Chapter 111 Sorrow What is it that you can't get through? ...
After composing themselves, Li Shimin, Changsun Qingjing, and Li Fanniang noted down the cave where Han Shie was buried, and then the group followed the path in Li Shimin's memory toward the villa.
The scenes along the way were astonishing.
The corpses of starving people from last December and this January, their dried flesh and exposed bones piled up by the roadside. Intestines and tendons hung on tree branches by owls trembled in the wind. Horse hooves trodden the ground, startling a flock of crows that blended into the withered branches and fallen leaves.
In the distance, several jackals hesitated, unsure whether to advance or retreat. These beasts stared at Changsun Qingjing and his group with gleaming eyes, calculating whether they could devour the potentially fresh and warm meal before them.
Changsun Qingjing drew his bow and shot an arrow. The arrowhead grazed the jackal's back, but it was enough to scare the lone beast away.
Li Fanniang was so frightened by the scene before her that she kept gagging. Changsun Qingjing then urged her to hold onto his back tightly and close her eyes.
The group clung to the cliff face and the intertwined, jagged branches, stepping over the remains of corpses and the decaying leaves of the previous year, searching for their way home.
"Thank God you're still alive!" The dark road ahead obscured the figures, with only scattered spots of light dancing on the two people.
"Act swiftly!" Li Shimin responded loudly.
“And me too,” came Wang Wude’s cheerful, street-smart voice. “I got into big trouble as soon as I arrived in Luoyang…”
"What brings you to Luoyang?" Li Shimin urged his horse forward and met up with the two men.
Changsun Qingjing turned his face away, ignoring Wang Wude.
"No need to look anymore. He used to disguise himself as a doctor in Luoxingyu, using the surname Wei. Now that he's dead, I buried him myself," Li Shimin said coldly, like an outsider.
Wang Wude's mouth gaped open, as if his head had been struck by a blunt object, his eyes filled with pain and bewilderment. It took him a long time to recover from this lingering, dull pain.
"You're really good at blocking my path to wealth. Nothing good ever comes of running into you. Are you sure the person's dead?"
"Are you made of magnets? You run into desperate criminals everywhere you go!" Wang Wude said, feeling both aggrieved and annoyed. "I've been busy for months and haven't even seen the real culprit..."
"I've temporarily placed his body in a cave. You can come with me to properly bury him tonight, and you'll see him then..."
"Has your father ever considered hiring a few sorcerers skilled in the art of exorcising evil spirits from you?"
“My father thought I was both loyal and filial… I uphold righteousness, and all evil will flee from me!”
"Hmph! I'm putting this on your tab!"
"I will persuade Mr. Li to pay you the other half of the commission..."
"I'm extremely grateful." The frustration of failing at the last minute overwhelmed Wang Wude. He awkwardly tore off the vine that had fallen onto his shoulder again. "I had completely forgotten about it until you mentioned money. Do you know how thrilling this journey has been for me?"
Changsun Minxing and Changsun Qingjing were also unsure how to separate the two entangled individuals.
"Young Master Li." The weak and exhausted Li Fanniang, who had been leaning on Changsun Qingjing's back due to fatigue, fright, and grief, now struggled to sit up, supporting herself on the saddle, and suddenly pleaded, "I want to go home to see my mother. I'm so worried about her... I've caused such a terrible disaster, I absolutely cannot let my family be implicated again... I must take them with me when we flee..."
After a sigh, and confirming that the constables would not search the vicinity of Li's villa again, the group quickened their pace on the return journey.
As they approached the villa, Changsun Qingjing saw Liu Niangzi, along with A Cai and Guo Niang, waiting by the roadside.
Upon seeing the bloodstains on Changsun Qingjing, Li Shimin, and Li Fanniang, Lady Liu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Young master, please don't take Lady Changsun out hunting in the future. What if something happens to her? How will you explain it to her widowed mother?"
This was quite a harsh remark for a servant girl whose only status was that of a wet nurse.
Li Shimin did not refute at all, but simply nodded and said, "Yes, A'nai. I won't do it again next time."
The servants also pretended to be ignorant, selectively ignoring the bloodstains on their husband and wife. Most of them had heard that a family in Luoxingyu who was celebrating a wedding had suffered a major incident the previous night, and that their own husband had gone to Luoxingyu to attend the wedding.
Although the servants had their own thoughts, Madam Liu made the final decision that since the hunting had delayed them, they would listen to Madam Liu.
After the group finished packing, Li Shimin and Changsun Qingjing changed back into their mourning clothes.
Changsun Qingjing then arranged for Li Fanniang to reunite with her mother and younger brother.
Wang Wude was eager to ask Li Fanniang about Han Shi'e's situation during his years of escape and seclusion, but he was pulled away by Li Shimin and Changsun Minxing.
As night fell, the couple remained separated. Changsun Qingjing continued his studies and calligraphy practice as usual. Suddenly, a maidservant of Li Shimin rushed in with news.
"My lady, the Duke has urgent business to attend to. The steward of the Luoyang residence is waiting in the main hall..."
The grasshopper whispered to A-Cai, "Oh no, Lady Chen must have complained to the Duke. He might be summoning the young master back to Jishanfang to discipline him..."
Ah Cai, however, said with absolute certainty, "If they really wanted to use family discipline, they would have had the young master dragged back long ago, and his wife would have been punished as well. The fact that someone only came to deliver the message now is probably just the Duke of Tang putting on a show by writing a letter of reprimand to the Duke and Duchess of Chen..."
Changsun Qingjing was also suspicious, but he comforted himself that the Henan County Criminal Affairs Bureau wouldn't be so efficient; they couldn't even catch a country girl!
Most likely, Li Yuan was just putting on a show to appease Lady Chen's complaints, to scare her and Li Shimin, and to warn them that they shouldn't argue so forcefully and aggressively with their elders as they had the other day.
Then accept the punishment.
Guoniang and Acai helped Changsun Qingjing put on a padded jacket and checked his hair before the three of them headed to the main hall.
The atmosphere along the way was heavy and oppressive, because no one knew what the young master's purpose was in sending his servant here just as the gates of Luoyang were about to close.
The main hall, however, was not as chaotic as the three ladies had anticipated.
The maidservant who served the young master told Guoniang and Acai that the head of the household had already left.
"Then they probably won't specifically arrest Vithiha and bring him back to plead guilty," Changsun Qingjing thought. "And it has nothing to do with that complicated case involving Zhang Liang, Duan Zhixuan, and Han Shi'e."
However, Li Shimin's mood seemed even more depressed than expected.
His face, in the dim lamplight, was as cold as a heartless jagged rock. It lacked the joy he had shown at the wedding yesterday morning, the decisiveness he displayed when the wedding turned sour, the resentment he felt at parting with Han Shi'e, the tenderness he showed in protecting the newborn Dian Di Mei, and even the lifelike energy he displayed when arguing with Wang Wu De. His icy, soulless body terrified the two maids, who dared not murmur any further speculation.
Changsun Qingjing approached Li Shimin and knelt down in front of him.
"Does Father have something important to discuss?" She brushed his arm. "Does he want you to return to Luoyang?"
Li Shimin stared at her blankly.
"What did Yuwen Shu find out?"
He shook his head.
"Does Henan County have evidence that is detrimental to us?" She suddenly thought that the registrar might pass on some thorny information to Li Yuan.
He shook his head again.
"At worst, I'll go with you to apologize to that annoying Mrs. Yang." She smiled resignedly.
"No, it's not these..."
"What is it that you can't get through?" She held his hands and the letter in her palms.
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