Chapter 149 Let Me Protect You
In March in Jiangnan, the drizzle is as soft as butter.
Jiang Peiling sat in the teahouse by the window, holding a cup of Longjing tea, and was looking through the new season's accounts.
Pedestrians hurried past the window, when suddenly I overheard several merchants at the next table whispering among themselves.
"Have you heard? The Emperor has appointed a female Imperial Advisor!"
"Tsk, how can a woman be allowed into the Imperial Observatory? She must be a seductress who bewitches the emperor, learning the tricks of Daji..."
Jiang Peiling paused, causing the tea to slosh slightly.
Female Taoist priest?
Jiang Peiling's thoughts drifted back to that rainy day many years ago.
At that time, Lu Yao struck the Jiang family with a peach wood sword, causing them to cry out in despair, and even summoned the father's spirit to confront him in court.
As the dust settled, the figure in the blue robe left only a "Take care" before disappearing into the misty rain.
"Please wait, young lady!" When she chased after him out of the yamen, she only found a copper coin on the ground.
It was left behind by Lu Yao when he set up the formation.
The story is far from over after the Jiang family was driven away; life goes on.
My mother is sickly and coughs so much that she can't straighten her back.
Jiang Peiling set up a small clay stove and, following the recipe left by her father, simmered sauces pot after pot.
The night watchman's clapper had just sounded when she was already squatting in front of the stove, stirring the wooden ladle.
At dawn, she pushed her creaking wheelbarrow through the streets and alleys.
Jiang Peiling continuously improved the formula.
"On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, it snowed. Today I added a little dried tangerine peel to the soy sauce, which actually masked the beany taste..."
"On the ninth day of the third month, it rained. An old customer said he wanted something sweet, so I tried mixing it with honey..."
The yellowed ledgers are filled with her painstaking records.
During the most difficult times, Jiang Peiling would often take out the copper coin that Lu Yao had left behind late at night.
The red string she tied around my neck burned against my heart.
"I can't let my benefactor down." She wiped the sweat from her forehead and added a handful of freshly ground spices to the soy sauce jar.
As the seasons changed, the strollers became insufficient.
Jiang Peiling rented a small shop at the canal wharf and set off a string of 100 firecrackers on the opening day.
Three years later, the "Jiang Family Sauce Shop" brand had been displayed throughout seven prefectures and eighteen counties.
The men of the canal gang loved her fermented black beans the most, and they would ask for a dish to accompany their wine every time they unloaded goods.
The students at the academy were obsessed with "Ink Fragrance Sauce," saying that eating it with steamed buns made their writing flow exceptionally well.
Nowadays, when you walk down the street, everyone will respectfully call you "Boss Jiang".
She often recalled the Taoist girl standing in the rain many years ago who gave her a flavor more precious than soy sauce.
--hope.
The copper coin tied to her chest seemed to be faintly warm. Jiang Peiling sensed this and looked up eagerly, asking, "What is the name of this Imperial Preceptor?"
The man was taken aback and said awkwardly, "I heard that your surname is Lu, and your given name is Yao..."
"Smack!"
The teacup landed heavily on the table, and Jiang Peiling's eyes lit up, her lips unconsciously curving into a smile.
The young Taoist priest who once summoned her soul in the courtroom to save her has now become the Imperial Preceptor!
Raindrops slant outside the window, and it feels like those days are back again.
Jiang Peiling suddenly stood up: "Go, invite the best storytellers in the city."
Now that her benefactor has become the Imperial Advisor, she should be the one to clear her name of those stigmas.
Three days later, seventy-two teahouses in Jiangnan simultaneously changed their storybooks.
"The Taoist Priest in Green Robe Resolves Wrongful Cases".
"In the third year of Jian'an, a female Taoist in a green robe came through the rain," the storyteller in the busiest Deyue Tower said, as he unfolded his fan with a snap. "She quelled all injustices with a single sword stroke, and settled the world with half a copper coin!"
The audience listened to it as a story, thoroughly enjoying it.
The storyteller stroked his beard and smiled: "Do you all know that Jiang Peiling, the owner of Jiang's Sauce Shop, was almost driven to ruin by her clansmen back then, and it was this young lady who saved her!"
The listener exclaimed in surprise, "It's true? I thought it was a made-up story. Where in the world could there be such a chivalrous woman?"
"If you don't believe me, sir," the storyteller pointed to the private room on the second floor, "Manager Jiang is listening upstairs today!"
Everyone looked up and saw Jiang Peiling sitting by the railing.
She nodded slightly, which confirmed the story.
"Finally, let me reveal the secret," the storyteller said, closing his fan and suddenly becoming serious, "This fairy maiden is none other than the Imperial Astronomical Advisor, personally appointed by the current Emperor—Lord Lu Yao!"
Amidst the uproar, Jiang Peiling smiled faintly.
On the merchant ships traveling along the canal, the boatmen hummed a newly learned folk song: "The female Taoist in green robes displays her supernatural powers—she rids the people of evil in court!"
The song drifted in all directions along with the shimmering waves.
Gradually, even three-year-old children came to know that their Imperial Preceptor was actually a celestial being who acted on behalf of Heaven.
"She once killed a bully with a single sword stroke and saved a trafficked child!"
"She summoned the spirits of the dead to solve cases, and even the county magistrate was so frightened that he knelt down and begged for mercy!"
"She didn't take a single penny, just to seek justice for the people!"
As the rumors subsided, no one dared to call Lu Yao a "vixen" anymore.
On the contrary, some people exclaimed: "If the Imperial Advisor is really such a person, it would be a blessing for the people!"
The Imperial Preceptor's reputation spread throughout the country.
The storyteller in the teahouse was still telling the story of the female Taoist in the green robe.
At the end, there's always an extra sentence:
"If you don't believe me, you might as well ask Manager Jiang."
...
The scorching sun baked the canal, creating spiderweb-like cracks.
The merchant ships that were once laden with jars of soy sauce now lie exposed on the riverbed, like withered fish bones.
Jiang Peiling, who had just pawned the Yangzhou branch, stood on the dry riverbed.
She had already sold seven shops, but the disaster relief grain was never enough. The old steward's hands trembled as he held the account book: "Master, we've also distributed the last batch of old rice."
On the night of the Awakening of Insects, a dragon's roar suddenly echoed from the sky.
The torrential rain poured down like a celestial river, crashing onto the cracked fields. The people rushed into the rain, crying and laughing at the same time.
Only Jiang Peiling stared blankly at the rain in her palm.
"It's the Imperial Preceptor... He severed three of his immortal bones to pray for rain..." Someone brought the news, and the sound of weeping shook the heavens in the rain.
As dawn broke, the water level of the canal had quietly risen.
Both banks of the river were filled with ragged people kneeling, holding rough wooden statues, weeping bitterly in the mud.
Several white-haired old women piled up their treasured dowry jewelry, which they had kept for many years, and muttered in trembling voices that they wanted to raise money to build a shrine for the Imperial Preceptor.
Jiang Peiling stood alone outside the crowd, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the copper coin around her neck.
“Three immortal bones…” she murmured softly, a metallic sweetness rising in her throat.
In the distance, people were praising the National Preceptor's virtues, but she could only think about how much pain Lu Yao must have felt when she had her bones turned into rain.
On the third day after the torrential rains subsided, an official boat docked at the canal pier.
The boatman scrambled off the deck, his hoarse shouts piercing the morning mist: "The Grand Preceptor has been murdered—!"
Jiang Peiling was counting the disaster relief grain registers when she heard this and the wolf-hair brush in her hand snapped in two.
She galloped wildly for three days and three nights. When she reined in her horse, the mountain wind whipped up fine sand and grit, which stung her eyes.
When her vision cleared, she saw eight women standing quietly in front of nine stone tablets, their clothes fluttering like butterflies.
The woman in simple white clothes, with delicate and graceful features, was none other than Jiang Jinshu, the renowned dean of Zhaoling Girls' Academy.
Everyone in Jiangnan knows the story of Jiang Jinshu, and everyone can recite her poems.
Back then, Jiang Jinshu's elder brother stole her poems and became famous. In order to protect their son's future, her parents even tried to drug her to blind her.
Lu Yao sought justice for Jiang Jinshu and funded her to establish Zhaoling Academy.
The most surprising thing was the woman dressed in Turkic attire.
The Turkic princess Gulinazer twirled the silver bell on her wrist. Several years ago, when she was a prisoner of war and a hostage in the capital, she was humiliated, but Lu Yao saved her against all odds.
The mountain wind suddenly turned fierce, and the nine stone tablets simultaneously emitted a buzzing sound.
It turns out that they were all people whose fates were changed by that girl in the green dress.
"To break this formation, nine people must willingly endure the suffering of nine lifetimes of reincarnation." Sun Fuxi, the little eunuch beside the Grand Preceptor, slumped in front of the monument, his voice broken and fragmented.
Now, with the nine steles before them, the nine people exchanged a smile, sharing a tacit understanding as if it were destiny.
Jiang Peiling took off the copper coin from her neck and gently placed it in front of the Burning Soul Stele.
"In the next life, I will protect you."
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