The next morning, Li Zhongqian was unsurprisingly drunk again.
But he still remembered to buy Li Yaoying the puff pastry from Granny Zhang’s house.
Yaoying took the puff pastry and gave him a bowl of sobering cane juice: “Elder brother, I sent someone to bring Venerable Mondatipa to the palace. He has already arrived and is checking aniang’s pulse.”
Li Zhongzhi let out a vague acknowledging sound, tilted his head and drank all the cane juice in one gulp. Then he lied down, reclining on the felt mat and slept heavily.
Yaoying, angry and laughing, kneeled in front of him and slapped him a few times.
He didn’t wake up.
”He’s like this every time. Promising well, but will still drink heavily……”
Yaoying mumbled a few words in a low voice, wrung a hot towel and washed the face and wiped the hands of the drunken Li Zhongqian.
Li Zhongqian’s gold hammer usually did not leave his hands. On his hands were rough calluses, both palms were criss-crossed full of scars.
After so many years, it was still shocking to look at.
Yaoying held Li Zhongqian’s broad and thick palms, and her fingertips brushed over the hideous knife scar.
When these hands were teaching her how to write, they were still a pair of slim hands with long, thin, slender fingers.
The Li Zhongqian back then was calm and elegant, gentle and refined. He would follow the great scholars to read those thick volumes every day, able to write round, strong, and thin seal scripts, and draw landscapes with charred ink sticks.
The climate of Wei County was mild. In the spring, hundreds of flowers bloomed. In front of the garden, the plum blossoms were like snow, and the peach and apricot were delicate and beautiful.
When the breeze brushed past, the ground in front of the steps were full of fallen petals.
Li Zhongqian was writing and studying, and Yaoying was crawling around on the felt mat beside him.
At one point, she looked at the fluttering flowers extending as far as the eyes could see in front of the veranda. The next moment, she turned back to the writing desk and curiously watched Li Zhongqian wielding ink.
Li Zhongqian picked up Yaoying, letting her sit on his lap. He took her chubby fat little palm, teaching her to hold the brush.
He taught her to write her name, taught her how to draw the elegant and serene orchids.
When Yaoying was five years old, it was late spring. Li Zhongqian pointed to the rich falling flowers in front of the veranda and taught her to recite word by word: “The guests in the high pavilion have gone, and the flowers in the small garden are flying.”
The day after teaching this poem “Fallen Flowers”, Li Zhongqian went back to Jingnan to sweep the tombs.
Yaoying went to Li De’s side.
It was autumn when the siblings saw each other again.
Carrying a pair of gold hammers weighing a hundred pounds, Li Zhongqian traveled a thousand miles alone through mountains of corpses and rivers of blood to find the dying Yaoying.
He was scarred and bruised, covered in blood, tightly holding onto his younger sister.
”Little seventh, don’t be afraid, elder brother is here to pick you up.”
The knife injury on Li Zhongqian’s palm was a result from that time.
From that day on, he never touched scrolls or brushes again.
He practiced his hammers every day. In response to Xie Wuliang’s words, his hostility became heavier and heavier, and his temperament became more and more gloomy and irritable.
His body was being stronger and stronger by the day. The hands that used to hold scrolls all day long, flicking flowers and brushes gradually ceased to be the long and elegant hands of a noble gongzi from a noble family, and became what it was now.
Even Xie Qing’s hands were better looking than Li Zhongqian’s.
Yaoying sat for a while lost in thought.
She knew how people outside looked at Li Zhongqian.
They said he killed people like flies, tyrannical and cruel, slaughtering cities till empty one after another.
Yaoying had advised Li Zhongqian.
On the battlefield, if you didn’t kill, the enemy would kill you. It was only natural you could not be soft-hearted, but the massacring of an entire city was still too cold-blooded.
Li Zhongqian laughed lightly and rubbed Yaoying’s head.
Yaoying thought he had listened, but the next day she found herself surrounded by a new group of attendants.
Attendant A said: “Miss, the second gongzi is loved by the people!”
Attendant B said, “Miss, rest assured, the people did not scold the second gongzi.”
Yaoying was so angry that she threw herself backwards: How could Li Zhongqian think of such a method of deceiving her?
The deep asleep Li Zhongqian suddenly rolled over and clutched Yaoying’s wrist with his palm.
Yaoying was dragged back instantly, returning to her senses. She pried away Li Zhongqian’s hand, and scolded in a low voice: “Only allow the state officials to set fire, prohibit the people to light a lamp1!”
The muslin curtain swayed lightly, and Chun Ru’s voice came from outside: “Your Highness, the Venerable Master has e out.”
Yaoying left the palace maid to take care of Li Zhongqian and got up to go to the west wing.
Mondatipa was wearing a Buddhist robe popular among the monks in the northern part of the Central Plains today. Appearing dignified and with a solemn image of Dharma, stepped out from the inner hall and folded his palms together: “Princess, Noble Consort has indeed been given Brahmin poison.”
On the side, the chief steward2 had a lowered head, overflowing with cold sweat.
Yaoying’s face was slightly dark.
She knew that there was no cure for Noble Consort Xie’s illness, and invited Mondatipa into the palace not to treat Noble Consort Xie, but to find out the cause of the illness.
She had already bee ill and confused when Yaoying was born. At that time, Tang shi had already died and the Xie family was still flourishing, with no sign of destruction.
A few months ago, a Taoist priest saw Noble Consort Xie’s pulse, hazarding a guess: Noble Consort Xie may have taken Brahmin medicine, which was why her mind was abnormal.
The chief steward did not know much about Brahmin medicine, and Yaoying did not make this matter public in fear of beating the grass and scaring the snake.
She invited Mondatipa into the palace to confirm whether the Taoist priest’s speculation was true or false.
Mondatipa seemed to be pletely unaware of the suddenly heavy atmosphere and said slowly and deliberately, “The Brahman medicine taken by Noble Consort should be an immortal medicine for longevity as recorded in the “Brahman Immortal Medicine Prescription”. This poor monk once saw people who had taken this medicine long-term. They couldn’t sleep at night, couldn’t have peace in the day. Their minds were confused, their memories reversed. The symptoms were the same as your Noble Consort’s.”
Yaoying calmly asked, “Venerable, is there a cure for this?”
Mondatipa shook his head with a passionate expression, “The toxins of the immortal medicine of longevity cannot be removed. Noble Consort’s illness is far more serious than those whom this poor monk has seen. Diseases of the heart are difficult to resolve.”
Yaoying understood in her heart.
Noble Consort Xie could not accept the fact that Xie Wuliang had died. Brahman medicine was the cause of the disease, but the bad news of the Xie family made her pletely insane.
When she was insane, Xie Wuliang would still be alive.
Yaoying closed her eyes and calmed all her thoughts.
The palace attendants prepared gold, silver, silk, medical herbs, and a few horses as a thank you gift for Mondatipa, as she ordered.
Xie Qing went to the Hall of Government Affairs and brought the documents signed by several prime ministers for them to cross the border.
Yaoying knew that Mondatipa was in a hurry to leave for the Western Regions, so she didn’t keep him. Presenting him with the documents, she sent him out of the palace.
Mondatipa was stunned.
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Fun fact: right after translating the last chapter about puff pastry, I went and made apple tarts and chocolate puffs.
1 People in power can do whatever they want, but the people below them are even more restricted for lesser things.
2 Specifically 奉御 which is a position in the department that took care of the medical affairs of the harem’s women.
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