HMHSE - 41

The years of tacit understanding between Changsun Xin and his sister Shen Rong were not for show. When Zirui sent word that the Shan family had delivered the wrong message, he used the opportunity to calm Lady Pei.

Lady Pei was initially suspicious, but after repeatedly asking around, no one had seen Young Master Shan, so she assumed the Shan family had made a mistake in identification.

Only then did Changsun Xin feel relieved and go to find Shen Rong. He sat in her room for a long time, glancing outside several times, until he finally saw her enter.

“Did you go to instruct that person named Shan?” he asked immediately, intuiting that she had been out so long to see Shan Zong.

Shen Rong had indeed intended to do so, but it was no longer necessary. She slowly approached and said, “He left.”

Changsun Xin let out a long sigh of relief, patting the table lightly. “That’s great, otherwise I couldn’t rest assured going to Youzhou.” He rose from his chair, adjusted his clothes, and smiled contentedly. “Just missed him; I can prepare to set off now.”

Saying he was about to leave, he passed by his sister and suddenly had a hint of doubt. “He just left like that? Didn’t he say anything to you?”

Shen Rong glanced at him, recalled the words on the paper, and said lightly, “He told me to rest assured, that there was nothing to worry about, and then he left.”

He left so quickly that by the time she went out, there was no trace of his troops, as if he had never been there.

“It’s rare for him to say something good; I’m actually relieved.” Changsun Xin, having heard that Minister Liu had arranged the escort, hadn’t thought much of it. “The sooner he leaves, the better. This time he escorted you back, which might be hard to explain. Next time, if he dares to come alone, he might not be so lucky.”

Feeling much more comfortable, he left.

Shen Rong sat on the couch, habitually pulling out the scroll from her bosom and holding it. She thought that he certainly wouldn’t come again.

Otherwise, back in that guest room at the official post station, he wouldn’t have said those words.

Telling her not to chicken out and never to go to Youzhou again, otherwise...

“Otherwise what?” she had asked then.

Shan Zong had touched her nose, then leaned close to her ear, saying in a deep voice with a laugh, “Otherwise, even if you truly regret it, it will be useless.”

Shen Rong’s fingers, holding the scroll, unconsciously curled. Even now, she remembered the hint of danger in his words.

________________________________________

Changsun Xin had been prepared for a long time; once he decided to move, he could set off within days.

On the day of their departure, Chang’an had grown cold, with gusts of wind sweeping through the corridors of the Duke of Zhao’s residence.

Indeed, it was no longer appropriate for Minister Liu to remain in charge of Youzhou; they needed to quickly take over.

Lady Pei had been displeased for several days due to the Shan family’s visit. Now that her son was leaving, she finally cast these worries aside. Before his departure, she specifically kept him in the hall to give him a few instructions.

It was nothing more than telling him not to associate with that young man named Shan in Youzhou. Their Changsun family no longer wanted to deal with such a rebellious person who abandoned his wife and home.

“If not for the importance of the mines, why would we be polite to him?” Lady Pei murmured, sitting on the couch.

Changsun Xin, dressed in thick clothes and wearing a fox-fur collar, dutifully nodded in agreement, but thought to himself: it’s one thing to be impolite to him in Chang’an, but in Youzhou, even without the mines, it might be difficult.

After all, he was the head of Youzhou’s military and civil administration. On his territory, how could one be impolite to him?

That military rogue, that local boss.

The Duke of Zhao paced with his hands behind his back, pondering, “What kind of place is Youzhou? A melting pot, a crucial pass, where many heroes rise and fall. How many can last to the end? It’s truly not simple for that young man to be in charge of the military and civil affairs there. However, his military rank was only recorded during the late emperor’s time, and he’s been like a ghost for the past three years, which is also strange.”

Lady Pei frowned, feeling as if this sounded like praise for that young man. “If he were simple, why would he have been chosen initially? Who knew he was so blind.”

The Duke of Zhao smiled and comforted her, “Alright, don’t let Ah Rong hear.”

Only then did Lady Pei stop speaking and nodded to Changsun Xin.

Changsun Xin finally felt relieved, bowed to his parents, and set off.

Shen Rong’s carriage was already waiting outside the mansion to see him off.

She sat in the carriage, lifting the curtain, and seeing her brother emerge, she understood and said, “They must have given you a whole pile of instructions.”

Changsun Xin smiled at her and mounted his horse. “How could anything escape you?”

They rode out of the city and stopped at the Ten-Mile Pavilion.

Small snowflakes began to drift down from the sky, swirling like light floss around the wooden pillars of the Ten-Mile Pavilion.

Shen Rong alighted from the carriage and walked into the pavilion, taking out the already drawn map of the mine from her sleeve and handing it to Changsun Xin.

Changsun Xin took it, unfolded it, and nodded. The map was clearly marked, showing where problems had occurred, which he now realized the mountain had experienced. It was thanks to her.

That place was more her achievement, and this experience must have been extraordinary for her as well.

Thinking of this, and then remembering his parents’ instructions, Changsun Xin looked at her and gently whispered, “It’s good that you’re back this time, so rest well at home, and let our parents feel at ease. Whatever happened in Youzhou doesn’t matter; whether you want to vent or make him yield, I’ll naturally stand by you. But now the family is already suspicious, so it’s best not to get involved with that wicked person again.”

Shen Rong glanced at him. “There won’t be any more involvement anyway.”

He’s gone; what more involvement could there be?

Changsun Xin thought the same, nodded reassuringly, and put away the map.

Just as he was about to leave the pavilion and mount his horse, a person on a fast horse galloped towards them.

The Changsun family guards were standing outside the pavilion, and seeing someone arrive, they were all on guard, but then they heard the person on the horse call out, “Cousin-in-law!”

The horse reached outside the pavilion, and a woman dressed in a round-collared robe, in men’s attire, dismounted and jogged into the pavilion, cupping her hands to Shen Rong. “Cousin-in-law, I finally see you.” It was Shan Ying, who had visited the Duke of Zhao’s residence that day; she hadn’t left Chang’an yet.

Shen Rong felt as if she had met another Shan Zhao and immediately turned sideways, saying, “Don’t call me that.”

By age, Shan Zong was five years older than her. Although Shan Ying was his cousin, she was actually a year older than Shen Rong, but still called her cousin-in-law.

Most of the Shan family daughters also practiced martial arts. Shan Zong’s father was Shan Ying’s uncle, and Shan Ying followed her uncle in martial arts, often frequenting the Shan family mansion, making her familiar with Shen Rong, second only to Shan Zhao.

She must have been riding for a long time, as there was fine sweat on her forehead. She wiped it with the back of her hand and said, “Cousin-in-law, even if you don’t like it, I can’t change how I address you. Everyone in the Shan family still respects you as the eldest daughter-in-law, and you are the future mistress of the Shan family.”

Shen Rong hadn’t said anything yet, but Changsun Xin couldn’t help but clear his throat beside her.

He couldn’t listen anymore.

Shan Ying turned to him, looked at him twice, and said, “It’s brother-in-law, long time no see.”

He immediately took half a step back. “Who are you calling brother-in-law? I’m not your Shan family’s brother-in-law!”

Shan Ying, coming from a military family and having practiced martial arts for years, had a certain masculine boldness and paid no mind to his words. She then faced Shen Rong again and said, “Auntie didn’t see cousin-in-law when she went to the Duke’s residence, and she also missed eldest cousin, so I had to persuade her to return to Luoyang first.”

Hearing that Lady Yang had returned, Shen Rong felt somewhat relieved; at least she wouldn’t call on her, which saved her from looking for Shan Zong in Chang’an.

“Since that’s the case, why did you come?”

Shan Ying said, “I still wanted to see you. I’ve been monitoring the Duke of Zhao’s residence, and only today did I get a chance.”

Shen Rong smiled at her. “You want to ask where your eldest cousin is, don’t you?”

Shan Ying nodded. “Yes.”

Shen Rong looked at the sky outside the pavilion where small snow was dancing. “He left early. By now, he’s probably gone very far.”

How many days has it been? She hadn’t counted.

“So he was indeed in Chang’an that day,” Shan Ying mumbled regretfully, feeling deceived. Then she suddenly looked up and asked, “Will you still go to see him?”

Shen Rong thought of the words in the official post station, and that dangerous warning. She lightly twisted the silk cord at her waist. “My reunion with him wasn’t because I specifically went to see him. Where I go depends entirely on whether there’s a reason to go, it’s about me, not him.”

Shan Ying frowned, hearing the tone of the Changsun family’s pampered daughter. It sounded like she wouldn’t go.

She helplessly said, “After eldest cousin divorced and left home, Uncle was furious and then retired from military affairs, and he also forbade us from looking for him. So it wasn’t until he returned this time that we knew he had been in Youzhou all along, but we still couldn’t go find him.”

Shen Rong looked at her in surprise. When she had left with the book, she had only just learned this.

Shan Zong’s father, who was once a Grand Protector, had actually retired from military affairs. No wonder there had been no news of him for a long time.

After listening, she said nothing, walked out of the pavilion, and got into the carriage.

After all, the Shan family’s affairs had little to do with her anymore.

Shan Ying hadn’t finished speaking. The entire Shan family now knew that her cousin, who had been so set on divorcing, had escorted his ex-wife back once. Her cousin had never protected anyone else; who knew if something had happened between the two of them?

Perhaps only her cousin-in-law could sway her cousin.

She directly chased to the side of the carriage. “Cousin-in-law.”

Shen Rong stopped her foot on the step and pointed to Changsun Xin standing in the pavilion. “My brother is going to Youzhou. If you have anything to tell your eldest cousin, you might as well ask him to deliver it.”

Shan Ying couldn’t help but look at Changsun Xin.

Changsun Xin also glanced at her.

When she looked back, the carriage had already started moving, and Shen Rong just left in front of her eyes.

After the carriage had driven for a while, Shen Rong took out the brocade pouch from her bosom, pulled out the scroll, and ran her fingers over the words “Nu Ze” (Women’s Conduct) at the beginning of the scroll.

A corner of the scroll near the axis had been scraped by rocks when it fell into a pit before, leaving a mark that had never faded.

She carefully put it back into the brocade pouch.

It was time to seal this scroll again.

________________________________________

Compared to Chang’an, Youzhou, a thousand miles away, was a world of cold winds and swirling sand.

In the military camp, Hu Shi’yi had just returned from changing shifts in the mountains. He burst into Zhang Wei’s tent, complaining, “When is the chief coming back? I’m longing for him every day. If he doesn’t come back soon, all these military duties will crush me.”

Zhang Wei sat there, wiping his weapon by the brazier. “I’ve been calculating it for a while. According to our normal marching speed, a round trip should take another three to five days. But what if the chief wants to spend the winter in the capital? He hasn’t left Youzhou in three years.”

Hu Shi’yi moved closer, holding his hands over the fire to warm them. “What do you mean ‘spend the winter in the capital’? With Jin Jiaojiao?”

Zhang Wei said, “That’s possible too.”

Hu Shi’yi clicked his tongue. “But I heard that old Minister of Works left yesterday. The Ministry of Works’ task is over, so he still has to come back, right?”

Just as he said this, he heard the neighing of horses outside.

Hu Shi’yi found the sound familiar, got up, and ran out. From a distance, he saw a team of horses galloping over, with the black-clad figure at the front holding a sword and leaping off his horse.

“Chief?” Hu Shi’yi ran over in surprise. “I just calculated it would take at least three to five days for you to return. How did you come back so quickly?”

Shan Zong’s horse boots were covered in dust, reaching up to the instep, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes. “I returned by forced march.”

Zhang Wei, who had just come out, gasped. “Forced march? That means day and night without stopping?”

Hu Shi’yi was also stunned. It was too rushed to use a forced march.

Shan Zong didn’t speak and strode towards the tent.

He had traveled day and night, without stopping, and didn’t take the same route as before, choosing a shortcut straight back to Youzhou.

It wasn’t until he pushed open the tent door that he finally stopped completely.

Hu Shi’yi followed him in, took his sword, and placed it on the table. Seeing him covered in dust from the journey, he quickly poured him a cup of water and brought it over. “Chief, why such a rush? Even if the Ministry of Works’ task is over, you don’t need to rush like this.”

Shan Zong took a gulp of water, his throat moving. “I had to come back eventually.”

Hu Shi’yi suddenly understood. Right, he was to guard Youzhou forever.

“Get out,” Shan Zong handed him the cup and walked to the bed to sit down.

Hu Shi’yi knew he needed rest. He put down the cup and went out. Once outside the door, he poked his head back through the doorframe and asked, “Since the old Minister of Works has returned, has the Changsun family sent someone to take over? And will Jin Jiaojiao still come in the future?”

Shan Zong, sitting there, suddenly chuckled and lazily stretched his stiff leg. “No, she won’t.”

Why would she still come? There was no longer any reason for her to return here.

But he still had to stay here forever.