The Prisoner of Beauty - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Returning North

Although Wei Shao had coveted Shiyi for a long time, this assault had happened suddenly, without thorough preparations beforehand, and his numbers held no advantage either. This fierce battle beneath the city walls was won entirely by relying on the combat effectiveness of his subordinate generals and soldiers, which had been tempered through large and small battles over many years, combined with his own leadership power within the army. Having just stabilized it, the urgent matters at hand needing disposal were also in a thousand tangled threads; therefore, although he held some doubts regarding the details of Xiao Qiao’s abduction that day, being busy and bustling all day long without a moment of leisure, he pressed it down and did not take it heavily to heart.

 

The matter arose today. A batch of captured personnel was escorted over from Shiyi. Among them was a person who was precisely a trusted aide of Chen Rui who had happened to slip through the net from Chen Pang’s blade that day. To seek self-preservation, there was nothing he spoke of that he did not exhaust, revealing the process by which he and the others had followed Chen Rui to abduct Wei Shao’s wife midway from the hands of Liu Yan of Langya. Wei Shao received the report, set people to inquire slightly, and instantly knew about the matter of Xiao Qiao and the Heir of Langya, Liu Yan, having previously established a marriage contract.

 

The alliance through marriage with the Qiao family was to him nothing more than pushing the boat along with the current, and he had never placed it in his heart, let alone ever having the thought of sharing a quilt in life and a grave in death with the Qiao woman. For this reason, when discussing the marriage, he did not question a single half-sentence, nor did he set people to spy and inquire. Whether the Qiao woman was beautiful or ugly, and how her virtue and work were, he did not care in the slightest; as long as the one coming over was a daughter of the Qiao family, that was enough. Therefore, he did not know that Xiao Qiao previously had such a piece of hidden entanglement with Liu Yan. Suddenly finding out, he originally felt displeased already, and even less had he expected that there was actually this interlude of Liu Yan of Langya abducting the person first, and subsequently falling into the hands of Chen Rui.

 

His newlywed wife was publicly abducted into Shiyi like this. Even if he, Wei Shao, did not care about the life or death of his wife, as long as he still held a breath, it was impossible to remain unmoved, forcing him to hastily raise troops to attack and chastise Shiyi under circumstances where thorough preparations had not been made. Although in the end he recaptured the person and together occupied the city, his own losses also exceeded what was originally estimated and were truly not light. Further thinking that Xiao Qiao still had continuous ties with Liu Yan, and that the Qiao family actually humiliated him to this extent—with his ordinary eyes being above the peak, how could he endure this breath? On the spot, he flared into a great rage, flung down other matters, and broke straight over to launch his attack.

 

The Qiao woman defending herself was originally within his expectations. What he had not expected was that he unexpectedly listened to her self-defense, and following her words, that surge of anger that had originally arisen in his heart imperceptibly and slowly faded away, and his gaze also unfelt fell upon her body.

 

Because Xiao Qiao had hurriedly left her bath just now, her body only bore a white inner garment, and her long hair had also had no time to be managed and arranged, draping and covering her shoulders. The tips of her hair were still incessantly dripping water, and the water marks gradually spread out, soaking a patch of the clothing on her shoulders and her chest, clinging tightly to her body, so that her shaved-like shoulders and a section of her slightly undulating curved outline were somewhat indistinctly visible.

 

Wei Shao’s line of sight fixed for a moment, and before his eyes there suddenly surfaced the scene he had caught a glimpse of a moment before in the bathhouse when he bent his body down to question her. Although she had immediately shrunk beneath the water at that time, he had already caught a glimpse of it. Seeing her current intimate appearance, vastly different from her demeanor in front of people on ordinary days, a faint sense of strangeness suddenly arose in his heart, and he immediately drove that scene imprinted in his mind out, raising his line of sight. Seeing her cheeks stained with tears like a pear blossom bearing rain, and more or less having heard that there seemed to be a negative temper in her last sentence, thinking that he had failed to restrain himself for a moment and must have indeed frightened her when he broke in just now, his heart could not help but feel a slight trace of regret. Furrowing his brow, he said in a muffled voice: "From where comes so much wild imagining? Did I say I would divorce you back!"

 

Xiao Qiao turned her face away, raised her hand to swiftly wipe away the tear droplets on her face, and did not speak.

 

The room fell into silence.

 

Wei Shao, seeing that she no longer turned her face toward him and her eyes only stared at that lampstand on the table to the side as if that were a flower with something worth looking at, suddenly felt a bit of a lack of interest. Hesitating for a moment, he gave a word, "You should wipe your hair and go to sleep earlier," turned around, walked swiftly, and left.

 

As soon as he left, Xiao Qiao’s shoulders, which had been tightly strung all along, slowly slumped down, and she exhaled a long breath, leaning somewhat weakly against the edge of the table to the side.

 

……

The disturbance of this night passed, and everything was no different from originally. Only two days later, Zhong Ou brought over a certain amount of gold and silk each for Xiao Qiao. Besides this, there were also two platters of walnuts and quinces not often seen on ordinary days, and crystal pomegranates that only available when states paid tribute. Zhong Ou said that the Lord Marquis had instructed them to be sent over.

 

Xiao Qiao felt slightly surprised. Guessing it should be a bit of meaning from Wei Shao to make amends for the matter of that night, she smiled to suit the occasion and said to please pass word to the Lord Marquis that she was very grateful.

 

Chun Niang hurriedly let the maidservant receive the bestowed items, expressing thanks again and again.

 

"Lady, the Old Madame is advanced in years, and her side needs this servant to attend. This servant will set out first tomorrow to return, and cannot serve the lady further. Lady remain here and reside with an easy mind for some more days, wait to return north together with the Lord Marquis, and at that time you can pay respects to the Old Madame."

 

Before she left, she suddenly spoke such a sentence. Her attitude in speaking was also similar to before, still the same uprightness and cold detachment. But it was the longest sentence Xiao Qiao had heard her say to herself during these days. And she noticed that in Zhong Ou’s words, there was no mention of the other woman in the Wei family of Yuyang—Wei Shao’s mother, Madame Zhu.

 

She spoke a few words of wishing peace on the road.

 

Zhong Ou bowed to her slightly, turned around, and departed.

 

……

Chun Niang was not someone who had never seen the world, yet facing this pile of things sent by Wei Shao, she revealed a slight look of joy. She said in two days she would use this silk to cut a set of new clothes for her.

 

"My clothes are already enough, originally having no time to wear them all, there is no need to make more," Xiao Qiao said somewhat absentmindedly, randomly grabbing two walnuts to place in her palm, rolling them around for play twice.

 

"That is fine too, then wait for some days." Chun Niang ordered the maidservant to store away the gold and silk, "This servant will help you peel and eat the walnuts and pomegranates. The Marquis of Yan certainly is thoughtful. Previously in Dongjun, in the winter days it was also rare to see such pleasing walnuts and pomegranates..."

 

"I do not love to eat these!"

 

Xiao Qiao flung the walnuts in her hand back into the platter.

 

One walnut hopped and rolled out of the platter, spinning around and around on the table.

 

"You all divide and eat them."

 

She clapped her palms, speaking to Chun Niang and the maidservant who were looking at her in surprise.

 

……

Although living in the same place, after that night, Wei Shao did not come to the Shayang Residence again. Sometimes Xiao Qiao took a walk in the courtyard and encountered him by chance, seeing him always in a hurried manner, and his attitude was naturally cold and detached. If she truly could not dodge it and greeted him, he did nothing more than carelessly give a "wu" sound, absolutely with no extra words.

 

Wei Shao, on the other hand, did not restrict Xiao Qiao from going out. But Xiao Qiao did not go out even once. Her life was still very monotonous, and her sole pleasure was probably at every dusk, ascending to the top of the Tan Terrace to look down at the city under the setting sun or the far distance outside the city walls.

 

Sometimes, standing at the top of the Tan Terrace, Xiao Qiao would occasionally see the figures of a column of troops suspected to be Wei Shao entering and exiting the city.

 

He seemed truly busy, busy just like a dog, Xiao Qiao thought in her heart.

 

The days flowed through the cracks of her fingers day by day like this, and the weather gradually turned warmer. Although in the mornings and evenings one still could not shed the heavy winter attire on one's body, when the wind blew over, it was no longer pressing like a knife cutting. The frozen rivers began to thaw, and inside the originally gray and dull courtyard of the Shayang Residence, a few shallow spots of tender green also began to surface.

 

On the day Xiao Qiao discovered that the branches of that begonia in front of the window were beginning to sprout new buds, Wei Shao sent someone to pass a message to her, letting her pack her baggage, saying they prepared to set out to head north in these two days.

 

The sixtieth birthday of Old Madame Xu was about to arrive.

 

He needed to return to celebrate the noble birth for his grandmother.

 

……

Three days later, the carriage Xiao Qiao sat in swayed and rolled over the green stone road surface, exiting Xindu to take the road north, heading toward Yuyang.

 

This road was very smooth, and no further accidents occurred.

 

Half a month later, the group arrived at Yuyang Commandery.

 

To the northwest of Yuyang city there was a mountain, called Yu Mountain; the city was to the south of the mountain, hence the name Yuyang. In ancient times it was also named Wuzhong Town. Because going a hundred li in the northeast direction, there was an ancient city named Wuzhong. Although the city was small, it was surrounded by mountains on three sides; in the winter days it was not dry and bitterly cold like other places, and living within it was just like being in Jiangnan. The Wei family had built an detached villa inside Wuzhong city, and Old Madame Xu had lived there last winter, and currently had not yet returned to Yuyang.

 

Yuyang since ancient times was also a place of military garrison. Several hundred years ago, Yan built the Great Wall to resist the Xiongnu, and the city walls passed by the side of Yuyang.

 

The Wei family, starting from the era of Wei Shao’s grandfather, in order to solidify the northern defense and deter the Xiongnu, moved the provincial seat from Fanyang to the more northern Yuyang. Through several generations, the city defenses were continuously reinforced, and by Wei Shao’s generation, the Chanyu King Yixiemo, whose power was currently strong and prosperous, also did not easily dare to have frontal conflicts with Wei Shao’s army again. The areas of Baitan and Shanggu, which had previously suffered repeated devastation from the Xiongnu cavalry, had now also had no major military operations for many years; the common people gathered to reside again, and the population also gradually managed to multiply.

 

On the day Xiao Qiao arrived, the spring sun was bright and beautiful. When the carriage neared the city gate, she curiously poked her head out of the carriage window to take a glance. She saw in the far front, beneath the washed-like blue sky, the city walls towered destroying the clouds, just like two massive black dragons, crouching on the ground and winding away along the east and west, their ends invisible at one glance. Gradually drawing near, she saw clearly that the city walls in their entirety were built by stacking whole giant blocks of greenish-black stone nearly three feet high, firm like the state of the Great Wall. The gate tower above the city gate was also not the archway style she was ordinarily accustomed to seeing, but was a massive square tower just like a fortress. Along the city walls, this kind of tower occurred once every dozens of zhang, only slightly smaller than the one above the city gate. At the four corners of the towers, banners fluttered and expanded, and upon them armored soldiers held halberds and looked out, the blade heads on the long halberds flashing with a piercing metallic light under the illumination of the sun.

 

The news of the Lord Marquis returning to the city was just now brought into the city via scouts. The city gates immediately opened wide, and a large column of soldiers clad in armor poured out from within the city in ranks, lining both sides of the road. The deputy generals remaining to garrison and guard Yuyang, Li Dian, Zhang Jian, and some dozen others, galloped out of the city to welcome them. Wei Shao exchanged brief pleasantries with his officers, then led the multitude into the city. All along where they passed, the soldiers performed military salutes together, shouting loudly "The Lord Marquis returns," their voices like heavy thunder, shaking the ear drums. After entering the city, the common people heard the news and also poured out of their homes one after another to line the streets and welcome them. Passing all the way through, they finally arrived at the Envoy’s manor located exactly in the center of the north of the city.

 

The specific date of Wei Shao’s return to the city had not been transmitted home beforehand, so his mother, Madame Zhu, did not know, and today she also happened not to be at home. The manager said that Madame Zhu had taken Zheng Shu to the Wu Zhuxian Temple on Yu Mountain two days ago, and was still in the temple now. He had already sent people to notify her, and presumably she would return very soon.

Madame Zhu devoutly believed in Wu Zhuxian, and in recent years was even more obsessed, interacting frequently with the sorcerers in the divine temple, previously often inviting her into the home and offering worship just like a divine person. She had been encountered twice by Wei Shao, and seeing that her son disliked it, only then did she come less to the home, changing to going to the Wu Temple herself. Although Wei Shao detested it, seeing that his mother repeatedly failed to listen to advice, and he himself was busy with military affairs, being rarely at home all year round, the whip was too short to reach, and in helplessness he shut one eye and opened one eye to let her be. Having just entered the gate of the home, hearing that his mother had gone to the Wu Temple again, he frowned slightly, and subsequently instructed the manager to send the lady to the rear estate to be settled.