In Chu Ke’s eyes, Chu Zhao had gone mad.
She’d been mad from the start. Otherwise, how could she have hit Young Lady Liang, the daughter of Magistrate Liang? That these young ladies were willing to play with her was already her good fortune, yet she actually hit someone.
Along the escape route she had good luck and encountered the Heir of Prince Zhongshan, but not only did she not take the opportunity to curry favor, she even offended the Heir of Prince Zhongshan.
Chu Ke no longer argued with Chu Zhao, nor did he try to seek out Xiao Xun again. With Chu Zhao around, the heir wouldn’t show him a friendly face and would only find him more disagreeable.
He could only wait until they returned, then have his father step forward. He and his father would visit Xiao Xun together, apologize, and then establish a connection.
Thinking of this, Chu Ke was eager to return home, wishing he could close his eyes and open them to find himself in the capital.
……
……
The spring nights in the border commandery were still biting cold. A’Jiu, turning to mount his horse, couldn’t help but sneeze.
“After enjoying yourself in the commandery city for several days,” Zhang Gu laughed from the side, “can you not walk anymore?”
A’Jiu wrapped his scarf around himself, leaving only a pair of bright phoenix eyes exposed: “I’ve been enjoying myself for over ten years, Brother Zhang. It’s no different from traveling the roads with you all.”
This kid never forgot to show off. Zhang Gu laughed and cursed a few times, cracking his whip: “Let’s go, let’s go. After we get back, you can enjoy yourself properly again.”
The postal soldiers laughed and shouted, spurring their horses one after another.
A’Jiu surveyed the city shrouded in night. This trip’s business was finally concluded. After returning, his career as a postal soldier would also be over.
He looked at Zhang Gu and the others. He wouldn’t have much contact with these people in the future. And—his gaze turned toward the more distant wilderness, those people, that Guard General Chu or whatever, and that A’Fu or whatever, Miss Chu—he’d never see any of them again.
“Let’s go!” he shouted loudly.
“Going home!” another postal soldier also shouted loudly.
Going home. These two words immediately made all the postal soldiers boil over, venting their anticipation and excitement.
“Going home!” “Going home!”
They held torches and galloped forward. This time A’Jiu didn’t run at the very front. The torches illuminated his eyes, which showed no excitement or anticipation.
After losing his mother, he had no home.
Home wasn’t home—it was a cage.
But the melancholy only flashed by. The next moment his eyes were full of defiance again.
He raised his whip with a long shout and galloped like the wind, passing through the postal soldiers, taking the lead.
……
……
Although it was impossible to close one’s eyes and arrive in the capital, the capital was gradually approaching.
More than ten days later, accompanied by pattering spring rain, a towering city appeared in view—the capital of Great Xia.
Chu Zhao sat in the carriage, gazing at the capital with very complicated feelings.
For the thirteen-year-old Chu Zhao, the capital was still an unfamiliar place, but for the current Chu Zhao, the capital was the place she knew best.
Here she had met the man of her heart and transformed from an utterly ordinary person into the most noble woman in the world.
But that had nothing to do with her. She had done nothing. It was that man who bestowed glory upon her, and it was also he who trampled her into the mud.
Her fate had been controlled by others.
This time, she would control it herself.
Chu Zhao’s hands resting on her knees clenched tight.
“Father!”
Chu Ke, riding outside the carriage, suddenly shouted loudly and spurred his horse forward.
Chu Zhao came to her senses and looked into the distance. She saw a group of people waiting on the main road ahead. The man at the front wore plain robes. The distance was still far, and she couldn’t see his features clearly, but his build stirred her memory—that was her uncle, Chu Lan.
Uncle’s build was very similar to Father’s.
Actually, she hadn’t seen her uncle in a long time either. When she awoke from rebirth, she had been panicked and anxious, not paying any attention to the relatives before her, single-mindedly only wanting to rush back to the border commandery.
The carriage drew near. Chu Lan came forward to greet them. Chu Ke had already jumped from his horse and would have thrown himself into his father’s arms to pour out his hardships and grievances if not for propriety in public.
Chu Lan paid him no mind, first saluting Deng Yi: “Thank you for your hard work, Lord Deng.”
Deng Yi dismounted and said: “I have fulfilled my mission.”
Chu Lan then looked toward Xiao Xun’s carriage. Given Xiao Xun’s noble status, naturally he didn’t need to dismount. At this moment he hadn’t even lifted the curtain.
“Father, that’s the Heir of Prince Zhongshan,” Chu Ke introduced eagerly, both excited and aggrieved. The heir was a very gracious person. If not for Chu Zhao being too excessive, he definitely would have already taken the initiative to greet them. “The road was very dangerous. If not for him, we might not have made it back.”
This was somewhat improper to say, as if Lord Deng was utterly useless, but Chu Lan didn’t correct him. Compared to the heir, this minor magistrate from the Commandant’s office was indeed not very important.
Finding his niece had been a thankless, laborious task that could have been done or not. The Court of Judicial Review refused, using the excuse that she was Chu Ling’s niece, and pushed it to the Commandant’s office. The Commandant’s office also dragged its feet, finally pushing it onto this newly transferred minor magistrate.
Being assigned a hard task meant his background and backing were definitely inferior to others.
Chu Lan quickly followed Chu Ke to Xiao Xun’s carriage and respectfully saluted: “Chu Lan gives thanks to the heir.”
Only then did Xiao Xun lift the curtain, nodding with a smile: “Scholar Chu is too kind.”