The Emperor questioned Jin Momo in detail and found out that Deng Cai Ming, the niece of Deng Zhaoyi[1], was the person who swindled the Ninth Princess with several fried chop rice cakes. She was currently the study companion of the Seventh princess.
Although this matter wasn't that serious, it reflected Deng Cai Ming's audacity and greedy nature, which were qualities the Emperor disliked the most. Because Deng Zhaoyi had given birth to the Third Prince and the Third Prince had attended imperial court, and had done a good job with several tasks that were assigned to him. The Emperor was very pleased and planned to promote her rank on Empress Dowager's birthday . After all, the biological mother of a prince should at least be conferred to the title of an Imperial Consort.
However, after this incident, the Emperor immediately removed Deng Zhaoyi's name from the list of imperial harem conferral.[2] It was evident that it wasn't the first time that Deng Cai Ming had cheated Little Jiu'er, and the Seventh Princess couldn't be unaware of it. Instead of stopping her, she watched the play on the sidelines. Did Deng Cai Ming give the seventh princess all the things that the Ninth Princess had given her?
While the two of them played with the Ninth daughter's jewellery, they also laughed at her stupidity? Where was the respect for your superior as an inferior? Where was the relationship between sisters ? How could a mere princess be so shallow?
The Emperor's imagination wouldn't stop running wild. He was disgusted with Deng Zhaoyi, who didn't educate her children well. He ordered a box of jewellery to her palace and said that he would like to trade it for a box of fried chop rice cake to taste it.
Deng Zhaoyi didn't understand what was going on. She glanced at her daughter and saw that her daughter's face suddenly went pale. She then caught her and questioned her. In the end, she was so angry that her pretty face was deformed.
At this critical moment of promotion, suddenly a matter like this happened. Not only was she unlucky, but her son's impression in the Emperor's heart had also deteriorated. These two useless things kept messing up her plans!
The next morning, Deng Cai Ming was sent out of the palace by two old Momos. It was ordered that she could never enter the palace ever again.
Everything was well organised, and the Empress was reading the new list of names who are being promoted. The Third Prince's outstanding ability had put him in the limelight recently. This was the so-called mother who depended on the son. To elevate the Third prince, the Emperor wanted to promote Deng Zhaoyi, and this was something that the Empress knew all along. This pair of mother and son were a significant threat to the East Palace.
As she thought about how to deal with this matter, she didn't expect that the enemy who was just one step away from victory was defeated on their own because of a few pieces of fried chop rice cakes. Thinking of this, the Empress laughed unkindly and sighed to her trusted Momo, "Yu Xiang is really a decent girl. She should come to the palace earlier to accompany the Ninth princess."
Momo immediately agreed in response.
-------------------
Yu Xiang didn't know that because she had taught Qiu'er to report to the Emperor, it had caused a storm in the palace. When she got home, she went straight to the Old Madam's courtyard to accompany her to chant sutras.
Both of them were very anxious, and they could only calm themselves when they recited sutras. Eating, drinking and leading a life of pleasure together wasn't able for them to cultivate feelings for each other, but they were able to learn how to cherish each other when they go through difficulties together. Because of Yu Xiang's earnest feelings for the Old Madam's grandson, the Old Madam liked this cheap granddaughter more and more.
"You are back." Hearing the sound of the turning of the wheelchair, the Old Madam stopped chanting sutras and turned her head to look.
"I'm back. Did my Elder brother send a letter today?" Yu Xiang asked.
"No." The Old Madam shook her head and sighed.
Yu Xiang's expectant expression immediately fell. She let Tao Hong and Liu Lu carry her to the futon. Then, she knelt and took out a rusty ancient coin from her purse as she placed it between her palms and started to recite the sutras.
"Why are you holding that piece of copper coin?" The Old Madam gave her a strange look.
"Ancient money can drive away evil spirits, avoid disasters and promise peace. I hold onto it as I recite the Nirvana Sutra every 7 days, 7 times for 49 days and then let my brother bring it to the North West. Miracle Doctor Pu had sent me all these panacea. I have also let Elder brother bring all of them along." Yu Xiang explained softly.
The Old Madam was delighted and took out her five-blessing[3] bag and passed it to her, "After reciting the Sutra, you can put the copper money in it to keep it safe. Afterwards, have someone bring it to him when they send the panacea. We can't really help much so let's keep praying for him."
Yu Xiang nodded her head solemnly.
Yu Pin Yan left suddenly and he hadn't had the time to return home since the beginning of spring. Yu Xiang and the Old Madam could only hide behind the door, weeping while listening to the sounds of the horse's hooves as the military troops left. Lin Shi didn't even see him off, let alone send letters or send items to him. It was as if she didn't have this son.
The Old Madam was already sad. When she saw her being so heartless, she couldn't help but get angry. The Old Madam went to her courtyard personally and burnt all the belongings left by her late son. If she wouldn't come to her senses, maybe even her son's tablet should be burnt.
Lin Shi knelt at the gate of the Main courtyard and cried all night. Yu Xiang wore a thick coat as she watched for half the night. In the remaining half of the night, she had many dreams, in which all had Yu Pin Yan.
--------------------
[1] 昭仪(zhāoyí)- Lady of Bright Deportment. An imperial consort title.
[2] 晋封名单(jìn fēng míngdān) - List of Imperial Harem Conferral. It is a list of imperial concubines that would be promoted/conferred.
[3] 五福(wǔ fú)- Five blessing is a concept signifying a grouping of certain good fortunes and luck in Chinese culture. There are two interpretations of five blessings. Firstly, according to the definition in Book of Documents, it is defined as follows:- (1) 寿(Shòu)- Health; (2) 富(fù)- Wealth; (3) 康宁(kāng Níng)-long life; (4) 攸好德(yōu hào dé)- Love of virtue; and (5)考终命(kǎo zhōng mìng)-peaceful death. Secondly, according to New Discussion, it is defined as:- (a) 寿(Shòu)- Longevity; (b) 富(fù)- Wealth; (c) 贵(guì)- prosperity in government (refers to the allotment and mandate of one's share in government position and society); (d) 安乐(ānlè)- health; and (e) 子孙众多(zǐsūn zhòngduō)- fertility.
For generations, their ancestors had died on the battlefield. Yu Pin Yan knew the cruelty of the war well, but he never thought it would be so cruel. It was completely different from those intrigues of the court . Over here, there were only blood and fire, life and death, the light reflected from the sword and the shadow of the swords. The sky and the earth were red, and even the sun was stained with the colour of blood. No, maybe it was the blood from his forehead that dripped into his eyes.
Yu Pin Yan was distracted as he was taking lives. The leader of the enemy was close. Three hundred metres away, two hundred metres away, one hundred metres away. Yu Pin Yan's eyes were filled with overwhelming murderous intent. He held up the butcher's knife in front of the enemies where they were shocked to see his sudden appearance. The blade of the knife pierced their flesh. At the same time, he seemed to hear someone shouting by his ear, "Elder brother, quickly move away!"
The head fell from the enemy's neck, blood gushed out violently producing a "zi zi" sound, and there was blood everywhere. Yu Pin Yan quickly turned the horse away as he saw an arrow whistling with the vigorous wind at breakneck speed. He only had time to move slightly to the left when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
"The general is shot. Protect the General! Quick!" Several soldiers screamed loudly and ran towards him. An enemy that tried to sneak an attack was killed by the soldiers who arrived in the nick of time.
The general, whose armour was covered with blood, was still lying on the ground, and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead. The arrow that came in a strong force could even pierce through the iron plate, so it was easy to pierce through an insignificant piece of chest armour. Some soldiers stepped forward to help the general up, but they didn't dare to pull out the sharp arrow in his chest. In addition to the overwhelming bitter emotions of losing his comrades, there was also the smell of blood that could never be washed away by all possible means.
Death was something that happened every day.
"What are you crying for? I won't die yet!" Yu Pin Yan pushed aside the soldiers who supported him. He stood up as he trembled, raising his hand and pulled out the arrow from his chest.
"Ge-General, are you alright?" The soldier said incoherently in surprise.
Yu Pin Yan took out a copper coin from his pocket which had been altered in shape by the arrow. When he spoke, the murderous glint in his eyes was completely restrained. "I'm fine. This coin helped me to block the arrow. Mount your horses and continue to kill the enemy."
He turned over, jumped on the horse's back and continued to rush forward. At this moment, the blood between heaven and earth faded away, and the fear and confusion of depriving others of their lives all turned into a strong desire to return alive. If he was alive, the people he loved could live, and all who stood in his way must die. This was war. It had nothing to do with benevolence, righteousness and morality. It was only about life and death.
The soldiers were ecstatic. They shouted, killed and charged towards the enemy camp. Many vultures followed the smell of flesh and blood. As they blocked the sunlight above their heads, and from time to time emitting a chilling howl.
The sky and earth were red, and the pain was irresistible. Yu Xiang screamed as she woke up. She looked around, and saw that there were no broken limbs, or smoke in the air, and she was clearly currently in the Old Madam's bedroom.
The Old Madam was old, and she was a light sleeper. She only needed to take a nap for a quarter of an hour at noon and felt it was sufficient. She was sitting outside, looking through the accounts when she heard Yu Xiang's scream, the Buddha beads in her hand fell to the ground. If her ears were sharp enough, what Yu Xiang shouted seemed to be 'Move away, elder brother'?
The Old Madam tossed the account book aside, walked in with her stick and asked, "You had a nightmare? Did you dream of your elder brother?" Ever since the landslide, she treated Yu Xiang's dream seriously.
"N-No, I didn't dream of anything." It would be fine if only Yu Xiang were afraid, but she didn't want the Old Madam to feel that way as well.
"Don't lie to me! I heard it! Did you dream that something happened to Yan'er?" The Old Madam vowed to find out the truth behind this.
"How can that be, I just dreamt of a scene in the battlefield. There was blood everywhere and vultures howling in the sky. It was so terrible that I started to cry. Grandmother, it's just a dream." Yu Xiang reluctantly forced a smile. Only she knew that her heart was coming out of her throat.
"Other people's dreams are just dreams, but yours aren't necessarily so." The Old Madam sat down beside the couch and scrutinised her. This child was very spiritual. The first time she recited the Sutra, she got a mysterious feeling that the God Buddha was singing her ears, and made her forget whether she was in the sky or the mortal world.
Yu Xiang didn't want to recall the scene in her dream at all. She couldn't even feel whether Yu Pin Yan was alive or dead. To avoid the Old Madam from questioning her, she covered her chest and cried out in pain.
"What's the matter? You were fine just now. Somebody, get a physician! Hurry up!" The Old Madam noticed that her face was pale and sweaty. She was hurting so much that she wanted to roll on her bed. She immediately threw the dream at the back of her mind and ran out to urge them over and over.
The physician came to check her pulse carefully. After checking several times, he still couldn't find out the cause of the condition. He just prescribed some medicine to calm the nerves and calm the Qi.
When Yu Xiang pressed her hand on her chest, she realised that the pain was not an illusion from the dream, but it was real. She knew very well that she wasn't ill or hurt. That meant that something had happened to Yu Pin Yan. She knelt in front of the Buddha in pain and prayed continuously, devotedly reciting all the scriptures she could remember in her head and knelt for a day and a night.
The Old Madam accompanied her at first. However, after three or four hours, she couldn't take it any longer. She went back to her room to rest after being persuaded by Ma Momo repeatedly.
"This child is sincere. They are clearly not blood-related siblings, yet they are closer than blood related siblings!" The Old Madam sighed as she shook her head.
"Like what you have said, in the Young Miss's heart, Marquis is her elder brother. After all, they have a familial relationship while growing up together since young."
"What's she doing lately?" The Old Madam pointed towards the room in the East wing.
"She ordered someone to buy a lot of satin and embroidery thread, saying that she wanted to embroider a portrait of the late Marquis and make clothes for the young miss who was still roaming outside and yet to be found." Ma Momo lowered her voice unconsciously.
The Old Madam was silent for a long time, and her voice didn't contain a trace of emotion. "Yan'er is fighting in the battlefield, but she is embroidering the portrait of the deceased. She is afraid that Yan'er's life isn't hard enough, and wouldn't die even if cursed, is it?!"
Suddenly, she felt that the last sentence was rather unlucky. She quickly recited Amitabha a few times, and then sighed, "I have seen through this. What kind of blood relationship isn't blood relationship, flesh and blood isn't so. Soon, their heart would be no better than a stranger. This person is far or near, close or distant, just look at the word 'fate'. She didn't have a mother and son affinity towards Yan'er. On the contrary, Xiang'er has a deeper relationship with our Marquis family. It was all the will of the heavens!"
The Old Madam finally dismissed Yu Xiang's pedigree from her mind. She sat down on the couch for a while. Then she waved impatiently, "Go, burn all her embroidered statues, embroidery threads and embroidered bandages! Tell her that she mustn't get into trouble before Yan'er returns home, or she will be kicked out of this house with a divorce letter."
Ma Momo quickly agreed softly and sighed that Madam had done so well in causing trouble for herself. If it weren't for the sake of keeping Young Marquis' face, she would have been abandoned hundreds of times because she was so ignorant!