Pursuit of Jade – CH 179

Chapter 179.

After leaving the Duke Wen of Jin’s residence and boarding the carriage, Xie Zheng did not speak another word.

Changyu attempted several times to break the awkward and peculiar atmosphere, but Xie Zheng sat upright on the other side of the carriage, seemingly resting with his eyes closed. Fearing she might disturb him, she ultimately remained silent as well.

As the carriage passed through the bustling market, a mere curtain separated the noisy, lively outside from the silent, chilly interior.

Changyu sat properly on the soft silk-covered seat, occasionally stealing glances at the person seated opposite her.

Regarding this “brother” who had vanished from her life for over five years and suddenly reappeared, she was somewhat troubled about how to interact with him.

In her younger, more naive days, her earliest impression of Xie Zheng was of Madam Xie holding her and teasingly pointing to a young boy practicing swordplay in the courtyard, laughing as she said, “Ah Yu, look quickly! Our Ah Yu’s little husband is practicing with his sword!”

As she grew older, whenever she accompanied her mother to the Xie residence, Madam Xie would always cheerfully tease her. “Has my future daughter-in-law come to visit me again?”

Once, she took a liking to Xie Zheng’s small wooden sword. The two of them tugged at it from either end, neither willing to let go, their faces flushed with exertion. Madam Xie scolded Xie Zheng. “You foolish boy! Your mother said she’d let Ah Yu be your wife someday—is this how you bully your own little bride?”

And so, the small wooden sword that Xie Zheng had practiced with for years ended up in her possession.

When her mother admonished her, saying she shouldn’t so rudely demand others’ belongings, she returned the wooden sword to Xie Zheng. The boy, still childish in appearance, merely turned his face away and said, “If I gave it to you, it’s yours.”

Back then, they were both young and ignorant. Because of Madam Xie’s constant playful remarks, they felt they ought to interact the way their own parents did.

Even though they didn’t live together, it seemed only natural that he should be good to her.

If she caused trouble, it was only right that he should clean up the mess.

Later, when she attended the academy and learned about filial piety, brotherly respect, loyalty, trust, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame, she gradually realized that such behavior was improper.

Men and women should maintain proper boundaries unless there were parental arrangements and matchmakers’ words.

As for Madam Xie’s frequent teasing remarks, even at a young age, she couldn’t quite determine whether they counted as parental arrangements.

But she rarely troubled Xie Zheng after that, resolving matters on her own whenever possible.

The only time she actively sought Xie Zheng’s help was when she struck the son of Prince Gong.

To this day, she still remembered the boy’s thin yet resilient back as he knelt in the ancestral hall, the torn whip marks and dark red scabs on his clothes, the faint halo of light streaming through the hall’s doorway and falling on his shoulders and dark hair, his pale jaw, and his words. “Consider it venting your anger. This punishment is nothing.”

That feeling—as if her heart had been struck by a heavy drum—never occurred again.

But when she went to visit him during his recovery, she overheard him telling Madam Xie that he only saw her as a younger sister.

Though he claimed to see her as a sister, they shared no blood relation whatsoever. Changyu felt they should still maintain a polite and respectful distance.

She treated him politely, yet he seemed displeased, even scolding her once.

The question of how to continue interacting with him left her even more bewildered.

Before she could find the most appropriate approach, she accompanied her mother and Madam Xie back to the capital, while Xie Zheng, rebellious by nature, joined the military camp.

Over the next five years, exchanging letters of mutual concern had been manageable enough.

Now that this living, breathing person had suddenly appeared beside her, with looks and temperament completely transformed from before, the question that had troubled her back then seemed even more troublesome now.

Changyu slightly furrowed her brows, and just as her gaze swept over Xie Zheng’s face again, the person who had been resting with closed eyes suddenly opened them.

Their eyes met directly.

Changyu cleared her throat and asked, “Is the carriage too bumpy to sleep comfortably?”

The person opposite remained silent for a moment before countering with a question. “Who was that person at Duke Wen of Jin’s residence earlier?”

Changyu answered honestly, “A classmate from the academy, Li Huaian, grandson of Grand Scholar Li.”

The wind rustled the carriage curtains, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow across Xie Zheng’s jade-like face. His eyes were half-lowered, long lashes veiling his expression as he asked ambiguously, “Are you two close?”

Changyu instinctively straightened her posture.

Only one thought crossed her mind: if he found out she often copied Li Huaian’s arithmetic homework with Qi Zhu, she’d definitely get scolded.

She immediately cleared her throat lightly. “We’re just classmates, sharing ordinary schoolmate camaraderie.”

Xie Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly at her transparent attempt to cover up.

The restlessness in his chest intensified, and he closed his eyes again in irritation.

Seeing his silence, Changyu ventured another question, “Since your return, have you visited Aunt Xie yet?”

A faint “hmph” escaped Xie Zheng’s nostrils.

His tone was decidedly cold.

Changyu realized she’d asked a foolish question—of course, his first visit would be to Madam Xie. She remained silent for the rest of the journey.

Fortunately, the carriage soon arrived at the Meng residence. Before alighting, Changyu politely asked, “Would you like to come in for some tea, Brother?”

Calling him “Brother” still felt somewhat awkward on her tongue.

Xie Zheng finally opened his eyes. “I need to visit my uncle’s residence first. I’ll pay respects to Aunt Meng another day.”

Changyu nodded, waving as she jumped down from the carriage. “Goodbye then, Brother!”

Xie Zheng’s brow seemed to furrow slightly. Without a word, he dropped the carriage curtain and departed.

Watching the receding carriage from the entrance, Changyu murmured with confusion, “Did his temper grow along with his height?”

Upon entering the residence, a snow-white bundle came flying toward her.

“Sister! Sister! There’s a huge bird at home!” After hugging Changning’s legs tightly, the child excitedly gestured with outstretched hands.

Looking toward the courtyard, Changyu indeed spotted a gyrfalcon confined in a cage.

It wasn’t the one Xie Zheng had used to deliver letters to her—this one was slightly smaller, seemingly not fully grown, pure white with only slightly mottled tail feathers that made it quite distinctive.

Her face lit up with delight as she hurriedly asked Meng Lihua, “Mother, where did this come from?”

Meng Lihua smiled. “The young Marquis sent it, said it’s a gift for you.”

The smile on Changyu’s face faded slightly. Approaching the cage, she reached out to stroke the gyrfalcon’s head, but the fierce bird immediately tried to peck her.

Meng Lihua exclaimed urgently, “Don’t touch it! The young Marquis said this gyrfalcon is unfamiliar with people, needs to be tamed with a whistle—”

Changyu grabbed the gyrfalcon by its neck and smacked its head twice. The bird let out a piercing cry, losing several neck feathers in its struggle.

When Changyu reached to pet its head again, the bird stood with ruffled neck feathers, not daring to move.

She turned to Meng Lihua and declared, “It’s behaved now.”

Meng Lihua: “…”

After playing with the gyrfalcon for a while, Changyu returned to her own courtyard, climbing onto the roof to lie on the blue tiles while gazing blankly at the clear blue sky.

She truly didn’t like the capital at all.

There were too many rules here, too many complications.

When she first attended the Imperial College, the Prince of Gong’s son was also there. Though he didn’t dare provoke her openly, he secretly forbade other girls her age from associating with her.

The daughter of a clerk who had become somewhat close to her was bullied and harassed by him, leading a group of young lackeys. Unable to swallow her anger, she beat up the son of the Prince of Gong again. However, this matter was only resolved after Madam Xie intervened to plead on her behalf, and her mother took her to apologize to the son of the Prince of Gong.

Her mother punished her by making her kneel on a stone slab to reflect on her mistakes, but she insisted she had done nothing wrong.

Her mother’s expression at the time seemed deeply sorrowful, yet she still told her, “Ah Yu, in this world, sometimes it is also wrong to act beyond one’s capabilities when one lacks the ability.”

She didn’t fully understand. But when she returned to the Imperial College and found all the other girls avoiding her, even the clerk’s daughter keeping her distance, she finally felt hurt and wronged.

She vaguely realized that here, sincerity and frankness weren’t needed. One had to follow the rules set by these people; otherwise, they would be ostracized as an outsider.

Later, she unexpectedly became close friends with Qi Zhu, and those girls who had previously avoided her gradually began to approach her.

She knew the reason was that Qi Zhu’s status was more noble than that of the Crown Prince’s son.

By approaching her now, they wouldn’t be targeted by the Prince of Gong’s son anymore and could even befriend Qi Zhu instead.

Ultimately, it all boiled down to “seeking advantage and avoiding harm.”

She didn’t like this place, where everyone lived behind a mask.

During these five years, whenever she felt down, she would practice with her sword. Only in those moments of full-force chopping did she feel truly free.

Sometimes she even envied Xie Zheng. Was he so clever that he had known all along what awaited him upon returning to the capital, choosing instead to remain beyond the frontier?

The young maiden in the bloom of her youth rested her head on her arm, chewing on a blade of grass as she closed her eyes in the warm sunlight.

If only she could return to the northern lands, too.

At the Wei Mansion.

Xie Zheng entered the front courtyard and was led by the steward through a covered corridor, where he encountered a young man in crimson official robes. Though he appeared barely twenty, his bearing already carried the steadiness cultivated through officialdom’s ups and downs.

His features were handsome, but at first glance, one could tell he was a man of a particularly reserved nature.

Xie Zheng called out from afar. “Cousin, are you heading out?”

Wei Shubai gave him a slight nod. “With the floods in Jiangnan, His Majesty has entrusted this important matter to the Crown Prince. The Eastern Palace must quickly draft plans, so I’ll have to postpone welcoming you until later.”

He had passed the imperial examination at seventeen and now served as a Crown Prince’s advisor.

Xie Zheng smiled. “State affairs take precedence. I won’t be leaving the capital anytime soon now that I’m back—we’ll have plenty of time to meet.”

Wei Shubai acknowledged this and added. “Mother and your aunt are busy in the kitchen; Father is in his study. You may go straight there.”

In the third month of spring, the courtyard plants flourished with vitality.

Xie Zheng sat in a round-backed chair near the wall, watching the middle-aged man handling documents with his brush. He said. “Over these five years, Father has been wearing down the Northern Turks. With only twenty percent more supplies than ordinary border troops, he’s fought them this long until their national strength is depleted. Now, if the court would just allocate sufficient funds and provisions, we could strike directly at the Northern Turks’ heartland. For those old fossils at court to propose a truce now would only allow the Northern Turks to recuperate and return stronger in a few years.”

“I’ve come to the capital on Father’s behalf to persuade His Majesty to continue the campaign and eliminate the Northern Turk threat once and for all.”

The middle-aged man finally set down his brush after finishing the last document. When he looked up, his sharp phoenix eyes were identical to Xie Zheng’s, though the corners now bore wrinkles carved by time. “Do you truly believe it’s only those old fossils opposing the continuation of this war?”

Xie Zheng’s expression tightened abruptly, his gaze turning sharply keen.

Wei Yan set aside the approved document and looked at his nephew with a complicated expression. “I know your father has been fighting these years moderately to completely exhaust the Northern Jue, making them believe they can take this fat piece of meat and luring them to repeatedly invade, draining their national strength. But in His Majesty’s eyes, it may not be seen that way.”