HNYWEF -Chapter 159 Acting on Impulse

After walking for a while, Zhangsun Wuji looked up.

Then he froze.

He was standing in front of the residence of the Jiuyuan County Marquis Residence.

A plaque hung above the gate, the words “Residence of the Marquis of Jiuyuan County” gleaming in gold.

He stood there, staring at the door, unable to understand how he had ended up here.

After leaving the palace, he should have returned to the Duke of Qi Residence.

He had walked that road countless times. He could have done it with his eyes closed.

But he had not gone east.

Instead, he had gone west, passed several streets, and somehow arrived here.

He stood there, looking at the gate, looking at the plaque, his mind completely blank.

The door suddenly opened.

Zhou Yi stood inside, carrying a bundle in his hand, as though he were about to head out.

He looked up, saw Zhangsun Wuji, and stopped in surprise.

The two stared at each other across the threshold.

Zhou Yi remained inside the doorway, still holding the bundle. He neither set it down nor stepped outside.

He simply looked at the man before him.

The Duke of Qi, Zhangsun Wuji—the Empress’s elder brother, one of the most powerful men in court.

He had seen him before: in the palace, at banquets, during those days when he followed the Ministry of Rites learning court etiquette.

But they had never spoken.

He only knew one thing: the man standing before him did not get along with his father.

That had happened back in that dilapidated house outside the city, but he still remembered it.

His father had never mentioned this man, yet Zhou Yi knew.

And now this man stood at his family’s gate, outside the door, silently watching him.

Zhou Yi had no idea what he wanted. He stayed where he was, unmoving.

Zhangsun Wuji also did not move.

He looked at the boy before him—his youthful face, those calm, quiet eyes.

There was no real relationship between them.

He knew the boy was the imperial son-in-law, knew his name was Zhou Yi, knew he was Zhou Xiong’s son.

That was all.

And yet now he stood here, while the boy stood inside the doorway. The two of them were separated only by a threshold, but neither spoke.

Suddenly, Zhangsun Wuji did not know what to say.

Why had he come here?

Even he did not know.

Why stand here? Why look at this gate? Why look at this child?

He could not explain it.

Zhou Yi said nothing either. He simply stood there and waited.

Waited for the man to speak first, to explain why he had come. After that, Zhou Yi would continue with his business—go out if he needed to go out, close the door if he needed to close the door.

So the two of them remained there.

For a very long time.

In the end, Zhangsun Wuji spoke first.

“I just came by to take a look.”

His voice was lower than usual, as though afraid of startling someone.

He stood there, looking at Zhou Yi, then at the bundle in his hand.

He knew Zhou Xiong was not home at this hour—he should be at the Ministry of Works.

And judging by the bundle, the boy was about to leave.

He had come at the wrong time.

Or perhaps he had never chosen a time at all.

He had simply walked… and somehow walked his way here.

“You’re heading out?”

Zhou Yi nodded.

He did not say where he was going, and Zhangsun Wuji did not ask.

Morning light spilled down from the eaves, forming a bright strip between the two of them.

Someone passed through the alley, footsteps approaching from afar and fading away again. From beginning to end, no one spared them a glance.

Zhangsun Wuji stepped back half a pace.

His boot landed softly against the stone pavement with a quiet sound.

He stopped there, looking at Zhou Yi. His lips moved slightly, as though he still wanted to say something.

But no words came out.

He stood there for another brief moment.

Then he turned and walked away.

After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped again.

The morning light shone from behind him, casting his shadow long across the ground.

He did not turn around. He simply stood there with his back to Zhou Yi, completely still.

After a long while—

“When you have time, come visit your uncle’s house.”

After saying that, he continued walking away.

His pace was neither hurried nor slow, each footstep landing steadily against the stone road.

Morning light fell across him, his shadow swaying faintly on the ground.

Zhou Yi remained standing at the doorway, still carrying the bundle.

He watched that figure walk farther and farther away, shrinking little by little until it disappeared into the brightness at the end of the alley.

The footsteps also faded—dull, one after another—until they could no longer be heard.

Uncle?

The word circled in his mind.

Zhangsun Wuji was Li Lizhi’s uncle.

And Li Lizhi was his fiancée.

So in theory, Zhangsun Wuji was also his uncle.

He understood the logic.

But this man had never referred to himself that way before.

Zhou Yi knew who he was. Knew about all those old grievances.

Yet today—

This man had stood at his family’s gate and said, “I just came by to take a look,” and “Come visit your uncle’s house.”

Zhou Yi stood there thinking about it for a while.

He could not make sense of it.

That tone of voice, that departing figure, that word “uncle”—they all carried something he could not quite describe.

It was not politeness.

Nor was it an attempt to grow closer.

It was something else.

But he did not dwell on it any longer. He still had things to do.

He pulled the door shut behind him and walked toward the other end of the alley.

Morning light filled the lane, bleaching the stone pavement pale white.

Two figures.

One walking east.

One walking west.

Each disappearing farther into the distance.