Chapter Thirty-One: Back to the Old Mansion

  When she saw Lu Yunpeng bring all the luggage he had brought with him on this trip to the south, preparing to set off on the road to Fengxian with her, Zhao finally confirmed that he was indeed going to stay at her house.

  But why? Isn't he the guard of Prince Guangping? And with his status, yet listening to Princess Guangping's tone, it seems that he is going to the Zhao family to be a steward or something. Is this not a bit of a waste of talent?

  Zhao didn't understand and quietly asked Yanxia: "Why does Lu You want to come to our house as a steward?"

  Yanxia smiled and asked, "Isn't it good? Just now you were still chatting with him in the front yard." But he didn't answer her question, instead, he changed the subject: "Didn't Zhao Niang say she wanted to leave a letter for our young master? I'll carry you over to the desk to write it?"

  Zhao had no choice but to cast aside the doubts in his mind and focus on writing a farewell letter to Gao Zhen.

  Her handwriting was barely legible, and she couldn't even write full characters in traditional script. The first letter she wrote after crossing over was a bit of a mess. Yanxia was illiterate, so she handed the letter to Princess Guangping to take a look. Princess Guangping read it with a smile, saying, "Good job, at your age, you can already write this many words, even if they're not very neat and there are some mistakes in the strokes. It's only natural, I'm just worried that Zhen'er won't be able to understand it." Anyway, Yanxia took up paper and pen, saying, "Sister, what do you want to write? You dictate, and I'll write for you?"

  Then Zhao? spoke gloomily and dictated a letter, roughly saying that he had to leave because he was in a hurry and couldn't wait for him to return to say goodbye. He felt very sorry that the two of them didn't know when they would meet again. If Gao Zhen came to Fengxian, please come to his home as a guest. If she went back to Beijing in the future, he would definitely go to visit her. She would remember all the lessons he taught, and when she grew up, she would also use the boxing skills he taught to exercise. Finally, he wished him good health, everything going well, and peace at home.

  A very ordinary letter, moderate and decent, neither losing courtesy nor being too straightforward with a bit of childish tone, there's nothing to pick on. With a beautiful and elegant handwriting, it can be said that it is very pretty. Zhao had confidence that this letter would not be impolite no matter who read it, but after finishing writing, the Princess of Guangping couldn't help but burst out laughing, leaving Zhao stunned and wondering if he had made any mistakes.

  The Princess of Guangping smiled and patted her head, saying: "You child is really too lovable, your little mouth is so sweet, it makes me happy in my heart. Why don't you just stay here and be my daughter?"

  Zhao didn't know how to respond, was she being serious or just joking?

  Madam Cao, who was standing beside them, also burst out laughing: "This idea of the princess is truly brilliant! The young master will definitely like it. But I'm afraid Old Lady Zhao won't be willing to let go, and when she hears that the princess wants to take away her granddaughter, she'll come after the princess with a vengeance!"

  The princess of Guangping smiled and carefully folded the letter, solemnly sealed it, and jokingly said to Zhao: "Good child, don't worry, when Zhen'er comes back, I will definitely hand over the letter to him!" She also pointed at Lu Yunpeng: "In the future, when you learn how to write, if you want to write a letter to Zhen'er, just hand it over to him and he will find someone to deliver it to your brother Zhen."

  Wasn't Lu Yunpeng supposed to stay at the Zhao's until she learned how to write? That wouldn't be just a year or two, would it?

  Zhao was perplexed and couldn't understand.

  The Shanghai government's main office was set in Jiading, which is only over a hundred miles away from Fengxian. Taking a horse-drawn carriage for half a day would get you there. The official roads they traveled on had been newly repaired within the past twenty or thirty years and were almost renovated every year, so Zhao didn't suffer any hardships at all and arrived home safely and smoothly.

  By this time, the sky had already darkened, and Zhao was so exhausted that his eyes could no longer stay open. In a daze, he only saw the two white lanterns hanging at the gate before being carried into the depths of the mansion.

  When she woke up the next morning, Akira was already sitting on her bed doing needlework. Seeing that she had woken up, a smile appeared on his face and he helped her sit up.

  Zhao looked around dazedly: "Is it dawn?"

  "It's already bright outside!" said Akira with a smile, "Elder sister slept really soundly, the sun is already high up in the sky. Wei-ge has already finished reciting one round of books and is now practicing calligraphy. The old madam originally wanted to wake you up, but after coming in to take a look, she couldn't bear to disturb you, saying that elder sister was tired from traveling yesterday, so just let you sleep in."

  Zhao's face turned red, and with the help of Autumn Leaf, she put on her clothes properly. Then a little maid she didn't recognize brought in a basin and towel, and Autumn Leaf helped her wash her face.

  She jumped out of bed, staggered out of the room, and saw her little brother Zhao Wei sitting on a high chair in the outer hall, writing at a desk. He would write two strokes and then lift his head to look towards the room, seeing that she had come out, he immediately threw down his pen, jumped off the chair and came over: "Sister woke up? Hungry? I've saved you some delicious food!"

  What is considered delicious is actually just mutton milk and buns. The Zhao family in the capital originally had a habit of drinking cow's milk and goat's milk, which was learned from the old lady Qin and the emperor's mother, saying it was good for the body, boys who drank it could grow tall, and girls' skin would become white after drinking it. When Zhao came over, she was still just over a year old, at the time of weaning, and lived with her grandparents in a side house, so naturally there was no condition to be particular about what milk to drink, generally they ate millet porridge, this was also her first time drinking this thing. She originally worried it would have a fishy smell, took a sip, the taste was actually better than she imagined, and then boldly drank it all up.

  Baozi is a vegetarian filling, and now the Zhao family is in mourning, eating this is also common sense, but there's a strange taste, Zhao couldn't get used to it, while Zhao Wei liked it very much, repeatedly urging her to eat: "Little sister, eat some more, I specially left it for you." It was Autumn Leaf who came to the rescue of Zhao : "Wei brother, little sister is still young, eating this might be hard to digest, you keep it and eat it yourself." Zhao Wei obediently said "oh" and looked at his little sister with regret: "Little sister, hurry up and grow up, you're too small now, there are many delicious things you can't eat."

  Zhao's mouth twitched: "Thanks, brother, I'm really good at drinking milk..."

  Last night was too dark to see clearly, but now Zhao realized that the house she is in is different from the one they lived in Beijing. The main room has a high ceiling with an altar table in the middle, where ancestral tablets of her grandfather and parents are placed, along with fresh flowers, incense sticks, and offerings. Below it is a square eight-immortals table where Zhao and her brother have breakfast and do their homework. The main room is quite empty, with carved flower screens separating the rooms on both sides. She sleeps in the west room. The east room has a door curtain embroidered with pine crane patterns, which Zhao suspects is her grandmother Zhang's bedroom.

  The main house seems to have no doors, or perhaps the door panels have been removed, facing directly onto the courtyard. This courtyard is different from those in Beijing's hutongs, not only smaller but also without any flowers or plants, except for a few pots of chrysanthemums placed in the corners, which are now blooming beautifully with bright yellow and white petals. On both sides of the courtyard are wing houses, with white lanterns hanging under the eaves, and above them is a second floor. Above the front gate is also a small building, but the windows are smaller, making it hard to tell what its purpose is. The roof of the main house connects on all four sides, vastly different from Beijing's traditional quadrangle courtyards. The courtyard gate is tightly closed.

  A gust of wind blew over, and Zhao couldn't help but shiver.

  Qiu Ye quickly discovered and hastily took a small cloak to put on her, but then Zhao Wei started coughing again. She hurriedly said: "Wei Ge and Da Jie should go back inside the house? The main room is cold."

  Zhao Wei said: "I still have sixty words left unwritten, I'll go in after finishing writing."

  "Brother, your body is weak. If you catch a cold, you'll fall ill again and worry the old mistress. It's better to go back inside and write instead."

  Zhao also chimed in: "Yes, brother, let's go inside and write. We can write together, I want to learn how to write too." So as not to have to ask for help when writing a letter, even though it's written quite well, but still be laughed at.

  Zhaowei thought for a moment, then agreed and helped Akira move the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone into Zhaowei's small room. Her room not only had a bed frame for sleeping, but also a divan by the window with a low table on it, covered with thick cushions, which was used for daily activities. The brother and sister sat down on either side of the low table, and Akira brought over a small hand warmer for each of them, and also served hot tea.

  Zhao Wei took a sip of tea and only then did he feel his body warm up a bit. Just now, when he was outside, the wind had blown him to the point where his whole body was almost frozen stiff. In the past, when he was in the capital city, he hadn't been so weak before. Clearly, autumn in Fengxian should be warmer than in the capital city, so why was he so useless now?

  Zhao? then comforted him: "Brother just had an illness, and hasn't fully recovered yet, so his body is a bit weak. After some time, when you're better, I'll teach you boxing, okay? I stayed with the King of Guangping for a few days, and the Crown Prince taught me two sets of fist techniques. I heard that when the Crown Prince was young, he wasn't in good health either, but after practicing fist techniques, he got better. If he can do it, brother definitely won't lose to him!"

  Zhao Wei's face lit up with excitement: "Great, I'll learn to fight too!" However, he didn't have much faith in his sister and instead set his sights on another master: "Uncle Lu's skills are formidable, he'll be staying at our house for a long time, I'll ask him to teach me!"

  For this point, Zhao ? wanted to ask for a long time: "Why does Lu Hu want to live in our house?"

  "Why can't he live with us?"

  It turns out that Autumn Leaf vaguely knew something: "The King of Guangping said that he was afraid that Xiaolongfang would harm Wei Ge for the sake of keeping his title, so he sent him to protect Old Madam and Wei Ge. Originally, he wanted him to be a steward, but Old Madam felt it was too humiliating for him, so she let him stay as a western scholar. Lu Huwei originally said that his learning was very poor, and people would laugh at him if they knew he was Wei Ge's western scholar. Since Wei Ge had the intention of learning martial arts from him, it perfectly matched his identity as a western scholar, and it couldn't be more suitable."

  Zhao suddenly realized, no wonder they came back so quickly. It turned out that they were worried about Grandma and Little Brother being in danger. But now that Xiao Changfang has reached this point, can he still expect to keep his title? Isn't that a bit too naive?

  Although even Zhao felt that this idea was too naive, for the parties concerned, some hopes can never be abandoned.

  After being treated by several famous doctors from Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture, who were invited with great difficulty by Zhao Kuang, it was confirmed that he had become paralyzed and the possibility of recovery was very low. As a result, he became increasingly irritable, but beneath his irritability, there was more fear.

  No matter how wronged he felt, now that he bore the crime of murdering his mother and brother, he would never be able to get away scot-free. If he were still in good health, there might have been hope for him to make a comeback, but with this paralysis, what future prospects did he have? Having lost both virtue and ability, it was unlikely that he could retain his title. Yet he refused to give up, constantly urging Gao Cheng to send messages to his family in the capital, asking them to find ways to cover for him before the Emperor and speak well of him, absolutely not allowing the Emperor to believe Zhang's side of the story.

  In just a few days, the Jianan Marquis's estate in the capital sent a letter. Zhao Jiong hastily urged Gao Cheng to read it aloud. As soon as he finished reading the first sentence, he almost spat out blood.

  The letter said that after Guangping King rescued Zhang's ancestors, he immediately reported the matter to the emperor on horseback, and the emperor already knew about his good deeds.