Extra: Returning Home
In mid-June, when Tang Ying's health had almost recovered, she asked the new emperor Yuan Jian for permission and went to Zhulin Temple in person to pick up Yao Niang.
Gan Jun stayed outside Zhulin Temple for more than ten days, standing in the wind and dew for Yao Niang, but he neither won the sympathy of the guards nor made Yao Niang come out of the temple to meet him. He was extremely depressed.
When Tang Ying took Yao Niang out of the temple with the order of the new emperor, the guards finally opened the temple gate after checking the imperial edict and confirming it. Gan Jun finally had a deep understanding of "a new emperor appoints new ministers".
His era had finally passed, and the emperor he had loyally served for half his life had also left this troubled world. He proposed to Yao Niang: "Why don't we choose a place with beautiful mountains and rivers to live in seclusion and lead a simple and stable life?"
Tang Ying retorted with a smile: "Lord Gan, my aunt is as beautiful as a flower and is still waiting to be married. She can't just follow someone and live in seclusion, right? At the very least, she needs three matchmakers and six betrothals, and a sedan chair carried by eight people before she can get married." She winked and said, "Of course, if my aunt doesn't want to get married, I can also take care of her in her old age."
Gan Jun seemed to be meeting Tang Ying for the first time: "If you need me, just call me Master, if not, just call me Master Gan. Little girl, does your aunt know that you are destroying your bridges after crossing the river?"
Tang Ying turned back in horror: "Aunt, please don't listen to Lord Gan's nonsense. How dare I call him master's master without your permission? Is master's master a random name?" She was patted on the head by Yao Niang and finally stopped talking.
"You cunning girl." Yao Niang never thought that she would have the chance to leave Zhulin Temple and see the light of day again in this life. She relied entirely on the little girl in front of her. Although she cursed her, she was grateful in her heart.
Gan Jun: “…”
After a long while, Mr. Gan said with a red face: "I will invite the official media when I return."
The master and the disciple laughed so hard that they fell down.
Yao Niang left the Zhulin Temple, which was like a prison cell, in a happy mood. As soon as she stepped into the capital, she and Gan Jun received the imperial edict at the same time. The emperor ordered them to temporarily lead the Fengbu, Huangbu and Anbu of the Imperial Cavalry, and specially authorized Fu Chen to accompany Tang Ying back to her hometown to visit relatives.
Yao Niang pulled her little apprentice's ear and said, "Is this how you honor your aunt?"
She thought that from now on she could have the sea as wide as fish leap and the sky as high as birds fly.
She was tempted by Gan Jun's suggestion of seclusion, but she had to go back to Beijing to rest and also wanted to see her son Zhao Ji again. No matter how annoying her daughter-in-law Yuan Shu was, her son was always on her mind. She didn't expect to be tricked by the little girl.
The young disciple begged for mercy: "Aunt, you have been practicing in Zhulin Temple for so long, why are you still so angry?" He leaned closer and said ingratiatingly: "I am...giving Master Gan some time to prepare. You stay in the capital for a while. When I return to the capital, Master Gan will be almost ready. Then I will bring my fellow disciples to personally send you off for marriage."
It sounds pretty good.
She let go of her apprentice's ear and tapped her forehead gently: "Little rascal, when you come back from Baicheng, you should also arrange your marriage with Fu boy, right?"
Tang Ying held her face and pretended to be embarrassed: "Aunt, Lord Fu doesn't mention marriage. Do you want me, your disciple, to be shameless and ask him for marriage?" But in her heart she secretly felt that it was okay to fall in love at the age of 20, but it was too early as she had just reached the legal age for marriage.
Suddenly, someone behind me said in great surprise: "I will go to the palace and ask His Majesty to grant me marriage!"
Tang Ying: “…” Sir Fu, are you the ghost behind this?
"Well..." She hurriedly stopped him: "Don't worry, don't worry, it's better to meet my father before discussing the marriage, right?"
Master Fu's smile gradually dimmed, and he was visibly withering like a plant. His eyes were filled with indescribable resentment, and he said in a low voice: "I know, you don't have me in your heart anyway."
The closer it got to the day of their departure, the more he felt homesick.
Sometimes he felt that his anxiety came for no reason, but when he thought of the young man deeply buried in her heart, he became worried and anxious.
If Yu An were still alive, he would just be a naive teenager and he wouldn't be afraid of him.
But Yu An is no longer with us, and his heroic spirit will remain in her heart forever in such a tragic way.
He always felt that the closer he got to Baicheng, the easier it would be for her to remember Yu An's kindness. This put Fu Chen in a deep dilemma. On the one hand, he wanted to accompany her back to his hometown to pay homage to Tang Yao, but on the other hand, he selfishly wanted her to forget that young man forever, with only him in her heart and eyes.
The idea was too selfish, he even felt ashamed, let alone telling it to Tang Ying, so Lord Fu's mood had been changing recently, unpredictable, just like the weather in June, changing at any time.
Tang Ying couldn't bear to see Master Fu's sad face. She held his big hand and said firmly, "Nonsense! If I didn't have you in my heart, I wouldn't have to bring you back to my hometown to worship my parents! Besides..." She smiled slyly, "If my parents saw me bringing such a handsome man back home, I don't know how happy they would be. They would definitely think that their daughter is very capable!"
"Really?" Lord Fu was skeptical.
Yao Niang burst out laughing: "Silly girl!" and left the two little children alone.
When Tang Ying and Fu Chen left Kyoto, it was the height of summer. Zhang Qing and Xiong Yu accompanied them, paving the way for them and arranging travel matters.
All the brothers from the Imperial Cavalry Division came to see them off. They were talking excitedly when Yao Niang and Gan Jun rode up together. It was like pouring a bucket of cold water into boiling water, which put an end to all the noise. The men from the Phoenix Division suddenly became serious and polite, and said in a very elegant manner: "Have a safe journey, my lords. We are waiting for your return in the capital."
Yao Niang couldn't help but rolled her eyes and glared at Gan Jun.
When she came over just now, she heard these ruffians talking in a mess, saying things like "Sir, please don't be so happy outside for too long, leaving your subordinates to suffer in the company, come back with your young master in three to five years."
Lord Fu used to have great prestige, but after he escaped death, these ruffians seemed to have seen a banished immortal fall into the mud. They no longer looked up to him and dared to joke with him without any respect.
Why is it that as soon as she comes over, these guys all become silent like gourds with their mouths sawed off?
Gan Jun touched his nose: It’s none of my business.
Yao Niang: No way.
She had been unruly before, and when she re-entered the Forbidden Cavalry Division, Gan Jun was by her side. On the surface, this chief of the secret guards around the late emperor seemed to be a dull and taciturn old man, but whenever he saw Yao Niang flirting with the men in the division, he would target them since he couldn't afford to offend Yao Niang. From Liu Chong to Lei Xiao, as well as several other lively boys, they had all been dragged by Lord Gan to "practice" several times. After getting bruised and battered so many times, they had gotten used to it, and when they saw Yao Niang, they were silent as a cicada, wishing they could take a detour. If they couldn't avoid her, they would stand by with their heads down, and their attitude was even more respectful than to their own mother.
Everyone discussed privately that Lord Gan was indeed someone who had been with the late emperor, and had learned a lot of bad intentions and was very mean.
——Who dares to flirt with Yao Niang? Do you think your life is too long?
After this happened so many times, Yao Niang noticed it and started to complain that it was boring. She took her anger out on Gan Jun and pinched him so hard that his arms were covered with nail marks. But he was happy to do it.
Yao Niang said angrily: "Wood, doesn't it hurt?"
Gan Jun: "It hurts, but I'm happy."
Compared with his previous life without sunlight, his current life makes him wake up with a smile in his dreams every day. It is different when he has hope.
Liu Zhong, Lei Xiao and others were the first to become serious. After saying their parting words, they quickly ran away with their brothers. Only Wan Xiang and the two women from the Anbu were very affectionate with Yao Niang.
Tang Ying sent a few people away first, then mentioned something: "Hongyu secretly informed the Grand Princess and the Prince of Xiang, and I discovered it that day, but I didn't pursue it because of the tight time. Since she was brought up by my aunt, and she did something treacherous, I ask my aunt to deal with her after I leave."
Yao Niang said with a smile: "You play the good guy and I will be the bad guy, right?"
Tang Ying smiled secretly: "Since Master is blocking the way in front, and you two insist on retiring, why not let me do the offending things for you? When my aunt gets married, I will give her a big gift!"
"Glib-mouthed, do you think I am still coveting your gift?"
After chatting and laughing, he sent the two away.
※※※
After three years, Tang Ying finally set out on the journey back home.
Seeing the walls of Baicheng from afar, her heart surged, and even Zhang Qing's eyes welled up with tears. She almost cried, muttering to herself: "Master, we are back."
In his mind, Tang Jue entrusted his sister to him, which was a heavy responsibility. He did not dare to relax for a moment and finally brought the person back to Baicheng safely.
The old servants of the Tang Mansion had dispersed, but after Tang Ying became the head of the Imperial Cavalry Department and was given the title of princess, when the news spread back to Baicheng, the military generals under the King of Xiang who had originally occupied the mansion vacated the mansion - it was the King of Xiang who decided to move into the Tang Mansion that day, and many houses were destroyed beyond recognition after the war, but the Tang Mansion was well preserved, so they used it as a temporary residence.
The man was quite considerate and left two old servants to guard the house and clean it in preparation for Tang Ying's return to pay homage to his parents.
After Zhang Qing and Xiong Yu entered the city, they first went to the old house of the Tang family. After knocking on the door this time, the old servant heard that it was the eldest daughter of the Tang family who returned to her hometown to pay homage to her parents, so he hurriedly and attentively welcomed the two of them in, and even went outside to hire a maid to clean and tidy up. Needless to say,
Tang Ying originally thought that they would stay in an inn after entering the city, but she didn't expect Zhang Qing to take them to the old house after they met them. This puzzled her: "Brother, since the house has been occupied, we don't have to go there."
She was afraid of being reminded of the past.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Qing said, "Since Miss became famous in Kyoto, who is so bold as to occupy our house? This time when she came back, she welcomed us in without any hesitation. She has already cleaned and tidied everything. Miss, you should go home."
His word "go home" almost made Tang Ying cry. She forced a smile and said, "Why is it that after coming back, big brother has become distant with me? You'd better stop calling me Miss. It sounds awkward."
"Then call me Princess." Zhang Qing was still a little embarrassed. When he stepped into Baicheng, he was filled with memories of the past. Sometimes when he turned around a corner, he always felt as if Tang Jue was still alive. Who knew she would appear from somewhere and might be unhappy to hear him calling the eldest lady brother and sister.
He was restrained and became the gentle and taciturn attendant of Tang Jue.
Tang Ying couldn't do anything about him: "It's up to you. We'll go to pay respects to father and his family in two days. We need to prepare the offerings early."
Fu Chen quietly looked at her expression, reached out and held her hand to comfort her.
Three years later, when Tang Ying left Baicheng with Zhang Qing, she stepped into Kyoto with a heart full of sadness and hatred. She never thought that although this road was difficult, there would always be someone to accompany her through the thorny road.
She turned her head to look at him, her eyes were gentler and more focused than ever before.
She said: "Achen, thank goodness for you ."
Fortunately, you never left me, which prevented me from walking on the road of hatred for too long.
Thanks to your unremitting efforts, I have the courage to bid farewell to the devastation of the old days and bravely move towards a new life.
Fu Chen held her hand tightly and smiled gently, "Thank goodness for you."
It was not him who saved her, but her courage, perseverance and strength that saved him from being immersed in conspiracies and intrigues for too long, allowing him to see the most beautiful light in the world in the dark world, so he tried his best to protect such a bright and dazzling light.
Tang Ying might not understand what he meant, but he thought, it doesn't matter, as long as he can stay with her for the rest of his life, it would be like guarding the sun, which should be able to dispel all the haze in the world, right?
Zhang Qing and Xiong Yu were both smart and capable people. On the day of the worship, they prepared three kinds of animals, incense, candles, paper money and many jars of wine, and hired several young and strong men to take the offerings to the cemetery.
Tang Yao, Tang Jue, and Yu An and his son were buried together with the soldiers who died in the battle to defend the city. From a distance, it looked like a densely packed graves.
Fu Chen felt respect when he saw her from afar. He walked side by side with Tang Ying and glanced at her, but suddenly he couldn't bear to look at her. He quickly turned his head to look at the sky. There were birds flying by, but they hurried away, as if they were afraid of disturbing the soul of the hero, and they didn't even dare to stop in front of the monument to rest.
When they arrived at the graves of Tang Yao and Tang Jue, Zhang Qing and Xiong Yu placed the offerings. Tang Ying lit the incense and candles herself and knelt down in front of the graves of her father and brother. Under Zhang Qing's instructions, the young and strong men placed the wine jars in front of everyone's graves one by one. They did not dare to disturb them anymore and left quietly.
They all heard that this was the eldest daughter of the Tang family returning to her hometown to worship her ancestors. They admired the sacrifices made by the young men who defended the city back then, but were afraid of disturbing the dead souls.
In the past three years, every Qingming Festival, there would be people pulling weeds and burning incense in front of the graves of the heroes and martyrs. They might not be our own relatives, but in their hearts they have already been regarded as our own relatives.
The graves of Tang Yao and Tang Jue were swept clean without even a weed. This was done voluntarily by the people of Baicheng who survived the disaster to protect these sleeping martyrs.
They shed their last drop of blood for the people of Baicheng during their lifetime, and were buried here after their death, earning the people's eternal love and remembrance.
Tang Ying knelt in front of her father and brother's graves, like a child who had left home for a long time. She had a lot of things to say to her family, but she didn't know where to start. She could only reorganize her words. After a long time, she said softly with tears in her eyes: "Dad, brother, I'm back."
This sentence, as if pulling out a thread, brought out countless accumulated words behind it, and she immediately said: "Dad, brother, I have avenged you! In the past three years, I have missed you all the time, but... I dare not come back." She held Tang Yao's tombstone and put her cheek on it, as if she was leaning on her father's arms and whispering: "I can't avenge you, let you die with hatred, and I can't face coming back to see you!"
"I found the culprit and killed him with my own hands, making sure he experienced the pain of his family being murdered while still alive..."
"Dad, brother, you can rest in peace now..."
She hugged the tombstone, sobbed softly, and confided in a low voice that after a long separation, the deep hatred she had carried on her back was finally put down in front of the tombstones of Tang Yao and Tang Jue. It was like carrying a mountain and finally reaching the end. From then on, she could let go of the past and start a new life.
This time, she no longer cried and felt helpless.
When she was about to leave, she took Fu Chen to Tang Yao and Tang Jue, as if they were standing in front of her: "Dad, brother, this is the man I have chosen. You always said that Yu An was a fool and that no one else would dare to marry me except him, but you are all wrong. This is Fu Chen, who looks smart, but in fact he is even more foolish than Yu An. Are you happy for me?"
Fu Chen kowtowed solemnly: "Father-in-law, please accept my greetings." He kowtowed to Tang Jue again: "Uncle, rest assured, I will treat Yingying well." He added in his heart: I will treat her better than that silly boy named Yu.
After paying homage to his father and brother, Tang Ying took him to the grave of Yu An and his son and burned three incense sticks.
She said softly, "Yu An, I came to see you. Don't blame me for breaking my promise. It was you...you who left me first. You idiot!" As if she was afraid that the boy in the grave would be sad, she added, "You must also hope that I live a good life, right? I have been waiting for you for a long time, but you never come to find me. Even in my dreams, you asked me to leave in a bad tone. Do you know how lonely I am? I went to the capital, ate a lot of delicious food, and met very good people. Without your company, I am really lonely. You won't blame me, right?"
She sat in front of the boy's grave, deeply regretting, "I often wondered later, could it be that I was too bad to you since you were a child, had a bad temper, was never gentle to you, always bullied you, was always mean to you, and even hit you, so... you left me? Did you forget me, okay?"
"You forgot me, and I forgot you, and we're all fine, okay?"
"I was so mean to you, you must have forgotten me a long time ago, right?"
"Yu An, forget about me!"
She stood up from the boy's grave, tears in her eyes, and threw herself into Fu Chen's arms, tears falling like rain.
Fu Chen sometimes thinks that people are really strange.
Before coming to White City, he was always worried and anxious, and had all kinds of wild thoughts, fearing that the young man would occupy her heart.
But when I arrived at Yu An's grave, listening to her chattering and reminiscing about the past, tears fell like rain, and I felt so heartbroken.
If he could allow her to face life with a smile all the time, he would rather he had never known her, and would rather she could walk through the four seasons of Baicheng hand in hand with that young man and have a smooth life.
But fate had brought her to him, and he could only try his best to treat her gently and make her smile for the rest of her life.
The two walked hand in hand in the streets of Baicheng.
Fu Chen said: "I want to know what your life was like since you were a child."
Tang Ying: “Really?”
Fu Chen: "I really want to know."
So Tang Ying took him to walk all over the streets and alleys of Baicheng. Sometimes when they stopped in front of a tree, she would point at the tree and say, "Yu An is the best at climbing trees. Every year when the apricots are ripe, he would secretly climb up the tree to pick apricots for me. This family has to suffer from his robbery every year. He really hates us..."
Sometimes when she passed by a corner, she would suddenly point there and say, "We had a fight here together. We caught a street bully and beat him up. But his mother was more powerful and went to my father to complain. The news reached Uncle Yu's ears, and Yu An was beaten so hard that his buttocks were bruised."
Fu Chen asked: "Is it because your father-in-law is reluctant to beat you?"
Tang Ying was silent for a long time.
After a long while, he said, "No, it's because I told Uncle Yu that Yu An was the mastermind and I was just joining in the fun. He was the one who beat me up."
It was obviously a sad memory, but Fu Chen couldn't help wanting to laugh. He said slowly: "Actually, I think... Yu An is really unlucky to know you."
Tang Ying said regretfully, "You feel the same way, don't you? Now that I think about it, I feel that I treated him so badly."
She had tears in her eyes, but also a smile: "So sometimes I think, if I married Yu An, I would definitely be a tigress, and he would definitely be bullied by me very pitifully. If he didn't marry me, he really escaped a disaster."
Fu Chen patted her back and said seriously, "Maybe he is willing to be a silly boy bullied by a tigress?"
Although he had never met Yu An, he was in awe of the simple and persistent young man, his infatuation and regretlessness, and the forced separation from him. He couldn't help but speak well of that wonderful young man.
"He's just a fool!" Tang Ying said.
Fu Chen: "Yes, he is a fool." He has such a good fiancée but refuses to live a life of compromise and insists on going to death. What else could he be but a fool?
On the one hand, he admired this "fool", and on the other hand, he was grateful to him. If it weren't for his selfless dedication, he wouldn't have the happy marriage he has today.
It was obviously a sad memory, but Fu Chen couldn't help wanting to laugh. He said slowly: "Actually, I think... Yu An is really unlucky to know you."
Tang Ying said regretfully, "You feel the same way, don't you? Now that I think about it, I feel that I treated him so badly."
She had tears in her eyes, but also a smile: "So sometimes I think, if I married Yu An, I would definitely be a tigress, and he would definitely be bullied by me very pitifully. If he didn't marry me, he really escaped a disaster."
Fu Chen patted her back and said seriously, "Maybe he is willing to be a silly boy bullied by a tigress?"
Although he had never met Yu An, he was in awe of the simple and persistent young man, his infatuation and regretlessness, and the forced separation from him. He couldn't help but speak well of that wonderful young man.
"He's just a fool!" Tang Ying said.
Fu Chen: "Yes, he is a fool." He has such a good fiancée but refuses to live a life of compromise and insists on going to death. What else could he be but a fool?
On the one hand, he admired this "fool", and on the other hand, he was grateful to him. If it weren't for his selfless dedication, he wouldn't have the happy marriage he has today.
