Chapter 116: One Night
Chen Rong wordlessly dropped her gaze.
Night turned deep in the blink of an eye.
She slept in the room that drifted with ambergris and listened to the night wind blowing through the bamboo grove as she tossed and turned.
After tossing and turning through most of the night, she found herself truly unable to sleep. She put on a robe and slowly walked out.
“Miss?” asked a servant sleeping in the corner, her voice tinged with sleepiness.
“Go back to sleep,” Chen Rong softly replied.
“Aye.”
Outside, the stars were still hung across the sky, along with a crescent moon.
Chen Rong held onto the railing and carefully descended the staircase.
She walked through the bamboo grove to the peach forest that was across from a small stream. She gazed to the distance, thinking that when spring came, this place would be a sight to behold.
She then turned to go in the opposite direction, walking aimlessly for a while before coming to a stopping place.
Under the stars, a snow-white figure was quietly standing on the grassy field in front of her as he looked up to the sky.
Chen Rong recognized at a glance that he was Wang Hong.
She dazedly looked at him, held her tongue, and then quietly turned to leave.
Suddenly, his soft and sweet voice called out to her. “Ah Rong?”
Chen Rong froze.
She slowly turned around.
The man beneath the stars was now looking at her. His eyes were incredibly quiet, easy, and serene.
She approached him with her head looking at the ground, dropping to a curtsy when she was five paces from him.
“Sit.”
She sat down at the table opposite him. Looking at the meat and wine in front of her, she softly asked, “Where’s General Ran?”
“He had gone to rest.”
Wang Hong took a cup from his table, filled it, and placed it on Chen Rong’s table. When he withdrew his hand, he waved his wide sleeve, after which the cup Ran Min had left behind rolled onto the grass.
Chen Rong looked at it in surprise and turned to Wang Hong. She saw his fluttering white robe and flowing hair in their usual tranquil manner.
She couldn’t tell whether he was intentional or not, and so she withdrew her gaze.
At this time, she heard Wang Hong speak: “Ah Rong, will you play a song for me?”
“Aye.”
She rose from her seat, transferred the zither from Wang Hong’s table onto her own, and pressed her fingers to produce a melodic tune.
Chen Rong’s zither playing was typically resplendent and glorious. At this moment, however, perhaps due to her complicated feelings, it carried some bitter vicissitudes and self mockery.
Under the celestial light, they sat facing each other – one played the zither while the other watched the moon. Empty and alone.
Night was cold, its shadows lonely.
At this time, the gossamer curtain from Chen Rong’s loft lifted.
The round faced maid looked at the silhouettes under the starlight as her slender brows knitted together. She held her chest, murmuring: “Ah Zhi, I don’t like this feeling.”
Ah Zhi was a maid in her mid twenties. She simply watched Wang Hong and Chen Rong, but she did not reply.
The round faced maid knitted her brows further. “How extraordinary is our Qilang? Why would he fall in love with this vulgar girl?”
Ah Zhi smiled and lightly replied, “The master says Qilang will be the Wang clan’s pillar. As his maid, I will help him do what he cannot or do not want to do.”
While the round faced maid blinked and waited, Ah Zhi slowly smiled and continued. “Did Buddhist scriptures not say? Among miserable sentient beings, the most miserable are the ones who cannot have what they want. How can this vulgar girl make Qilang taste the misery of not attaining what he wants? Perhaps we might need to lend a hand after all.”
At this juncture, Ah Zhi dropped a mysterious smile at the round faced maid before turning to leave.
A long while later, the song finally concluded.
Chen Rong rested her hands on the strings as she slowly raised her head to look at Wang Hong.
Wang Hong was still looking up at the sky.
At length, he waved his wide sleeve and quietly said, “Go.”
“Aye.”
Chen Rong gave him a curtsy and then turned to leave.
Soon, her figure vanished into the bamboo grove behind the pine trees.
When she returned to the loft, the two maids in the corner respectfully asked, “Anything we can do for you, miss?”
Chen Rong shook her head. “Go back to sleep.”
“Aye.”
Amid the rustling sound of fabric, she lied back in bed and at long last closed her eyes.
By the time she woke up again, light had risen in the east. She suddenly remembered that today was Nanyang’s fateful day. She at once got out of bed and thought to call Nurse Ping, but remembering that she wasn’t at home, she changed to call out: “Is someone there?”
A handmaid appeared.
As she observed these maids from the Wang House of Lang’ya, whose appearances and temperaments both befitted those serving a scholarly woman, Chen Rong’s voice unconsciously took on a polite note. “Please bring me my outfit.”
“Don’t you like this white gown, miss?”
Chen Rong shook her head, swept her long hair to the back and said, “No need, I’ll wear my own clothes.”
“Aye.”
When she was ready to leave, Chen Rong turned around looking at the white dress on the table and softly asked, “Can you let me keep this?”
The maids looked at her in puzzlement, and then Ah Zhi smiled. “It was a gift for you from Qilang. If you don’t want it, it’ll just get burned.”
Burned?
Chen Rong reached for it and whispered, “It’s such a pity to burn something so pure.”
She left the loft and hurried on. Only now did she realize the hamlet was empty, for she had been walking for a quarter of an hour without seeing anyone.
While Chen Rong was feeling uneasy, a booming voice called to her, “Miss?”
She quickly turned around.
The person who called her was one of Ran Min’s guards. He strode to her, asking: “So you were here? Come along.”
When he finished, he turned to go.
Chen Rong didn’t move. “Give me a few moments, let me change.”
He frowningly stared at Chen Rong, but at the thought that she was cherished by Ran Min, he suppressed his annoyance to say: “We are facing life and death, how can you talk about clothes at this time?”
Chen Rong gave him no heed, and ran to the bamboo room.
She pushed the door to the empty room and hurried in to change her clothes.
In just moments, she got dressed in a common blue robe, with her chest and waist bound. She put on a hat and ran out again.
The guard did not expect her to disguise herself as an ordinary boy. He looked her up and down and frowningly asked, “With General Ran here, who can harm you, miss?”
Chen Rong placed her hands together and replied, “It can’t hurt to be careful.”
The guard shook his head, not wanting to argue with her. “Let’s go.”
Chen Rong followed behind him. The guard mounted his horse and, without looking back, said to her, “Up, quickly.”
Chen Rong made a reply and mounted her horse.
They rode to the north gate.
Nan’yang had turned into a scene of chaos. Commoners and scholars alike frantically poured to the street like headless flies.
Terrified shouts and murmurs filled Nan’yang.
Because there were too many people on the street, carriages would only get stuck if they try to enter the stream of traffic. Riding was the only feasible mode of transportation.
They rode through the sea of people to arrive at the north gate.
Silence had taken over the area. Chen Rong looked at the quiet scene and couldn’t help but ask, “Is the general here?”
“Because we don’t know which way the Hu will arrive from, the Prince of Nan’yang assigned this gate to Wang Qilang while his men guard the west gate.”
Chen Rong nodded. Hearing him mention Wang Hong without resentment, she couldn’t help from asking: “General Ran doesn’t blame Wang Qilang anymore?”
This translation belongs to hamster428.wordpress.com
The guard glanced at her, indifferently replying: “A man will encounter all kinds of unpredictable situation. How can he really take these things to heart? If the general is truly angry, he would have cut him down on the spot! The deal is presently going well, he’s very pleased.”
Chen Rong gave a hum. “Indeed,” she said. She had seen Wang Hong in action several times, and he was always composed. He never embarrassed or cornered the other party… She was certain he would also do or say something afterwards to dissipate Ran Min’s resentment this time.
At this moment, the guard took out a seal and waved it at the fortress guards which allowed them to pass.
He next took Chen Rong to the fortress wall.
They had barely neared the wall when she heard ceaseless noises from above. The surprising thing was that there was laughter among these sounds.
She hurriedly followed the guard and soon appeared on the wall.
It turned out that the wall had been packed with people. Celebrated scholars who were friends with Wang Hong had all made their appearances: Yu Zhi, Huan Jiulang, as well as Chen Gongrang and others.
Standing in the center of the wall was Wang Hong in his snow-white outfit.
He was smilingly looking down below and answering Yu Zhi from time to time.
At this time, the guard said to her, “The general isn’t here.”
He crossed the crowd to take Chen Rong to the west side of the city wall.
Chen Rong followed behind him looking to the ground.
Almost suddenly, a bundle appeared in front of her.
She looked up.
The Wang servant who had survived Mo’yang with her appeared in her view. He gave her the bundle he had been holding and whispered to her, “My master sent this for you, put it on.”
Chen Rong confusedly received it. She hadn’t spoken by the time the Wang servant had woven into the crowd. At this time, Ran Min’s guard impatiently called back to her, “Why aren’t you coming?”
Chen Rong made a reply and hurried to catch up.