Chapter 3: 3

This person is Xie Changgeng, twenty two years old, the youngest governor of Hexi

Eight hundred miles to Dongting, the clouds are endless. There has been a lake in Mount Junshan since ancient times, cloudy when it rains and sunny in good weather.

The local people believe that there is a god on Mount Junshan.

After the ancestors of the Mu clan were relocated to Changsha, they built a spiritual temple in Junshan dedicated to the Great Emperor, and they built a city to the east of Dongting, which is far away from Junshan, named Yuecheng.

In the past two hundred years, after several generations of Changsha wangs’ expansion, todays’ Yuecheng has city walls of thousands of feet in the east, west, north and south, with a population of more than 100,000. It is towering and impregnable, especially, compared with the people outside who have suffered from the endless chaos of the vassal kings for many years. The people of Changsha, located in the remote south, can be said to be peaceful and worry-free. They live and work in peace and contentment.

This morning was just another ordinary day for the people of Changsha living in the city. Late autumn has arrived and the maple leaves outside the city are like fire. After the city gates were opened, the city gradually becomes busy with people coming and going, as the sun rises.

When travellers approached the Mu’s residence, which they called the “royal palace”, located in the north of the city, they slowed their steps and looked pious.

They didn’t know that in the past two days, the outward appearance of the palace is solemn and calm, but in fact, the inside was actually turned upside down.

Several important officials of Changsha are all gathered in the palace at this moment, all of them are very anxious.

The day before yesterday, Mu Xuanqing, Changsha wang, went out hunting with a team of guards. The young wang, galloping in the mountains on a whim, left his entourage on his horse and went alone. After dark, his mount came back by himself, but Mu Xuanqing was nowhere to be seen.

When the news reached the palace, Queen Lu was very worried and immediately called Yuan Handing, the adopted son of the late Prime Minister, to tell him the news of the King’s disappearance, so that he could take his men to search for him.

The search has not stopped. From the night before until this morning, it has lasted one day and two nights.

But there is no news of Mu Xuanying’s whereabouts.

The area where he hunted had high mountains, dense forests and a complicated terrain. Everyone speculates that it is very likely that he had an accident on the way, and they do not know where he is at the moment.

Time has passed for so long and everyone looks bleak, as if they lost their parents.

This news, for them, is definitely a bolt from the blue, but also a huge incomparable bad news.

The young Changsha wang has not left a son to inherit the throne. Once something really happens, Changsha may face the fate of being removed from the country.

If the court were to extend grace, in the future, the Mu family should be able to continue to stay here and retain the reward, except for the loss of the title of wang.

But the officials of Changsha are afraid of the future moving forward.

A burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came in from outside the hall.

Everyone hurriedly turned around.

A guard hurriedly ran in.

“How is it? General Yuan has news from the king?”

Prime Minister Lu Lin is the uncle of Queen Lu. When he heard the news, he immediately sent people to temporarily block it, so as not let the news spread and make the people uncertain. He also stayed here for two nights on guard, anxious like and ant on a hot pan. Without waiting for the guard to enter, he strode to the entrance of the lobby and asked anxiously.

The guard shook his head, knelt down, raised his hands high, presented a letterbox, and said loudly, “A messenger has arrived! It is said that it was sent by the Princess and there is an urgent letter to hand to the Queen!”

Lu Lin was greatly disappointed to hear that it was just the arrival of a letter from the Princess who had married to Kuizhou earlier in the year, and asked someone to pass the letter, and sent someone to inquire about the news from Yuan Huanding.

Lu Shi and Mu Xuanqing were childhood sweethearts and the couple have a daughter. When she suddenly heard that her husband had an accident, she was anxious all day and night. It rained again last night. When she learned from Yuan Handing that the search was fruitless and fearing the worse, she was momentarily unable to support herself and fainted. At this moment, her eyes were red and swollen, and she was trying to get up and go out, when she saw the maid hurriedly enter and presented a letter, saying that it was sent by the princess.

The relationship between Lu shi and her sister-in-law has always been close. She didn’t know what she was going to say in her sudden letter, so she barely suppressed her grief and despair and opened the letter to read it.

My sister-in-law’s letter was very brief, written with just a few words.

As soon as Lu shi’s eyes fell on the letter, her gaze was fixed.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up, she stood up abruptly, and under the astonished gazes of the maids around her, she hurried out, rushed to the front hall in one breath, and shouted at Lu Lin, who was pacing anxiously, “Uncle! Hurry up and notify General Yuan! Go to the bottom of the Yingzui Stream in Xiyuan to find it! Xuan Qing might be there!”

Lu Lin and several officials were stunned and looked at each other, unable to react for a while.

“The bottom of the Yingzui Stream! Hurry up!”

For the matter of her husband’s life and death, Lu shi, who had always been gentle, was like a new person at this moment and shouted sternly at Lu Lin.

Lu Lin came back to his senses, turned around and ran out with the officials.

Lu Shi’s hands trembled slightly, tightly holding the letter from her sister-in-law and read it again. Although it was unbelievable, in her heart the flame of hope that had been gradually extinguished finally ignited again.

“Mother, is Father still not home?”

A crying girl’s voice came from behind.

Lu shi turned her head and saw her four-year old daughter Aru running towards her in tears.

Behind her, several maids who had not watched Aru hurriedly chased after her, and knelt down one after another, “Your Majesty, forgive me!”

Lu hugged her daughter’s body, wiped her tears, and whispered comfortingly, “Don’t cry. Your father will be back soon!”

She coaxed her daughter and asked the maid to take her back to her room. She herself could not sit still, so she asked someone to prepare a carriage and hurriedly left the royal residence, also heading for Xiyuan.

Fulan arrived in Yuecheng a few days later.

In her previous life, her elder brother, the young Changsha wang Mu Xuanqing, died in an accident at this time, at the age of only twenty-two.

When he was found, he had been lying at the bottom of the stream, which was covered by dense grass, for seven or eight days, presumably because he had lost his footing and died of blood loss.

The state of Changsha thus lost its last generation of Changsha kings. Her sister-in-law and her four-year old niece, Aru, also lost their husband and father forever.

Later, although the Mu family received the grace of the imperial court and were able to continue to reside in and also retain the taxes of Yuecheng, the state of Changsha itself was removed. Her sister-in-law was so grief-stricken that after a few years, she also followed her brother and died of depression.

Fulan didn’t know if things in this world would be the same as what she knew, and she didn’t know whether the messenger arrived in time and if her brother could escape the disaster.

She was extremely anxious so she traveled day and night all the way, and finally entered Changsha, only a hundred miles away from Yuecheng.

Travellers on the roadside looked the same as usual, there was no sadness on their faces, and there was no sign that the people were mourning for the king.

Only then did Fulan relax a little, and ordered her attendants to continue on their journey and enter the city as soon as possible.

At noon, when they were still dozens of miles away from the city, on the opposite side of the road, a group of men and horses gradually approached and met with Fulan’s party.

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“General Yuan!”

Fulan was sitting in the carriage and suddenly heard the loud call from the steward in front of her. She lifted the curtain, looked out and saw a group of horses riding on the opposite side. The young man, tall, fair-faced and clear-eyed was Yuan Handing, the adopted son of the late Prime Minister. She rushed the driver to stop and called out loudly, “Brother!”

Yuan Handing who was usually taciturn saw Fulan come out of the carriage to greet him. With a surprised smile on his face, he quickly dismounted his horse, walked quickly to her carriage, stopped, and respectfully called her “Princess”.

“The queen said that you were coming back. I had nothing to do for the past few days, so I came out to look around, but I didn’t expect to meet you here. Were you well on your journey?”

Fulan nodded, and then couldn’t wait to ask, “How is my brother, is he doing well recently?”

She looked at Yuan Handing nervously, waiting for his answer.

On that day, Yuan Handing led people down the ravine and found Mu Xuanqing, he had been unconscious for a long time and was dying with his last breath left. He was afraid that he would scare her by telling her everything, so he hesitated and said, “Your brother was hunting a few days ago, and something went wrong. But I found him in time, and it’s not a serious injury. These days, he has been recovering.”

The most fearful and terrible thing has been fortunately avoided.

Things are heading in the right direction.

Fulan’s heart that had been down for many days, lifted, her whole body was relieved and she could no longer hold back, her eyes were red and she was close to tears.

Yuan Handing grew up with her, and was very sensitive of her emotions. Seeing that she was about to cry, he panicked and said hurriedly “Don’t be afraid. Brother’s injury is really not serious, he just lost too much blood. In a few days, he’ll be healed.”

Fulan turned her face inward and when her emotions stabilised, she turned back to him, nodded and smiled, “I know it’s okay. Thank you for coming to pick me up, let’s go into the city.”

Her face was already beautiful but now the tears in the corners of her eyes had not yet disappeared and her smile was even more moving.

Yuan Handing did not dare to look at her any further, nodded and said, “Okay.” He hastily turned around, mounted his horse and led the carriage behind him to the city.

A group of people entered through the city gate.

Most of the passersby recognised Yuan Handing, and when they saw that he was heading towards the palace with a group of carriages and horses, they looked at the carriage, which seemed to be seated by female family members. They were curious and stopped to watch.

Yuan Handing sent someone to inform Lu shi early. Lu shi brought Aru to the gate to welcome her personally. The meeting between them was joyful, and Aru was even more excited, tilting her little face and shouting at Fulan

This trip home was a lifetime ago for Fulan. Not to mention seeing Yuan Handing, her sister-in-law and little niece, but even just now, seeing the two silent and majestic stone lions in front of the door of the royal residence, she could not control her emotions. 

She settled her mind and held her little niece’s hand. In a trance,  it was as if she saw herself and her aunt when she was a child.

She held Aru’s little hand even tighter and followed her sister-in-law inside.

Lu shi had asked someone to clean up a place for her a few days ago, and it was her boudoir before she got married.

Lu shi accompanied her into the house. Fulan asked about her brother, and Lu shi said that he had taken medicine and was sleeping at the moment, then immediately said, “Lan’er, I was fortunate to receive your letter that day, which led to finding your brother in time, otherwise ……”

She remembered the scene at that time, although it has passed, she still had lingering fears and sent the maid to take her daughter out first, and grabbed the hand of her sister-in-law tightly.

“Sister-in-law doesn’t know how to thank you. Lan’er, no matter what happens in the future, you can ask, as long as we can help, your brother and I will definitely help you.”

She was so excited and grateful, there were faint tears in her eyes as she spoke.

Fulan smiled and said, “As long as brother is safe, that is my greatest blessing. I will go see him later.”

She knew that the sister-in-law would ask her how she knew about this, so she took the initiative to say, “I was lucky to be able to help, and and it was also because the heavens has blessed brother. That day, I dreamed that I saw the Great Emperor Junshan and he warned me. When I woke up, I remembered it clearly. Just in case, I sent someone to send a letter back. If sister-in-law wants to thank me, she should thank the Great Emperor of Mount Junshan.”

Lu shi was very surprised and nodded immediately, “Good! Good! Tomorrow I will prepare all the gifts and go to Mount Junshan to thank gods!”

Fu Lan said, “I will go too.”

Lu shi agreed and talked to her sister-in-law for a few minutes, then asked her how her mother-in-law was and how she was doing at Xie’s house.

Fulan answered vaguely.

Seeing that she seemed reluctant to mention the matters of the Xie family, Lu shi persuaded her, “My brother-in-law left you on your wedding night to pacify the rebellion of the King of Jiangdu and really wronged you. It’s just that these years, the vassal kings in the country have been in chaos, wars have continued, and and there is unrest at the border. This is also the urgent call of the court. He is unwilling but also can not help it. You should not blame him. A few days ago, I heard that the king of Jiangdu was retreating. I think he will soon be able to settle the situation and you will be able to meet then.”

While Lu shi carefully persuaded her, the maid came to report that the king had woken up, and he was very happy to learn that his sister had returned and wanted to see her.

Fulan got up in a hurry and went with Lu shi to see her brother.

The Mu family members were all extremely outstanding in appearance. Mu Xuanqing had a noble temperament unique to the children of the royal family. In order to chase the prey that day, he accidentally stumbled and lost his footing. After being rescued, he recuperated for a few days so his injuries have healed a lot. At this moment, the brother and sister met and they were very happy. When he was scolded by his sister for being reckless, he was also a little scared and secretly remorseful. When he heard her say that she was going to come back and stay, he nodded immediately without thinking about it.

“Amei, you can stay as long as you want! My Changsha, will always be Amei’s home!”

…

This year’s winter seemed to come particularly quickly.

At the end of October, half a month after Mu shi had left, the weather was getting colder by the day. The continuous rain and cold air kept one burrowing into ones collar. In the afternoon, Xie mu ate a meal and felt sleepy, so she was served and went to sleep inside. Qiu Ju was hiding in the outer room and nibbling on melon seeds when the rough maid named A Mao came running in a hurry, her footsteps stomping.

There was a sound coming from the inner room as Xie mu turned over after being disturbed.

Qiu Ju dropped the melon seeds, hurriedly got up, stepped over the threshold, raised her hand and grabbed A Mao’s ear, pulled hard, and scolded in a low voice, “Where are your ears? How many times have I told you, walk lightly! The old lady is sleeping!”

“No, no!”

A Mao, out of breath, covered her ears while explaining, “Our lord is back! He is at the door!”

Qiu Ju was stunned, let go, hurried out, ran a few steps, then quickly came back, opened the mirror case, took a look at her face, and her little finger hurriedly picked a bit of rouge and wiped it on her lips. Seeing that the hair on her temples was rough, she desperately smeared rosin oil on it.

She was working in front of the mirror with her head tilted, when she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the outside, she hurriedly closed the mirror case, turned around and hurried out to meet him.

In the courtyard, there was a shadowy figure.

A man, with green robes, looks like a person in a painting, passed through the continuous autumn rain in Badi, and stepped through the puddle accumulated in the courtyard. 

The tall man, under the rain hat, has a handsome face and well-groomed eyebrows. He is followed by a servant and at first glance, he looks like a young scholar who has just returned home after going out for an exam.

He climbed the steps and stopped under the porch.

The rainwater ran along the edge of the hat kept dripping under his feet and soon wet the surrounding ground.

This young man is Xie Changgeng, twenty-two years old, the youngest governor Hexi.

He took off his hat and casually hung it on a nail by the wall. He faintly swept his eyes across the room, glanced at Qiu Ju, who had just run out of the room with a flushed face, and asked, “Where’s my mother?”

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