Chapter 6: Old Dreams That night, Chai Heng, who hadn’t had a dream in a long time…
That night, Chai Heng, who hadn't dreamed for a long time, had a very long dream. In the dream, she first dreamed of her master's wife. She dreamed that the day before she left Furong Mountain, she sat on the roof with her knees hugged, looking at the moon. The always gentle master's wife held her in her arms and said to her:
"Ah Heng, the Chai family is your home, and Madam Chai is your mother. You don't have to be afraid. Once you return to the Chai family, as long as you treat her well, she will definitely treat you well, just like Master and Madam Chai. And when you get married, it will be the same. If you treat your husband sincerely, he will definitely treat you sincerely too."
"But if one day, despite all your efforts, you still can't be what they want, then don't try anymore, because there's no destiny between you two."
She tossed and turned in this dream, and soon the scene changed. She dreamed of the night when the Xue family had an accident. Her mother rushed in from outside with a crying Xue Ruyue and a group of servants. They dragged her out of the house while she was covered in blood and in a trance.
The family punishment board hit her back again and again, her mouth was full of the taste of blood, and her ears were filled with Xiangqiao's crying and Zhou Jiu's anxious voice.
"Madam, the Marquis hasn't returned yet. He said before that you should inform him beforehand if you are coming. This is the Marquis's residence, and it's unreasonable for you to do this."
"Reason? I raised a child like this, and even if I apologize to the Buddha a thousand times, it's not worth it. Eighteen lives were lost, and she killed them. What a sin!"
Mrs. Chai held a rosary in her hand. This was the first time that the usually dignified woman had become so angry. Xue Ruyue was sobbing beside her:
"Butler Zhou, if you think the lives of my family members are not worth living, and only your wife's life is worth living, then you can go to Wenhua Palace and invite the Marquis to come and see who is right and who is wrong."
Zhou Jiu was stunned for a moment, and then he actually crawled to Wenhua Hall. In his dream, it rained heavily that night. Chai Heng was completely groggy and couldn't even utter a word of defense. Her voice was hoarse, and for a moment, she wondered, would Yang Yan really come to save her?
She had caused him so much trouble, and Xue Ruyue was crying so hard, would he really help her?
Her mind was confused, with fragmented thoughts swirling in her head until Zhou Jiu stumbled back. Not only did he not bring back the person he was supposed to bring, but he also brought back a sentence that she would never forget in her life.
He said to Zhou Jiu, "Tell Chai Heng for me that she knows whether she deserves to die or not."
The wind was howling outside the window. Chai Heng tossed and turned in this dream, and finally struggled to wake up, covered in cold sweat.
Ji Changqing crawled over from next door and was looking at her cautiously.
"Why did you have a nightmare for no reason?" Ji Changqing asked.
Chai Heng wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a few breaths, and shook his head: "It's nothing, I just remembered some things from the past."
Xu Jianxian snored a little while sleeping, and Ji Zhangqing did not sleep all night. In the next room, he could only vaguely hear Chai Heng mumbling about her master's wife and mother in her dream. Thinking of the rumors in the capital, he could not help but ask her curiously:
"They say you were the child accidentally left behind by the Chai family during the battle in Linyang City. How did your mother, Madam Chai, find you?"
Chai Heng had just recovered from a dream and didn't really want to talk about this, but since he asked, there was nothing he couldn't say. "My mother's name is Su Baiyu. When I was born, she placed a piece of fish-shaped white jade, a family heirloom, in my swaddling clothes. Later, when the previous emperor seized the throne, my mother's hometown of Linyang City was hit by war. My family had to flee. On the way, they were afraid that I would cry and be discovered by the soldiers and bandits, so they kept me."
"It was my master and his wife who saved me when I was little. They asked me to acknowledge them as my adoptive parents. Later, when I was in my teens, I had a high fever. There were no good doctors in Furong Mountain to treat me, so my master's wife traveled thousands of miles from the capital to invite an imperial physician to treat me. My mother had worked in the Imperial Hospital, and many people there knew that I had been lost. The imperial physician happened to see my mother's heirloom white jade on me, so he informed my mother and found me."
Chai Heng slowly recounted the past events. In fact, when the Chai family first came to ask for a child, the master's wife hesitated, but later the master felt that there was no mother in the world who would not love her own child, and he could not force her to stay just because they had no children, so he returned her.
Ji Zhangqing nodded, finally understanding the whole story. He then asked, "What about Yang Yan? They say you were betrothed to each other back when you were still in Madam Chai's womb. But he didn't like you, so how could he marry you?"
Ji Changqing naturally would not give up the opportunity to listen to a story after finally getting it.
"He married me because His Majesty wanted my master's military power, and he had just joined the Ministry of War. After marrying me, it was only natural for my master to give him the military power."
"What about you? What do you like about him? A face?"
Chai Heng: ...
Ji Changqing's question was too blunt, and Chai Heng didn't really want to answer him. But then she thought about it: she had married Yang Yan simply because her mother liked him, and marrying him was a bet that he would have a bright future, and the whole family would be happy. On the other hand, it was indeed because of this face that she had a connection with him.
But after living together for more than ten years, it is impossible to survive just based on this face and one-sided love.
Ji Zhangqing didn't know what Chai Heng had been through, nor did he know why someone who had once liked Yang Yan so much suddenly stopped liking him. However, based on his years of experience with his wife Chen Lianyi, he knew that if a couple's relationship wasn't good, it wouldn't be a one- or two-day thing. Thinking of this, he stopped trying to persuade her and asked,
"Then if you divorce Lord Yang, will you still stay in the capital?"
As soon as he finished speaking, before Chai Heng could respond, he heard a sudden rustling sound of arrows outside. Several arrows pierced through the thin window paper and shot in, firmly lodging in the wall, making several holes in the originally solid wall.
"Kill...kill people, they want to."
Ji Changqing, who had been concentrating on listening to the anecdotes, turned pale and immediately started to stutter. Xu Jianxian also ran out in panic from the inside when he heard the sound of arrows. Chai Heng was stunned for a moment and suddenly remembered that in his previous life, in order to prevent the Western Rong soldiers from harassing them, Ji Changqing dug a secret passage under the bed. Although this secret passage was only three meters long and had an entrance but no exit, it could still hide a few people.
She subconsciously looked up at Ji Zhangqing: "Did you dig a secret passage?"
Ji Zhangqing nodded, then quickly realized: "Hey, how did you know I dug a secret passage?"
"Now is not the time to discuss this. Take Mr. Xu and Little Thirteen and hide inside first. No matter what noise you hear outside, don't come out."
As Chai Heng spoke, he immediately opened the bed. At this critical moment, Ji Zhangqing couldn't bear to abandon his friend. He quickly grabbed Chai Heng and asked anxiously, "What about you? What will you do if we hide in there?"
Chai Heng slapped Ji Zhangqing's hand away. The light was on in the room, clearly someone was there. If she went in with them, the Xirong people would see that the room was empty and become suspicious.
"I'm fine."
"Take them in first."
As Chai Heng spoke, she lifted Little Thirteen from the cradle. This was the child of the Imperial Noble Consort Lin'an. She had died of a difficult birth in Jinyang City, but the child had survived and was later taken away by the Western Rong people. After Yang Yan and Ji Changqing arrived in the Western Rong, the Western Rong people were too lazy to take action against a child who was still in swaddling clothes and had no chance of inheriting the throne of the Great Qi Dynasty, so they threw Little Thirteen back to them.
Ji Changqing held the child in his arms and refused to go in.
"But……"
"Don't say but! Hurry up!"
The situation was urgent, and Chai Heng didn't have time to say much to them. He hurriedly stuffed the two people in.
The cold arrows outside were still whizzing, and at the same time, the voices of the Xirong soldiers were heard: "Come out from inside, we can spare your lives if you come out!"
Chai Heng touched the scimitar at her waist and thought, if I go out, won't I be shot like a hedgehog? Of course, she wasn't stupid enough to go out on her own. She just overturned the table and squatted down to avoid the arrows outside. Until the soldiers outside lost their patience and kicked open the door of the wooden house.
The leading soldier should be a leading general, with a sturdy figure. After seeing that there was only Chai Heng inside, he cursed a few words in Xirong language, which she could not understand. Seeing Chai Heng's bewildered face, he spoke in the Central Plains dialect again:
"Where are your other companions?"
Chai Heng stood up from the ground, holding his head. Seeing that there were no more cold arrows flying outside, he put his hands down and said, "It's cold today, and my other companions are afraid that it will snow again in the next few days, so we are going up the mountain to collect firewood."
She had a gentle and docile face, and didn't look aggressive. The Xirong general in the lead was skeptical: "Gathering firewood at this time?"
"Yes, General, if you don't believe me, please look outside. Those are all things my companions just brought back. They picked up some and then went out again."
The Xirong general was still skeptical: "The eldest prince said he would take you all to the military camp. Since you are the only one here, I will take you away first."
As he spoke, several Western Rong soldiers came forward and tied Chai Heng's hands tightly with ropes.
Although these Western Rong people were barbaric, they had one advantage: they didn't kill women. Chai Heng glanced at the number of people leading the group and figured he couldn't defeat them even if he tried brute force. So he simply gave up and let them tie him up and march forward.
Although she was taken away, the remaining Xirong general did not give up the house behind him. He turned around and asked other soldiers to continue searching the seemingly empty house.
The people who came to take Chai Heng away were Tuoba Yuanli's men. Chai Heng followed them for a while and finally arrived at Tuoba Yuanli's camp, where they threw her directly into a dungeon. The dungeon was very dark, with only a window that let in a little moonlight. When she entered, as expected, she saw Yang Yan.
This time he probably didn't say anything to make Tuoba Yuanli unhappy, so Tuoba Yuanli didn't punish him, but detained him. Chai Heng was not surprised, because the person who reported the news would always be detained, and she had been detained before.
But in this case, what should Chu Yanhuai and Xue Ruyue do?
"What about those two people?" Although they had little to do with her, Chai Heng was still a little curious.
In the previous life, after Chu Yanhuai and Xue Ruyue escaped, it was Yang Yan who settled them. After settling them, he came to the camp to find her again and take her away. In this life, who will take them away?
In the past, she would get very excited when Xue Ruyue was mentioned, but now she seems calm and composed, which made Yang Yan look at her in surprise.
But despite his surprise, he still told her everything he learned from Tuoba Yuanli today.
"The two of them came with Xu Jianxian. The three of them pretended to be idiots in Tuoba Yuanli's camp for several days before they survived."
"A few days ago, when Xu Jianxian escaped, the two of them had already run away with him." Yang Yan nodded slightly and spoke slowly, glancing at the rope on her wrist. "Come here."
Chai Heng looked at him warily, but soon realized what he was going to do, so she walked over obediently and let Yang Yan help her loosen the restraints on her wrists.
This dungeon was tall and dark, but that one window looked like a way to escape. Chai Heng didn't want to sit there and wait for death. If he could run, he would definitely run.
Yang Yan followed Chai Heng's gaze and asked kindly, "Are you stepping on me to get up?"
Chai Heng was thinking this: "Then why don't you squat down?"
Yang Yan squatted down as he was told. Chai Heng glanced at the rope on the ground and picked it up before stepping on his back.
"The rope is so dirty, why did you pick it up?" Yang Yan looked at her in disbelief.
Chai Heng thought, after all, she wasn't a heartless person. If she could really climb out of this window, she wouldn't really go alone. She would take him with her. After all, they had known each other for so many years, and even if the deal didn't work out, there was still friendship.
"Although you always leave me, Yang Yan, I can't be the same as you." Chai Heng said as he wrapped the rope and put it into his sleeve.
Her words were quite meaningful. Yang Yan's expression was complicated for a moment, and he hesitated to speak. Just as he was about to open his mouth, she stepped on him without any hesitation.
In her previous life, when their relationship was still harmonious, she often stepped on his back to climb the big pomegranate tree in the Marquis' Mansion. Yang Yan could feel that compared to the period before her death in her previous life, Chai Heng was now even fatter.
"They are both sweet and sour cream, but the one made by Fei Sanniang is not as to your liking as the one made by Zhou Erniang?" Yang Yan asked suddenly.
Zhou Erniang was the current cook at the Marquis' residence, and Fei Sanniang had been the new hire ten years earlier. Their specialties were sugar-coated yogurt and peanut yogurt. When Chai Heng was at the Marquis' residence, he'd eat two large bowls of yogurt every day. The two cooks' dishes tasted similar, but Fei Sanniang's arrival coincided with the year their relationship with him was at its worst.
It happened that her mother had just beaten her. He found a royal physician to treat her but never came to visit her. He also locked her up in Fuyuan and did not allow her to go out.
As a flesh-and-blood person, she was naturally not in a good mood, and how could she have the same bull-like appetite as before?
Thinking of this, she replied truthfully: "If your father beat you up, and I didn't go to see you, and even locked you up, would you think about eating all day long?"
Yang Yan: ...
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