Xiao Jiuyi acted as though he had not heard her at all, and strode off without a glance back.
“Your Highness…” Meng Qianzi tried to chase after him, but Qingzhou held her back firmly.
Outside Yufu Palace stood an entirely unremarkable carriage.
Qingzhou drove it straight out of Zihuan Palace without a single stop, and the Tian family’s servants, already waiting outside, took Miss Tian up into the carriage at once.
Meng Qianzi was struck by how thorough and efficient Xiao Jiuyi had been about it, but her heart only grew heavier.
She was alone and without power now, and if she could win Xiao Jiuyi’s help it would no doubt be a great turning point, yet he had not said a single word about it. Perhaps, in his eyes, her father, who had beaten back foreign enemies time and again, still counted for less than Lord Tian’s daughter.
She remembered the first line of poetry her father had taught her: drunk and lying on the battlefield, do not laugh at me, my lord, how many who go to war since ancient times ever return? Dying in battle, his body wrapped in horsehide [1]wrapped in horsehide (ma ge guo shi, 馬革裹屍) Idiom, a soldier’s body brought home wrapped in horsehide after dying in battle jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3272273_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3272273_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, might be a soldier’s fate, but they should never become sacrifices in a struggle for power!
A loyal and virtuous man thrown into prison, how much grief and despair must her father have felt…
The carriage came to a smooth stop outside Prince Yong’s residence, and once Meng Qianzi got down, she stood rooted before the gate, unmoving.
She had to convince Xiao Jiuyi to help her buy time. Besides him, she could not think of anyone else who could make the Emperor bend.
Qingzhou let out a soft laugh. “Aren’t you hungry, Miss Meng?”
If he hadn’t mentioned it she might have been fine, but now that he had, Meng Qianzi suddenly felt her stomach growling with hunger. Still, she stubbornly shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
Qingzhou rubbed his nose and said quietly, “I hear Miss Meng studied under Dugu Yuan, the finest swordsman in the world. Let me treat you to some wonton, and how about you spar with me?”
Meng Qianzi was startled for a moment, how did he know who her master was?
But she quickly realized that a single night was more than enough time for Little Prince Yong, Commander of the Jinyu Si, to dig up every detail of her past.
She meant to refuse, but changed her mind almost at once and agreed. “Fine. But I want to eat the fried dumplings on Dongshui Street.”
“That works too.” Qingzhou agreed without hesitation.
The two of them set off toward Dongshui Street, and along the way passed Siping Lane, where the Meng residence stood. Meng Qianzi looked inside, and her eyes reddened at once.
A row of stern-faced Yulin Guards stood outside the Meng residence, not even a rat, it seemed, could hope to slip in.
Counting the years, it had been a very long time since she had seen her mother.
In the past she had always found it tiresome, her mother’s endless nagging about how unladylike she was, but now she longed for her mother to pull her by the ear again and tell her to learn to act like a proper young lady of good family… this time, she would obey without complaint.
Qingzhou pulled her away from the mouth of the lane and said, helpless, “I knew you’d try something like this.”
Meng Qianzi sniffed and forced her tears back down.
Qingzhou looked at her with sympathy. “Come on, don’t be in such a hurry. You need to give His Highness some time…”
“What did you say?” A light flared up in Meng Qianzi’s eyes.
Qingzhou shook his head hastily. “I didn’t say anything. I can’t even guess what our master is thinking.”
But Meng Qianzi chose to believe his earlier words anyway, and her mood lifted at once. She waved a hand generously. “I’m treating you.”
The two of them stopped in front of the fried dumpling stall on Dongshui Street, and Meng Qianzi tossed a dozen or so copper coins into the earthenware bowl beside it. “Uncle, two portions of fried dumplings.”
The stall owner raised his dark, plump face, and seeing it was her, broke into a warm smile. “It’s been a while since you’ve come by, Miss. The usual?”
“Yes, fry them a little extra.”
The plump white pork dumplings hit the pan, and with a sizzle a wave of fragrance rose up. Meng Qianzi swallowed, mouth watering.
Qingzhou couldn’t help swallowing too. “I want two portions.”
Meng Qianzi laughed and pulled out more coins. “Make it three, then.”
The dumplings were soon done, and the two of them sat at the small table in front of the stall and ate.
Qingzhou ate two at a time and finished quickly, then sat waiting for her.
Suddenly he said, “Our Highness likes cleanliness more than anything, hates being defied more than anything, despises flatterers more than anything, and hates officials who hold office without doing their job more than anything…”
Meng Qianzi set down her bamboo chopsticks and listened carefully as he listed these things one by one, committing each to memory.
She said gratefully, “Thank you.”
Qingzhou sighed. “I had the good fortune to meet Grand General Meng twice.” He said nothing more after that.
Meng Qianzi’s chest tightened with emotion, there were still people in this world who remembered her father.
Boundless hope rose in her heart. As the master, so the servant, if even Qingzhou felt this way, then surely Little Prince Yong, an imperial son himself, would not want Great Qian to lose a loyal, capable general who guarded its borders!
“Yunxian? Is that really you?”
Meng Qianzi’s back went stiff. She slowly raised her head and saw, to her shock, Pei Yanci standing in front of the fried dumpling stall, staring at her in astonishment…
The next instant, Pei Yanci’s expression turned suddenly, deeply grave, and he strode toward her.
He reached out his right hand to grab her arm. Meng Qianzi turned aside to avoid him, and Qingzhou’s sword was already at Pei Yanci’s throat.
Pei Yanci’s body went rigid, an expression of the utmost complexity crossing his face.
There was heaviness in it, there was worry, and more than anything else, there was heartache and tender pity.
Meng Qianzi hated that look of his more than anything, in her past life, it was that very look that had deceived her so completely.
What she did not know was that this time, Pei Yanci’s heartache was no act at all.
Looking at this face carved into the very depths of his soul, his heart felt as if an invisible hand had suddenly seized and crushed it, and it took several slow breaths before the pain eased.
His mind was filled with the image of Meng Qianzi dying before his eyes.
Only after her death did he learn how unbearable it was to have no one to grow old with, no one to pour his heart out to, no one who understood the dreams in his mind.
On the night he married the daughter of the Vice Minister of Justice, he had mistaken her for Meng Qianzi, and called her Yunxian all through the night…
In the years that followed, rising and falling through his official career, every time he hit a difficult obstacle, it was the paintings, calligraphy, and antiques Meng Qianzi had given him back then that smoothed his way through and turned danger into safety.
The longer she had been dead, the more he thought of her, day after day, month after month, year after year, until his bone-deep longing for her hardened into an obsession.
A whole lifetime spent chasing wealth and power, and in the end all that wealth and power scattered like clouds, the only thing he still remembered was Meng Qianzi…
Reborn, he had been wild with joy. This time, he was determined to marry her, to stay by her side for the rest of both their lives!
Meng Qianzi wanted nothing to do with him. She was afraid that if she looked at him even a moment longer, she would not be able to stop herself from driving a knife straight into his heart.
She said coldly, “You have the wrong person.”
Pei Yanci opened his mouth, then suddenly gave a small laugh. “My apologies. It seems I mistook you for someone else and startled you, Miss.”
With that, he took a step back.
Qingzhou’s eyes swept over his face a few times, and he lowered his sword. “Don’t make that mistake again next time, or my sword won’t be so reasonable about it.”
Pei Yanci acted as though he had not heard, and without buying any dumplings, turned and walked away.
Once he was gone, the stall owner said with great regret, “Oh, Miss, that man just now was the new top graduate of the examinations, you know. You two really missed out on a wonderful opportunity…”
The new top graduate?
Meng Qianzi was shocked, and then furious. What kind of dog’s luck was Pei Yanci running on this time around?
Heaven above, did you even have eyes?
Her good mood entirely ruined, she wrapped up the unfinished dumplings and said sullenly, “Let’s go back.”
Qingzhou blinked. “Back?”
Meng Qianzi pointed at the sword in his hand. “Didn’t you want to spar?”
Qingzhou scratched his scalp. “That’ll have to wait until His Highness agrees to let you into the residence. The residence has an especially large training ground.”
Meng Qianzi took a deep breath. “Then I’ll wait!”
Hidden not far off at the mouth of an alley, Pei Yanci watched the two of them leave, an indescribable feeling churning in his chest.
First, he worried for Meng Qianzi’s safety. With Uncle Meng now convicted and imprisoned, and the whole Meng family confined to the Meng residence awaiting judgment, how dared she show herself so openly in the capital, was she not afraid of being seized?
Second, he had recognized the man beside her as Little Prince Yong’s attendant. Could it be that she had somehow formed a connection with Little Prince Yong?
So the figure he had glimpsed outside Prince Yong’s residence that morning had not been his imagination after all.
Thinking of that man of noble birth and extraordinary looks, a sharp sense of crisis rose in his heart.
The only comfort was that some things had already turned out differently from his past life, Yunxian had returned to the capital early this time, and surely would not be foolish enough to try storming the execution ground again.
And then there was the way she had just treated him, surely it was only because she did not want to implicate him.
At that thought, the corners of Pei Yanci’s mouth curved, sweet as though he had just tasted honey.
He said silently, “Yunxian, no matter what, I will protect you.”
Before anything else, he had to convince Yunxian to stay far away from Little Prince Yong. No matter how noble his birth, in the end he would only end up shut away in confinement, getting entangled with him could bring nothing good.
References[+]