Chapter 17: The Fog of Doubt
Fu Tingyun huddled in the corner of the bed like an injured kitten.
Ninth Master Zhao couldn't help but feel pity. "You've just recovered from your illness," he said gently. "You should rest. I'll have someone bring you lunch—"
Before he could finish, Fu Tingyun sprang up. "Ninth Master, please take me back to Huayin. I don't want to go to Weinan."
Ninth Master Zhao frowned. "Since your mother has arranged for you to go to Weinan, she must have made thorough preparations. Why reject her thoughtful arrangements? It would be better to go there first. If anything happens, your uncle and aunt can mediate for you. Isn't that better than being stuck in this limbo?"
She knew all too well!
Her uncle had passed the imperial examination at a young age to become a scholar, but after repeated failures in subsequent exams, he gradually gave up on an official career and turned to business. Over the years, he had amassed considerable wealth, becoming one of the richest men in Weinan. Even her eldest uncle spoke of him with respect. Her uncle had four sons but no daughters, so he doted on her. Whenever he acquired something rare, he would always set aside a portion for her, even if his own sons went without. Entrusting her to his care would naturally be ideal. But this situation was different—even her parents had chosen to compromise. She had no confidence that her uncle would stand up for her...
"I won't go to Weinan!" Fu Tingyun stared at him stubbornly with wide eyes. "I can't go to Weinan like this!"
When she was a child, she and her cousins had played hide-and-seek in their grandmother's room and accidentally broke her favorite vase. None of them would admit to it, and their grandmother made them kneel in the main hall as punishment. "You are all young ladies of the Fu family, born into an honorable and distinguished household. Why do you act like lowborn commoners from the back alleys, shrinking from responsibility without dignity? It's just a vase—what's the harm in admitting it? You pay for what you break and accept the punishment. Can't you even handle that? If you dare to do something, you must dare to own up to it. If you can't take responsibility, then don't do it in the first place. Today, I'm punishing you not because you broke the vase, but because none of you had the courage to admit it, to stand tall and face the consequences with integrity..."
At this memory, Fu Tingyun's eyes reddened.
"If I go to Weinan like this, what does that make me?" She fought back tears. "A shameless woman who committed suicide out of guilt after her affair with Zuo Junjie was exposed..." The word "harlot" stuck in her throat, refusing to come out. She bit her lip and continued, "So I'm to be disposed of like a rat in the gutter, in secret? I'm not afraid of death. At this point, I'd rather die. But even if I die, I want to do it with dignity and integrity. I won't let Zuo Junjie's slander cling to me forever..."
Ninth Master Zhao looked at her in surprise, his expression gradually turning solemn. "You want to go back and confront Zuo Junjie?"
Fu Tingyun hesitated. "I know that if I return now, I'll only make the Fu family a laughingstock. No matter how much resentment I hold inside, my father, mother, brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and the cousins I grew up with still have to live in the Fu household... At the very least, I want the elders to know..." She lowered her head, her expression lost.
Ninth Master Zhao sighed inwardly."But there's no use going back to Huayin now!" he said. "A few days ago, the Fu family spread word that Zuo Junjie, drunk and lacking virtue, attempted to assault your uncle's concubine. Unable to bear the humiliation, the concubine hanged herself. The Fu family reported it to the authorities. The magistrate sent constables to Guangtao Lane to summon him, only to find the place deserted—Zuo Junjie had vanished. The matter has reached the Provincial Surveillance Commission and been reported to both the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Rites. They're moving to strip Zuo Junjie of his scholarly rank, and official confirmation should reach Xi'an Prefecture by month's end."
"How could this happen?" Fu Tingyun stared at Ninth Master Zhao in shock.
Sacrificing her wasn't enough—now they'd sacrificed one of her uncle's concubines too!
What on earth was going on?
Her thoughts were in turmoil.
First Zuo Junjie had acted like a madman, claiming they'd had an affair. Then without even questioning her, the family elders had confined her at Azure Cloud Temple. Next came Bibo's disappearance, her mother's detention, the forced medicine, her uncle's concubine hanging herself, Zuo Junjie vanishing... How had the warm, happy Fu family turned into hell overnight?
She couldn't make sense of it!
Things didn't have to come to this.
Zuo Junjie was a despicable villain who dared act this way precisely because he'd calculated the Fu family wouldn't dare make it public. Rather than hoping he'd have a crisis of conscience and back down, it would have been better to lay all cards on the table—if anyone could just produce some object and claim an affair with a Fu daughter, wouldn't all Fu daughters be left unable to live? The family's reputation would become a joke! Though there'd certainly be gossip, it would be better than being held hostage by Zuo Junjie like this... with people dying one after another...
What was her uncle so afraid of?
When things had reached this irreparable point, why keep tolerating Zuo Junjie again and again? Willing even to sacrifice her, and his own concubine.
What didn't she know about all this?
It was like a torn painting—no matter how she tried to piece it together, a crucial fragment was missing, making the true picture impossible to discern.
Her barely recovered body couldn't handle Fu Tingyun's intense emotions.
Cold sweat poured down her face, yet she stubbornly refused to lie down and rest.
Ninth Master Zhao shook his head slightly.
If even he couldn't figure it out, how could she—a delicate woman raised in seclusion?
"Some things, if you can't understand them, best not dwell on them," he couldn't help advising. "Rest first, then think—the answer may come to you."
Fu Tingyun pressed her lips together.
"Ninth Master!" A child's timid voice called out. "I... I made porridge for the lady..."
Both turned toward the sound.
Fu Tingyun saw a boy of eight or nine—emaciated with an oversized head, wearing a patched short coat. He held a coarse ceramic bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, staring at her with wide-eyed curiosity. His slender wrists made one worry whether he had the strength to hold that large bowl.
"Bring it here," Ninth Master Zhao instructed the child, then turned back to Fu Tingyun. "Whatever you plan to do, you must recover your health first—eat and rest. We leave at dusk."
Leave?
For Weinan?
What had once been a certainty now filled her with hesitation.To go to Weinan and accept her mother's arrangements would mean abandoning her identity as a daughter of the Fu family, effectively admitting to Zuo Junjie's baseless accusations. But if she didn't go to Weinan, Zuo Junjie—who had fled after driving her uncle's concubine to death—would suddenly find himself confronted by a woman who was supposed to have died of illness and been buried, now emerging to dispute right and wrong with him. The matter the Fu family had desperately tried to conceal would be exposed to the public, and even those who hadn't known about it would learn the truth... Wouldn't that be like slapping her own face?
A faint rustling sound came from the room.
Ninth Master Zhao had left.
The little boy carefully handed the porridge to Fu Tingyun. "Miss, I fanned it with a fan—it's not hot at all."
Upon closer inspection, she realized he was a very pretty little boy.
With an oval face, delicate arched brows, and large eyes.
Fu Tingyun gave him a friendly smile, took the porridge, and asked gently, "What's your name?"
"My name is A Sen!" Seeing her smile, he grinned back, his big eyes narrowing slightly, making him look utterly adorable. "Ninth Master gave me this name. He said he found me in front of three trees, so he named me A Sen." He traced the characters on the ground with his foot. "The 'Sen' in A Sen is written with three 'wood' characters, like this!"
Fu Tingyun was surprised.
From his earlier instructions, she had assumed A Sen was a burly, strong man. She hadn't expected him to be a child Ninth Master had picked up.
A Sen's liveliness dispelled the earlier tense atmosphere, and Fu Tingyun's mood lightened considerably.
"Did Ninth Master tell you that?" She held the bowl, smiling at him, in no hurry to eat.
"Mm!" A Sen nodded. "Ninth Master also let me take his surname, Zhao. So I'm Zhao Sen." As he said this, he puffed out his chest, looking very proud.
Fu Tingyun laughed. "Then what's your Ninth Master's full name?"
"It's..." He caught himself mid-sentence, clapping a hand over his mouth. Seeing Fu Tingyun smiling at him, radiant as a flower, he wavered, torn between loyalty and her charm. After hemming and hawing for a while, he pulled an egg from his pocket and tossed it to her. "Ninth Master told me to boil this for you. I still have to make your medicine!" With that, he scampered off like a startled rabbit.
What an amusing child!
Fu Tingyun laughed brightly before lowering her head to sip the porridge.
The rice was soft and glutinous, leaving a sweet, fragrant aftertaste.
It was premium "June Snow" rice.
Where had he gotten it?
Perhaps because she hadn't eaten in days, though the porridge was delicious, she felt full after just a few bites. She considered taking the bowl to the kitchen but thought better of it, remembering Ninth Master Zhao had companions. She picked up the egg, rolling it in her hands for a while before cracking the shell.
The egg white was smooth and tender, the yolk rich and creamy.
It was truly delicious!
Fu Tingyun gazed at the sunlight streaming through the roof and suddenly wished time could stand still in this moment.
But the thought passed, and she remembered their planned departure at dusk.
Why leave at dusk? Traveling in the dark was hardly ideal. If they were mistaken for Migrant Bandits and arrested, wouldn't that be unjust?
She leaned back against the headboard.
Should she return to Huayin or go to Weinan?
A commotion rose outside, with voices bidding farewell in varying tones.
Fu Tingyun looked up and saw A Sen hiding beside the statue of Sakyamuni.
She beckoned to him with a smile. "Didn't you say you were going to make my medicine? Why are you back?"
A Sen stood there awkwardly, caught between staying and leaving.Fu Tingyun smiled, "Don't worry, I won't tell Ninth Master!"
"I'm not afraid!" A Sen pouted in retort. "Ninth Master told me to keep an eye on you secretly. He said it's to prevent you from doing anything foolish out of despair!"
Fu Tingyun was stunned.
A Sen walked over.
Seeing the half-bowl of porridge by her bedside, he actually swallowed hard. "You... why aren't you eating the porridge? Is it not cooked well?"
Remembering how she first saw Ninth Master Zhao scavenging for food in the kitchen, Fu Tingyun straightened up and quietly asked A Sen, "What did you have for lunch?"
A Sen avoided her gaze and patted his stomach. "I ate until I was full! If you don't believe me, feel my belly."
※
O(∩_∩)O~
(End of Chapter)
OpenNovel