39 Return to Yunzhou
◎ "Madam Song, Madam Song! Come quickly, help! --"◎
There were deafening rumbles of thunder in the sky, and silver snake-like lightning flashed across the sky, dazzling people. All the scenes foreshadowed the coming of a torrential rainstorm. The sounds of birds and insects died down in advance. It seemed that except for the sound of rain, everything else in the world had disappeared.
Suddenly, heavy rain poured down from the top of the sky, as if the sky was cut into a hole. The raindrops shook out sparkling silver light, and gathered into puddles on the ground, and the sound of flowing water was endless.
As Song Jinyi listened to the thunder, her feeling of uneasiness grew. The sky was fine when she left Shengjing, but when she arrived in Wancheng, the sky suddenly darkened, and a violent storm came under the dark clouds.
Her mind was in a tangle of thoughts: Could this be a sign from heaven? A hint that things were not going well in Yunzhou, that there was going to be a bloody storm?
Song Jinyi received Xu Ruolan's letter yesterday. She was so anxious that she couldn't sleep all night and packed her luggage in a hurry. She didn't bring much luggage when she came, but she was quite relaxed when she left.
Only Xie Wuyang was left.
Although Xie Wuyang regained consciousness, his body was already weak, and this illness made him even weaker. He was awake for half a day and asleep for half a day.
Because the situation in Yunzhou was critical, she could not delay and could only leave the person in Washe and entrust him to Huo Changqing's care.
When they arrived, Prince Yu treated them with courtesy and sent them off with a carriage. However, things had changed since then and the birthday banquet was ruined. Prince Yu made an effort but got nothing in return. He was also involved in an assassination attempt and almost had them killed in the inner prison.
Although Song Jinyi finally won the favor of the Queen Mother, it was just a way to survive. After leaving the palace, the door of the Gu Mansion was closed tightly, leaving them to stay wherever they wanted.
In order to return to Yunzhou as soon as possible, Song Jinyi went to the carriage and horse shop to rent a car and a person before dawn.
Sitting in the bumpy carriage, the carriage is square like a box. Instead of using the word "sitting", "loading" is more appropriate.
Li He is tall, and fortunately Song Jinyi is thin, otherwise the carriage would not be able to accommodate both of them. Song Jinyi can only hunch over with her upper body almost covering her knees.
She propped up her chin and, in order to avoid thinking about what was happening in Yunzhou, began to calculate the expenses of this trip and divert her attention.
She took out fifty taels this time. Although her family was poor, she spent little money on food and accommodation. The main expense was Xie Wuyang's injuries, which cost her thirty taels for various expenses.
I also spent eight taels of silver to hire a carriage and a driver. My wallet, which was originally bulging, was deflated at a speed visible to the naked eye. And that’s not even counting anything else.
For example, Xie Wuyang's living expenses, she entrusted him to Huo Changqing and asked him to advance all the expenses. She owed him a big favor and would repay him when she had the chance to come to Shengjing in the future.
She thought again that this time not only did she not get the reward, but she also had to pay a lot of money. The more she thought about it, the colder she felt. There was no way to take shortcuts.
She leaned against the carriage and looked down at the box she brought out from the palace.
——"I have no other desire but to——" Song Jinyi came to Shengjing for the reward of over a thousand taels.
However, when she mentioned the word bounty, she found that Nanny Sun, who was standing next to the Queen Mother, shook her head at her and said a few words silently.
The words she was about to finish were stuck on her lips. She looked at Nanny Sun's expression and pondered the words carefully. In a moment, she roughly understood what Nanny Sun meant.
She was so good at flattering the Queen Mother that she thought she had found a close friend regardless of age difference. If she asked for anything in return, she would inevitably lose her favor.
She has not left the palace yet, and everything is uncertain. The most important thing now is to save her life.
She was extremely hesitant, but she also understood the principle of "being willing to give up". Only by giving up can you gain.
Seeing that she didn't reply for a long time, the Queen Mother asked her again.
"It is truly a great honor for me to be able to enter the palace and host the Queen Mother's birthday banquet. I have come from afar, and now that I am returning home, I am afraid that I will never be able to serve the Queen Mother again. I would like to leave a gift from the Queen Mother as a souvenir."
A relieved smile appeared on Nanny Sun's face, and she felt a little relieved in her heart. Fortunately, she was not a foolish person and was not obsessed with money.
She wants it all, and what she wants are some material things, which makes people think she is materialistic. The good impression she has created on the Queen Mother is not completely wasted. How could she not understand this truth?
Besides, the thing she wanted might be worth more than a thousand taels of gold in the future.
Regarding the return to Yunzhou, Song Jinyi expected that it would be just like the time when she came here, that she would be able to return to Yunzhou in two and a half days. However, she only walked for half a day.
The post road was soaked by rain, becoming muddy and difficult to travel on, and was blocked halfway.
Some of the carriages carrying goods were already moving slowly, and some caravans, seeing that the rain was getting heavier, turned around to find a place to stay. After struggling for a long time, the horses only took two steps. Song Jinyi lifted the curtain from time to time, eagerly looking at the situation outside. This post road was like a highway on holidays.
She asked the driver, "Can we go today?"
The driver also raised his head and glanced ahead. The rain and fog were so hazy that only vague shadows could be seen. He shook his head and said, "Madam Song, it's not that I don't want to go.
Look, it's raining so hard that we can't see anything ahead. It's God who's going to stop us from leaving. It's getting late, so we'd better find an inn to rest our feet."
Although Song Jinyi was anxious, she also knew that it was impossible to walk in this weather, so she said, "Let's go to the nearby inn."
******
Qingfeng Inn.
A small courtyard is surrounded by a half-person-high fence, and a wooden signboard with the words "Qingfeng Inn" hangs at the entrance. In order to attract customers, red cloth strips are tied to the bamboo poles on both sides of the door. The rain has made the cloth strips look dull, and the color has turned from bright red to dark red.
There are two small buildings inside, adjacent to each other. The coachman is pulling the carriage to feed the horses, while Song Jinyi and Li He are queuing in the lobby of the inn.
Li He was timid at first and didn't dare to say or ask anything, but after spending a few days with Song Jinyi, he found that she was different from Chun Sanniang.
No matter what she asked, she would never scold her and would answer every question. She gradually became talkative and would ask Song Jinyi everything and share all her feelings with her.
Her eyes rolled around as she looked around. She asked curiously, "Why are there so many people?"
Song Jinyi said, "Maybe he's like us, unable to leave due to the heavy rain, so he came here to stay overnight."
Queuing was truly annoying. Her feet were numb from standing there, and the line hadn't moved an inch. She stared ahead, wondering why it was so slow. She counted the people in line ahead of her over and over again.
She heard Li He ask her "What is that?"
She turned her head and looked in the direction Li He pointed. It was a team of carriages with flags painted with auspicious cloud patterns and the words "Clouds" written on them.
"Yunshang," Song Jinyi muttered softly, her mind racing. She thought of Yunzhou's most famous teahouse, Yunshang Tea House. But then she realized it was a thousand miles away, so it probably had nothing to do with that. She was overthinking it.
After an incense stick of time, Song Jinyi's legs were numb, and she finally came up and asked for two lower-class rooms, one for the coachman and one for her and Li He to live in together.
Following the servant's instructions, Song Jinyi came to the attic at the back. This attic was older than the front one. The paint on the door was half peeled off, and the wall was covered with spots that were difficult to see closely.
Song Jinyi comforted herself with the low price. After pushing open the door, she suddenly paused and glanced back. She felt someone was looking at them, but there were people coming and going around, all of them were guests staying there, so she didn't see anything unusual.
She immediately shook her head, perhaps being too sensitive.
Because this place faces the shade for a long time and has no sunlight, it is already humid. Now it happened to be raining heavily in late autumn, and the house was so damp that it made people feel cold. Song Jinyi said something and the waiter brought a basin of charcoal to remove the moisture.
After sitting in the house for a while, it was time for dinner. Song Jinyi had no appetite, so she gave Li He some silver money and told her to go downstairs and have a bowl of vegetarian noodles and come back.
For some reason, Song Jinyi felt very tired all over. She lay on the bed and wanted to close her eyes for a while, but she lost consciousness as soon as she closed her eyes.
After an unknown amount of time, Song Jinyi's mind suddenly flashed through many things on her mind. Why hadn't Li He returned yet? How was Xie Wuyang's injury? Could Sister Ruolan hold out until she returned?
There is still a bet, and there are still... less than two months left. Her brows jumped sharply, and she wanted to sit up, but she struggled desperately, and her body did not respond at all. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something breaking next to her ears.
She finally struggled to open her eyes a crack, but her vision was blurry and it took her a while to see clearly that she was lying on the bed in the inn.
She supported herself and sat up, feeling dizzy and unable to tell whether it was a dream or reality. She shook her head, trying to wake herself up.
But she was too sleepy and wanted to give up resisting and continue sleeping. Her eyelids drooped slightly.
Suddenly a figure flashed by. She looked left and right, but there was no trace of him. Was it her illusion?
Her lips moved up and down, "Li He? Li He?" She was startled when she heard her own voice, which was hoarse and weak.
What's wrong with her?
She smelled a strange odor and her eyes drifted to the brazier. She stared at it for a while before realizing that she might have carbon dioxide poisoning.
She was in a daze, and after thinking slowly for a long time, she realized that she should run away.
She got out of bed, but didn't have the strength to stand up. She got anxious and fell to the ground. She stared at the threshold and crawled forward step by step. She still had a lot of unfinished things and couldn't die here.
With amazing perseverance, she pushed open the door—and fainted.
The last fragment of my vague memory was a pair of lilac-colored shoes embroidered with lotus flowers.
Then she couldn't hold on any longer and fainted at the door. She heard someone shouting, "Madam Song, Madam Song! Help! --"
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