Chapter 44: The Wind Comes 3: Honesty
Xun Shu left through the back door, grabbed her horse at the corner, and prepared to leave the city to find a secluded spot while she pondered her next move. She didn't dare take the faster main road, fearing discovery, so she found a secluded path and, after a long detour, finally reached the city gate.
Not far from the city gate was a notice board. A crowd gathered, pointing and talking. There seemed to be a piece of paper taped to the board, but the writing was unclear. Soldiers were guarding the area, and Xun Shu didn't dare approach, fearing the paper might contain a wanted poster for her.
Standing at the city gate were several other people whom I had seen at Zhao's residence a few days earlier. They included runners from the government office and officials from the Dali Temple. They stared intently at the people entering and leaving the city, as if searching for someone, not daring to relax even for a moment.
Xun Shu's heart sank, and he dared not move another step.
Did He Xuan seal all the city gates just to capture her? What was he going to do with her? Was he going to silence her? If he killed her, wouldn't anyone know he was the one who took Jiang Zheng away? Wouldn't that save his reputation?
Suspicion washed over Xun Shu like a raging wave. She felt desperate and panicked, feeling someone nearby staring at her. She lowered her head, not daring to look around. She quickly led her horse away, away from this crowded place, but she didn't know where to go.
If you want to leave the city, you need to plan carefully; if you want to stay in the city and hide, you can no longer take this horse with you.
The horse knew the way and could find its way home. Xun Shu released the horse in the woods west of the city, watched it run towards the funeral clothing store, and then turned and left.
Xun Shu walked hurriedly with her head down, like a headless fly for a long time. Suddenly, she remembered that there was a dilapidated temple in the east of the city, which had been gradually abandoned due to the decline of Buddhism. Perhaps it could provide her with temporary hiding place.
During the five years in Chaozhou, Xun Shu seldom wandered around unimportant places. The reason she knew about this dilapidated temple was because two years ago, she and Jiang Zheng came here together to deliver a coffin.
When Xun Shu found the dilapidated temple according to the route in his memory, he felt that time was cruel and even the dilapidated temple was not spared.
The temple consisted of two courtyards. The gate, which had been recognizable two years ago, was now reduced to a crumbling wooden plank. The main hall's roof was largely broken, unrepaired, leaving only a sliver of the Buddha's head visible, battered by rain and wind until its original appearance was almost unrecognizable. The roofs of the east and west side halls remained, but the window frames and door panels were long gone. A pile of miscellaneous items lay on the ground, likely the homes of homeless people.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one around, Xun Shu trotted across the main courtyard and arrived at the back yard.
The backyard was much smaller than the main courtyard, and the house was more dilapidated, but Xun Shu found it quite nice. No one was staying there temporarily, and it was very close to the back door. If someone from the front yard came looking for them, they would be spotted immediately, giving them a chance to escape. It was exactly what people call being able to attack when advancing and defend when retreating.
She chose a small room in a corner, resembling a former monk's quarters. Its exterior was shabby, but its interior held a hidden gem. She even found a stack of yellowed paper and a half-used ink stick. Xun Shu, feeling gloomy and with nowhere to vent, simply ground some ink into a broken bowl, dipped her finger in it, and drew a talisman on the paper.
Back in the mountains, she loved drawing talismans. When her senior brother bullied her, she drew a talisman to make him fall down. When her senior sister stole her candy, she drew a talisman to make her have a stomachache. When she encountered something unhappy, she drew a talisman to curse the heavens. When it rained continuously, she drew a talisman to curse the sun...
Xun Shu hadn't drawn talismans in years, yet her brushstrokes were not at all rusty. She finished one, then pasted it on the wall. When the wall was full, she spread it out and threw it on the floor. Soon, the whole room was covered, and her mood gradually calmed down.
She stared at the talisman fluttering in the wind, lost in thought, and her frozen mind finally began to move.
Something seems wrong.
If He Xuan wanted to take down the coffin shop, she could have just stayed there. Why leave and come back? Even if she was setting a trap, there should have been someone nearby who would have noticed her return to the coffin shop. But this afternoon, she had spent a full cup of tea in the backyard. Why hadn't anyone come looking for her? Could it be that the person guarding the shop was a cripple?
If not, there is only one possibility left, that the people who kidnapped Jiang Zheng are not the same group of people who entered the coffin shop when she left.
Who could that be?
After a turbulent journey, he was exhausted. Although he was still in danger, he couldn't control his eyelids from fighting each other. Xun Shu walked around the room, found a corner covered by a cabinet, sat down with his knees hugged, and although he tried to stay awake, he fell asleep in a short while.
I slept very lightly, with dreams that continued one after another, all bizarre and strange. When I woke up, it felt like I had walked through a void, and I couldn't remember anything. In fact, I felt even more sleepy than before I went to sleep.
It was already dark, and the room was completely dark, with only moonlight streaming in through the broken window, casting a cool halo on the ground. Xun Shu stretched his stiff muscles and was about to rest for a while when he heard a chaotic noise outside.
In an instant, her sleepiness completely disappeared.
She stood up and wanted to leave. Looking through the broken window, she saw a group of people walking through the moon gate and into the backyard. She wondered if they were here to catch her.
Seeing the group of people getting closer, Xun Shu had no time to panic. She just felt that she could no longer hide behind the cabinet. She looked around and glanced at the gap under the bed.
She had seen the place just now, but she felt that it was dirty and torn, and the hanging bedding exuded a rotten smell, and she didn't want to hide in it. But now she didn't care about so much, she bent down and approached, lifted the tattered bedding that was covering her, and crawled in, not daring to delay for a moment.
She held her breath, huddled in the innermost corner, stared motionlessly at the darkness before her, and prayed in her heart that the group of people would leave as soon as possible.
Time stretched infinitely in this moment, she could see nothing, yet her senses were magnified. She could hear the people in the front yard shouting, the rats scurrying on the beams, approaching footsteps, and even more, her deafening heartbeat and the sharp buzzing in her ears from nervousness.
She suddenly felt a little sad, biting her lips tightly to resist the urge to cry.
She had never done anything bad in her life, and even if she had occasionally let nature take its course and failed to help someone in need, she shouldn't have been so unlucky. She had never known her birth date, but now she felt that she must have been born with the fate of a star, bringing misfortune to those around her, and forever drifting, with no place to settle.
The footsteps finally reached her door, and then it was pushed open with great force, making a sharp, piercing creak. Someone walked into the room, turned around, and left without stopping. Just as Xun Shu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she had escaped a disaster, she heard the person outside the door shouting, "Go tell the master, we've found something here!"
Xun Shu was stunned. She didn't know how the man saw her. She could only stick to the wall behind her, wishing she could pass through the wall and get out of the temple and escape from this place as soon as possible.
A few breaths later, the sound of footsteps echoed outside the door. Their footsteps were soft and well-trained, instantly encircling the room. Someone entered the room carrying an oil lamp. The soft light filtered through the worn bedding in front of Xun Shu, piercing the darkness beneath the bed, making it impossible to dodge. Xun Shu held his breath, unaware of what was happening outside. He only heard the sound of people moving back and forth, and then the sound of talismans being picked up from the ground, making a soft sound.
Only then did Xun Shu realize how they had discovered it.
It was her carelessness that hadn't hidden the talisman before resting, and she had forgotten about it while hiding because it was dark, which had exposed her. If she was caught this time, she couldn't blame anyone else; it was all her own stupidity that had led her to this state.
Xun Shu hid in the darkness, her whole body tense, not even daring to blink, staring motionlessly at the torn bedding in front of her, stiffly waiting for her end.
One moment, two moments, three moments.
The world suddenly became quiet, everything disappeared silently, the rag in front of her was lifted up, and a man appeared in front of her holding an oil lamp.
It turned out to be He Xuan.
Xun Shu couldn't explain what he felt in his heart. He should have been alert, but he relaxed unconsciously. He said he felt relieved, but he could never go back to the way he was before everything happened.
He Xuan looked at Xun Shu, who was curled up under the bed, covered in dust and with a shrinking look in his eyes, and felt indescribably sad.
It was as if it was tightly grasped by an invisible giant hand, pulled into the air, and then dropped heavily, breaking into pieces, and could no longer be put back together as a complete piece.
He didn't dare recall what happened today.
When he returned to the coffin shop at noon, he found something strange in the backyard. Seeing two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table in the yard, as well as food that smelled sour, he concluded that the two people in the yard were taken away after dinner yesterday.
If he could have come back last night...
He Xuan didn't have time to think about it. He immediately ordered the Dali Temple to search the entire city and sent people to each city gate to check the people entering and leaving.
He knew that the criminals might have left the city overnight after taking away the two people from the coffin shop, but he was still unwilling to give up any hope.
Later, Fang Yan heard about this and found him, saying that when he returned home yesterday afternoon, he learned from his family that Xun Shu had borrowed their horse and gone out of the city, and would probably return to the city later today or tomorrow.
So, the person who had dinner with Jiang Zheng yesterday was not Xun Shu, then who was it?
He Xuan had just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly saw someone approaching on horseback. The man on the horse was the owner of the funeral clothing store, Fang Yan's father.
Uncle Fang dismounted nearby and ran over to the two men, breathless. He said, "Oh no! This horse just returned home alone, but Xiaoshu is nowhere to be seen. Could Xiaoshu have been in danger, and this horse came back first to report it?"
He Xuan's heart was in suspense again, and he hurriedly asked, "When did this happen?"
"Just a moment ago."
"Let this horse lead the way, maybe we can find Ah Shu!"
Fang Yan and He Xuan rode the horse around the city, but by sunset they hadn't found any sign of Xun Shu. It was also around this time that news arrived from the various city gates: no horse had been seen entering the city alone.
This means that Xun Shu was separated from the horse in the city.
After that, he and Fang Yan separated and continued to search for Xun Shu in the city. Then, he found this dilapidated temple, came to this small house in the corner, and found his little girl.
In the dim light, He Xuan put the oil lamp aside and stretched out his hand to Xun Shu: "Ashu, come out quickly, it's safe."
Safe? Safe or a greater danger? Xun Shu looked at the man in front of him, pursed his lips and said nothing. He silently crawled out from under the bed and avoided his outstretched hand.
He Xuan's hand froze in mid-air. After a moment, he withdrew it awkwardly and forced a gentle smile: "Ah Shu, are you scared?"
He reached out to help Xun Shu remove the dirt from her hair, but she dodged him again by moving sideways.
He Xuan finally realized that Xun Shu was angry with him. Feeling aggrieved, he nervously admitted his fault, "It's my fault. I clearly promised you yesterday that I would have dinner with you, but other things got in the way. If I had gotten back in time, Uncle Jiang would definitely be fine."
Xun Shu retreated to the corner of the room, leaned his back against the wall, and whispered, "Do you think I will believe it?"
He Xuan was stunned: "I didn't lie—" He paused, realizing something, his tone full of disbelief, "You don't think that Uncle Jiang's disappearance has anything to do with me?"
Xun Shu looked at him quietly, his eyes like ice, which explained everything.
He Xuan opened his mouth, unable to utter a single word. He had concealed so many things that now, wanting to confess, he didn't know where to begin. He could only palely explain, "There was a welcoming banquet at the county government office last night, and I couldn't get away, so I had to attend. Since then, I've been busy with the Zhao residence case. I only returned to the coffin shop at noon today, and that's when I learned that something had happened there." He suddenly remembered something, his eyes lit up, and as if he had thought of a savior, he took out a small oil-paper bag from his bosom and handed it to Xun Shu like a treasure. "Before I went back, I specially bought your favorite food, including bubble cakes, touhua glutinous rice cakes, and Zhang's roast chicken. But the other two don't taste good when they get cold, so I only brought the touhua glutinous rice cakes. You must be hungry, right? You should have one."
Xun Shu hadn't eaten in a long time and thought she wasn't hungry anymore, but now her stomach couldn't help but growl. She put her hands behind her back and didn't take it, but her heart softened uncontrollably.
Did he really not lie?
If He Xuan didn't lie, then the sound heard in the coffin shop today must have been made by him.
Seeing that she didn't take it, He Xuan opened the oil-paper package in his hand and realized that after half a day's running around, the flower-shaped rice cake had already become a mess, and its original beautiful appearance was gone. He sighed and said with a wry smile as if to mock himself, "It has become like this... Don't eat it. I'll buy you fresh ones tomorrow."
Xun Shu took a half step forward, quickly pulled the oil paper bag away, and then returned to her original position, picked up a small piece, and took small bites. He Xuan looked at her, smiled, and said softly: "Are you hungry, Shu? Fill your stomach first, and I'll take you to eat something delicious later."
Xun Shu shook her head. "You go ahead. I'll be leaving soon, too." She raised her eyes and said vaguely, "Can the people at the city gate be evacuated? I want to leave the city to find Uncle Jiang. Also, can the wanted notice be removed? I haven't done anything wrong, and I don't want people pointing fingers at me wherever I go."
"Wanted warrant?" He Xuan frowned, his mind racing for a few seconds before he understood what she meant. "Are you talking about the official document posted on the notice board at the city gate? That's not a wanted warrant, it's the simple details of Magistrate Zhao's case. Magistrate Zhao was the magistrate of Chaozhou, after all. The people should know how he died." He curled his lips, "You must not have taken a closer look."
"There are people all around the notice board, and not far away are the soldiers checking at the city gate. How could I dare to get close? I don't want to go to jail."
He Xuan sighed: "Ashu, you should believe me."
"How can I trust you?" Xun Shu wrapped the oil paper and said slowly, "You've lied to me about so many things and treated Uncle Jiang and me like fools. Have I ever thought about how we feel?"
He Xuan rubbed his forehead with a wry smile. His usually upright figure now hunched, as if he had aged several years in an instant, having been repeatedly rubbed by time. The youthful vigor and spirit disappeared at this moment, replaced by lingering helplessness and fatigue.
"You're right... I've actually wanted to tell you everything for a long time. I originally thought... forget it, it's my fault." He Xuan raised his head, looked at Xun Shu cautiously, and asked tentatively, "Ah Shu, I want to tell you everything now. Are you willing to listen?"
Xun Shu lowered his head, looking at the hastily closed oil-paper bag in his hand. After a while, he whispered, "What's your name?"
This meant she was willing to listen to his confession. He Xuan was delighted and said hurriedly, "My real name is Li Xuanhe. I am the third child of Princess Changping and Marquis Pingyang. I am currently serving as the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple. Half a year ago, I went to Chaozhou to investigate a case involving disaster relief silver. I was ambushed and seriously injured. Fortunately, I met you and Uncle Jiang and survived. At that time, I didn't know whether you were friends or enemies, so I could only pretend to have lost my memory. Later, I wanted to tell you everything, but I couldn't find the right opportunity. Ah Shu, this is my fault for not telling you everything sooner. But please believe that you and Uncle Jiang are my benefactors, and I will never hurt you in any way."
Li Xuanhe was afraid Xun Shu would lose his patience halfway through, so he spilled the beans, unleashing everything without pause, as if he'd rehearsed it a thousand times in his mind. Xun Shu listened quietly, expressionless, his eyes calm. He said calmly, "Since you haven't lost your memory, you must have contacted your subordinates long ago. So why are you still staying in the coffin shop?"
Li Xuanhe closed his eyes, weighed the pros and cons, and then gritted his teeth and told them everything: "Yes, I contacted them a long time ago, but at that time I found that working as a coffin shop assistant would be less likely to attract the attention of that group of people. This identity can help me find the truth as soon as possible. The fortune-telling shop I opened in the market is not only a place to make money, but also a place for me to exchange information with the people in the Dali Temple. Besides-" He took a deep breath and lowered his eyes, not daring to look at the person opposite him. "I found the mark of the Sitian Pavilion in your room, which is why I must stay. I thought that after revealing my identity, I would find a suitable time to tell you about this, but I didn't expect the situation to be like this... Ah Shu, I was wrong."
He really knew.
When the truth was completely revealed, Xun Shu was not as angry or indignant as one might have imagined. Perhaps deep down in her heart, something had already happened to make her collapse, or perhaps she had already anticipated it, so that in this situation, the slight emotional fluctuations brought about by the truth were so insignificant.
Xun Shu didn't say much, and continued to ask him: "Why are you looking for the Sitian Pavilion? Are you looking for that legendary mirror?"
"No, this matter is related to the affairs of the imperial court. It is of great importance, so I cannot say more. But I can tell you that I will not harm you—I will not harm the lives of anyone related to the Sitian Pavilion. I did not do what happened to Uncle Jiang, but I will definitely go with you to find Uncle Jiang."
Finally said something sensible.
The frost in Xun Shumei's eyes melted a little, and she imitated him, speaking only half of her words. "If you don't say much, I won't ask too many questions. All I can say is that I'm not a disciple of the Si Tian Pavilion anymore, and I've never heard of the treasure mirror. As for Uncle Jiang, he was probably taken away by someone who mistook him for someone from the Si Tian Pavilion."
Li Xuanhe frowned. "How did the person who took Uncle Jiang away know that the coffin shop was related to the Sitian Pavilion? And wasn't that mirror with the mark on it placed on your windowsill? Why did they capture Uncle Jiang and use him to threaten you?"
"Uncle Jiang must have noticed something and brought that old mirror to his room...Uncle Jiang wants to protect me and take all this responsibility for me. He Xuan, can you please have the people at the city gate disperse tomorrow and let me out? I asked for Uncle Jiang's fortune yesterday, and it was a very bad omen. He should still be alive and in no danger of death, but I'm worried that if I can't find him in time, it will be too late."
Li Xuanhe didn't refuse her, but he didn't fully agree either. He simply soothed her, "The people at the city gate won't stop you from leaving. Ah Shu, Uncle Jiang may have been taken out of the city, but he could also be hiding somewhere inside. The people at the city gate can't leave for now. We need to search for Uncle Jiang thoroughly before deciding whether to withdraw. It's getting late, and you must be exhausted. Come with me to the inn to rest, and then make plans tomorrow morning, okay?"
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The author has something to say: Ah Shu, who is so soft-hearted...
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