Chapter 131: Hello Chang’an
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Chapter 131: Success!
The surroundings were dim, and at first, Chang Ren judged the object by touch, thinking it was some kind of gold or silver item.
He passed it up to the guards. "I hope you two can make an exception..."
The two soldiers assumed the item was meant as a bribe. Without thinking, one of them raised an eyebrow and scolded, "How dare you cause trouble here!"
As city guards, they would never make exceptions for a mere bribe! If they accepted it, what would become of the city's safety?
What would their superiors say if they took a bribe in front of them? Would they even keep their jobs?
In that moment of hesitation, Chang Ren had already seen what he was holding.
It was a copper token in the shape of a fish, and the name inscribed on it...
Chang Ren froze for a moment before his expression tightened. He straightened up, no longer bowing, and said once again to the two soldiers, "I hope you can make an exception."
The two soldiers exchanged glances—why was this person suddenly so bold?
The soldier in front reached out and snatched the token from Chang Ren’s hand. He was curious to see just how much more stubborn the man could be.
But as he held the token, his face froze.
His fingers trembled slightly, and he was both surprised and relieved—if he had acted even a little faster, it would have been him thrown into the moat today!
His companion, now realizing what the token was, opened his mouth but said nothing, afraid of making a wrong comment.
....
This novel is translated by the Eternal Novel Hits translators. Please read it at https://eternalnovelhits.blogspot.com
....
The soldier hastily returned the copper token with both hands, lowering his voice. "I was blind to not recognize this. I hope you can forgive me, sir."
Chang Ren silently took the token back and grabbed the oar.
He wasn’t sure whether to forgive them or not, as he wasn’t actually a "sir" in the first place.
The soldier, still deferential, asked quietly, "The water ahead is deep and dark. Do you need a lantern to guide the way, sir?"
"No need," Chang Ren replied.
Unnecessary items might leave traces, so it was better not to have one.
"Understood," the soldier replied respectfully. "Please take care, sir..."
Chang Ren paddled the boat away.
As soon as this "sir" left, another one arrived.
"Why did you let someone leave the city without permission? Do you know it’s already curfew time?" The city gate officer hurried down from the city tower, sharply questioning his subordinates.
He had noticed—these two had dared to take the bribe from the boatman!
To do such a thing in front of him, what were they doing behind his back?
"Sir, you don't understand," one of the soldiers quickly whispered. "The boatman is no ordinary person... The token he was holding is only half of the copper token from General Cui of the Xuanzhe..."
The officer’s face instantly changed. "The copper token from General Cui? Are you sure you saw it clearly?"
"I saw it very clearly, sir!"
The officer looked towards the direction the small boat had gone. This was the capital, after all, and no one would dare forge the copper token of General Cui, the commanding general of the Xuanzhe.
But the man had been so low-key, pretending to be an ordinary boatman...
The afternoon had barely passed when General Cui of the Xuanzhe had just left the city, dressed in plain attire to avoid drawing attention...
Given the situation, could he be dealing with some secret government matter that shouldn’t be made public?
"Don't speak too much, and pretend as if you didn’t see any boat leaving the city tonight!" the city gate officer sternly instructed his subordinates.
The Xuanzhe was independent of the three departments and six ministries. Only the Emperor could oversee its affairs, so it was not for them to meddle with.
The two soldiers understood the gravity of the matter and quickly agreed.
Meanwhile, on the small boat that was already drifting far away, Chang Ren couldn’t help but ask, “Where did this copper token come from?”
"A gift from the lady."
"Where did the lady get it?"
"General Cui gave it to her."
"..." Chang Ren was silent for a moment. “Why would General Cui give his copper token to the lady?”
After a brief recollection of the day when General Cui had given her the copper token at the back mountain of Dayun Temple, Ah Zhi summarized, “It’s so the lady can deal with people.”
Chang Ren was left speechless.
Suppressing his confusion, he could only ask, “Where are we going now?”
“To the villa by the lake outside the city.”
Chang Ren nodded and glanced ahead. “When we get closer, you take the people off the boat. I’ll steer the boat to the spot where the fishing boats gather, then I’ll come to the villa to find you and cover our tracks.”
Since they had started this, they had to do it properly. If they hadn’t caught any fish, they needed to make sure the situation was handled smoothly.
Ah Zhi nodded in agreement.
“Who is she?” Chang Ren asked as he steered the boat, casting a curious glance at the woman lying in the cabin. “How did you know you could find someone by guarding this spot?”
Ah Zhi shook her head. “I don’t know anything. These are just the lady’s instructions.”
Chang Ren remained silent and didn’t ask further.
Meanwhile, Yu Xie groggily began to wake up. “Who are you...?”
“Sorry,” Ah Zhi said, raising her hand and knocking her out once again.
Chang Ren: “...”
Polite, but no delay in acting.
...
At the same time, in a mansion in the capital, a man silently infiltrated the premises, following a quiet path to the back of a study. He then climbed through the wide-open window.
The man bowed to the person sitting inside, his face conflicted. "The female servant from the Princess's Manor left the house today, but after falling into the West Qu River, she disappeared without a trace."
The person sitting inside asked, puzzled, “Why didn’t you act?”
“I didn’t have the chance,” the man explained. “Just as I was about to act, a group of beggars surrounded me and started begging. In the confusion, the female servant fell into the water.”
“Beggars...?” the person asked. “Were they really beggars?”
“Yes,” the man replied. “I confirmed it. They weren’t pretending.”
“How is it that things worked out this way by coincidence?” The person in the chair seemed to be deep in thought. “If she was swept into the moat by the river’s current, her body might never be found...”
The man hesitated. "Should we send word back...?"
“Not yet,” the person in the chair sighed, cutting him off. “Let’s try to investigate further and see if we can find any suspicious details... That way, when we send the message, we’ll have something to report.”
After a brief pause, the person murmured to themselves, as if pondering aloud. “If someone really planned this, who could it be... Who would be so interested in someone from Princess Chongyue’s past, someone so mentally unstable?”
The night wind flowed into the room, causing the copper bell hanging outside the Tower of the Celestial Maiden to chime gently. The soft sound of the bell echoed through the night, adding a sense of tranquility to the air.
Inside the tower, a tall young man stood by the white jade pool, his head slightly raised as he gazed at the statue of the Celestial Maiden in the center of the water.
Cui Jing had arrived at the tower before dusk and had remained there until now.
Not long after Wu Jue entered, his gaze fell on the tribute table, and he couldn't help but ask, "These chestnuts are...?"
Tributes sent to this tower were always either delicate or rare. For example, the lychees. But these chestnuts, which were common, were the first of their kind to appear.
"I happened to hear Senior Ah Dian mention them," Cui Jing replied.
Wu Jue smiled knowingly. "I see..."
The prince had a fondness for chestnuts.
The connection between the statue of the Celestial Maiden and the prince, as well as the connection between the two princes, was something General Cui Jing was aware of.
When he set up the formation, Cui Jing was the one shown by the divination as the one with a destined connection. As such, he naturally had to know everything.
The jade used for the statue was something this young man had acquired from the Western Regions when he was still a boy.
"The tower is stifling," Wu Jue said. "General Cui, come out with me to talk."
Cui Jing nodded.
The two left the tower, and the night breeze made the bamboo outside rustle.
"I’ve been curious about something for a long time," Wu Jue said, perhaps feeling that the plate of chestnuts made the young man seem more approachable. He decided to ask, "General Cui, have you... ever had any interaction with the prince?"
He had always felt that the divination shown to him wasn’t just random.
But since Cui Jing hadn’t mentioned it, he hadn’t pressed the matter.
"Yes," Cui Jing nodded.
Wu Jue looked at him. So it was true?
"I was still young at the time," Cui Jing said, looking into the night. His deep memories took him from the heat of the summer night to a winter full of swirling snow.
It was as if he were watching his younger self standing in the snow, looking up at a figure sitting atop a horse.
His voice was slow. "When I was seven, I encountered danger outside and was saved by the prince."
Wu Jue was taken aback. "Seven years old, outside?"
By all means, the legitimate grandson of the Cui family, even if outside the city, should have had plenty of people protecting him. How could he have encountered danger to the point of needing the prince’s rescue?
Sensing Wu Jue’s confusion, Cui Jing explained, "At that time, I had run away from home, and I only had a former servant of my mother with me."
Wu Jue was astonished.
To think he ran away at just seven years old!
So, this was not the first time he ran away from home at twelve when he secretly joined the army. He seemed to be a habitual offender.
Wu Jue couldn’t help but glance at the young man’s overly refined features... this rebellious streak had truly been present from a young age.
Regarding the encounter from more than a decade ago, Cui Jing seemed not to want to continue the topic. He casually asked, "Today, I think I saw Master Meng from the Dengtai Tower Tower here."
When he arrived at the temple, he had just seen Master Meng leave.
Wu Jue smiled and nodded. "Yes, Master Meng is also a believer in Buddhism. He came to offer incense today, and I accompanied him to discuss some Buddhist teachings."
"Does Master Meng have any ties to the Dayun Temple?" Cui Jing asked.
Dayun Temple was a royal temple, and only members of the royal family and certain officials and their families could enter. By rights, Master Meng shouldn’t have been allowed inside.
"There is a connection, and it’s quite deep..." Wu Jue said. "The depth lies in the fact that when the Dayun Temple and the Celestial Maiden Tower were built, Master Meng contributed half of the money."
Cui Jing was silent.
Such a large sum of money surely indicated a deep connection.
Wu Jue smiled and continued, "Master Meng is a very devout businessman. Every time he comes, he donates a considerable amount of money for incense offerings."
Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, Meng Lie was quite savvy, understanding how to align himself with the Empress’s faction to gain protection—after all, with the vast business empire of Dengtai Tower Tower, there were bound to be people who envied him.
This was the connection people saw between Master Meng and the Dayun Temple.
As for the true nature of the relationship, only Wu Jue and a few others knew.
It wasn’t something he should explain to the young man beside him, so he changed the subject with a smile. "Speaking of Dengtai Tower, I wonder if General Cui has heard about the poetry gathering held by my daughter during the Dragon Boat Festival?"
It was unfortunate that he couldn’t leave the Dayun Temple; the monk’s robes were like shackles. Otherwise, he would have gone to drink a couple of jars of wine by now.
"I was there that day," Cui Jing replied.
"Oh?" Wu Jue was somewhat surprised and then smiled. "So, what do you think of that painting? How was it?"
"Very good," Cui Jing answered.
Wu Jue chuckled. "To receive such praise from General Cui, it seems my daughter is indeed exceptional now."
"Now?" Cui Jing caught on to the word.
"Yes, she truly has grown more beautiful," Wu Jue sighed. "Her appearance has become even more graceful."
Cui Jing subconsciously asked, "Can one’s appearance really change?"
"Of course," Wu Jue smiled. "The same person, when in adversity or prosperity, their appearance will change. As the saying goes, 'the face reflects the heart,' meaning a person’s appearance will change with their circumstances and mindset."
Cui Jing then asked, "Master, are you saying that Lady Chang’s appearance has changed?"
Wu Jue nodded. "Appearance is also tied to fate. When the appearance changes, so does fate... Everything in the world is interconnected. In a single moment of thought, with a different choice, even the smallest change could lead to something significant."
Cui Jing fell into deep thought.
Images flashed before his eyes.
The girl drawing her sword but not yet striking, standing firm in the face of the giant elephant’s assault, unafraid; in the playing field, striving for justice for others; standing in a brightly lit tower, wielding ink to draw a tiger—
And her, sitting quietly on the stone steps outside the tower, watching the two little beggars eat buns with such calmness... and how she told him without hesitation that she wanted the world to know who Chang Suining was.
Moments like these all came vividly to mind.
Different choices lead to changes, big and small, gradually altering one’s appearance...
Had she, too, made many different choices compared to before?
For example, once no one knew who Chang Suining was, but now she wished to make her name known—
Why had she suddenly gained these new choices?
He had experienced such turning points in his own life—a time when he encountered someone, learned about their deeds, and it led to a moment of insight that resonated deeply with him, rooting itself in his heart and growing into a towering pine tree that shaped his path. From that moment, his resolve had never wavered, and it never would.
He wondered what her turning point was. Was it meeting someone important, or experiencing something pivotal?
He was curious, but he had no intention of probing further.
Since she said they were friends, perhaps one day she would share it with him when she was ready.
"Will General Cui be returning to the city tonight?" Wu Jue's voice interrupted Cui Jing’s thoughts.
"The curfew has been reinstated," Cui Jing replied. "I’d like to stay the night in the temple."
Wu Jue smiled outwardly but inwardly groaned.
Every time the young man stayed at the temple, he would insist on discussing Buddhist teachings with him, sometimes even all night long!
So what if the curfew was in place? The General of Xuanzhe should use his privileges appropriately!
Before leaving the tower courtyard, Cui Jing glanced at the wild grass growing by the bamboo grove.
---
That night, Ah Che led Xiao Duan and Xiao Wu through the beggars' ranks in the city until late at night. They returned to the Chang residence through the back gate the next morning, just as dawn was breaking.
Ah Che changed into clean clothes and hurried to the training field to meet Chang Suining.
"Did it work?" Chang Suining asked him alone.
Ah Che nodded. "Yes, Miss, it worked!"
(End of this chapter)
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