When the Dou family servants arrived in Lushan County from Bianzhou, Cui Yun finally learned that Dou Ying was preparing to return home.
“We have only just reunited a few days ago. Can you not stay and accompany me a little longer, A-zi?” Cui Yun’s heart felt heavy with melancholy.
It felt as though the day of their reunion was just yesterday. How could Dou Ying be leaving after what felt like a single day?
Dou Ying replied helplessly, “When Zhang Dalang sent word to me saying he had found you, he didn’t elaborate on your situation in the letter. In my anxiety, I hurried over after leaving a hasty message for Father and Mother. I fear they have been worrying and exasperated with me these past days. I must return first to explain everything and set their minds at ease.”
In truth, Cui Yun understood that Dou Ying could not stay for long. Her presence during these past days had allowed them both to lift a heavy stone from their hearts. For Cui Yun, there were already few regrets left.
Seeing Cui Yun’s downcast mood, Dou Ying added, “Once I have explained your recent situation to Father and Mother, I will find another time to come back and stay for a longer period.”
“Then it is a promise. You are not allowed to break it, A-zi,” Cui Yun said, her face lighting up with a brilliant smile.
Dou Ying lowered her eyes and smiled gently, thinking to herself that she hadn’t expected Qi-niang to still have such a childish side to her.
Reflecting on how Qi-niang had spent these years living under someone else’s roof, constantly pushed into a corner by Cui Yuanfeng, Dou Ying spoke again: “If you encounter any trouble, Qi-niang, do not hesitate to come to Bianzhou to find us. Remember, your family is not just the Cui clan you still have our Dou family!”
No matter how many times she heard these words, Cui Yun was always moved to tears. She knew that while others might merely pay lip service, these words coming from Dou Ying’s mouth were spoken with absolute sincerity.
“I will, A-zi. You needn’t worry about me.”
The day before her departure, Dou Ying went first to offer incense to Cui Yun’s late parents, and then went to bid farewell to Zhang Zhaoge.
Seeing Zhang Zhaoge emerge from the military camp, Dou Ying spoke before the other could open her mouth. “This time, I am truly returning to Bianzhou.”
Her train of thought interrupted, Zhang Zhaoge gathered her thoughts and said, “Then I will dispatch two more men to escort you.”
Dou Ying gazed at her, and after a long silence, let out a soft sigh.
“Why are you sighing?” Zhang Zhaoge asked, perplexed.
“I am merely lamenting my ill-fated destiny. Knowing that once we part today, I do not know when we shall meet again, my heart cannot help but feel melancholic.”
Zhang Zhaoge could not help but think of her own family, from whom she was separated by worlds. She and Dou Ying, at the very least, still lived under the same sky and would have a day of reunion. Her separation from her own family was a permanent parting of life and death something that could not be overcome by merely crossing geographical distances.
Thinking of this, she did not harbor much sorrow over the parting and instead comforted Dou Ying, “It matters not. We can exchange letters.”
Dou Ying assumed a rather peculiar expression and pulled out a sheet of letter paper. “Could the letters Dalang speaks of happen to look like this?”
On the paper, the words “Your sister is with me” were written in a crooked, uneven scrawl, accompanied by numerous character errors and smudges. If this letter were an essay in a modern college entrance exam, the grading teacher would at best give it a negative two points zero for the content, and minus two for the terrible presentation.
Publicly executed by her own handwriting, Zhang Zhaoge’s cheeks flushed slightly. She coughed to save face, awkwardly defending herself: “Cough, I am a martial artist after all. Being able to write a few characters is already quite impressive. Alright, I will practice my calligraphy properly when I have time in the future.”
Dou Ying burst into a chuckle. Not wanting to make things difficult for her, she tucked the letter away and left.
On the day Dou Ying set off for Bianzhou, Zhang Zhaoge went to see her off.
Arriving at the Zhaoping Villa, she saw two carriages parked at the entrance. Qingxi was directing the servants as they loaded boxes of goods onto the rear carriage.
The wealth of the Dou family was substantial. This disparity was obvious considering Cui Yun could previously only afford an ox-cart, whereas the Dou family possessed two carriages and two horses led by their private retinue.
Cui Yun and Dou Ying walked out hand-in-hand, whispering to one another in close intimacy.
Cui Yun asked Qingxi, “Are all the local specialties to be brought back to Bianzhou loaded onto the carriage? Make sure nothing is left behind.”
Qingxi replied respectfully, “Replying to Xiao Niangzi, everything has been tallied. Nothing has been missed.”
Looking at the carriage fully laden with goods, Dou Ying turned to Cui Yun helplessly. “Didn’t I say there was no need to prepare so much? The Dou family lacks for nothing; you should look after yourself first.”
Cui Yun countered, “It is not all for you, A-zi. Inside are also the seasonal gifts I prepared for my maternal uncle and aunt. I haven’t written to them in so many years, causing them to worry. Besides, these are just local specialties that cost very little. I only hope you all will not look down on them.”
Unable to decline, Dou Ying had no choice but to accept.
Cui Yun then took the gray rabbit from Xilan’s arms and handed it to Dou Ying. The latter asked, somewhat perplexed, “Didn’t I tell you to keep it?”
Cui Yun shook her head. “You were the one feeding it these past days, A-zi, so it is more familiar with you. With it to keep you company on your journey back, you won’t have to worry about finding ways to pass the time.”
“Very well. The weather is gradually turning cold, so let it warm my hands!” Dou Ying cradled it in her arms, gently stroking its fur just as she had done over the past days.
With the local specialties and luggage all loaded, they had to depart immediately if they wanted to reach the courier station before nightfall. Urged on by the servants, Dou Ying boarded the carriage.
“Hold on.” Zhang Zhaoge rode up to the side of the carriage on horseback.
Dou Ying pushed open the small window and looked out at her with a smile. “Did Dalang come to see me off?”
Zhang Zhaoge nodded and unfastened the short black baton she always carried from her waist. “This time, my men can only escort you to the borders of Lushan County. It is impossible to predict what you might encounter beyond Lushan. It is better to be prepared; take this tool for self-defense.”
This short baton, barely thirty centimeters long, looked like a piece of wood too short even for kindling. In reality, it concealed a highly sharpened small blade. Because of its unique design and strange material, others would merely mistake it for a metal ornament. Carrying it on one’s person would not arouse suspicion, yet it could deliver a fatal blow when an opponent was off-guard.
This was a reward Zhang Zhaoge had received through her system check-in. Since she already possessed a sharper, more durable military dagger, she decided to gift this small blade to Dou Ying for protection.
Dou Ying was slightly astonished. Wasn’t this the precious blade Zhang Zhaoge had used to stab an enemy to death when she rescued her from ambush?
She had never seen such a unique and remarkably sharp knife. Believing it to be a spoil of war Zhang Zhaoge had claimed from somewhere, she hadn’t expected Zhang Zhaoge to gift it to her.
“Do you know how to use it?” Zhang Zhaoge inquired further.
Coming to her senses, Dou Ying swallowed her words of refusal. She nodded and said, “I have seen Dalang use it… Thank you, Dalang.”
“Have a safe journey then,” Zhang Zhaoge said, tapping the roof of the carriage. The local garrison soldiers ahead understood the signal and drove their horses forward to clear the path.
The carriage rolled away slowly. It was only when the figures of the group vanished from sight that Cui Yun snapped out of her thoughts. Tilting her head up, she asked Zhang Zhaoge, “I wonder if Vice-General Zhang would do me the honor of coming inside for a bowl of hot tea?”
“Since Cui Qi-niang invites me, how could I not honor the request?” Zhang Zhaoge dismounted with a laugh, tossed the reins to a nearby Cui family servant, and stepped into the Zhaoping Villa once again.
The weather had begun to grow cold. The frugal Cui Yun had previously been reluctant to use charcoal, but today, to entertain her guest, she instructed the servants to bring some out. She used the charcoal as an entry point to strike up a conversation, taking the opportunity to thank Zhang Zhaoge for her assistance.
At the same time, she felt somewhat anxious on Zhang Zhaoge’s behalf. “The Meng family is exceedingly wealthy and has always ruled Lushan County with an iron fist. If they discover that Vice-General Zhang is assisting me, they will surely sabotage you in secret. You must proceed with caution.”
How could Zhang Zhaoge not know that helping Cui Yun meant offending Meng Jiasui?
“I am entirely on my own; I have nothing to fear.”
If she were the type to fear powerful authorities, she wouldn’t have followed Du Bingqian to support Chen Xian, who had rebelled against his master.
However, although she was relatively new to the political maneuvering of this world, she could tell that Cui Yun was subtly nudging her aiming to bind her completely to the same boat.
Since she didn’t expose Cui Yun’s intentions, Cui Yun remarked, “The General truly possesses the courage of a hero.”
Zhang Zhaoge replied, “We are on the same side after all, so there is no need for such formalities.”
“In that case, Xilan, serve the tea!”
The tea of this era was not prepared by simply throwing a few tea leaves into boiling water. From retrieving the tea cake to completing the brewing process, it required no fewer than ten meticulous steps. Ultimately, what was delivered to the mouth was a tea broth where the presence of individual leaves was completely invisible.
Furthermore, the broth did not taste solely of tea; it was also infused with scallions and ginger.
Zhang Zhaoge simply drank it as though it were an unsalted soup.
Once she finished the tea broth, Cui Yun had Xilan present a collection of calligraphy copybooks, saying, “My elder sister mentioned that Vice-General Zhang wished to practice her writing, so she asked me to prepare two copybooks. While these are not the works of famous masters, they are transcriptions left behind by the finest calligraphers among my Cui ancestors. If Vice-General Zhang does not despise them, please accept them.”
Zhang Zhaoge: “…”
Good grief. She had merely given Dou Ying a perfunctory excuse back then; how did Dou Ying take it so seriously?
She wasn’t taking the imperial civil service exams, so what was the point of making her handwriting look so exquisite?
To exchange letters with Dou Ying? Dou Ying already knew how terrible her brushwork was—as long as it was legible, it should have sufficed!
Besides, was bad handwriting truly the greatest obstacle to their correspondence? No, it was the fact that she didn’t know how to write traditional characters properly!
Despite the internal complaints, she was well aware of the value of these copybooks.
In an era where knowledge was entirely monopolized by prominent aristocratic clans, such copybooks even if they were merely transcriptions were worth a fortune.
If she could ever travel back to modern times with her storage ring, the copybooks in her possession would probably be valuable enough to be enshrined in a provincial museum.
Ultimately, suppressing her greed, she said, “Then I shall thank you. However, since these are so precious, I will return them to you once I finish practicing my characters.”
What Zhang Zhaoge did not know was that these transcriptions were actually written by Cui Yun herself. The original copybooks had been lost during the chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and only preserved copies remained.
Because preserved copies were so rare, Cui Yun’s father had hesitated for a long time before taking them out for her to emulate and practice with.
After the Zhaoping Villa was destroyed, those original preserved copies had fallen into the hands of Cui Yuanfeng.
Cui Yun chose not to tell Zhang Zhaoge that these were her own transcriptions, wanting to avoid anyone finding out and using it to cause unnecessary trouble.