Chapter 142

Changning turned around and excitedly tugged on Fan Changyu’s sleeve.

“Big Sister, is Brother-in-law looking at us?”

She leaned out the window and shouted “Brother-in-law!” several times at the top of her lungs, but the street below was filled with deafening cheers. The commoners were all shouting “Marquis Wu’an!” and her childish voice was completely drowned out.

However, just as the army was about to pass beneath the restaurant, Xie Zheng gave a slight nod toward the upper floors.

No one knew whether he had heard Changning’s call or was greeting Fan Changyu.

A series of startled gasps immediately erupted from the neighboring private rooms.

Objects clattered down from the windows one after another.

“Marquis Wu’an was looking at our young lady!”

“Nonsense! He was clearly nodding at our miss!”

The maids accompanying the noble ladies argued endlessly on behalf of their masters. In their excitement, they even threw the flower baskets they were carrying out the windows.

The customs of Great Yin were relatively open.

On joyous occasions like this, it was perfectly normal for unmarried girls to throw flowers and handkerchiefs at a victorious army.

When Fan Changyu had entered the capital with Tang Peiyi, she herself had been showered with quite a few handkerchiefs.

Seeing young women both above and below eagerly tossing handkerchiefs toward Xie Zheng, Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao became displeased.

“Wasn’t Yanzheng looking at us just now?” Uncle Zhao muttered.

Despite her age, Aunt Zhao leaned halfway out the window and shouted loudly,

“Yanzheng! Yanzheng! Changyu is here!”

Embarrassed, Fan Changyu was just about to retreat when Aunt Zhao grabbed her arm.

“Hurry! Throw Yanzheng a handkerchief too!”

Fan Changyu looked mortified.

“Auntie, maybe I shouldn’t…”

Aunt Zhao glared at her.

“You silly child, what are you embarrassed about? That’s your husband down there, the man you married before Heaven and Earth. Other girls can throw him handkerchiefs—why can’t you?”

With that, she pushed Fan Changyu toward the window.

Changning clapped happily beside them.

“Big Sister, throw a handkerchief! Throw a handkerchief!”

Fan Changyu said helplessly,

“I don’t even have one. In the army, I just use a large sweat cloth.”

Aunt Zhao was momentarily speechless.

Still unwilling to give up, she asked,

“Then do you have a sachet or something? Just throw anything down there.”

Naturally, Fan Changyu didn’t carry sachets either.

After thinking for a moment, she untied the reddish-brown ribbon securing her hair.

Holding the ribbon, she awkwardly stepped to the window.

Compared to the fragrant embroidered silk handkerchiefs carried by other young ladies, her ribbon was ridiculously plain.

The material wasn’t even particularly good.

If it were tossed onto the street, nobody would probably bother picking it up.

Fan Changyu only intended to participate for appearance’s sake and be done with it.

Unexpectedly, Xie Zheng suddenly looked directly at her.

Their gazes met in midair.

Fan Changyu’s heartbeat skipped.

For a moment, she completely forgot to throw the ribbon.

Aunt Zhao nearly died of anxiety watching from the side.

“Changyu, hurry! Yanzheng is looking at you!”

Snapping back to her senses, Fan Changyu felt as though her heart was about to leap out of her throat.

She clenched her hand and, with the determination of someone marching to her execution, threw the ribbon.

Her aim was normally excellent.

Unfortunately, the ribbon was too light.

A gust of wind suddenly swept through, and it looked as though the ribbon would sail right over Xie Zheng’s head.

Then the cold-faced young marquis abruptly raised a hand.

His fingers closed.

He caught the reddish-brown ribbon effortlessly.

The surrounding crowd immediately exploded into deafening cheers.

Countless girls had thrown handkerchiefs at him along the way.

Even when they landed right in front of him, he had never spared them a glance.

Yet now he had personally reached out to catch a ribbon.

That was truly unusual.

Without changing expression, Xie Zheng tucked Fan Changyu’s ribbon into his robes.

His gaze swept calmly toward her before he looked ahead once more and continued riding forward.

The cheers from the crowd and the young women rose another level.

Some girls even burst into tears on the spot.

“Whose ribbon was that?”

“Could Marquis Wu’an already have someone he likes?”

The people lining both sides of the street all craned their necks upward, trying to determine which private room in the restaurant the ribbon had come from.

Yet all they saw were three tightly closed windows.

No one could tell which room’s guest had thrown it.

All three rooms happened to have been rented by Fan Changyu.

The moment Xie Zheng caught the ribbon and tucked it into his robes before looking back at her, Fan Changyu felt as though lightning had struck her chest.

Her heart raced so wildly that panic seized her, and even her thoughts felt numb.

Almost on instinct, she slammed the window shut.

Then she turned and sat back at the round table.

Under Aunt Zhao’s astonished gaze, redness spread from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.

After a brief pause, Aunt Zhao laughed helplessly.

“You child. You’ve been married for so long already—what are you still shy about?”

Fan Changyu pinched her burning earlobe and said nothing.

Only her long dark lashes fluttered continuously.

Even Changning couldn’t help laughing.

“Big Sister is shy.”

Xie Wu and Xie Qi silently lowered their heads in the corner and did their best to become invisible.

After a while, Fan Changyu finally calmed down.

The redness on her face faded somewhat.

She pinched Changning’s chubby cheek.

“So you’ve gotten bold now? You even dare laugh at your big sister?”

With one cheek being squeezed, Changning’s smile on the other side nearly reached her ear.

“The moment Brother-in-law looked at Big Sister, Big Sister got so scared she shut the window!”

The teasing words almost made Fan Changyu blush all over again.

Putting on a stern face, she said,

“You little rascal. I only closed it because there were too many people watching. It could have caused unnecessary trouble.”

Changning stuck out her tongue and finally stopped teasing.

Uncle Zhao was still thinking about the grand scene he had just witnessed.

After taking a sip of tea, he said,

“I heard everyone shouting ‘Marquis Wu’an,’ but I didn’t see him. Could his procession have been behind the army?”

The cries of the young women had all been drowned out by louder cheers.

And with the local capital accent, Uncle Zhao couldn’t make out much of what was being said anyway.

He didn’t understand military protocol.

But when Fan Changyu and the others had entered the capital, Tang Peiyi had ridden at the front.

By that logic, shouldn’t Marquis Wu’an, the highest-ranking official, also have been leading the procession?

Why had Yanzheng been riding in front instead?

The reputation of Marquis Wu’an had already become legendary throughout Great Yin after he reclaimed Jinzhou and recovered the Twelve Prefectures of Liaodong.

Uncle Zhao had genuinely wanted to witness the famous general’s grandeur for himself.

Fan Changyu silently wiped her face.

The topic had finally come up.

Scratching her head, she said,

“Uncle… Auntie… there’s something I haven’t told you.”

Seeing her troubled expression, Aunt Zhao immediately replied,

“You child. Do you still treat your uncle and me as outsiders? Whatever it is, just say it.”

Looking at the elderly couple, Fan Changyu said,

“Actually… Yanzheng is Marquis Wu’an.”

Uncle Zhao’s hand trembled.

Half a cup of tea spilled onto his clothes.

Ignoring the burn, he jumped to his feet and stared at Fan Changyu with wide eyes.

“What?”

Aunt Zhao’s mouth hung open.

She looked from Fan Changyu to Uncle Zhao and back again, too shocked to even form a question.

Fan Changyu had expected them to be surprised.

She had not expected them to be this shocked.

Seeing both of them looking as though they suspected they had heard wrong, she repeated,

“Yanzheng is Marquis Wu’an.”

“My heavens…”

Uncle Zhao’s legs weakened, and he collapsed back into his chair.

Swallowing hard, he asked,

“The Marquis Wu’an who recovered the Twelve Prefectures of Liaodong and slaughtered the barbarians in Jinzhou?”

Fan Changyu nodded.

Even Aunt Zhao started stammering.

“I… I heard Marquis Wu’an had three heads and six arms and drank blood raw. Yanzheng… that boy looks more handsome than the lead actor in an opera troupe. How could he be Marquis Wu’an?”

Fan Changyu couldn’t help laughing.

“Those are just rumors. A general on the battlefield needs a fearsome reputation to intimidate the enemy. Didn’t I also earn the nickname ‘Yaksha’ in the army?”

Even after her explanation, the elderly couple needed quite some time to recover.

Finally, Aunt Zhao looked at Fan Changyu.

“Then… if Yanzheng is already a marquis, do we have to kneel when we see him in the future?”

The question caught Fan Changyu off guard.

Back when she still lived in Lin’an Town, she probably would have assumed the same thing about meeting a high official.

Now, however, there was only one person in the entire empire before whom she was required to kneel and bow.

The man sitting on the Dragon Throne.

Without realizing it, she had already traveled so far down her path.

The thought stirred a sense of emotion in her.

She replied,

“You and Uncle were once his benefactors. He would never accept such formalities from you.”

Back then, when Xie Zheng was gravely wounded, even the doctors in town had refused to treat him.

Had Uncle Zhao not relied on decades of experience as a veterinarian and prescribed medicine as a desperate gamble, Xie Zheng might not have survived.

Hearing this, the distance the Zhao couple felt toward Xie Zheng lessened considerably.

Still, Aunt Zhao looked at Fan Changyu hesitantly.

She couldn’t help worrying about the girl’s future.

“Then… your wedding back then doesn’t count anymore?”

What she really wanted to know was what the two planned to do from now on.

When Fan Changyu had risen in status, Aunt Zhao hadn’t worried much.

She had watched the girl grow up and knew her character.

She wasn’t afraid Fan Changyu would abandon Yanzheng after gaining success.

But now Yanzheng had become a marquis.

As far as Aunt Zhao knew, noblemen all took multiple wives and concubines.

Earlier, Yanzheng had even caught Fan Changyu’s ribbon, proving he cared for her.

But she didn’t know how deep that affection ran.

Hearing the question, Fan Changyu thought of something entirely different.

Back then, the marriage agreement had always been a mutually agreed fake marriage.

So she nodded.

The moment Aunt Zhao saw that reaction, she became anxious.

“Even if the marriage arrangement was fake, you two still became husband and wife through hardship and suffering. Now that you’ve finally achieved wealth and success, how can you just separate?”

At last, Fan Changyu understood what Aunt Zhao really meant.

Thinking of Xie Zheng’s proposal that night—that he wished to formally marry her as his wife—she felt her face heat up again.

“What are you thinking about?”

The truth behind Jinzhou had yet to be uncovered.

As long as it remained hidden, her grandfather’s name could not be cleared.

Only after the Meng family was fully vindicated could she stand beside Xie Zheng openly as a descendant of the Meng family and properly honor the spirits of her grandfather and parents.

But the politics of the court were too complicated.

The Zhao couple were simple and honest people.

Telling them too much would only make them worry.

So she merely said,

“Don’t worry. He’s not that kind of person.”

Those words finally reassured Aunt Zhao.

The victorious army had already gone to the Meridian Gate to await an imperial audience.

The crowds gradually dispersed.

Fan Changyu, the Zhao couple, the two children, Xie Wu, and Xie Qi all began heading back to the Courier Lodge.

Along the way, Changning spotted someone making sugar figurines and immediately demanded one.

Fan Changyu took Changning and Bao’er to buy them.

Xie Wu followed as well, just in case anything happened.

Xie Qi remained with the carriage and the Zhao couple.

Although Aunt Zhao had already toured the capital many times, she still couldn’t help lifting the carriage curtain repeatedly to marvel at the city’s prosperity.

Seeing that Fan Changyu and the children would be occupied for a while, she remembered that the New Year was approaching.

She wanted to buy some red cloth and sew red lucky-money pouches for the children.

After informing Xie Qi, she walked over to a nearby fabric stall.

While she was busy choosing between various fabrics, she overheard several women chatting nearby.

“Have you heard? When Marquis Wu’an entered the city, he accepted a handkerchief thrown by a young lady. I wonder which lucky girl in the capital it was!”

Another woman replied,

“The streets were packed shoulder to shoulder. Who knows whose handkerchief it was? Besides, it was only a handkerchief. Given Marquis Wu’an’s status, he probably just picked it up out of courtesy so the girl wouldn’t lose face.”

“Was it a handkerchief?” a third woman interrupted.

“I heard it was a hair ribbon. A handkerchief is one thing, but a ribbon is different. If you ask me, Marquis Wu’an probably really has his eye on someone.”

The first woman said,

“The only truly talented and beautiful young lady in the capital is the youngest daughter of Grand Tutor Li. I heard she’s already sixteen and still unmarried. Maybe she’s been waiting for Marquis Wu’an all this time.”

Aunt Zhao had no intention of joining their conversation.

But after hearing that last sentence, she couldn’t hold back.

“The ribbon belonged to my daughter.”

The women glanced at her.

Then they all covered their mouths with handkerchiefs and laughed.

Although Aunt Zhao’s clothing wasn’t cheap, she looked nothing like the matriarch of a wealthy family.

Years of labor had left her hands rough.

She also spoke with an obvious provincial accent.

None of the women took her seriously.

One of them asked mockingly,

“How old is your daughter, Auntie?”

Calculating Fan Changyu’s birthday, Aunt Zhao replied,

“Almost seventeen.”

The women immediately burst into laughter again.

The ridicule in their eyes was unmistakable.

The woman sneered,

“A seventeen-year-old old maid throws a ribbon, and Marquis Wu’an picks it up and puts it in his robes? What, is your daughter some heavenly fairy?”

Not a single vulgar word was spoken.

Yet the contempt was impossible to miss.

Aunt Zhao’s chest tightened with anger.

She gripped the fabric more tightly and glared at them.

“My daughter isn’t a fairy. She’s a female general who protects the nation!”

The women exchanged glances.

The story had become increasingly absurd.

One of them tossed down the cloth she was holding.

“Has she gone mad? Stay away from her.”

The others immediately backed away as though afraid she might attack them.

The vendor saw his customers disappearing.

Having also heard Aunt Zhao’s claims, he snatched the fabric from her hands.

“You crazy old woman! Stop ruining my business!”

Though kind-hearted, Aunt Zhao wasn’t someone who could be bullied.

Immediately, she pointed at the vendor and shouted,

“You little brat, what kind of logic is that? I’m trying to buy your goods, and you’re insulting me? Everyone come judge this! This man is bullying an old woman in broad daylight! Is there no justice left?”

The vendor had not expected the seemingly harmless old woman to be so fierce.

As people began gathering around, he hurriedly explained,

“This old woman is crazy! First she claims Marquis Wu’an accepted her daughter’s ribbon, then she says her daughter is a female general, and now she’s making a scene at my stall!”

Aunt Zhao put her hands on her hips.

“Why can’t my daughter be a female general?”

The vendor immediately seized on her words.

“Everyone heard that, right? She’s admitting it herself! There’s only one female general in all of Great Yin worthy of being called a general—the General Yunhui. Don’t tell me your daughter is General Yunhui?”

As soon as he said it, laughter and mockery spread through the crowd.

“She’s really crazy, isn’t she?”

“A heroine like General Yunhui would have a mother like this?”

Only then did Aunt Zhao realize she had gone too far.

She had only argued because the vendor insulted her and chased her away.

Now she regretted it.

Fan Changyu was an official of the court.

Whether she caused trouble for her or merely embarrassed her, Aunt Zhao would blame herself.

Quickly, she corrected herself.

“I’m her neighbor! She’s the daughter I watched grow up!”

Then she tried to leave.

Unfortunately, the crowd had already packed in around her.

Seeing that she wanted to escape the embarrassment, no one was willing to let her go.

A rat-faced man with a thin mustache loudly mocked her.

“Oh? You’re only General Yunhui’s neighbor? Then I suppose I’m her uncle!”

The crowd erupted into laughter.

Just then, a crisp and capable female voice sounded from outside the crowd.

“Auntie, haven’t you picked your fabric yet?”

The noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

People automatically stepped aside and turned to look.

A tall young woman stood there.

In her left arm she carried a little girl holding a sugar figurine.

With her right hand she held a little boy carrying candied hawthorn skewers.

Both children wore colorful street masks.

At first glance, they looked like twins.

Suddenly becoming the center of so many gazes, Fan Changyu felt slightly bewildered.

After buying sugar figurines for Changning and Bao’er, she had returned to the carriage only to learn Aunt Zhao still hadn’t come back.

Seeing a large crowd gathered here, she had come to investigate.

Yet the moment she spoke, everyone looked at her strangely.

Meanwhile, Aunt Zhao’s expression instantly turned ugly.

Despite her poor legs, she practically charged over in a single bound, scooped Bao’er into her arms, and said urgently,

“Let’s go! Quickly, let’s go!”

Completely confused, Fan Changyu nevertheless followed while carrying Changning.

Only after they left did someone in the crowd cautiously speak.

“Wasn’t that… General Yunhui?”

Another person immediately agreed.

“That’s right! It was General Yunhui! I saw her at the city gates when the Jizhou generals entered the capital. She was riding a tall horse behind General Tang. She looked incredibly impressive!”

The crowd fell into an eerie silence.

After a long pause, someone carefully asked,

“So… does that mean the ribbon Marquis Wu’an tucked into his robes really belonged to General Yunhui?”

The vendor and the women who had been buying fabric looked as though they had seen a ghost.

Who would have thought that the outrageous claims made by a provincial old woman speaking awkward official dialect would actually be true?

Then someone else weakly added,

“And those twins General Yunhui was carrying… they aren’t actually hers and Marquis Wu’an’s children, are they?”

Everyone collectively swallowed.

Had they accidentally stumbled upon a tremendous secret today?

The vendor finally snapped out of his daze.

Grabbing several bolts of cloth, he immediately ran after Fan Changyu and Aunt Zhao.

As he ran, he shouted,

“General Yunhui! Auntie! These fabrics are my gift to you! I was blind and failed to recognize greatness earlier. Please forgive me!”

Terrified that this would bring trouble to Fan Changyu, Aunt Zhao spun around and roared ferociously,

“She’s not! You’ve got the wrong person!”

But somehow that only made it sound more suspicious.

The only person who remained completely confused throughout the entire affair was probably Fan Changyu herself.