Difficult things
On the way back to the bamboo house, Xie Sili kept reflecting on himself.
She wondered if it was because of her behavior that the two children still dared not rely on her, as if they were afraid of becoming a burden to her.
No one in Yuzhou City dared to bully them because everyone from the city lord to the common people was her person, and they all knew that Xie Jingche and Xie Jingyan were her children, so no one dared to bully them.
But in this dazzling and ruthless city of Chang'an, who knew they were her children? And that's why the child dared to bully them so brazenly.
As the wife of the Minister of Works said: It is not wise for the people to fight against the officials.
She was determined to fight them!
The evening breeze rustled through the bamboo grove, but it couldn't dispel the silence that lingered between the three.
The two children stood side by side, Xie Jingche's clothes still stained with dust from their earlier fight. The boy's head was down, his clenched fists betraying his forced composure.
"Aunt..." he finally spoke, his voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the wind, "It was that person who started it..."
Xie Jingyan suddenly took half a step forward, her almond-shaped eyes blazing with a defiant spirit. "That Zhao family brat dares to tear my clothes in broad daylight just because his father is the Minister of Works!" Her voice was clear and crisp, but when she met Xie Sili's calm gaze, her momentum unconsciously weakened.
Xie Sili gazed at the two children.
Xie Jingche had a faint red mark on his brow bone, and Xie Jingyan's cufflinks were ripped. She had personally delivered her sister-in-law's baby and had also personally cared for her over the years; although she didn't actually spend much time taking care of them, she would always make time to be with them whenever she returned to Yuzhou City.
Perhaps to confirm her brother's earlier prediction, they rarely troubled her since they could remember. She didn't need to worry about their literary or martial arts. Their martial arts skills were taught by Si Yi, while their literary skills were taught by Mr. Zhuge.
Mr. Zhuge was once the emperor's tutor and also guided the former crown prince. He treated Xie Jingche and Xie Jingyan with exceptional gentleness and praised them highly in his words.
In their letters to her, her grandparents often mentioned how well-behaved and sensible the two children were. The maids and guards in the garden treated them like treasures and spoiled them, but they never took advantage of their favor.
The reason why Zhao Yi's son bullied them was simply because the two siblings seemed easy to bully. More importantly, it was because the aristocratic families held absolute power, and their children were just as arrogant. They, who had come from afar from Yuzhou City, became the targets of their bullying.
"Auntie..." the two children said in unison, their slightly immature voices hiding grievances and resentment.
Xie Sili reached out and brushed the bamboo leaves from Xie Jingyan's hair, his fingertips lingering for a moment on the wound on Xie Jingche's brow bone.
"I'm not angry."
Xie Sili reached out and grasped the two children's trembling wrists. "I was thinking..." Her fingertips lightly traced the dusty cuffs of the two children's sleeves, "Why can't you rely on me a little more?"
As dusk fell, Xie Jingche suddenly turned his face away. The boy's stubborn profile appeared pale in the moonlight, his Adam's apple bobbing laboredly. Xie Jingyan's eyes reddened, and her lower lip tightened and turned white as she bit it.
“Every time we return to Yuzhou City, you are all so sensible.” Xie Sili cupped Xie Jingyan’s face and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingers. “But you are still children after all.”
These words seemed to touch the softest part of their hearts. Xie Jingyan suddenly threw herself into her arms, tears instantly soaking her clothes. Xie Jingche remained standing stiffly, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
“As long as he’s my child…” Xie Sili pulled Xie Jingche into her arms, feeling his restraint crumble in an instant, “he has the right to be spoiled and the right to be willful.” Her voice was soft but firm, “No matter what you say, your aunt will believe you.”
Suppressed sobs came from her arms. Xie Jingche gripped her sleeve tightly as if collapsing, while Xie Jingyan's cries were heart-wrenching: "He said we are... bastards without parents!"
Xie Sili held the two children in her arms, her fingertips gently smoothing Xie Jingyan's disheveled braids. But from an angle unseen by them, her eyes grew increasingly deep.
Zhao Yi, the Minister of Works—a poor scholar who only managed to enter the court thanks to the last bit of connections of his wife's family. He was indeed upright and honest, but unfortunately, he married a short-sighted wife. His wife was nearly forty when she had this son, whom she doted on like the apple of her eye, and now she had raised a domineering little beast.
"Go fetch some spring water from the mountain stream." She wiped away Xie Jingche's tears, her voice gentle enough to melt even the hardest heart. "Shall we stew your favorite sauerkraut fish today?"
The two children nodded with red eyes, their departing figures, carrying bamboo tubes, gradually blurred in the twilight.
Xie Sili stared at them until they disappeared at the end of the mountain path. When he turned around, his sleeves stirred up a gust of cold wind.
"Please forgive me, young lady," Murong's voice suddenly rang out.
He and Shangguan had somehow found themselves standing deep within the bamboo shadows, bowing deeply. "The young masters of Yuzhou City have never suffered such injustice..."
Xie Sili did not answer.
She walked slowly towards the pond, her white skirt brushing against the blue stones, startling a few fish. Suddenly, moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the silver bracelet on her wrist with a cold, sharp light. With a gentle touch of her hand, three crucian carp leaped out of the water, dying in her palm before they could even struggle.
A mountain spring gurgled through the cracks in the rocks, splashing tiny droplets on the moss. Xie Sili cleaned the fish scales in the flowing water, the sound of the blade slicing through the fish's belly particularly clear in the silence.
“That child…” she suddenly spoke, her voice so soft it was almost a soliloquy, “What are my A-Che, my Yan-Yan?”
Murong and Shangguan simultaneously straightened their backs. They saw the blade between Xie Sili's fingers draw a perfect arc at the fish's gills in the moonlight.
"girl……"
The silver blade reflected the expressions on their faces. Xie Sili only asked, "What did the Li family say?"
Xie Sili's fingers flew across the surface, the silver blade gliding along the fish's spine, the thin, translucent fish fillets neatly arranged on a celadon plate.
Her tone was so casual, as if she were discussing the day's weather, with only the occasional soft sound of the knife tip scraping against the cutting board revealing a hint of force.
Murong stood with his hands at his sides. "She doesn't know the young lady's identity yet." He paused, then added, "But Xie Sinan... has been inquiring about the young lady a lot at the school lately."
The blade paused slightly.
"Xie Sinan..." She picked up a fish gill and examined it closely in the candlelight, "How has she performed at school all these years?"
"Barely satisfactory!" Shangguan continued, his voice unconsciously lowering. "At the bottom of the advanced class. Perhaps... their ambitions lie elsewhere." The last few words were almost stuck in his throat.
"His ambitions lie elsewhere?" Xie Sili suddenly chuckled, deftly picking the fish intestines into the earthenware jar beside him. "Do you still have his entrance exam papers?"
Murong's pupils contracted slightly. "Does the young lady want to see his exam paper?" Meeting Xie Sili's sweeping gaze, he immediately bowed. "I'll go get it right away."
As Murong was leaving, he bumped into the brother and sister returning with bamboo tubes. The two children's noses were still red, but their sleeves were neatly rolled up. Shangguan quickly took the heavy bamboo tubes from them.
"Besides sauerkraut fish, you also have fish soup?" the brother and sister asked in unison, their eyes sparkling as they looked at the stove.
Xie Sili scooped up a ladle of mountain spring water. The sound of the water falling into the iron pot filled the air, and her voice was so gentle it seemed to drip with tenderness, "Mm. A whole fish feast. Aze has already gone to get the other ingredients."
The flames popped up, casting flickering light on her profile. "You all go and review your lessons first, lest you wait until we return to Yuzhou City..."
She suddenly turned around and saw a silver scale still standing there. "I was stumped by Mr. Zhuge's question."
After the two children stuck out their tongues and left, Xie Sili stared at the gradually boiling water.
Through the misty air, she suddenly spoke, "Shangguan, what do you mean if a person's ambition doesn't lie in studying the classics..."
The sound of the two children's footsteps fading into the distance.
Shangguan said in a low voice, "Does the young lady suspect that Xie Sinan has a problem?"
Upon hearing this, Xie Sili smiled slightly, "It's a bit suspicious. I want to find out the truth. After all, he's my only blood relative."
While she was talking to Shangguan, Si Ze and Murong arrived almost at the same time.
Si Ze held a mahogany food box that was almost half a person tall. When Xie Sili lifted the lid, the fresh aroma of steamed mandarin fish wafted out.
Besides mandarin fish, there are also various other types of fish such as shad and sea bass. Each dish is presented with great care, and even the sauces are blended perfectly, showing the chef's dedication.
"Aze, set the table. Siyi, go and ladle out the pickled fish and fish soup from the pot." After giving the instructions, he called Xie Jingche and Xie Jingyan out to eat together.
She took the sandalwood box from Murong's hands; the "click" of the box opening and closing was particularly crisp in the quiet bamboo forest.
On the unfolded scroll, Xie Sinan's handwriting was crooked and messy, covering the pages.
Xie Sili's lips curled into a cold smile.
Such clumsy notes truly deserve the title of Huang's "good son," whom she has carefully cultivated.
But what if all this absurdity is just a show put on for the world to see?
“Miss…” Murong hesitated, unable to finish her sentence.
Xie Sili gently closed the scroll, and when she looked up, her eyes were clear: "They are just unfounded speculations, there is no need to worry about them."
After having dinner with the two children and watching them drift off to sleep, Xie Sili changed into his night clothes.
Over the years, Xie Liang's reports have given us some insight into Xie Sinan's character and personality, but in that situation, Xie Liang may have only seen the surface.
Si Ze was already waiting in the bamboo forest. When he saw her come out, a hint of helplessness flashed in his eyes. "I will take care of this matter."
“Some things…” Xie Sili tightened his wristband, his voice as soft as a sigh, “we have to confirm them with our own eyes.”
Two dark figures swept across the rooftops, rendering the guards of the Prime Minister's residence useless.
Xie Sinan's courtyard was unusually quiet, with a silhouette of someone bent over a desk projected onto the window paper—completely different from the playboy in the legend.
There were no beautiful women or fine wine, only a nearly burnt-out oil lamp.
The young man's hand trembled violently as he held the pen, yet each stroke was as steady as a rock. On the desk piled on the floor were the annotations for the poem "Di Du" from the Book of Songs, which the teacher had just explained during the day.
Xie Sili squinted. Moonlight filtered through the trees, illuminating the "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" in front of Xie Sinan—the margins were covered with dense annotations, the handwriting clear and crisp like pine trees, a stark contrast to the exam papers he had seen before.
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