Find him
Zhang Chunfeng signaled for the sedan chair to stop. Through her two guards, she saw a beggar, so filthy that his face was unrecognizable, being pushed down by the guards and sitting in the middle of the road.
At the same time, Xiao Jiu also saw Zhang Chunfeng in the sedan chair. He was dressed in brocade robes, had a white jade face, wore a blue pearl headdress, and wore embroidered gold boots.
Just as she entered the city gate, she happened to encounter Zhang Chunfeng seeing off the Crown Prince. Naturally, the common people had to give way to such a scene. She didn't see Zhang Chunfeng, but she heard people talking about it being Lord Zhang seeing off the prince. As soon as she heard the name Lord Zhang, Xiao Jiu immediately weaved through the crowd to inquire, and just then she saw Zhang Chunfeng's sedan chair slowly approaching.
The grievances of three months of wandering suddenly burst forth in Xiao Jiu's heart.
"Sister Chunfeng! Why don't you want us!" Xiao Jiu shouted sharply, took out the bracelet from her bosom, jumped up from the ground, and struggled to run towards Zhang Chunfeng.
The guards immediately tried to stop him, but Zhang Chunfeng quickly realized what was happening.
"Xiao Jiu!" Zhang Chunfeng hurriedly got out of the sedan chair. "Stop!"
She quickly helped the person up, took the bracelet and looked at it; it was the very bracelet she had given to Lee Soo-man.
"Xiao Jiu, what are you doing here? Where did you come from?" Zhang Chunfeng asked, but then realized that it was not appropriate to be in the middle of the road, so he immediately pulled Xiao Jiu into the sedan chair.
The sedan chair was so soft that when Xiao Jiu sat down, her already uncontrollable tears flowed even more uncontrollably. She was sobbing uncontrollably that she couldn't catch her breath and couldn't utter a single complete sentence.
Zhang Chunfeng quickly poured water for Xiao Jiu, gently patted Xiao Jiu's back, and stuffed candied fruit into Xiao Jiu's mouth to give him a little respite.
"Sister Spring Breeze, you're doing so well, why don't you want us?" Xiao Jiu asked, her eyes brimming with tears.
“How could I not want you? I don’t know where you are. My mother forbids me from looking for you,” Zhang Chunfeng replied, rubbing the bracelet he had given to Li Xiuman with his fingers.
"Where do you come from? Where are you and...my brothers?"
"Lingnan".
Clang. Zhang Chunfeng's hand holding the cup trembled. Lingnan! She almost stopped the sedan chair immediately, rode out of the city, and went to Lingnan with Zhao Yong.
Unfortunately, before Zhang Chunfeng could ask any more questions, the maidservant who was with him reported from outside the window.
"My lord, the Empress wants you to go to the palace for a meeting. We must go to the palace first before we can return home."
Zhang Chunfeng gripped the bracelet tightly; he truly knew he wouldn't be able to go to Lingnan.
"Okay, I understand."
Zhang Chunfeng nodded, then asked Xiao Jiu, "How did you get to Lingnan? Where in Lingnan are you? Are you doing well?"
Xiao Jiu shook her head hesitantly, "No, very bad."
“I don’t know why we went to Lingnan. My brother said that Mother’s relatives there would take care of us. I asked him why we didn’t wait for you to come back so we could go together, but he wouldn’t say. After we arrived in Lingnan, we first stayed with Mother’s relatives, but those relatives…”
Xiao Jiu pouted and started crying again.
“This relative was fifty years old but had never married. He treated us well after we moved in, until one night, after I fell asleep, I suddenly felt someone touching my arm. I was so scared that I shouted. My brother came and started arguing with the relative, and then the relative kicked us out.”
As Xiao Jiu spoke, she was full of apology, as if if she hadn't screamed, the others could have stayed at their relative's house. Zhang Chunfeng, however, knew that Li Xiuman was not one to argue with people for no reason. Xiao Jiu was still young and had a boyish personality, so it was likely that the relative had actually done something even more disgusting. Xiao Jiu was fast asleep and unaware of the matter.
After Lee Soo-man barged in, he must have seen something to start arguing with people.
"After leaving our relatives' house, my brother made a living by selling Longjing cakes on the street. At first, it was enough to eat, but Lingnan is hot and rainy, and the miasma is serious. In the spring, he even caught the miasma!"
Because Zhang Chuntian has the mind of a child, Xiao Jiu doesn't call him "brother Zhang Chuntian" anymore, and usually just calls him by his name.
Zhang Chunfeng frowned. "Do you remember the exact address where they live? I wrote down a message and ordered someone to send money there by fast horse, and then bring them here."
Xiao Jiu nodded, "I remember, but... I'm afraid my brother won't come."
“If he doesn’t come this time, I will go to Lingnan to fetch him in a few days.”
As they were talking, the sedan chair had already arrived outside the palace. Originally, the maid wanted to take Xiao Jiu back first, but when she thought of Li Shi at home, Zhang Chunfeng took Xiao Jiu directly to the palace.
"Eat something here and take a nap. I'll be back soon. Don't wander off." Zhang Chunfeng affectionately patted Xiao Jiu's head before hurriedly entering the palace.
This busy period lasted another four or five hours. Having just met with the Empress, Zhang Chunfeng intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that Zhao Yong was traveling alone and quite alone, implying that she could immediately accompany him. This suggestion was completely rejected by the Empress. This was a time for promoting commerce and supporting agriculture, and the documents on Zhang Chunfeng's desk were piling up incredibly high every day. The Empress absolutely forbade her to leave the capital at this time.
Although he himself could not leave the capital, Zhang Chunfeng did send people to Lingnan, and they should arrive in two months with fast horses and men.
Two months. Just thinking about that time pained Zhang Chunfeng. From Jiangnan to Lingnan, his sister-in-law drove alone, carrying a mentally challenged man and a child, enduring wind and rain, only to be abandoned in unfamiliar territory. Now Zhang Chuntian is sick, and Li Xiuman will surely disregard his own health to care for her. The miasma is severe; if his sister-in-law also falls ill, who will earn money? If they both run out of money, they might...
Zhang Chunfeng's mind was in turmoil. She hated the distance and the fact that Li had arranged for her to be sent to such a place! Her mother was truly capable; she had never heard Li mention any relatives in Lingnan.
Once inside the sedan chair, Xiao Jiu was still asleep; she was truly exhausted. The sedan chair started moving again after Zhang Chunfeng entered, but she remained completely unaware. On the table of the sedan chair were leftover roast chicken and pastries. Looking at the osmanthus cake from the capital, Zhang Chunfeng was reminded of Li Xiuman's Longjing cake.
Making Longjing cake? Was it the Longjing cake I bought for him in front of Zuixianlou that day? He only stood in front of the stall for a while and he already learned this skill? What does Li Xiuman's Longjing cake taste like? Zhang Chunfeng's eyebrows and eyes were full of smiles as he mentally rehearsed Li Xiuman making cakes over and over again.
"The woman by the wine shop is like the moon, her fair wrists like frost and snow." She savored this line of poetry over and over. Once just an unrelated phrase, now, with Lee Soo-man as her memory, it felt as if the poem had come alive.
However, Zhang Chunfeng shook his head.
Selling pastries on the street! Her sister-in-law was so fair-skinned, and Lingnan was indeed full of dark-skinned people. She really didn't want her sister-in-law to be stared at by this group of people.
When they arrived at the Zhang residence, Xiao Jiu finally woke up, groggily.
"elder sister."
"You're too tired. Go to bed early tonight, and we'll talk about it in detail tomorrow." Zhang Chunfeng pulled Xiao Jiu out and had a maid take her to bathe and change.
"Xiao Jiu, your mother is in the backyard. You don't need to greet her tonight. If she looks for you tomorrow, just say that you were kidnapped by human traffickers in Lingnan and that's how you ended up here. No need to say anything else."
Xiao Jiu was still sleepy. Mu Dengdeng nodded and was led away by the maid.
After bathing and changing his clothes, Zhang Chunfeng sat upright at the octagonal table.
"My lord, Qiu Xin has arrived," the maid announced.
A young maid named Qiuxin entered the room and bowed to Zhang Chunfeng.
"No need for formalities. My mother is still the same as always today?"
"Reporting to Your Excellency, the old lady has been making fewer clothes lately. The old lady of Lord Wang's family likes to grow flowers, so we've followed suit. Apart from that, we still go to the theater in the south to listen to music."
"Is this theater really that good?"
"I don't understand it, but the theater owner is from Lingnan, and the songs have some southern elements, which is new to me."
Zhang Chunfeng raised an eyebrow; so that's where it was.
"I'll call the boss over tomorrow, but don't let my mother know."
Qiu Xin nodded and left.
The next day, Zhang Chunfeng took a day off and stayed home to accompany Xiao Jiu on a walk around the yard.
After being washed clean by the maids, Xiao Jiu was dressed in new clothes and had her hair combed. Looking at herself in the mirror, she burst out laughing.
"I knew Sister Chunfeng wouldn't abandon us!" Xiao Jiu excitedly grabbed Zhang Chunfeng's hand. As the two were chatting and laughing, a maid came to report, "Sir, the old lady has gotten up."
Li has no work to do now, so she can sleep as long as she wants, and doesn't get up until almost noon every day.
After Zhang Chunfeng found out, he led Xiao Jiu to the front hall.
Upon seeing Xiao Jiu, Li's eyes widened in shock. Her fear was undisguised, and her displeasure was palpable to Xiao Jiu.
"You, how did you get here?"
Before Xiao Jiu could speak, Zhang Chunfeng patted her on the shoulder, gesturing for her to sit down and eat.
"Why is Mother so nervous? Her indenture is still with me. If not here, where else could it be? Lingnan?"
Li's expression changed again.
"Mother is truly skilled; she managed to hide people in Lingnan."
"Are you going to find him?" Li asked, having already removed the hairpin from her hair.
Zhang Chunfeng shook her head, "Mother has already removed the hairpin again, how can I look for him? Don't worry, Mother, it's only a matter of time before we find him."
Li snorted coldly, "Chunfeng, you won't find him."
Zhang Chunfeng didn't respond, and Xiao Jiu ate in silence, but she already sensed that the culprit behind all of this was Li Shi; it was she who prevented her and her brother from returning. Looking at Li Shi's head adorned with gold and jade, Xiao Jiu became even angrier.
"She was infected with malaria in the spring and almost died, but she has been sleeping until now. She can actually eat all the food on this table."
"What? You caught malaria in the spring! How could this be? Weren't you being looked after?" Madam Li's face turned pale, filled with anxiety.
“Mother, there’s no use in worrying. Lingnan is at least three months’ journey from here. Even if you go now, it’s another matter whether my brother will still be alive in three months,” Zhang Chunfeng said with a smile.
Li clutched her chest, having lost all appetite.
"Mother's heart aches? Isn't this all part of Mother's scheme?" Zhang Chunfeng waved his hand. "The old woman is unwell. Find a doctor to take a look at her. She shouldn't go out for the time being."
Li suddenly raised her head. "Chunfeng, what are you doing? I am your mother. Are you trying to imprison me?"
"Nonsense, Mother is doing this for my own good, and I'm doing this for Mother's own good too."
Before Li could say anything, the maidservant helped her up and took her into the house.
Li's heart was filled with thoughts of Zhang Chuntian, and she felt a sharp pain in her chest, so she clutched her chest and went back inside.
After the doctor examined her, he only advised Li that she was getting on in years and should not eat too much meat or fish, nor should she lie down all the time, before leaving.
Hearing this made Xiao Jiu secretly happy. She thought about how she and her brother couldn't even afford steamed buns, while Li Shi ate so much meat and fish that she got sick! What kind of mother is that!
After Li returned to her room, Zhang Chunfeng asked Xiao Jiu to tell him, little by little, what had happened to them over the past year.
For several days, Zhang Chunfeng was truly happy with Xiao Jiu's company. But a few months later, she suddenly received a letter.
"Your Honor, the person you asked me to find left Lingnan a month ago. The money was not delivered, and his whereabouts are unknown."
Xiao Jiu had been studying in the capital for some time. When he picked up the letter and read it, he was immediately shocked.
"How could this be? When I left, my brother clearly said that he wouldn't come to Kyoto or return to Jiangnan. How could he have left so soon?"
Zhang Chunfeng snorted coldly and immediately ran to the backyard.
The weather had turned cool, and Li stood in the hall holding a stove.
For several months now, Li has not left her home.
She could hardly believe that her own daughter, the daughter she had raised with her own hands, had imprisoned her own mother for the sake of a man! And this man was even her brother's male wife! For such a person, she abandoned her brother, abandoned her own mother, and was determined to go her own way, even at the cost of her bright future.
"Mother is really amazing. I had barely arrived when she had already moved everyone away. How could she be faster than me?"
Zhang Chunfeng stood in the courtyard, his blood-red clothes fluttering in the wind like blood butterflies.
"Spring Breeze, let him go."
"Let go? Mother, that sounds nice, but those two simple words aren't so easy to say!"
“Chunfeng, let me tell you again, you are still young. You will meet many more people in the future. As the days go by, feelings and love will naturally fade. You will then understand that Li Xiuman is nothing more than an obsession for you.”
"Oh?" Zhang Chunfeng's peach blossom eyes were full of laughter. Li looked into her daughter's eyes and felt extremely terrified. The laughter in those peach blossom eyes was like a series of knives, about to deliver a fatal blow to Li.
"Is Qian Lao Er also obsessed with his mother?"
Upon hearing the name, the brazier in Li's hands fell to the ground with a thud. The bronze brazier struck the ground with a dull thud.
"You, you..."
Zhang Chunfeng's smile deepened.
"Your mother is originally from Lingnan. You are the third child in your family, with two older brothers. Qian Lao Er is your second brother. Lingnan is a poor place. When you were five or six years old, you were sold by a slave trader to Zhangjia Village in Jiangnan to be with a couple who couldn't have children. Later, the couple died, and when you were twelve, you went to the capital with the villagers and became a maid in a wealthy family surnamed Li. Unexpectedly, you met your own brother, Qian Lao Er, in the capital."
"As for the details, I don't need to go into them. I only know that when my mother was nineteen, she became pregnant for no reason and was kicked out of the Li family. At that time, Qian Lao Er happened to be in jail for causing trouble, so you had no choice but to return to Zhangjia Village and marry my father while pregnant."
Li felt as if all her strength had been drained in an instant, and she slowly retreated. Zhang Chunfeng was clearly standing still and hadn't moved forward an inch, but in Li's eyes, it was as if a ferocious tiger draped in a blood-red coat was about to devour her.
"Mother once said that if my brother hadn't fallen ill at the age of ten, he would be standing here today. Mother was utterly foolish, not realizing that having such an incestuous relationship with her brother would be against all human ethics. Even if Zhang Chuntian wasn't mentally challenged, he would never reach my level in this lifetime! Mother shouldn't even think about returning to the capital in glory because of my brother!"
Li shook her head frantically, "No, that's not how it is! Who told you this? Chun Tian's foolishness is all because of you! You owe Chun Tian! How could you steal his wife when you owe him so much!"
"I do owe my brother a debt, but I won't act like Mother, so high and mighty!" Zhang Chunfeng sneered. "Since Mother arrived in the capital, she has been meeting with Qian Lao Er every day. When Mother said she was sending him to the capital, it turned out to be a triple kill: keeping an eye on me, sending Li Xiuman away, and still being able to meet with her old lover. In these past few months, Mother hasn't seen that man. Has she ever felt the pain of missing him?"
Li's face, once covered in powder, instantly turned deathly pale. The gold hairpin in her hair, no longer gleaming with precious jewels, resembled that of a concubine in the cold palace; though still golden, it exuded an aura of death. Her throat bobbed, and tears streamed down her face.
She cried so much that at first Zhang Chunfeng felt guilty, but now, looking at her mother's tears, she felt only disgust.
"Isn't Mother the one who loves me the most? If she loves me, then she should empathize with me!" How can she watch her daughter suffer the pain of unrequited love while she herself is carefree and happy? Mother, if you keep me trapped for a day, I will keep you trapped for a day too.
Li's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Chunfeng, I'm really doing this for your own good. I'm already this old, why would I need an old flame? I'm worried about your career, your career!"
"Mother, are you truly worried about my career, or are you worried that after I fall from grace, I won't be able to continue supporting your old lover? Five hundred taels of silver a year, Mother, do you really think my money grows on trees? That I can afford to give this much to your old lover?"
“That was the money you gave to your mother for the month. Your mother doesn’t need it herself. Your mother didn’t touch your money,” Li Shi still argued.
Zhang Chunfeng wouldn't listen. "You actually love such a good-for-nothing wretch who relies on women for support? You really have no taste."
Zhang Chunfeng didn't want to say more. She turned her back, and the bleak autumn wind blew her hair down her back, strand by strand flying like withered autumn leaves.
"You!" Seeing Zhang Chunfeng about to leave, Madam Li shouted in uncontrollable rage, "You still dare to talk about me? What's so great about Li Xiuman? The offspring of two prostitutes, he's got a seductive, low-class nature in his bones, which is why you've seduced even your own mother! Heavens, what sins have I committed? Back then, you spent the night with him in the cave, and I only asked him to marry your brother for the sake of your reputation, but I never imagined it would end like this! Li Xiuman! You bastard!"
Zhang Chunfeng's hand suddenly clenched, her neatly manicured nails digging fiercely into her flesh.
It turns out that Li had been scheming since then. That makes sense; Li has always had a good memory, but when Zhang Chunfeng asked her brother who he had married, Li said she couldn't remember Li Xiuman's name!
"Heh." Zhang Chunfeng sneered. Everyone thought she was exceptionally intelligent. If she were truly so clever, how could she have been so easily outmaneuvered by her own mother? How foolish she was! She was truly, truly foolish!
"For my reputation, Mother, you're really doing this for my own good." Zhang Chunfeng laughed, her whole body trembling. Her peach blossom eyes were filled with bloodshot veins. The autumn wind was so cold, but her body, hidden in her robes, radiated an eerie heat that seemed to be gnawing at her bones inch by inch.
At first, she thought it must be a blessing from heaven that allowed her to meet Lee Soo-man for the first time. She thought that first meeting was the beginning of their destined romance. But she never imagined that this first meeting would be the continuation of their painful unrequited love.
Zhang Chunfeng felt so hot that it felt like his heart, hidden in his chest, would jump out of his chest, and he staggered out.
"Zhang Chunfeng!" Li suddenly cried out, "I am your mother! How will people outside talk about you if you imprison me like this!"
"Mother had an affair with her own brother, violating human ethics. Now, whether she is imprisoned by me or her brother is mentally impaired, it is nothing but punishment sent down by heaven. I will build a Buddha statue for mother, and from now on, she will spend her days in meditation and Buddhism until her death."
Li burst into a heart-wrenching cry, but Zhang Chunfeng seemed not to hear it. He walked back to the front yard and instructed the maids that Li had lost her mind and no one was allowed to visit her.
Xiao Jiu held a cup of hot tea and fed it to Zhang Chunfeng.
“Sister, I just thought about it. These past few days you've been home a lot, and you've been receiving all those people who came to see Mother. They haven't gotten close to Mother. I've also asked the maids, and none of them have passed on any messages for Li Shi. Only one person has seen Mother!”
Zhang Chunfeng looked at Xiao Jiu and saw that Xiao Jiu's mouth was slightly open.
Zhang Chunfeng immediately knew who that person was.
Snap—
The porcelain cup in his hand shattered on the ground.
She rose to her current position in just one year, demonstrating remarkable caution and prudence. Yet, she was completely unguarded around one person—Zhou Zhengdu.
Good, very good. His own mother schemed against him like that, and his only unsuspecting friend became an accomplice, just like his mother! It's time to settle all this score.
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