Fish Meat – Chapter 134
by Little PandaThe First Year of Zhao Wu
The Path of Ten Thousand Directions (13)
Li Yanyi’s choice was the right one.
While Zhen Wenjun and Wei Tingxu were entangled with Mengda Khan and the State Preceptor, Ah Liao and her Qingyuan ladies were already secretly investigating the secret method of giving birth between women, dedicating themselves wholeheartedly.
“Only you, Ah Liao, can accomplish this task.”
Before the expedition, Li Yanyi hosted a banquet for Ah Liao by the Xu Chun Pool in Huaichen Mansion, with not only fine wine and delicious food but also singing and dancing stages. Li Yanyi knew that what Ah Liao loved most in life was nothing more than the word “beauty”. As they passed the cups and exchanged toasts, a group of charming songstresses approached gracefully, led by a lady whose elegance and beauty made even the peach and plum trees feel shy and overshadowed. Ah Liao was so captivated that her eyes were fixed on them, and she didn’t even have the mind to pick up the wine cup that was within reach.
Seeing her fondness, Li Yanyi gifted the songstress to her, and Ah Liao was overjoyed to receive such beauty. Just after giving her the beauty, Li Yanyi surprisingly turned and asked her about marriage.
“Ah Liao, you are also of double ten years’ age (this means she is in her twenties). It is said that the Zhangsun family is short of descendants, and now only you and your brother Zhangsun Wu remain as the direct lineage. Do you already have a marriage engagement?”
Back then, when Li Yanyi was running around providing disaster relief and pacifying the people to win their hearts, she had indeed met Ah Liao. Not only did she meet her, but she was also startled by a carriage full of Qingyuan ladies that Ah Liao had.
“How does Ah Liao manage a carriage of twenty or thirty ladies?” Li Yanyi had specially consulted Wei Tingxu on this matter.
“If the emperor can manage three thousand concubines in the harem, what difficulty is there for Ah Liao with just a small group of Qingyuan?” Wei Tingxu’s words enlightened Li Yanyi.
This remark even reached Ah Liao’s ears, and she was pleased with herself for quite a while because of it.
In those days, Li Yanyi was still a princess, constantly anxious and racking her brains to strategize for the empire, relying on various heroes, naturally mingling with them freely and calling them friends without any hesitation. Now, as the emperor, Li Yanyi has become more prestigious, and her words have begun to be more indirect and rhetorical.
When Ah Liao heard Li Yanyi ask if she was promised to someone, she chuckled inwardly, yet outwardly maintained her foolishly naive demeanor, sighing and complaining that she was too ugly for any young gentleman to fancy her. First, she claimed to be unattractive, and second, she was often out in public handling important matters for Her Majesty, leaving no time to consider marriage. Fortunately, her family understood her ambitions and never pressured her.
Ah Liao thought Li Yanyi was about to foist some suitor on her for an alliance, but unexpectedly, Li Yanyi shifted the conversation, gently revealing the secret technique of giving birth between women, which set Ah Liao’s heart ablaze, making her eager to dash off onto the path of Wanxiang.
“Ah Liao, do not be hasty. This technique is merely hearsay, and its authenticity is unknown. I have only heard that a mysterious tribe possessing this method is somewhere along the Path of Ten Thousand Directions. It might be in the Liuhuo Kingdom or perhaps not. Everything depends on your careful investigation. If this is not found, it will not only affect the Da Yu’s heir but also be a significant issue for the Zhangsun family’s lineage. This applies to you and even more so to your elder brother, Zhanying. It’s no wonder that Zhangsun Sikong’s temples have turned white with worry over the years; it turns out he’s troubled about his descendants. If neither you nor Zhanying can marry and bear children, how will Zhangsun Sikong answer to his ancestors? Will the Zhangsun family’s centuries-old lineage end with him?”
Li Yanyi exposed the deeply buried predicament of the Zhangsun family, laying it bare and bloody for Ah Liao to see.
Ah Liao understood her family’s situation far more clearly than Li Yanyi did.
The head of the Zhangsun family and Ah Liao’s mother were childhood sweethearts. After they married, nothing happened for three years, so the Zhangsun family secretly sent two concubines to Zhangsun Yao’s residence, thinking Ah Liao’s mother was unable to bear children. Zhangsun Yao never paid attention to these concubines. Finally, in the fifth year, Zhangsun Wu was born, bringing great joy to the entire household. Two years later, Ah Liao was born, and after that, her mother’s womb remained still (meaning she had no more children). Fearing a lack of heirs, her parents did adopt a few children from the clan, but in terms of true direct descendants, there were only her and Zhangsun Wu. It was just fate playing tricks that if she and her brother could have swapped interests, things might not have ended up as they did.
Even so, her parents never forced her and her brother to “return to the right path” (meaning to conform to traditional expectations). Her parents had met her Qingyuan, and even praised Ah Zheng for being intelligent, generous, and a great help to Ah Liao. With such gentle and understanding parents, Ah Liao couldn’t bear to see them sad.
Li Yanyi’s words further ignited her fighting spirit.
Regardless of whether the secret technique of giving birth between women was real, she was determined to search for it with all her might as long as there was the slightest hope.
She was resolved to dig three feet into the ground if necessary to uncover it.
Ah Liao traveled and investigated along the way. Although she didn’t speak the foreign languages, she could still communicate through body language, and if that failed, she could resort to drawing pictures. Ah Liao and her ladies used gestures, drawings, and guesses to finally uncover a few minor details.
The technique of giving birth between women originated from the Kingdom of Changge, which was deep in the Guren Grasslands they had passed on their way.
After leaving the desert and heading back, they traveled for two days across the Guren Grasslands without finding the Changge Kingdom Ah Liao mentioned.
“Strange, could we have lost our way again?” Ah Liao turned the map over and over in her hands, worried she might have gotten the direction wrong.
Accompanying her were two ladies, one named Ah Xu and the other Ah He, sitting on her left and right. Ah Xu said, “Don’t worry, my lord, since we are already here, let’s calmly continue our search. Anyway, the other sisters have places to stay, and we can return whenever we find it.”
Ah Xu spoke in a slightly deep voice, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and an oval face, exuding a calm aura like an immovable mountain.
“Yes, yes, Sister Ah Xu is right. Don’t worry, my lord; Ah Xu and I are here for everything! Why don’t you take a nap first?” Ah He was massaging Ah Liao’s shoulders and offering her tea, practically glued to her. Her speech was fast and her voice sharp, which was quite unbearable for Zhen Wenjun, who was in the same carriage. If she didn’t feel bad about leaving Wei Tingxu to suffer this alone, she would have already jumped off the carriage to ride her horse, Xiaoxue, to scout ahead.
Next time, she’ll definitely remember to bring her own carriage, so she and Wei Tingxu can stay quietly together.
Speaking of which, Zhen Wenjun had met Ah Xu before. Back when she was heavily pregnant and nearly lost her life in Qu County, Ah Liao didn’t mind her being dirty or possibly gravely ill, and even took off her own luxurious clothes to cover and save her. She didn’t know if the child in her womb survived, but at least Ah Xu became Ah Liao’s trusted confidant, wholeheartedly devoted to her.
Zhen Wenjun never really liked Ah Liao, but to have so many ladies willing to serve her and care for her, Ah Liao must possess some charm unknown to her.
“Zizhuo, they all call Ah Liao ‘my lord’…” Unable to find Changge and sitting face to face with Ah Liao and her two ladies, Zhen Wenjun couldn’t keep staring at them, so she leaned in to whisper to Wei Tingxu.
“It’s just a convenient form of address. Ah Liao often wears men’s clothing, initially for ease of travel and business, and now she’s used to it and doesn’t want to change back, I suppose.”
“So, are all the ladies in the Qingyuan carriage Ah Liao’s close confidantes?” Zhen Wenjun asked curiously. “How does Ah Liao manage to handle dozens of people?”
Wei Tingxu thought her question unnecessary: “As long as they are loved ones, treating them sincerely is enough. Why talk about handling them?”
Zhen Wenjun was about to say something else, but after thinking it over, she decided against it.
It was hard to imagine what it would be like to have twenty or thirty Wei Tingxus around her at the same time. Just one glare from her could freeze her to death.
They traveled until the sun set, turning the yellow grass of the prairie even more golden, and only then did the carriage come to a stop.
The driver was about to set up camp, and Ah Xu and Ah He got off the carriage to help. While hammering in the stakes, Ah Xu kept feeling like something was flickering at the edge of her vision in the direction of the sunset. She ran up to the top of a hill for a better look, fixed her gaze, and shouted:
“My lord! My lady! Come and see!”
Ah Liao was not used to seeing Ah Xu so excited; could it be that she spotted the Kingdom of Changge? Still holding a wine jug meant for dinner, she rushed up the hill, with Ah He close behind. When all three reached the top, instead of joy, they exchanged uncertain looks, unsure how to express what they saw.
Zhen Wenjun slowly led Wei Tingxu up the hill and saw a massive shadow where the smooth, rolling grasslands met the sky. The shadow was visible to the naked eye, indicating it wasn’t far away. Heading in that direction, they could reach it within an hour, certainly before nightfall. Was that the Kingdom of Changge? But why did it look like A hip of ruins?
They didn’t bother setting up tents. The driver hurried the horses, Ah Liao urged the driver, and the carriage raced across the prairie, nearly falling apart, speeding toward the city.
It was clear that a kingdom once existed here. The enormous castle was taller than those of the Liuhuo Kingdom and Runing. Standing before it, they couldn’t see its edges. Zhen Wenjun and the others looked like ants before an elephant.
It was a ruin, and the most direct evidence was its open city gates, unguarded, with half of a door leaning as if it could collapse at any moment. Inside, there wasn’t a single sound. Boldly, Zhen Wenjun passed through the gate to take a look around and shook her head upon returning.
Indeed, there was no one.
The city walls were eroded by wind and sand, and broken walls and ruined temples could be seen everywhere in the city, turning into mounds of rubble. This city was like the remains of a giant beast, long dead for many, many years. The sunset’s glow fell on the cold city, but no matter how warm and brilliant, it could not awaken it.
Unwilling to give up, Ah Liao rushed through the city, shouting, hoping for a response.
The only response was her own echo.
Ah Liao collapsed to the ground in despair, muttering, “How could this be… how could it happen!”
Ah Xu and Ah He came to help her up: “My lord, please stand up; the ground is too cold.”
“I’ve thought about it and hoped for it all the way here, and in the end… I only found this ruin?”
Seeing that she couldn’t persuade her, Ah Xu sat down on the ground with her: “Don’t worry, my lord; it’s not certain we’ve found the wrong place. Although the Kingdom of Changge is supposed to be deep in the grasslands, no one said there was only one place deep in the grasslands. Maybe this is another country.”
Ah He also comforted her: “Yes, yes, Sister Ah Xu is right. This definitely isn’t the Kingdom of Changge!”
As they were talking, Zhen Wenjun was drawn to a stone tablet. She approached it, noticing what seemed to be some writing. After wiping away the dust repeatedly, she realized she recognized the characters, which read “Changge Market.”
It’s over. She looked back at the pitiful Ah Liao, realizing that Ah Liao’s hopes had come to nothing.
She dared not reveal the truth, for otherwise, she couldn’t explain why she could recognize the script of this country. If she did, Wei Tingxu would surely become suspicious…
Zhen Wenjun froze.
That’s right, why do I recognize the script of the Kingdom of Changge? Zhen Wenjun pondered. The Kingdom of Changge wasn’t far from the Liuhuo Kingdom, so it was quite possible that they were once part of the same country, with one part ending up in the grasslands and the other in the desert. She struggled with the Liuhuo script, thinking it was simply because so much time had passed that she had forgotten much of what her mother had taught her. She needed to recall and puzzle over it to half-guess and half-understand the words on the Ten Thousand Directions Compass. But upon seeing the words “Changge Market,” she finally realized that her memory was indeed reliable. Her mother had taught her the script of the Kingdom of Changge, and the Liuhuo script was merely similar to it. She didn’t know which one was a variation of the other.
Suppressing her enormous doubts, Zhen Wenjun slowed her pace as she searched the ruins for other inscriptions to confirm her suspicions.
Horse arena, wine street, temple of the heaven worship… Zhen Wenjun recognized them all, every single one.
She felt as if she had returned to her homeland, where she could recognize every piece of writing.
This gray street once filled with the aroma of wine, and on that abandoned high platform, people once gazed at the sky, praying for favorable weather. She had never been here, yet the preserved script allowed her to imagine all of this dead city’s past. The unheard, immense echoes struck her heart repeatedly, stirring her emotions uncontrollably.
She asked herself why her mother knew the script of the Kingdom of Changge and why she wanted her to learn it.
Zhen Wenjun remembered her mother’s and her own “Hu people” appearance. Could it be that her mother was a descendant of the Changge people?
“What have you discovered?”
Wei Tingxu’s voice suddenly sounded from behind her, startling Zhen Wenjun, who was deeply focused.
“Did I scare you?”
“I thought it was a ghost,” Zhen Wenjun said with relief, patting her chest and smiling.
Wei Tingxu didn’t reply immediately, but looked at her thoughtfully and asked, “Haven’t you noticed something strange?”
“Hmm? What is it?”
At this moment, Ah Liao, Ah Xu, and Ah He also arrived. Wei Tingxu pointed to the ground and said, “Though this seems like an abandoned city, there’s something unusual about the roads.”
Zhen Wenjun followed where Wei Tingxu’s foot pointed and saw that most of the crisscrossing roads were overgrown with weeds, but two paths were neat, with even broken bricks pressed closely to the ground, as if people often walked there.
She immediately understood: “There are people in the city!”
Wei Tingxu was about to praise her cleverness, but as she opened her mouth, her expression changed, and Ah He, standing with them, also looked quite peculiar. Zhen Wenjun quickly turned around, and in the depths of the ruined city walls, something indistinct was approaching them under the golden light.
“Click, click…”
Ah Liao’s ears perked up: “What is that sound?”
Wei Tingxu was also listening, and when an answer came to mind, cold sweat broke out instantly. She swayed and grabbed Zhen Wenjun’s sleeve tightly.
“W-What’s wrong?” Zhen Wenjun was startled by her reaction.
“A dog.” Wei Tingxu managed to squeeze out the word through clenched teeth, her face turning as pale as paper. “It’s the sound of a dog’s claws tapping on the ground.”
Wei Tingxu wasn’t mistaken; it was indeed a dog.
A vicious dog with long grey-and-white fur approached from a distance, its wary eyes fixed on these strangers.
Zhen Wenjun extended her arm to shield Wei Tingxu behind her and drew her sword, aiming it at the fierce dog.
The dog, sensing the unfamiliar scent, bristled, its back hairs standing on end. Its lips curled back to reveal yellowed fangs, emitting a growl from its throat, warning the intruders not to take another step forward.
“Go,” Zhen Wenjun commanded.
The dog swayed from side to side before suddenly charging at them!
“Go!”
Zhen Wenjun pushed Wei Tingxu backward, and Ah Xu immediately shielded Ah Liao and Wei Tingxu, guiding them to hide behind a signboard. Zhen Wenjun, sword in hand, charged directly at the frenzied, biting dog. Ah He, putting on her iron knuckles, was about to suggest they attack the dog from both sides, but Zhen Wenjun had already rushed to confront the beast.
The dog’s limbs were thicker than a young lady’s wrists, and its sharp claws beneath the fur were like blades that could easily slice through skin. It was more ferocious than a tiger.
Just as Zhen Wenjun was about to face off with the dog, she suddenly changed direction, leaping above it and grabbing the scruff of its neck.
In that moment, she recalled the astonishing scene from years ago at Nanya, where Ah Xin had tamed a wild horse with one hand. She had hoped that one day she could be as brave as Ah Xin.
Her hand wasn’t gripping a panicked horse, but it was certainly a powerful vicious dog. As she grew older, Zhen Wenjun increasingly felt the surge of strength from deep within her body. She merely wanted to test if her abilities had reached new heights, to see if her skills matched her expanding ambitions.
Her fingers clenched like iron pincers, tightly gripping the dog’s neck and its bones and flesh. With a loud shout, Zhen Wenjun forcefully slammed it into the ground!
The dog’s head hit the ground with a solid “thud,” and it howled in pain, kicking its legs wildly and trying to stand, scooting backward with its rear end. Despite its struggles, it couldn’t escape Zhen Wenjun’s grasp. She drew her sword to pierce its heart but noticed that the gray fur around its mouth had already turned white.
This was an old dog, much older than Zhen Wenjun had imagined.
“Stop! Who are you people…”
Only after the fight with the dog did an old man finally arrive, albeit slowly.
The old man, disheveled with yellowish hair and a hunched back, used a stick as a cane, inching forward with great difficulty. From the time he spoke to when he actually reached Zhen Wenjun, he took nearly an eternity to cover a mere twenty steps under everyone’s gaze.
Ah He: “There’s someone.”
Ah Xu: “There’s actually someone.”
Ah Liao: “What’s he saying?”
Ah He and Ah Xu shook their heads simultaneously.
Only Zhen Wenjun understood the old man’s words. She couldn’t help but comply, loosening her grip. The dog seized the opportunity to escape, still baring its teeth at Zhen Wenjun but not daring to attack again, retreating behind the old man.
Moving slowly, with heavy breaths and frequent coughing, the old man finally reached Zhen Wenjun and began to cough violently, almost as if he would cough up all his internal organs. When the coughing finally subsided, he took a deep breath and used his only functioning right eye to scrutinize the intruders.
“People from the Central Plains. I haven’t seen anyone from the Central Plains for eighty years.”
It was hard to discern the old man’s age. His voice was like rough gravel in a dry field, each word grating painfully on the ears. He looked at each of their faces, one by one, until he came to Zhen Wenjun. The old man’s stick-thin body froze in place, as if his soul had left him, completely motionless.
“What’s wrong with him…” Ah He felt scared, “He won’t just die there, will he?”
The old man moved his leg forward just a tiny bit.
Just as Ah Liao and Ah Xu were about to step forward to investigate, they wobbled and nearly fell in place.
“You.” The old man slowly raised his hand, taking what felt like an eternity to lift it halfway, his fingers curled and unable to fully straighten. He pointed at Zhen Wenjun and said, “You are a descendant of Su Lan.”
A look of realization flashed in Zhen Wenjun’s eyes.
A descendant of Su Lan? Zhen Wenjun wasn’t sure how the words “Su Lan” were written, but what she could confirm was that the Kingdom of Changge must have been her mother’s homeland, and therefore, her own! The cry in her heart upon stepping on this land was a fervor from deep within her blood!
Did her mother grow up here? No, seeing how long this place had been abandoned, it must have been many decades for these structures and walls to decay to this extent. Her mother must have been in Da Yu for a long time, perhaps even generations before had already left the Gulen Grasslands. Her mother was quite familiar with the history and culture of Da Yu, suggesting she was likely born and raised there.
The old man stared at Zhen Wenjun for a long moment and snorted, “All of you from the Su Lan family are greedy scoundrels. You’re the same, coming here for Master Changge’s relics, aren’t you? It’s been a hundred years, and you still refuse to give up? I don’t have much time left, and once I die, no one will know where Master Changge’s treasures are. This secret will go with me to the paradise of the Moro deity, and no one will disturb Master Changge’s peace ever again!”
Ah Liao looked at Wei Tingxu with a puzzled expression: “What is he babbling about?”
Ah He frowned: “He seems a bit upset.”
Ah Xu: “He seems to be cursing us?”
Zhen Wenjun understood everything, but she couldn’t let it show. She shook her head along with Ah Liao and the others, pretending not to understand.
What is Master Changge’s treasure? Could it be the secret art of giving birth between women? If that’s the case, isn’t the old man guarding the city a bit pointless?
Zhen Wenjun wasn’t sure whether to feel amused or worried. She sighed, her gaze fixed ahead, as if speaking to someone unseen:
“There’s no need to hide, come out. You can’t ambush me.” She added a “ha?” at the end of her sentence, which in the Changge language sounds like a threat but actually means “come out.”
Zhen Wenjun looked back, her eyes landing on the half-collapsed wall.
Ah Liao and the others looked there as well, and after a moment, a little girl actually emerged from behind it.
The girl looked about eight or nine years old, with crookedly tied braids. Her round little face was reddened and cracked by the wind, and her snake-like eyes stared defiantly and fiercely at Zhen Wenjun and the others. She held two long sabers that seemed too big for her small stature. As she watched Zhen Wenjun, who had seen through her, she walked over to the old man and spoke with him in the Changge language.
“Grandfather, that woman can speak our language.”
Having their plan exposed, the old man replied angrily, “She is a descendant of Su Lan, which makes her somewhat of a Changge person.”
Ah Liao couldn’t understand their conversation but knew it was always right to be polite. She put on a respectful smile and stepped forward to greet them, assuming the old man might be hard of hearing due to his slow movements. She shouted loudly, “Old man! We’re from Da Yu! We’ve come especially to visit your Changge Kingdom!”
The old man was so startled by her loud voice that he shuddered, then irritably pointed his cane in Ah Liao’s direction. Ah Liao looked at the old man and then at the cane, turning to ask, “What does he mean? Does he want me to hold his cane?”
The old man slowly drew a long line on the ground with his cane. Ah Liao, realizing something, said, “I guess it’s writing from their country. Since we can’t understand them, he’s decided to use writing, but I don’t recognize Changge script either!”
Once the old man finished drawing on the ground, Ah Liao was about to study what the long line might mean in the Changge Kingdom when the old man spat on it, right on the line. He tapped his cane, signaling her to step back. Ah Liao jumped back in disgust, realizing that the old man was trying to draw a boundary and drive her away!
Ah Liao cursed, “You old country bumpkin!”
Wei Tingxu, seeing that the vicious dog had been subdued by Zhen Wenjun and was no longer a threat, felt much relieved. Her anxiety eased, and she looked thoughtfully at Zhen Wenjun, “He seems to be talking to Wenjun, like he knows her?”
Zhen Wenjun was still shaken by the sudden revelation and felt uncertain when faced with Wei Tingxu’s question. She laughed a couple of times, “How could that be? This is the first time I’ve ever left Da Yu, let alone come to Changge Kingdom. And judging by the ruins of this city, Changge must have fallen over a hundred years ago.”
Zhen Wenjun truly admired Wei Tingxu’s keen observational skills, as even the smallest details never escaped her notice.
However, Zhen Wenjun remained calm, knowing that Wei Tingxu might not be certain. All her probing questions were just tests. As long as she calmly denied and mixed truth with falsehood, even someone as perceptive as Wei Tingxu couldn’t make a definitive conclusion.
As Zhen Wenjun pondered how to resolve the current stalemate, the ends of her long hair suddenly lifted into the air.
“Wind God! It’s the Wind God!” the old man and the little girl exclaimed together, looking into the distance and kneeling to bow deeply.
Wind God?
In the twilight sky, dark clouds loomed like a dragon suspended in the air, about to sweep into the city!
“Stop bowing! Run quickly!” Zhen Wenjun grabbed the old man and the child, one in each arm, and ran. As Wei Tingxu and the others rushed to the carriage, Zhen Wenjun shoved the two of them inside as well. Just as she was about to get on, the coachman, startled by the approaching storm, thought she was already aboard and whipped the horses into a gallop.
“Wenjun!” Wei Tingxu reached out to grab her, but as Zhen Wenjun lunged forward, their fingertips brushed without managing to hold on.
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