Impératrice douairière Xiaoxuan

Chapitre 72

"Oh... that means my second brother changed the date again, of course I can only listen to him."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

Mo Yan didn't feel guilty at all, and said, "You're in the palace, and I can't get in?"

"You..." Ning Jin was speechless with anger, unable to find the words to reply. He had come to Kaifeng Prefecture early on the ninth day, preparing some gifts for Mo Yan, only to hear that they had left on the seventh, which infuriated him. Now, seeing Mo Yan, she acted as if it were her own fault, as if she deserved it.

"Then why did you come back again?" he had no choice but to ask.

Mo Yan scratched her ear again, thought for a long time, and then said, "It's a long story, too troublesome, so I'd better not tell you."

Upon hearing this, Ning Jin took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, silently admonishing himself: This girl has always been like this; it's not worth arguing with her. It's no wonder Ning Jin was angry. He originally thought she had really returned to Shu, so he took Wu Zichu with him to Shu. He didn't encounter her on the way, and he wandered around Shu aimlessly for a long time before returning to the capital, only to hear that Mo Yan had already returned to the capital.

Mo Yan was unaware that he had been to Shu and assumed he had been staying in the palace. She sized him up with her eyes. Since the snow had just stopped, Ning Jin was wearing a black fox fur coat and a mink collar to keep warm. She couldn't help but chuckle and say, "It seems the food in the palace is still the best. You've gained so much weight in just a few days."

"How many days?" Ning Jin asked, his eyebrows twitching in displeasure. But then he realized that this wasn't the point of his anger, and said instead, "I'm busy and tired all day long, how could I have gained weight!"

She asked curiously, "Why do we have to work so hard even if we stay in the palace?"

"..." Ning Jin didn't want to reveal that he had gone to Shu to find her, so he waved his hand impatiently and said, "You don't understand things in the palace."

Mo Yan shrugged and remained silent.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Ning Jin glanced at her a few times. He noticed that she was dressed thinly and her face was slightly pale, indicating that she was not in good health. She looked even thinner than when she was recovering from her serious injury last time. He couldn't help but say, "You're a good constable, how did you end up like this?"

"You think being a constable is easy!" Mo Yan said dejectedly, then suddenly remembered something and asked with a forced smile, "The road is difficult to travel, you must have come by carriage, right?"

Ning Jin nodded: "What?"

"May I borrow your carriage?"

Mo Yan desperately wanted to go to the tofu shop to see if the woman had been rescued, but firstly, she was timid and would never dare to go there herself; secondly, her high fever had just subsided and she had little strength, so a carriage would be ideal.

Chapter Six

"Stop! Stop...the car!"

Lifting the curtain a crack, when they were still four or five zhang away from the tofu shop, Mo Yan shouted to stop the car, then turned to Ning Jin with a smile: "Can you do me another favor? Could you go to that tofu shop up ahead and buy me a piece of tofu?"

"Buy tofu?" Ning Jin asked incredulously. He never imagined that Mo Yan would go to such lengths to travel by carriage just to buy tofu.

Mo Yan nodded: "Then... how about we take a look at that lady in the tofu shop?"

"What?!" Ning Jin's voice rose sharply.

"It would be best if we could let her out into the sunlight," Mo Yan continued. She had thought it through carefully. She had heard that people who had just died would linger in the places they cherished in life. Only by seeing her shadow under the sun could they confirm that the woman had indeed been brought back to life.

Ning Jin frowned, looking at her probingly, and after a long while said, "You don't mean to make me look like I'm harassing a respectable woman, are you?"

"You underestimate me!" Mo Yan was unwilling to explain why, and seeing that Ning Jin was unwilling to help, she said angrily, "Fine, if you won't help, I'll go by myself."

Seeing her like this, Ning Jin was about to speak when Mo Yan lifted the carriage curtain and jumped out. Actually, it wasn't that he didn't want to help her, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her to stay, so he couldn't help but feel annoyed.

Outside the carriage, Mo Yan had only taken three or four steps forward before her courage vanished. The mere sight of the tofu shop sign made her legs go weak, and she shuffled back to the carriage, her earlier anger completely forgotten. Inside, Ning Jin hesitated, wondering whether to get out and go find her, when suddenly the curtain was lifted, and Mo Yan poked her head in, her face beaming, repeatedly bowing and pleading, "Please, please! Buy me some tofu!"

Ning Jin was completely helpless: "Fine, fine, fine, fine..."

He had just alighted from the carriage and was walking toward the tofu shop when he heard someone calling out with laughter not far behind him, "Little Imperial Uncle! Little Imperial Uncle!" He turned around and saw that it was none other than his niece, Princess Zhao Yu of Yu Kingdom, who had caused such a ruckus in the palace.

She was not alone; there was another person beside her, holding a giant sword, with a calm expression—it was Zhan Zhao.

Mo Yan turned around, but only saw Zhan Zhao. She looked at him with a smile. When the two of them got closer, she noticed Zhao Yu next to Zhan Zhao. She was slightly taken aback and felt that this person looked very familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

"Zhan Zhao greets His Highness Prince Ning." Zhan Zhao bowed to Ning Jin.

Seeing Zhao Yu dressed in a light blue lined robe embroidered with floral patterns, though it was the kind of clothing common among ordinary people, it looked clean and refreshing compared to the ornate and elaborate attire in the palace. Ning Jin laughed and said, "You silly girl, you really angered your brother by sneaking out this time." Although he was a generation older than Zhao Yu, he was only five or six years older than her. He often teased her when they were young, and they were quite close.

Zhao Yu pouted: "Father wants to marry me off to a foreign land, and you, my little uncle, aren't even pleading for me. What am I supposed to do if I don't run away? Anyway, I'm not going back to that palace."

“What’s wrong with the Liao Kingdom? I often hear people say it’s a lot of fun. If I were a girl, I would marry it in your place.”

"Little Imperial Uncle..." Zhao Yu stamped his foot in dissatisfaction, knowing that Ning Jin was just teasing him. Then he thought that he probably couldn't escape this fate, and his eyes reddened.

"Why are you crying? We are all members of the royal family, so naturally we have to shoulder more responsibilities than others." Ning Jin smiled and wiped away her tears with his sleeve. "...Don't cry. Now that you've run away, you should have fun and not worry about what the future holds."

Zhao Yu sniffed and forced a smile, "That's true. Guard Zhan..." She turned to look at Zhan Zhao, only to see that he had already been pulled aside by Mo Yan, who was now chattering incessantly. The fur-trimmed gray squirrel cloak that had been on Zhan Zhao was now draped over Mo Yan's shoulders. In her usual impression, Zhan Zhao was the most polite and composed person. Even when she abandoned her princess-like demeanor to tease him, joke, and throw tantrums, he never showed her any difference.

The girl actually tugged at his sleeve, and Zhan Zhao actually let her do as she pleased, without trying to avoid her. Zhao Yu was taken aback, and Ning Jin's expression was also somewhat strange.

"Guard Zhan, who is she?" Zhao Yu stared at Mo Yan. She was just an unremarkable little girl with a sallow complexion and nothing particularly outstanding about her.

Before Zhan Zhao could speak, Mo Yan had already habitually taken out her identification token and said slowly, "I am a constable from Kaifeng Prefecture. If the princess has any grievances, she can go to the Kaifeng Prefecture government office to beat the drum and appeal for justice."

These words sounded extremely familiar. Zhao Yu paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered: "Oh! You're that...that..."

"That thing?" Mo Yan asked with a grin.

"You're the one who took my purse!" Zhao Yu glared at her fiercely. If Mo Yan hadn't taken the purse, she would have already left the capital and fled far away.

“Your Highness is mistaken. That purse was stolen. Since Your Highness did not claim it at the time, I had no choice but to hand it over.” Mo Yan corrected her earnestly, “I did not take a single item from the purse.”

Zhan Zhao said from the side, "The money pouch has been returned to His Majesty by Lord Bao. The princess can verify it after returning to the palace."

Although he was simply stating the facts, Zhao Yu felt that Zhan Zhao was speaking up for Mo Yan, and she became even more puzzled: "How could Kaifeng Prefecture let a girl become a constable? She's your sister?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head and said with a faint smile, "No."

"Seeing how familiar you are with her," Zhao Yu glanced at Mo Yan, her tone hesitant, "I thought..."