Chapter 128: Yongding Pharmacy
As the year-end approached, travelers returned home, and wanderers came back to their villages. The roads were deserted.
At the crowing of the rooster, it was especially quiet.
However, under the elm and poplar trees by the official road, now bare and full of dry branches, a large group of people had gathered, all armed with swords, dressed in sturdy clothes, and with serious expressions.
Despite the number of people, there was not a sound.
Everyone’s eyes were more or less focused on the person at the front.
Thick fog had rolled over the mountains, spreading out and covering most of Tongzhou City on the plain ahead. Even though it was only a few miles away, the city’s outline was blurred.
Xie Wei, as usual, wore white.
Tall and slender, he sat on a chestnut horse. Though he carried no visible weapons, he had shed the scholarly air of the court, exuding a rare sharpness, like a sheathed sword.
The cold fog on his face carried a sense of foreboding.
Dao Qin and Jian Shu stood behind him.
No one had drawn their swords, but all faced Tongzhou City, intently watching.
The eastern sky was lightening.
Just as the first light of dawn broke through the fog, a faint white light shot up from the city’s edge, like a white line, disappearing in an instant. Dao Qin and Jian Shu shuddered.
A well-planned operation was at its peak.
Yet, there was no joy in his heart.
Xie Wei saw the white light, his deep eyes dark and expressionless, an unreachable coldness. He raised his hand and said, “Let’s go.”
What did the capital and the palace mean to her?
As she stepped down from the carriage, Jiang Xuening gazed at the inn across the street, pondering for a long time.
The light fog in the city, carried by the winter wind, touched her face, dampening her plain clothes. She looked down, examining herself.
No heavy hairpins.
No restrictive silk.
No need to consider societal norms. In Tongzhou, just a few dozen miles from the capital, no one recognized her, knew her face, or knew she was the unfortunate second daughter of the Jiang family, the companion of Princess Leyang in the palace.
All her burdens were gone in an instant.
Without experience, one can never understand what is truly important.
In her previous life, Wanniang told her that women were born to deceive men, to seek wealth and glory. The most successful woman should sit beside the emperor, holding the phoenix seal, making all other women live by her whims.
She had enough of the snobbish remarks in the countryside.
Returning to the Jiang family in the capital, learning her true identity, she felt a deep sense of injustice, believing the heavens owed her. She stubbornly climbed to the position of the palace’s mistress.
She had wealth and glory.
But with these came envy, and life was less peaceful than in the countryside. Leaving the palace was a dream. To see a lantern festival, she had to beg Shen Jie, who couldn’t take her to the market. He prepared a surprise lantern festival in the palace, but the ministers criticized her extravagance and frivolity.
Everything was wrong.
If she had her countryside temper, she would have beaten those old scholars with a stick.
But she was the empress.
Regretting and wanting to leave the phoenix seal, the ministers wouldn’t allow it, and the concubines eyed her position. Leaving meant death. Shen wouldn’t agree, and Yan Lin imprisoned her.
The palace was a trap, surrounded by high walls.
She couldn’t sleep well, nights were restless.
“Not worth it, really not worth it…”
Jiang Xuening stomped her foot, finally making up her mind.
“I have money and Fangyin’s support. Leaving the capital, I can live well anywhere. Let them fight to the death! I can’t help Master Zhang as a weak woman. Better to leave now than be dragged back to the capital and suffer!”
With this thought, she took one last look at the inn, then turned away. As Tongzhou woke in the morning light, she walked briskly towards the city gate.
She had enough silver to go to Shu.
She had noticed a carriage rental shop when entering the city last night. Her money could buy a maid, a driver, and even a strong guard for a safe journey to Shu.
In winter, dawn came late. Though there were fewer travelers, shops were open, hoping to sell more goods for the New Year.
As she walked, more people appeared on the streets.
The carriage shop was ahead.
A flag fluttered in the cold wind, and people were coming and going through the gate.
Near the carriage shop, a tea stall was set up, boiling water for travelers.
“This year is really cold.”
“This isn’t cold. The north is cold. I just came back from the capital. They say a few horses froze to death on the way when the Tatar envoy came to pay tribute…”
“Tribute? They came to seek marriage!”
“It’s the same thing, haha, the same thing…”
…
Jiang Xuening was just passing by the tea stall on her way to the carriage shop when she heard the word “marriage alliance.” She stopped abruptly and turned to look at the tea stall.
The people sitting in the tea stall were dressed differently, some rich, some poor, and all unfamiliar.
But she felt a strange sense of familiarity.
It was as if she was back on the day You Fangyin was married off to Shu. After leaving the capital and passing the post station, similar tea stalls with similar merchants, even the conversations seemed similar.
The sky, illuminated by the sun, suddenly covered with gray clouds. The rows of houses and the old silent city walls faded away, collapsing into a plain overgrown with weeds.
You Fangyin’s carriage, adorned with red silk, had already gone far.
The imperial guards approached through the rolling dust of the horse hooves.
She remembered her uncontrollable impulse to ask Shen Zhiyi, “Your Highness, don’t you want to stay in the palace?”
The woman, dignified yet heavy-hearted, was about her age but seemed burdened with accumulated grievances. She withdrew her distant gaze, looked at Jiang Xuening, and smiled as if she had seen through everything, calm and indifferent.
Who wants to?
She said, who wants to?
Who wants to stay in the palace?
“Make way, make way!”
A shop assistant hurriedly pushed a cart loaded with goods down the street. Seeing someone standing in the middle of the road, not moving, he shouted loudly.
Jiang Xuening’s thoughts scattered with a crash.
No weeds, no gray clouds, no plains, no Shen Zhiyi, only the bustling city filled with the noise of people and curious glances from those around her.
She came to her senses and quickly stepped aside.
The shop assistant didn’t notice her appearance, hurriedly pushing the cart away, muttering, “Sleepwalking in the street early in the morning, what’s that about!”
Watching him leave, Jiang Xuening remembered she was going to rent a carriage.
But as she resumed walking, her steps felt heavier.
A sense of emptiness and confusion welled up inside her. Clutching the small bundle tighter, she found herself unable to move, stopping in front of a closed shop, staring blankly at the carriage shop ahead.
She must have stood there for a while.
There was a noise from the shop beside her, followed by the sound of the door opening.
A young apprentice in blue opened the door, holding a sign with “Yongding” written on it, ready to hang it outside. Seeing a girl standing there, he instinctively asked, “Are you here to see a doctor?”
Jiang Xuening, lost in thought, turned to see the sign and realized she was in the way. She apologized and walked away.
But after a few steps, she felt something was wrong.
The sign the apprentice was holding flashed through her mind, leaving only the words “Yongding,” making her stop and turn back, asking, “Is this Yongding Pharmacy?”
The apprentice, having just hung the sign, was puzzled by her return, “Yes. Are you here to see a doctor?”
Jiang Xuening looked around the pharmacy, seeing the bustling crowd but no sign of strict security.
Her heart sank, and she asked, “Did a boy, about ten years old, come by?”
The apprentice thought she was looking for someone, “No, haven’t seen anyone. Did you lose a relative?”
Jiang Xuening’s brow twitched, “He didn’t come?!” Xiao Bao had mentioned Yongding Pharmacy…
She thought he would come to deliver a message!
Something was wrong.
This was really wrong!
Unable to stay calm, Jiang Xuening stepped inside, “Where’s your doctor? I need to see him!”
Dr. Zhang of Yongding Pharmacy was well-known in Tongzhou for his medical skills. Just waking up, he looked vigorous and energetic. Seeing someone looking for him, he thought it was an emergency and tried to calm her, “I’m here. Don’t worry, tell me who’s sick and the symptoms, so I can prepare…”
Jiang Xuening didn’t listen to his nonsense, interrupting, “Master Zhang’s identity is at risk. He’s gone to the Tianjiao Sect’s branch in Tongzhou. Where are the court’s reinforcements?”
Dr. Zhang’s eyes widened, confused, “What…”
Jiang Xuening was stunned, “You don’t know?”
Dr. Zhang had never seen such a strange person, thinking she might be delusional, replied kindly, “Are you sure you’re in the right place?”
Jiang Xuening felt her blood run cold.
She asked, “Doctor, how many Yongding Pharmacies are there in Tongzhou?”
Dr. Zhang replied, “Just this one.”
Jiang Xuening’s mind flashed with the faces of Zhang Zhe, Xiao Bao, Feng Mingyu, and Huang Qian. She staggered, barely steadying herself, her face pale.
Yongding Pharmacy was fake.
The court’s reinforcements were fake.
How could this be…
What about Zhang Zhe?
Dr. Zhang looked at her, “Miss, you don’t look well.”
Jiang Xuening, almost in a trance, asked, “Doctor, how do I get to the yamen?”
Dr. Zhang, not hearing clearly, suggested, “There are no patients here. Why don’t you sit down and rest…”
Jiang Xuening, anxious and angry, couldn’t listen to his rambling, her face turning stern, “I asked you, how do I get to the yamen!”
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