Changing Swords and Fighting Ruixueliang (I)
My grandma's surname is Li. When she followed her youngest around the country, people often called her by her full name.
Her name is Li Minghe.
In Wutong Lane, south of the capital, she held the token in her arms, almost nervously knocking on the door of the two-story house. The person who opened the door was an elderly woman about her own age. Her brows were dark, and her face was lifeless with the look of work. When she opened the door and saw the person, she raised her eyes stiffly and said in a hoarse voice, "Who is it?"
A breeze blew through the hall, and a faint smell of incense ash drifted into the courtyard.
Grandma held up the token, a half jade pendant of a very rare design, carved with a seabird. She bravely asked, "Is this Madam Xiao's residence? Her husband was the prefect of Kailanzhou in the western border ten years ago."
The old woman standing at the threshold slowly moved her eyes again, and looked at the jade pendant weakly.
Bian Hongqiu and Lao Ju waited ten steps outside the gate, their horses in hand. He surveyed the gate carefully, sensing a sense of decay and decay. He had a vague feeling that this visit wouldn't go well for Grandma. After examining the gate, he took in the surroundings. This first visit to Beijing had already etched in his mind the impression of the city as one of extravagance.
Anyway, it's the Shangyang one, which is incomparable to the small town outside the Great Wall with nothing but wind and sand.
He was also thinking about how to get back to Prince Liang's Mansion without taking any risks.
While she was thinking, the old woman who came to open the door exclaimed, reached out and snatched the jade pendant, turned it over and over in her palm, then covered the jade pendant with her palm and held it against her chest. Then she walked around the grandmother twice with opera-like steps and asked in a trembling voice: "You! You are Li Minghe, right?"
Grandma was puzzled at first: "Who is Li Minghe?"
Then, she realized what was happening, and joy clearly appeared on her face: "It's me! I'm Li Minghe. You're Zhang Qionggou!"
The two of them sang a few lines of the opera to each other, their excitement beyond words.
The grayness on Zhang Qionggou's face faded a lot, and tears flowed from her eyes, which shouldn't be so cloudy at her age. She held Li Minghe's arms with both hands, her chin trembling a few times, and cried out in pain: "Why... why did you come so late!"
The jade pendant engraved with a seabird was placed on her palm and Li Minghe's forearm.
The last time they met, she, her young lady, and Li Minghe, the master and servant, had returned from overseas with a rich harvest. It was a time when Dayu was falling apart, with war and banditry rampant, and cannibalism spreading among the clans. The two young ladies had no choice but to put aside their past dreams and both married. It had been over twenty years since they parted.
After arriving in Beijing, Li Minghe searched for him. Ten years prior, Madam Xiao's husband had been promoted and brought to the capital. She searched for him based on his official position at the time, only to discover that he had been demoted within two years of arriving. After considerable effort, she finally tracked him down to Wutong Lane. She had come to seek the protection of an old friend, but after inquiring, she knew his current life was not a very respectable one.
Her mind was in turmoil, and thinking of Liu Lang who had no one to rely on, she finally spoke: "Qiong Gou, where is Madam Xiao? I...I have something very important to ask her."
Zhang Qionggou couldn't stop crying. "My wife passed away eight years ago!"
Her tears were filled with regret and hatred. Looking back at the dusty gate of the mansion, she gnashed her teeth and said, "This Zheng man is so cruel! He thought he had ascended to heaven after arriving in Beijing. He completely forgot my daughter's contributions when he met a confidante. He offended a powerful figure, was repeatedly demoted, and finally was imprisoned." She spoke, her breath barely catching. "My daughter couldn't bear to see her daughter's future hopeless, so she ran around for him even though she was pregnant, but ended up losing two lives!"
Li Minghe staggered back a step, feeling sorry for Madam Xiao and also worried about Liu Lang who had been missing for a long time.
After thinking for a while, seeing that Zhang Qionggou was still working in the mansion, he wanted to comfort her: "It's okay, Madam Xiao's daughter is grown up now, you..."
Zhang Qionggou burst into tears again and interrupted her hurriedly: "My little lady is dead too! Last year, Mr. Zheng was instigated by his step-wife to marry off the little lady to someone else at random. The little lady had a difficult delivery last month, so... it's also two deaths!" Her cries were shrill, and her sharp voice called out the two owners and several old servants in the small house with two courtyards.
Zheng, the unfaithful man, saw that the old woman was still using trivial matters to mourn. Outsiders and passersby stopped to stare, their faces embarrassed. He pointed at the two old servants in anger and said, "What are you standing there for? Can't you see she's gone crazy again? Take her inside!"
Seeing an old friend suddenly, even from Li Minghe's face, which seemed to be hesitant to speak, Zhang Qionggou knew that this old friend also had something to ask for, and she probably couldn't rely on him. But the jade pendant and Li Minghe almost reminded Zhang Qionggou of things she had long forgotten. She thought of herself twenty years younger, sailing with the young lady, experiencing storms, foreigners, and sea monsters. She had seen everything.
How could they be locked inside the house by an imperial edict that had nothing to do with them?
Her dead ashes ignited into a rage. She took the initiative, grabbed the stick, and beat Zheng fiercely. Before anyone could react, she rushed into the mansion and ran out with the young lady's spirit tablet and ashes, no longer trying to be humble. "Bah! When I followed the young lady, I was a free man. Not a slave, not a servant. Zheng, you've been sitting there doing nothing for decades. You must have forgotten what the law says!"
The tears in Zhang Qionggou's eyes were still there.
The young lady died in childbirth, and even lost the child. Her husband's family, considering it unlucky, refused to bury her in the ancestral tomb. She swallowed her anger and begged to return to the Zheng Mansion, but the father only wanted to take the dowry and property left by the young lady from her.
Damn ancestral tomb!
What a bunch of filthy bastards! It doesn't matter if she doesn't join. She's not without legs. She can just take the young lady with her. Why should she be so cautious?
Li Minghe hadn't expected her arrival to cause such chaos. Half of her heart continued to worry about Liu Lang. With no one to turn to, her old friend was gone. Her past bravery now made her teeth ache. How was she supposed to raise a child? Besides, Liu Lang hadn't been found yet. The other half was furious at her old friend's fate. Without a second thought, she stood in front of Zhang Qionggou, her hands on her hips, and together they cursed Zheng to their heart's content.
Master Zheng was humiliated and furious. His wife, realizing the situation was not right, supported her maid and fled back to her room. The rest of the people had already joined the commotion. Li Minghe, with his hands on his hips, gasped for breath, his hair ripped out by a merciless old servant.
Bian Hongqiu was worried that Grandma Li would suffer a loss, and was about to step forward when she was grabbed by Lao Ju.
Lao Ju looked around and took a stone that the vendors used to stabilize their stalls.
“Crack!”
The stone came flying towards Mr. Zheng's forehead with a fierce wind, and Mr. Zheng was almost split in the head.
He stopped tearing, still in shock. The two or three old servants who had fought to a draw with Grandma Li all retreated. Seeing that Zhang Qionggou had finally stopped crying, he said bitterly, "Mr. Zheng, I'll take the young lady's things. From now on, you and the mother and daughter will go your separate ways. I'll feed the money left by the young lady to dogs rather than let you take a penny!"
Zheng was a coward: "If you want to get out, then get out. I've never spent a penny on a woman!"
Zhang Qionggou snorted coldly, took the gloomy-looking Li Minghe in his arms and turned to leave.
Grandma Li didn't dare to sigh. She helped hold up Miss Zheng's spirit tablet, intending to find Liu Lang first.
Lao Ju and Bian Hongqiu were still standing there. She had returned home frustrated and was about to find a place to stay when she noticed a carriage passing the Zheng residence on the street. The owner of the carriage lifted the curtain and looked over, his eyes fixed on Lao Ju's back. At that moment, she studied his face carefully, but she couldn't recall where she had seen him before.
Qin He, bewildered, slowly stopped the carriage. He was about to ask Meng Shizhuang what had happened when the sound of galloping horses came from the city gate. Remembering Qiu He's story about Fang Changjun's horse and the man he injured, he hurriedly steered the carriage to the other side of the street. But the riders were too fast, their horses were strong, and their riders, in a state of shock, were exhausted and staggering.
Meng Shizhuang is bound to have bad luck in the next two days.
The man on the horse happened to fall off when passing by them. Although he tried his best to control the horse, he was unable to do so and the horse went astray. Two hot-tempered horses were parked in front of the Zheng Mansion, and the horses pulling the carriages of the Prince of Liang's Mansion were naturally easily frightened. Meng Shizhuang only had time to push Qin He to a safe open space.
The next moment, the man fell off his horse and directly overturned the valuable carriage of Prince Liang's Mansion.
Then, the four horses clashed in a chaotic mess on the narrow street, making anyone's scalp tingle. The vendors, who hadn't set up their stalls yet in the morning, saw this from a distance and ran away. Master Zheng, who had just been furious, didn't dare to get involved. He had two old servants carry him back to the house and immediately closed the door.
Lao Ju had his back to Meng Shizhuang, head bowed and coughing, when the sudden change occurred. He only saw a back jump out of the carriage window. Without time to think, he jumped onto a thousand-mile horse and hooked the knife at hand to catch the other horse that was neighing wildly. With the two horses under control, the chaotic scene suddenly became clearer.
Meng Shizhuang got up from the ground, not even bothering to brush off the dust on his body, and jumped over using a wooden pole nearby.
Lao Ju subconsciously turned around and was nailed to the spot. He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound.
Meng Shizhuang had calmed down long ago. He pulled out his other unused knife and skillfully cut the rope connecting the carriage and the horse. The carriage that was restrained by the horse overturned steadily, and the people who fell into the carriage were not sure what happened. Then he picked up the knife and mounted the delicate horse of Prince Liang's Mansion, steadied the frightened horse, and rushed to Qin He.
Before he could catch his breath, he saw the last thousand-mile horse turn its back on Bian Hongqiu and ignore him.
Bian Hongqiu had only taken two steps when his ribs, which had always been aching, suddenly started to ache. The pain came so quickly and so intensely that he could not move.
Fortunately, the street was short and narrow, and Meng Shizhuang could cross it in two steps and embrace Bian Hongqiu.
Bian Hongqiu smelled a familiar scent of agarwood on him, the kind Song Jingyan often burned in her study. He widened his eyes slightly and, amidst the clamor, called out in a voice neither too loud nor too soft, "Ah, sir?"
Meng Shizhuang was very sensitive to this name and immediately turned to look at him in confusion.
At the same time, the man who had just crashed into the carriage struggled to lift the battered carriage board. Several planks were sent flying by his explosive force, piercing the horse's rear end. The horse raised its front hoof high, and while Meng Shizhuang was distracted, it kicked him hard in the waist. Meng Shizhuang rolled out, holding Bian Hongqiu. Meanwhile, the frightened horse was once again held tightly by Qin He, and finally struggled to step on Meng Shizhuang's right palm, which he had not yet withdrawn.
Meng Shizhuang immediately heard a crisp "click" sound, which came before the pain.
He was in so much pain that he couldn't open his eyes. He felt like his waist was about to break. His ears began to buzz again, and he vaguely heard the man on horseback shouting, "The King of Jingxi has assembled an army of 50,000 and is sending troops from the west bank. Lanzhou has fallen into the hands of this traitor again!"
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