Three Steps: From Assassin to Empress - Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Before leaving Ning Province, the owl finally flew back. Its once round body was a little thinner, a testament to how long it had traveled.
Ying Xiu’s heart ached for it. He poured it a basin of food, and the tiny owl sat in the basin, almost swallowed by the overflowing pile of rice.
He took off the message and hesitated, wondering if the contents were about his family’s origin or about his father.
As he slowly unfolded the message and saw the handwriting, the youth’s eyes widened slightly. His colleague’s letter said that they had found someone who looked like the person he was looking for in the Guangling region.
As for whether it was truly him, Ying Xiu would have to go and confirm it himself.
After four long years, he finally had news of his father. The fingertips holding the message trembled slightly. He read it over and over again, then finally held it over a lamp and burned it.
He had to go back to Guangling to see if his father was doing well.
If he was, Ying Xiu could rest easy. If he wasn’t, he would bring him back to live with him.
There was no time to waste. He had to discuss it with Xie Zhou now. If they could travel together, that would be for the best. If not, he would go alone, go quickly, and come back to Xie Zhou as soon as possible.
“Xie Zhou?”
Ying Xiu rushed out of the quiet room’s folding door, and the moment he did, he ran into a snow-white figure.
The attendant beside the retainer was holding a lantern. The firefly-like light softly enveloped the area, illuminating the retainer’s calm face.
Xie Zhou looked down at Ying Xiu, whose face was flushed and whose hair was messy. He seemed to have encountered something very urgent. “I’m rushing back to Guangling. I’m leaving now.”
Guangling?
Xie Zhou didn’t respond immediately. “Did something happen?” he asked.
Ying Xiu hesitated for a moment, then chose to be direct. “I have to go back to Guangling to find my father.”
The retainer still didn’t move or speak. The attendant holding the lantern held his breath, glancing at Ying Xiu, then looking up at the retainer beside him.
He felt like the emperor didn’t want the young master to leave.
Ying Xiu had come out in a hurry, not even putting on his shoes. He stood barefoot on the cold corridor. The retainer’s gaze fell slightly, as if he wanted to say something.
Before he could speak, the youth turned and ran back barefoot, leaving only a single sentence behind: “Xie Zhou, I’ll go pack my things first!”
Only Xie Zhou remained, standing in place, his shadow long in the dim lamplight.
He stood still for a moment, then softly said a name. A dark figure instantly dropped down from the roof ridge, silently waiting for the emperor’s orders.
“You still haven’t found him?” The emperor’s tone was very light, devoid of any emotion.
The imperial guard quickly knelt on the ground, touching his head to the floor. “Your subordinate has found traces of the person in the Guangling area, but he is skilled at concealment. He escaped both times we crossed paths. He is difficult to capture alive.”
A dead silence followed.
A long wind seemed to blow from the corridor, making the candlelight inside the glass lamp flicker. The emperor’s bright white robe also seemed to be covered in a faint shadow.
“No need to capture him alive.”
After a long time, the imperial guard heard the emperor’s gentle, yet intimidating, voice. The oppressive gaze lightly fell upon him, making his spine tremble.
The shadow stopped in front of him. The white robe cast a cold, snowy light on the ground. The imperial guard didn’t dare to look up. He lowered his head and heard the emperor say something in a light, airy voice.
The imperial guard kowtowed heavily. “Your subordinate understands.”
The attendant stood quietly with his head bowed. He still remembered that on the day of the Cold Feast, the young master had given sugar-coated hawthorns and lanterns to everyone in the residence.
It was so sweet. He still remembered it now.
Inside the quiet room, Ying Xiu was packing his things. He skillfully folded his clothes and put them in a satchel. When he turned around, he was stumped by the remaining items.
He had too many things: the sticks from the finished sugar-coated hawthorns, various small trinkets he had bought with Xie Zhou on their outings, the talismans Xie Zhou had left with him, and the letters from his friends…
When the retainer walked in, he saw the golden-robed youth kneeling on the carpet, surrounded by a pile of scattered things. He was picking and choosing which items to stuff into his satchel.
The fluffy owl sat on the youth’s shoulder. The boy and the bird were clearly ready to leave.
“I’ll send someone to take you to Guangling,” the retainer said, walking over to him and squatting down.
Ying Xiu was absorbed in packing and didn’t look up. He just nodded.
Xie Zhou sat down beside him, his white robe layered. He glanced at Ying Xiu, reached up to his temple, and gently furrowed his brow.
Ying Xiu didn’t notice at all. He lowered his head, tightened the satchel, put it on his shoulder, and got up to leave.
Xie Zhou: “…”
The attendant knocked on the folding door at the right moment and poked his head in. “Young Master, the boat tickets you asked me to buy are sold out. The earliest is tomorrow afternoon.”
Ying Xiu didn’t doubt him. He was stunned for a moment. “It’s fine, I can take the official road.”
The attendant’s expression didn’t change. “I asked at the post station. It’s too late today, and there are no carriages left.”
Ying Xiu hesitated, thinking about how long it would take to leave Ning Province with his martial arts. The retainer behind him said, “Why don’t you stay one more night?”
The youth turned around, his eyes dark and bright, as if he had been waiting for Xie Zhou to say those words. “I know you can’t bear to part with me. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
…He wouldn’t even stay one more night?
The retainer quietly looked down at Ying Xiu and was silent for a moment. “How soon is ‘soon’?”
Ying Xiu hadn’t expected Xie Zhou to be so fixated on such a small detail. He thought about it seriously. “A month?”
The expression on the other person’s face didn’t change, but Ying Xiu felt an indescribable strangeness. After much deliberation, he changed his answer. “Twenty days?”
“Aren’t you going back to Jiang Province? I’ll meet up with you in Jiang Province then.” The youth’s voice was clear. In just a few words, he had already made up his mind.
“Twenty days,” Xie Zhou repeated. He nodded gently and reminded him again, “Remember to come back.”
Ying Xiu smiled, his smile bright. He tiptoed and kissed Xie Zhou. “I’ll miss you.”
The retainer froze, his eyes gradually darkening. He cupped Ying Xiu’s chin with both hands and kissed him gently.
After two breaths, Ying Xiu was finally released, and he gasped for air. Red fingerprints were left on his fair skin.
He breathed with difficulty, his chest heaving, slowly steadying his breathing.
“I’m leaving,” Ying Xiu’s cheeks were still flushed, and his dark hair was a mess. The owl that had been squatting on his shoulder had already flown to the door, waiting for him on a treetop.
The retainer’s clothes were also in disarray, but his expression was still calm, without a ripple. He quietly looked at Ying Xiu and said to the attendant, “Prepare a boat and send the young master to Guangling.”
The attendant turned and relayed the order. Ying Xiu was still standing there, hesitating, when he suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Xie Zhou.
“Xie Zhou, Xie Zhou…” he called out, again and again. The youth he was holding tightly didn’t speak, but after a moment of stiffness, he slowly reached out and embraced Ying Xiu.
The body under his fingertips was slender and supple. Through the clothes, he could feel the warm, hot flesh and even the protruding bones.
It was fragile and youthful.
The retainer let out a silent sigh. It was only twenty days. He could endure it.
The youth in his arms voluntarily broke free from the embrace. Ying Xiu, with his satchel on his back, faced Xie Zhou and backed out step by step. He didn’t turn around until he was out of the folding door of the quiet room, and then he walked along the long corridor.
The door to the quiet room was still open.
The retainer’s snow-white robe disappeared, completely vanishing from Ying Xiu’s sight.
For some reason, Ying Xiu felt a sense of loss. It was only a twenty-day separation from Xie Zhou, so why did he feel so sad?
Fortunately, the Xie clan of Jiankang’s boat was very fast. It took only seven days to bring him to Xuzhou and Guangling by going north along the Grand Canal.
Following the clues given by his colleague, Ying Xiu went straight to the Guangling road as soon as he got off the boat.
He searched for two days and two nights but couldn’t find any trace of his father. Helpless, Ying Xiu had no choice but to follow his memory and search in the nearby mountains.
He sang a childhood song loudly in the Qiang language. It was a song his father had taught him.
In a lush cave not far away, a nine-foot-tall old man opened his eyes and hummed the same tune softly.
“…Dad?!”
A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth in golden robes appeared before him.
Ying Xiu was both surprised and happy. He looked at the old man in the cave, who slowly stood up and stooped to get out of the cave.
There was bl00d. His father had bl00d on him.
Ying Xiu was startled. He quickly went forward to help him. After not seeing him for many years, Yu An had aged a lot, but his spirit was still hale, and his eyes were bright.
“You’re back,” Yu An’s gaze briefly rested on him before quickly shifting to the surroundings, his eyes filled with vigilance.
Ying Xiu instantly understood what he meant. He supported him with one hand and drew the Heart-Seeking Sword from his waist with the other, comforting him in a low voice, “Dad, I’ll take you out.”
Yu An waved his hand and coughed violently, his back hunched, looking half-dead.
Ying Xiu was stunned, and tears welled up in his eyes.
The old man and the youth walked out slowly and mournfully. During this time, Yu An coughed non-stop, and Ying Xiu was so scared that tears almost streamed down his face several times.
After walking sorrowfully for fifteen minutes, there was a faint rustle in the woods. Yu An, who had been half-dead a moment ago, looked sharp. With a flick of his finger, a swoosh sounded—
A single tree leaf slowly floated down in mid-air, a pebble piercing through it, tearing it to pieces.
The imperial guard who was climbing the tree: “…”
What a great faker. Fortunately, I’m agile.
It wasn’t until they walked out of the mountain path that Yu An instantly straightened his back and pushed Ying Xiu’s hand away. He chattered on, “You, why did you come back? Can’t you make a living out there? I told you those aristocratic families aren’t good people, especially the ones from the Four Great Clans…”
…He talks so much. It’s definitely my dad.
Ying Xiu wiped away his tears. “Who were the people chasing you just now? Why did they stop as soon as I showed up?”
He had been thinking that as soon as those people showed up, he would—
A flash of a blade, ahem, just kindly ask them what they were doing.
“It’s a long story, but to make it short,” Yu An said mysteriously, “it’s either related to me, or it’s related to you, or it’s related to both of us.”
Ying Xiu: “…” Dad, it seems like you didn’t say anything at all.
The two of them returned to an inn and spent the entire night talking, but they didn’t figure anything out.
It was already the eleventh day now, and Ying Xiu was in a hurry to go back to see Xie Zhou. Yu An asked who Xie Zhou was. When he learned he was a retainer of the Xie clan of Jiankang, he looked disappointed and murmured, “What a fated tragedy…”
Ying Xiu asked about his biological parents. Yu An originally wanted to say that he picked him up from the ground, but he remembered that the boy was older now and not so easy to fool. He stroked his beard and said casually:
“Have you heard of Yu Ming and Lady She? They are your parents. They’re both dead. They don’t have a grave, so you don’t need to burn incense for them during the Tomb Sweeping Festival… All right, go to sleep.”
Ying Xiu remembered those two names. Yu Ming was a peasant general who led a northern expedition during the Jianyuan era. Lady She was a famous female general with a brilliant reputation.
These two people were now untraceable. No one in the Southern Dynasty remembered them anymore.
The reason he knew them was that he had coincidentally seen them in a tattered scroll at the Haique Pavilion. The scroll had been burned, and only scattered words and phrases remained.
“You already know? Go to sleep quickly, or you won’t grow any taller.”
Yu An habitually coaxed Ying Xiu. He was old and couldn’t remember the old days clearly, so he still treated Ying Xiu like the boy who was determined to grow taller four years ago.
Four years ago, he had left Ying Xiu in a fit of anger. He couldn’t stop worrying, so he had turned back and heard that Ying Xiu was living well in Qionghua Terrace. He had watched him from afar and felt relieved.
It was better for him to live in a wealthy household than to live like a wild child, hiding in the mountains with him. He had to admit that if it weren’t for the North-South trade that had brought more Qiang people to the south, he wouldn’t have dared to show his face on the streets.
Ying Xiu had never thought that his biological parents were a pair of generals, great generals who had once led a northern expedition and recovered the land within the passes.
It was more convoluted than a story from a novel. His heart was full of curiosity, and he couldn’t help but get to the bottom of it. “How did you know them? How did they die…”
He hesitated for a long time, then asked the most crucial question: “Did they really conspire with the Qiang tribe and plot a rebellion?”
Yu An, who had been dozing with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
…
What will Yu An’s answer reveal about Ying Xiu’s past?