He Changdi immediately stood up and opened the door. The moment he entered the courtyard, he spotted a middle-aged man dressed as a merchant standing in the middle of the open space, carrying a huge bag on his back.
After He Changdi took the package from him, the man gave a salute and quickly left.
When Laiyue saw that his master seemed to be so distracted by his own thoughts that he had yet to open the bag, he helpfully reminded, “Young Master, quick, open it and see what’s inside!”
He Changdi walked back into the house and placed the bag on top of the table. He gently loosened the strings tying the sack closed and opened it, peeking at the contents inside.
The bag had been stuffed full to the brim, and the topmost layer was made up of autumn clothes. These clothes were not the unlined long gowns normally worn by the nobles in the capital; instead, they were short and made of the most common fabric. For outerwear, there was only a single cloak made of two separate pieces. For innerwear, there were a few more sets of inner clothes, as well as socks. These were also made of much higher quality material, since no one would be able to notice them when they were worn on the inside.
Other than that, there was also a pair of deerskin boots. They were perfect for this weather, since deerskin was hardy and waterproof.
A light flashed in He Sanlang’s eyes as he took in the sight of them all.
Laiyue was happy for his master as he looked over all the clothes. He heaped on generous praise as he said, “Third Young Madam is so considerate. The things she sent are all what Young Master needs most right now.”
Chu Lian had done some backpacking before back in the modern world, so she knew what was most needed when out in the wild. Although she had gotten Senior Servant Gui and Xiyan to pack things for her, she had looked over the contents and taken out all the useless things like unlined long gowns, fans, and jade amulets. She had changed them out for socks, inner clothes, short gowns, gloves, and so on.
They had left in a hurry and in secret, so they didn’t bring much with them. The pair of shoes on He Changdi’s feet had already been worn out in a few places. It was about time for him to switch to a new pair.
The letters were squashed by the clothes inside, so He Changdi carefully pulled out the fragile papers. When Laiyue noticed the especially huge envelope within, he exclaimed loudly, “Third Young Madam wrote such a thick letter!” After saying so, he chuckled with a silly grin directed at his master.
He Sanlang cast a sideways glance at Laiyue and didn’t open Chu Lian’s letter in front of him. Instead, he carefully placed it off to one side.
There was a smaller package in a corner of the bag.
He Changdi pulled the smaller package out and opened it up. Inside was a gourd, some small jars and a few exquisite cloth bags.
While finding it strange, he picked up the gourd and gently uncorked it. Instantly, a fragrant, refreshing aroma came drifting out of the gourd.
Laiyue’s nose was sharper, as he normally drank quite a lot while out with his young master. He hadn’t had a drop of wine in months, so the moment he detected the scent of alcohol in the air, his eyes sparkled.
“Young Master, this… this is wine.”
He Sanlang’s eyes glimmered for a moment before he gave a light snort and quickly corked the gourd again. He put it off to the one side that Laiyue couldn’t reach, like he was protecting a little chick from a big bad wolf…
Following that, He Sanlang purposely put on a calm facade while opening one of the exquisitely made cloth bags. When the blue bag was opened, the smell of something delicious mixed together with spices permeated the air.
He Sanlang cast a measuring gaze over the rest of the bags. He seemed lost in a daze for a moment.
Laiyue was dying of curiosity. He moved closer to his young master and asked in a light tone, filled with expectation, “Young Master, what’s in this cloth bag? Is it food?”
He Changdi was brought back to the real world by Laiyue’s words. The corners of his mouth twitched. He looked over the bags and picked the smallest one out. With an unwilling expression, he tossed it over to Laiyue before he swiped the rest along with the package and retreated into his own room.
Laiyue was someone who was extremely easy to satisfy. When he received the cloth bag, he couldn’t wait and immediately opened it up. He walked over to the door and used the dim light of the evening to look inside before taking a long sniff at it. After confirming that the bag contained jerky, he was delighted!
He quickly took out a piece as big as half his palm and bit into it.
His mouth chewed at top speed; it was so good that tears almost leaked out from his eyes.
After using a bag of pork jerky to keep that gluttonous Laiyue away, He Changdi was finally able to enjoy some peace and quiet in his room.
He gently placed the bag of snacks off to the side before sitting down by his desk and taking out his letters.
He read the letters from Matriarch He and his eldest brother He Changqi first, then those from Countess Jing’an and his best friend Prince Jin.
When he noticed that every family member had sung praises of Chu Lian, for the first time, He Changdi wasn’t filled with contempt. He gripped the letters in hand, lowered his gaze, and pursed his lips, seemingly lost in thought.
After being distracted for a good while, He Changdi put the letters from his family aside and opened the letter from Prince Jin.
However, the moment he read Prince Jin’s two-page letter, the hard-won sliver of guilt and bafflement from before vanished into thin air, without leaving a single speck behind!
Chu Lian! That wicked woman! How dare she!
So it was true — it was easier to move mountains and rivers than change a person’s nature!
He had truly been too naive, thinking that she had actually turned over a new leaf just because she was a bit different from the previous lifetime. Who would have thought that… Hmph! So a leopard really couldn’t change its spots!
Xiao Bojian, Chu Lian… One day… He’ll make that cheating couple pay!
By the time He Sanlang recovered from his episode of overwhelming hatred, Prince Jin’s letter was all crumpled up into a ball. When he released his grip on it, the bits of torn paper slipped between his fingertips and scattered, just like snow.
He Sanlang leaned back against the chair and closed his grudge-filled eyes, only to open them a few moments later. His eyes had darkened, and his aura also changed, becoming colder and stern.
He Sanlang’s gaze lowered, locking onto the huge leather envelope on the table. The sight of it now conjured a sense of ridicule instead of warmth.
An icy, mocking snort slipped out from between his lips.
He Sanlang reached out and tore open the massive envelope with his long, nimble fingers.
Although his face was still cold and stern, his slightly trembling fingers exposed his true feelings.
His heart was filled with hatred, but his fingers still moved to open the envelope, almost against his own will. He pulled out a thick stack of papers from inside.
In his past life, that wicked woman had never written a single letter to him, so he rarely got to see her handwriting.
With that, it could be assumed that he, her legal husband, didn’t even have a place in her wicked heart.
When he opened the letter and saw the simple drawings on the very first page, He Sanlang was stunned.
His almond-shaped eyes flickered with uncertainty, and he quickly flipped through the next few pages.
Damn it! Just like the first page, they were all drawings! Every single one of them! There wasn’t a single written word!
Despite the simplicity of the artwork, a vivid, lively scene was presented with just a few brush strokes. But no matter how innocent the picture, He Sanlang still wasn’t able to contain the rage swirling inside his chest.
He slammed his fist against the table, causing the paperweight on the table to flip over twice.
He Sanlang felt that all the letters he sent to provoke Chu Lian had been completely ignored. His anger was all pent up in his chest, and it was obviously a difficult thing to bear.
He got up and paced around the room to try and suppress the raging anger and frustration he felt inside.
A long while later, He Sanlang gradually calmed down.
He once again returned to his desk. When his gaze landed on the stack of drawings, He Sanlang sneered.
It had been months since they last met, and that wicked woman was getting better and better at acting. A mere stack of drawings had given the whole family a favourable impression of her. They probably thought that the envelope contained thousands upon thousands of words of longing as deep as an endless sea, as if by writing them she wanted to send the entirety of herself over to him. If he hadn’t opened it himself, perhaps he would have been fooled by that wicked woman as well.
After taking a few deep breaths, He Sanlang once again suppressed the endless waves of anger rising from within him.
Once he was calm enough, he picked up the drawings once again and took a proper look at them.
But now that he was giving them a good look, He Sanlang actually became completely immersed in them.
The drawings in Chu Lian’s letter were similar to the four box manga style of the modern age. Although she didn’t include a single word in there, it managed to do a fine job at narrating and expressing exactly what she wanted to. The lack of words didn’t have any negative impact on conveying the content.
In the drawing, the cutely drawn female lead was Chu Lian herself. On every page, the little girl had different expressions and actions; sometimes she was angry, sometimes haughty, and sometimes sincere.
The expressions and emotions given to the little girl were all lively and fresh. Despite the art’s simplicity, it was attractive, and appealed to people in a way that drew others closer to the artist.
Actually, there was a reason why Chu Lian had made these comics instead of just writing a reply. She was afraid that she would be exposed by her handwriting, so she had no choice but to draw instead.
The contents of the drawings were also quite random. Perhaps due to her professional habits from her previous life, she subconsciously drew each of them with a theme. The comics were all centered around interesting things that happened in her daily life.
A single picture could convey more than a thousand words, and was far more intuitive to understand. Moreover, a manga style like this hadn’t appeared in the Great Wu Dynasty before.
Looking at these drawings, He Changdi felt like he could envision Chu Lian’s everyday life. The lively, happy-go-lucky girl in these drawings deviated greatly from the personality of the insidious, deceitful, wicked woman that he knew her as.
A short while later, he abruptly opened his eyes. He hated that he had unwittingly had a change of heart once again. He Sanlang took a deep breath to suppress the strange feeling before his deep gaze landed on the final drawing.
In that drawing, a little girl who had her hair tied up in a bun sat on a chair, facing a kind, middle-aged lady. The two were happily chatting away. The middle-aged lady had a benevolent smile, but there was a red patch on the left cheek of her slightly plump, round face. There was also a servant pouring some tea for her.
The little girl with the bun had a thought bubble floating on top of her head. There wasn’t a word in it, but there was a remarkably detailed portrait of a noble lady with white hair.
The noble lady had a kind face, but it wasn’t very recognisable. The most notable aspect of her was the phoenix headdress on top of her head, and this phoenix had nine phoenix tails on it.
The noble lady with white hair was smiling brightly with an aura of a saint, and her hand was drawn giving a thumbs up.
It went without saying that the little girl with the bun was Chu Lian. That woman felt no shame in drawing herself so cutely. As for the background of the drawing, He Changdi only needed a second to recognise it: it was the Dingyuan Estate.
A middle-aged woman with a red patch on her face… Anyone in the capital would know that the northern border troop’s Captain Guo had an extremely ugly wife.
However, Captain Guo had nothing but deep respect for his wife. Not only did he treat her as his equal, but he never even took a single concubine. They had two sons and three daughters together, and were well-known in the capital as a couple.
The identity of the noble lady in the bubble was even more obvious: it was the current Empress Dowager.
There was a rule in the Great Wu Dynasty that only the Empress Dowager was qualified to wear ornaments with nine phoenix tails. Even the Empress was limited to just seven phoenix tails.
Chu Lian was happily chatting with Captain Guo’s wife, while the Empress Dowager was happily showing her approval.
Hmm? What was that wicked woman trying to tell him?
The northern border troops were under the command of the Duke of Lu, Great General Qian. Captain Guo was one of his subordinate officers. Although he didn’t have the most important position amongst the general’s men, he was still close to General Qian.
The officers serving in the northern border troops all had actual authority. Captain Guo was brave and fierce, good in battle, and empathetic to the soldiers under his command. He was a great leader who protected his men, and didn’t steal credit for deeds that weren’t his. Although he had many good points to him, he was also hot-headed and impulsive. It was due to this fatal weakness that General Qian hadn’t given him a more important post.
He Changdi wouldn’t have known about all these military secrets had it not been for the fact that he’d lived it once already.
If he threw his lot in with a leader like that and boosted Captain Guo’s bravery with his own resourcefulness, General Qian would definitely notice the improvement in Captain Guo. Using that as a chance, he could then make himself known to the Duke of Lu and earn the opportunity to get into his graces!
This was He Changdi’s current plan for himself. During the past few days, he had kept himself busy coming and going in order to build connections with the northern border troops, all in the hopes of getting posted under Captain Guo.
He hadn’t mentioned a single word of these secrets to anyone, not even Prince Jin. However, that wicked woman had somehow had the same thoughts as him!
He Sanlang had already confirmed that Chu Lian hadn’t experienced the same past life that he had, so he was certain that Chu Lian didn’t know how events would progress from now on. So why had she sent him a hint like that in such an obscure way?
Wasn’t her ‘true love’ Xiao Wujing?
Meanwhile, the sleeping Chu Lian back in Songtao Court didn’t know that her small gesture of kindness had caused the paranoid He Changdi to nearly pull his hair out over the various possibilities.
Since she couldn’t possibly be clairvoyant, and she hadn’t been reincarnated, then He Changdi could only say that that wicked woman Chu Lian was sharper than he had initially thought.
He hadn’t expected that there was another layer of depth to her intelligence that she had kept secret, even throughout her previous life. All this mystery had erased any shred of gratitude he had ever felt towards her. On the contrary his caution against her had increased by another level.
If Chu Lian found out what chaos her drawings had caused, she would have definitely sprawled out on her bed and beat the mattress a few times with her fists.
Please, my dear husband, how does your brain work? If a normal wife were to do such a helpful thing, shouldn’t you be heaping praises on her and showering her with your love? How about a compliment or two about being smart and virtuous? Why are you doing the opposite?!
He Changdi folded up the letter and put it back into the huge leather envelope. Following that, he took it and walked up to the fire burning in the brazier.
With a wave of his hand, the envelope landed inside the brazier and was completely surrounded by flames. When he saw that the letter had caught fire, He Sanlang’s eyes suddenly dimmed; he reached out at lightning-fast speed and pulled the envelope out of the fire.
There was a flurry of activity as he put out the burning envelope. When He Sanlang saw the singed corner, the only evidence to his rash action, there was a strange feeling in his heart.
The set of drawings tucked inside appeared in his mind.
Had that wicked woman really just been trying to give him a hint? Perhaps the truth wasn’t as dark as he thought?
Thoughts as messy as the scattered grass of the plains ran through his head. Eventually, he tossed the singed envelope into a wooden box. Out of sight, out of mind.
Chu Lian had practised two pages of calligraphy in her little study. After destroying the evidence, she had gone to try on her new court dresses. Senior Servant Gui recorded down any parts that hadn’t fit in order to alter the dresses herself later.
During her daily greetings, Chu Lian made a request to Matriarch He to pay a visit to Guilin Restaurant. She wanted to see for herself what state it was in.
After finishing all the small tasks, Chu Lian changed into a plain blue dress and brought Wenlan and Wenqing along with her. She boarded the carriage that the estate had already prepared for her and left for Guilin Restaurant, accompanied only by a few manservants and guards.
Guilin Restaurant was located in the old west market, which was rather far away from the Jing’an Estate. The alleys were small and twisty, so it took an hour before they arrived.