Luoshen could feel that her cousin held the person who had saved him in great respect, even to the point of worship.
Naturally, Luoshen was also very grateful to that military Company Commander named Li Mu.
Though several months had passed, even now when she occasionally recalled that scene, she still felt somewhat afraid.
But that was all.
She had little interest in listening to her cousin continuously praise before her how heroic and extraordinary that Li Mu was.
Her father must have already given him appropriate rewards. Whatever they were, they were what he deserved.
What she cared more about were her father, uncle, cousin, and… Lu Jianzhi from the Lu family—these familiar people she cared about, whether they were unharmed in the warfare, and exactly when they would return.
She interrupted Gao Huan and asked the questions she wanted to know.
“Soon! I received uncle’s family letter knowing he would return shortly, which is why I came here to fetch you and…”
He stopped and looked toward Xiao Yongjia nearby.
Xiao Yongjia was leaning against a small table by the window of this waterside pavilion, holding up one hand to admire her freshly dyed bright red nails from this morning against the window. Her five fingers were delicate and green, no less beautiful than a young girl’s.
Eldest Princess Qinghe not only had a reputation as a fierce wife, but after marrying Gao Qiao, she was often criticized for her extravagant lifestyle.
In Luoshen’s vague childhood memories, her mother didn’t seem to be like this at first, but later for unknown reasons, gradually became obsessed with it. Her clothing and accessories often cost tens of thousands. Just shoes alone, she stored no less than a hundred pairs—phoenix-head, cloud-gathering, five-colored… various styles, brilliantly embroidered, with gold shells touching the ground and pearls adorning her feet, extremely luxurious. Many were left to gather dust, never worn at all.
Normally, except for occasionally wearing Taoist robes, she was always dazzlingly dressed at other times, even when alone.
It was the same now.
Sunlight streamed in from the window, making the snake-shaped amber gold hairpin inserted at the side of her black high chignon shine brightly. Her facial skin was transparently white, gleaming with pearl-like beautiful luster in the sunlight.
She seemed completely indifferent to the siblings’ conversation nearby.
Gao Huan turned to her and respectfully said: “Aunt, nephew has come here on uncle’s orders to escort aunt and sister home together.”
Xiao Yongjia didn’t even lift her eyelids: “Just take your sister back. I’ll pass! Going back and forth, the road isn’t close, it’s very tiring.”
“Aunt! Uncle specifically instructed this in his letter! If aunt doesn’t return, uncle will surely blame nephew. Moreover, uncle’s anger toward nephew over the previous matter hasn’t subsided. If I fail to bring aunt back this time, uncle might dislike nephew even more. Aunt, please have pity on nephew!”
Gao Huan saw Luoshen with her back to Xiao Yongjia secretly making eye signals at him, understood immediately, and hurried to plead again.
This wasn’t enough—with a thud, he knelt on both knees.
Xiao Yongjia put down the hand she had been admiring for a while, turned her face, raised one carefully groomed black eyebrow, pressed her red lips together, and smiled.
“Sixth Young Master, you only know how to coax aunt. Get up. Even if you kneel through both knee hollows today, it’s useless. Don’t worry, if I don’t return, your uncle won’t do anything to you.”
Though Gao Huan was essentially adopted under Gao Qiao’s name, he didn’t dare be too familiar in front of this aunt who had a reputation as a fierce wife.
Hearing this, he could only climb up from the ground, looked toward Luoshen with an expression of helpless effort.
“A’Niang—”
Luoshen bit her lip.
“If you want to return to see your A’Ye, go back with Huan’er. I’ll have someone pack your things now.”
Xiao Yongjia’s expression was completely unmoved as she interrupted her daughter, rose from the couch, stepped on the gorgeous felt carpet whose soft fur almost covered her feet, descended from the sitting area, and turned to leave.
The exquisite gold silk lace embroidered on her sleeves and trailing skirt hem sparkled in the sunlight with her steps.
Luoshen watched her retreating figure, slightly dazed, couldn’t help recalling the scene several months ago when her mother returned to care for her after she fell ill.
From her secret observations, during those days, her mother seemed to not allow her father to share the same room, forcing him to sleep in the study every night. The inner chamber servants all saw this but pretended nothing was happening.
Finally, she had hoped for her mother’s return, thinking her parents could share a room, but unexpectedly A’Niang and A’Ye had reached such a state, not avoiding the household servants’ eyes at all.
Luoshen was angry at her mother’s heartlessness and pitied her father’s timidity. Seeing her mother unwilling to return home now, though disappointed, thinking of the previous scene, she felt somewhat hesitant.
If she pleaded for her mother to return this time, but her parents still got along as they had last time, considering her father’s situation, she found it somewhat unbearable.
A’Ju then interjected: “Eldest Princess, if the young lady’s marriage hadn’t been delayed previously, it would have been settled long ago. Now that national affairs are settled and the master returns home, the Lu family will surely seek betrothal to the young lady. After all, children’s marriage is a matter of utmost importance. When the two families interact, the Eldest Princess needs to preside over many ceremonies. It would be improper for the Eldest Princess not to return now.”
Xiao Yongjia stopped, turned her head, glanced at Luoshen, and remained silent.
Hearing A’Ju discuss her marriage with Lu Jianzhi, Luoshen felt shy again and lowered her head silently. After a moment, she heard her mother say: “Fine, let’s return together.”
“If not for my daughter, I would never again appear before that person!”
After a pause, she added another sentence with heavily emphasized tone, unclear whom it was specifically meant for.
A’Ju smiled: “Naturally. When marrying off a daughter, how could the Eldest Princess not return?”
She agreed and loudly called for people to pack the mistress’s luggage. Servants immediately became busy.
Luoshen breathed a sigh of relief, went up to grasp Xiao Yongjia’s hand, and said softly: “Daughter thanks A’Niang!”
One of Xiao Yongjia’s snow-white fingers gently poked Luoshen’s forehead: “You! A’Niang still remembers when you were just born, such a tiny little person. Back then A’Niang was thinking, when will my daughter grow up? When she grows up, she’ll surely be the most beautiful girl. Now in the blink of an eye, you’ve actually grown up. A’Niang has aged, and you’re about to be betrothed…”
She spoke with apparent sadness and stopped.
“A’Niang isn’t old at all!”
For some reason, Luoshen suddenly felt sad too and tightly grasped her mother’s other hand adorned with jeweled rings.
Xiao Yongjia shook her head and smiled self-deprecatingly: “Forget it, why am I saying these things to you? Fortunately, I’m reassured about child Jianzhi. Let’s go.” She took her daughter’s hand and left the waterside pavilion.
…
Luoshen accompanied Xiao Yongjia, along with dozens of servant women and maids returning to the city together, boarding painted boats to reach shore.
Gao Qi, who had come with Gao Huan to fetch the mistress, had prepared ox carts for returning to the city—seven or eight in a row. Each ox cart was accompanied by at least four servants, especially the front one where Luoshen rode with her mother. The cart body was made of fragrant wood with curtains embroidered with gold and silver threads, extraordinarily magnificent.
Dozens of servant women and maids serving Xiao Yongjia rode in separate ox carts, connected head to tail, protected by Gao family servants as they traveled along the road outside the city from recent days, attracting countless passersby’s gazes along the way. More than ten country children came running at the sound, laughing and watching, following persistently.
The Gao family already had a prestigious reputation, not to mention their great merit in this war against Xia. The farming people on both sides of the road, knowing this was the Eldest Princess’s carriage procession returning to the city to welcome the master’s return, began discussing quietly after the ox carts passed.
“I heard the master fears his wife, nearly fifty years old with only one daughter, still not daring to take concubines…”
“The master has great kindness to the world—if Heaven has eyes, how could it let him have no heir…”
Though the discussion was quiet, it still drifted faintly into Luoshen’s ears with the wind.
Luoshen felt uneasy and quickly glanced at her mother beside her, seeing her eyes closed, expressionless, her body swaying slightly left and right with the ox cart’s movement, as if dozing during the journey, having fallen asleep.
Gao Qi, riding alongside, also heard some of it, frowned, immediately stopped his horse, and quietly ordered servants to go scold and disperse those gossiping country folk.
“Forget it. How many of the world’s wagging tongues can you stop?”
Xiao Yongjia’s eyes remained closed as she suddenly spoke, her tone flat.
Hearing the mistress speak thus, Gao Qi could only continue forward.
The convoy proceeded unhurriedly and finally entered the imperial city, heading toward the Gao residence near Imperial Street.
In the city streets, passersby on both sides, seeing a procession of ox carts for high officials and nobles approaching and recognizing them as from the Gao family, stopped to watch even more.
Luoshen was long accustomed to her Eldest Princess mother’s extravagant style and originally sitting in the cart didn’t feel anything inappropriate. As they approached Imperial Street, with more and more pedestrians on both sides of the road, when she looked out through the gaps in the hanging curtains, she saw passersby all staring at the ox cart she and her mother rode in. Recalling the village people’s earlier discussion about her parents, she couldn’t help feeling slightly ashamed and somewhat sad.
She quietly shrank back, leaning against the seat back behind her. At this moment, she heard the rumbling sound of cart wheels from opposite, then her own carriage stopped.
“Why aren’t we moving?”
Xiao Yongjia opened her eyes and asked.
“Reporting to Eldest Princess, there’s also a cart coming from ahead, blocking the road, can’t get through.” Gao Qi responded from outside.
“Whose cart?”
“Princess Yulin.”
Princess Yulin was named Zhu Jiyue, from the Zhu family, a close friend of current Empress Xu, about the same age as Xiao Yongjia, married to Prince Yulin of the royal clan.
Though Prince Yulin held high status, he normally devoted himself to Taoist cultivation, not concerning himself with worldly affairs, so Zhu Jiyue often entered and exited the palace. By kinship, though separated by clan relationships, Luoshen should call her aunt.
When Luoshen had previously entered the palace, she had encountered her several times.
Zhu Jiyue’s appearance naturally couldn’t compare to Xiao Yongjia’s, but she was born with a pair of seductive eyes and was also a famous beauty in Jiankang, rumored to secretly keep many male lovers.
Upon hearing this name, disgust appeared in Xiao Yongjia’s eyes as she said coldly: “Tell her to yield the way!”
Laughter came from opposite: “I was wondering who it was with such grand style—it’s Eldest Princess returning to the city. Eldest Princess has lived at Bailu Zhou for years, rarely returning to the city, like a rare guest. I heard Chancellor Gao will also return shortly—knowing this must bring joy. If I block the way and delay the couple’s reunion, wouldn’t that be a sin?”
A gust of wind blew over, happening to blow open the two curtains hanging in front. Luoshen looked out and saw that Zhu Jiyue’s ox cart had no curtain blocking the front, the interior completely visible.
She sat in the cart wearing brocade clothes and silk shoes, only using a pearl and jade-encrusted veil to cover her face. Behind the veil, her long eyebrows and cicada-like hair ornaments were visible and hidden, making people even more want to glimpse her appearance.
Passersby all competed to watch, but she seemed completely unaware, and in her bell-like seductive laughter, she continuously urged servants to move her cart to the roadside first.
Seeing the road clear, Gao Qi quickly directed the drivers to continue forward.
The cart procession gradually approached the Gao family residence.
Luoshen quietly looked toward her mother.
Her eyes fell on the curtain ahead that blocked her view, her shoulders held straight, expression cold and emotionless, but one hand was clenched into a fist, the thin spider-like blue veins on the back of her hand faintly visible under the skin.
The sharp nails freshly dyed this morning were deeply embedded in her palm, yet she seemed completely unaware.
“A’Niang…”
Feeling uneasy, she tugged at her sleeve and called softly.
Xiao Yongjia came back to her senses, immediately loosened her hand, turned her head, and smiled at her daughter, her hair ornaments trembling and radiating brilliant light: “We’re home, let’s get down.”