Chapter 8 – A Heart Yearns for the Jianghu; Escorting You a Thousand Miles to Our First Parting (V)

Five days later, outside Yanjing Gate in Chang’an.

The distant mountains seemed to smile beneath the sky, while the ancient road stretched endlessly onward. Row after row of willow branches drifted like snow, as though bidding farewell to the travelers who came and went.

More than ten saber-carrying guards cleared the way ahead, escorting County Princess Yiguang’s carriage on its long journey to Hongzhou.

Prince Rui was overwhelmed with official duties and had been unable to come. Pei Huirong stroked her daughter’s hair and repeatedly reminded her to take care, her reluctance to part evident in every word.

Madam Ling, Cui Langzhen, saw Ling Cheng standing motionless nearby and asked curiously, “Aren’t you going over to say goodbye to She Jia?”

“Aunt can only accompany She Jia this far. No one knows how long it will be before She Jia returns to the capital and they can see each other again. I should let them talk a little longer. How could I interrupt them?”

Cui Langzhen smiled and was about to praise her daughter for being so considerate when Ling Cheng hugged her arm and looked up at her with an ingratiating smile.

“But if you agree, Mother, I can escort She Jia a little farther.”

“You!” Cui Langzhen lightly tapped a finger against her forehead. “What makes you so certain I’ll agree?”

“Because I know you don’t only love me—you love She Jia even more. She Jia must also want me to accompany her a little farther.”

“You certainly know how to find excuses.”

Cui Langzhen considered the request. She knew the two girls were genuinely close, and the guards of the Ling residence had all become exceptional martial artists after two years of instruction from Su Ying. Protecting Ling Cheng would pose no difficulty.

She therefore agreed. “You must not follow her all the way to Hongzhou. Come back early.”

Approximately half an hour later, Ling Cheng climbed into the carriage and sat beside Xie Miao. At last, the driver set them on their way.

Following Pei Huirong’s instructions, the carriage traveled extremely slowly and steadily. They felt no jolting whatsoever along the road.

Both girls knew this was their final time together before parting, so naturally, they wanted to talk as much as possible.

The smile on Xie Miao’s cheeks never disappeared. She and Ling Cheng were happily chatting when Ling Cheng suddenly fell silent.

“Are you thirsty?” Xie Miao lifted the carriage curtain and instructed a maid traveling alongside them to bring over a water flask.

“Don’t trouble yourself. I’m not thirsty. We’ve already been talking for such a long time. If we continue, what if your body can’t endure it again? If you fall ill out here, it won’t be like being at home…”

The instant Xie Miao lifted the curtain, the carriage had immediately stopped.

By the time Ling Cheng finished speaking, not only had the maid handed them some water as instructed, but the guards from the Ling residence had also approached the carriage.

They tactfully reminded their young mistress, “If we [Read on BaiLianTales]return too late and encounter the curfew, we may not be able to enter the city.”

Only then did Xie Miao realize that another two hours had passed.

She asked softly, “So you have to leave now?”

“Leave? We haven’t finished talking yet. But you can’t exhaust yourself, so we’ll simply have to continue tomorrow.”

Neither of her parents was present, which meant no one could control Ling Cheng now. She turned toward the guards outside.

“Send two people back first. Tell Father and Mother that I’m staying with She Jia at the relay station tonight, so they don’t need to worry about me.”

The guards were horrified. “Th-this cannot be allowed… My lady, please don’t make things difficult for us. The general and madam will never agree.”

“You haven’t even asked them. How do you know they won’t agree? That’s precisely why I’m telling you to go back and ask. If they truly refuse, come and tell me. I promise I’ll immediately turn around and return.”

By the time we return with their answer, regardless of whether the general and madam agree, you will already have spent the night with County Princess Yiguang at a relay station. Who knows how far you will have accompanied her by then? Won’t you have achieved your goal regardless?

The guards could not help grumbling inwardly. Yet as servants, they did not dare defy their mistress.

They could only helplessly agree. Two returned to Chang’an, while the others continued escorting the carriage forward.

The green mountains stretched on without end, and the road seemed just as endless.

Ling Cheng accompanied Xie Miao through three sunsets and three moonrises, staying at three different relay stations along the way. During that time, the guards tried to persuade her to return more times than they could count.

At last, she gradually began to miss the parents she had not seen for three days. When they stopped to rest and she climbed out of the carriage, she could not help looking back toward the road home.

Seeing this, Xie Miao said, “You’ve already escorted me such a long way. Uncle and Aunt must have been terribly worried about you these past few days. Perhaps you should return first. Besides, the Wanshou Festival will be here soon. You still need to go back and celebrate Grandfather’s birthday.”

“So many people celebrate Grandfather’s birthday every year. What difference would it make if I were absent this once?”

At the mention of birthdays, Ling Cheng suddenly became gloomy.

“You should be back before the twelfth day of the ninth month, shouldn’t you?”

That date was their shared birthday.

“Since Master Jiuru’s medical skills are so extraordinary, perhaps she’ll cure me within only a few days. Why would I need to remain there for so long?”

As usual, Xie Miao’s first instinct was to offer words of comfort.

However, she had been ill for many years and consequently possessed some knowledge of medicine. She understood that such a deeply rooted chronic illness could never be cured immediately with only a few prescriptions.

After thinking briefly, she lowered her head read the original at bailiantales.com and removed a jade pendant from around her neck, then placed it in Ling Cheng’s hand with a smile.

“Until I return, let this accompany you in my place.”

The pendant was carved from the finest mutton-fat white jade, smooth and lustrous in texture, pure white and flawless. It had been fashioned into the shape of a white rabbit.

First, Xie Miao’s childhood name, She Jia, itself meant “rabbit.” Second, there was an ancient legend of the Jade Rabbit preparing the elixir of immortality. According to the tale, any mortal fortunate enough to consume medicine prepared by the Jade Rabbit would gain everlasting life and never grow old.

That was why Pei Huirong had specially given the pendant to her daughter: she had wanted its auspicious meaning to bring Xie Miao good fortune.

Now, Xie Miao gave it to Ling Cheng.

After a moment’s thought, Ling Cheng removed the wolf fang hanging around her own neck and handed it to Xie Miao.

“Father says a wolf fang can ward off evil. During his first battle, he led a small detachment on a thousand-li raid. Along the way, they were attacked by a pack of wild wolves. He killed the wolf king with a single arrow and pulled out one of its fangs. Afterward, he won a tremendous victory in that battle.”

“You gave me your jade rabbit, so you need something to protect you and keep you safe.”

After exchanging the personal keepsakes they had worn close to their bodies, the two girls spoke for a while longer before finally parting with great reluctance.

They had stopped at a relay station called Jimin Station. It had taken them three days to travel there from Chang’an.

Ling Cheng did not have to worry about a rough journey on ​Read on BaiLianTales​the return trip, so her carriage traveled much faster. Two days later, they arrived in the countryside outside Chang’an.

The driver suddenly pulled hard on the reins and brought the carriage to a halt.

Ling Cheng did not know what had happened. She lifted the curtain and looked outside.

Yanjing Gate was still some distance ahead. A woman wearing a veiled hat stood directly before the carriage, blocking their path.

A light breeze passed by. The woman lifted the black gauze hanging from her hat.

Ling Cheng’s face lit up with surprise. “Aunt Su, you—”

Before she could finish greeting her, she saw that Su Ying’s expression was grave. Su Ying pressed an index finger to her lips, signaling for silence.

“No one speak.”

“What? Why?”

“Follow me.”

All the guards of the Ling residence had received Su Ying’s instruction and trusted her deeply. Although they were confused, they followed without the slightest hesitation when she turned away.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, they left the busy official read the original at bailiantales.comhighway, where travelers passed in an endless stream, and stopped beside a secluded hillside.

Ling Cheng jumped down from the carriage and asked curiously, “What exactly happened? What do you need to say all the way out here?”

Su Ying parted her lips but hesitated to speak.

She stared at Ling Cheng with profound sorrow and tenderness in her eyes. Only after a long while did she finally enunciate each word with painful clarity.

“Three days ago, your father and Crown Prince Xie Bo entered the imperial palace wearing armor and launched a rebellion. They have now been seized by the Imperial Guards and are imprisoned awaiting trial.”

Her words struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

Ling Cheng stared blankly, her mind completely empty. The surrounding guards also lost all color in shock, exclaiming together that such a thing was impossible.

Everyone knew that Ling Bingzhong was the orphaned son of a loyal martyr and had grown up within the imperial palace.

Although he was closest to Prince Rui, Xie Shen, he also maintained good relationships with the other imperial princes. Yet the person he truly admired and revered—the one he regarded as both sovereign and father, to whom he had given his complete loyalty—was the reigning emperor, Xie Tai.

No one who knew even the slightest thing about Ling Bingzhong would believe that he harbored so much as a trace of treasonous intent.

“What kind of joke is this?”

Amid the guards’ frantic questions, Ling Cheng finally recovered and shook her head repeatedly.

“This isn’t funny. I’m not talking to you anymore!”

Su Ying seized Ling Cheng’s arm. Her voice was heavy and solemn.

“General Ling would never rebel. Everyone knows he has been framed. But it is a fact that he has been thrown into prison. You cannot enter the city for now, or you will immediately be captured.”

“Father told you to say this, didn’t he? I haven’t returned home for several days, so he must be angry with me again. That’s why he deliberately sent you to frighten me. How can he be so petty?”

Panic filled Ling Cheng’s voice. Still refusing to believe Su Ying, she struggled fiercely against her grip. Unless she returned home and saw the truth with her own eyes, she would never accept it.

Although they were no longer on the official road, plenty of travelers still passed nearby. Their struggle might attract attention.

Su Ying simply raised her hand and struck the side of Ling Cheng’s neck with its edge.

Ling Cheng’s body went limp, and she collapsed into Su Ying’s arms.

The scene resembled a mother carrying a sleeping child, making it far less likely to arouse suspicion.

The surrounding guards stared helplessly. “What exactly…what exactly is happening?”

Su Ying’s brows remained deeply furrowed. She lowered her voice even further.

“I don’t know the precise circumstances. On the day Fu Li escorted County Princess Yiguang away, she didn’t return that night. The general and madam had expected as much. They knew Fu Li and the county princess were deeply attached, so they did not send anyone after her. They assumed she would return the following day.”

“Who could have imagined that…late the next night, countless soldiers of the Imperial Guards suddenly arrived at the residence? They declared that the general and crown prince had staged a rebellion and that they had received an imperial decree to surround the Ling residence. Until the case was thoroughly investigated, no one was permitted to take a single step outside.”

At that moment, Cui Langzhen had instead felt fortunate.

Ling Cheng was not in the capital.

“Although no one in the residence understood what had happened, not one of them believed the general had rebelled. When the soldiers asked where Fu Li had gone, everyone kept silent. Prince Rui’s household probably concealed the matter as well.”

“The soldiers therefore assumed Fu Li was still somewhere inside the city and began searching everywhere for her. But Madam feared that the moment Fu Li returned to the capital, she would be walking directly into their trap.”

“She knew my qinggong was good, so she instructed me that if I could secretly escape the Ling residence, I had to find Fu Li. I’ve been keeping watch near the city gates for the past two days. At last, I saw all of you…”

Upon reaching this point, Su Ying carried the unconscious girl into the carriage and gently stroked her cheek.

Then she heaved a deep, heavy sigh.

“Madam also said that rebellion is a grave crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations. Although none of you are related to General Ling and were merely guards he employed, you may still be implicated…”

“She asked me to tell you that [bailiantales.com]she and the general have dragged you into this. All of you should go your separate ways and flee for your lives.”