(1) Leaning on Each Other

"Why is he allowed to walk through Chang'an with such arrogance, answering to no one?" Guo Huilian thought back to what she'd witnessed that day. She hadn't found Yu Shurong nearly as domineering as the rumors made him out to be—hadn't he even offered up his own dagger, willing to let himself be taken hostage? And more than that, that stunningly beautiful face of his simply didn't seem to fit with "strange temperament" and "throwing his weight around shamelessly" at all.

"His adoptive father is a man of considerable favor before the Emperor himself—the eunuch Dou Wenchang, who has served at the Emperor's side since the days when His Majesty was still Crown Prince, residing in the Eastern Palace. He's remained utterly loyal all this time, and has thus earned the Emperor's boundless trust. These days he even holds command over the Divine Strategy Army—his imperial favor stands at its peak, and no one can rival him."

"But if what Tenth Brother says is true, and Yu Shurong really does throw his weight around so shamelessly, then why did he hand me that dagger himself and let me hold him hostage that day?" This was something that had genuinely puzzled Guo Huilian all along. If Father and Tenth Brother hadn't arrived in time to rescue them, it seemed as though she and her sister-in-law might well have been able to escape safely by taking Yu Shurong hostage themselves—those masked men in black had clearly already yielded to the threat.

But the logic of first abducting someone, only to then let the hostage turn around and hold you captive instead, simply didn't add up, no matter how she looked at it.

Hearing Guo Huilian say this, Tian Xu's brow furrowed. "Wasn't it him holding the dagger to your throat, taking you hostage?"

Guo Huilian shook her head, her brow furrowing as well. "But listening to the way he spoke with those masked men, it was clear they knew each other well... If they were all part of the same group, why would he save us? Was it because you all came bursting in with such overwhelming force that he realized the situation had changed, and out of self-preservation, he had no choice but to turn around and take me hostage himself?"

"I truly have no idea what Yu Shurong is scheming," Tian Xu murmured thoughtfully. "Where would he find the kindness to do such a thing?"

"If it's inconvenient for the Manor Lord to show his face, Yueying can go in your place—Yueying crossed blades with Young Master Yu that day too." Overhearing Tian Xu speak of Magistrate Cao's summons to testify, Yueying, driving the carriage outside, suddenly spoke up.

"That'll do... generally speaking, once something touches on one's own people, it becomes far too easy to lose one's objectivity. You go and see for yourself just what kind of trouble Magistrate Cao is bringing down on his own head."

"But if Yu Shurong might really be involved in this, should we simply let him off out of fear of causing trouble? What if Yu Shurong truly is the mastermind behind it all? Are we just supposed to pretend none of it happened? Isn't uncovering the truth exactly why he's being summoned to court in the first place?" Guo Huilian clearly took issue with what Tian Xu had said. Her cousin, after all, served as the local magistrate, entrusted with the people's welfare—wasn't it precisely his duty to see that neither the innocent were wronged nor the guilty let go free? If he shrank back out of fear of difficulty, how could he possibly live up to the official robes he wore, or the salary he drew?

"Yaya is still young, after all, and knows very little of how things truly work in officialdom. When a wise ruler sits upon the throne, one who keeps the common people foremost in his heart in all things, then naturally good officials can seek justice on their behalf. But when it's otherwise, this murky world of officialdom will find no room at all for men of true integrity who genuinely care for the people—and this holds truest of all here in the imperial capital. The tangled web of competing powers checks and constrains everyone at every turn, making it all the harder to act with a clear conscience—and to defy it isn't just to fail in bringing justice to the common people, but very possibly to sacrifice one's own life and career in the bargain. Every magistrate of Wannian before Cao Jibin either ended up thrown in prison or demoted and exiled elsewhere, and it was, more often than not, precisely this same reason at the root of it. The rank of Magistrate of Wannian is far too low within Chang'an's hierarchy—if the common people are treated as mere ants underfoot, then even the Magistrates of Chang'an and Wannian themselves fare little better." Tian Xu let out a sigh, and a shadow of melancholy seemed to settle over his brow.

"Is this... is this why Uncle Yuan chose to leave the imperial court?" Guo Huilian seemed to have grasped the meaning hidden behind Tian Xu's words, sensing his mood as well; she leaned quietly against his side, brow furrowed, and asked softly.

"Yes and no..." Tian Xu paused for a long moment, then gave a bitter smile. "Leaving the court wasn't a decision Father made himself—it was his teacher's decision. Emperor Xuanzong and he had once been on excellent terms; he had devoted himself heart and soul to helping Xuanzong secure the throne, and worked tirelessly afterward to help him bring about the flourishing eras of Tianbao and Kaiyuan. But sadly, Xuanzong's virtue failed to endure to the end—in his later years he grew hopelessly indulgent, drunk on wealth and pleasure, entrusting power to treacherous, scheming men, losing himself entirely to song and spectacle, and abandoning the common people of the realm to their fate. In the end, this brought about An Lushan's rebellion, and Xuanzong abandoned his own subjects in Chang'an, fleeing the capital himself in a panicked rush... My grandmaster felt he had misplaced his loyalty, and refused ever again to serve as a hunting dog for the court. Father, as his eldest disciple, both honored his teacher's decision and, in truth, had no wish himself to continue serving such an incompetent court any longer, and so he accompanied his beloved teacher in withdrawing from Chang'an altogether, disappearing into the martial world..."

The atmosphere within the carriage grew heavy and still, the melancholy on Tian Xu's brow deepening further. Guo Huilian gently wrapped both hands around his arm and rested her head softly against his shoulder—a silent comfort, for in this moment she, too, had no idea what words might help.

Feeling the warmth of Guo Huilian's silent comfort, Tian Xu reached up and stroked her head, then leaned his own head toward hers, and the two of them sat there, leaning on each other.

"Mother, for the first time, laid eyes with her own eyes on the great masses of common people fleeing to Mianzhou to escape the ravages of war. Father and my grandmaster, together with the people of Medicine King Valley, devoted themselves wholeheartedly to distributing porridge and medicine to them, and the refugees poured in wave after wave, with no end in sight..."

"Mother was profoundly shaken by it all. Grandfather had once hired tutors to teach Mother reading and arithmetic, and though Mother was a woman of considerable learning and lofty ambition, this was the first time she had ever truly felt the world could be as hellish, as wretched, as this. And Father, facing that surging tide of noise and chaos—the disheveled, terrified, helpless refugees pressing in from every side—that broad-shouldered, formidably skilled swordsman revealed, in that very moment, the utmost gentleness within him. He directed everything with calm assurance, calling out reassurance to the refugees in a clear, carrying voice, telling them there was no need to push and shove, that there was enough for everyone; he personally carried bowls of porridge to those too weak and sickly to come collect it themselves, bending down to comfort them with gentle, kind words... Mother told me that watching Father, dressed all in white, moving among the crowd, exhausting himself utterly to save the common people whom the Son of Heaven himself had abandoned—he seemed to have stepped straight out of a painting, or down from a temple altar, a bodhisattva descended into the mortal world to relieve suffering, radiating a light of his own that illuminated every soul in misery around him. Even though 'Heaven and Earth show no benevolence, treating all things as straw dogs,' there he was—a bodhisattva in white, answering the cries of the suffering, leading the people toward salvation. Mother, watching Father's figure before her, felt something stir deeply within her; once she had settled Grandfather safely, she joined the ranks of those distributing aid to the refugees herself. She pawned what few hairpins and earrings she owned, and combined that with whatever funds she herself could spare from the fabric shop, and gave every last coin of it to Father to use for disaster relief."

"Uncle Yuan was truly a man of great righteousness!" Tears glimmered in Guo Huilian's eyes. Not only had Uncle Yuan been a man of great righteousness—so had Aunt Xi. Small wonder they had come to appreciate each other so deeply, joining their lives together, and raising a son like Tenth Brother, who carried forward his parents' spirit of compassion and righteousness so completely.

"It's a shame that I only ever saw Father when he lay at the very brink of death—I never once had the chance to enjoy his care as a child..." As Tian Xu spoke, tears welled in his eyes.

"I have even less fortune than you—I never even had the chance to meet Aunt Xi's face at all..." Guo Huilian sighed, her whole bearing sinking into dejection.

"That's enough..." Seeing this, Tian Xu drew Guo Huilian into his arms and patted her back gently. "The more we talk, the sadder we both get. Let's not go on dwelling on our regrets."

"All right. Then let's talk about something else." Guo Huilian sat up straight and took a deep breath. "You said the people of Medicine King Valley were there too at the time—does that mean Uncle Da was involved in all this as well?"

"I knew you were clever..." Tian Xu laughed, patting Guo Huilian's little head. "Uncle Da is Father's fellow disciple, younger than him under the same master. His entire family died in a plague, and that was what gave him such a fierce determination to study medicine. Father understood Uncle Da well, and specially pleaded with their teacher on his behalf, so that his second disciple might go study medicine up at Medicine King Valley. The master of Medicine King Valley had been my grandmaster's close friend for many years, and with my grandmaster's own recommendation, he was naturally willing to take on one more disciple—but that meant the duties Uncle Da would otherwise have shouldered within their own sect now fell entirely upon Father instead. Father agreed without a moment's hesitation, granting his teacher's wish outright—and it was this that ultimately made possible the miraculous physician Zhou we know today."

Guo Huilian still had more she wanted to say, but the carriage was gradually slowing to a stop—they had already arrived at the Four Seas Inn. Tian Xu lifted the curtain to confirm it.

"That's enough for today. When we're back on the road to the manor, I'll tell you the rest, slowly, in full."