Chapter 22 Traveling Together in Yangzhou Shen Minghuai snapped out of his daze and used the momentum to pull her closer…
Wang Yan bit her tongue and silently turned her head away. Yang Qiying looked ahead and said, "After crossing Kaiming Bridge, we will reach Yanqingfang."
Yang Jingzhe indeed stopped pressing the issue and excitedly said, "Let's go, let's go, there are lots of interesting things over there."
After crossing the bridge, Yang Jingzhe pointed to an open space in front of the beverage shop and shouted, "This is it! You're the one who stepped on my cricket and killed it here!"
The beverage shop looked somewhat familiar. That day, Wang Yan was on his way to the spice shop when his jade pendant was suddenly snatched from his waist. In his haste to catch the thief, he stepped on something and heard two crisp sounds. It turned out to be his cricket.
"I'm so sorry, it was an accident."
Yang Jingzhe immediately jumped up, "Good! You finally remembered! What jade pendant? Isn't it hanging right on your waist?" He then looked closely, "Mutton fat jade?! You compensate me for this jade pendant, and I will let it go."
Before Wang Yan could react, Shen Minghuai quickly rejected Yang Jingzhe's unreasonable request, saying, "Wenxuan did not do this intentionally, so why are you being so persistent?"
"Did you hear that? Young Master Shen said no."
Yang Jingzhe retorted indignantly, "Why not? My jade vase is worth two of your jade pendants!"
Shen Minghuai stopped him, saying, "It's probably not appropriate to demand compensation for something that didn't happen."
Yang Qiying instructed, "Jingzhe, no matter how bad things get, you should still talk to them. It's not the behavior of a gentleman to pester them relentlessly."
"I cannot argue with you two gentlemen."
Like the tighter headband of the Monkey King, the spell seemed to tighten. Yang Jingzhe avoided the two of them like the plague, and even less wanted to be with Wang Yan. Seeing the peonies in full bloom by the bridge, he staggered to the flowers, bent down, and sighed, "Thinking of the red peonies by the bridge, for whom do they bloom year after year?"
“Brother, that’s not how you use the poem.” A little girl with her hair in two buns earnestly corrected him. “The White Stone Taoist saw the desolation after the war with his own eyes and recalled the past prosperity, which is why he wrote this lament. Now is a peaceful time, why is he lamenting?”
"Hongyao, what are you doing here? I'm so sorry, my daughter just talked nonsense, please don't take it to heart." The woman took the child in her arms, bowed and apologized, and then quickly left.
Wang Yan stared intently at the peony field, murmuring, "A peaceful world."
"I hope that child won't be bound by the word 'wife' in the future." Yang Qiying also stared blankly at a certain spot.
Shen Minghuai turned his gaze away from where the red medicine had disappeared, only to see Yang Jingzhe squatting on the ground, wailing loudly.
"I...I'm not even as good as a nine-year-old child...Waaah...All these years of schooling have been for nothing...Waaah...I'd rather go home...so I won't bother my teacher..."
His tearful confession startled everyone present.
Shen Minghuai and Wang Yan turned around and waved away the onlookers. Yang Qiying comforted them, saying, "You've only been going to school more often since you came to Yangzhou. So, you've only studied for two years in total. That child has been studying for at least five years. If you work harder in the future, you'll definitely catch up."
Yang Jingzhe stopped crying. "Sister, you're not kidding me, are you?"
"When has your sister ever lied to you?" Yang Qiying handed him a handkerchief. "Quickly wipe your face."
Yang Jingzhe wiped his face and stood up, vowing to study hard from now on and never neglect his studies again. In an instant, he put aside his grudges with Wang Yan and advised her, "Why don't you come to school with me?"
Wang Yan's eyes widened. "Me?"
Suddenly, Yang Jingzhe's eyes lit up with a Buddhist light, and he began to earnestly advise, "Yes, just by looking at you, I can tell you're all about fighting and killing. You must not have read many books, right? Those two are full of knowledge. We, who are ignorant and incompetent, should correct our mistakes and start anew."
Wang Yan chuckled, hands behind his back, "Someone like me doesn't need to study. Young Master Yang should just go to school."
“That won’t do. Every child like that we have adds a glimmer of hope to the future of Da Yue. Girls don’t usually go to school, so you can dress up as a boy. I don’t think it should be difficult.”
Wang Yan took a few steps forward with a half-smile, his hands clenched into fists.
"Wait a minute! You're Wang Yan?" Yang Jingzhe wanted to point but didn't dare. "You're the Wang Yan that Xie Yu fears so much?!"
Wang Yan smiled and said, "It's me. What's wrong?"
Yang Jingzhe bowed deeply and clasped his hands in greeting. "I was blind and offended you, heroine. Please forgive me! I won't bother you any longer." With that, he ran off like a whirlwind.
"Excuse me, gentlemen." Yang Qiying chuckled twice and chased after Yang Jingzhe, muttering under her breath, "What's gotten into him now?"
With the Yang siblings gone, only the two of them remained, and the burden of traveling in Yangzhou fell back on Wang Yan's shoulders. Continuing on their journey, passing shop after shop, Shen Minghuai didn't utter a single word.
Wang Yan picked up a short flute, put it down, glanced at him, picked up another hairpin, put it down again, and examined all the peddler's wares. Feeling the peddler's resentful gaze, she casually bought a bamboo grasshopper.
"If you're not interested, then go back."
Wang Yan was about to head towards Wanchun Courtyard when Shen Minghuai followed.
"So this is how you treat people."
Wang Yan turned his head and saw a face full of dissatisfaction, but now his joy and anger were written all over his face, leaving no room for guessing.
"What? This is inexplicable." Wang Yan continued walking forward.
Shen Minghuai then casually remarked, "That's why you have so many enemies."
Wang Yan stopped and turned around, saying coldly, "How I treat people and how many enemies I have is none of your business."
Shen Minghuai stared at her hand and asked, puzzled, "Why aren't you making a fist?"
Wang Yan's anger turned to laughter. "You don't necessarily want me to beat you up, do you?"
As if recalling something, Shen Minghuai murmured to himself with a self-deprecating laugh, "Fighting might not necessarily have a good outcome."
On the day the results were announced that year, Shen Dingchen had just finished his parade through the streets when Han mistook him for a villain and slapped him without provocation, never imagining that this would lead to this whole affair. And what happened next? He knew the outcome better than anyone. He had been so foolish for a moment.
"How can hitting someone end well?" Wang Yan was even more puzzled, and her hand subconsciously touched his forehead. "Are you alright?"
Shen Minghuai snapped out of his daze, using the momentum to pull her closer, and looked down at Wang Yan, who had a flustered expression. "Look at you, are you dumbfounded?"
Her heart pounded wildly and uncontrollably, and her ears quickly flushed with a blush. Wang Yan hurriedly looked away and walked past him.
Shen Minghuai chuckled lightly, a hint of slyness in his expression, and turned to follow.
Li Changling suddenly appeared, and was not surprised to see the two of them together. He went up and pulled Wang Yan away, waving to Shen Minghuai.
"Let's go to the He residence to see young He."
Wang Yan stopped and turned around. Shen Minghuai stood motionless in place, looking pitiful. Why did she feel a sense of guilt...? She ran back and handed him the bamboo grasshopper. Just as she was about to speak, a gust of wind blew from somewhere, pulling late spring back to the end of winter.
"Let us not forget our cooperation."
Wang Yan paused for a moment before a smile appeared on his face. "Young Master Shen, shouldn't you also show some sincerity? Head to the capital—"
Shen Minghuai abruptly interrupted her, "There will be news soon."
Wang Yan walked towards Li Changling, her smile vanishing abruptly. "I hope it's good news."
Shen Minghuai walked back, but unexpectedly ran into Yang Jingzhe and his companion again at Kaiming Bridge.
Yang Jingzhe covered his brows with his hands, looked up into the distance, and muttered, "That fierce one—"
Two icy gazes were cast upon him, and Yang Jingzhe quickly changed his tune, "What about the heroine who made great contributions and served her country with utmost loyalty?"
As Shen Minghuai passed him, he casually stuffed the bamboo grasshopper into his hand and asked Yang Qiying, "I've heard that the bridges in Yangzhou connect thousands of homes."
"What is this?" Yang Jingzhe picked it up and looked at it, muttering after Yang Qiying, "A bamboo grasshopper? No, Wang Yan just gave me a bamboo grasshopper as compensation? They're not even the same thing! I told you she had to come to school with me!"
Yang Qiying lifted her skirt and walked onto Kaiming Bridge. "Du Fu's line 'The moon shines on the Twenty-Four Bridges' perfectly describes Yangzhou. Young Master Shen, you might as well go and see it when you have time. There are countless beautiful sights in Jiangnan, but this is the one that most makes scholars linger."
Yang Jingzhe clapped his hands and said, "I know that! On the night of the bright moon over the Twenty-Four Bridges, where is the jade maiden teaching the flute?"
Ahead came another peddler, carrying a bamboo flute on his various carrying poles. It wasn't particularly eye-catching among the gourds, bottles, fans, cow horns, and leather balls, but Shen Minghuai spotted it at a glance.
"Can you play the Yangzhou Slow Tune?"
Yang Jingzhe said, "You've come to the right person! I don't know how, but my sister does. Her 'Yangzhou Slow' is the best she can play in all of Yangzhou!"
Yang Qiying was somewhat surprised, "Young Master Shen wants to learn the Yangzhou slow style?"
“Brother Minghuai has come all this way, you must bring something back with you.”
Shen Minghuai's gaze lingered on the bamboo flute for a long time. "Things can be seen and touched, but they can't be put into the heart. This one can be remembered more firmly."
Yang Qiying did not refuse, "I dare not claim to be the best in Yangzhou, but I am still quite presentable. If Young Master Shen really wants to learn, he can come to the Yang residence to find me when he has free time."
Under Yang Jingzhe's suspicious gaze, Shen Minghuai agreed, "Thank you for your trouble, Madam Yang. I will definitely visit you another day."
As dawn broke, a horse-drawn carriage drove out of the city, heading straight for Daming Temple in the northwest suburbs.
Many people went to Daming Temple to participate in the Buddha Bathing Ceremony. Wang Yan and Li Changling mingled among the believers and were fortunate enough to taste the "Buddha Bathing Water," which was actually a sweet and fragrant syrup. The two of them followed Shangguan Yu's example in chanting scriptures and eating vegetarian food, always keeping a relatively far distance. It wasn't until they went with the believers to release animals that they finally saw Shen Minghuai.
Li Changling approached and asked in a low voice, "Is there any trace of Jingxin?"
Shen Minghuai also lowered his voice, "Four months ago, the Indian Buddhists did indeed discuss Buddhism with Abbot Xuanhong, but no one in the entire temple has ever seen Jingxin."
Wang Yan was skeptical of this explanation, "He is so devoted to this art, how could he have never come here?"
Shen Minghuai's gaze remained fixed on the crowd. "Madam Shangguan also follows this path; she may have met Jingxin."
Wang Yan finally found Shangguan Yu among the believers again; she was talking to a monk.
"She must have seen it before."
Together with the others, they came to the riverbank, sprinkled water, chanted scriptures, offered incense, and bestowed dharma. The fish hurriedly fell into the river. After reciting, "May we all be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss in this lifetime," the ceremony was considered complete. As the crowd made their way back, Shangguan Yu discreetly handed Wang Yan a small roll of straw paper before quickly leaving.
As dusk approached, weary birds returned to their nests. The three settled into an inn, had a quick dinner, and then returned to their rooms to await midnight. Meng Shu had only met Li Changling at noon, and had not seen him since. Night fell, all sounds faded, and the world returned to its natural state.
After the maidservant had fallen asleep, Shangguan Yu quietly left the inn. Hearing the sound, Wang Yan also quietly left the inn a moment later. Li Changling and Shen Minghuai followed closely behind.
The three met Shangguan Yu. Meng Shu arrived, bathed in moonlight, and asked urgently, "Where is she?"
Shangguan Yu frowned and questioned Wang Yan, "Why is he here too?"
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