Zhu Yu – Chapter 136

Fan Changyu stood frozen in place like a dazed goose.

Seeing her standing there stupidly without moving, Xie Zheng said, “No need to be shy.”

Fan Changyu glared at him slightly annoyed, but mindful that they were in front of the tomb of General Xie and Madam Xie, she still maintained a degree of restraint.

She withdrew her gaze and turned to look at the tombstones of General and Madam Xie. Realizing that just moments ago she had been quarreling with Xie Zheng in front of the tomb, her face immediately became even more uncomfortable.

She knelt on one knee: “This junior Changyu, a descendant of Meng Shuyuan, pays respects to the General and Madam.”

With that, she bowed her head and kowtowed three times.

Her maternal grandfather had once been a key general under Xie Linshan’s command, so the connection between the two families was not insignificant.

Hearing her pay respects to his parents as a descendant of the Meng family, Xie Zheng showed no reaction on his face. He only addressed the tombstones silently in the night, saying, “This is your future daughter-in-law.”

For once, Fan Changyu’s face turned red. After standing up, she fiercely said to Xie Zheng, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Xie Zheng raised an eyebrow slightly: “In this lifetime, if I don’t marry you, who else could I marry? You’ll be their daughter-in-law sooner or later, how is that nonsense?”

Fan Changyu simply ignored Xie Zheng and turned her head to look at the path they had come from. “We’ve delayed for so long, let’s hurry down the mountain. Otherwise, Uncle Zhong will be worried at the foot of the mountain.”

The overturned lantern had long since burned out. By the moonlight, one could faintly make out her reddened earlobes, like firethorn berries adorning a firethorn tree covered in snow – so red and alluring that one wanted to take a bite.

Xie Zheng stared at Fan Changyu’s earlobes with deepening eyes.

When Fan Changyu turned her head after speaking, she met Xie Zheng’s dark, unfathomable eyes. She was slightly stunned and unconsciously pinched her burning earlobe, urging, “Let’s go.”

With that, she took the lead in striding away.

Xie Zheng watched her almost fleeing figure, the corner of his lips lifting slightly as he unhurriedly followed behind.

After the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), the street where the Chancellor’s mansion was located became dead silent, with barely even a dog’s bark to be heard.

Wei Yan’s carriage stopped in front of the mansion gates. As the cold wind blew, the frost-covered yellow leaves on the elm and poplar trees lining both sides of the long street fell to the ground, creating a desolate and bleak scene.

Just as Wei Yan stepped down from the carriage using the footstool, Wei Xuan strode out from the mansion gate, his face anxious as he hurried forward to greet him: “Father, you’ve finally returned…”

Wei Yan’s aged but even more imposing phoenix eyes glanced at his only son, immediately chiding him: “What’s with this panicked manner? Where’s your dignity?”

Wei Xuan was arrogant in front of others but feared Wei Yan. This seemed to have become an instinct ingrained in his bones. He bit his lip and said with some distress: “Mother has fallen ill, you…”

Wei Yan stepped up the stone stairs in front of the mansion gate and instructed the old servant following behind him: “Wei Quan, take my token and go to the Imperial Hospital to request Imperial Physician Hu.”

Wei Xuan followed closely behind him. Seeing Wei Yan enter the mansion and head towards his study, Wei Xuan’s hands at his sides clenched into fists. He finally shouted at Wei Yan’s back: “Can’t you go see Mother?”

This shout was his way of speaking up for his mother.

But the servants accompanying them visibly tensed, not daring to breathe loudly.

This was the first time Wei Xuan had ever talked back to his revered father. He stubbornly stared at Wei Yan’s back and said chokingly: “The doctor has already come to see her. He said Mother’s illness is caused by worry and sorrow. Mother didn’t want me to come find you… She said she didn’t want to trouble you. Please go see her…”

Wei Xuan wiped his eyes somewhat awkwardly with the back of his hand. In front of outsiders, he was as arrogant as a tyrant, but before Wei Yan, no matter when he was still as restrained as a child.

Wei Yan paused in his steps, only coldly glancing at Wei Xuan before wordlessly heading towards his study.

The group of attendants hurriedly followed, leaving only Wei Xuan standing in place, his smile more painful than crying as he sneered at himself.

After everyone had left, the steward Wei Quan approached and said: “Young Master, don’t worry. This old servant has already sent someone to the Imperial Hospital to request Imperial Physician Hu. The Chancellor has many matters to attend to these days, truly lacking the energy to handle affairs within the household.”

A vein bulged on Wei Xuan’s neck as he gritted his teeth and said: “Is it because I’m not as accomplished as Xie Zheng that Father dislikes me and takes it out on Mother as well?”

Wei Quan hurriedly said: “Young Master, don’t speak such nonsense. If these words reach the Chancellor’s ears, you’ll be punished again.”

Wei Xuan laughed out loud, his eyes full of resentment: “So be it if I’m punished. All these years, it’s only when I do something wrong and he punishes me that he’ll look at me properly. I can’t compare to Xie Zheng, or those favored disciples under him. Apart from having his blood flowing in me, what else do I have that’s worth him giving me a second glance?”

Wei Quan looked at the weeping Wei Xuan with complex emotions, only saying: “Young Master, don’t belittle yourself. Sitting in the Chancellor’s position, there are too many things to consider and worry about. Understandably, he has no time to attend to the inner household. Let this old servant escort you back.”

How could Wei Xuan not know the reason in Wei Quan’s words?

Sometimes he didn’t know if he was resenting Wei Yan or himself.

Besides his mother, the official wife, Wei Yan had no other concubines.

But from as far back as Wei Xuan could remember, Wei Yan would only go to his mother’s courtyard to have a meal during the New Year’s Eve dinner. He wouldn’t even stay overnight, residing in his study for the past decade or more.

The servants in the Wei mansion were all extremely proper, never daring to show any disrespect to mother and son. His mother had all the honor due to a first-rank titled lady.

But as Wei Xuan grew older, he felt increasingly sorry for his mother.

Wei Yan had never had eyes for his mother; he seemed innately uninterested in women, loving only power and status.

Yet his mother came from an ordinary background. It was only through Wei Yan’s support that her maternal family managed to secure a fifth-rank official position in the capital, finally gaining a foothold in the city.

In the past, to get Wei Yan to discipline him more, Wei Xuan had repeatedly misbehaved, staying overnight in brothels and keeping songstresses – he had done all these despicable things. Even now, there were still a group of beauties in his courtyard. He was all too familiar with the affairs between men and women.

He couldn’t understand why his father, who only cared about power, had married his mother who had no background to speak of. The Wei family was a centuries-old prestigious clan. In his youth, Wei Yan was even known as one of the “Twin Pillars of Civil and Military Affairs” alongside Xie Linshan. When he was to marry, he could have had his pick of noble ladies from all over the capital.

Having married his mother, and with no one else by his side all these years, Wei Xuan thought his father must have had feelings for his mother when he was young.

It was only because he had disappointed his father that both he and his mother were now neglected.

Wei Xuan, who was usually rough in front of others, only showed his childish side in front of Wei Quan, his father’s old servant. Sitting on the stone steps, he covered his eyes with his hand and said bitterly: “If only I were Xie Zheng. With such an accomplished son, Father would probably be happy, wouldn’t he?”

His mother practiced vegetarianism and recited Buddhist scriptures. Whenever she mentioned Wei Yan, her tone was always full of respect. The words she said most often to him were to study hard, practice martial arts diligently, become a capable person, and be of use to his father…

But Wei Yan seemed to dislike children. From a young age, Wei Xuan had been afraid of him, yet because of his mother’s and others’ attitudes towards Wei Yan, he also held deep admiration for him.

When he was little, he tried to do everything perfectly, hoping to get a word or two of praise from Wei Yan.

But before Xie Zheng came to the Wei mansion, Wei Yan would occasionally be kind to him, and although strict when instructing him in his studies, he wouldn’t be excessively harsh.

After Xie Zheng arrived, he never saw Wei Yan smile at him again. They ate and lived together, and every time Wei Yan saw them, his face was always gloomy.

Xie Zheng was always very clever. No matter what he learned, he could grasp it as soon as the teacher taught it.

Occasionally, when Wei Yan tested their knowledge, even if Xie Zheng was afraid, he could still draw inferences and answer questions. On the contrary, when he answered questions in front of Wei Yan, as soon as Wei Yan’s piercing phoenix eyes moved from the book to him, his whole body would tremble like a sieve, unable to say a word.

He resented Xie Zheng for making him lose face and also resented him for making him look like a fool, causing Wei Yan to never again look at him with approval.

More than once, he thought how good it would be if Xie Zheng didn’t exist in this world.

So in his childhood, he spared no effort in bullying Xie Zheng. Once or twice when Wei Yan found out, he was punished to kneel in the ancestral hall. Afterward, he became even more ruthless towards Xie Zheng, and Xie Zheng didn’t even dare to complain anymore.

But he didn’t feel very happy about it. At first, when he put snakes and insects in Xie Zheng’s bedding, he could still scare Xie Zheng into screaming in panic. Later, Xie Zheng would just kill the snakes and insects he put in without batting an eye.

In the severe winter, he poured ice-cold well water onto Xie Zheng’s bedding. Xie Zheng would throw the soaked bedding on the ground and sleep on the bare bedboard fully clothed for a night. The next day, despite having a high fever, he could still beat him in the martial arts field.

In the academy, he led a group of sycophantic children of officials, pouring ink all over Xie Zheng’s desk. Behind the rockery, he led people to beat him up, grinding his face into the mud and water, sneering: “So this is all the son of Xie Linshan amounts to.”

He hoped Xie Zheng would just become that puddle of mud.

But Xie Zheng never begged for mercy. Even when he was held down by his lackeys, with his face being stepped on and pressed into the mud, the look in his eyes was still cold, so dark it was chilling.

Later, Xie Zheng went to the military, and when they met again, he returned from the battlefield with illustrious military achievements, making him feel even more insignificant in comparison.

It was also on a rainy day when Xie Zheng broke several of his ribs, stepping on his face and grinding it into the pouring rain, coldly mocking: “So this is all Wei Yan’s offspring amounts to.”

Everything he had once done to Xie Zheng, Xie Zheng had paid back in full.

From that time on, he hated Xie Zheng even more. When he heard that Xie Zheng had died on the Chongzhou battlefield, no one knew how happy he was.

But even after Xie Zheng “died” and went to the Northwest, he couldn’t manage the army under his command well. Instead, he messed up the entire Northwest, giving the Li faction another handle to impeach Wei Yan.

After many years, Wei Xuan finally admitted that he was just jealous of Xie Zheng, jealous to the point of hating himself for not being him.

Hearing his words, Wei Quan only said: “The Marquis is the Marquis, and the Young Master is the Young Master. There’s no need for the Young Master to compare yourself with anyone.”

Wei Xuan lowered his head and smiled bitterly, looking at the bamboo shadows reflected on the ground. Not wanting to embarrass himself further in front of Wei Quan, he stood up and said: “I’m going back to accompany Mother.”

Wei Quan nodded and respectfully saw him off.

When he reached the courtyard where Madam Wei resided, before Wei Xuan even entered the room, he heard heart-wrenching coughs coming from inside.

Remembering Wei Yan’s cold and distant departing figure, his heart felt even more sour. Seeing a maid carrying a freshly brewed medicine from the small kitchen, he said: “I’ll take it to Mother.”

The maid was somewhat afraid of him and didn’t dare to refuse, respectfully handing over the tray with the medicine.

Wei Xuan, being rough and tough, directly picked up the gold-rimmed celadon medicine bowl from the tray and strode into the room.

“Mother, it’s time for your medicine.” As soon as he entered the room, a servant brought over a round stool and placed it beside the bed.

Madam Wei was ill and her complexion was not good. She couldn’t be considered a traditional beauty, with ordinary features, but after years of a vegetarian diet and Buddhist recitations, there was a sense of compassion between her brows.

She comforted her only son: “It’s just an old ailment, nothing serious. I’ll be fine after resting for a few days.”

Wei Xuan lowered his head, stirring the brown medicine in the bowl with a spoon, and said: “Father heard that you’re ill and is very worried. It’s just that the current political situation is unclear, and there are many officials discussing matters with Father, so he really couldn’t get away. But he has already sent someone to the Imperial Hospital to request an Imperial Physician.”

Hearing Wei Xuan say this, Madam Wei’s originally calm eyes changed slightly. She asked: “Did you go to find the Chancellor? Didn’t I tell you not to trouble the Chancellor with such small matters…”

Wei Xuan said: “I didn’t go to find Father. The mansion is only so big, how could we hide the fact that you’re ill and need a doctor…”

Madam Wei coughed even more severely. Looking at her son with some difficulty, she opened her mouth: “Don’t try to deceive me, why do you…”

She sighed somewhat helplessly: “Why don’t you ever listen to your mother’s words?”

Having his lie seen through by his mother, Wei Xuan lowered his head a bit awkwardly, his hand gripping the medicine bowl tightly: “Mother, is it because I’m not accomplished enough that you feel ashamed to go to Father?”

Madam Wei covered her mouth and coughed a few times, saying weakly: “Silly child, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Wei Xuan raised his head with red-rimmed eyes: “It’s because I’m not capable enough to please Father that you’re also being neglected.”

Madam Wei was slightly stunned, complex emotions churning in her eyes. She said gently: “Don’t think nonsense. The Chancellor is a man who does great things. A true man doesn’t dwell on sentiments between husband and wife and children. You must not say such things in front of the Chancellor.”

Wei Xuan said hatefully: “But all these years, Father only comes to have a meal with you during festivals. Mother, don’t you feel wronged?”

There was a moment of wistfulness in Madam Wei’s expression as if recalling some past events. She only said: “Silly child, don’t think like that. Your mother has never felt wrong. The Chancellor is your mother’s benefactor. You should be accomplished, like your cousin Xie, and help share the Chancellor’s burdens.”

Wei Yan’s rift with Xie Zheng was unknown to Lady Wei, a woman who did not concern herself with the affairs of the household. She simply believed that Xie Zheng had been away in the north for years and hadn’t returned home.

Wei Xuan keenly picked up on a phrase in Lady Wei’s words and asked, “Mother, why do you say that Father is your benefactor?”

Lady Wei lowered her eyes, pausing before answering. After a fit of coughing to clear her throat, she said, “Being born a woman is like a second birth when one gets married. When I was a girl, as a daughter of a concubine, I had to rely on others for everything—food, clothing, and all my needs. In these twenty years since marrying into the Xiang family, my husband has treated me kindly, and for that, I am content.”

Wei Xuan understood that his mother was not one to seek power or contention. He silently prepared her medicine, choosing not to ask more questions.

By the time Fang Changyu and Xie Zheng returned from the Xie family cemetery, it was nearly the hour of the pig, and the city gates had closed. Fang Changyu would have to wait until morning for the gates to open before she could return to the court.

Fortunately, before leaving, she had instructed Xie Qi that even if she didn’t return that night, there shouldn’t be any trouble.

Xie Zhong drove them back to their estate outside the city. As soon as their carriage arrived at the entrance, a rider in bloodied clothing awaited them, presenting a letter. “Master, this is news from the Grand Princess, sent from the palace.”

Xie Zheng reached out to take the letter. After tearing open the envelope, he quickly scanned the paper under the light of the lantern at the door. His expression suddenly turned icy.

Fang Changyu, intrigued that he was corresponding with the Grand Princess, noticed his change in demeanor and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xie Zheng handed her the letter, squeezing out a few words through clenched teeth. “Wei Yan has been secretly involved with a consort!”

Fang Changyu hadn’t yet had the chance to read the letter, but her heart sank at the revelation. If Wei Yan had indeed been involved with a consort, did that mean there were traces linking him to the conspiracy from seventeen years ago in Jinzhou?