HNYWEF -Chapter 4 A Familiar Figure Returns

The next day.

Dawn broke.

Cheng Yaojin didn’t know whether he had actually slept or not. He had simply leaned against the edge of the kang all night, listening to the rain shift from heavy to light, then light to heavy, then heavy to light again. By the second half of the night the rain had stopped, but instead he couldn’t fall asleep at all. His ears buzzed faintly, like insects chirping inside his head.

Li Shimin was still unconscious. After swallowing those pills, his complexion looked better than last night’s. At least he no longer looked like a corpse. Cheng Yaojin had checked his breathing several times; each time it had grown steadier. Only then did he finally relax.

Just as the sky began to brighten, movement came from beyond the curtain.

Cheng Yaojin pricked up his ears.

Footsteps.

Light footsteps, as though afraid of waking someone. Then came the sound of the door opening. Then footsteps fading into the distance.

Gone?

Cheng Yaojin stood and lifted the curtain to look outside.

The outer room was empty. The door was cracked open, morning light spilling through onto the floor.

He withdrew his head and sat back down by the kang.

Probably for the best. It would’ve been strange if he hadn’t left.

That young man had made himself perfectly clear last night—bring people here at noon today. He never said Cheng Yaojin could stay. Never asked for help. Didn’t say anything else.

He was simply driving him away.

Cheng Yaojin lowered his head and looked at the gourd on the table. He had drunk less than half of it last night; the rest was still inside.

He reached over, picked it up, uncorked it, and sniffed.

Still the same smell.

He corked it again and set it back down without drinking.

Noon.

The sun hung directly overhead. After the rain, the sky was an unreal shade of blue, as if someone had washed it clean with water.

Cheng Yaojin stood before that broken wooden door with three people beside him.

Fang Xuanling. Du Ruhui. Lady Changsun.

Fang Xuanling was thin, pale-faced, with narrow eyes that always seemed to be calculating something whenever he looked at people. Du Ruhui was sturdier, square-faced, thick-lipped, standing there like a wall. Lady Changsun stood at the far side, dressed like an ordinary married woman. Only a silver hairpin adorned her hair, and her face was completely bare of makeup.

She had ridden here herself.

When Cheng Yaojin had gone to the Prince of Qin’s residence to deliver the news, he’d expected to spend a great deal of effort persuading her. Yet after listening, Lady Changsun had mounted her horse without a word and followed immediately.

Along the way she hadn’t asked a single question. Her face was frighteningly pale, lips pressed into a tight line, her grip on the riding crop so tight it seemed ready to snap.

Now, standing before the door, she still said nothing. She only stared at it.

Suddenly Cheng Yaojin didn’t know what to say.

That young man had said to bring these three people. Now they were here… and then what?

Knock?

“Dad! Something terrible happened!”

Cheng Yaojin’s vision blurred as a half-grown child shot past him, nearly knocking him over.

The boy was running too fast. He stumbled, steadied himself, then shouted into the house—

Cheng Yaojin froze.

He saw the child’s face.

The eyebrows. The eyes. The bridge of the nose. The mouth.

A familiar figure seemed to return before him.

“Er Gou crashed into Zhuzi while pushing the cart! Zhuzi’s leg is bleeding nonstop!”

As soon as the child finished shouting, someone emerged from inside.

The man carried a wooden case in his hand, polished smooth with use. It was palm-wide and about a foot long. He passed by the child with astonishing speed, almost running.

“Dad, I’m coming too!”

“Go back.”

Just two words. His voice was still as hoarse as ever.

The man’s figure quickly disappeared toward the edge of the forest. The child stood in the doorway, staring in that direction, fists clenched, but he didn’t follow.

Then he turned around.

He saw Cheng Yaojin. Saw Fang Xuanling. Saw Du Ruhui. Saw Lady Changsun.

His gaze swept across all their faces before finally settling on Cheng Yaojin.

“You’re the one who came last night, right?”

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth but couldn’t speak.

The child looked at him and suddenly smiled.

Two tiger teeth showed when he smiled.

So alike.

Far too alike.

“My dad went to save someone,” the child said. “You can wait inside.”

After saying that, he pushed the door open wider and walked in first.

Cheng Yaojin stood there motionless.

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui exchanged glances.

Cheng Yaojin didn’t notice.

Only one thought spun endlessly through his mind—

When that child smiled, he looked exactly like her.

The door remained open.

Fang Xuanling glanced inside, then looked at Cheng Yaojin.

Cheng Yaojin was still stunned.

Fang Xuanling gave a light cough.

Cheng Yaojin snapped back to himself and saw Fang Xuanling looking at him, then Du Ruhui, then Lady Changsun.

Lady Changsun wasn’t looking at him.

Her gaze was fixed behind him, inside that doorway.

Suddenly Cheng Yaojin had no idea what to say.

At that moment, Du Ruhui spoke.

“General Cheng,” he said in a deep voice, “why don’t you follow and take a look?”

Cheng Yaojin blinked. “Huh?”

“That gentleman left in a hurry just now,” Du Ruhui said. “The child mentioned Zhuzi’s leg was bleeding badly. Since it’s an external injury, he’ll likely need assistance. You have prior acquaintance with that gentleman. You’re the most suitable person to go.”

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth.

He wanted to say that back when that fellow treated injuries, he hated having people around getting in the way.

But he didn’t say it.

He glanced at Du Ruhui, then at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling nodded.

Grinding his teeth, Cheng Yaojin turned and hurried off in the direction the child had pointed.

After only a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and looked back.

Lady Changsun had already entered the house.

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui remained outside the door, not going in.

The two exchanged another glance.

Then, one after the other, they started walking toward Cheng Yaojin’s direction.

Cheng Yaojin froze again. “You two—”

“Let’s go see,” Fang Xuanling said quietly. “Did that gentleman notice us just now?”

Cheng Yaojin thought about it.

Maybe he had. Maybe he hadn’t.

When the man had passed by them, his eyes had been fixed straight ahead on the road. He hadn’t glanced their way even once.

Cheng Yaojin scratched his head.

What kind of question was that? Asking whether he’d seen them?

Du Ruhui had already walked past him with long strides, like a moving mountain.

Without explaining, Fang Xuanling followed after him. After two steps, he turned back and looked at Cheng Yaojin.

“General Cheng?”

Cheng Yaojin snapped out of it and hurried after them.

The three men passed through the forest, following the narrow path beaten into the ground.

Before long, they heard crying ahead.

A child crying.

And a man’s voice shouting—

“Don’t touch him! Nobody touch him!”