Chapter 6: Evil Intentions
The second prince Yuan Lang was very good at winning people over. After he recaptured Baicheng, in addition to ordering a team of troops to pursue the defeated Northern Yi army, he also did two things to win people's hearts.
One thing was to hold a grand funeral for the soldiers who died in the war. Officials such as Tang Yao and Yu Wanqing had separate tombstones, and their sons Tang Jue and Yu An were also buried at their father's feet.
Another thing is the fake lady who took care of the orphans of the loyal and heroic Tang family.
The remains of Tang Yao, Yu Wanqing, and Yu An were found, and although there were inevitably some missing parts, they were confirmed to be the real people, so they were buried smoothly. However, Tang Jue's remains were not found. During the night raid on the Northern Barbarians' camp, his remains were disposed of by the Northern Barbarians, and they could not even be traced back to their place. They could only build a cenotaph, and the things in it were not even his personal belongings, but a set of armor that he had prepared temporarily.
Tang Ying knelt in front of their graves. The entire hillside was covered with the graves of the soldiers guarding the border, densely packed together, just as intimate as they were when they were alive. They ate and slept together, went out together, fought together, and finally slept together.
Zhang Qing knelt a few steps behind her, staring at the girl's silent and trembling shoulders, then slowly bent down with his forehead pressed against the ground in front of him. His fingers dug firmly into Tang Yao's tombstone, as if he wanted to dig a hole in it. In the end, he broke his fingers and stained the tombstone red.
He felt very uncomfortable, but he didn't know how to comfort this silent and thin girl. He could only look away and gaze at the floating sea of clouds on the top of the distant mountain. He slowly said, "I asked around in the city and heard that when the Marshal and the Major General were buried that day, the fake lady didn't show up in front of people. I heard that the fake lady fainted in the mourning hall and couldn't get up on the day of the burial. No one saw the fake lady's appearance, and no one knew where she came from."
The girl knelt quietly in front of the tomb with her face against the tombstone, hugging the cold stone tightly, as if Marshal Tang was hugging his spoiled little daughter when he was alive.
Zhang Qing kowtowed, retreated quietly, and walked farther away. From a distance, he could only see the small figure of the lonely and helpless girl huddled in front of the tomb.
There seemed to be a faint sound of crying in the wind, but when I listened carefully, it seemed to disappear.
When she was going down the mountain that day, Tang Ying paid tribute to her father, brother and Yu Wanqing, and finally stopped in front of Yu An's tomb. She squatted down, touched the words on the tombstone, and said in a hoarse voice: "You said that one day in the future, you would take me to the capital for a tour, take me to eat the most delicious food, and buy me the most beautiful clothes..."
The boy who was nagging and making wishes seemed to be standing in front of her, smiling, so reckless and enthusiastic, like a fire that would never go out. When he was a child, he was secretly bullied by her, and he turned around and wiped his tears and pestered her again. When he grew up, he didn't know how many times he was cheated by her. Every time he remembered to eat but not to be beaten, he didn't even need her to smile, and bought street snacks to please her...
Her throat seemed to be filled with sand, and every word she said was extremely difficult: "Yu An, you don't keep your word. All of you, Daddy, Big Brother, and you...you all said you would love me, but you all lied to me, you...you all left me alone..."
"I'm leaving now. I'm going to visit the capital." She straightened her back, standing like a pine or bamboo, just like Tang Yao had taught her countless times in the past: "We Tang family members are all strong, so how can we have slumped shoulders and bent waists?"
"The Tang family's reputation cannot be tarnished! I'm going to go to the capital to see who dares to impersonate me so boldly."
…
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The capital city is thousands of miles away, and both of them are now penniless.
Tang Ying had no habit of wearing jewelry on a daily basis, let alone being Tang Yao's personal guard, who didn't even have a trace of makeup on her body. When the city was broken, the military situation was urgent, so she had no time to think about carrying some gold and silver.
When Zhang Qing heard that she was going to the capital, although he supported her idea in his heart, after all, he couldn't let others use the name of the young lady to climb up the wealth and status by stepping on the corpses of the Tang father and son. But a penny can make a hero fall, let alone the young lady of the Tang family who has never made any money.
"Miss, we can't...beg to enter the capital, right?"
Tang Ying squatted on the street and observed the daily life of beggars. She felt that this was a difficult job. First of all, you have to put your face on the ground and spit on it a few times. Then you have to be prepared to be stepped on by everyone who passes by. You may not even be able to get a bite to eat.
"Neither you nor I are cut out for this. Forget it."
When Zhang Qing was a child, he did beg for food from his neighbors, but he was young and thick-skinned at that time, so he didn't care about it for the sake of food. Later, he married into the Tang family, and after years of being well-fed, he unknowingly regained his self-esteem, and it was really difficult to go back to his childhood livelihood.
Tang Yao was unwilling to compete with the common people for profit, and his family didn't even have a shop in Baicheng. He never expected that after his death, Zhang Zhu would one day end up on the streets.
Tang Ying and Zhang Qing wandered around the streets for a day, and finally set their sights on a foreign escort agency. The two pretended to be brother and sister and volunteered to be porters.
Baicheng was rebuilt after the war. Merchants were looking for profits and some even came to sell medicinal herbs. They were afraid of encountering refugees and bandits after the war, so they hired local escorts to escort the goods.
There were five or six escorts in the escort agency, all of them were big and strong men, and they brought four or five porters to clear the way for them to serve them. They saw that the brother and sister looked average, but the sister was surprisingly beautiful. Her face was pale as if she had a serious illness, but the cold glance from her eyes actually had the effect of relieving fatigue.
The chief escort leader was in his early forties. The escorts under him were bored on the road. When they heard that they could get food without wages, they urged the chief escort leader to stay. They also hinted: "Chief escort leader, we are all men on this journey. It is not convenient to sleep in the wilderness. We don't even have a woman who can make soup. Why don't we keep these two brothers and sisters?"
One of them even winked at each other and whispered, "Not only is there no hot water, there's not even a warm bed."
After the war, many families lost their wealth and had to sell their children to make a living. Recently, the human traffickers' business has been very good.
For example, if these two poor and penniless siblings want to go to Beijing to look for their relatives, they might agree if they are persuaded by their younger sister to serve them along and earn some money for their trip.
The girl was very pretty. Although she looked cold, it was possible that she was frightened by the northern barbarians. Maybe if she snuggled in a man's arms to warm herself up, she would feel warmed up.
At worst, the chief escort could take her as a concubine, and there would be someone to take care of her along the way. Even if they couldn't eat, it would be pleasing to look at her.
Zhang Qing did not hear the dirty words that person muttered under his breath. He just thought that they really wanted Tang Ying to cook, so he hurriedly said, "My sister has never been in the kitchen since she was a child and can't cook." You want Miss Tang to serve you, are you qualified?
The escorts: So this is actually a young lady?
Which girl from a poor family doesn’t cook? At the age of three or four, she starts helping her mother. When she is a little older, she can cook for the whole family. Girls who are not good at cooking must be rich girls who have to order servants around.
It turns out that this brother and sister come from a wealthy family?
Several escorts exchanged glances with each other and were secretly happy.
It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. A girl from a poor family has suffered since childhood, so she might be able to endure the hardships along the way, but a girl from a rich family might not be able to endure this kind of hardship. By then, they don’t even need to ask, and the brother and sister might just climb up.
Several escorts immediately started to make a noise : "We were just saying it casually, how can we have the nerve to ask Miss Zhang to cook?"
Tang Ying had amazing hearing and heard all of the man's malicious mutterings, but she said nothing and let Zhang Qing negotiate with them.
Zhang Qing instinctively felt that these people were not easy to deal with, but Tang Ying insisted on going to the capital, and there was no way for him to make a fortune if he stayed in Baicheng. Thinking about the eldest lady's skills, he became bolder and felt that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Even the northern barbarians died at the hands of the eldest lady, let alone just a few of them.
The chief escort leader was about 40 years old, looked friendly, and spoke in a reasonable manner: "You two brothers and sisters have been in the war in Baicheng, right? Since you have found me, how can I stand by and watch you die? Just follow the caravan with peace of mind. As long as I eat, you two brothers and sisters will not starve."
Zhang Qing hurriedly thanked him. Tang Ying bowed, but was stopped by Chief Escort Mo: "Miss Zhang, please don't be polite. I see that you don't look well. Are you sick?"
Since Tang Ying pretended to be Zhang Qing's brother and sister, she took his last name, covered her lips and coughed twice, then slowly said, "Thanks to the concern of the escort leader, I have been ill and unable to travel, so I have delayed until now to go to the capital to look for my relatives."
When she didn't speak, she had the delicate grace of a sick beauty, but when she opened her mouth, it was different. Her pale little face became much more lively, and the coldness in her eyes lessened a little. She was like a thin bamboo in the wind, with an indescribable tenacity. Even a coarse cloth dress could not hide her graceful charm.
Chief Escort Mo's eyes lit up.
Tang Ying and Zhang Qing successfully infiltrated the caravan and even greeted the merchant who was transporting the goods. It was just that the escort agency had added some new people and it had nothing to do with his caravan. Boss Jiang, who was about fifty years old, didn't care much about it. He just said a few polite words and then went back to the carriage.
Chief Escort Mo saw that Miss Zhang was weak and had just recovered from an illness. Although it was not easy to get her a horse-drawn carriage, he could let her use a flatbed cart for freight.
Tang Ying sat on the cart, still frowning, staring at Zhang Qing's feet with great worry, and said slowly: "Brother, your feet are not well yet, can you walk?"
The porters were not treated so well, as they all walked all the way, unlike the escorts who all rode horses.
Chief Escort Mo looked at him carefully and found that the young man was limping a little. He asked with concern, "Brother Zhang, is your foot injured?"
"My bones were cut when the northern barbarians attacked the city, and they haven't recovered yet."
Upon hearing this, Chief Escort Mo immediately asked Miss Zhang to ride on the freight cart as well: "Since it's a broken bone, why didn't you tell me earlier, Brother Zhang?" His warm and polite attitude, as if he were an old friend, earned Miss Zhang a grateful smile .
