“…Anyway, she and her sister have a very good relationship. She even personally provided her sister’s dowry. A few years ago, her sister married a master ledger under the Governor. It’s said the couple is very loving, and she is two months pregnant.”
Hearing the middle part, the smile on Lizhu’s lips suddenly froze.
A master ledger under the Governor?
Perhaps because she had been paying extra attention to this Governor lately, when Lizhu heard that Danzhu’s brother-in-law was actually a subordinate official under the Governor, her heart unexplainably thudded once.
But thinking carefully, it actually wasn’t strange.
Hongye Village was established relying on Yiling Commandery, and most of the mountain bandits there were originally common people from Yiling; having some intricate connections was normal.
On this side, Lizhu and the others teased the young eunuch a bit, then prepared to bathe and retire.
On the other side, Danzhu and Pei Zhaoye walked along the pondside towards their respective bedrooms.
“…If later the princess really plans to bloodwash our Yiling official circles, you can blow some pillow wind for her, let my brother-in-law off, okay? He’s quite honest and dutiful; my sister wrote to me saying he never engages in things like taking bribes.”
“She has inch and divide1Inch and divide: a sense of propriety, knowing the limits.,” Pei Zhaoye swept her another glance, frowning, “What pillow wind, don’t talk nonsense.”
Danzhu grinned: “You don’t want to drill into one quilt with the princess?”
“…You really need to read some books.”
As the two walked, Danzhu looked up; it was almost the sixteenth, the moon almost but not quite full.
“So white, the moon.”
Just like that little guard’s complexion.
Danzhu suddenly turned her head: “How about we rebel, Mountain Master.”
Pei Zhaoye nearly stumbled.
“I’m serious.”
Meeting Pei Zhaoye’s look of seeing a fool, Danzhu said:
“Things are getting more intense over at Yanshan. I heard they even got a batch of private iron. At first I thought they wouldn’t amount to much, but now more and more people are joining—”
Pei Zhaoye: “Rebellion isn’t just about having numbers.”
“No, they definitely won’t succeed, but we’re different. Our Hongye Village is well-trained, disciplined strictly, we have people, money, connections—even those high officials have to give us three parts of thin face.”
Danzhu plucked a willow leaf, casually using it as a throwing knife to slice off a few wildflowers by the roadside.
“If we raise the bamboo pole2Raise the bamboo pole: to start an uprising, rebel., we’d definitely get a hundred responses with one call, all sorts of heroes would come to attach and rely—”
“And then?”
Pei Zhaoye said coldly: “First, the various heroes would fight among themselves for leadership and have internal strife. Then, the scum mixed in at the bottom would cause trouble. A motley crew. They couldn’t even cross the Yanshui River. The powerful minister who rebelled before lasted only one generation; how long has it been? He controlled the court and held heavy troops, yet still got overthrown by the powerful families and clans. Do you really think rebelling and becoming emperor is that simple?”
Danzhu held back for half a day, truly didn’t know how to refute, only managed to say:
“You say it won’t work, but I see you’ve thought about it quite detailed.”
And he hadn’t even mentioned the finer details.
The Yong Dynasty has two hundred years of state reign, their old Shen family’s ancestors accumulated two hundred years of prestige, deep bottom storage. The common people have long been accustomed to the emperor’s surname being Shen.
Although the people of Nanyong now have complaints filling the road against the court, many still have strong feelings for Nanyong.
It’s just that the southerners hate the court’s uselessness, hate the land being adrift outside.
The northerners hate that the moon in the sky waxes full year after year, yet the people on earth are separated north and south, gazing at the surging river before the Shrine of the Divine Maiden, unable to return home.
The bright moon hung high; Pei Zhaoye lifted his head, gazing at the deep blue firmament.
The four-sided eaves were lacquer black, no different from the view he saw in his childhood.
Back then, he sat on the steps, listening to his mother sing tunes. When she sang “They set out at dawn to attack, at dusk they did not return through the night,” he always felt the melody was too desolate and sorrowful.
So what if they did not return at dusk?
The northern lands are lost; the brave men of Nanyong should die in the northern lands.
“But…”
As they approached the courtyard where they were temporarily staying, Danzhu suddenly said:.”What a pity. I think that little princess really likes you. If we don’t rebel and start the affair, wouldn’t you have no fate in this life?”
“Are you stupid?”
He said lightly, “If we truly start the affair, that would mean having no fate.”
Her country overturned by him, her kinsmen and imperial clan killed by his hand, the officials loyal to the Yong court would curse her for letting the wolf in through the door. In future historical records, she would also bear a stain name.
How much must he hate her to do such a thing.
Pei Zhaoye added: “Moreover, I don’t like her to that extent either.”
Danzhu tilted her head and looked at him for a while.
“True or false?”
“Just being moved by her looks, human nature. Would I really go through mountain of knives and sea of fire for her?”
Danzhu seemed half-convinced.
Arriving at the courtyard, the candle in Gu Bing’an’s room was already extinguished. The two prepared to return to their respective rooms. Pei Zhaoye pushed the door open and entered; before even lighting the lamp, he sensed someone inside.
“—Gu Bing’an! What is Gu Bing’an doing!”
Pei Zhaoye, his face overcast and dark, kicked open Gu Bing’an’s door and hauled him out from the bedding.
“Get up. Why is there a woman in my room?”
Gu Bing’an opened his eyes drowsily:
“Ah? Slipped in again? No, it’s not my fault. So many singing and dancing girls are kept in the residence, no one assigns them some duties, can’t let them stay in their rooms all day like in prison either. So they get bored and develop problems… Danzhu! Danzhu, you take the person back!”
“Oh! Oh!”
Danzhu stepped lightly into the inner room.
A moment later, an exclamation floated out from inside: “My god, that’s stripped completely bare…”
Gu Bing’an couldn’t help the redness creeping up his ears. Beside him, someone said coldly, “Keep your mouth shut. Especially about what’s going on with Princess Qinghe. Breathe a word of it and I’ll have you castrated.”
“……”
After a long stretch of commotion, fresh bedding was finally changed out. Only then did Pei Zhaoye lie down on the bed and close his eyes.
The inner chamber still held a faint trace of sweet, heavy fragrance.
The scent tugged at his memory, pulling up the fragments of a childhood far from pleasant.
Pale and bronze limbs entangled together, laughter and moans wrapped in desire—uncertain whether they were born of pain or pleasure—the sounds rising like they came straight from the flames of hell.
A faint cramp twisted in his stomach.
He felt like vomiting—whether from his body or his mind, he couldn’t tell.
Cold sweat beaded on his skin. His eyelids twitched. The deep-rooted disgust rising from his bones nearly drove him to get up and flee the room.
Suddenly, in the darkness, he opened his eyes and stood.
He walked to the desk in the room. The unused brush and ink lay quietly by the side. Pouring the leftover tea into the inkstone, he picked up an ink stick and began to grind it in silence—until a faint, subtle fragrance of ink slowly filled the inner chamber.
His large, calloused fingers picked up the inkstone and set it beside the bed.
Then Pei Zhaoye lay back down, closing his eyes once more. The delicate ink scent soon covered the lingering trace of cloying perfume.
The dull ache in his stomach eased. The stiffness in his limbs began to thaw.
His dream was filled with calm. Pei Zhaoye touched the soft, smooth silk beneath his fingers—and the fine, jade-like waist beneath it.
Within the veil, the woman’s face shifted into that radiant, spring-bright countenance.
The way she smiled, with dimples at the corners of her lips; the way she glared at him in anger; the way her lips turned red beneath his kiss—her back pressed to the wall, eyes glistening with tears she refused to shed.
“Pei Zhaoye…”
She murmured his name softly, her voice trembling with scattered sobs as she held him close—her gaze filled with affection and deep, unguarded trust.
“……”
Amid his ragged breathing, Pei Zhaoye washed away the grotesque shadows of his past dreams.
Footnotes
1
Inch and divide: a sense of propriety, knowing the limits.
2
Raise the bamboo pole: to start an uprising, rebel.
