Chapter 35 Pei Ji's Tablet
"What a coincidence! I just figured this out not long ago. If you hadn't suddenly barged in, I would have almost forgotten that such a person as you existed in the capital."
"Stop talking nonsense and please move aside."
Today's encounter was originally intended to dispel Xie Wuqi's doubts about her. Luo Zhaohan even wanted to try to alienate the relationship between Xie Wuqi and Liu Yueli.
However, Liu Yueli had not arrived yet, as she had lost her patience in talking nonsense with Xie Wuqi.
Seeing that Xie Wuqi remained motionless, Luo Zhaohan raised his eyebrows slightly, took Chunxi's hand, and walked straight forward with firm and decisive steps.
The copper bell on the eaves of the ancient temple was rang by the mountain wind, and Xie Wuqi's arm, which was lying across the road, did not move at all.
The silver python pattern on his dark brocade robe shone coldly in the sunlight: "Luo Zhaohan, this is your last chance."
"Then, what about Liu Yueli? Will you give her a legitimate status?"
"I will naturally raise her to be my equal wife, with the same status as you."
Luo Zhaohan stopped on the bluestone steps, her apricot-colored skirt sweeping across the wild chrysanthemums in the cracks of the steps.
As she tilted her head and chuckled, the tassel of the jade hairpin in her hair entangled with the tassel of the jade pendant on Xie Wuqi's waist: "Equal wife? Master Xie is so arrogant."
Xie Wuqi was about to speak when he suddenly saw Luo Zhaohan's fingertips brush across the folds of his sleeves.
This action was very similar to the way she changed his clothes in his previous life. His heart warmed: "Yueli is very considerate."
"Is he so considerate that he's willing to share a husband with someone?" Luo Zhaohan suddenly pointed to the maple forest beside the mountain path. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"
Red leaves fell one after another, and Liu Yueli's knuckles turned white as she held onto the ancient pine tree.
She had deliberately worn Xie Wuqi's favorite moon-white skirt today, but now the mountain wind blew dead leaves all over her face. Even from ten feet away, she could still see Xie Wuqi's hand wrapped around Luo Zhaohan's waist.
"Yueli!" Xie Wuqi stepped forward quickly, but felt something tripping his ankle.
The moment the moss slipped on the soles of his official boots, he heard Luo Zhaohan's low laugh: "Thank you, Master, be careful."
When Liu Yueli turned around, the pomegranate red shawl broke the pine branch.
Xie Wuqi stumbled to his feet, only able to grab hold of a half-broken branch. Clinging to the branch was a rouge-stained maple leaf—the one he had personally pinned to Liu Yueli's hair that morning.
"Honorable and precious temple." Luo Zhaohan walked slowly to the edge of the cliff. "I heard that trespassers will be punished with a beating in court?" She twisted the jade token she took from Xie Wuqi's waist with her fingertips. The gold-painted word "Xie" was particularly dazzling in the sunlight.
Xie Wuqi turned around suddenly, veins popping out on his forehead: "Give it back to me!"
"What's the hurry?" Luo Zhaohan tossed the jade token up and caught it again. "Miss Liu has probably already passed the Imperial Guards' checkpoint. If Master Xie were to force his way in," she suddenly let go, and the jade token fell towards the cliff. "I wonder how much this token is worth?"
The mountain wind carried Xie Wuqi's roar and crashed into the stone wall.
Luo Zhaohan bent down and picked up the sachet that he had dropped in a panic. Inside was the lotus handkerchief embroidered by Liu Yueli.
It was only at this moment that Madam Xie and Nanny Chao slowly arrived.
Mrs. Xie wanted to say something but stopped herself. Her lips opened slightly, but no sound came out. Her son Xie Wuqi had disappeared without a trace.
Luo Zhaohan's sharp eyes caught the figure of Mrs. Xie. Her eyebrows raised slightly, revealing a bit of displeasure.
Look, Madam Xie and Liu Yueli seem to have stepped into this place one after the other. So, it seems that Xie Wuqi really let Liu Yueli convince Madam Xie alone?
Considering that Liu Yueli was able to satisfy Madam Xie and make her obey her in her previous life, Luo Zhaohan secretly guessed that Madam Xie might have fallen into Liu Yueli's sweet talk again this time.
Ginkgo leaves swirled and fell on the bluestone steps. When Madam Xie, holding Nanny Chao's wrist, stepped over the threshold, she saw Luo Zhaohan's goose yellow skirt sweeping past the moon-shaped door on the east side.
The armor dug into her palm, and she remembered the cold reception she received at the Luo Mansion three days ago - Qin Wan didn't even offer her a cup of hot tea.
"Madam, I see the young master's carriage is still outside the mountain gate." Before Chao Mama finished her words, Madam Xie had already shaken her hand away: "Why bother with him?"
The embroidered shoes inlaid with oriental pearls rolled heavily over the ginkgo trees on the ground, startling the gray sparrows pecking at food under the eaves.
Luo Zhaohan paused in front of the East Zen Temple. The glazed tiles of the Jieying Hall reflected the autumn sun, making it difficult to open one's eyes.
She took out the golden melon seeds from her purse and gently touched the robe of the young monk sweeping the floor: "Little Master, what are you sweeping these ginkgo leaves for?"
The young monk hurriedly folded his hands and said, "Master said that falling leaves returning to their roots is also the meaning of Zen. I only sweep the path that pilgrims often take."
The string on his wrist suddenly snapped, and the sandalwood beads rolled into a crevice. Luo Zhaohan squatted to pick them up, his goose-yellow shawl sweeping across the moss. "I just saw the Changning Marquis's carriage parked at the door. May I ask where the Changning Marquis's wife is?"
"Donor Qi is offering lamps in the Jieying Hall." The young monk's fingertips trembled as he took the Buddhist beads. "Donor Pei is accompanying the Crown Princess." He suddenly fell silent, and the broom left messy marks on the blue bricks.
Chunxi was about to ask more questions when Luo Zhaohan pulled her back behind the prayer flags.
A crimson figure emerged from the incense burner, the jade belt buckle on Pei Ji's waist reflecting the sunlight as she passed by the vermilion lacquer pillar where she was hiding. The sound of bells and chimes came from afar, startling the bronze bells on the eaves of the Jieying Hall.
"Miss, let's..." Chunxi had barely finished her words when Luo Zhaohan, holding her skirt, headed towards the western side hall. Her embroidered shoes trod across the scattered pages of the Diamond Sutra, leaving wrinkles on the still-dry ink of the three characters "no self-image."
As they passed the release pond, they suddenly saw Liu Yueli's pomegranate-red skirt flash through the bamboo forest. Luo Zhaohan dragged Chunxi along, squatting behind a Taihu rock. The splash of water from the koi in the pond soaked their embroidered shoes.
She stared at the corner of Xie Wuqi's black clothes brushing against the bamboo leaves, and suddenly remembered that on the day of the crown prince's birthday in her previous life, the same bamboo fragrance was wafting from the side hall of the East Palace.
"The Lotus Lantern for Rebirth is enshrined in the Jieying Hall," Luo Zhaohan pinched her fingertips into her palm, "Pei Ji must have come here to make some trouble in front of the prince's spirit." When she stood up, the goose yellow shawl caught on the green vines on the stone, and the tearing sound startled the patrolling monks.
Chunxi thought quickly and smeared Luo Zhaohan's face with a handful of incense ash. "Girl, cry!" She started to howl, "My girl has lost her jade bracelet. Masters, please be kind."
When the monks approached, torches in hand, Luo Zhaohan was sobbing over the release pond. Her face, a calico-like mess, reflected in the pool made her look like a young lady who had lost a family heirloom. The leading monk turned away, "Lady, please follow me to the guest hall."
"No need." Luo Zhaohan suddenly pointed to the other side of the release pond, "I just saw a lady wearing a veiled hat going over there." The red gold bracelet on her wrist slid to her elbow, swaying into a golden arc in the firelight.
After the monk walked away, Chunxi slumped down on the stone and asked, "How did you know there was someone over there?"
"I don't know." Luo Zhaohan washed his face with the pool water. "But since Pei Ji is in the Jieying Hall, there must be something fishy on the other side."
She looked at the broken moon shadow in the pond, and suddenly remembered that when the prince's coffin was buried in her previous life, Pei Ji placed a golden lotus lamp in the coffin.
The sound of the night watchman came from the main hall. Luo Zhaohan lifted up her wet skirt and said, "It's time to go and pick up Madam Ning, the president of the palace association." Her goose-yellow embroidered shoes stepped on the ginkgo leaves on the ground, leaving winding water marks on the bluestone slabs.
…
The morning bell of the ancient temple startled the birds in the woods, and Luo Zhaohan walked up the mossy stone steps.
The vermilion lacquered doors of the Jieying Hall were tightly shut, and the bronze bells on the eaves twirled in the autumn breeze. She sent Chunxi away to keep watch, and she herself skirted the wall to the back hall, her skirt sweeping the wild chrysanthemums growing wildly at the base of the wall.
A hole in the window paper let out the wisps of incense smoke. Crouching at the foot of the stone steps, Luo Zhaohan heard the crisp crack of shattering porcelain inside. She straightened herself, holding onto the wall, just in time to see the Lady of Changning raise her hand.
“Bang!”
The slap made Pei Ji turn his head, and the crane patch on his crimson official robe shook. Luo Zhaohan clenched his sleeves, his nails digging into his palms. The newly crowned third scholar who had ridden his horse through the Imperial Street yesterday was now standing like a wooden stake, being beaten.
"Give it back to me..." Lady Changning suddenly threw herself into Pei Ji's arms, clutching his collar with her ten fingers, "Give my Ji'er back to me..."
Tears soaked the gold thread on her official robe. She raised her head and touched Pei Ji's flushed cheek: "Does it hurt?"
Pei Ji's Adam's apple rolled, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Luo Zhaohan then saw the jade pendant hanging from his waist - it was clearly a style worn by the royal family of the previous dynasty.
The fragrance of osmanthus wafted in from outside the window, mixed with the incense sticks in the hall, making people's eyes sore.
When the old nanny came in with the medicine bowl, Lady Changning suddenly pushed Pei Ji away. The jade hairpin fell to the ground and broke into three pieces.
"Get lost!" She grabbed the incense burner and threw it at Pei Ji. "You came to see me in this leather, are you trying to kill me?"
Incense ash fell on Pei Ji's shoulders, but his bowing posture remained motionless.
Luo Zhaohan suddenly noticed an old scar on the back of his neck, as if it had been scratched by a sharp weapon. The autumn wind blew fallen leaves against the window frame, startling her and making her step back.
When silence returned to the hall, Luo Zhaohan climbed onto the windowsill as if possessed by a ghost.
The eternal lamp on the altar flickered, illuminating the four characters on the tablet: "Ai Zi Pei Ji." She slipped, and her embroidered shoe scraped against a tile.
"who?"
The old woman's scolding startled the sparrows from under the eaves. Luo Zhaohan hurried along the wall, her hairpin catching on a creeper vine. She heard the palace door creak open, kicked her embroidered shoes into the grass, and slipped barefoot into the maple forest.
The dead leaves crunched under his feet, and Luo Zhaohan hid behind the monument of merit.
Pei Ji's official boots stepped over the stone steps where she had just crouched, and he paused for a long time in front of the broken tiles. The autumn wind lifted the corner of his robe, revealing the broken jade pendant at his waist.
It was not until the evening drum sounded that Luo Zhaohan came out from behind the stele.
The sound of chanting from the Jieying Hall drifted in on the wind, and she turned back for some unknown reason. The incense burner before the tablet was newly filled with incense, and amidst the swirling smoke, the words "Pei Ji" glowed eerily with gold paint.
"Is the girl lost?"
An old maid stood in the corridor, holding a lantern. The dim light illuminated the mud stains on Luo Zhaohan's skirt. She bowed and said, "I heard that the fortune-telling in the Jieyin Hall is effective."
"We don't accept outsiders here." The old nanny interrupted, tilting the lantern towards the altar, "Young lady, please go back."
Luo Zhaohan caught a glimpse of a longevity lock placed next to the tablet, with his birth date engraved on the lock core.
She pretended to stagger and held onto the table, her fingertips quickly running across the lock - the date was clearly from twenty years ago.
On the way back, Luo Zhaohan was lost in thought, stepping on the maple leaves scattered across the ground. Chunxi chased after her, holding up her newly bought embroidered shoes. "What happened to you, young lady?" She suddenly noticed the red mark on Luo Zhaohan's wrist. "Oh! What scratched you?"
"It's okay." Luo Zhaohan gathered her sleeves. She'd just scratched herself on a splinter while climbing through the window, and now she felt the pain. She turned to look at the eaves of the Jieying Hall, which looked like a vulture with its wings folded in the twilight.
Luo Zhaohan stood behind the pillars of the Reception Hall, suddenly recalling the scene at the Imperial College gate that day. Her younger brother, Luo Jince, and her cousin, Ye Yiheng, were winking at each other, saying, "I heard that Lord Pei Ji used to be... a fool." She gazed at the frail figure of the Marquis Changning's wife in the hall, her heart pounding: Could this be the key to this witchcraft case?
He circled the Jieying Hall three times, but aside from the wife of the Marquis of Changning and her old maid, he saw no one else. Luo Zhaohan touched the twined branches embroidered on her sleeves, feeling that the lady's behavior was peculiar. He had specifically warned Pei Ji, the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, the other day to be wary of those around him, but he wondered if he'd heeded his warning.
"Miss!" Chunxi stamped her feet anxiously in the pavilion and rushed over as soon as she saw someone. "If you don't come soon, I'll go and ask the monk to ring the bell!"
Luo Zhaohan forced a smile and was about to speak when Chunxi's face suddenly flushed. "Um... I saw Master Pei just now." The little maidservant, clutching her handkerchief, explained, "I was very clever. I hid behind a pillar as soon as I saw him coming this way. Besides, we only met once before at the Imperial College. Master Pei definitely wouldn't recognize me."
"Where did he go?" Luo Zhaohan interrupted her. Chunxi pointed to the right front of the stele forest, looking as if she had swallowed a live toad.
"If you have something to say, just say it."
"Master Pei's face..." Chunxi gestured at her left cheek, "What a big red palm print, could it be from you, young lady..."
"Nonsense!" Luo Zhaohan's ears burned, and she scrambled toward the Forest of Steles, skirt in hand. Turning past the pagoda, she saw a sea of stone tablets, some taller than two men, some barely reaching her knees. Chunxi suddenly tugged at her sleeve and pointed toward the pavilion further in. An old man in a gray cloth shirt was writing on a stone table.
The two of them tiptoed inside, their embroidered shoes soaked by the moss. As they were about to bypass the pavilion, the old man spoke without looking up, "Since we're here, why not have some tea before you go?"
Luo Zhaohan froze in place, and stepped forward to salute: "Junior has mistakenly trespassed into this precious place and disturbed your peace." Before he could finish his words, the old man put down his pen and looked up, his gray beard curled up, and his eyes were frighteningly bright.
This old man is none other than the contemporary imperial tutor, Old Tutor Chu.
A few days ago, Ling Ji brought the injured Pei Ji to seek medical treatment, and said mysteriously that Pei Ji had saved a girl in Prince Duan's Mansion.
This morning, Prince Duan came in person to ask about Pei Ji's marriage, and the girl he was talking about was the girl from the Luo family.
The old man stroked his beard and smiled secretly: This is a wonderful fate.
The copper bells on the eaves of the ancient temple were jingling in the autumn wind. Luo Zhaohan stood on the bluestone steps, feeling hesitant about what to do.
Old Chu stroked his white beard, his face wrinkled with smiles. "Miss, are you here to look for Pei Ji?" He pointed at the teacup on the stone table. "That kid just got chased away by this old man to apply a facial mask."
The tips of Luo Zhaohan's ears turned slightly red. When he bowed, he noticed that the ink on the rice paper on the table was still wet.
Old Chu suddenly lowered his voice: "Girl, what do you think of Pei Ji?" He made faces and looked like an old naughty boy who was sniffing around in the market to get some gossip.
"Lord Pei is elegant and upright..." Luo Zhaohan was considering his words when he suddenly saw a corner of a crimson robe appear from behind the bamboo curtain.
Pei Ji's hand holding the ice handkerchief paused. The swelling on his left cheek had not gone away, which made his eyebrows and eyes look even more fierce.
Old Chu jumped up with a cry of "Ouch!" "How can you face people with this face?" He said as he retreated from the pavilion, "I'll go take a look at the newly copied inscription."
When passing by Pei Ji, she did not forget to pinch the soft flesh on his waist.
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