Regarding matters of emotion and marriage, since Cui Yun remained silent, Zhang Zhaoge had no standing to interfere in the affairs of others.
She spoke calmly and unhurriedly: “Be clear. Who is your fiancée, where is she from, and can someone vouch for you?”
Wang Hecheng was in a difficult position. His marriage to Cui Yun was not yet settled; if he claimed she was his fiancée, he would be slapping his own face. Furthermore, he had heard that a man named Wei Zhao was competing against him. What if his loose tongue angered Cui Yun and she chose Wei Zhao instead?
Contemplating this, he set aside his playful demeanor and said haughtily, “My Wang family has several qing of land in Ruzhou. With the end of the year approaching, I have come to audit the property. Is there a problem with that?”
“No problem. However, the situation is complex. For your own safety, I ask that you do not wander about once you reach Ruzhou.” Having said this, Zhang Zhaoge cleared him to pass.
Wang Hecheng choked on his words. He leaped onto his horse and, seeing that Cui Yun was still standing there, urged her, “Seventh Miss Cui, you were in such a hurry on the road; why are you not in a rush to leave the pass now?”
The garrison squad leader, who had a favorable impression of Cui Yun, laughed at him: “You lack insight. Seventh Miss Cui was in such a hurry on the road because you were following behind her, and she was afraid. Now that the situation is safe, naturally, she is in no rush.”
Wang Hecheng glared at him, whipped his horse, and departed in a huff.
Zhang Zhaoge smacked the squad leader on the head: “Qiu Hu, what nonsense are you spouting? Are you that idle? Do you want me to bring a stool for you to sit here and specialize in gossiping?”
The squad leader rubbed his head and obediently accepted the reprimand.
Cui Yun was amused, and the earlier lingering frustration vanished. Zhang Zhaoge genuinely felt that Qiu Hu was asking for a beating. Although Wang Hecheng did not come from an official’s household, the Wang family were wealthy landlords in Xiangzhou; who knew if he was backed by some powerful figure?
She was alone and did not fear retaliation, but Qiu Hu came from the Huaining Army and possessed the typical arrogance of a provincial soldier. If he offended someone during such a sensitive period of hunting for Huaixi spies, and someone decided to make a big deal out of it, he would not even know how he died.
Cui Yun was sharp and attentive. She said to Zhang Zhaoge, “This Wang Hecheng is my second brother’s brother-in-law. His sudden appearance on Guya Road and his rash decision to follow behind us are truly puzzling regarding his intentions.”
She was not trying to speak on behalf of Qiu Hu; she simply wanted Zhang Zhaoge to know that she acknowledged this favor.
Zhang Zhaoge nodded and shifted the conversation: “I thought Seventh Miss Cui would wait until after the New Year to return.”
Cui Yun had originally intended to do so, but the atmosphere and calculations within the Cui family were exhausting, forcing her to make an impromptu decision to return to Zhaoping Villa.
She deflected, saying, “I wanted to keep watch here for my late father and mother.”
“Seventh Miss Cui’s filial piety is commendable. It is getting late, and judging by the clouds, I fear it might snow. It is best to return early,” Zhang Zhaoge said. “Do you need an escort?”
“No need, catching the spies is more important. I will not delay Deputy General Zhang from your duties. Farewell.”
When Cui Yun’s carriage arrived at the entrance of Zhaoping Villa, Xilan and Qingxi only then realized the news and ran out to meet her: “Young Mistress, why have you returned so suddenly? Has something happened?”
“Nothing happened; I just suddenly wanted to come back,” Cui Yun said vaguely.
Qingxi breathed a sigh of relief: “This servant thought—”
Xilan stepped lightly on his foot, and he immediately realized there might be ears loyal to Mother Du present, swallowing his unspoken words about her being “wronged in Dengzhou.”
“Go quickly and help Young Mistress move her luggage.” Xilan gave Qingxi a look, and he took the opportunity to dismiss all the servants.
Back in the North Hall, Xilan asked, “Young Mistress, will you return to Dengzhou before the end of the year?”
Cui Yun replied, “I will not. If people come from there, I will feign illness to deal with them, then find an excuse to send Mother Du back to Dengzhou. I want to spend a quiet New Year here, watching over Father and Mother.”
Xilan happily said, “Then we must decorate the villa well this year to make the festive atmosphere even stronger.”
Inspired, Cui Yun also felt some anticipation for the coming holidays.
After she washed her face with hot water and drank a bowl of hot soup to warm herself, she asked Xilan and Qingxi, “Has there been anything unusual at the villa recently? And what is this about Huaixi spies?”
“There has been nothing unusual at the villa…” At the mention of Huaixi spies, their expressions darkened.
Both were direct victims of the Huaixi turmoil years ago, and the scenes of devastation under the scourge of war remained vivid in their minds. Thus, they were the most fearful that the Huaining Army would rise again. When news broke that Huaixi spies had infiltrated Ruzhou, they immediately went to gather details.
It turned out that on the Winter Solstice, after the Ruzhou branch garrison had finished their martial arts exercises, a junior officer reported spotting traces of Huaixi spies. Since the officer was from the Huaining Army, he recognized a familiar face among the commoners watching the exercises. However, his attention had been on the drills, and he couldn’t immediately recall the person’s identity. It was only after reflecting on it afterward that he suddenly realized it was one of the personal guards of the current Jiedushi of Huaixi, Wu Cheng.
Why would Wu Cheng’s guard be here? Had he come to defect to them? But since the guard was loyal to Wu Cheng the enemy of those who had defected from the Huaining Army it was impossible for him to be seeking refuge. Regardless of the motive, sneaking into Ruzhou at such a time would certainly be detrimental to them.
Realizing the severity of the situation, the officer reported it to the Deputy Commander of the Garrison, Du Bingqian. Du Bingqian dared not be careless; he reported it to the Eastern Capital Defense Envoy, Jia, while deploying the branch garrison to patrol strictly to ferret out the spy and uncover his objective.
The next day, the Defense Envoy ordered a city-wide search for the Huaixi spy. All the local garrison troops in Ruzhou mobilized, intensifying not only the inspections at Luyang Pass but also their routine patrols.
Ruzhou, along with the adjacent Xuzhou and Bianzhou, were among the most critical military strongholds for the court. When the bandit Li rebelled, he seized Ruzhou and occupied Xiangcheng County, choking the mountain passes and cutting off the Jianghuai transport routes. Looking north from there, he split his army into two paths, advancing west to take Wuguan and marching east to capture Bianzhou.
With a Huaixi spy appearing in Ruzhou, it was hard not to suspect that Wu Cheng intended to imitate the bandit Li, sending people to scout the strength and defenses of these military hubs in preparation for an assault.
Perhaps influenced by this, before Cui Yun returned to Zhaoping Villa, the mood within the villa had also been restless. Her timing in returning was perfect; with her at the helm, it was undoubtedly a source of reassurance for the servants and guards. Consequently, Cui Yun became even more determined to stay and spend the New Year there.
At night, snow fell like goose feathers. Cui Yun had a nightmare; she dreamed of the Huaining Army uprising years ago, when she was awakened from her sleep by her mother. It was the first month, and thick fog hung like a giant net shrouding the dark, gloomy world. Everyone wore a look of terror, and the only word in their speech was “escape.” That morning, news came of Cui’s father’s death, and their carriage left Ruzhou. On the road to Bianzhou, thick snow fell from the sky, and she reached out to catch a snowflake. It was so icy a bone-chilling cold.
Cui Yun opened her eyes, got up, threw on a thick cloak, and walked to the window to roll up the bamboo curtain. The wind and snow drifted in instantly, only to be melted into water by the warmth of the room. She reached out to catch a few snowflakes.
It was still just as cold.
For the common people, whether the world was stable or chaotic, their days saw no improvement. Rather than worrying about the Huaining Army, which might strike at any moment, it was better to be at ease and enjoy the New Year.
Perhaps remembering the favor of Cui Yun helping them exchange their copper coins, when news reached them that she had returned, a village woman brought her a basket of winter dates grown at home. Cui Yun had a return gift prepared for the woman, but the woman waved her hand repeatedly, indicating that the copper coins Cui Yun had helped exchange had saved her family from losing two thousand coins. Not to mention this basket of dates, even picking every date from the entire tree would not compensate for that loss.
Seeing that the woman’s attitude was sincere, Cui Yun asked her to stay for a chat. The woman stated her surname was Ying and she was the fourth in her family. She was a widow in the village whose husband died three years ago during the military unrest when the bandit Li captured Ruzhou. She had aging parents-in-law above her and three young children below. Widows and underage males were supposed to be exempt from taxes, but Ying Si-niang also had two younger brothers-in-law. Since the husband’s family had not divided the property, the taxes were split among them, falling on her shoulders.
As it happened, Ying Si-niang’s two brothers-in-law had once gone to obstruct Cui Yun’s logging and charcoal production. Although they were acting under the instigation of someone in the Meng family, they had no face to see Cui Yun, so they had asked her to step in on their behalf.
Cui Yun smiled, not holding a grudge for past events. Seeing that she truly held no resentment, Ying Si-niang sighed in relief.
Speaking of the Meng family, Ying Si-niang whispered a piece of gossip: “The Meng family invited General Zheng to a banquet today; I wonder if it was because of that spy from Huaixi.”
Cui Yun’s vigilance immediately spiked. She asked nonchalantly, “General Zheng? Is it General Zheng Heyi?”
“Yes, we are neighbors with the Zheng family. When the Zheng family dependents followed the army here, they were settled in the empty courtyard next to ours.”
“Oh? Is the Meng family that close to the Zheng family?”
“Not particularly. I heard from the Zheng family that General Zheng was originally a subordinate of the Upper General of the Right Xiao Guards, Geshu Yao. Last year, due to a rebellion among some subordinates, General Geshu was stripped of his military authority, and the remaining subordinates entered the ranks of other regional governors. This General Zheng arrived after that incident, and his interactions with the Meng family have been few and far between.”
Geshu Yao had once recaptured Ruzhou and briefly served as the Jiedushi of the Eastern Capital and Ruzhou. It was not at all surprising that Zheng Heyi had once been his subordinate. What surprised Cui Yun was Ying Si-niang’s ability to gather information; most ordinary people would not care about things at the level of Geshu Yao because the distance to their lives was too great. That Ying Si-niang could ferret out such detailed and accurate information from the Zheng family was a skill in itself.
After Ying Si-niang left, Cui Yun looked at the basket of winter dates and ordered Qingxi to do something for her.
Inside Guangning Temple, Qingxi waited for Zhang Zhaoge to emerge from bathing: “Deputy General Zhang, I have been waiting for you for a long time.”
“Has Seventh Miss Cui come to pay her respects to the Buddha again?” Zhang Zhaoge asked.
Qingxi smiled and said, “The Young Mistress did not come to pay respects; she only knew that the Deputy General was off duty today and specifically sent me to bring you some winter dates.”
Zhang Zhaoge: “…”
She muttered, “And adding a pill to that, is that not ‘eating dates, taking a pill’?”
“Ah?” Qingxi seemed not to have heard clearly, or perhaps he heard it but did not understand the meaning.
Zhang Zhaoge waved her hand, and just as she was about to take the basket, she noticed Qingxi did not immediately let go. Just as Zhang Zhaoge wondered if he was reluctant to part with these few dates, he waited for two seconds, acting as if he were slow-witted, before letting go.
“These dates are few, just a small token of gratitude. Please enjoy them slowly, Deputy General.” After finishing, he bowed and hurried down the mountain.
Zhang Zhaoge watched his back thoughtfully, and after walking to a place where no one else was, she retrieved a note from the pile of dates.