set up, and a wooden sign stood upright with a few messy, scratchy characters written on it with coal ash: “Recruiting Women Soldiers.”

The stall was incredibly lively, with people discussing hotly, but the recruitment register was still a blank, clean piece of paper. Not a single person had enlisted.

Just as Chen Liangyu turned around, a woman in black approached. Her head was wrapped in a veil, revealing only half of her face and one eye, and one could vaguely see that her face had been burned by fire.

“Recruiting women soldiers?”

Pu Ping’er said, “That is correct.”

The woman in black looked at the recruitment register, then at the crooked wooden sign, and expressed her disdain. “Do you need a military doctor?”

Gu Xie followed Chen Liangyu to several recruitment locations in the city. During their casual conversation, he mentioned a custom in the Linxia and Cangnan area.

Chen Liangyu seemed to have turned to stone. Very slowly, she opened her mouth. “A willow wood hair ornament… has a meaning like that?”

Now it was Gu Xie’s turn to be surprised. “General Chen, when you presented the wood hairpin to the Princess, was that not your intention?”

“Of course not!” Chen Liangyu denied it instantly and emphatically. “How could I have such a disrespectful intention towards the Princess?”

“Blue silk slowly coils into a jade hairpin, a sincere heart always remembers the purple-gold crown.” Gu Xie recited this line.

This poem was common and easily understood. Just hearing it, one could imagine a woman facing a bronze mirror, pinning up her long hair, having married, and holding a sincere heart that constantly thought of her general husband, who wore a purple-gold crown and fought battles far away.

But what did this have to do with the Princess and her? Aside from the fact that she was indeed a soldier, nothing else seemed relevant.

“There is such a custom throughout this area: personally carving a wooden hairpin and presenting it to one’s beloved signifies a proposal for a lifelong commitment. If the recipient accepts the wooden hairpin, it means acceptance.”

Chen Liangyu’s expression looked utterly confused.

She frowned and, full of shock, moved a distance away from Gu Xie. The gap between them, which had been less than two feet, was now wide enough for three or five children to stand in.

Gu Xie: “…General Chen, you misunderstand.”

She had heard of same-sex relationships, both male and female, and there were many bizarre stories, but she had never actually met a living example.

Gu Xie, however, looked quite accustomed to it.

They say talented scholars are romantic, and talented women are equally irresistible when they become romantic.

Without even asking, and knowing that the custom in Linxia was not widely known, he had concluded that she held improper feelings for the Princess merely based on an unintentional action. Chen Liangyu had a few reservations.

“Even if General Chen is unaware of the local customs, you should know that gold hairpins and hair ornaments are personal items. Isn’t it presumptuous to present such an item unless one is intimate with the person?”

The clouds in the sky suddenly pressed very low. Chen Liangyu’s mood fluctuated violently twice, and she couldn’t quite articulate the feeling.

With Gu Xie saying this, she was indeed afraid that Xie Wenjun might misunderstand. Moreover, she had allowed herself to be reckless the day before and had actually lost control in that situation. For the first time in her life, she wanted to be a deserter.

She quickly pondered another question. After being acquainted for so long, even if their relationship was lukewarm for the past few years, she believed that after the recent period of shared life-and-death experiences, they could be considered “intimate,” couldn’t they?

Her motive for carving the wooden hairpin was simple and practical: it was light, sturdy, easy to source, and if she lost it, she could just find a piece of wood and carve another—she had plenty of opportunities.

Why did she personally carve a wooden hairpin? She couldn’t say. She just wanted to do it then, so she did. She never considered that she could simply buy one at a market stall.

She wanted to personally make a hairpin. While carving it, she was even certain that after it was finished, it would be her who would personally place it in Xie Wenjun’s hair.

After thinking everything over, she could only say, “I feel I have failed the trust the Empress Huixian placed in me before she died.”