Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Qizhou lay on the northwestern frontier, like an abandoned, solitary city resting silently upon the yellow sands.
Even its walls looked like crumbling ruins at first glance.
The carriage passed through the city gates and entered silent streets.
“Stop here,” Xing Shuwei told the driver.
“Yes.” The driver was one of Zhang Mingan’s personal guards.
With a cry of “Whoa,” he pulled on the reins.
The carriage had scarcely come to a halt when Xing Shuwei emerged and Zhang Mingan extended an arm toward her.
She froze. Not far away, Xing Shuyan urged her on with a broad smile. “Elder Sister, the noble heir is fond of you, and you promised to spend the rest of your life with him. I know all about it. There is no need to deliberately keep your distance from him in front of me.”
Xing Shuwei frowned. Her casual agreement at the time had merely been an expedient measure.
What she had not expected was how close Yan’er and Zhang Mingan would become over the course of their journey.
While Xing Shuwei hesitated, Zhang Mingan had already taken her arm and helped her down from the carriage.
Beneath the broad light of day, he opened a green oil-paper umbrella. “Summer is here and the sun is fierce. I will shade you.”
Xing Shuwei looked up at that vivid green and, for no apparent reason, thought of the lush bamboo grove stretching between Qiansheng Pavilion and Qianchen Pavilion.
Bamboo had even been painted across the umbrella, the leaves artfully arranged in varied shades and densities.
Zhang Mingan said, “Do you remember the fan you had Qiutong deliver to me?
“You painted the bamboo on it too, did you not? I guessed you liked bamboo, so I had this umbrella made especially for you.”
It was not that Xing Shuwei liked bamboo. For the past four years, the bamboo grove had simply been what she saw whenever she raised her eyes.
“Thank you.” She did not show her dislike.
“What a pity,” Zhang Mingan said regretfully. “The Empress Dowager kept that fan.”
That single sentence made Xing Shuwei think of the Empress Dowager and her mother again.
Her mother must have known how perilous the capital was. That was why she had never mentioned the Xu clan to her.
When the Empress Dowager sent her mother and the others back to Qizhou, she had even stripped her mother of the surname Xu.
It was fortunate she had. Only then had Xing Shuwei’s mother been able to marry her father and give birth to her and Yan’er.
Yet her mother had still failed to escape an early death, dying young at the hands of enemy troops who crossed the border.
“What is wrong?” Seeing her spirits sink, Zhang Mingan bent his head and asked beside her ear.
Xing Shuwei stopped and turned to meet his gaze. “I was thinking about how many people have been displaced like us over the past four years.
“I once heard that Great Yue fought two battles against an enemy kingdom for control of Qizhou, and both sides suffered devastating losses.”
Seeing fine beads of sweat on her brow, Zhang Mingan reached into the bundle slung over his shoulder and took out a handkerchief to wipe them away.
Xing Shuwei stopped his hand. “I will do it myself.”
Zhang Mingan handed her the handkerchief. “The war has not ended. The enemy could invade again at any time.
“Weiwei, I should make this clear. Now that we are here, our situation is extremely dangerous.
“But for every day I remain alive, I will protect you and Shuyan.”
Xing Shuwei gripped the handkerchief and wiped away the thin sheen of sweat without answering.
Zhang Mingan continued, “Qizhou may look desolate, but you do not know that the imperial court has poured several million taels of silver into it over the past four years.”
The waters of Qizhou ran deep.
The place seemed barren and remote, yet it threatened to drag all of Great Yue down with it.
Zhang Mingan raised his head, shifting his gaze from her to the scattered houses.
Some of them no longer even had roofs.
A vicious edge entered his voice. “The Emperor is old and muddleheaded. He has made one deranged decision after another. Great Yue should have had a better sovereign long ago.”
“Those words are treasonous,” Xing Shuwei warned him. “You may dare say them, but I do not even dare listen.”
Zhang Mingan gave a carefree smile. “Sooner or later, the imperial court will change hands. So, Weiwei, let Shuyan stay beside me and win merit through his achievements.
“Great Yue as it stands needs younger men like him.
“Once we reach the General’s residence, I will explain everything in detail.”
“The General’s residence?” Xing Shuwei asked in confusion. Was he planning a clumsy imitation, trapping her inside the General’s residence all over again?
Zhang Mingan failed to notice the subtle shift in her emotions and nodded. “Yes. The Emperor appointed me General of Distant Pacification.
“From now on, I will have the final say along Great Yue’s northwestern frontier.
“So you can be your free and unfettered self in Qizhou without the slightest concern.”
Only after arriving at the General of Distant Pacification’s residence did Xing Shuwei understand what he meant.
The residence stood beside her family’s ancestral home.
Zhang Mingan said, “Your ancestral home has become part of the General’s residence.
“Anyone who intends to offend you must first consider whether he can afford to provoke me.
“Xing Shuwei, I swear on my life that within two months, the name Zhang Mingan will strike terror on both sides of the frontier.”
“Live as boldly and freely as you please. I will risk my life fighting for you.”
Xing Shuwei wanted to treat it as a joke, but he spoke with such seriousness…
Seeing her frozen where she stood, Zhang Mingan smiled, threw an arm around Xing Shuyan’s shoulders, and bounded cheerfully through the gates.
“Shuyan, you are the host now. A guest follows his host’s wishes, so you must show me proper hospitality.”
“Of course, of course! Wind instruments, strings, percussion, singing-I will arrange it all for Brother Mingan.”
Qiutong came forward to support Xing Shuwei. “Miss, the noble heir is going to lead our young master astray.
“Music and singing, indeed. Right now, one cannot even find a decent noodle shop in Qizhou City. He can dream about it.”
Qiutong’s words made Xing Shuwei laugh. “Let them enjoy their daydream.”
* * *
More than a month passed as Pei Xianjing undertook drastic reforms of the imperial court.
Every former subordinate of Qi Yusheng was subjected to a rigorous investigation.
Anyone found to have embezzled one hundred taels of silver or more had his property confiscated immediately.
For a time, officials throughout the court lived in terror.
Even the Emperor, who had been recuperating from illness, was forced to attend court every day.
Memorials impeaching Pei Xianjing piled up like mountains, yet he refused to attend court on the grounds that he was investigating cases.
The censors sprayed spittle as they denounced him in the great hall, but not one word reached his ears.
Who would dare carry their words to him? If they caught him in a foul mood, even the messenger might lose his head.
The Emperor had no choice but to pressure Pei Congxian.
But Pei Congxian nursed grievances of his own. Whenever someone criticized Pei Xianjing in his presence, he copied the Marquis of Qingyuan’s old trick and burst into tears on cue in the great hall, crying, “My son does not have long to live as it is, yet you still curse him.
“For whose sake is he doing all this? For the Emperor and for Great Yue, of course!”
No one knew a son better than his father. Pei Congxian’s words were not mere alarmism.
Of course he wanted Pei Xianjing to slow down. With enough time, perhaps Pei Xianjing would let go and manage to live his own life properly.
The dead could not return to life. Pei Congxian wished desperately that he could conjure another Xing Shuwei for his son.