Qi Ying received a letter from his eldest brother while on his journey back south. What a coincidence it was—when Qi Yun had someone deliver the letter to him, he had already set off for his return south. At that time, although Gu Juhan had not yet withdrawn his troops, the momentum toward retreat had become a foregone conclusion. Qi Ying had originally planned to wait for the Wei army’s withdrawal before returning to Jiankang, but Han Shouge had reacted extremely strongly upon hearing of Jiang Yong’s death, and this news spread faster than anticipated. Knowing this family elder’s volatile temperament and inability to suppress matters, after careful consideration, Qi Ying felt he should personally explain this affair to Han Shouge to prevent him from causing further trouble. Thus, he left Xu Zhengning in Stone City to observe subsequent developments while he set off early for his southern return. As a result, on his journey south, he encountered the household servant sent by Qi Yun and received his eldest brother’s letter.
This day was February twenty-sixth. There was light rain that day. Although spring rain is precious as oil, encountering rain while traveling was ultimately somewhat inconvenient, especially since dark clouds had been pressing overhead since daylight. The household servant delivering the letter wore a rain cape all over. Despite being very careful when delivering the letter, he still let the letter paper get slightly dampened with moisture. The letter was personally received by Qing Zhu and delivered into the carriage. He knew that his young master and the eldest young master frequently corresponded, because the eldest young master always liked to worry about things. His letters were either reminding the second young master to take care of his health or telling him about recent happenings at home—generally nothing urgent.
Only this time seemed somewhat different. Qing Zhu clearly saw that after his master unfolded the letter and read through it quickly, his originally calm expression suddenly darkened, and even a trace of worry flashed through his eyes. Qing Zhu rarely saw such an expression on Qi Ying’s face, especially in recent years. Seeing it now inevitably made his heart flutter with unease. After a moment of silence, he tentatively asked, “Young Master… has something happened at the mansion?”
He saw Qi Ying’s brows furrow tightly, the lines of his face appearing cold and stern. Without answering his question, he only said, “Go tell Bai Song to hurry back to Jiankang.”
When they arrived in Jiankang, it was already past the hour of hai. By then the city gates had closed, and the soldiers guarding the city initially didn’t recognize this as the carriage of the second young master of the Left Prime Minister’s mansion, so they wouldn’t let them pass. Later, Bai Song produced a token from the Privy Council before they were allowed to enter the city. Recent days had been rainy, and the road south from Stone City was muddy all the way. Even after entering Jiankang territory, it was the same. The night rain was desolate, and the spring cold was piercing.
There were hardly any common people left on the city streets. Bai Song cracked his whip and spurred the horses, driving the carriage extremely fast all the way back to the Qi Mansion. The gatekeeper of the main house heard someone knocking at the gate in the middle of the night and was quite impatient. He came out sleepily to check, only to see that the one knocking was Qing Zhu, the boy attendant beside the second young master. Half his drowsiness instantly vanished. In the time it took to rub his eyes, he saw the second young master had already stepped through the door and hurried into the mansion.
Qi Ying went straight to find Qi Yun. By then it was already late, and everyone in the mansion had gone to sleep. Qi Yun had also retired for the night, but he heard a servant come in to report that the second young master had returned and was waiting outside the door, requesting him to come out. Qi Yun was initially skeptical, but when he put on his clothes and stepped out of his room to look, he indeed saw Jingchen standing under the corridor, looking travel-worn, with night rain still clinging to his outer garments.
Qi Yun was very surprised. While tying the sash of his outer robe, he asked, “Jingchen? You’ve returned? Didn’t you say earlier that you wouldn’t be back until the day after tomorrow?”
After greeting his eldest brother, Qi Ying answered quite quickly, “Mm, there were some official matters to handle, so I returned early.”
Qi Yun acknowledged with a sound and nodded. Having just finished tying his sash, he heard Qi Ying say, “I received elder brother’s letter on the road, saying that Wenwen had an incident—where is she now?”
Upon hearing this, Qi Yun was stunned. He hadn’t expected that his second brother would urgently wake him up in the middle of the night to ask about that Miss Fang’s matter. When he had written the letter, he had already roughly explained the situation to him, saying that Miss Fang had gotten into a dispute with Yao’er, and later the two had caused a commotion, resulting in grandmother expelling her from the mansion. Qi Yun actually didn’t pay much attention to this matter, and his understanding of this case all came from his wife’s account. He didn’t know the details clearly, so in his letter he hadn’t mentioned Zhao Yao’s cheating, nor had he mentioned Qi Ying’s outer garment, and naturally knew even less about where that Miss Fang had gone after being expelled.
Qi Yun didn’t know much, but at the moment his mind was filled with many thoughts. For instance, he had originally been skeptical of his wife’s speculations, but now seeing his second brother’s deeply furrowed brow, he couldn’t help but become suspicious about the relationship between him and Miss Fang.
Qi Yun wanted to probe with a few questions, but seeing Qi Ying’s expression, he knew this wasn’t a good time. He simply answered, “I don’t know much about this matter either—I’ve told you everything in the letter. She left the mansion the afternoon before yesterday. Where she went, I have no idea.”
With this answer, he saw Qi Ying’s brows furrow even tighter. After a moment of silence, he asked, “What was mother’s reaction at the time?”
Upon hearing this, Qi Yun sighed and answered, “I was at the government office on duty that day and wasn’t present to hear what happened. According to your sister-in-law, mother was determined to protect Miss Fang, but grandmother’s temper is strong—she scolded mother as well, so mother couldn’t protect her.”
Qi Ying nodded, but his brows didn’t relax. Qi Yun patted his shoulder and said, “You just returned. Tonight you should go back and rest first. Although Miss Fang left the mansion, I heard that grandmother had someone give her a sum of silver, so she probably won’t come to any harm. If you’re still worried, wait until dawn tomorrow to ask mother about it.”
Qi Ying glanced at Qi Yun, then turned his head to look at the night rain outside the eaves, then turned back and said, “Alright, elder brother, rest well. I’ll go first.”
Although he answered “alright,” his expression didn’t look like someone about to return to his room to rest. Qi Yun understood his younger brother very well and naturally noticed the signs. Seeing this, he quickly stopped him, saying, “What are you going to do? It’s so late—are you still planning to go out and look for her?”
Qi Ying remained silent, making Qi Yun anxious. He grabbed him and said, “How can you search at this late hour? Jiankang City is so big—where would you even look? If you must search, do it tomorrow. Is one night really that important?”
Although Qi Yun spoke this way at the time, he actually kept half a sentence hidden in his heart. With their grandmother’s temperament, she always liked to do things thoroughly—Miss Fang might not even be in Jiankang anymore. But he didn’t dare share this speculation with Qi Ying then, fearing his younger brother would become even more agitated upon hearing it.
Qi Ying was actually already very tired. After all, every day in Stone City had been extremely laborious for him, and these past few days had been spent jostling on the road. By now he was both physically and mentally exhausted. He also knew that Qi Yun spoke reasonably, but when he thought of Shen Xiling—such a delicate and sensitive young girl now expelled from the mansion by grandmother, with nowhere to turn, where could she go? And she was so beautiful—what if…
He couldn’t rest easy.
After a moment of silence, Qi Ying had made his decision. He turned his head to Qi Yun and said, “It’s fine, I’ll still go take a look.”
Seeing Qi Ying turn and hurry into the night rain as soon as he finished speaking, Qi Yun couldn’t even stop him in time. For a moment his heart was filled with mixed emotions, and he couldn’t help thinking: Looking at this situation, could Jingchen really…
Qi Yun stood in place for quite a while, uncertain and alarmed, then sighed and went back inside.
Qi Ying had Bai Song bring some people from the mansion to search separately through the inns in Jiankang City. He also personally visited several places to ask the proprietors, but found no trace of Shen Xiling anywhere.
Later, after some thought, he went to the small courtyard where her parents had lived. This wasn’t Qi Ying’s first time visiting this courtyard. The last time he came, he had helped Shen Xiling bury her father and had someone tidy up the house that had been in complete disarray at the time. Back then he thought he would never set foot in this place again, yet unexpectedly, in less than three months, here he was again.
The courtyard had no one to maintain it and now showed signs of decay. Weeds grew in the yard, and the bamboo that Minister Shen had planted in his lifetime lay fallen and askew, looking like it could no longer survive.
Qi Ying came through the rain. After entering the house and looking around, he saw that all the household items were covered with a layer of dust—no one had lived here for a long time.
Shen Xiling wasn’t here either.
Qing Zhu had been following behind Qi Ying the whole time. Seeing his worried expression, combined with some fatigue and irritation, he carefully advised, “Young Master… why don’t we go back first? Bai Song is leading people in the search over there—perhaps there will be news first thing tomorrow morning… Young Master has been working hard for months. You should go back and rest first.”
Qi Ying didn’t answer. His tall figure stood under the eaves, listening to the sounds of the night rain. Seeing the furnishings in the house, he realized this was where she had lived as a child—she had grown up in this very place. For a moment his heart was filled with indescribable feelings. Looking up again, he saw two solitary graves standing beside the withered bamboo outside the house—her deceased parents.
Her father had once so solemnly entrusted her to his care during his lifetime, yet now he had lost track of the man’s young daughter and perhaps even let her suffer grievances.
Qi Ying felt increasingly heavy-hearted.
He stood still in quiet thought for a long time, then suddenly seemed to think of something and hurriedly said to Qing Zhu, “Return to Fenghe Courtyard.”
The night rain was desolate, and the stone steps on Qingji Mountain were slippery from moisture. When Qi Ying returned, it was nearly the hour of zi.
As soon as he returned, he went to look for her in the courtyard where Shen Xiling had once lived, but the room was empty—there was no trace of the young girl. Qing Zhu followed him the whole way. Seeing his master’s brows furrow even tighter, he no longer knew how to console him.
Qi Ying came out of her room. Seeing the night cold as water, a scene suddenly flashed before his eyes—her curled up sleeping at the entrance to Wangshi during the depths of winter when she had just recovered from her serious illness. A ridiculous thought occurred to him. After some consideration, he headed toward Wangshi again.
What he didn’t expect was that he would indeed find her at the entrance to Wangshi in the end.
The young girl was curled up in the corner by the railing just like last time, but this time she wasn’t sleeping. She sat on the ground with her arms around her knees, her gaze empty and vacant, head lowered as if looking at something unknown.
He looked at her, and at that very moment Shen Xiling raised her head and also saw Qi Ying.
She saw that man standing under the eaves of Wangshi, with boundless pattering night rain behind him. He looked travel-worn, as if he had just come from across thousands of mountains and rivers, carrying the chill and dust of his entire journey. At this moment those beautiful phoenix eyes were lowered, gazing down at her, leaving only a silent stillness in the depths of her heart.
Her father had loved reading Buddhist scriptures and had brought her along to read them together when she was young. She remembered he was especially fond of a line from the Benevolent King Sutra: “In one snap of the fingers are sixty moments, in one moment nine hundred arising and passing away”—speaking of a sudden enlightenment of wisdom. She had never understood what it meant, and still didn’t understand now, but at that moment when she looked up and saw Qi Ying standing there, the phrase suddenly came to mind. She felt that in that one moment there were indeed many arisings and passings away that would be deeply etched in her heart for life.
In that one moment, many emotions suddenly surged up in her heart.
When Zhao Yao hit her, she didn’t cry; when Old Madam Qi scolded her in front of everyone, she didn’t cry; when she was expelled from the Qi Mansion with an uncertain future ahead, she still didn’t cry. Not only did she not cry—she didn’t even feel wronged in her heart, only a sense of calm, as if she felt all those sufferings were natural and justified, as if others’ malice was also reasonable and proper, something she was meant to bear.
But now that Qi Ying had come and was standing right before her, her heart suddenly filled with indescribable grievance and sadness. By the time she realized it, tears were already streaming down her face.
The night was dim, and Qi Ying initially didn’t notice that Shen Xiling was crying. Seeing her once again disregarding her own well-being, huddled at his doorway on such a cold night, a nameless fire rose in his heart. He was about to scold her with a stern face when he saw the young girl suddenly use the railing to pull herself up and run toward him. By the time he came to his senses, she had already thrown herself into his arms.
Holding him, sobbing uncontrollably.
The night rain continued, pattering on the eaves of Wangshi. The crying of the young woman in his arms was alarmed and full of grievance, as if her sadness could no longer be contained, suddenly stirring the peaceful pool of water in Qi Ying’s heart into complete turbidity.
He sighed and slowly extended his arms to hold her, saying, “Everything’s alright now…”
His hand gently patted her back.
“…I’m back.”
Author’s Note: Actually, you’re not such a special person—you’re just the only one who makes her realize she feels wronged the moment she sees you.
Next update: The sweetest moment since the beginning of this story