A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated 1

71

More good news came in. A messenger from Kanbu reported the Ze Yin would return to Bei Yali soon.

Yangfeng clutched onto Ze Yin's letter, her heart thumping madly. She wondered what Ze Yin's reaction would be when she saw her belly, how happy he'd be. At least half of her worries instantly dissolved and she took off to the kitchen, making a few of her best dishes. She took them to Pingting's room.

"Why are you up?" Yangfeng put down the steaming dishes on the table and rushed to help her up. "I told you not to worry, you have to recover from your illness little by little. Ze Yin will be back in two days. I wrote to him, begging to get him to buy some good ginseng and bear bile on the way back."

Pingting shook her head. "I've rested plenty for the last few days, it's time for me to go."

Yangfeng was stunned, "Pingting, right now, you're..." She sighed, lowering her voice. "How can I not worry?"

"There's too much attention here, I can't stay too long." Pingting held Yangfeng's hand in hers, also lowering her voice. "We're sisters, you know everything on how I ended up here. I'm going to leave you some words, don't forget them."

Yangfeng's heart sank as she nodded, "Tell me."

"The political situation is changing and the four countries will be in a mess than ever before. The Main General has just achieved something amazing, so it's a good time to retire. And," Pingting hesitated, before sighing, "Be careful around the Marquess of Jing-An."

"The Marquess of Jing-An?"

"He's not the He Xia we knew."

The two both thought of the deceased young princes of Dong Lin at the same time and were silent.

Yangfeng looked at the cooling dishes out of the corner of her eye, only feeling a heavy feeling in her heart. Revealing sad expression, she said, "Are you really leaving?"

"Yes."

"The world is vast, where do you plan to go?" Yangfeng clenched her hand around Pingting's, then brought the other to tighten her grip. In a choked voice, she said, "How can I sleep at night, when I think of you, a wandering girl? There are people who want to capture you in Gui Le and Chu Beijie undoubtedly thinks that you killed his nephews."

"I'm going home?"

"Going home?"

Pingting smiled faintly, gentleness and anticipation flashing in her voice. Slowly, she replied, "There's someone waiting for me." Lifting her hand, the wind swept her hair back messily, as she stood up looking out of the window in the direction of Dong Lin.

Just as they had promised each other.

All of Dong Lin had switched to plain colours. Under the King's Order, everyone, no matter nobility or ordinary peasants were forbidden to wear bright colours for the next three months. Clothing, curtains were plain and even bright signs that promoted wealth and fortune were ordered to be taken down.

The air was heavy with the hint of death.

Two of the princes, two of the King's own sons, had been poisoned without cure. They were so young, not yet ten years old. They were not eligible to be buried in Dong Lin's solemn, royal cemetery but had to be cremated according to Dong Lin's traditions. Their ashes were to be thrown into the river, so that they could disappear into the earth.

Chu Beijie had received the bad news and had hurriedly taken the troops back home. Around fifty miles away from the capital, the waiting figure of the Senior Official of the Left Wing, Sangtan, stopped them.

"Stop!" Seeing the brown royal flag flapping weakly in the distance, Chu Beijie held up his hand.

The exhausted troops of a hundred thousand came to a crashing halt, their dust-ridden faces confused to see the worried faces of the imperial guards outside the Royal Residence.

"The King's Order," Sangtan was holding onto the yellow-cloth Order, saying, "The capital is currently mourning over the death of two princes. Hostile presences such as soldiers are difficult to explain therefore they must not enter the city. All of the soldiers and horses must stay behind and will be looked after by the Duke of Fu-Lang."

The group of commanders dismounted, silent and listening. Only Sangtan's emotionless, well-articulated words could be heard in one's ears.

Sunset was approaching, skewing the shadows even more. A shiver ran up Moran's spine as he heard the Order and he secretly looked at Chu Beijie.

Chu Beijie's face wasn't cold or warm. He took the King's Order with two hands and stood up.

Sangtan's expression was reserved, his hands hidden in his sleeves. In a kinder tone, he said, "The Duke is finally back. The Duke is the King's own brother, so please try to comfort him so that King won't ruin his health while mourning. The King told me to escort Duke personally into the city." He took a step back, showing that there were around fifty royal guards behind him. It seemed that after the prince was poisoned, all of the Royal Residence's servants had been changed. There was no one he recognised.

"Duke..." Moran was standing beside Chu Beijie and his voice was a little strangled. "The soldiers have left home for a while now and they were looking forward to coming home. Now that they're forbidden to enter, I'm afraid that some people might cause riot. I might just be over-worrying, but it's not good if a fight happens. What we should do, please, if Duke can tell us."

Sangtan's expression didn't change, just coughed once, saying to Moran, "Did commander not listen as I read the King's Order? They will be looked after by the Duke of Fu-Lang."

"Senior Official, it might just be Moran worrying too much, but army matters are difficult to predict. There are a lot of soldiers here, if something happens..."

"Shut up!" The wordless Chu Beijie suddenly interrupted with a low cough.

Moran stopped talking and lowered his head.

Sangtan was worrying about how to deal with Moran and seeing Chu Beijie suddenly speak, he quickly added, "It's rather late now. The King's still waiting, so please may Duke get on the horse to come with me into the city." He ordered someone to lead Chu Beijie's horse.

Chu Beijie had been controlling Dong Lin's military power for a long time and he didn't like flattery, so he'd always rebuke in their faces. This caused other nobles to both fear and hate him. He wasn't usually afraid of them, but this event was massive, as two princes had been murdered while he was fighting away at the frontier. If the army wasn't away, the enemy would never have been able to take this opportunity to murder. It was hard for the King to not suspect him. Moran was familiar with such ways of thinking and knew that he mustn't let the Duke go in by himself, so he said, "Moran and a few personal attendants will accompany the Duke into the city."

But he hadn't expected that this was exactly what Santang wanted, who chuckled. "Duke's other personal attendants don't need to accompany and enter the city alongside. The King also said that victory was almost certain with Bei Mo and will later handsomely reward all soldiers here. I heard that Commander Moran has also made great merits in this war. The King said to allow Commander Moran to enter along with the Duke of Zhen-Bei. The King will personally reward you."

Sangtan's smile was gracious, but the crowd's hearts sunk. His words revealed too little and it was hard not to take them to heart. Their hands moved towards their scabbards, while they turned to look at Chu Beijie.

Chu Beijie seemed to have much difficulty to maintain his straight posture. The thin smile on his lips seemed sharp enough to slice his silhouette from the sunset. He was expressionless. Looking at the grand, distant capital, Chu Beijie's voice was light. "Sangtan, I have a question."