Chapter 7.7 I Won't Abandon Him
After only three days apart, Yuezhi almost didn't recognize the woman in front of her.
She was wearing a tattered cotton-padded coat, her long, black hair was tied back with a withered tree branch and swayed precariously. She was thin and sallow, and had no trace of her former prosperity.
The eldest grandson, Huaqing, whom she held in her arms, was also as thin as a little monkey, with a bluish-black face, clearly having fallen ill from the cold.
"I heard you have connections in the detention center. Could you get some medicine? Qing'er has been running a fever for a day. If she stays sick like this, she'll die."
With her eyes red from crying, Cui Wenzhu knelt down beneath their carriage amidst the astonished gazes of Yuezhi and Pei Heng.
“I was blinded by greed before and hit you. I have no face to beg you, but Qing’er is my life. She is still so young. The sins I committed should not befall her… As long as you are willing to save her, even if you slap me ten times, I will not utter a sound.”
To avoid attracting attention, the two always kept their carriage at the very back of the caravan. When they stopped to rest at night, the driver would move the carriage to a secluded spot, a little distance away from the other carriages.
Cui Wenzhu must have been watching their car all day to come here. Now she's begging and pleading, just to give her daughter a chance to survive.
While living in the palace, Yuezhi was a vengeful person. If anyone treated her badly, she would stay far away and never speak to that person again.
But things are different now. We are both prisoners, and neither of us is in a good situation. Why make enemies for ourselves?
"I've gotten you some medicine, what can you give me in return?" Yuezhi asked her.
Cui Wenzhu was stunned. She had nothing left. She had long since sold her valuable clothes and exchanged them for cotton-padded coats and flatbreads. What did she have left to give away?
"Whatever you want, I'll find a way to get it for you."
Yuezhi did indeed have something she wanted. Pointing to her loose hair bun, she said, "I want to take half of your long hair."
"Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents. Ordinary people would never ask someone to cut their hair." Cui Wenzhu hesitated for a moment, looked down at her daughter whose breath was getting weaker and weaker, and gritted her teeth to make up her mind.
"Take it if you want it." He said, taking down the deadwood and letting his long hair fall loose.
Yuezhi cut half of her hair, wrapped it in oil paper and put it away. She gave her three doses of medicine for colds and a large bowl of sweet potato porridge that the two of them hadn't finished eating.
After finishing her porridge, Cui Wenzhu sobbed, "My daughter and I will repay your kindness today in the future."
Yuezhi didn't respond. She exchanged the typhoid medicine for her hair. Cui Wenzhu didn't owe her anything. If it was that slap, the fact that she and her daughter had fallen to such a state with no one to help them was already their retribution.
After the two left, Pei Heng tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Did you save them because of me?"
For him?
Yuezhi suddenly remembered.
“Yes, they are your aunt and cousin…” she said a little embarrassedly. “I was just thinking about getting some hair to practice hair embroidery. If I practice well, I can sell a piece for a lot of money.”
Pei Heng smiled helplessly. Not only had Yue Zhi forgotten, but Cui Wenzhu hadn't taken him seriously at all either—they used to fawn over him, but now that he had no value, even a simple greeting from him was a waste of their breath.
Yuezhi didn't think much of it, nor did she understand the boy's complicated thoughts. She turned around and went to pack her things.
*
The further north they went, the slower the carriage moved. The weather grew colder day by day, withered leaves were blown down by the cold wind, and the grass and trees withered, revealing the frosty white earth.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and the escort team arrived in Yanjing. One person was taken off the carriage and taken to the local government jail to be detained and registered.
Because of their different crimes, Yuezhi and Peiheng were forced to separate and were taken to a group of female prisoners who had been punished and enslaved.
Arriving in an unfamiliar place, she was frightened and clutched her bundle tightly. She was locked in a cell and awaited her fate.
"Seeing you inseparable from the deposed crown prince all day long, I thought you were different from us, but I didn't expect you to be a slave too."
Xiuyu sat with her knees bent in the corner, together with a group of maids from the Changsun family.
When Yuezhi heard the sound, she looked over and found that Xiuyu had become extremely thin, her face was so thin that it looked like bones. Meanwhile, Caiying, who was always with her, was sitting with several other maids. They not only had cotton clothes to wear, but also looked much more energetic.
She thought: They must have hidden money on them like she did, so they wouldn't have gone hungry or cold on the road.
Yuezhi, carrying her bundle, walked over to Caiying and sat down at a distance from them.
Xiu Yu's eyes widened immediately. She stood up, pointed at them, and shouted, "Look at you! You're all shameless! You live off seducing men! You have no sense of shame!"
Yuezhi was completely confused.
What is she saying? Who is seducing men?
Caiying, who is usually quick-witted, ignored Xiuyu completely this time. She only glanced at Yuezhi and saw her bewildered eyes. She gave her a pitiful yet envious look before turning her face away.
After a while, jailers from the Yanjing government office came to unlock the doors, selected a few people, and took them away.
Yuezhi knew about this. Her sworn brother had told her that slaves could be redeemed. If no one redeemed them within three days, they would be taken to the streets to be sold. If they couldn't be sold after a long time, they would be sent to the government to do the lowest level of hard labor and work as laborers for the rest of their lives.
When she heard her sworn brother talk about it, she became scared. She had been bought and sold several times when she was a child. The feeling of being chosen and scrutinized by others was really unpleasant.
She turned her gaze away from the prison gate, silently clutching the soft bundle in her arms, imagining that, just like every night she spent in the carriage, she was now holding the warm and soft Pei Heng.
Having someone with me makes me feel less anxious.
The maids who had cotton-padded clothes were all taken out, and Caiying left as well. As she left, Xiuyu pointed at her back and cursed, but Caiying didn't look back at all.
The jailer led the people away, and the prison was deathly still.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached for Yuezhi's bundle.
She clutched the bundle tightly, and when she looked up, she saw Xiu Yu with a ferocious expression.
"Let go!" Yuezhi shouted angrily.
Xiuyu wouldn't listen to any of that. She was only thinking about how she hadn't managed to hook up with a man willing to redeem her, and how much more suffering she would have to endure in prison. The silly Yuezhi was the only person she could rob right now. She didn't care about getting anything good; even getting her a bite to eat would be fine.
When Yuezhi's warnings went unheeded, she pulled out a small knife from her waist and, without hesitation, slid it across Xiuyu's arm, tearing through her thin palace maid's dress and leaving a long gash on her arm.
Xiu Yu felt a sharp pain and hurriedly let go. Seeing the blood flowing from her arm, she was so frightened that she cried out and retreated in panic.
Upon seeing this, the surrounding maids quickly moved away from Yuezhi, their eyes filled with fear as they looked at her.
Yuezhi herself never expected that the small knife her sworn brother casually gave her for cutting silver would end up being used to cut someone.
The sensation of the sharp blade cutting her skin sent shivers down her spine. When she came to her senses, she realized that blood was still dripping from the blade, like evidence of a crime.
She breathed heavily, grabbed some moldy hay from the ground to wipe the blood off her blade, and mustered her courage to say, "Don't come any closer. You took my things first, you deserve it."
After saying that, he put the knife away, dared not sit on the ground any longer, got up and stood in a place far away from them, so as not to disturb them.
Xiuyu curled up in the corner and cried, her voice extremely annoying.
Just as Yuezhi was about to cry, she realized that she had been bullied by Xiuyu in the palace. Now that they were all in dire straits and were all slaves, Xiuyu still dared to bully her. She was such a despicable person.
She snorted coldly and didn't even look at her once.
As the sun gradually moved westward, the wait grew increasingly anxious.
Finally, the jailer came over again, and amidst the eager, expectant gazes of the crowd, Yuezhi was led out.
The prison doors were locked again, and those envious eyes turned to despair. The chances of being redeemed were slim, and the future was uncertain.
Yuezhi followed the jailer out of the prison and met Zhang Ping'an, who had redeemed her.
He asked anxiously, "Brother, do you know where Pei Heng is?"
“He is different from those masters of the Changsun family. They have all been moved to the Bodhisattva Temple. We don’t know how the Yanjing government will deal with them yet.”
“Bodhisattva Temple…” Yuezhi murmured, then slung her bundle over her shoulder and ran out of the government office.
"Hey!" Zhang Ping'an caught up with her in a few steps, grabbed her sleeve, and whispered to her, "Good girl, you're a commoner now. You should be thinking about how to live your life from now on. Don't get involved in the young master's affairs anymore."
Upon hearing this, Yuezhi was stunned.
Does her sworn brother mean she should stop caring about Pei Heng?
Previously, Zhang Ping'an couldn't speak too frankly in front of the two of them, but now that they were talking privately, he told her his true feelings.
“Young Master’s crime is serious. Whether he is punished by being sent to farm, doing hard labor, or becoming a slave, he will have no chance to turn his life around. You can find a job in an embroidery shop in the city and support yourself. But if you take him with you… he needs to be served even when he is eating and dressing. He will only be a burden to you.”
“He has enjoyed nine years of wealth and luxury before he has to start to suffer, while you have toiled for ten years. You should think about yourself. If you stay in Yanjing for a few years, I will find a way to bring you back to the capital. We can live a good life with your mother. Isn’t that better than serving others?”
Although they were both his godmother's darlings, he clearly distinguished between the importance of the master he served and his adopted sister.
Zhang Ping'an coaxed her gently, but Yue Zhi listened with a troubled mind.
Pei Heng is a hot potato. Even the guards didn't want to mess with him along the way. Now that he's in exile, he'll never be able to leave the North unless the emperor personally pardons him.
As my sworn brother said, he would be a burden.
But... but...
Yuezhi bit her lower lip, unable to agree with her brother's idea no matter what.
It's good to live a simple life, and it's not difficult to support yourself by doing embroidery. What's difficult is finding a trustworthy confidant in a place where you don't know anyone.
“Brother, Pei Heng isn’t some good-for-nothing who can only be waited on. He’s very smart and knows more than I do…”
She tried her best to explain Pei Heng's good qualities, but dared not express her truest desires.
Having experienced the joy of being with him and slept in his warm, cozy bed, she no longer wanted to be alone.
"I'm going to find him."
*
At the Bodhisattva Temple, Cui Wenzhu and her daughter, as well as the eldest and second sons of the Changsun family, were released one after another, leaving only Changsun Yi and Pei Heng, who were the most guilty among those exiled this time.
The winter nights in Yanjing come exceptionally early. The drafty windows let in the last rays of the setting sun, and the cold, lifeless light shone on the two dejected men, so glaringly bright.
Changsun Yi was emaciated, his brocade robe with its intricate embroidery was filthy, and he sat cross-legged on a futon.
Separated from the Buddha statue, Pei Heng stood on the other side, wearing a clean blue cotton coat and thick, warm leather boots. He looked at the sunset outside the window, trying to calm himself down, but he couldn't help but look towards the tightly closed temple gate outside the courtyard.
When will she come...?
He waited from noon until dusk, his heart growing increasingly anxious.
"Are you still waiting for that little girl?" Changsun Yi sneered, his stubble on his face making him look both decadent and sinister.
He scoffed, "Don't bother waiting, she's not coming."
Upon hearing this, Pei Heng turned his head and glared at him fiercely, "She's not like you. Don't assume she's someone you're not. You're still my uncle, don't make me feel disgusted."
The childish voice revealed a chilling power, and Changsun Yi was stunned for a moment before bursting out laughing.
"Anyone knows that the crimes we bear will haunt us for life. With you by my side, I will never be able to turn my life around. Do you think she would rather marry a man from Yanjing than a young, inexperienced boy like you who only brings trouble to her?"
She can go find someone to marry now...
Pei Heng's anger suddenly turned cold.
He had almost forgotten that Yuezhi was simple-minded, but she was six years older than him, about the same age as the maids. Naturally, she could find a man to marry and live a peaceful life, just like them.
Compared to her, he was just a burden, unable to help her and even dragging her down with his crimes.
The tightly closed temple doors were like his future life—heavy and dilapidated, never to be touched again, left to gather dust and die in this neglected prison.
He lowered his eyelashes and watched the light shining on the ground dim and disappear until only darkness remained.
"Bang!"
In the darkness, the temple door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.
The girl, carrying a lantern, ran along, her hair disheveled, the warm light illuminating her gentle and beautiful face.
Pei Heng looked up at the sound and met the familiar eyes of the person outside the door. The moment their eyes met, the tension and worry in her eyes melted away like frost and snow, and a smile more beautiful than peach blossoms in spring blossoms bloomed.
"Pei Heng, I've come to pick you up!"
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