Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 18
Chapter 18: How You Wish to Live
The carriage halted right outside the entrance of the General's Manor.
"Elder Miss!"
"It's the Elder Miss who has returned!"
The two guards stationed at the manor gates caught sight of her, and after offering formal greetings, they turned on their heels and sprinted inside to announce her arrival.
No sooner had Yun Chu stepped through the gateway than she saw her mother, Madam Lin, and her eldest sister-in-law, Liu Qianqian, hurrying out together to welcome her.
Madam Lin caught her hands, beaming with joy. "Chu'er, why didn't you send word ahead of time when you were coming back?"
"Mother was mentioning you just a couple of days ago," Liu Qianqian chimed in with a warm smile. "If your elder brother knew you were coming back today, he would have cast aside all his outside social obligations no matter what."
At the mere mention of her eldest brother, Yun Chu's eye sockets abruptly grew hot and red.
Their Yun family had been generations of soldiers. Their great-grandfather had perished on the battlefield, their grandfather's generation was left with only grandfather himself, and their father stood wounded, guarding the front lines.
Because so many male members of the Yun family had fallen in battle, by the time her eldest brother's generation arrived, they were forbidden from learning martial arts. Instead, her eldest brother was steered toward academics and the official path, passing the metropolitan examination as a third-class jinshi just last year and currently serving as a seventh-rank court official.
When the Yun family was slapped with the fabricated charge of treason, her eldest brother was the very first to find out and immediately submitted a memorial to argue the family's innocence, only to be thrown into a dark dungeon.
On the second day after her eldest brother was imprisoned, word came from the prison instructing the Yun family to come collect his corpse.
She hadn't even managed to catch a final glimpse of her eldest brother...
"For no rhyme or reason, why are you crying?" Madam Lin was startled. "Chu'er, did those people from the Xie family give you grievances to bear?"
Only then did Yun Chu realize her face was slick with moisture. She hurriedly wiped at her cheeks at random with her sleeve and threw herself into Madam Lin's embrace. "Mother, it has been so long since I last came back. I missed you so much, I missed our home..."
"You silly child, whenever you want to come home, you just come home," Madam Lin soothed, patting her back. "Though traditional etiquette says a married daughter shouldn't frequently return to her maiden household, the Xie family holds no sway over our Yun family. From now on, every few days, I'll send someone to fetch you back from the Xie residence."
Feeling the comforting warmth radiating from her mother, Yun Chu's turbulent emotions gradually smoothed out.
It was still more than a decade away from the day the Yun family manor would be ransacked. Such a fate would certainly not be repeated in this lifetime; she did not need to sorrow or despair.
With a husky voice, she spoke up, "I am going to go see Grandfather."
When her grandfather was young, he had hacked his way through countless battlefields, leaving his body riddled with scars. Now that he was advanced in years, his legs and feet had grown somewhat frail, leaving him confined to his bed for the greater part of the day.
Yet whereas grandfather could have departed this life with his honor and dignity intact, in the end, to prove his own innocence, he had used that very same blade once swung against enemy troops to slash his own throat.
"Chu'er is back." The aged General Yun lay half-reclined upon the couch, and as a smile broke across his face, the scar on his cheek was folded into the wrinkles. "Come here, let Grandfather test you to see how many of your forms you still remember."
Yun Chu felt a prick of guilty conscience. "Grandfather, please spare me."
Back when she was little, because grandfather was injured and could no longer return to the battlefield, he spent most of his time at home. Her eldest brother had to study, so grandfather turned his strict attention to drilling her in martial arts.
She had always possessed a mischievous, playful nature and could never sit still. At that time, her grandmother was still alive and would frequently shield her, forbidding grandfather from forcing her to learn martial arts.
Thus, with three days of fishing followed by two days of drying the nets, she had barely managed to pick up a few basic moves, but after getting married, she had wiped them clean from her memory altogether.
"A person still needs to have a bit of genuine skill to rely upon," Old General Yun declared. "Relying on others causes them to walk away, relying on mountains causes them to crumble, and money will eventually run out. Only the talents and martial arts carved deep into your very bones will accompany you for a lifetime."
"I'm sorry, Grandfather. In the past, I was simply too ignorant." Yun Chu lifted her gaze. "Can Grandfather arrange for someone to teach me martial arts?"
Old General Yun looked closely at her. "Are you speaking from the heart, or are you just saying this to amuse your old grandfather?"
Yun Chu wheedled playfully, "Even if it were just to make you happy, I would still have to study in earnest! When the time comes, I'll come challenge you to sparring matches every few days, so you aren't allowed to find me annoying."
Old General Yun burst into hearty laughter, promising to find a suitable instructor to send over to the Xie residence within three days.
Yun Chu partook in a meal alongside her family, and afterwards sat together with her mother and sister-in-law in the flower parlor to chat about recent casual affairs, her spirits lifting considerably.
Madam Lin sighed softly. "Your younger sister, Ran-er, fell ill the past couple of years, which delayed her marriage prospects. Seeing that she's already seventeen, if we don't start vetting suitors now, she's going to turn into an older maiden."
Liu Qianqian spoke up, "Tomorrow's flower-viewing banquet hosted by the Grand Princess is, in truth, a gathering for all the major noble families of the capital to look over prospective matches. When the time comes, we can simply select a good family for Ran-er, so Mother need not fret over this."
Yun Chu's fingers paused mid-gesture.
Yun Ran was her younger stepsister, but because her biological mother had died in childbirth, she had been raised single-handedly by Madam Lin and was treated by Yun Chu just like a real blood sister.
Because her younger sister had delicate health, falling ill two years prior had disrupted her marriage arrangements, dragging out her age until she grew anxious regarding her marital prospects, ultimately leading her to make a disastrously wrong decision.
"Mother, would it be possible to bring me along to the flower-viewing banquet?" Yun Chu asked. "Ever since I became the Xie mistress, I haven't seen my old boudoir confidantes in ages."
As the wife of a fifth-rank minor official, she no longer occupied the same social circle as the daughters of second and third-rank dignitaries.
For instance, the Grand Princess's flower-viewing banquet would certainly never extend an invitation to her.
Her only option was to piggyback on the Yun family's invitation tokens.
Madam Lin nodded. "It happens to be a good time. You can also take a look at the two prospective families I've picked out for your younger sister and help vet them."
Just as they were speaking, Yun Ze returned.
Yun Ze was the eldest young master of the Yun household, four years older than Yun Chu. He had passed the metropolitan examination as a third-rank jinshi last year at the age of twenty-three, which wasn't considered exceptionally prominent across the entire capital.
Yet Yun Chu knew just how brilliant her elder brother truly was. Clearly capable of passing the jinshi examinations at eighteen and easily securing a top-three placement, he had stubbornly delayed taking the imperial examinations for a full five years precisely out of fear that the Yun family would draw the sovereign's wary suspicion...
"Your eldest brother is back. You siblings go chat for a while," Madam Lin said as she stood up. "Qianqian, accompany me to the kitchen to see if the pastries are ready."
She knew that her daughter must have some vital matter to discuss upon returning today, otherwise she wouldn't have waited around all this time.
Yun Chu was indeed waiting for Yun Ze's return.
"Elder Brother, there is a favor I wish to ask of you." She bit her lip slightly before speaking. "Can you arrange for someone to make a trip to Jizhou?"
"Jizhou? Isn't that where the Xie family's ancestral home is located?" Yun Ze looked at her with concern. "Has something happened?"
Yun Chu lowered her head. "I dreamt of my deceased children, and they kept saying how terribly cold it was... They passed away prematurely the moment they were born, unable to even enter the Xie ancestral tombs, and were buried in some casual patch of earth by them back at the ancestral home. I wish to ask Elder Brother to arrange for someone to bring my children's remains back to the capital. I—I want to rebury my two children properly..."
Xie Jingting had both sons and daughters; he wouldn't care about two dead infants, which was why she could only turn to her eldest brother for help in this matter.
"Do not tell Mother and Grandfather," she said in a hushed voice. "I don't want to cause them worry... Elder Brother, please don't worry about me either. I simply wish to let my children finally rest in peace. Grant me this one heartfelt wish."
Yun Ze sighed.
He reached out, ruffled her hair just as he used to when she was little, and spoke in a gentle, comforting tone, "There is a flood disaster in Jizhou, and the court is just about to dispatch officials there on an assignment. I shall personally make the trip to bring my little niece and nephew back and secure a truly auspicious resting place for them."
Yun Chu choked out through rising sobs, "Thank you, Elder Brother."
"Chu'er, remember this: our Yun family will forever be your strongest backing. If those Xie family members ever give you grievances to swallow, at worst, we will simply demand a divorce and separation," Yun Ze stated warmly. "Your inability to bear children is not your fault; never let that issue make you feel inferior in the Xie household. You are the eldest miss of the Yun family, my proudest younger sister, and the cherished pearl in the palms of our parents. However you wish to live your life, that is how you shall live it."
Departing from the Yun residence and seated within the swaying carriage, Yun Chu broke down completely, weeping in silent agony.