Chapter 04 – Don’t Understand

Wen Hui inquired from the teahouse waiter and learned that after passing the intersection, she was only sixty li away from Changsha Prefecture.

She ran away from home with determination and traveled a long way to get here. But when there were only sixty li left, she suddenly became timid.

She paced back and forth by the water and sat there lost in thought. She could not muster up the courage to continue the last sixty li of the journey.

While she was at a loss, she suddenly heard someone call “Miss Wen”. Looking over, it was the young man in embroidered clothes called Xiao An and his companions.

“Young master An?”

“Aiya, I am not a young master.” Xiao An dismounted and came over with a smile, “Miss can just call me Xiao An.”

Wen Hui felt that Xiao An did not seem like a bad person and had received help from him before. She hesitated for a moment and nodded, “Brother An.”

Xiao An smiled brightly, “Miss, are you heading towards our Changsha Prefecture?”

Wen Hui nodded, “Yes. So young master is from Changsha Prefecture?”

Xiao An said angrily, “You call me young master again.”

Although Xiao An was dressed in embroidered clothes, he was playful and charming. His eyes were full of smiles, making people feel comfortable around him. Wen Hui unconsciously became familiar with him and smiled back, “My mistake.”

Xiao An struck while the iron was hot and asked, “Is Miss Wen going to Changsha Manor to find someone or to do something?”

Wen Hui hesitated. Xiao An observed her expression and immediately patted his chest, “It’s not that I am bragging. I grew up in Changsha Perfecture and there is nothing in Changsha Perfecture that I do not know. Whether Miss is looking for someone or dealing with something, feel free to ask me if you have any questions.”

Wen Hui was moved. Although he was a stranger, Xiao An was a young man, and young people were always easier to relax around than adults, making her feel at ease. Wen Hui asked, “Then … do you know how to find someone at Prince Xiang’s Manor?”

Xiao An exclaimed in surprise. Before he could speak, a deep male voice sounded, “Who are you looking for in Prince Xiang’s Manor?”

Wen Hui turned her head and saw Xiao An’s companions leading their horses over to drink water. The one who spoke was a young man with a slender and strong body. She had glanced at him hurriedly at the teahouse before. But now standing closer, she could see this young man was born with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, a high nose, and thin lips. He was a very handsome person. However, his expression was cold and there seemed to be a hint of aloofness between his eyebrows. He was not as amiable as Xiao An.

Although Wen Hui did not have any experience in socializing outside, she possessed the sensitivity of a woman. Despite the young man’s good looks, there was a distant aura about him, as if he were keeping people at arm’s length. She frowned, “This young master is …?”

Xiao An hurriedly said, “This is my big brother. Brother Yongping. Miss Wen had met him before.”

Huo Jue stared at Wen Hui and pressed, “Who are you looking for in the Prince Xiang Manor?”

His tone was aggressive, which was very different from usual. Xiao An was surprised. He saw that Wen Hui was also surprised, so he hurriedly smiled and tried to smooth things over, “To tell you the truth, we are from Prince Xiang Manor.”

Wen Hui was taken aback, “You guys?”

Xiao An’s companions let their horses go to drink water and approached as well. One of them said, “Yes, we are out on a mission. Who are you looking for in the palace, Miss? Tell us. Maybe we know them?”

Another person said, “Even if we don’t know them, we can help to ask around.”

And another asked, “Are they your relatives?”

In the teahouse, Wen Hui spoke up for these physically disabled men and everyone had a good impression of this girl. She came alone to look for someone. They guessed that she was here to seek refuge with some relatives and enthusiastically offered to help her.

The six or seven men all looked at her. Although she could feel no ill intentions from them, and even sincerely wanted to help, Wen Hui was still a little at a loss. She stammered, “Yes … I guess so.”

The eldest among them chuckled, “What do you mean by ‘guess so’?”

“Well, they considered as relatives.” That person looked the most mature and had a gentle smile. Wen Hui secretly clenched her fists and mustered up her courage to say to that person, “This Big Brother, the person I’m looking for is surnamed Huo, named Jue, and given the name Lian Yi. He’s from Lintao and is 18 years old this year. He should have been sent to the Changsha Palace two years ago. He … he was sent here as a convict, and … and he should be serving as an attendant in the manor.”

She stammered at the last two sentences, difficult for her to articulate it.

Even so, everyone understood what was going on. The person she was looking for had undergone the same kind of punishment as them. No wonder she spoke up for them in the teahouse. However, she was a young girl and the person she was looking for was only 18 years old. Could it be that those arrogant scholars had guessed correctly …

Among the few of them, only Kang Shun looked at Huo Jue in surprise. His lips moved slightly. He wanted to say something, but then he closed it and remained silent.

The older man rubbed his chin and said, “Surname Huo? Let me think … Eh, Lintao? Yong Ping, you …”

Huo Jue cut him off and said to Wen Hui, “There’s no such person. You’ve got the wrong place!”

Everyone was stunned. They all remembered that Yongping seemed to be from Lintao.

“No?” Wen Hui was also stunned and asked anxiously, “How can it be? I asked clearly. He is indeed sent to Changsha Prefecture.”

“Maybe he’s dead. Who knows?” Yong Ping said indifferently, “Every year, people die in the manor. They are just servants. They come, die, and are buried. Anything is possible.”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Wen Hui was so angry that her face turned red. “You don’t even know him. If you knew him, you would have told me when and how he died. Yet you only said that he may be dead. That’s clearly nonsense!”

The girl was really angry. Her big and bright eyes burning with fury, “You’re not a good person! I won’t talk to you anymore! I’ll go to Changsha Prefecture and find out myself!” With that, she turned around and went to fetch her horse.

Everyone looked at each other. Xiao An didn’t expect the atmosphere to take a turn for the worse with just a few words. At this moment, something flashed through his mind, and he vaguely thought of something.

Seeing Wen Hui flushed with anger and turned around to fetch her horse, he anxiously opened his mouth to speak, but Kang Shun quickly reached out and pressed his shoulder, pinched him a few times through his clothes.

Xiao An shut his mouth.

When Wen Hui took the reins and pulled the horse back from the riverbank, the handsome but wicked young man blocked her path.

She frowned, “Get out of the way!”

However, the young man changed his tone and said, “I remembered wrong. There is indeed such a person.”

Wen Hui paused.

“It’s good that he is there. It’s enough as long as I know he’s there,” she said. Her tightly pursed lips showed that she was still angry, but she was restraining herself. “Thank you for telling me. Please make way. I want to go to Changsha Prefecture to find him.”

Huo Jue said, “You won’t find him.”

He said, “He won’t see you.”

“Nonsense!” Wen Hui was furious. “You’re talking nonsense again! How do you know that he won’t see me?! You didn’t even remember him just now! I don’t believe you. You’re a liar! Get out of the way!”

She pulled the horse around Huo Jue and was about to leave when she suddenly heard a cold voice behind her, “Huo Lianyi of Lintao, one of the sons from Baihu, was engaged to the daughter from Wen family of Qingzhou’s Baihu from young age. It was agreed that upon her adulthood, they would marry.”

Wen Hui’s steps halted and she turned abruptly. She looked at the young man’s slender back in shock.

The young man’s gaze was lowered to the ground as he continued, “But two years ago, the Huo family was implicated in Prince Lu’s case and was fallen. The son of the Huo family was castrated and sent to the Xiang Manor as a servant. At that time, the engagement had already been annulled. Why are you still looking for him?”

He slowly turned around and raised his pitch-black eyes to stare at the girl in front of him.

This was the grown-up Yue Ya’er, he thought.

His father didn’t lie to him. Yue Ya’er had grown up and had become a beauty.

She should be thirteen this year. She would turn fourteen next year and would be of marriageable age the year after. If there hadn’t been this major change in their lives, he would have escorted her from Qingzhou to Lintao two years later, riding a tall horse and dressed in ceremonial robes, to marry her.

Then, she would take care of the household for him and bear his children.

The position of Baihu in the family would be inherited by his eldest brother in the future. He was the fourth son and had no share. However, he had always been confident that he would be able to earn the title of Baihu in the future and give his wife a good life.

But now, all of this had become like a fleeting shadow.

Huo Jue looked at the young girl in front of him who had come from afar to find him, his former fiancée. He felt as if his chest was blocked by a stone. It was heavy and stuffy, making it difficult to breathe.

Her hand unconsciously loosened, and the reins fell to the ground. Wen Hui looked at the young man in a daze.

She actually didn’t remember what Brother Lian Yi looked like. They had only met once. It was that year when Uncle Huo brought Brother Lian Yi to officially settle the marriage.

They spent a few days together. After the ceremony, Brother Lian Yi went back with his father. Later on, they only communicated through letters and never saw each other again.

Wen Hui only remembered that her fiancé, Huo Jue, was a very good-looking brother. As for what he looked like, she really couldn’t remember.

Moreover, Huo Jue was just a young boy at that time. In the process of growing up, boys had a stage where they grew taller crazily but remained as thin as a stick. From a young man who looked like a stick to a handsome and sturdy young man, the change was no less dramatic than the transformation a girl undergoes when she becomes a woman.

However, she originally thought there was still a distance of sixty li, but she never expected … he was actually right in front of her.

This came too suddenly and she was caught off guard. The handsome young man coldly asked her why she had come to find him. Wen Hui was instantly at a loss.

“I … I” She was so flustered that her accent slipped out, almost couldn’t speak the national language. She stammered, “I didn’t know about the annulment. I …”

Huo Jue pursed his lips and looked at her without blinking.

The girl nervously grabbed her belt and pulled it a few times before she calmed down. She raised her head and mustered up her courage to say, “My family has been hiding it from me. I don’t know anything … This year, they’re arranging another marriage for me, and that’s when I found out…”

Huo Jue nodded, “Since your marriage with him has been annulled, it’s natural to arrange another marriage.”

“But …” The girl looked bewildered, “But, he wrote to me in the past and asked me to study, and I did. The book says that a good woman doesn’t serve two husbands.”

“It’s all a lie,” Huo Jue said., “Those books were written by men, meant to coax women into obedient, so naturally they would teach them that.”

In the past, Brother Lian Yi wrote to Yue Ya’er. Other than sending her delicious food and fun things, he also asked her to study.

Don’t be blind, he said, without study, she wouldn’t understand anything and would be easily deceived.

Yue Ya’er’s mother used to read the letter to her and laughed. When Yue Ya’er asked her mother for books to read, her mother tossed her a copy of “The Daughter’s Classic” and taught her to read it. “The Daughter’s Classic” wasn’t interesting, later on when Yue Ya’er had learned to read, she liked to secretly read the books her brother hid, which told stories about knights and adventurers.

Then one day, her mother suddenly told her that Lianyi hadn’t written to her for so long, was not because as they had previously told her, she was too old and needed to avoid suspicion, but because the Huo family had fallen. Her engagement was also canceled, so now they were going to arrange another marriage for her.

Before, it was her mother who taught her to be a good woman who doesn’t serve two husbands. And now, it was also her mother who hit her because she refused the marriage. Wen Hui couldn’t understand why there was such a difference between words and actions.

Wen Hui couldn’t understand why there was such a difference between what her mother said and did.