Chapter 495: Far Worse |
The carriage stopped in front of the Huitong Relay Station.
Chen Ji jumped down from the carriage and said to Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo: "You two will take turns on duty on the roof ridge. The moment someone approaches, sound a warning immediately."
Li Xuan nodded: "I'll keep watch for the first half of the night. Qi Zhenzhuo will keep watch for the second half."
Chen Ji glanced at Madam Lu: "Aunt Ping will guard the carriage. I'll go inside and take a look."
He led the Feather Forest Army into the Huitong Relay Station, inspecting every nook and cranny from top to bottom before returning to the first floor. Nodding to Xiaoman, he said, "Send her upstairs to rest and stick by her side... but if the people who come are too formidable, you can abandon her and run away."
Xiaoman nodded: "Understood."
Carrying Princess Liyang on her back, she walked up to the second floor of the Huitong Relay Station. With no one covering her mouth, Princess Liyang said drunkenly: "I'm not drunk! I still want to go to the Imperial Music Bureau to see the Four Dreams of Bianliang!"
But no one here cared about this princess's demands. Everything solely followed Chen Ji's arrangements.
Watching Xiaoman's figure disappear at the staircase, Chen Ji finally sat back in the carriage. Leaning against the cabin, he slowly let out a breath of relief.
Madam Lu sat shoulder-to-shoulder with him. Turning to look at him, she asked in that old, frail voice: "What are you thinking about?"
Chen Ji looked up at the eaves on the opposite side of the alley and casually answered: "I am thinking whether Luocheng will bloom with many peony flowers next April, whether the winter jasmine along the banks of the Luo River will have already withered, whether the ocean is calm and peaceful, and what the other side of the ocean looks like nowadays... foolishly letting my thoughts run wild."
Madam Lu was somewhat astounded. Her thoughts actually couldn't keep up with Chen Ji's erratic leaps. She pondered for a long time before asking, puzzled, "You want to leave?"
Chen Ji's mind grew tense. He had just casually brought it up, yet the other party could actually guess his desire to leave.
Madam Lu smiled: "Don't be nervous. Where you go has nothing to do with me. I am merely a bit curious. Only a few days ago, I heard people say that you had to go through untold hardships to bring down the second branch just to be adopted into the Chen Family's first branch. Now that you've finally succeeded with great difficulty, seeing glory, splendor, wealth, and rank right before your eyes—wait another thirty years, and everything belonging to the Chen Family will be yours. Can you bear to leave?"
Chen Ji answered with a smile: "Aunt Ping, glory, splendor, wealth, and rank are indeed tempting, and I like them too. But the most important thing in this world isn't glory, splendor, wealth, and rank. There are matters even more important than that."
"You aren't greedy in the slightest," Madam Lu said impassively. "But right now, everyone in the marketplaces is jealous of you. They all say you're a wolf cub who stops at nothing to rise in position."
Chen Ji shook his head: "It doesn't matter."
Madam Lu continued: "Even if so many people point at your nose and curse you as a Jing Dynasty running dog, it still doesn't matter?"
Chen Ji turned his head to look at her: "Aunt Ping, I once saw a certain phrase."
"What phrase?"
Chen Ji said with a smile: "Our goal is to cross the swamp before us, not to deal with every single python in the swamp."
Madam Lu was deep in thought.
Chen Ji shifted his posture against the carriage cabin: "Therefore, there's no need to Can't Wait to justify oneself to everyone you meet. Because compared to that thing you have to do, everything else is unimportant."
Madam Lu looked at Chen Ji quietly: "You are much stronger than I imagined."
"Hmm?" Noticing the irregularity in Madam Lu's tone, Chen Ji looked over with some confusion: "What?"
Madam Lu averted her gaze, looking outside the small alley: "I roughly guess what you intend to do... Are there no matters in the Chen Family left for you to be sentimentally attached to?"
Chen Ji said calmly: "Aunt Ping should have investigated me, so you should know about my relationship with the Chen Family. It has only eased up a little recently."
Madam Lu suddenly asked: "Do you miss your mother?"
Chen Ji's eyes softened a bit: "I do, I even miss her in my dreams. After becoming a Practitioner, actually I don't need to sleep that long every day; two hours is enough. But I still want to sleep a little longer every day, because some people can only be seen in dreams. The night I returned from Chongli Pass, I dreamt of my mother telling me to eat my meals on time, to stop taking cold baths, to stop fighting with others, and to not go to dangerous places."
Madam Lu remained silent for a long time: "Go sleep in the carriage cabin for a while. I will keep watch for the first half of the night, and wake you up for the second half."
As Chen Ji was about to say something, Madam Lu said with certainty: "Hurry and go."
...
Early morning, the sound of the copper bell on the Bell and Drum Towers rippled over.
Chen Ji opened his eyes in the carriage cabin and hurriedly threw open the curtain to check, deeply afraid that some blunder had occurred.
Madam Lu continued leaning against the carriage, saying: "Rest assured, nothing happened in the night."
Chen Ji said with confusion: "Why didn't Aunt Ping wake me up?"
Madam Lu smiled: "I am a Path-Seeking Stage Practitioner. Even going three days and three nights without sleep is fine. You don't need to compete with me. Hurry up and prepare yourself. Today, Princess Liyang is entering the palace for peace talks as usual."
Chen Ji nodded and headed up to the second floor. Knocking on the door, he asked, "Xiaoman, is Your Highness up yet?"
Xiaoman responded from inside the room: "Calling her up right now."
The next moment, however, Princess Liyang let out a cry of alarm, immediately followed by her complaining: "Is this your southern dynasty's way of treating guests? Last night, this Palace didn't even get to eat more than a few bites of food! This Palace is not going to the peace talks today. Anyway, that damned Crown Prince of yours is deliberately delaying time, insisting on harping about the letter of surrender. This Palace might as well go stroll elsewhere. Waiting ten days to half a month, he'll be the one getting anxious."
Chen Ji said in a deep voice from outside the door: "No, you must go. Doesn't Your Highness also want to bring Yuan Cheng back to the Jing Dynasty as soon as possible? Why care about the Crown Prince's attitude yesterday? Perhaps he has changed his mind today."
Princess Liyang gave a sneer through the door: "That Crown Prince of yours merely wants to delay time so that your southern dynasty civil officials will continue pressuring the Emperor, or to borrow the Military Intelligence Division's manpower to eliminate you. Going today will not change anything. Although this Palace is anxious to return, in matters of negotiation, the more anxious you are inside, the less you can show it."
Chen Ji frowned: "Your Highness should still prioritize the grand scheme of things."
Saying so, he pushed open the door, preparing to forcibly take Princess Liyang into the palace. But Princess Liyang let out another cry of alarm from inside the room: "This Palace hasn't put on clothes yet!"
Chen Ji hastily took a step back and shut the door again.
Inside the room, Princess Liyang burst into hearty laughter: "Lord Xiaoman, I couldn't tell that despite your young master killing people without blinking an eye, he's actually a gentleman. Lord Chen, just wait outside the door then. This Palace still has a headache right now; I must sleep a little longer. Also, this Palace is going to the Imperial Music Bureau to listen to an opera today. If you find another expert to drink this Palace under the table, this Palace still has many little tricks waiting for you."
Xiaoman said angrily: "If you act like this, I'm going to beat you."
Princess Liyang said indifferently: "That would be a major event that shakes both dynasties."
"Forget it, Xiaoman, don't force her." Chen Ji frowned as he walked out of the Huitong Relay Station, only to see Madam Lu hand over a pancake wrapped in palm leaves: "What's wrong? Princess Liyang refuses to enter the palace?"
"She's angry that I found someone to get her drunk yesterday. It doesn't matter; it's good to vent her anger a bit." Chen Ji took the pancake and took a bite: "However, right now the Crown Prince is delaying time, and she is also delaying time. It's a bit troublesome."
Madam Lu was troubled: "Why is she delaying time?"
Chen Ji said calmly: "She wants to give the Military Intelligence Division more time to prepare, then borrow the Ning Dynasty's hand to eradicate everyone in the Military Intelligence Division who is helping Lu Jin, before propping her own people up into positions of power. These past few days, she must be closely watched. Her people will definitely think of ways to get close to her."
It wasn't until dusk that Princess Liyang walked out of the Huitong Relay Station. Still wearing that purple men's robe, her face was wreathed in smiles: "Let's go, Lord Chen. Lead this Palace to take a look at your southern dynasty's Imperial Music Bureau. I've heard the musicians and actors there are the best under heaven, to the point that even the Qinhuai River cannot compare. This Palace also heard that the best scripts are always brought there to be performed first. Any script that cannot make it into the Imperial Music Bureau's Vermilion Steps Great Music Hall cannot be considered a good script."
Chen Ji held open the carriage curtain for her: "Your Highness, the Imperial Music Bureau isn't as miraculous as you've heard. In the final analysis, it is merely a place that tortures bitter-fated people."
Princess Liyang, who had been preparing to step onto the carriage, paused slightly: "I hadn't expected Lord Chen to actually possess a compassionate heart. Previously, when you slaughtered my Jing Dynasty armored soldiers, you weren't soft-hearted in the slightest."
Chen Ji casually said: "It's different. People in the Imperial Music Bureau have no choice. Jing Dynasty armored soldiers have a choice."
Princess Liyang gave an elegant smile: "Although that is the case, this Palace will probably only visit the Ning Dynasty this once in my lifetime. If I don't go take a look, I'll invariably be somewhat unwilling to let it go. Let's go."
The honor guard set off slowly. Yanle Hutong, where the Imperial Music Bureau was located, wasn't far from the Huitong Relay Station; it took only the time it took an incense stick to burn to arrive.
Li Xuan asked in a low voice: "Today they're performing a revival of the Four Dreams of Bianliang. The Vermilion Steps Great Music Hall is packed with people. Should we clear the venue?"
Chen Ji shook his head: "No need."
He pulled open the carriage curtain. With a dark face, Xiaoman supported Princess Liyang as she stepped down, heading into Vermilion Steps Great Music Hall along with the group.
Inside the Great Music Hall, voices boiled over. Everyone was waiting for the Four Dreams of Bianliang to start.
The moment Chen Ji stepped into the Great Music Hall, it was as if a basin of cold water had been poured down, causing the Imperial Music Bureau to become Not a Crow or Sparrow is Heard.
Chen Ji's gaze swept across the crowd. Then, acting as if nothing was wrong, he walked over to an empty table in the corner: "Your Highness, just sit here. Do not squeeze to the front."
Princess Liyang wasn't picky either; she cheerfully agreed.
The next moment, however, someone in the very front row stood up. Lifting her dress hem and carrying a waft of fragrant wind, she arrived at Chen Ji and Princess Liyang's table: "Chen Ji, you actually came too."
Looking up, Chen Ji saw that it was shockingly Qi Zhaoning leading Qi Zhenzhu.
Princess Liyang curiously looked at Qi Zhaoning, then at Chen Ji.
Without waiting for Chen Ji to speak, Qi Zhaoning said: "Chen Ji, recently both my father and older brother have been very disappointed in you. They both feel you shouldn't ruin your own reputation and prospects over this matter of the Jing Dynasty envoy. Just stop caring about this damned Jing Dynasty princess, okay?"
Princess Liyang raised her eyebrows: "Who is this?"
Qi Zhaoning quickly cut in to say: "I am his wife, for whom he has performed the Presenting Betrothal Gifts rite but hasn't yet gone through the marriage door."
Choosing the bride is proposing marriage, Accepting Auspiciousness is the minor betrothal, and Presenting Betrothal Gifts is delivering the Betrothal Gift. Once it reaches this step, it is only a step away from Fetching the Bride and bowing in the grand hall.
This time, Princess Liyang was truly dumbfounded. The mutual understanding between Chen Ji and Zhang Xia previously wasn't something just anyone could act out: "Lord Chen, this Palace thought you and Second Miss Zhang were a pair!"
Qi Zhaoning said angrily: "What nonsense are you babbling, Jing Dynasty thief?"
Princess Liyang turned to Qi Zhaoning and gave a faint smile: "Miss, permit this Palace to say a fair word. You are Far Worse than Second Miss Zhang."
(End of this chapter)