A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 8

Zhang family’s late young master, who had drawn his last breath, was resurrected by borrowing another body…

Chen Liangyu hadn’t had a chance to utter a word since arriving at the grand hall. She had initially thought she was summoned for questioning and punishment, but instead, she ended up waiting outside the door and witnessing this whole dramatic spectacle. After waiting for a long time, no one called her in. It seemed that everyone inside the hall, including Chen Yuanqing, had forgotten about her standing outside.

Eunuch Sun went to summon Yao Chongshan and Prince Qi, Xie Xuan, and only then did he notice Chen Liangyu still standing there so properly. He shuffled back to Emperor Xuanyuan’s side and whispered something into his ear. Then he scurried out again, “The Emperor says there are state affairs today, so Commander Chen may return first.”

The ‘return’ he mentioned clearly didn’t mean going home or back to the Southern Imperial Guard headquarters.

Sure enough, Zhang Diancheng also appeared outside the hall immediately after, “With state affairs at hand, we won’t discuss private grievances for now, but your involvement in Jia’er’s death still needs investigation. Before the matter is clear, I must trouble you to temporarily make do.”

Chen Yuanqing’s gaze fell upon her, his eyes filled with worry. Zhang Diancheng exchanged a look with him, then turned to Chen Liangyu, “If this matter is indeed a misunderstanding, I, the Prime Minister, will personally call upon you to apologize.”

Chen Liangyu bowed to him in salute.

She deeply respected this Right Prime Minister who assisted the Crown Prince. Among the civil officials, few were true doers, and Zhang Diancheng was one of those rare capable individuals. He possessed skill but was not cruel, truly deserving of the words “devote oneself to one’s duties.” He was similar in age to the Left Prime Minister, Xun Xian, yet looked at least ten years older than that idle, theoretical chancellor. Now, he was enduring the pain of losing his son, the hall was in an uproar, and he still had many subsequent matters to handle.

As Chen Liangyu was being led away, she glanced back into the hall. At that moment, Yao Chongshan, dressed in a crimson official robe, and Prince Qi, Xie Xuan, arrived one after the other in haste. Consort De had already retreated to one side, kneeling, long since scared out of her wits.

With just a casual glance, Chen Liangyu distinctly saw a smirk of schadenfreude curve Xie Wenjun’s lips, emitting a chilling coldness.

Chen Liangyu was taken back to that dilapidated palace chamber. The sun had been high when she was taken to the Chongzheng Hall, but now it was dusk.

She shook her head, probably trying to shake that eerie smiling face out of her mind.

She recalled that night under the frosty white moonlight when Xie Wenjun’s arms were wrapped around her neck, her head buried, her soft, thin body trembling in her arms. The next moment, she seemed to have transformed into a different person, gripping a sharp gold hairpin and fiercely stabbing it into the chest of that deserter.

Today in the Chongzheng Hall, she again hid in the shadows, subtly provoking and infuriating Consort De, watching a noble imperial consort lose control in front of the Emperor and the assembled officials.

After achieving her goal, she continued to smile at Chen Liangyu.

Lying on the simple bed, she couldn’t understand why a young, delicate princess who had lived a life of luxury and nobility since childhood could be so vicious.

When the morning sun streamed through the poorly closed window lattice, the two officials from the Ministry of Justice rushed in as if bearing great news, respectfully inviting her out and telling her she could go home.

When asked for the reason, the two officials were evasive, as if they harbored a great secret, absolutely refusing to speak.

Under repeated questioning, they finally stammered out that something had happened at the Right Prime Minister’s residence last night—a huge incident!

An unprecedented wonder: Zhang family’s late young master, who had drawn his last breath, was resurrected by borrowing another body.

It was said that on the evening they were placing the body in the coffin, the servant Fu Li was standing on the highest beam, waving Zhang Jialing’s former outer garment and chanting to recall his soul. After three chants, his hair stood on end, his back felt numb, and a chill spread over his body in waves.

Despite the strangeness, he dared not stop summoning the soul. When he climbed down the ladder from the beam, everything returned to normal.

After the minor dressing, the Zhang residence moved Zhang Jialing’s remains to the mourning hall for entombment and began the funeral rites.

Relatives knelt in order on both sides of the mourning hall, and maids and servants, all dressed in mourning clothes, knelt in the main hall, weeping bitterly and wailing. As everyone was deeply engrossed in their tears, an old woman, whose neck felt stiff from bowing for a long time, slightly raised her head to stretch, and saw a pale, ghastly finger clawing out from inside the coffin.

The old woman screamed in terror, and everyone simultaneously stopped crying and looked towards her.

Immediately after, a strange sound came from inside the coffin. Following the old woman’s terrified gaze, the hearts of many people were simultaneously suspended.

The coffin, as expected, yielded a pale face.

The mourners were scared out of their wits, and the entire Zhang residence was filled with incessant screams.

The deceased Zhang Jialing flipped himself over the coffin edge, crashing pa onto the ground in a dog-eating-dirt posture. He opened his mouth wide and looked at the scattering crowd, utterly confused.

“Where the hell is this? Who are you all?”

A few timid maids fainted directly.

He struggled to stand up, seemingly very uncomfortable with this body, twisting his limbs stiffly like a wild boar trapped in a human’s body, his bones creaking kaka. His face was paper-white, completely devoid of blood, like the White Wuchang (death deity) coming to claim a life in the mortal world.

Having finally stabilized himself, he turned to look at the big box he had just climbed out of. Holy moly, that wasn’t a box! That was a coffin! Looking further back, a huge “Dian” (mourning) character was hung on the center wall.

Zhang Jialing only managed two words, “Holy crap!” before he fainted again.

It truly was a miracle!

Chen Liangyu asked about Zhou Pei’s case again, and the two officials stammered for a long while, giving her an ambiguous answer: “We are, of course, handling it diligently.”

She didn’t press them further. How to handle the case was up to the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Justice to decide. They were junior officials and had no say.

The two officials led the way. After leaving the Imperial City, Eunuch Sun was waiting outside the Gate of Receiving Heaven with a carriage prepared. He conveyed the Emperor’s decree: “Commander Chen, His Majesty has decided: you were indiscreet in carrying out your duties and nearly caused a great disaster, so you are fined half a year’s salary as a disciplinary measure. Considering your dedication and conscientiousness, His Majesty grants you one day of leave. The carriage has been prepared for you. Hurry home to wash up and restore your spirits.”

“Thank you, Eunuch.”

Eunuch Sun was Emperor Xuanyuan’s personal attendant, and his personally preparing the carriage and horses indicated the Emperor’s concern for the matter. The art of an emperor governing his subjects lies in balancing things out: punishing her salary was a necessary concession to the Right Prime Minister, and granting her an imperial carriage was meant to console her for the grievances she suffered.

Chen Liangyu got into the carriage, heading home first to change out of the clothes she had worn until they smelled stale.

Midway, the carriage was stuffy, so she lifted the curtain for air. A small sedan chair adorned with red silk flowers passed by. The sight of red was festive and auspicious.

Looking closer, it wasn’t so festive after all. There were no musicians or people accompanying the bride or groom. Only an old woman wearing wedding flowers followed, making the wedding sedan look very lonely.

It didn’t look like a formal marriage but rather a concubinage.

The Ministry of Justice would likely suppress Zhou Pei’s case for a while. As colleagues in the court, no one wanted to offend anyone. The old foxes at the Ministry of Justice had a typical trick: when in doubt, use the delaying tactic.

By dragging things out, the matter would fizzle out, and they wouldn’t have to deal with it seriously. They could just hastily close the case with a simple confession statement and call it even for the archives.

To make them honestly handle the case according to the Great Lin Dynasty’s laws and punish Qiu Shiyan, she still needed to exert pressure, forcing them to resolve the case quickly.

She was momentarily at a loss about where to start the pressure. She needed to go back and gather information about the Ministry of Justice’s movements. Thinking this, she didn’t bother going home to change and redirected the carriage to the Southern Imperial Guard headquarters.

“Marriage? Who got married to whom?” Chen Liangyu’s head buzzed.

Xing Rui quickly handed her a teacup, “Boss, don’t get agitated. Things are already like this. You were taken away by the Ministry of Justice, and immediately after, Vice Prefect Zhou returned from an assignment outside and was invited to Vice Minister Qiu’s residence. Then… I don’t know what Vice Prefect Zhou was thinking, how could he agree to let Miss Zhou become Qiu Shiyan’s concubine? If his daughter becomes a concubine, how can he hold his head up in court later?”

“Concubine?” Chen Liangyu felt an unwarranted dizzy spell, “These bastards are going too far!”

“There’s something else…”

Gao Guan hurriedly pulled Xing Rui aside and roared at him to shut up, “Can’t you keep a secret? Will you die if you don’t say a word?”

“Don’t stop him, let him speak. What else?”

Xing Rui looked at Gao Guan, then at Chen Liangyu, and said, “Miss Zhou’s mother, unable to bear the humiliation, hanged herself.”

Chen Liangyu walked down the long street in a daze, trying hard to pull herself out of the feeling of powerlessness.

To wield such absolute power, to disregard the law, some people were indeed rampant to this extent!

A corrupt clique, officials shielding one another—they didn’t think it was wrong; they thought it was only natural, even a favor. They didn’t think a girl’s reputation mattered, nor did they think a death was a big deal. They only thought, why bother harming the harmony among colleagues and affecting their own careers over such a small matter? It was just using someone else’s justice to do a favor for a colleague.

It shouldn’t be like this!

A profound sense of humiliation arose.

The feeling of watching a living person fall into an abyss yet being powerless to pull her out is more desperate than losing a battle. That sense of guilt and helplessness will stay with you for a long time. This memory will be sealed in your mind, and it might pop up unexpectedly at every happy moment in your remaining life, reminding you not to forget the person still stuck in the abyss.

She was deeply immersed in self-reproach when she suddenly heard a voice: “Hello, beautiful, please stop.”

The voice was very familiar.

Chen Liangyu looked up at the sound and saw Zhang Jialing looking at her with a cheap grin. She frowned and took a few steps back.

After the night of the borrowed-corpse-resurrection, the Prime Minister’s residence immediately hired a sorcerer to perform rituals to drive out evil spirits and summoned the imperial physician and half the city’s doctors to diagnose him in turns, but no one could figure out the cause. His pulse was stable, with no abnormality whatsoever. He had indeed… come back to life.

Although his body was fine, his temperament had completely changed. He had abandoned his former violent and tyrannical ways and become extremely friendly. However, he, who never used to be interested in women, now frequented brothels and tea houses. At the moment, he had just come out of Yifeng Pavilion after drinking with courtesans.

Zhang Jialing saw Chen Liangyu looking at him with an expression of disbelief, thinking he had captivated another woman. He smoothed his hair and said, “May I ask which family’s young lady you are, how old you are, and if you are betrothed?”

Is this man crazy!

Chen Liangyu shifted to avoid his hand reaching out to cup her chin.

If he was truly this lunatic now, then the half-year salary fine wasn’t a total loss.

Chen Liangyu’s eyebrows were furrowed enough to crush a fly. Seeing that he wasn’t going to move, she had to circle around him. Zhang Jialing chased after her again, intercepting her path, “Woman, you have successfully attracted my attention.”

Chen Liangyu was speechless.

Zhang Jialing proved to Chen Liangyu twice that human patience is truly limited. She tightened her grip on her sword sheath, forcibly suppressing her annoyance, “Get lost.”

Zhang Jialing blocked her way again: “Hey, what’s with your attitude? My father is the current Right Prime Minister, speak politely.”

“Get lost if you don’t want to die again.”

Zhang Jialing had a sudden realization: “Oh~ so you’re the one who… pissed off that unfortunate guy to death, right? Chen Liangyu?”

Chen Liangyu didn’t mishear; it was indeed a question. She blurted out, “You don’t recognize me?”

Zhang Jialing spread his hands, “Don’t just say you, I don’t recognize anyone here.” Suddenly, Zhang Jialing looked around and mysteriously whispered to her, “Do you see anything different about me?”

Chen Liangyu still looked at him like he was an idiot. It did seem a little different; all those jingling accessories were gone, because Zhang Jialing had pawned them all for silver to spend freely on wine and women.

Seeing her lack of reaction, Zhang Jialing mysteriously leaned closer to Chen Liangyu, saying, “You might not believe it, but I come from the future…”

Chen Liangyu wasn’t interested in listening to his rambling and said lazily, “I don’t care where you’re from, whether you’re a person or a ghost. If you’re a person, be a good one. If you’re a ghost, go back to reincarnation and start over. Don’t block the way.”

“So fierce. Don’t you understand the principle of ‘a friend comes from afar’? I came here from hundreds or thousands of years in the future, far from home…” As he spoke, he tried to squeeze out two fake tears, but failed. “Saying ‘future’ doesn’t seem right either. Our world has no record of your dynasty. Are you guys going to be destroyed, and then all historical records will be burned, leaving nothing behind…”

Upon hearing the words “be destroyed,” Chen Liangyu’s eyelids lifted, and fierceness was evident.

A person who has fought bloody battles on the battlefield is most offended by such insulting words. Following the customary treatment for guests from afar—whipping them dozens of times and driving them to a remote residence—the hand holding the sword delivered a punch. Zhang Jialing flew six feet into the air.

Zhang Jialing struggled to get up with all fours, “You’re f***ing crazy!”

Chen Liangyu stepped past him expressionlessly, leaving Zhang Jialing yelling hysterically behind her, “Vicious woman! This is a feudal dynasty, do you understand ‘feudal dynasty’? Do you know what the ‘Three Obediences and Four Virtues’ are? A girl wielding a sword and hitting people, be careful, you’ll never get married.”

Chen Liangyu dragged her heavy, physically and mentally exhausted legs into her home. After sending Chen Linjun away, she crooked her index finger at the man who was intently gnawing on a pig’s trot.

“Jinghe.”

The square, muscular man immediately dropped what he was doing and clumsily rushed over. He stopped abruptly two steps away from Chen Liangyu, standing ramrod straight, with braising sauce all around his mouth: “Miss, you’re back. Jing Ming said you were thrown in jail, and I was just about to bring you a pig’s trot.”

“No need! Can’t that Jing Ming wish me something good?” Chen Liangyu stood on her tiptoes and with difficulty clung to his solid, muscular back, “Go help me find out something. Don’t tell big brother, not even if you accidentally slip up.”

Jinghe, like a large cat gripped by the scruff of its neck, had his neck shrunk and nodded repeatedly, “En, en, en.”