c14 (1/2)

At this point in the novel, I feel like I know all the main characters so well. With the exception of Liu Fu Ling, of course. I’ve said this before – Yun Zhong Ge is really the story of Meng Jue, despite its t.i.tle being a play on Yun Ge’s name, while the love story of Yun Ge and Liu Fu Ling is just a part of the narrative. While I loved the straight forward aspect of Da Mo Yao‘s focus on just the three leads, I feel like YZG drags me into its world despite my reluctance to get embroiled in what I can see will surely be a mess. These are so many crossed love lines it’s not even funny. And a quick history lesson of the real characters in this novel will give away much of what happens in the story. But it’s Tong Hua’s spin on the behind-the-scenes action that is so fascinating. While Yun Ge is falling in love with Meng Jue, his interest in her is still somewhat shaky. And in the background, Liu Fu Ling is still waiting for his Yun Ge to come find him.

Chapter 14: The Singer Departs

“Are you tired?”

“No.”

“How much longer can you carry me on your back?”

“Very long.”

“How long is very long?”

“Very long is very long.”

“If it was a very difficult, very difficult path, will you still carry me? If you are very tired, very tired, will you still carry me?”

“………..”

Yun Ge desperately wanted to hear his response, but around her there was only the sound of wind, carrying the answer away. The more she tried to listen, the louder the wind became, making Yun Ge even more anxious. “Wake up, night owl.” Xu Ping Jun shook Yun Ge awake.

Yun Ge stared at Xu Ping Jun, still unsure of where she was. Xu Ping Jun asked “What did you do last night? When Hong Yi went to look for you guys, the room was empty. It was almost dawn when someone piggybacked a little piggy home. That little piggy was pa.s.sed out asleep. She could have been sold and she wouldn’t even know.”

Yun Ge’s face was burning hot “We didn’t do anything. He just carried me and walked around.”

“You guys couldn’t have walked all night?” Xu Ping Jun shook her head disbelievingly. Yun Ge’s eyes widened and she nodded vigorously, indicating she was telling the truth. “You guys really walked all night long? You guys looked at the wilderness? Ay, you were already a pig head, now I realize that Meng Jue is a pig head as well!” Xu Ping Jun shook her head sadly.

Yun Ge remembered her dream and wondered if it really was a dream? Did she ask such silly questions last night? Did all the girls ask the man she’s fallen in love with those types of silly questions? Xu Ping Jun patted Yun Ge’s face “Stop dazing and go wash up, it’s almost time for lunch.”

Yun Ge saw a wheelchair and a crutch in the room “The Princess is very considerate.” Xu Ping Jun’s one hand was injured and she used her other hand to bring a pitcher of water over “Don’t thank the wrong person. I heard Ding Wai Ren ask for it to be prepared, so it should be Meng Jue’s doing. The Princess is busy trying to make the Emperor happy, she doesn’t have time for you.”

Yun Ge wiped her face with a towel and smiled happily under it. Xu Ping Jun said “You slept all morning and missed the excitement. The Emperor was apparently enjoying the night view on the mountains and when he arrived at Gan Quan Palace, his arms and legs were b.l.o.o.d.y, and he had changed in the carriage. The Emperor intended to quietly arrive but his bruised state caused the Princess to be alarmed that there was an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt and everyone was called to check. It was such a ruckus.”

“Was it really an a.s.sa.s.sin?” Yun Ge ask. “They said it wasn’t. Even the Emperor’s personal eunuch said it wasn’t and the Emperor was just cut by some branches when he was walking. When some of the other eunuchs were asked, they said the Emperor suddenly jumped off the carriage and ran into the mountains, and when he returned some time later he was already injured. The royal physicians confirmed it was branch scratches. The Emperor is even weirder than you and Meng Jue, who would go wander the mountainside in the middle of the night?”

Yun Ge smiled “He must have a good reason.” Xu Ping Jun smiled at Yun Ge “Maybe the Emperor has his own weird beauty to keep company. Meng dage seems like such a normal person, yet he didn’t sleep at night and instead……..” Yun Ge splashed water on Xu Ping Jun and she didn’t finish what she was saying. Xu Ping Jun was so mad she tried to strangle Yun Ge.

As the two were having fun teasing each other, the Princess sent word for Yun Ge to be prepared to cook at any moment. After eating, Yun Ge and Xu Ping Jun headed to the kitchen. She gave a long list of ingredients and Xu Ping Jun saw Yun Ge preparing to cook right away and asked if she was planning to make test dishes. Yun Ge replied “No, I was reading about weird ingredients to make odd dishes and this kitchen has everything so I might as well use it.”

Xu Ping Jun pointed at her “You! You are taking advantage of the Princess.” Yun Ge laughed “She got it from the people, then the people should use it.” The entire afternoon Yun Ge cooked in the kitchen. To outsiders it looked like she was working hard for the Princess.

Xu Ping Jun initially wanted to try to the weird dishes but she lost her appet.i.te when the end result was dark and green and smelled terrible. When a spider dropped into a pot of soup, Yun Ge just kept cooking despite Xu Ping Jun screaming for her to fish it out. Xu Ping Jun vowed never to eat anything Yun Ge cooked unless she was there for the cooking process.

After she was done, she asked Xu Ping Jun to try a bite. Xu Ping Jun took giant steps back and shook her head. Yun Ge could only try it herself, and immediately she spit it out, and then threw up her entire lunch. It was too bitter. Xu Ping Jun felt like she made the best decision in her entire life. Yun Ge made the most bitter dish known to man. Yun Ge took another bite despite Xu Ping Jun trying to stop her. Who would believe that the chef almost died eating her own food?

At dinner time, Meng Jue got a secret message from Hong Yi that Yun Ge wanted to see him. He was worried something happened and quickly ran to her. Yun Ge smiled and presented him with a bowl of blackened items he couldn’t even make out. “I cooked it today, try it.” Meng Jue didn’t even know whether to laugh or cry. To excuse himself from a banquet with Huo Guang and the Infante Dukes was not easy, and the banquet had unparalleled delicacies, and yet Yun Ge was nonchalantly presenting him with this odd little bowl of food.

When he saw Yun Ge’s look of antic.i.p.ation, his annoyance went away and he took the bowl and ate it. In moments the bowl was empty. When he raised his head, he saw Yun Ge with tears in her eyes. “Yun Ge?’ Yun Ge smiled and turned her head “Nothing! How did it taste?”

Perhaps he imagined it, so Meng Jue smiled “Good, anything you cook I like to eat. I have to go back now. You can’t move easily so get some rest. I know you like to cook but don’t cook all the time.” After Meng Jue left, Yun Ge sat in her wheelchair in a daze.

Later that night, Yun Ge asked “Xu jiejie, what if one day you can’t take food? What would that be like?” Xu Ping Jun replied “That would be terrible! You said food was like life, the different flavors like life’s many experiences. It would be like a blind man not knowing colors and sights.” After Xu Ping Jun fell asleep, Yun Ge was still thinking about how to cook even more extreme flavored foods.

The night sky in the mountain is different than in Chang An. Because it was so pitch black, the darkness was different shades of blue and black all swirling around the clouds. Liu Fu Ling held a jug of wine as he leaned on the bannister and drank to the moon. He heard footsteps and didn’t even turn around before asking “Any news?:

“Your servant I am useless. No news yet. We’ve asked all the residences of that mountain and no one was the singer. We are now searching within Gan Quan Palace. Your majesty need not worry, if the singer is here, then we’ll find her.”

Yu An was stunned to see the jug of wine in Liu Fu Ling’s hand. Because of his precarious situation, and the Emperor’s every move was always scrutinized, the Emperor always tightly controlled himself and rarely touched alcohol. Liu Fu Ling handed the jug of wine to Yu An “Take it away!”

“Today Huo Guang is taking Your majesty’s place to fete the three Infante Dukes. If Your majesty wants to get drunk, your servant I can stand outside and guard you.” Liu Fu Ling looked at Yu An and smiled slightly, but it was gone in a flash. Yu An dared not say any more and took the jug “Your majesty has not eaten dinner, what would like you?” Liu Fu Ling lightly replied “I’m not hungry so no need for dinner.”

“I heard the Princess say that the Zhu Gong Zhi who cooked for Your majesty is here right now. Perhaps ask him to cook for you. Doesn’t Your majesty like fish, so this is a good chance to try his cuisine.” Liu Fu Ling furrowed his brows “My royal sister is also here?” “Yes.”

Because he was close to his royal sister, those seeking something treated her like someone they could use to pump for information, or track the Emperor’s whereabouts. They use her to find out his likes and dislikes, and test his reaction. This morning’s farce was those people using his royal sister to find out why his behavior was odd. His royal sister was situated between deadly beasts but she didn’t know, putting her trust in the wrong people.

Liu Fu Ling walked forward and purposely raised his voice “Yu An, today the Princess rushed into my room without permission, asked my servants about what happened, and even brought her own people into Gan Quan Palace. As the head of my inner service, what you do think about that?”

Yu An kneeled on the ground “Your majesty, Your majesty…….” He didn’t know what to say. Since the Emperor was a child he has been very close to his royal older sister. In the end he said “Your servant I made a mistake and dare not do it again.” Liu Fu Ling coldly huffed “Since you know your mistake, you know how to correct it. Why haven’t you left yet?” Yu An back away sweating bullets, wondering why his Emperor was getting harder and harder to figure out. What did the Princess do to upset the Emperor?

Because the Princess said the Infante of Guang Ling doesn’t even acknowledge the Emperor? Because the Princess was secretly close to Huo Guang and Shang Guan Jie? Because of the Princess and Ding Wai Ren’s preposterous relations.h.i.+p?

Ay! No matter the reason, she’s upset him now. In the end, the Emperor doesn’t even have a single person close to him, he’s all alone.

Yu An called all the servants over “From now on, the Princess is like everyone else, cannot move around the Palace without first asking permission. Go send word to the Princess that Zhu Gong Zhi is to leave the Palace immediately. If the Princess asks for me, say I am serving the Emperor and cannot leave his side.”

Liu Shun the eunuch asked “What if the Princess wants to see the Emperor and doesn’t take no for an answer?” Yu An coldly replied “If you guys let the Emperor see someone he doesn’t want to see, then what is the use of having you guys around?”

Xu Ping Jun was dreaming that the Emperor was so thrilled with Yun Ge’s food that he greatly rewarded them and asked to meet them. She was hugging a bag of gold when she was rudely awakened. They were asked by the Princess’s servants to pack and leave immediately. Xu Ping Jun asked why but no one would explain.

It happened so fast that Yun Ge wanted to tell Meng Jue, but she couldn’t find a way. She suddenly remembered her herbs and spices in her bag and grabbed a sprig of dang gui (returning home spice) and placed it next to her bedside. The she went back and placed another spice – wu yao (no medicine). “Yun Ge, the Princess must’ve found out about you taking advantage of her. Oh my gold, my gold.” Xu Ping Jun sighed sadly.

Yun Ge thought Xu Ping Jun’s reasoning was wrong but she didn’t know what did happen either. Xu Ping Jun continued to complain “We really lost out this time, got bitten and made no money.”

Yun Ge murmured “You ought to stop complaining and think about how to explain to big brother when you see him soon! I thought we’d go back after we got better, but going home now, we can’t even try to conceal it.” Xu Ping Jun immediately stopped talking and furrowed her brows as she went deep in thought.

Chang An.

Shang Guan Jie was already upset the Emperor didn’t let him accompany the Emperor to Gan Quan Palace. Now he heard the Emperor was injured on the way there and had Huo Guang fete the three Infante Dukes in his place. He was so enraged he slammed the wine set on the ground.

Shang Guan An had long been chafing to get rid of Huo Guang, and he encouraged his father to make amends with the Infante Duke of Yen to get rid of Huo Guang first. Huo Guang is the Shang Guan family’ biggest threat, and if he aligned with the Infante of Yen to get rid of them, it would be devastating.

After getting rid of Huo Guang and realigning political power, afterwards it would be easy to get rid of the Infante of Yen who was far away from Chang An in his territory. As for the Infante of Guang Ling and the Infante of Chang Yi, they had rich territories, but one was a coa.r.s.e lug and the other a lunatic, neither merits any consideration.

Shang Guan Jie sat there silently. Since meeting Meng Jue at Huo Guang’s estate, Shang Guan Jie has been trying to pull him over to his side. Meng Jue let slip that he knew the Infante of Yen, but it appears Meng Jue is getting closer to Huo Guang.

His daughter has a good impression of Meng Jue and Shang Guan Jie is happy to make this match. Though Meng Jue was nice to Shang Guan Lan, he was also quite close to Huo Cheng Jun.

While the Infante if Yen is indicating his willingness to work with Shang Guan Jie, who knows if he is also doing the same thing with Huo Guang. Everyone was fooled by Huo Guang’s gentlemanly exterior. He had worked with Huo Guang for thirty years in court, he knows exactly how cold and deadly Huo Guang’s tactics can be.

The one who makes the first move dictates the match, the one who waits for the first move waits for the result.

Shang Guan Jie made up his mind, and with it his anger dissipated. He calmly said ti Shang Guan An “We can’t just sit here any longer.”

Gan Quan Palace.

After he sent off the three Infante Dukes and ought to be basking in this honor given to him by the Emperor, Huo Guang instead asked everyone to leave and sat there sipping tea with just Meng Jue. They finished an entire pot of tea and Huo Guang looks at Meng Jue, nodding his head in satisfaction.

In the late night, they finished a pot of tea but neither said a word. Huo Guang was not in any rush to talk, and so neither was Meng Jue. Putting other things aside, Meng Jue’s ability to stay silent and calm was extraordinary. His daughter had good taste.

It doesn’t matter that Meng Jue was a commoner. Huo Guang’s birth was no better than Meng Jue. What was more important is that Huo Guang can make anyone an official with just a word. What he needed was someone with ability, who could go far and a.s.sist him in the future.

“Meng Jue, what do you think about tonight?” Meng Jue smiled “I’m just talking nonsense, so forgive me in advance. If word of tonight spread back to Chang An, my lord’s situation will surely be awkward. But Lord Huo must already have thought of what to do about it.”

Huo Guang stared at Meng Jue, his expression serious “You do know who you are talking about, right?” Meng Jue politely replied “I am just a.n.a.lyzing the situation.”