Chapter 56
Stalemate Marriage
Inside the hotel, a man stepped out of his office, and everyone greeted the young master. Wearing his majestic silver Hanfu, he stood out, looking regal and not at all like a dummy.
At the same time, another man emerged from his room. Everyone was astonished, and one of the hotel staff exclaimed, "Did you see our boss come out in a silver Hanfu?"
"Yes."
"And did you see the other man dressed in a majestic black Hanfu?"
"Yes." Suddenly, the hotel manager found himself dumbfounded when his staff didn't seem to react strangely to the sight of the man who had just passed by in a flash.
He smacked his head and asked, "Did our young master change his clothes that quickly? Are you and our boss from this world?"
"Ouch! That hurts. Did you really have to hit me?"
"Yes, because you're making me look foolish. I asked a question, and you responded with nonsense."
"Oh, I'm sorry, boss! I didn't actually see the young master leave his room."
Meanwhile, Master Zuo Zong (the unassuming owner of the hotel) headed toward the stairs, with Yue Qi following closely behind. Suddenly, an elderly customer tripped on the stairs. Both Zuo and Yue Qi instinctively moved to help the old man. Zuo leaped forward while Yue Qi slid and jumped, and together, they managed to save the old man.
Yuwen Yue had already left the hotel, entrusting all responsibilities to Zuo.
Today was a fortunate day for Master Zuo Zong. He looked at Yue Qi, who had also leaped to help the old man, and was astonished and speechless.
Yue Qi, meanwhile, told the old man, "Next time, be careful so you don't fall."
Zuo Zong kept staring at him and finally said, "Thank you for your concern, but it wasn't necessary."
"The old man shouldn't have traveled alone. He should have had a companion to prevent something like this from happening again."
Yue Qi, feeling corrected but mature in his response, said, "Helping is an act of random kindness without expecting anything in return. It rewards you a hundredfold, and sometimes it helps pay off karmic debts."
Zuo Zong, appearing rigid and disagreeing with his words, simply replied, "Thank you, but I don't need a reminder."
Yue Qi answered, "I agree to disagree. Everyone needs a reminder from time to time."
Yue Qi looked at Zuo, and Zuo turned and left without saying a word.
The day continued as usual, with everyone returning to their routine.
Yuwen Yue, having transformed himself for his final test to his wife, went from being a nobody to someone of great importance. The poor peddler donned white boots, a white fox-fur cape, a jade ornament at his waist, and a beautiful Hanfu fit for a crown prince. He rode alone in a white palanquin, with no horseman. He intended to surprise his wife, but the world seemed upside down. Instead, the Qinghai Crown Prince was in for a surprise. Upon arriving, he found his lodge in total disarray.
Yuwen Yue called for his bird, but the wind carried no response. He was alone.
Investigating the scene, Yuwen Yue carefully searched for any clues, particularly bird feathers. His instincts told him no one was around, but he found small footprints, likely a woman's. There was no sign of a struggle from the bird, but he did notice traces of impressive swordplay.
Yuwen Yue's heart raced when he saw the open door. Two thoughts crossed his mind:
First, his wife and the bird had been abducted.
Second, his wife had taken the bird and left.
As Yuwen Yue approached the door, his ears tingled. The wind chimes barely made a sound, and then suddenly...
Whoosh!
Outside the lodge, two arrows were lodged in a large pine tree. Not surprised, Yuwen Yue saw an auto-crossbow, expertly mounted on the tree, with bamboo arrows at the ready.
Unaware of the invisible trigger, Yuwen Yue stepped on a thin thread.
In an instant, bamboo arrows flew toward his head.
He quickly dodged, turning sideways.
The arrows zipped past him, from left to right.
His calm eyes followed the arrows' trajectory as they hit two objects in front of him.
At the same time, the two objects fell, and the arrows landed in a bed. But what was this? The bed was smashed to pieces.
Yuwen Yue murmured, "Clever wife. A fatal blow and a foretoken to decode."
Yuwen Yue had no clue what this meant. He liked to believe that his wife might have been preparing a surprise for him, just as he had planned for her. The entire lodge seemed rigged with a clockwork mechanism that would unleash seven challenges as soon as Yuwen Yue triggered it.
Yuwen Yue planned to reveal the truth about himself by tearing down the lodge, hoping his wife would obey, just as she had promised earlier.
However, it seemed the house had been entirely reworked with traps and lures.
It appeared that Yuwen Yue, rather than his wife, would have to face the seven-pass challenge. He approached the two objects on the ground.
As soon as he did, he stepped on another tile.
Suddenly, star-shaped darts rained down above his head. He sidestepped, triggering another tile.
Yuwen Yue saw many small stones about to hit his body. He closed his eyes and crawled across the tiled floor until he reached the outside, near the water well.
Unsure of the next traps and lures, Yuwen Yue fetched water from the well. As he did, no one knew what would happen next.
A sword shot into the air. Yuwen Yue quickly pulled out a mini crossbow and fired a bolt attached to a rope. The rope shot out, and he used it to lift himself, avoiding the ground.
He caught the Poe Yue Jian sword as it landed in his left hand, and settled himself by swinging from a tree branch.
With the rope lacking enough tensile strength, Yuwen Yue began sliding down the branch, a creaking sound filling the air.
Unable to control the rope, Yuwen Yue fell toward the ground. He couldn't force himself to enter through the back door.
If he tried again, re-entering through the main door would activate the auto-crossbow, which was still loaded with two arrows ready to shoot at his head.
The main door was now a useless option. Yuwen Yue's focus shifted to the two objects wrapped in a small bamboo stalk.
His eyes were cold, and his pulse quickened. Closing his eyes, he murmured, "Crafty housewife, well-prepared, able to lure her target."
Yuwen Yue felt a surge of pride for his wife's cleverly set course, thinking that Chu Qiao deserved his applause.
With no other option, Yuwen Yue decided to enter through the back door. His senses heightened, ten times sharper than before. Suddenly, the weapons inside the lodge activated. The back door was now open. With few choices left, Yuwen Yue, driven by adrenaline, placed his hands on the ground, inverted his body into a V-shape with his legs to allow the arrows to pass beneath him. For three minutes, he held this position until the arrows were exhausted. Finally, he lowered his legs and took his sword.
"She'll make a shrewd queen, a great asset to the Qinghai Empire," Yuwen Yue mused, unable to help but admire his wife.
Finally, Yuwen Yue entered their bedroom. He looked around, closed his eyes, and said, "This isn't just the work of an angry woman. These cuts are different from the ones I've seen in the bamboo forest. These are the marks of a broken heart and tear-filled eyes."
Yuwen Yue stared at the wreckage of their bed, sensing something was wrong.
He quickly opened his eyes and went to examine the two bamboo stalks, but his instincts told him that choosing either would reveal the truth.
It seemed his wife had left him a hidden message, and whichever bamboo he chose would expose the deeper rift in their marriage.
Yuwen Yue thought to himself that neither bamboo would bring him a happy ending. He picked the bamboo on the left. Inside was a note from Chu Qiao.
But as he lifted the bamboo, another letter fell out. He took it and read it. The bamboo on the right contained Chu Qiao's wedding ring, but the engagement ring was missing.
Yuwen Yue wondered what this could mean.
His wife had taken the Cangwu bird, left her wedding ring, but taken her engagement ring.
Hours passed, and Yuwen Yue, lost in his thoughts, was unaware of time. He held his wife's wedding ring in his hands. If there was one thing he hadn't planned for, it was holding this ring, no longer on her beautiful hand.
Though he had doubted his wife at times, he had never imagined that she would remove her wedding ring.
Yuwen Yue was already burdened by heartache, including the sorrow of his mother's story. With the help of Zao Baocung, he had gathered crucial information, though not everything. Yuwen Yue now partly understood when the Qinghai King had said:
"To my son, I give this sword. My heart has sought something I cannot name. We do not age by years but by the stories we carry. The pain you feel today will soon become your strength for tomorrow. May the bridges I've burned light your way, and may you forgive your father in your heart."
Yuwen Yue pondered this line: "May the bridges I've burned light your way, and may you forgive your father in your heart."
His cold heart grew even colder, turning to ice. He felt numb, unable to feel anything. He realized his father carried many regrets, particularly for not protecting him and his mother from the Queen of Qinghai's envy.
His father, trapped by his royal duties, had sacrificed more than he should have, hoping his lost son would return one day. Meanwhile, the empire had stagnated, with the common people suffering from a lack of progress.
And now, his wife had abandoned him. He thought, "What is this? The woman is walking away from her husband?"
Night had already fallen. Yuwen Yue, out of time and caught off guard by this unexpected personal conflict, was too late to devise a new plan.
He finally climbed into his palanquin and rode back to Xue Fu Street. His heart was heavy, and he was intoxicated with wine meant for two. Now, he drank it all by himself.
Yuwen Yue, drunk and almost in an accident, managed to maneuver his horse at the last second. Desperate to release his emotions, he stepped out of his palanquin and shouted into the midnight air across the mountains: "You don't know what happened! You didn't let me explain! You didn't give me a chance! Why?"
Yuwen Yue didn't know how to cry, but he had already cried a river.
In truth, his heart had sunk to the bottom of a cold lake and died. His inability to reach his wife pierced his soul, adding to the immense pressure of his rulership over the temporarily forsaken Qinghai throne.
While Yan Xun gave up Yanbei for a single night, Yuwen Yue had forsaken the Qinghai throne for countless nights in pursuit of the truth about his mother, hoping to find a way to meet Chu Qiao in the Wei State. Even though she was now the crown princess of Wei, Yuwen Yue didn't know how to quit.
In the end, between Yan Xun and Yuwen Yue, the scales would never balance. There is always one man who carries the heavier weight, the one who puts in genuine effort in the pursuit of truth.
Yuwen Yue's only consolation from this period of separation was finding Yue Qi alive, though he lost Chu Qiao along the way.
Zao Baocung had once told him that Yuwen Yue would one day encounter old companions, but Zao, with his tightly sealed lips, never revealed exactly who it would be.
Yue Qi was the last person Yuwen Yue expected to find alive. He had searched every town in the Wei State while disguised as a peddler, inquiring about his former bodyguards, only to find their remains near the Yuwen Ancestral Temple.
He had also returned to the Yuwen household once, when grain and oil were being delivered to the family's granary. It was the first time he had stepped into the home he once called his own.
Not much had changed at the Greenhills Courtyard, except for its current master, Yuwen Gao, the crippled old man who still longed for his adopted grandson.
Yuwen Yue saw the old man, his wrinkled forehead and eyes that seemed to pierce souls, gazing into the distance.
He watched as servants pushed the old man's chair into the courtyard.
Yuwen Yue wanted to embrace him, to enjoy his company once more, but there was nothing left to say. So, he turned away, missing the opportunity that had been presented to him.
Chu Qiao, dressed in a simple brown peasant outfit with ordinary brown boots and a dark brown deerskin poncho, returned to Master Xie Tai Shan's wooden house.
Night had already fallen, and though it was late summer, the forest air was cold. Chu Qiao greeted him and said, "Master, I've returned and brought this bird with me."
"Don't worry, he's kind, and he knows the Fourth Young Master, Yuwen Yue."
Master Xie Tai Shan, dressed simply in a Hanfu, was startled to see Chu Qiao after such a long absence. His eyes immediately noticed the ring on her finger.
He thought it was an engagement ring but, curious about the bird, asked, "Where did you find this bird?"
Master Xie Tai Shan, as if familiar with the creature, whistled a specific sound.
The bird, recognizing the whistle, instantly flew to Master Xie Tai Shan's shoulder.
Chu Qiao, surprised by the bird's reaction, asked, "You two know each other?"
Master Xie Tai Shan replied, "How could the bird not know the one who took care of its family?"
Chu Qiao, her eyes bright with hope, asked, "This bird originally came from you? It belonged to you?"
"Yes, I marked this bird with a special seal on its feet. It was lost when it was still young, leaving its mother and father behind in sadness," said Master Xie Tai Shan.
"Really? This bird can talk and often says the name of the Fourth Young Master, Yuwen Yue. That's why I took it with me. It camped on our roof and stayed there for a long time."
Master Xie Tai Shan replied, "You said this bird can talk?"
"Yes, it can, though not very often. It also calls me Xinger," Chu Qiao said with a smile.
Master Xie Tai Shan suddenly fell silent. Chu Qiao then asked if she could stay for a while to visit the cenotaph of the Fourth Young Master.
"Yes, you may. But after you left that day, many hunter-gatherers who passed by began offering flowers, following the arrangements you set up at the cenotaph. More visitors started coming frequently, bringing incense, plum flowers, and candles," said Master Xie Tai Shan.
Chu Qiao stared at him blankly for a moment. She hadn't expected this, the cenotaph had become a place for ordinary people to visit and honor the Fourth Young Master's memory, appreciating his noble deeds, which were in stark contrast to the ruthlessness of his cousin, Yuwen Huai.
After a long pause, Chu Qiao finally spoke: "Should I complain, Master Xie Tai Shan? Even a bird doesn't forget its name, and the people he served, what do we really know about the impact he left on them?"
Master Xie Tai Shan smiled and said, "Go, and come back soon. I'll prepare dinner."
Chu Qiao smiled in return. She was holding a basket of plum flowers she had gathered along the way. She had also packed candles and incense sticks to offer at the cenotaph. The Cangwu bird returned to her shoulder, and together, they slowly walked into the cold forest.
The sky was painted with beautiful hues of orange, light blue, and yellow, now gradually overtaken by gray clouds. Early stars twinkled, scattered across the twilight.
Fruit bats flew in swirling motions, stirring memories of Chu Qiao's past life. The forest came alive once again with the sounds of insects. As she walked, holding a candle to light her way, she trailed toward the empty cenotaph.
This chapter is gentle and reflective, filled with a sense of nostalgia and quiet reverence. Chu Qiao's conversation with Master Xie Tai Shan carries an undertone of longing for the past, tempered by hope and the realization of the lasting impact Yuwen Yue left behind. The dialogue is calm and measured, with moments of introspection and gratitude.
The mood becomes more contemplative as Chu Qiao walks through the forest toward the cenotaph. The vivid descriptions of the evening sky, the bats in flight, and the sounds of the forest all contribute to an atmosphere that feels both serene and haunting. The passage evokes a deep sense of connection to nature and the passage of time, as Chu Qiao reflects on her memories and the mark Yuwen Yue left on the world, even in death.
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