Zhu Yu – Chapter 142

Changning excitedly tugged on Fan Changyu’s sleeve, turning her head: “Sister, is Brother-in-law looking at us?”

She strained her voice, shouting “Brother-in-law” towards the street below, but the crowd’s thunderous chants of “Marquis Wu’an” drowned out her childish voice.

As the troops passed beneath, Xie Zheng slightly nodded toward the upper floor of the tavern. It was unclear whether he had heard Changning’s shouts or was simply acknowledging Fan Changyu.

A burst of short exclamations came from the neighboring private rooms, followed by a clatter of objects falling from the windows.

“Marquis Wu’an is looking at our young lady!”

“Nonsense, he nodded at our miss!”

The accompanying maids argued on behalf of their mistresses, so excited that they tossed their flower baskets down to the street.

In the open-minded society of Great Yin, it was common for unmarried ladies to throw flowers and handkerchiefs at victorious troops on such joyous occasions. When Fan Changyu entered the city with Tang Peiyi, she received numerous handkerchiefs.

Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao watched as young ladies from both upstairs and downstairs threw handkerchiefs at Xie Zheng. Displeased, they said, “Surely Yanzheng was looking at us just now?”

Despite her age, Aunt Zhao leaned half her body out of the window, shouting, “Yanzheng! Yanzheng! Changyu is here!”

Embarrassed, Fan Changyu tried to retreat, but Aunt Zhao grabbed her arm, urging, “Quick, throw a handkerchief to Yanzheng!”

Fan Changyu responded awkwardly, “Aunt, I’d rather not…”

Aunt Zhao glared at her, “Child, what are you afraid of? That’s your husband down there, bound to you by heaven. If other young ladies can throw handkerchiefs at him, why can’t you?”

She then pushed Fan Changyu towards the window.

Changning clapped her hands in delight, “Sister, throw a handkerchief! Throw one!”

Fan Changyu sighed, “I don’t have a handkerchief. In the army, I only use large sweatcloths.”

Aunt Zhao was momentarily taken aback by Fan Changyu’s words but persisted, “Well… do you have a sachet or something? Just throw something down there.”

Naturally, Fan Changyu didn’t carry sachets either.

After some thought, she untied the reddish-brown hair ribbon from her hair.

Fan Changyu reluctantly approached the window with the ribbon. Compared to the fragrant, intricately embroidered silk handkerchiefs of other young ladies, her hair ribbon was excessively plain. The material wasn’t even of good quality; if thrown on the street, no one would bother to pick it up.

Just as Fan Changyu was about to toss it for appearance’s sake, Xie Zheng suddenly looked up directly at her.

Their eyes met mid-air, causing Fan Changyu’s heart to skip a beat. She momentarily forgot to throw the ribbon in her hand.

Aunt Zhao, anxious beside her, urged, “Changyu, throw it quickly! Yanzheng is looking at you!”

Fan Changyu snapped back to reality, her heart pounding as if it would leap from her throat. She clenched her fist and, with a do-or-die attitude, threw the ribbon down.

Despite her excellent martial arts aim, the ribbon was too light, and a gust of wind threatened to blow it past Xie Zheng’s head. Suddenly, the stoic young Marquis on horseback raised his hand, catching the reddish-brown ribbon with five fingers.

The watching crowd erupted in a deafening cheer.

Throughout the journey, countless young ladies had thrown silk handkerchiefs at him, but he hadn’t spared them a glance even when they fell near him. Now, his sudden action to catch a hair ribbon was truly extraordinary.

Xie Zheng, maintaining his composure, tucked Fan Changyu’s ribbon into his clothes. He cast a glance in her direction before facing forward and continuing to ride.

The spectators and young ladies’ cheers grew even louder, with some girls bursting into tears.

“Whose ribbon was that?”

“Could it be that Marquis Wu’an has a sweetheart?”

People on both sides of the street craned their necks, trying to identify which room in the tavern the ribbon had come from. However, they only saw three rooms with tightly closed windows, unable to determine which one housed the esteemed guest who had thrown it.

All three rooms had been rented by Fan Changyu.

When Xie Zheng caught the ribbon and looked at her after tucking it away, Fan Changyu felt as if her heart had been struck by lightning. Her heart raced, making her anxious, and her mind went slightly numb.

Almost reflexively, she closed the window and returned to her seat at the round table. Under Aunt Zhao’s bewildered gaze, she blushed from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears.

After a moment of shock, Aunt Zhao said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, “You silly girl, you’ve been married for so long, what are you still shy about?”

Fan Changyu remained silent, pinching her burning earlobe, her long black eyelashes fluttering rapidly, seemingly still in a state of nervous excitement.

Even Changning couldn’t help but laugh, “Sister is shy.”

Xie Wu and Xie Qi stood silently in the corner, trying their best to blend into the background.

After a while, Fan Changyu recovered, the flush on her face subsiding somewhat. She pinched Changning’s chubby cheek and said, “Ningniang, you’ve become quite bold, even teasing your sister now?”

With one cheek pinched by Fan Changyu, Changning’s smile on the other side nearly reached her ears, “Brother-in-law looked at Sister, and Sister got so scared she closed the window.”

Fan Changyu’s face, which had just regained its normal color, threatened to flush again due to Changning’s innocent remark. She put on a stern face and said, “You impertinent girl, Sister was worried about prying eyes causing trouble.”

Changning stuck out her tongue, not daring to tease further.

Carpenter Zhao, still in awe of the grand spectacle he had just witnessed, took a sip of tea before saying, “I heard many people shouting ‘Marquis Wu’an,’ but I didn’t see him. Could it be that Marquis Wu’an’s procession is behind the main army?”

The young ladies’ cries and shouts had been drowned out by the louder cheers, and the Beijing accent made it difficult for Carpenter Zhao to discern what little he had heard.

He didn’t understand the order of precedence for the army’s entry into the city, but he recalled that when Fan Changyu and the others entered Beijing, Tang Peiyi had been at the front. Logically, as Marquis Wu’an held the highest rank, he should have been at the front as well. So why was Yanzheng leading?

The fame of Marquis Wu’an spread throughout Great Yin like wildfire after he recaptured Jinzhou and recovered the twelve commanderies of Liaodong.

Carpenter Zhao was quite eager to catch a glimpse of this legendary general.

Fan Changyu silently wiped her face.

Finally, the conversation had reached this point…

She scratched her head and said, “Well… Uncle, Aunt, there’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

Seeing her awkward expression, Aunt Zhao immediately said, “Child, are you still treating us like outsiders? Whatever it is, just say it.”

Fan Changyu looked at the elderly couple and said, “Actually, Yanzheng is Marquis Wu’an.”

Carpenter Zhao’s hand trembled, spilling half a cup of tea on himself. Ignoring the heat, he hastily stood up, shaking his clothes a couple of times. His aged eyes, now wide open, stared directly at Fan Changyu. “What?”

Aunt Zhao also gaped, looking from Fan Changyu to Carpenter Zhao, too shocked to utter a word.

Fan Changyu had expected the elderly couple to be surprised upon learning Xie Zheng’s true identity, but she hadn’t anticipated such a strong reaction.

Seeing that they both looked as if they doubted their ears, she repeated, “Yanzheng is Marquis Wu’an.”

“Good heavens…” Carpenter Zhao’s legs weakened, and he sat back down in his chair. He swallowed hard and said, “You mean the Marquis Wu’an who recaptured the twelve commanderies of Liaodong and slaughtered the barbarians of Jinzhou?”

Fan Changyu nodded.

Aunt Zhao began to stutter, “I… I heard that Marquis Wu’an had three heads and six arms, and ate raw meat and drank blood. Yan… Yanzheng looks like the leading actor in an opera troupe. How can he be Marquis Wu’an?”

Fan Changyu found Aunt Zhao’s description of her perception of Xie Zheng both amusing and exasperating.

She said, “Those are just rumors. Generals on the battlefield need a fierce reputation to intimidate the enemy. Didn’t I have the nickname ‘Yaksha’ in the army?”

Even after Fan Changyu’s explanation, it took the elderly couple quite some time to recover from their shock.

Aunt Zhao looked at Fan Changyu and asked, “So… now that Yanzheng has become a Marquis, do we need to kowtow to him when we see him?”

This question caught Fan Changyu off guard. In the past, when she was still in Lin’an Town, her first thought upon meeting a high-ranking official would probably have been about how many times to kowtow.

Now, in the court and beyond, the only person left who could make her kowtow was the one sitting on the dragon throne.

She suddenly realized how far she had come on this journey, feeling quite emotional.

She said, “Uncle and Aunt were once his benefactors. He wouldn’t accept such a grand gesture from you.”

Back then, when Xie Zheng was severely injured, none of the doctors in the town’s medical halls dared to treat him. If it weren’t for Carpenter Zhao, who relied on his decades of experience as a veterinarian to prescribe a few doses of medicine as a last resort, Xie Zheng might not have survived.

With Fan Changyu’s words, the elderly Zhao couple seemed to recall their days in Lin’an Town, and their sense of distance from Xie Zheng diminished significantly.

Aunt Zhao looked at Fan Changyu with hesitation, inevitably worrying about her future: “Then… does this mean your previous wedding ceremony is invalid?”

What she wanted to ask was how the two of them planned to proceed from here.

When Fan Changyu had risen to prominence, Aunt Zhao knew the girl she had watched grow up inside and out and wasn’t worried about her abandoning Yanzheng after achieving success.

However, now that Yanzheng had become a Marquis, Aunt Zhao pondered that high-ranking officials typically had multiple wives and concubines. Just moments ago, when the troops passed below, Yanzheng had accepted the hair ribbon from Fan Changyu, suggesting he had feelings for her. But Aunt Zhao wondered to what extent these feelings ran.

Hearing Aunt Zhao’s words, Fan Changyu thought about how their initial marriage arrangement had been a mutual agreement to fake the uxorilocal marriage. She nodded in response.

Aunt Zhao became anxious upon hearing this and said, “Even if the uxorilocal marriage was fake at first, you two became husband and wife during difficult times. Now that you’ve achieved success together, how can you separate?”

Fan Changyu finally understood Aunt Zhao’s concerns. Remembering Xie Zheng’s words that night about wanting to properly marry her, she felt her face burning again. She said, “You’re overthinking things.”

As long as the truth behind Jinzhou remained unclear, her grandfather’s innocence could not be proven.

Only after clearing the Meng family’s name could she, as a descendant of the Meng family, be with Xie Zheng openly and honorably, and only then could she console the spirits of her grandfather and parents in heaven.

But the court situation was complex, and the elderly Zhao couple were simple folk. Fan Changyu felt that explaining too much would only confuse and worry them unnecessarily.

She said, “Don’t worry, he’s not that kind of person.”

With Fan Changyu’s reassurance, Aunt Zhao’s worries were put to rest.

The victorious army had gone to wait for an audience at the Meridian Gate, and the noisy crowd in the streets gradually dispersed.

Fan Changyu, the two elders, the two children, and Xie Wu and Xie Qi returned to the Messenger’s Hostel.

On the way, Changning saw a candy figurine vendor and begged to buy some. Fan Changyu took her and Bao’er to purchase candy, with Xie Wu accompanying them in case of any unexpected situations.

Xie Qi, responsible for driving the carriage, stayed with the elderly Zhao couple.

Despite having toured the city multiple times, Aunt Zhao couldn’t help but lift the carriage curtain to look out, marveling at the prosperity of the capital.

Seeing that it would take a while for Fan Changyu and the others to buy candy, she thought that with the New Year approaching, she should buy some red fabric to sew large red pouches for the children to hold their New Year’s money. After informing Xie Qi, she went to a nearby fabric stall.

As Aunt Zhao was browsing through fabrics, feeling overwhelmed by the choices, she overheard several women discussing Xie Zheng while selecting materials: “Did you hear? When Marquis Wu’an entered the city, he accepted a handkerchief thrown by a young lady. I wonder which fortunate girl in the capital caught his eye!”

Another woman chimed in, “The entire street was packed just a short while ago. Who knows which young lady threw that handkerchief? Besides, it’s just a handkerchief. Marquis Wu’an is of such high status; he probably just caught it reflexively and kept it to avoid embarrassing the girl by dropping it on the street.”

“Oh? Was it a handkerchief? I heard it was a hair ribbon,” a third woman said. “A handkerchief might be easily accepted in such a situation, but a hair ribbon is different. In my opinion, Marquis Wu’an must truly favor some young lady.”

The first woman who spoke said, “In the entire capital, the only one who could be considered both talented and beautiful is the youngest daughter of Minister Li. I heard that the young lady is sixteen years old and still unmarried. Perhaps she’s waiting for Marquis Wu’an!”

Aunt Zhao had initially not wanted to involve herself in the women’s gossip, but upon hearing the last comment, she could no longer focus on selecting fabric. She turned to the woman and said, “That hair ribbon belonged to my daughter.”

The women glanced at Aunt Zhao and suddenly burst into laughter, covering their mouths with silk handkerchiefs.

Although Aunt Zhao’s clothes were not of poor quality, they were far from those worn by wealthy families’ matriarchs. Moreover, her hands were rough from years of labor, and she spoke with a foreign accent. None of the women took her seriously.

One of them asked teasingly, “Madam, how old is your daughter?”

Aunt Zhao, calculating Fan Changyu’s birth date, answered, “Almost seventeen.”

Upon hearing this, the women laughed again behind their handkerchiefs, exchanging glances that clearly showed they found the situation amusing.

The woman said, “A seventeen-year-old spinster throws a hair ribbon, and Marquis Wu’an picks it up and tucks it away? Madam, is your daughter some kind of celestial beauty?”

Although these women didn’t use any vulgar words, their contemptuous and mocking behavior was unmistakable to Aunt Zhao.

Hearing Fan Changyu being ridiculed by these people made Aunt Zhao’s chest tighten. She gripped the fabric in her hand more tightly and glared at the women, saying, “My daughter may not be a celestial beauty, but she’s a female general who protects our country!”

The increasingly far-fetched claims made the women think they had encountered a deranged old woman. One of them dropped the fabric she was holding and said, “Has she gone mad? Let’s not get too close to her.”

With that, they all stepped back as if afraid Aunt Zhao might harm them.

The vendor, seeing that he was losing business and having heard Aunt Zhao’s words, snatched the fabric from her hands and scolded, “You crazy old woman, don’t come here ruining my business.”

Although Aunt Zhao was kind-hearted, she wasn’t one to be bullied easily. She immediately yelled back at the vendor, “You little rascal, how unreasonable! I’m buying your goods, and you dare to insult me? Everyone, come and judge, is this man allowed to bully an old woman on the street? Is there no justice?”

The vendor hadn’t expected this seemingly easy target to be so tough. Seeing that a crowd had gathered, he hurriedly explained, “This old woman is talking nonsense, saying one moment that Marquis Wu’an accepted her daughter’s hair ribbon, then claiming her daughter is a female general, and now she’s causing a scene at my stall!”

Aunt Zhao, hands on her hips, angrily retorted, “Why can’t my daughter be a female general?”

Hearing Aunt Zhao’s response, the vendor became even more agitated. He quickly turned to the onlookers and said, “Everyone heard that, right? This crazy old woman is just raving! In all of Great Yin, the only female who can be called a general is the Cloud Banner General. Are you saying your daughter is the Cloud Banner General?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd burst into mocking laughter and commentary.

“She really must be crazy. How could the Cloud Banner General, such a heroic woman, have such an uncouth mother?”

Aunt Zhao had only argued with the vendor because she was angered by his rudeness and insults. Hearing these comments, she immediately regretted getting into an argument with these people. Fan Changyu held an official position in court, and Aunt Zhao’s actions might have caused trouble or embarrassment for her. She felt guilty.

Aunt Zhao said, “I’m her neighbor. She’s a girl I watched grow up!”

With that, she tried to leave, but the crowd had formed a tight circle, blocking her way. The onlookers, sensing her embarrassment and desire to leave, refused to let her go.

One man with a rat-like face and a small mustache loudly mocked, “Oh, so you’re just the Cloud Banner General’s neighbor? Well, I’m her uncle!”

Everyone laughed derisively.

Suddenly, a crisp, spirited female voice came from outside the crowd: “Aunt, haven’t you chosen your fabric yet?”

The noisy crowd suddenly fell silent, automatically parting to create a small path. They turned to look behind them.

There stood a tall young woman, holding a little girl with a candy figurine in her left arm and holding hands with a boy eating a candied haw stick in her right. Both children wore colorful masks sold on the street, making them look like twins at first glance.

Fan Changyu felt strange being stared at by so many people.

After buying candy for Changning and Bao’er, she returned to the carriage and heard that Aunt Zhao had gone to buy fabric but hadn’t returned. Seeing the crowd gathered here, she came to check what was happening.

To her surprise, as soon as she spoke, everyone looked at her with varying expressions. Aunt Zhao’s face instantly darkened. Despite her age and usually poor mobility, she almost sprinted over, picked up Yu Bao’er, and said to Fan Changyu, “Let’s go quickly! Hurry!”

Fan Changyu was bewildered but followed Aunt Zhao toward the carriage, carrying Changning.

Someone in the crowd whispered, “That… that looks like the Cloud Banner General.”

Another person agreed, “Yes, it’s the Cloud Banner General. A few days ago, when the generals from Jizhou entered the city, I saw her at the city gate. She was riding a tall horse, right behind General Tang, looking so impressive!”

After this comment, the crowd fell into an eerie silence again.

After a while, someone cautiously asked, “So… the hair ribbon that Marquis Wu’an tucked away really belonged to the Cloud Banner General?”

The vendor and the women who had been buying fabric all wore expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Who would have thought that the outlandish claims made by a country-old woman in her imperfect official dialect would turn out to be true?

Then another person weakly added, “Those twins the Cloud Banner General was carrying… they couldn’t be… hers and Marquis Wu’an’s, could they?”

Everyone collectively gulped. Had they inadvertently stumbled upon an enormous secret today?

The vendor, snapping out of his daze, grabbed several bolts of fabric and ran after Fan Changyu and Aunt Zhao, shouting, “Cloud Banner General, Madam! These fabrics are my gift to you! I was blind and didn’t recognize you earlier, please forgive me!”

Aunt Zhao, fearing she had brought trouble to Fan Changyu, turned her head and fiercely yelled at the vendor, “She’s not! You’ve got the wrong person!”

But her protest somehow seemed to be too much.

Throughout this entire scene, the only one who remains completely bewildered is Fan Changyu herself.