Scent Of Time

Chapter 39

I hid in the room for a day and a night behind closed doors, but no one would come to annoy me. When vaguely hearing noisy voices outside, I got up and sat up, “What is that noise outside?”

“Replying to Princess Consort, today is — Young Master Hua’s funeral.” Qian Zhi replied carefully.

“En.” I bowed my head and lay back down again.

“Does Princess Consort want to get up and fix your hair?” Qian Zhi couldn’t help but ask.

I turned my back and said, “I won’t go.”

Behind me came the sound of Qian Zhi’s footsteps leaving; my head rested on the cushion, my eyes were as dry and raw as if someone sprinkled them with a handful of salt, and I closed my eyes as if this would allow me to escape. After a night of sleeplessness, I still can’t sleep. I heard a burst of footsteps coming. I said without moving, “I don’t want to go to the funeral; don’t rush me.”

The footsteps stopped, and there was no sound; I did not bother.

After a long time, I heard a voice: “It’s already noon; how can you still not rise? You must attend your elder brother’s funeral. If not, what will the onlookers say about you?”

Zhong Yelan?

I opened my eyes and turned to sit; it was him. He met my eyes and was visibly stunned, slightly hesitating, “You’re crying?”

“How did you get in here?” I asked without replying, frowning. My tone did not anger him, and he sat beside my bed before saying, “Today …… I got invited.”

Hua Shen’s funeral would have invited many people.

“Who let you into my room?” I didn’t have half a good face; now that my hair is loose and I’m only wearing my lingerie, are all the servants in this courtyard dead?

“Ah Qian, I’m your husband. The people in this house naturally won’t stop me.” Zhong Yelan still said in a pleasant voice.

Is he pitied me, or does he feel guilty toward me? What did he take me for?

I rolled over and left the bed, heading out, “Qian Zhi!”

Before Qian Zhi walked in, Zhong Yelan tugged on my arm, “Ah Qian, I know you’re not feeling well now; if you want to go out, you should tie your hair and put on proper clothes.”

I looked back at him, my eyes showing sarcasm, “What does it have to do with you?”

“Ah Qian.” Zhong Yelan sighed, looked at me, and said, “I’ve come to take you back.”

“Back? Back to where? King Jin Mansion?” I looked at him and smiled coldly, “Go back and continue to watch you and Mu Yao fall in love with each other, and then hide myself in the courtyard and pretend not to know?”

“Ah Qian ……,” Zhong Yelan’s voice took on a few points of helplessness.

Qian Zhi and Hua Rongzhou walked in response to the sound and froze when they saw us; they stayed in the doorway. Qian Zhi seemed to want to retreat, but seeing Hua Rongzhou not moving, she remained still.

Zhong Yelan frowned when he saw Hua Rongzhou, and before he could speak, I wrenched his hand away fiercely.

I looked at Qian Zhi and spoke: “These days, the palace is too busy and has forgotten; Qian Zhi, send someone to the palace tomorrow to ask –”

I returned to meet Zhong Yelan’s gaze before speaking, “Why is the divorce decree so late?”

Zhong Yelan’s gaze narrowed. He was finally irritated by me; his face was unpleasant: “You went to the palace to find the emperor?”

“Yes, now I no longer have any relationship with you. Tomorrow, I will have someone go to King Jin’s mansion to pick up all of my things and my people; if you have any comments, say them now; in the future, I don’t think we will need to see each other again.” I lowered my eyebrows and tugged at the corners of my mouth; seeing that he didn’t say anything, I crossed over to him and headed for the dresser.

He moved in front of me as if he wanted to hug me. Before I could push him away, a figure flashed before me, interposing between us with a half-sheathed sword in front of Zhong Yelan.

“Preposterous!” Zhong Yelan opened his mouth. His eyes swept over my clothes, “Where did this lackey who doesn’t know how to behave come from? Still not get out quickly?”

Before Hua Rongzhou opened his mouth, I was the one who couldn’t watch it first. Where did he, Zhong Yelan, get the nerve to come to the Hua Mansion to meddle in my affairs?

“Hua Rongzhou is now my person; it’s not your turn to give orders.”

Zhong Yelan seemed to be trying to say something, but Hua Rongzhou was still motionless and blocked in front of me. Finally, a few anger points colored his brows, “Get out of the way.”

Hua Rongzhou’s stern voice came to mind, “This subordinate only listens to Miss’s orders.”

It was too late for me to open my mouth to stop, and I saw Zhong Yelan raise her hand to strike at Hua Rongzhou.

Hua Rongzhou didn’t strike back; he only took his arm and blocked it down, retreating by himself, and his face pale.

I was shocked and couldn’t control it, “Zhong Yelan, get out of here!”

Zhong Yelan’s body stiffened and did not move a muscle. I rubbed my temples and spoke, “What are you doing messing around here now? Since you’ve chosen, you should stop swaying left and right. Do you want to wait for me to find someone to kick you out?”

Zhong Yelan didn’t speak and eventually lifted his steps to leave; he walked to the doorway without turning around to say, “Ah Qian, since you insist on divorce, then I will …… do as you wish.”

I smiled and only spoke when he was about to walk away, “Zhong Yelan, you go back and bring a message to Mu Yao; this time, she owes me two lives.”

Zhong Yelan looked back at me suspiciously; I no longer cared and ordered the courtyard to be closed. I walked to Hua Rongzhou’s front, looking at his pale, bloodless face; my heart was uneasy: “Zhong Yelan’s hand is heavy. Have you been hurt anywhere? Your face looks so bad.”

“I’m fine.” Hua Rongzhou raised his head to smile at me, his too-pale face still cutting a few points of the color on his face.

“Next time, if you encounter this kind of thing, don’t act without my command; you are not helping me but will bring me trouble; I can solve my matters.” I still couldn’t help but open my mouth; this child perhaps had reached a rebellious stage; these few times, his actions were too out of the ordinary.

Hua Rongzhou hung his head; I couldn’t see his expression; I only heard him say, “En.”

I turned around and walked towards the inner room, worriedly speaking to him: “Go to the medical center to take a look; your face is too bad.”

After saying that, I went to the inner room with Qian Zhi; after being tossed around by Zhong Yelan, I couldn’t lie down any longer, so I just started to freshen up.

Hua Shen’s funeral was held for a whole day; regardless of how the rumors outside said that I was hard-hearted, I remained behind closed doors. The Hua Mansion was completely quiet until the next day after dusk.

These days, Cui Zhu and Yin Xing have returned to my yard. I received my things from the King Jin Mansion and saw a small wooden box in the jewelry box. I reached out my hand and touched it but hesitated; finally, I did not move it, let it lie in a pile of jewelry.

I took Qian Zhi and Yin Xing with me at dusk and quietly left the mansion through the side door. A new grave is particularly conspicuous in the deserted Hua Family’s cemetery.

I walked in slowly; Qian Zhi and Yin Xing stood far away and did not approach. I stepped to the new grave, put the lantern next to the tombstone, illuminated a few dishes of snacks and fruit, and the tombstone with the words – ‘Hua Shen’s tomb.’ Since he had no official title, only his name was written on the tombstone.

I sat down next to the tombstone, leaning my head against the cold and hard tombstone. The light around me kept flickering with the candlelight from the lantern, but I felt this eerie cemetery wasn’t that scary. I have never sat and appropriately talked with Hua Shen; even if I treated him better later on, I have never gotten close to him like a sister to her brother.

“Brother, I’m late ……” I whispered, my head resting against the tombstone for a moment. “I didn’t want to send you off with the others, so I came alone. Brother, don’t blame me.”

The fresh breeze brushed across the hillock, this horrible place that I would have been terrified of in the past just by imagining it, but at this time, it was not appalling to me. I don’t know how long I sat there; I never spoke again; the candle flame in the lantern was about to burn to the end, and the firelight dimmed. Only then did I massage my numb legs, lift the lantern, and get up, “I have to go back, brother; I’ll see you again next time?”

It’s funny to say that when Hua Shen was alive and well, I was sick of looking at him, but now that he’s gone, I feel that even this unresponsive gravestone is extraordinarily intimate. Reaching out and patting the grass, I turned around and raised my steps to leave when my feet couldn’t help but sway.

I saw two more people besides Qian Zhi and Yin Xing.

Qian Zhi and Yin Xing lowered their eyebrows and converged their heads, not daring to utter a single breath.

The lantern in my hands finally burned out with a puff, highlighting that moonlight-white in the distance. Zhong Xiwu’s civilian clothes seem to be light-colored.