Chapter 58 Awakening: They shared their nightmares, adventures, and complaints.
The young nobleman finally mustered the courage to pour out his pent-up anger to another eccentric and unconventional man.
"I said goodbye to the child who had led the way by the so-called clean river, and gave him a silver sachet. He was happy, but he still wanted some rice and millet."
"I wandered aimlessly along the Mangban Road, recalling the emaciated refugees I saw along the way, the wailing that filled my mind and ears, the blood-stained whips of the officials, the elms and willows stripped bare and their branches broken, the funeral banners hanging haphazardly on withered locust trees, the well from which corpses were retrieved... all these were scenes of utter devastation. I myself wanted to make even the slightest change to my landowner's share of the profits, but to no avail. Everyone seemed to be mocking my youth, arrogance, and naivety, advising me to be cautious, careful, and to go with the flow. I felt resentment and hated my own incompetence. For a moment, I wanted to retreat into the mountains and live a life of seclusion. Guanyinbi, I have never felt such world-weariness and self-abandonment. Even when the Emperor was on his second campaign against Goguryeo, when I saw the chariots carrying the bodies of soldiers, I felt only reverence and did not think their loyalty to the country was meaningless. But I could not convince myself that these refugees should have given their lives for the Emperor's great cause of all nations paying tribute."
He was distraught and kept rambling on and on.
Changsun Qingjing let Li Shimin hold his hand tightly and encouraged him to pour out his nightmarish memories.
“But where can I escape to?” Li Shimin suddenly released Qingjing’s hand, stood up abruptly, and said with a sob, “It’s nothing more than changing from a flat road where corpses are piled up to another mass grave where corpses are dumped.”
“The few corpse carriers who passed by thought I was lost and advised me not to go north of the mountain, so I followed their advice and turned back the way I came. But for some reason, the horses were startled and rushed straight north. Guanyinbi, can you imagine that the piles of white bones that were thrown there in the eighth year of the Daye era have not yet been buried, and the bones of the corpses in the eleventh year of the Daye era are piled up one after another, with a stench that fills the air?”
"Zhang Liang's parents have been dead for many years, and his family is poor. His elder brother died in the war in Goryeo. Now that he is an adult, his clan occasionally helps him, which is better than nothing. He is somewhat literate, but he has traveled to many places and is well-informed. We couldn't afford chives, so we set up a bronze cauldron with charcoal, added soup to cook meat and vegetables, and drank some spicy, cloudy wine. We talked about the emperor's tours, the construction of the Grand Canal, the conquest of Goryeo, the years of famine, the land grants being ineffective, the taxes forcing people to abandon their families, and the endless revelry in Luoyang during the first month of the lunar calendar. He thought about the recent situation at home, and I..." Thinking of the years of suspicion their father had endured, the two men immediately joined forces and vehemently denounced the tyrannical and arbitrary Yang Guang, instantly feeling much better. Speaking of opportunism, Zhang Liang invited me to his wedding in February. Since I considered him a close friend, I boasted that I would bring my wife to congratulate him. "His family is indeed poorer than you've ever seen," Li Shimin cautiously asked. "I've taken the liberty of making this decision for you. You won't refuse to attend a friend's wedding with me, will you? My mourning period isn't over yet; is it appropriate for me to attend a wedding without permission?"
“Actually, Zhang Liang is a rather interesting person.” Seeing that his wife readily agreed to associate with this humble family, Li Shimin said, “After I agreed, he asked me to do something important for him.”
"I'm afraid they want you to be their best man, of course you will. Tell him that Lady Changsun has agreed." Changsun Qingjing patted Li Shimin's knee, her words tinged with barely suppressed laughter.
"No. His request is even more bizarre than you think. Zhang Liang said that his fiancée's father died early, leaving only her widowed mother and younger brother. The family has fallen on hard times and had to dismiss most of the servants to work together. This woman is skilled in weaving, has a capable and outspoken personality, and is very concerned about her image. He is afraid that the wedding ceremony will be too shabby, so he asked me to pretend to be her cousin and escort her to the wedding."
"Huh?" Changsun Qingjing found this unheard of.
“That lady is probably about your age. Oh, and coincidentally, she shares my surname. It would be easy for me to pretend to be her wealthy cousin who has come from afar to offer congratulations, and I won’t be exposed by those gossipy neighbors.”
"That's quite a coincidence," Changsun Qingjing remarked. "So, he found his fiancée a fake brother who beat him up when they were married off? To bolster the bride's wedding?"
"That's roughly it..." Li Shimin thought about it carefully and found it amusing.
"So, this young man named Zhang Liang is quite fond of that Lady Li, even though it's a bit strange and foolish of him to ask you to do this." But these endearing little thoughts were more precious to Changsun Qingjing than all the elegies Yang Guang wrote for Lady Xuanhua and Wu Jiangxian. The image of the young couple, whom she had never met, came alive in her eyes.
"Whether he likes it or not is none of my business. Considering that he was saved and we get along well, I have to agree readily. Otherwise, wouldn't I become a faithless and ungrateful person?" It's rare that when faced with this series of strange requests, the duke's son's first thought wasn't about not doing something inappropriate for his status, but rather that he had to agree to any of his friend's overstepping requests no matter what.
"The next morning, I carried the wine Zhang Liang had brewed last year and headed back to his manor along the Mangban Road. I had intended to give him the horse as well, or perhaps simply tell him I was the son of a duke. But fearing he might feel slighted and lose interest in me, I inquired about the wedding date. I planned to prepare plenty of rice and silk for my 'cousin's' wedding. Since we had set a date for our next meeting, Zhang Liang and I didn't act like children and hastily parted ways. Along the way, new starving people poured into Luoyang from the official roads and country paths. Perhaps they had escaped from Pujin Ferry, wading through the ice and bypassing numerous checkpoints. The officials and soldiers who tried to stop them were already exhausted..."
His heart was heavy with sorrow, and his voice grew softer. Changsun Qingjing gently grasped Li Shimin's wrist, his heart aching with pity for his grief.
"So, your pedantry has flared up again, hence your climb to a high place to relax and temporarily forget worldly worries," Changsun Qingjing asked.
Li Shimin nodded in understanding, sharing a tacit agreement with his wife. Although he remained silent, the gloom in his heart had already dissipated somewhat.
Author's note: These chapters have been too sad, so let's add some youthful spirit to lighten the mood.
Love is important, but friendship is equally essential.
The next chapter will have a little more sweetness.
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