Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 101

Xia Heng forgot the pain the moment the danger had passed and eagerly turned to Xiao Yaqing.

“Seriously! Little Red was running so fast just now. That counts as galloping on horseback, doesn’t it?

“I could feel my lovely hair streaming in the wind. I must have looked incredibly dashing!”

“Galloping on horseback? Incredibly dashing? Lovely hair?” Xiao Yaqing stared at her confident expression, hardly able to believe her ears. “Xia Second, a person ought to have a conscience when she speaks.”

She knew every single phrase Xia Heng had used.

But how in the world had Xia Heng managed to connect any of them to herself?

“All right, go back and comb your hair. Otherwise, people will wonder why you look as though you’ve been struck by lightning when it hasn’t even rained.”

Xia Heng reached up to feel her hair and abruptly decided that the words *lovely hair* might indeed be a poor fit for her current state.

“Didn’t you say I’d definitely be fine riding by myself on the second lap?” Xia Heng asked as she took Little Red’s reins and started toward the stable.

“That *is* how I learned to ride, and I was only five at the time,” Xiao Yaqing replied with a smile.

“Then there must have been something wrong with the five-year-old you. It has nothing to do with me. How about we come back after I’ve fixed my hair?” Xia Heng persisted.

“Forget it. My martial arts aren’t as good as Mingxu’s. If you take off again, I’m afraid I won’t be able to catch you. You’d better learn from a groom, or Mo Qing and Mo Bai. At least they’ll be able to save you in time if anything happens.” Xiao Yaqing sounded thoroughly defeated. Her own riding lessons had never been this harrowing.

Then she remembered the final look Cang Chuli had given her and said indignantly, “What did he mean just now, anyway? Was he saying I’m no good, or that my Little Red is no good?”

Xia Heng considered this for a moment.

“He definitely wasn’t saying Little Red was no good.”

“…Do you have a death wish?”

After returning Little Red to the stable, the two chatted all the way back to the small courtyard.

Zhao Siyan spotted them from the window of her room and hurriedly pushed it open.

“Ah Heng, come quickly.”

Xia Heng and Xiao Yaqing went straight into the Zhao sisters’ room.

“Here, your clothes are all fixed up. Hurry and try them on!”

Zhao Siyan had taken apart both Xia Heng’s and Chuqing’s padded jackets and redone them completely. Since the hem of Chuqing’s jacket had torn, she had embroidered little flowers over the mended spot. It looked as good as new now.

“Wow! You’re amazing, Siyan!”

Xia Heng picked up both jackets and turned them this way and that, unable to put them down.

Xiao Yaqing shot her a contemptuous look from the side.

*You acted exactly the same way toward me before that riding lesson…*

“You washed these too? Why didn’t you call me? I thought the cotton probably couldn’t be washed. I might not know how to take the jackets apart, but I can certainly wash and scrub things!”

“The outer cloth was easy enough to wash,” Zhao Siyan said. “It was hardly any trouble. I also had the cotton that got wet carded again.”

As she spoke, she looked up and found Xia Heng staring at her as though she was about to burst into tears.

“Take your and Chuqing’s clothes and go cry outside. And if either of you dares get these jackets dirty again, you’d better watch your hides.”

Xia Heng instantly sucked her tears back and stood there twisting awkwardly.

Xiao Yaqing could not bear to watch any longer.

“If you have something to say, say it. Stop writhing around like a twisted mahua.”

Embarrassed, Xia Heng placed her own padded jacket beside Zhao Siyan.

“I want a little flower too.”

Zhao Siyan rolled her eyes at her.

“Do I look like a little flower to you?”

Despite her words, she still picked up the jacket.

“I’ll send it over once I’ve finished embroidering it.”

“All right! Thank you, Siyan! Don’t worry. I’ll cherish this padded jacket as dearly as my own life!” Xia Heng vowed.

When Cang Chuli returned from walking his horse, an invitation was waiting for him.

“General, this was delivered by the Wang Family,” Mo Bai said carefully.

Cang Chuli looked at the gilt invitation in Mo Bai’s hand and recalled what Lin Feng had said after court.

“Leave it there. Find out who else they sent invitations to.”

“Yes.”

—

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the Wang Family’s steward and servants came out early to receive their guests.

Although they were hosting an evening banquet, some guests would arrive ahead of time to chat and catch up with their hosts.

“Oh! General Cang is here! Hurry and inform the master and madam.” The steward turned his head to instruct a servant. The master and madam were sure to be delighted this time.

Beaming, he stepped forward to welcome Cang Chuli.

“General Cang, please come inside!”

Several carriages belonging to other households arrived right behind Xia Heng and the others, but the steward was concerned only with welcoming Cang Chuli. Even the other servant kept staring in their direction.

Xia Heng looked away.

It was enough for her to take proper care of her own master.

She had to rein in her occupational habits. Other people’s employees were none of her business now.

They followed the steward into the Wang Family’s old residence.

So this was where Cang Chuli’s mother had lived before her marriage.

Xia Heng surveyed the grounds without making it obvious.

*Not bad, not bad.* The house might be a little old, but a great deal of care had gone into both the landscaping and the furnishings.

The steward personally escorted Cang Chuli to the main courtyard.

“Mingxu!”

The shrill feminine cry startled both Xia Heng and Chuqing.

“Mingxu! Your aunt has finally gotten to see you!”

At the extravagantly dressed woman’s theatrical entrance, Xia Heng glanced toward Chuqing. Chuqing merely shook her head slightly, so Xia Heng withdrew her gaze.

The two lowered their eyes and stood demurely, looking neither left nor right.

Just before Madam Wang could touch him, Cang Chuli angled his body aside and moved his arm out of her reach.

“Madam Wang.”

Madam Wang’s maiden name was Xu Wanxin. When Cang Chuli was young, he had once called her Aunt. Now her nephew had avoided her so thoroughly that she had not even managed to brush his sleeve. Embarrassed, she could only stand in place and flick her handkerchief.

“Mingxu, you’re a grown man now, yet you’re still shy! Have you grown distant even from your own aunt?”

Before Cang Chuli could answer, another thin figure entered through the doorway.

“Mingxu!”

The man wore a round-collared scholar-official’s robe. His eyes were slightly red, and as he stood three paces away from Cang Chuli, his entire bearing seemed ill at ease.

“Master Wang.”

Cang Chuli greeted him with a cupped-fist salute.

When Wang Wenshan saw that his nephew would not call him Uncle and addressed him coldly as Master Wang instead, his smile gradually stiffened and a trace of dejection appeared on his face.

“Goodness, why are you calling your own uncle ‘Master’?” Madam Wang interjected. “Mingxu has always loved to joke!

“It has been a long time since you last returned to the old residence, hasn’t it? Why don’t you rest in Jingniang’s room first?”

Cang Chuli turned and walked away.

Xia Heng and Chuqing followed close behind, while Mo Qing and Mo Bai, who had been standing guard at the entrance, hurried after them as well.

Only after the group had gone far into the distance did Madam Wang’s face darken.

“Hmph! What an ill-bred wretch! He doesn’t even know how to address his elders!”

“Enough,” Wang Wenshan said gravely from beside her. “There are many guests here today. Don’t let others see us make a spectacle of ourselves.”

“He starts putting on airs with his uncle and aunt the moment he arrives. Look how spoiled he is! If not for the favor Madam Chen asked of me, I’d tell him to get out and go straight home!” Xu Wanxin snapped.

“You were too hasty as well. We only just returned to the capital and still haven’t gotten the measure of anything. Why did you blindly agree to Madam Chen’s request?” Wang Wenshan sighed and sat down in a chair.

“That is the wife of the Minister of War! How could I refuse her? Besides, marriage has always been decided by one’s parents and arranged by a matchmaker. His parents are both gone, so what is wrong with us looking at a match for him?”

She swept her handkerchief through the air.

“At worst, he can kill his aunt the same way he kills Tujue soldiers! I’m unlikely ever to have children anyway. What difference does it make whether I live or die?”