Chapter 56 Whose land is this in the desolate wilderness of Beiman, where souls gather, wise and foolish alike? ...

Changsun Qingjing's first reaction upon hearing this news was not fear, but surprise.

She was still somewhat unwilling to accept the news of her husband's mysterious disappearance, so she asked, "Have you searched the surrounding area? Perhaps you were invited by someone, or visited them, or stayed at a friend's estate?"

"We've searched all the manors the servants could think of, but to no avail, so we had no choice but to report back to you, Madam," the steward said helplessly.

"Perhaps the people in the village were negligent and failed to notice the note or message he left behind?" Changsun Qingjing still held a glimmer of hope.

Changsun Qingjing could sense the unease in the head of the household.

Lady Liu stepped forward again and said, "Lady Changsun, at first the head of the household also thought that Erlang might have already returned to Luoyang. So he rushed back to confirm, but was extremely disappointed. I also carefully questioned the maids who serve him, and they did not hear that Erlang had any plans to meet with friends. Erlang is like that; if anyone close to him is not under his watchful eye for too long, he will be anxious to find them. How could he leave without saying goodbye?"

“Yes, Erlang is not a man of his word. He promised me a round trip that day, so disappearing like this is really not his style.” Changsun Qingjing’s words were a tacit admission that her husband was missing.

The steward stepped forward and asked, "Should we inform Lord Tang? I need my wife to write a note herself, and then have someone outside the capital send the message through a bribe."

Lady Liu said, "Lord Tang is too far away to act now, so it would be better to report it to the authorities directly. The Duke's beloved son has gone missing, and the Prefect of Henan and the Magistrate of Luoyang can't just turn a blind eye!"

"Absolutely not!" Changsun Qingjing and the family steward said in unison.

"What is the reason for this? If you are too ashamed to go to the authorities, then let this old woman go!" Liu Niangzi was so angry that she felt that the head of the household and Changsun Qingjing were simply cold-hearted and did not care about the young master's life or death at all.

“Ah Nai, please calm down.” Changsun Qingjing explained clearly, “Now that the emperor is preparing to hold a grand Lantern Festival celebration in Luoyang, if the mere son of a duke alarms the military advisor and the military commander to search for him, and this gets back to the emperor, it may be detrimental to you, sir.”

"No!" The head servant and Lady Liu tried their best to dissuade them.

Jiasheng cupped his hands and said, “I know you are extremely anxious, my lady. But if you catch a cold because of this, we cannot bear the responsibility in front of our two gentlemen. Please stay at home, my lady. I have received your letter and will go to visit Tang Gong’s influential relatives and friends. I will definitely bring Erlang back unharmed. My lady must not go to Beiman Mountain rashly!”

Changsun Qingjing asked, puzzled, "Sir, I am the daughter of the former Right Valiant Guard General, and I am also somewhat skilled in archery and horsemanship. I can manage a journey of less than an hour. I will go to the manor myself to take a look, and perhaps I will have some clues."

The head maid's expression grew increasingly serious: "Lady Changsun, this has absolutely nothing to do with your skill in archery and horsemanship. You must not take the Mangban Road!"

"Why? Because there are ghosts and monsters in Mangshan that dare to crush the emperor's brains with iron wheels, so you won't let me leave, sir?"

When Changsun Qingjing mentioned Yang Guang's nightmare in the early years of the Daye era, all the female stewards who were Buddhists present were terrified and began chanting Buddhist prayers.

"Forgive me, forgive me, Madam Changsun, you'd better forget this rumor!" Madam Liu said, pressing her palms together.

Jialing dismissed the rumored nightmare, insisting, "We mustn't take the Mangban Road. My wife will definitely regret it. Nobody wants to go through it a second time!"

"Prepare the horses!" It seems she didn't hear a word he said.

...

Jialing had never seen such a stubborn girl, which made him compromise with her time and time again.

He initially considered the deep affection between the newlyweds and abandoned the plan to leave Lady Changsun waiting idly, suggesting she go to the Chen State Mansion to seek help from her maternal uncle. However, under Lady Changsun's tearful and reasoned arguments, he finally lost the upper hand and agreed to let her travel by carriage, escorted by his retainers, to Beiman. Of course, this still did not satisfy Lady Changsun, and in the end, he could only watch helplessly as Lady Changsun, with her face covered by a veil, was served by four strong women, and surrounded by a dozen retainers, hastily set off, riding straight towards the Mangban Road.

The head steward shook his head at Liu Niangzi, who had come to the stable to see him off, and said, "This new mistress is probably just like Erlang, their spirits are in sync. Before, I only had to deal with a stubborn pine tree that wouldn't sprout new branches, but now there's a crane standing against the wind next to the pine tree, which is really making things difficult for me."

Having said that, he dared not delay in the slightest, mounted his horse, and galloped after the arrogant and conceited entourage of the young mistress, lest she suffer any mishap.

"Om Mani Padme Hum Svaha." Liu Niangzi and A Cai chanted the Guanyin's rescue mantra, watching the group depart into the distance...

The group exited north through Huian Gate and entered the official road. At first, Changsun Qingjing felt that everything was normal; the official road was neat and orderly as usual, with occasional clerks distributing old rice to refugees along the roadside, and soldiers patrolling back and forth. She naively thought that the head of the household was only being overly cautious and not allowing her to go to Beiman, and was therefore exaggerating the danger.

When they were halfway through their journey, a commotion began to rise on the official road. Starving and displaced people, like walking corpses, poured in from all directions, hoping to try their luck at the East Gate of Luoyang.

"The East Gate is closed! Please return!" a clerk loudly announced the latest order from Luoyang.

Changsun Qingjing and his entourage were thus trapped in the stalemate between the two sides.

"These are relatives of the Duke of Tang. Please, sirs, be lenient and let us pass!" The head of the Li family was familiar with the local officials. As soon as he introduced himself, a bailiff cleared a narrow path for Changsun Qingjing through the crowd.

"My lady, hurry up and don't look back!" the steward urged.

"My lord, the imperial court's taxes have already reached my grandchildren's generation. They're levying taxes on Liaodong to build the Grand Canal and imperial palaces, sparing neither the elderly, women, nor children. We've already lost our families and homes. Now we're just going to Luoyang to beg for a bowl of sour porridge. Why are you stopping us?"

The only response to their questioning was the heavy whip. The refugees began to scatter and flee, constantly seeking new avenues to break through, and flocking towards Luoyang.

"Hurry up, don't linger any longer!" The family order's urging voice had barely faded when a woman with skin as thin as bones, whose age was almost impossible to discern, rushed to Changsun Qingjing's horse.

The startled horse stood on its hind legs as if it were a person, its mane bristling, nearly throwing Changsun Qingjing off its back. The woman herself, however, did not care at all about being trampled to death by the frightened horse. She simply knelt in front of the horse, untied the rope around her waist, and tried her best to hold the large-headed, finger-sucking, wailing baby high in the saddle of Changsun Qingjing.

"Madam, my lady! Please do me a favor!" She could no longer shed tears, only letting out a wild howl in a hoarse voice, "Just a handful of bran, take him away."

"Madam, don't touch that baby, he won't live long!" A strong woman from the guards, Sun Qingjing's group, stopped the naive young mistress from doing something foolish.

Changsun Qingjing trembled as he reached his right hand into his left sleeve pocket, trying to find a few Kaihuang Wuzhu coins with star and moon patterns. Two of his men, however, dismounted and dragged away the woman who had been holding a baby and pleading for help.

"My wife, please keep the child! My wife, please give the child a chance to live!" The woman, dragged away, cried out in anguish, her words piercing Changsun Qingjing's heart like a needle. Still shaken, she asked the steward, "Did Erlang see all this yesterday too?"

Jia Ling nodded and said sadly, "You can't save them all. You'll become numb to it after seeing it so many times. Go now."

Changsun Qingjing stopped being stubborn and said more, and just kept going. He dared not look at the refugees who were crawling on their hands and knees and crying over their corpses along the way.

As they approached the village, they could see in the distance that the branches of the withered trees beside the official road were covered with tattered pieces of cloth, fluttering in the wind.

She wanted to ask her master if the trees along the official road also needed to be decorated with silk to celebrate the Lantern Festival, but as she approached, she saw that the bark of the roadside trees, which stood sadly and forlornly, had been scraped off. She felt that this was obviously different from the atmosphere of the Lantern Festival, and was simply eerie and indescribable.

Having already caused trouble, she was too ashamed to ask any further questions.

Then, as if she had lost all will, she fell straight down, lifeless.

Ignoring the reprimand from the family steward for meddling, Changsun Qingjing dismounted and rushed straight to the tree.

The woman, still breathing after the fall, crawled forward, her fingers digging into the mud to support herself. Finally, she touched the naked, dead infant ahead and contentedly cradled him in her arms. The woman's skin was cracked and her bones were clearly visible.

She used her last bit of strength to wrap the baby in her clothes.

Her ribs were like translucent bamboo curtains, and her tattered hemp clothing on her chest was covered with bloodstains and milk residue.

Changsun Qingjing took off a heavy shawl and draped it over the mother and son.

The dying mother experienced hallucinations:

“Nu Nu is so clever. She found her mother right after she hung up the soul-summoning banner.”

"Nunu, hold your mother's hand tightly, Guanyin Bodhisattva has come to take us away."

No more taxes, corvée labor, or famine could separate the mother and child.

"Whose land is this, where souls gather without distinction of wisdom or folly? The ghosts urge us on relentlessly, for human life cannot be delayed even for a moment."

The young noblewoman removed her veil, knelt before the mother and son, clenched her fists, and softly recited a lament for the common people, tears streaming down her face.

The banners of mourning fluttered and billowed in the cold wind of the first month of the lunar calendar, mourning the life frozen in spring.

As a distant relative of the Northern Wei imperial family, Changsun Qingjing was not particularly devout in Buddhism. Yet, at this moment, she sincerely prayed that a fragrant breeze would guide these suffering masses onto the Prajna boat, away from the hellish world.

"My lady, the outside world is fraught with danger, as you have witnessed firsthand. Let's go to the farm!" the steward advised.

“I have a rough idea of ​​where Erlang went. He won’t just disappear without a trace; he’s just trapped. I’m going to find him!” Changsun Qingjing wiped away his tears, raised his arm, mounted his saddle, and sped away, leaving his attendants no chance to catch their breath or think.

She rode her horse up the southern slope of the terrace, and suddenly felt the horse's belly tremble slightly, so she grabbed the reins and dismounted.

With so many imperial tombs, high platforms, and hillsides, where could her husband be? Changsun Qingjing walked slowly, holding a silken thread, climbing rocks and grasping vines, and when she looked up, she saw Li Shimin standing with his hands behind his back at an even higher place.

“Videha!” Changsun Qingjing shook his veil.

Li Shimin clearly saw his wife. He was utterly astonished and desperately needed to pinch his arm to prove it. Changsun Qingjing, overjoyed, wept, threw down his horse, and galloped to a higher place.

The horse neighed alarmingly, but Changsun Qingjing paid no attention.

"Guanyinbi, lie down, lie down quickly!" Li Shimin drew his bow fully, peered at the mountain demon, and shouted in fear and terror.

His hoarse voice carried a hint of blood and absurdity.

Author's Note: This is another somewhat heavy chapter, corresponding to Chapter 15.

No one can replace the immense mental shock that Li Shimin endured in Chapter 15.

No one can take the impact of this human tragedy in place of Changsun Qingjing.

The two will gradually converge on their political views.

Love forged in the face of societal change may lack sweetness, romance, and dominance, but it should be unbreakable.