Chapter 105.2
Zhao Heng is different from other children. She became sensible at an early age and would not just leave on impulse.
Ying Que sniffed and carefully recalled everything that had happened since you woke up this morning, including the incident with Chunxi in the courtyard.
Li Wenjian's brows furrowed even deeper, a tickling sensation suddenly rising in his throat. He raised a hand to his lips and coughed lightly.
Seeing this, Mu Gui advised, "Young Master, you're still ill. Go rest for a while. I'll continue the search with the men."
Li Wenjian took down his hand from his lips, something struck in his mind. He looked at Ying Que and asked, "You said Luo Han root can treat a cough?"
Ying Que nodded.
Li Wenjian's fingers tightened, joints turning white. Thinking of Zhao Heng's worried look when she visited him in the morning, he finally understood where she had gone.
"Let's go, to Xuejia Village," Li Wenjian turned and walked into the house, picking up the cloak draped over the wooden armchair.
Zhao Heng must have gone to Xuejia Village to find Luo Han root to treat a cough.
"Wei Young Master."
Li Wenjian, reminded by Mu Guu, turned around and met Wei Zhan who was approaching.
"Have they found her?" He asked.
Li Wenjian shook his head and looked back at the prepared guards, "I probably know where she is."
"You go back and rest. I'll go find her." Despite the pouring rain outside, he was still recovering from the spring cold and didn't want to weaken himself again.
"It's okay, I'll take a carriage," Li Wenjian smiled slightly, fastening the cloak around his shoulders.
"Your illness isn't fully cured, is it?" Wei Zhan scratched his head, seeing the pale color on Li Wenjian's face, showing concern, "If you're still ill, you shouldn't take risks with your health."
"I know, but as long as she doesn't return, I can't rest," Li Wenjian lowered his voice.
Wei Zhan looked into Li Wenjian's eyes and couldn't discern any emotion from his expression. He sensed that his good friend had changed somehow, and he often couldn't understand the look in his eyes.
As they walked to the corridor, they bumped into a few hurried individuals.
Leading the way was a young gatekeeper who, upon seeing Li Wenjian, anxiously called, "Young Master, Ah Heng has returned."
She seemed injured, being carried on the back by a man. Her two small braids on top of her head had come undone, short hair falling behind her. She was soaked, dripping water on the ground.
Li Wenjian hastened forward, the man carrying her hastily approaching.
Crossing the Moon Gate, the man carefully placed her on the corridor. Wei Zhan saw Zhao Heng turn her face towards them, her dark eyes shining as she tried to walk towards them.
"Your leg is injured, don't move too much," a thin and astute hand propped her up, furrowing her brows without expression, reminding her.
As Li Wenjian approached, he could see a few scratches on her face, covered in mud all over, looking utterly disheveled.
Seeing him looking at her, she quickly forced a smile, "Brother Shulang, I'm fine."
He stared at her wordlessly.
The girl with a hint of inscrutable anger in her voice, "Fine? You almost died, and that's 'fine' to you?"
Zhao Heng lowered her head under the girl's scolding, digging her nails into her nail bed.
Seeing her lips bruised, trembling all over, the girl took the backpack off her back and placed it on the ground, her voice softening, "Next time you need to gather herbs, wait for good weather before going into the mountains."
The girl narrated in detail how Zhao Heng slipped in the rain and fell into a ravine, calling for help, which attracted a pack of wolves. She was very smart, describing the incident meticulously, which left Li Wenjian feeling scared.
"If my father hadn't been hunting in the mountains, you would have died in the ravine, and no one would have known," the girl added.
Hearing her fierce tone, Li Wenjian's gaze shifted from Zhao Heng's face to hers. She looked about thirteen or fourteen, but her facial features carried a sternness that seemed mature beyond her years.
She had a longbow hanging on her arm. For some reason, he felt like he had seen her somewhere before, but couldn't recall where.
"Alright, Ah Li." The man who brought back Beizhaoheng stood silently for a while, gently tugging on the girl's arm. "It's getting dark, let's go back."
Ah Li.
In that moment, Li Wenjian finally understood where the sense of familiarity on the girl came from. In a trance, he seemed to see a faint figure.
The figure was old and hunched, with a few strands of faint morning light on the snow-covered ground, silver hair dancing in the wind.
He remembered, that was the sixty-two-year-old Yue Li.
Yue Li traveled outside for several years, finally went to the northern land where Weizhan was buried, and stayed there for over thirty years. She wrote many letters to Ah Heng in the capital, describing the life in the north, the joys of the common people, making Ah Heng yearn for the world outside the imperial city even more.
After Ziyuan succeeded the throne, he and Ah Heng went to the north several times. During their last visit to the northern palace, Yue Li was already very old.
When they parted, she escorted them to the city outskirts.
"Ah Heng," she smiled at Zhao Heng, "This parting, I'm afraid we may never meet again in this life. Don't worry about me in the future."
"I'm doing well here, always have been."
The four years together with Ah Zhan were so short yet so long.
Short enough to not even have a proper hug, yet long enough to resist the loneliness of the remaining years.
Two months later, they received news of Yue Li's death on a boat in the rainy south of the Yangtze River.
She had no children, and her matters were taken care of by the neighbors. She was buried in the cemetery of Wei Zhan. They had never been together in life, but they remained together long after death in a different way.
Li Wenjian noticed the girl's still young face, with a few blood streaks from thorns, and her wet hair sticking to her face. He finally saw a hint of the grace of the woman Yue Li, the beast tamer of Wanshou Garden, in her cold eyes.
He subconsciously turned to look at Wei Zhan, but saw Weizhan's gaze passing through the crowd, straight to the large bow the girl was carrying.
"Ah Zhan," Li Wenjian couldn't help but smile.
Wei Zhan slowly withdrew his gaze, raised an eyebrow at him, indicating to speak quickly.
Li Wenjian pulled Wei Zhan aside, pointing to the father and daughter who brought Ah Heng back and whispered to him, "Those two saved Ah Heng, please thank them for me. Wait for the rain to ease up a bit before sending them home."
Wei Zhan rubbed his nose, looking at him strangely. In the end, he didn't say anything, just walked over to Yue Li and her father and said, "Thanks to you two for saving Ah Heng. The rain is too heavy now, it's not safe to travel. Please come with me and rest for a while."
Yue Li looked up, "No, our cattle and sheep are still on the hill."
"It's getting dark on the way back, and the rain is too heavy to drive cattle and sheep. When the rain eases up a bit, I'll have my guards escort you back." Wei Zhan's eyes fell on her face, "You saved Ah Heng, you are our benefactor, if there is any loss, we will compensate fully."
Yue Li looked worriedly at the darkening sky covered by thunderstorms and sighed, but in the end she didn't insist and had to nod towards him.
Wei Zhan led the others away, the rain outside the corridor was getting heavier and heavier, Zhao Heng sat on the leaning couch against the wall shivering, her teeth and lips trembling uncontrollably.
She dared not speak, only sneakily lifted her eyelids to steal a glance at Li Wenjian. Seeing his face devoid of its usual warmth, with a hint of coldness in his eyes, she couldn't help but feel a little scared.
She seemed to have caused trouble for her brother Shulan, his already pale face now seemed to have a layer of frost.
In the midst of her chaos, a cloak fell over her head, enveloping her from head to toe.
She lifted her eyes and found Li Wenjian's face close to hers.
He frowned and picked her up, pursed his lips and walked back to Qingyuan. Zhao Heng leaned on his shoulder, looking back at the fallen backpack on the ground, hurriedly said, "My herbs."
Li Wenjian paused for a moment, turned back to pick up the backpack, shook off the water and carried it with him. Zhao Heng finally let out a sigh of relief, turned her head back, only to see Li Wenjian lowering his eyelids to look at her.
She felt a little guilty, lowered her head, and asked softly, "Have I caused trouble for you?"
When the hunter brought her in earlier, he met the gatekeeper, who said he had turned the mansion upside down looking for her.
Li Wenjian's voice was low, "Why did you go to the mountains alone? Why are you so disobedient?"
Zhao Heng hurriedly explained, "You've been coughing for a long time... I was worried..."
"Are you afraid that I'll die?"
Zhao Heng timidly raised her head to look at him, seeing his thin lips tightening, his brows furrowed tightly, seeming to have reached the peak of displeasure.
Although she had only known him for a short time, this was the first time she had seen such an ugly expression on him. She was scared and grabbed his clothes lightly, timidly asking, "Are you angry?"
Li Wenjian had already stepped into Qingyuan, he didn't answer her, but sent her directly to the room. Chunxi had already prepared hot water for Zhao Heng, and carried her to the adjacent room to take a hot bath.
Zhao Heng turned to look at Li Wenjian, seeing him standing there like a Qing pine after snow, she wanted to call out to him, but her throat was dry, she couldn't say anything, and had to let Chunxi take her away.
After taking a hot bath, she finally felt warm all over, and Chunxi changed her into new clothes and carried her back to the bedroom.
Zhao Heng thought Li Wenjian had left, but he was still standing in the room. When she entered, he approached her, frowned and asked, "Are you feeling better now?"
Zhao Heng replied with a soft "mm," carefully looking him over, his face still looking grim.
Li Wenjian reached out to touch her wet hair, took the towel for drying her hair from Chunxi's hands, and instructed, "Go prepare some food first."
Chunxi withdrew, and Li Wenjian stood behind the chair to dry her hair. His movements were gentle, gathering her hair into a bunch and slowly squeezing out the water between the strands.
The chair was too wide, Zhao Heng slid down, trying to sit up by holding onto the armrest, but the pain in her leg made her inhale sharply. Tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes.
Just as she was wiping her tears with her sleeve, Ying Que led the physician in. Seeing Zhao Heng crying with red eyes, she went up to comfort her, "It's okay, the physician is here, it won't hurt for long."
Zhao Heng rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, nodding while sobbing uncontrollably.
But the tears just wouldn't stop, her brother Shulang was so kind to her, providing them with a place to stay and food to eat. She just wanted to help him with something small, but she didn't do it right, and ended up causing trouble for him.
She felt so useless.
Ying Que, seeing her become more distressed as she tried to comfort her, hurriedly said, "Don't cry, I made some sugar cakes for you, I'll go get them for you."
After saying that, she left.
The physician came forward to examine her leg, which was injured and she would need some time to rest and recover.
After prescribing some medicine, the physician left, and Chun Xi came in with ginger soup, handing it to her, "Miss, drink some ginger soup to dispel the chill from your body, and take the medicine later."
Zhao Heng looked at the steaming ginger soup, furrowing her brows slightly. She didn't like the taste of ginger. But after causing trouble, she didn't want to upset anyone further, so she took the bowl and forced herself to drink it in big gulps, the steam from the ginger soup making her vision blurry.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from the thick fog, brought the bowl to her lips, before she could react, a piece of orange-flavored candy was placed in her mouth, the faint taste of orange melting on her tongue.
It was Li Wenjian, he reached out to touch her rough hair, asking, "Do you want to rest for a while?"
Zhao Heng saw a hint of thaw in his icy gaze, took the chance to hold his hand, without answering his question, she asked him, "Are you still angry?"
"I'm not angry." Li Wenjian noticed the bloody scratches on her face.
"You are." Zhao Heng looked at him, his expression lacked the usual vitality, he seemed clouded with mist, cold and distant. She held his hand tightly, "You're not talking to me, nor paying attention to me."
Li Wenjian pinched her delicate fingers, "I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at myself."
"Why?" Zhao Heng was puzzled.
Li Wenjian turned to face her, "Ah Heng, you don't have to do this for me."
"But in the plays, it is said that one should repay kindness, you helped me and my grandmother, I also want to help you." Zhao Heng tightly held his hand.
Li Wenjian's warm palm gently held her cold hand, "You've already done enough for me."
"I don't understand." Zhao Heng looked at him perplexed.
Li Wenjian smiled at her, "I mean, don't do this kind of thing in the future. You need to think more for yourself."
"I won't die, I will live a long, long time, so you should cherish yourself too."
In her past life, with humble origins, she became an empress to stand by his side, enduring too much hardship. With a soft backbone, she supported the Dongli together with him, working hard for half a lifetime.
So in this life, he didn't want her to suffer even a bit, endure any hardship.
As long as she was safe and happy, it was enough.
Zhao Heng listened, feeling even more confused!