In the outskirts of Jinling City, the scenery along both sides of the official road already bore the signs of mid-spring. The road was spotless, and not a single passerby was in sight. This was because Prince Zhao was triumphantly returning with the Tiger Division, and in order to show his commendation, the emperor personally led his court officials out of the city to welcome him.
There were still about twenty li[mfn]approx. 10 km.[/mfn] to the city gate. Lu Lingcong looked at the lay of the mountains, then raised his eyes to look at the sun. He cupped his fingers to his lips and made two whistles.
As soon as the first whistle ended, the soldiers behind him, who were familiar with the Tiger Division’s command signals, understood the meaning and sequentially halted their horses. When the second whistle ended, the echo resonated for a moment, and then a clear, sharp response came from beyond the distant woods.
After waiting briefly, a white steed galloped out from the bend in the official road ahead. The young boy on the horse was slender yet upright, with unconcealable urgency in his expression. He even shouted out loudly while still dozens of steps away from the Tiger Division: “Father—”
Lu Lingcong rode out of the formation, pulled back the reins to stop his horse about a dozen chi away from the newcomer, and dismounted to stand still. The white horse opposite recognized its former master and, without needing a command from the young owner on its back, had already slowed its trot, neighed, and trotted up to Lu Lingcong before constantly nudging him with its head.
Lu Shuqing grabbed Lu Lingcong’s outstretched arm for support, swung himself down, wrapped both arms around his father’s neck, and hung in front of him. Lu Lingcong was pulled forward by him, forcing him to bend his waist slightly, and he hugged his back tightly, feeling the newly sprouted yet still fragile skeletal structure.
“You’re a bit faster than I expected.” Lu Lingcong weighed his eldest son again, feeling like he was no different in weight than when they separated months ago, confirming that he was only growing taller.
Lu Shuqing felt a little embarrassed, released his hands, and landed on the ground. “I asked Uncle for permission, and I’ve been waiting on the official road since early morning.”
The two stood facing each other, looking more like brothers than father and son. Over the past few years, they had spent little time together, and Lu Shuqing felt that his father’s perception of him was still stuck on a child who needed someone to follow behind and feed him. If it weren’t in front of so many people, he might even lift him up and toss him into the air a couple of times.
But he was already no longer the height to be tossed high up.
Lu Lingcong then embraced Yi Yun again, affectionately nuzzling her. She was still a reliable and robust excellent steed, but her age was no longer suitable for the clash of blades and shadows on the battlefield.
Yi Yun was originally like family to them. The old horse trains beginners; she knows the path well and is gentle, making her the ideal “teacher” for a half-grown teenager whose body is not yet fully developed to learn riding.
Lu Shuqing recalled being eight years old, the first time he rode Yi Yun alone for three laps around the horse training ground, without anyone accompanying or assisting him. When his father saw it, he was overjoyed to the extreme, boasting wildly to anyone he met, proudly declaring, “My son can ride a horse now!”
But his mother didn’t seem excited at all, he listlessly gave two words of praise before pulling him into his arms and hugging him, but remaining silent. He pestered for a long time, asking what was wrong, and Xie Jing only reluctantly explained, “Learning to ride today means that sooner or later you’ll gallop off and vanish, ending up fifty thousand kilometers from home, and it will be nearly impossible to see you even once.”
Lu Shuqing was hazy and ignorant, burrowing back and forth in Xie Jing’s arms like a kitten: “Impossible, I won’t leave home very far. The farthest I’ve been is just playing at the West Grand Camp.”
Xie Jing was amused by him: “You don’t have the skill for that yet! When you come of age and inherit the title, are you going to stay in the mansion guarding us for a lifetime and not marry a wife?”
Lu Shuqing thought for a moment and said earnestly, “Then I’ll take Father, Mother, and Little Sister with me wherever I go. I definitely won’t leave you all. If I have a wife—I’ll just have to bring you to the wife’s home!”
Xie Jing was so amused by his last sentence that it made him laugh so hard he was breathless, causing everyone in the inner courtyard to cast puzzled glances at them. Lu Shuqing didn’t understand why. Seeing that Xie Jing was about to call his father over to laugh along, he felt confused and embarrassed, so he broke free from his arms and quietly ran away while blushing.
Unlike the marriage alliance, the imperial edict from the court wasn’t openly discussed for several days. Instead, it was signed by the Emperor and sent directly to Yongzhou, without a single rumor leaking to the officials, so Lu Lingzhen and Lu Shuqing naturally had no way of knowing.
Lu Lingcong originally didn’t plan to tell his family too early about meeting Xie Jing, especially since the next step hadn’t been decided yet. But once the imperial edict arrived and his return to the capital became a certainty, he immediately ordered a messenger to send a letter and relay the news to the Hewei.
“Aunt showed me the letter.” Lu Shuqing subconsciously glanced at the trailing army ahead and quickly asked, “Is it… true?”
Lu Lingcong rubbed the back of his head: “It’s true. And what the letter taught you, do you understand that as well?”
Lu Shuqing was silent for a moment: “…Is there no other way?”
Lu Lingcong thought for a moment, put his hand on his shoulder, and said quietly, “If you want your mother to stay forever, this is the only way.”
“What is difficult to obtain is not easy to lose. Do you remember what he told you?”
Lu Shuqing looked up, nodded, and said softly, “I remember.”
Lu Lingcong gazed at his bright eyes, whose contours were all too familiar, paused, and gestured towards the only carriage surrounded by the soldiers: “Your little sister is inside.”
A slight loosening Instantly occurred in Lu Shuqing’s tightly armed composure. He took half a step back, bowed slightly to Lu Lingcong, and then lifted his foot to walk towards the carriage.
His steps grew faster and faster until he was almost running. Lu Lingcong silently watched him go, while Yi Yun stood quietly by his side, understandably resting her head on his shoulder.
The soldiers at the front of the carriage stepped aside to make way for Lu Shuqing, but when he bit his lip and reached to lift the curtain, his hand froze mid-air, too timid to go any further.
After a while, he just quietly and tentatively called out, “Ningning?”
Inside the carriage were two people: Lu Suning and the girl named San Niang from the Prefect’s Mansion, who had been closely accompanying her all the way from Yongzhou to the capital. At this moment, fearing Lu Suning might lose control of her emotions, she whispered, “Master Wu instructed Lady Ning to strictly avoid extreme grief or joy in front of people in the capital from now on.”
Although she kept her voice low, San Niang still referred to Xie Jing by his original name out of caution. It was Madam He’s idea to let her return to Jinling with Prince Zhao and the Tiger Division. Firstly, since she knew the true identities of Xie Jing and Lu Suning, she could be considered half one of their own. Secondly, she had no relatives in Yongzhou and no one to rely on besides the Prefect’s Mansion. Following them to Prince Zhao’s Mansion to be a trusted maid beside the Princess Consort was not a bad option. San Niang had no ties and longed for Jinling so there was no reason for her to disagree.
To avoid giving the capital any chance to pry or suspect, Xie Jing appeared before the Tiger Division soldiers throughout the journey in the posture of being “escorted.” Lu Lingcong assigned him to an unfamiliar general under his command, and all matters were treated as if he were a convicted person. Thus, although Xie Jing wouldn’t be treated like a true prisoner, his freedom of movement and actions remained tightly restricted.
Before entering the royal domain, he could only seize brief moments under Lu Lingcong’s watch to meet his daughter discreetly, avoiding the eyes of others. For the rest of the time, San Niang was constantly tending to her.
Lu Suning remembered feeling someone holding her hand vaguely in her sleep last night. When she opened her eyes and saw it was her mother, whom she hadn’t seen since leaving the Prefect’s Mansion, her nose suddenly tingled with soreness and her eyes reddened. But Xie Jing stopped her, stroking her temples, and said:
“After entering the capital tomorrow, Mother will no longer be able to accompany you day and night.”
Lu Suning sharply noticed the red marks left by rope restraints on Xie Jing’s wrists and also saw the exhaustion in his eyes and eyebrows. She realized that in the month or so since they separated, he had not received the same meticulous care she had.
“The capital is not like the Prefect’s Mansion, and once you enter the palace, you must be even more cautious with your words and actions. If you run into me outside, no matter how much you want to, you must not call me Mother.”
Lu Suning stared at him blankly and suddenly keenly connected that in the future, during the days when Xie Jing couldn’t accompany her, perhaps even the only care he could receive in these three years—care from his daughter, she would no longer be able to give him.
She could no longer use her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her mother’s forehead, just as her mother comforted her when she was delirious with fever.
Lu Suning could not even clearly feel the sadness, not that she didn’t want to, but that she couldn’t. The trauma of that separation three years ago was too great, almost forming a tightly guarded self-protection mechanism, which infinitely dulled and infinitely delayed and deepened the pain of separation from kin. The instant the real pain struck, it was driven into her heart like a nail, impossible to remove.
The replay now was nothing more than calling forth bursts of dull pain from the wound. A voice subconsciously hypnotized her, telling her that separation from one’s closest relatives during life was merely the normal course of human events.
Thus, she could only nod, pause, and quietly add a sentence: “Mother, when you have time, remember to put some medicine on your wrists.”
Xie Jing looked at her and said nothing. After a long while, he suddenly turned his face aside, lifted a hand to cover his eyes, and his lower lip quivered faintly.
He didn’t say a single word, but Lu Suning understood everything.
After a long while, Xie Jing lowered his forearm and turned his face back. His expression was already normal with only a slight dampness remaining on the back of his hand.
“Go to sleep,” he tucked the corner of the blanket for her, “When you wake up, you’ll be home.”
Lu Suning closed her eyes, turned over, and curled up, feeling her mother gently patting her back, just like on the road when they left home. She lowered her voice and intermittently hummed that fragmented ballad, only this time she was older and not only recalled the tune but could also understand the lyrics—
“Though of one hearts, they remain separated, living in sorrow until old age.”
Indeed, for Lu Suning, her impressions of her relatives in Jinling were not as deep as theirs were of her. But like ten fingers connected to the heart, they were bound to each other. Just as she did not feel alienated from her father, upon hearing that one call of “Ningning,” all her memories of her older brother naturally flooded into her mind.
Reminded by San Niang, she settled her mind, reached out, and slowly parted the carriage curtain. As though deliberately offering her compensation, Lu Shuqing’s appearance, so strikingly similar to his mother’s, came into view before her. Thus, the last remaining bit of unfamiliarity and anxiety was effortlessly dissolved and eliminated.
Lu Suning, instead, smiled first. Just as she had joyfully laughed aloud when Lu Shuqing teased her while she was still an infant, she cheerfully replied, “Gege!”
The Emperor and his retinue naturally would not wait twenty li out like Lu Shuqing did but rather waited at the city gate with a mighty host of officials and commoners behind him. Only when the vanguard of the Tiger Division first arrived beneath the city did the young Emperor step forward, personally help up Prince Zhao, who had dismounted and knelt, and grant him leave to stand and waive the ceremony.
“Imperial Brother has been fatigued from marching recently. Now that you’ve returned, you ought to rest well.” Lu Lingzhang had just come of age but looked younger than his actual years with a slightly pale complexion and was wrapped in a large cloak even in this weather.
Lu Lingcong knew that replying with phrases like “to serve the country” or “it is this minister’s duty” would be more appropriate and suitable for expressing loyalty on this occasion, but he didn’t want to leave people with remarks such as “familial closeness caused an oversight.” So he simply said, “Whether engaging in battle or withdrawing the troops, this minister acts under Your Majesty’s command and dares not claim hardship.”
Lu Lingzhang said, “Zhen has always said that Imperial Brother should act expediently while away. This time, had Imperial Brother not voluntarily offered to go to Yongzhou, Zhen feared that the border troubles would not have subsided so easily.”
Lu Lingcong showed a timely hint of hesitation on his face, then said, “Your Majesty, forgive this minister. This time when this minister went to Yongzhou, besides repelling the enemy, there was one other matter that this minister did not state in my memorial, which this minister believes Your Majesty is also aware of now.”
He turned his head to signal, and Lu Shuqing, who had been kneeling behind him, stood up, half-nudged his younger sister to walk forward, and then bowed his head to Lu Lingzhang.
“On that day, Shuning was taken away without permission while she was still young. Over the years, this minister searched everywhere but to no avail. Therefore, when this minister received word a few months ago that she might be in Yongzhou, this minister had no choice but to go and look for her.”
When Lu Lingzhang heard this, he was silent for a moment, then first bent down to help his nephew and niece up. He lowered his gaze to look at Lu Suning’s fear-filled eyes, touched her cheek, and only then said, “Imperial Brother is so eager to find your daughter. Zhen, too, has missed Shuning. How could Zhen possibly fail to understand?”
Lu Shuqing lightly pushed Lu Suning’s shoulder. The latter then obediently and timidly said, “I am deeply grateful for Uncle’s concern, Shuning remembers it internally and dares not forget it morning or night.”
“The reason Zhen summoned Imperial Brother back to the capital this time was originally to alleviate the suffering of Consort Dowager Wu and Shuqing from missing you both from afar. Now that Shuning has been found as well, it is naturally a joyful occasion for the entire family to be reunited. How could Zhen possibly blame Imperial Brother?”
Lu Lingcong bowed and continued: “This minister dares not neglect Your Majesty’s imperial edict. That criminal from the Xie family has already been detained within the Tiger Division, awaiting Your Majesty’s command.”
Lu Shuqing’s fingertips instinctively retracted upon hearing this. Lu Suning felt the strange force of the hand he placed on her shoulder, turned around, and extended her arms to him. Lu Shuqing froze, picked her up, and forced himself to remain calm.
Lu Lingzhang raised his hand, and several inner attendants received the signal and stepped into the army. Before long, a path was cleared, and the crowd fell silent. More than a thousand pairs of eyes, from the soldiers of the Tiger Division and the citizens of Jinling, watched together as the former Princess Consort Zhao, now branded the “Xie family criminal,” was escorted step by step before the Emperor with his hands bound behind his back.
That posture could absolutely not be called graceful. Even that slender, tall figure, bearing the unbending integrity of a successful scholar, ultimately had to lower himself, almost in humiliation, into a kowtow beneath the decree that “one must not look directly upon the Heavenly Visage.”
Xie Jing could not even look at his own son, whom he had been separated from for three years, even once.
Lu Lingzhang called out “Minister Xie,” but his eyes did not stay on him for long. He first glanced at the indifferent Lu Lingcong and then slowly turned towards Lu Shuqing, who had kept his gaze firmly fixed on Xie Jing ever since he emerged from the crowd.
That was a rare kind of gaze, merely a “line of sight.” His eyes were looking towards that spot, where Xie Jing was kneeling, and that was all. Even a person looking at a strange passerby on the street would rarely do so with such a lack of emotion.
Lu Lingzhang suddenly smiled and said, “Minister Xie devoted considerable effort to the Yongzhou campaign, and the court has taken note of it. As for how this merit should balance his offense; Qing’er, Uncle would like to hear your opinion.”
Lu Suning noticed Lu Shuqing’s body trembling slightly, so she leaned behind his ear and tried to comfort him in a low, breathy voice: “Mother often spoke to me about Gege. When idle, he always wondered what Gege was doing; he thought about Gege every single day.”
Lu Shuqing tightened the arm holding her. He was not trembling because his mother didn’t look at him.
After they separated, Lu Shuqing constantly dared not imagine what kind of hardship Xie Jing would endure; his mother, who had always possessed a noble demeanor, was brilliant and radiant. He prepared himself to see fine lines and signs of weathering on his face and even forced himself to accept many of the worst possibilities, telling himself countless times that as long as his mother was alive and safe, it was already a blessing from heaven.
But until this moment, he had never imagined that what drove him to near-distress was not the “change,” but the “lack of change”, the discovery that his mother looked exactly the same as when he left, without any difference. Even though life and death lay between them, it was as if he had only gone back to Wuyi Lane for a half-day visit to his relatives and had elegantly returned home by dinner time.
Time had shown compassion to his mother, yet it was too cruel to their family. The three years spent apart across vast distances seemed to vanish as if effortlessly. The constant longing, day and night, awake and in dreams, so significant to mortals with fleeting lives, had all been reduced to a trivial jest, leaving Lu Shuqing so sorrowful he could barely contain himself.
He did not believe In fate or the creation of heaven and earth, but this was the first time in his life he hated creation’s trickery and heaven and earth’s cruelty. Since they were all mother and son in the human world, why should his mother be brutally taken away?
But the greatest cruelty of heaven and earth lay here. Even though Lu Shuqing despised it to his core, in that moment he could only swallow his anger with effort, responding in a cold, emotionless tone:
“The criminal subject of the Xie clan tarnished the reputation of my Imperial Family and secretly abducted my younger sister from the capital. He has long been stricken from the clan registry and has no further ties to the mansion, nor does he retain any mother-son bond with me. All matters rest upon Your Majesty’s judgment. I—have no comment to offer.”
