Chapter 16: 11.3: 11.3

The dust and shadows of the past sweeped past her eyes one by one. Teng Yuyi was filled with a train of thoughts. In her previous life, she did not like this timid biao di1biao di = younger male cousin , but when she saw Du Shaotang tonight, the first thing that came to her mind was the little figure that was chasing behind when he was young. 

Du Shaotang did not know why Teng Yuyi was so baffled. After not seeing each other for a long time, he once again let out a face full of tears. He was oddly embarrassed by this, and wiped his tears, lightly said: “Cousin Yu.”

Teng Yuyu handed a handkerchief to Du Shaotang: “Wipe it. Sister is fine, and you can rest assured now.” 

Du Shaotang’s face was red: “I did not cry.” 

Teng Yuyu lightly scraped her cheek, and Du Shaotang burst into tears and laughed. Du Yuzhi rebuked: “Look at you, There is not a least bit of masculinity in you! Your sister can not stand the wind. What are you crammed in here for? Hurry down and make a way through.”  

Du Shaotang did not dare to utter a single word, and obediently got off the carriage. Madam Du warned repeatedly through the window: “It’s getting late, and the road is not easy to travel on. It is okay to ride slower, and be careful not to fall off.” 

Du Shaotang said gloomingly: This son knows.” 

Du Yuzhi asked a few more words about the matter with the second prince of Chun’an and Prince Cheng. After a moment, he said: “Prepare a generous gift, and set a date to visit their doorstep to express thanks. The second prince’s mansion is full of horses and carriages, and may not accept our visit post2post = message . If His Highness, the second prince refuses to see us, then there is no need to have to come to his doorstep over and over again to repay our kindness.” 

Teng Yuyi had already guessed that her uncle would say this. Her uncle is a person who is pedantic3pedantic = perfectionist and rigid, and is the most contemptuous when dealing with the descendants of the royal family.

In fact, to elaborate more in detail, the Du family was also a distinguished and prominent family hundreds of years ago. It was not until the generation of grandfather and uncle that the Du family started to slowly decline. 

Although uncle has inherited the ancestral business, the circumstances in his family are no longer the same as before, but fortunately he was talented and famous at a young age. On one hand, he was the best in Chang’an for poetry and literature. At the age of nineteen, he was admitted in the highest empirical civil service examination. Not long after, he passed the exam and was awarded as a proofread document official4name for an official who proofreads articles and corrects errors. 

It just so happened to be that the Taiyuan Wang clan wanted to choose a husband for their two daughters. Because the princes and dukes all  appreciated Du Yuzhi’s talent, he arranged for his eldest daughter to marry Du Yuzhi. 

At that time, everyone in Chang’an was envious. He entered an official position at such a young age, and also married a daughter of a famous family. In the future, Du Yuzhi will definitely have boundless prospects. Who knew that uncle’s temperament would be so arrogant and wild, and soon he had offended his superior and colleagues one at a time. Soon after, he was found at fault, and was banished all the way to Yuezhou. 

In a flash, twenty years have passed. Uncle’s official position got smaller and smaller, and the sourness on his body was getting stronger day by day. He was finally transferred back to Chang’an last year. However, because he was not summoned in by the senior official of the Ministry of Appointments, he could only get a sinecure position at the Imperial Academy. 

Madam Du knew of her husband’s chronic problems, and patiently persuaded: “My Lord’s words are wrong. We have no bad intentions, so why not be more frank? When the time comes, we can take care and hand over our own post. If His Highness, the second prince still does not want to see us, it is not a big deal to wait until my brother-in-law returns to Chang’an, and then we can go with him to visit.” 

Du Yuzhi sat upright in silence. Teng Yuyi originally thought that this old man was going to make another enlightening remark, but perhaps Du Yuzhi knew that the second prince of Chun’an was well-known for being polite and modest to people with low status, so he finally said: “When I return to the mansion to write a post, I will ask people to send the post to the mansion of the second prince of Chun’an tomorrow. The second prince of Chun’an has yet to take a wife, and there are a lot of female relatives in the mansion. You don’t need to go, I will take Shao Tang with me.” 

“Then it’s settled.” 

Du Yuzhi thought for a while, and showed a look of restraining fear: “As for that Prince Cheng, we should attract less attention in case of provoking him. Go to Qingyun Temple another day to offer more incense, and thank his master, the Taoist Chief, Qing Xuzi.” 

Madam Du did not know whether to laugh or cry: “It’s all up to my Lord’s arrangements.” 

Du Yuzhi was about to get out of the carriage: “Yu’er, take proper rest after returning to the mansion. To have such a situation happen, I’m sure that your father is very concerned. When you get up tomorrow morning, write your father a letter to report to him that you are safe and sound. Do not make an excuse to not write it!” 

Teng Yuyi was in no mood to bicker with him at the moment. She dropped her eyelids and put on an obedient look: “This child knows.” 

There is no curfew tonight, and on the way back to the city, there were no checkpoints set up, but after all, the road is long. When they returned to Qinrenfang, where the Du mansion is located, it was long past chou shi5chou shi = 1-3 am in the former times. 

Teng Yuyi came all the way from Yangzhou, and merely packed two large boats into her luggage6packed a lot of stuff. After arriving in Chang’an, Teng Yuyi rushed outside of the city to go save her biao jie. The servants took advantage of this time to send her luggage to the Teng mansion. 

After getting out of the carriage, Teng Yuyi called her maid, Qiyun: “Tonight, I will be staying at my yi mu7yi mu = aunt ’s place. You take a few people to the Teng mansion to pick up a few commonly used items, and remember to take my small rag doll.”

Qiyun secretly laughed. That rag doll was personally sewn by Madam before her death and given to the lady. Lady has been sleeping with this doll every night ever since she was five. If the doll was not by her side one night, young lady would not sleep soundly. 

She hurriedly said: “The maid remembers.” 

Teng Yuyi said again: “In addition, send a message to the chief steward, Uncle Cheng: pick a few guards with outstanding skills, have one of them dressed in normal clothes, and the others disguised as merchants and carriers of the Western market. When the arrangement is done, quickly come back and report to me. I have my own use for them.” 

Qiyun was full of questions, but did not dare to ask, and agreed. 

When they arrived at the rear of the courtyard, on one hand, Madam Du was busy taking care of Du Tinglan, and on the other, was busy arranging the bedding for Teng Yuyi: “Your sister knew that you are coming, so in the first few days, she had already arranged everything. The bedding was ready-made, and these are your sister’s new clothes. You freshen up and change into this.” 

Teng Yuyi looked closely at Du Tinglan. Her biao jie’s complexion has already recovered back to normal, and her feet and hands are also gradually getting warmer. 

“Sister is about to wake up, so I’ll accompany her for the rest of the night.”

“You have not rested well in the past half a month, and tonight, you suffered a fright. How can you endure it? You should take care of yourself and go to bed. Everything will be dealt with by your yi mu.”

Teng Yuyi could not persuade Madam Du, and she could only go freshen up first. Hot water had been poured into the tub, yet Teng Yuyi was not in a hurry to take a bath. She instead, stood by the tub, and gently wiped the small jadeite sword with her handkerchief.     

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Biluo held a towel and approached: “How about you give this treasure to the maid to hold it for you, saving it from being knocked and bumped against.” 

“Biluo, do you still remember where this sword came from?” 

“Why is the lady asking about this again?” Biluo carefully wrapped the jadeite sword with the towel. “Half a month ago, we came from Yangzhou to Chang’an. My lady always stayed in the cabin of the boat, because she caught a cold. When my lady was resting that day, lady said that she was bored, and seeing that the plum blossoms in the Buddhist temple along the shore, were blooming so well. Lady said that she wanted to go to the temple to admire the flowers to relieve boredom. When getting off the boat, the hull of the ship suddenly swayed, and the lady accidentally fell into the water. After being rescued, the lady had this little sword in her hand. Speaking of this, the plum blossoms in the Buddhist temple along the shore appeared strangely that day. Young lady fell into the water strangely, and this sword appeared even more strangely.” 

For instance, there were solid rocks everywhere in the water, and this sword drifted with the waves and went with the flow. Why isn’t there the slightest bit of damage on it? The bottom of the river is very wide. How did this sword drift into the hands of the lady?

“Uncle Cheng and Duanfu both thought this sword was auspicious, and strongly advocated throwing this sword back into the water. However even if my lady did not wake up with a high fever, you would not let go of the sword no matter what. Later, Duanfu planned on inviting the monks in the temple to think of a method. Who knew that my lady would wake up that night, and not only looked like nothing happened to her, but even the cold from before was gone.” 

Teng Yuyu looked at the little sword upside down in her hand. Perhaps it was because she had just woken up, there were some things that she  remembered very clearly, but there were also some things that she had completely forgotten. For example, how this sword got into her hands, she did not have the slightest clue. 

She turned her head to ask Biluo: “Do you remember the name of the Buddhist temple along the shore?”

Biluo shook her head. At that time, the people on the boat were busy trying to take care of the lady. When the lady had finally woken up, the boatman was urged to hurry on. They took half a month to arrive on the twenty day waterway. 

“How can this maid still remember these things? If the lady wants to know, wait for the maid to ask Uncle Cheng tomorrow.” 

At this moment, someone outside said: “Qiyun is back.” 

After Qiyun came in, she said: “Uncle Cheng has made the arrangements according to the lady’s orders, and is now waiting outside. He said: “This old servant does not dare to rashly speculate, but looking at this arrangement, it seems that the lady wants to follow someone, but this one does not know who that person is.” 

Teng Yuyi slowly sank herself into the tub. If Duanfu was not injured, it would not need to be this troublesome, as it would be enough to send him alone. 

She carelessly scooped up the water: “Follow Duan Ningyuan. He practices martial arts all year around, and his skills are exceptional. If someone were to follow him, he would definitely be aware of it. Have a group disguise themselves as Hu servants, and deliberately let him know. The other group will secretly follow along, and must not expose themselves. As soon as Duan Ningyuan and his attendants go to Jingzhao Mansion, immediately come and report to me.” 

Qiyun and Biluo’s heart surged up a huge wave. Is the lady planning on dealing with General Duan? 

However, after tonight’s incident, it should be expected that this would be the case. The lady is like a small tiger hiding its sharp claws. As long as someone offended her, she could bite off the other party’s flesh without a sound. General Duan is unsympathetic and capricious, and it is reckoned that he is already sentenced to a “capital offense” in the lady’s heart. 

This matter was about the two families breaking off the marriage. The two of them knew that this matter cannot be taken lightly and carelessly: “yes, this maid will go and tell Uncle Cheng.”

***

In the early morning the next day, Jue Sheng woke up before dawn. Under the cover of it being dawn, he went to the pharmacy to catch a few [called to live is no better than to die itch itch itch blossom] bugs. He opened the medicine cage again, and stole two packets of medicinal powder, hiding them in his arms. 

It was the first time that he did such an improper act. It was inevitable that he would be a little nervous. After coming out, he secretly rushed to the scripture hall, fearing that he would bump into someone. 

Fortunately it was still early in the morning, and there wasn’t a single person in the temple. In the beginning, Jue Sheng was very scared and on edge, but now he solely straightened his chest. What is there to be afraid of? Senior brother is not in the temple at this time.  

After they returned to Qingyun Temple last night, senior brother immediately ordered two old Taoist priests to help him set up the formation. However, Mrs. An Guogong has been poisoned for too long, and her soul was scattered long ago. Even if senior brother tried a hundred different ways to help clear the poison, there was no way to bring the soul back into Mrs. An Guogong’s body. 

Just when His Majesty sent people to come and inquire about the senior brother’s injury, senior brother used the Jin Ding technique to condole one breath of Mrs An Guogong’s intonation, and went into the palace to find the King. 

It is reckoned that senior brother is not sure that he can save Mrs. An Guogong, so he was keen on returning to the palace to inquire about the whereabouts of his master. Master has been out wandering around for half a year, and except for the King, no one else knew where he is. Senior brother will not return for at least one to two hours.  

Nevertheless, the only proper and serious disciples and descendants of Qingyun Temple were the three of them. The rest were a bunch of Taoists and monks from various academies. These people were poor, sick, and old. They only came to Qingyun Temple to seek shelter, because they could not live on anymore. 

On the face, master is stingy, but his heart is actually very soft. As long as he is sure that the other party is not someone that is evil and violates the laws, he will basically take them in. Over the years, there have been hundreds of people living in the Qingyun Temple. 

A while after these people started to live here, they have also helped around with chores and the practicing of the Buddhist rituals. However due to being old and having a weak body, they mainly nurtured themselves and enjoyed their later years. 

Master, that old man, expressed that he accepts this, and senior brother has never said anything about it. 

After a long time, these people have acquired habits. For example, at the time right now, it was not considered early. These old Taoists and old monks were still sleeping in their rooms. 

When Jue Sheng arrived at the door of the scripture hall, he looked up and saw that there were four colorful silk threads hanging above the well in the courtyard. 

He was frightened, only seeing that under each silk thread, there was a porcelain bowl. The two bowls on the left have yarrow in it while the two bowls on the right have tortoise shells in it. 

This was the routine of the inquire Eight Trigrams before inviting the souls. Could it be that senior brother is back? Jue Sheng was astonished, and ran to the front of the well. The tortoise shells have already had the form of the Eight Trigrams. The [sixth day] in the southwest (earth) trigram. The trigram has the image of the first birth of femininity, and it truly is a vicious trigram. 

Thank you for reading! I will probably be able to post the last part tomorrow! I know this one chapter is so long…

1biao di = younger male cousin 2post = message 3pedantic = perfectionist4name for an official who proofreads articles and corrects errors5chou shi = 1-3 am in the former times6packed a lot of stuff7yi mu = aunt

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