A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 84

The Grand Monastic Temple, Yongning Hall.

Chen Liangyu had not visited this place for a long time. Today, she accompanied Xie Wenjun to offer incense for Empress Huixian.

Years ago, she had made a promise to Xie Wenjun that if she had free time around the anniversary of Empress Huixian’s death, she would accompany her to stay at the Grand Monastic Temple for a few days.

It seemed that these years, she was always too busy, or when she was free, the timing was wrong, and the promise was never kept.

The day before yesterday, Xie Yuan imprisoned Liang Qiuting, the King of Nanzhou, in the Dali Court (Supreme Court), citing that Liang Qiuting “looked up at the sovereign, intending to assassinate him.” Liang Qiuting’s personal strategist, Liu Mo, and Meng Yuanliang, the East Yin envoy in disguise, fled toward the Southern Territory. Xie Yuan issued a secret decree ordering Heng Miao of the Southern Territory to pay close attention. No news had come from the Southern Territory yet. After Zhao Xingli’s imprisonment, no one pursued the cases involving the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works. The court was temporarily quiet, thus clearing a few days of leisure.

On the altar table of Yongning Hall, several oil lamps burned, and fresh fruits and pastries were laid out. Two prayer mats covered with bright yellow silk were placed on the floor.

The censer was full of ash.

Xie Wenjun purified her hands and picked up three sticks of incense, placing them over the candlelight. Azure smoke curled upward.

Chen Liangyu watched Xie Wenjun from the side, restraining her expression and holding her breath, fearing she might disturb her. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward and, like Xie Wenjun, picked three thin sticks of incense from the box and lit them at the tip of the flame.

If we kneel and bow together now, does it count as bowing to our ancestors and Heaven and Earth?

After lighting the incense, Chen Liangyu stepped back to stand beside Xie Wenjun.

They stood side-by-side.

According to the strict court etiquette for royal sacrifices, the order and position for a subject and a Grand Princess to offer incense were clearly defined. By regulation, Chen Liangyu should wait until Xie Wenjun had lit and bowed with her incense before stepping forward. If they were to burn incense and bow together, she should consciously stand one side behind the royal family members to show the distinction between ruler and subject.

Chen Liangyu stood next to Xie Wenjun and did not move back.

As if doing something guilty, Chen Liangyu glanced sideways. Xie Wenjun was also looking at her. Their eyes met, and they simultaneously knelt down on the prayer mats toward Empress Huixian’s spirit tablet.

Holding the incense sticks up to their eyebrows with both hands, the two graceful figures bowed deeply.

Three times they bent and kowtowed, and then gently inserted the incense into the censer. Ash fell rustling. Chen Liangyu stood silently in front of the censer, gazing at the curling azure smoke as it steadily ascended. The surroundings were silent. She wondered if Empress Huixian’s spirit above could hear the expectation hidden in her heart?

Knowing that Xie Wenjun would not quibble over trivial etiquette with her, Chen Liangyu still felt a surge of secret joy at Xie Wenjun’s second indulgence of her action.

But in an instant, she wondered again: Was it Xie Wenjun deliberately indulging her, or had she simply failed to notice the hidden thought? Many officials and nobles had secret predilections—they appreciated beauty regardless of gender. But such an alternative preference was only dared in private, secluded places for private gratification; it was absolutely forbidden to acknowledge it in public. Secrecy was like a taboo, and mentioning it was out of the question.

She hoped it was the former but felt the latter would be better. Then, she thought again that neither was good, and that it would be best to ask clearly. A remarkably strong impulse suddenly surged in Chen Liangyu’s heart.

The quieter Yongning Hall was, the more Chen Liangyu’s chest churned. She steeled her heart, thinking she might as well be straightforward and explain everything, like slowly taking off clothes, being utterly frank, and showing her heart to Xie Wenjun. Even if she died, she would die cleanly and honestly.

Flowery, bookish language.

Too affected!

Too plain…

Chen Liangyu’s chest rose and fell dramatically twice. The words were practically at her lips, but she felt that no way of saying it was appropriate. If Xie Wenjun did not want to make things clear, a reckless move by her would undoubtedly push Xie Wenjun away.

“Ah Li.”

Xie Wenjun called her name.

Lost in thought for a long time, Chen Liangyu suddenly woke up when she heard Xie Wenjun’s voice. Compared to the separation and estrangement she might face in the future, she could better tolerate this unclear and awkward relationship with Xie Wenjun.

“Your Highness, I am here.”

Chen Liangyu’s thoughts were a tangled mess, but Xie Wenjun looked somewhat cheerful. She dismissed the accompanying palace maids and the Changning Guards, not even keeping Rong Jun by her side. She grabbed Chen Liangyu’s hand, her steps light and joyful, pulling her to walk in a certain direction.

On the east side of Yongning Hall was a door connected to a Zen room, which was Xie Wenjun’s resting place at the Grand Monastic Temple. The furnishings of the Zen room were still ancient and simple. The arrangement had not changed: a bamboo couch, a set of pine wood tables and chairs, and a Buddha shrine housing a statue.

Xie Wenjun lightly twisted the Buddha shrine. With a “click,” a secret long, flat, thin, but very long box sprang out from the base. Xie Wenjun could lift the long box with one hand, and it didn’t seem to contain anything heavy. She carried the long box and walked toward the back hall.

Chen Liangyu followed, unable to help but be curious about the object inside the box.

Whatever Xie Wenjun hid by Empress Huixian’s side, concealed beneath the Buddha shrine, must be something she treasured immensely.

What could it be?

She silently measured the size of the box in her mind. If it was a scroll painting without an axle, it would fit perfectly when rolled up. Xie Wenjun had once said she had a crush/sweetheart. Could this crush be so unspeakable?

A small path in the back hall led to a secluded spot. Two young, gray-robed monks came face-to-face, coincidentally meeting the two female visitors. The woman walking in front had a clean, refined face and an extraordinary posture. The intricate and gorgeous cloud patterns on her cloak swayed with her steps, revealing a certain nobility of the royal lineage. The one behind her had a much steadier pace, dressed in a cinched, form-fitting cerulean robe, walking briskly.

The monks immediately stopped, slowly raised their hands, clasped them in front of their chests, and bowed their heads slightly in greeting. Only after the visitors had passed did the two young monks slowly lower their hands, frequently looking back, astonished that the two women who had just brushed past them had the appearance and bearing of female Bodhisattvas.

The secluded path ended at an archway, guarded by imperial guards. Chen Liangyu suddenly didn’t want to walk any further. She was afraid that the long box Xie Wenjun treasured so much might contain something she was utterly unwilling to see.

With this thought, Chen Liangyu’s steps began to lag. She plucked a leaf, pulled up a handful of grass, and ground some innocent pebbles on the road with the sole of her shoe.

Xie Wenjun was always very patient and didn’t urge her, letting her move slowly, dragging her feet.

Chen Liangyu became more and more deliberately sluggish. Even with slower steps, the not-so-long path eventually reached its end. The archway she didn’t want to enter was right in front of her. Chen Liangyu simply squatted by the side of the road, using the leaf she had just torn off to tease a big, fat green worm dozing in the grass.

Seeing that Chen Liangyu hadn’t followed, Xie Wenjun stopped and waited.

The fat green worm was stirred up and tumbled, dizzy under the leaf. Chen Liangyu poked it for a while and then put it back on the blade of grass where it had been napping. Just as she was absorbed in her play, a chill suddenly ran down her back.

This feeling of a cold spine seemed familiar!

The last time was at the Qunfang Garden in Wuzhou.

She looked up. Sure enough, Xie Wenjun was staring at her with cold eyes and seemed to shake her head helplessly. What is she up to?

Turning to leave, Xie Wenjun saw Chen Liangyu had no intention of following, so she had to turn back to Chen Liangyu’s side. There were no eye-catching treasures in the grass, only a worm squirming to escape.

“Is this worm interesting?” Xie Wenjun frowned slightly.

Chen Liangyu said, “It is interesting.”

“In what way is it interesting?” Xie Wenjun didn’t quite understand and waited for Chen Liangyu to explain.

Chen Liangyu thought that she was still somewhat different in the Grand Princess’s heart. Xie Wenjun was a person who never listened to nonsense. After taking charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, she was even more so. Officials working under her, whether in official documents or oral reports, all followed an unspoken but shared rule: report matters, but state the facts, without any redundant words.

Yet, Xie Wenjun was willing to listen to Chen Liangyu talk, no matter how trivial or boring the words were. She was even willing to spend a moment of time for a green worm that had caught her attention.

Chen Liangyu couldn’t say what was interesting about a worm, and she bantered, “It’s interesting because Your Highness is accompanying me.”

Xie Wenjun said, “In that case, you should also accompany me to do something interesting.”

“What is it?”

“Come with me.”

Chen Liangyu had planned to continue stalling, but she was unexpectedly pulled up. A wave of warmth came from her palm, and her fingers immediately slipped into the gaps, tightly intertwined. Xie Wenjun, holding the box in one hand and leading a person with the other, walked through the archway as if nothing was amiss. Chen Liangyu clearly saw that the expressions of the guards stationed on both sides instantly became strange.

Chen Liangyu was unfamiliar with the back hall of the Grand Monastic Temple and had never noticed this archway before, so she didn’t know what it looked like inside.

Stepping in, she realized it was a small archery range.

The area was not large. The ground was carefully leveled, and the yellow earth was tamped down, making it very firm to step on. Occasionally, a few clusters of wild grass stubbornly grew in the corners of the wall. The targets were neatly arranged at the other end of the range, and various bows and arrows were lined up on the weapon rack at their end.

Xie Wenjun placed the box she had been holding on the counter and took a very thin key from her sleeve pouch to insert into the keyhole.

Chen Liangyu stared at the box without moving, her gaze burning, as if trying to stare the box into ashes.

With a soft “clack,” the lock opened.

As Xie Wenjun took out the contents, Chen Liangyu stretched her neck to look. It was not a portrait of a sweetheart, but a square piece of silk cloth wrapped around a branch-like object. It looked like a long arrow.

The silk cloth was unrolled. It was indeed an arrow.

A feathered arrow.

The tail of the arrow was adorned with white feathers and was exquisitely made. The feathers at the end of this type of arrow were a marker, often used during a hunt to tally how much game each person had acquired, differentiated by the marker on the arrow tail.

The feathered arrow in Xie Wenjun’s hand looked very old, seemingly having some years on it, and the white feathers had turned a dull yellow.

It looked familiar.

During the spring hunt ten years ago, when Empress Huixian passed away, Xie Wenjun used this type of feathered arrow.

Xie Wenjun walked towards the bow and arrow rack and selected a suitable bow. She held the bow with her left hand, nocked the arrow with her right, gently hooking the tail of the arrow onto the string, and slightly pulled the string back.

The bowstring gradually bent. With a crisp “whoosh,” the white feathers on the arrow’s tail spun rapidly, hitting the red bullseye squarely and steadily.

Xie Wenjun raised her head slightly. “How is it?”

Chen Liangyu raised her hand and clapped a few times, with a hint of being supportive.

Xie Wenjun said, “Is it steadier than when you didn’t have teeth?”

Chen Liangyu said nothing, just looking at her and smiling. As she smiled, her eyes were reddened by the cold wind.

Xie Wenjun misunderstood, thinking she was mocking her lack of talent in archery again. She widened her eyes, glanced at the bow in her hand, and then looked at the steadily vibrating white feathers of the arrow that had hit the bullseye. She said, “Is there anything else wrong?” As if eager to prove that her archery skills were now very good, she added, “When I went to Zhongwu City to deal with the remnants of the Lin family, the Lin family refused to surrender. The leader of the Lin family’s rebels was shot dead by my own hand.”

The Lin family in Zhongwu City were the kinsmen of Lin Zhong, the former commander of the Imperial Guards who conspired with King Qi Xie Xuan in treason and assassinated Crown Prince Yizhang.

“Everything is right,” Chen Liangyu said. “Your Highness’s arrow is excellent.”

Xie Wenjun said, “Since it’s excellent, why are you laughing?”

“Laughing at myself. For being foolish.”

The feathered arrow that had killed two birds with one stone back then was actually treasured by Xie Wenjun for so many years. She felt uneasy about Xie Wenjun’s “sweetheart,” but now, what their name was seemed unnecessary to ask.

Many past events surfaced. The fortune-telling stall under the lanterns, the sky lanterns by the Xushui River, the unexpected kiss at Prince Shen’s Mansion in Linxia, the row of teeth marks bitten at the Lu Pinghou Mansion in the Southern Territory, the jade lion on the Wanhe Festival, and the feathered arrow hidden beneath the Buddha shrine for ten years…

The willow wood hairpin she often wore in her dark hair, and the many nights they had shared the same pillow.

She had also asked twice, Must you marry someone else?

There were many more. Those unnoticed, insignificant little things linked up like a chain of stars. She had minded the “sweetheart” that Xie Wenjun had only mentioned once, and for this, jealousy had secretly run rampant several times. But if she was willing to think carefully, she could easily realize that had there ever been anyone else by Xie Wenjun’s side all these years?

The question Chen Liangyu had never voiced, Xie Wenjun had actually answered multiple times; she just hadn’t noticed.