(2) A Welcome Feast

Guo Huilian's party was in no particular hurry along the road, since her uncle, after all, was no seasoned traveler and had grown somewhat advanced in years besides—he could hardly withstand the strain of a punishing pace. Along the way they rested whenever they came upon a teahouse, and stopped for the night once the sky grew dark, taking a leisurely twenty-some days before finally reaching Baqiao, on the eastern outskirts of Chang'an.

With Chang'an's eastern city gate already in sight, not far off now, the sudden clatter of urgent hoofbeats reached them, drawing steadily closer from ahead before coming to a stop directly in front of Guo Huilian's party. Guo Huilian and her uncle both lifted the carriage curtains at the same moment, and Guo Huilian, catching sight of who had arrived, felt a rush of both shock and delight—she never could have guessed that it would be her father and Tenth Brother, and that they had come from the direction of Chang'an itself, meaning they had clearly traveled faster and already reached the city ahead of her. Guo Huilian still remembered that the Yueyue Manor caravan had been on the verge of setting out on its own journey—how could the two of them possibly have found the time to rush all the way to Chang'an?

Little did she know that on the very night Guo Huilian had left Yueyue Manor, the atmosphere between father and son in the Snow-Watching Pavilion had been unprecedentedly strange—neither spoke a word, simply staring, forlorn, at the seat Guo Huilian always used to occupy. The wine jug and tea cup sat untouched in their hands for so long that Cangwei, watching from the tree, had broken into a full sweat from sheer nerves.

In the end, it was Yue Heng who finally broke the silence. He rose to his feet and, in a cold, flat tone, simply said, "I'm leaving for Chang'an first thing tomorrow morning. I need to see with my own eyes that Yaya's properly settled before I can rest easy. Her uncle, indeed—my own cousins never held back from bullying me either, back in the day. The caravan has to pass through Chang'an first anyway, so we'll simply meet up there when it arrives."

Seeing this, Tian Xu thought it over for a moment, then rose to his feet as well. "I'll go with Father too. We can leave the caravan to Brother and Yueying—Brother's led the caravan for years now, and with Yueying there besides, the road from the manor to Chang'an should go smoothly enough without a hitch."

Though Han Jin had served as the caravan's lead scout for years now, Yue Heng and Tian Xu had always been there to anchor things, so the journey had naturally always gone smoothly and safely. This was the very first time Yue Heng had ever indulged in such a whim and simply "run off," with Tian Xu following suit right behind him—an unprecedented first, the caravan setting out without either of its pillars of authority—and so Tian Xu had thought it over carefully before finally working up the nerve to make the decision. Part of this stretch of road still fell within the jurisdiction of the Weibo military governor, which offered a relatively reliable measure of safety; and besides, the caravan still had the five Yue-disciples, the Eight Guards, and over twenty additional escorts among its ranks. And so Tian Xu, too, decided to indulge in a rare whim of his own, riding out alongside his adoptive father. The two of them rode hard on horseback through the day and lodged at relay stations each night, and since news of Guo Huilian's party reached the relay stations daily, reporting their unhurried pace, father and son ended up overtaking them entirely and arriving in Chang'an first, settling comfortably at the Four Seas Inn to await Guo Huilian's arrival.

As it happened, Yue Heng and Tian Xu both leapt down from their horses at once, and Tian Xu offered Guo Huilian's uncle a respectful, formal bow. "This humble one has prepared a simple feast at the Four Seas Inn to welcome you all home—I do hope Uncle-in-law will do us the honor of joining us there."

Yue Heng and Tian Xu having appeared so suddenly from the direction of Chang'an had already left Guo Huilian's uncle momentarily speechless with shock, and now, hearing Tian Xu extend an invitation to a banquet at the Four Seas Inn on top of that, his head positively swam, utterly at a loss for how to respond. The Four Seas Inn was the grandest restaurant and inn in all of Chang'an, the very place where the city's most distinguished figures loved to host their banquets, a mark of true prestige. He himself had only arrived in Chang'an some half a year earlier, and even he had already heard of the Four Seas Inn's illustrious reputation—yet who could have imagined that, having only bid Tian Xu farewell at Yueyue Manor some twenty-odd days ago, he would now find this very Tian Xu hosting a welcome feast for them at the Four Seas Inn in Chang'an itself, of all places, barely three weeks later? How could this Tian Xu, a mere member of the Weibo Tian clan, possibly command such formidable reach and influence?

Guo Huilian's own reaction, of course, was nowhere near as shocked as her uncle's. She had long known that Yueyue Manor kept its own network of relay stations, allowing people and news to travel far more swiftly and conveniently than an ordinary household ever could, and that the Four Seas Inn itself belonged to Yueyue Manor besides—so for Tian Xu to somehow arrive ahead of them and host a welcome feast at the Four Seas Inn struck her as perfectly ordinary, nothing out of the extraordinary at all. For her, the delight of it all far outweighed any shock—she never would have guessed that her father and Tenth Brother would make this special trip to Chang'an purely for her sake. Ever since leaving Yueyue Manor, she had spent the whole journey lost in thoughts of the past three years there, missing everyone at the manor terribly, her heart weighed down with a quiet melancholy—and now, seeing her father and Tenth Brother appear right before her, that longing found some real relief, and, before she quite realized it, her face broke into a beaming smile. She scrambled down from the carriage in an instant, lifting the hem of her skirt as she ran toward Yue Heng, coming to a stop right in front of him with a laugh, calling out "Father!" Yue Heng broke into a smile in turn at the sight of her, gently patting her head—and it was then that his eyes fell at once upon that pale, bluish-white jade bird-and-flower hairpin.

"Good. Yaya really did listen." Yue Heng glanced at the hairpin as he spoke.

Guo Huilian knew exactly what Yue Heng meant, and laughed proudly. "Of course." Then, taking hold of Yue Heng's arm, she asked, "Wasn't the caravan supposed to be setting out? Why on earth did Father and Tenth Brother come all the way to Chang'an?"

Yue Heng, thoroughly absorbed in the warm glow of "having a daughter is enough to want for nothing else," his anxiety of the past twenty-odd days swept entirely away, was about to answer when he heard Tian Xu speak up instead. "Father missed you! Since the caravan had to come through Chang'an anyway before heading out to the great desert, I decided to accompany Father here first. Brother and Yueying will take charge of bringing the caravan to Chang'an to meet up with us before we all head west together."

Hearing Tian Xu say this, Yue Heng looked visibly displeased, casting him a cold glance and remarking dismissively to Guo Huilian, "That boy's not even my own flesh and blood, and yet somehow he's picked up my exact same weakness for saving face? Too embarrassed to admit he wanted to come himself, so he pins the whole thing on me instead! It was actually my idea to come in the first place, and he insisted on tagging along—and now he has the nerve to say that about me?"

Tian Xu hadn't expected Yue Heng to show him not the slightest mercy, laying out the plain truth so bluntly, and could only scratch his head and give an awkward, sheepish laugh, his face flushing red before he even quite noticed it happening—and Guo Huilian's face flushed right along with his, looking equally bashful. Yue Heng, watching from the side, saw it all perfectly clearly. These two children, their fates so cruelly twisted, understood and cherished one another so deeply—surely they each already held a place for the other in their hearts. It was only that Tian Xu weighed things far too heavily, and, in truth, reality really was every bit as harsh as he feared. Everything at Yueyue Manor was well and good for now, but that gave no guarantee the future would remain so; He Yan and Jiang Ri might already be dead, and these past years might have seemed peaceful enough on the surface, but this world never lacked for those with hidden agendas, and unseen dangers still lurked beneath that calm surface, ready to erupt without warning at any moment.

Yue Heng let out a soft, barely audible sigh, not daring to let his thoughts run any further down that path. This girl truly had a special bond with him; if it were up to him, he would have kept her at Yueyue Manor for the rest of her life—but what he wanted even more was for her to live a whole life of peace and happiness, and that was the greatest hope any father could have for his daughter. Yueyue Manor could shelter her for now, but who could say whether it could shelter her for a lifetime? That was precisely why he hadn't insisted on keeping her there. Guo Huilian was different from Han Jian's family—back when Xi'er had first decided to throw herself into this whole endeavor, Han Jian and Wang Qiugui had firmly chosen to stand beside her, sharing in both glory and disgrace alike. Of everyone at Yueyue Manor, only Guo Huilian remained truly an outsider to all of it—not even Hu Yiwan was exempt from that bond. How could any of them bear to let Guo Huilian, whose fate had already dealt her such bitter blows, be dragged along to face whatever unknown dangers still lay ahead with the rest of them?

Yue Heng and the others led Guo Huilian's uncle and his party toward the Four Seas Inn, and her uncle could only marvel, again and again, at the hidden paradise tucked away behind it—so this was how he discovered that Yueyue Manor was, in fact, the true proprietor behind the Four Seas Inn itself. Over these three years, whenever Guo Huilian had returned to the capital to visit her parents' graves, she had always stayed here as well; Tian Xu had even had Han Jian set aside a room specially for Guo Huilian's exclusive use. Her uncle found himself realizing just how genuinely well Yueyue Manor treated Guo Huilian—so well, in fact, that he had no idea how he could possibly hope to match it. After all, the gulf between their two households' means was simply too vast. Though he didn't fully grasp the scope of Tian Xu's wealth, having now toured the grand, imposing splendor of Yueyue Manor itself, and having seen the thriving business and sprawling grounds of the Four Seas Inn besides, he found himself genuinely impressed that a young man of only eighteen could command such formidable ability, helming it all. He thought to himself: this niece of his truly was a fortunate girl, to have survived such catastrophe and won herself such a powerful benefactor besides—had he not been her own blood uncle, what standing would he even have to ask Tian Xu to give her back?

At the feast, Tian Xu had Han Jian bring out the finest, most sought-after dishes the inn had to offer, most of which Guo Huilian's uncle had never even encountered before—among them cold locust-leaf noodles and sesame flatbread, leaving him thoroughly satisfied and full of praise. After the meal, tea followed, the young servant boys preparing and brewing it with such practiced, graceful skill that it was a genuine pleasure just to watch. Even more delightful still were the several lotus-leaf tea cups, crafted from Yuezhou celadon, the tea's rich green hue set off beautifully against them, lending an even more elegant, refined fragrance to the tea itself. At the end of the meal, Tian Xu even gave Guo Huilian's uncle a matching set of the same tea cups as a gift, leaving her uncle genuinely overjoyed, and more than a little embarrassed to accept such generosity.

"Yaya loves drinking tea at the manor too—whenever you have tea at home from now on, whether for yourselves or for entertaining guests, savoring it from these very cups will truly be one of life's small pleasures." As Tian Xu spoke, he casually presented several cakes of Guzhu Purple Bamboo tea besides—a tribute tea reserved for the imperial court itself, one that Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea, had once ranked as "the very finest tea under heaven," scarce and precious, its price accordingly steep; simply obtaining any at all was already remarkably difficult, and even an imperial gift of it would hardly ever reach someone of a mere county magistrate's rank. And yet here Tian Xu was, handing over several whole cakes of it at once, paired besides with the very Yuezhou celadon tea cups Lu Yu himself had praised most highly—its value already far beyond anything Guo Huilian's uncle could quite fathom.

Overwhelmed, her uncle could only offer his heartfelt thanks over and over. Given his years and the experience that came with them, he understood perfectly well that this was Tian Xu's own subtle, unspoken way of making a point: if even this man, with no blood tie to Guo Huilian at all, could treat her this well, then he himself, her own true uncle, absolutely could not afford to shortchange her in any way. Here was a mere eighteen-year-old boy, not even of the age to formally come of age himself, and yet he carried himself with a worldliness that left even a man in his fifties feeling thoroughly outmatched—her uncle found himself filled with genuine curiosity and admiration for this young man named Tian Xu.