Chapter 21: Come With Me.

When the Evil Star descended to Earth, it disturbed the peace of the crape myrtle1. The Emperor gave General Gu a Tiger Tally2, issuing him the military authority to lead the 70,000 soldiers of the Rong Yan army to the Northwest, where the yellow sand was plentiful, in order to repel the Western Rong tribe and defend the Frontier. However, this time, the Western Rong tribe was perfectly prepared for war, which meant that the cold war could go on for several years.

Time passed, and the beginning of autumn turned into the cold of winter.

On a cold, snowy night, a letter sealed in a white leather case was sent from the Northwest Frontier to the Imperial Palace and the Gu Residence.

That night, all of the wing rooms and halls of the Gu Residence were silently decorated with white silk. The fire pit burned with stalks of millet and rice, while the copper coins, as well as the yellow paper money3, danced with the falling snow. The large Gu Residence was cold and silent, without a single noise or movement. It was as if it had been buried under the heavy snow.

The next day, Gu Heyan, dressed in white mourning clothes, traveled nonstop to the Frontier to help bring the coffin back to the Capital.

Seven days later, the news of Gu Miao’s death spread throughout the Capital. The whole land mourned and sighed: “Without General Gu, wouldn’t the barbarians want to invade our territory, trampling on our mountains and rivers?!”

Half a month later, Gu Miao’s bones returned to the Capital, and the funeral hall was located in the main hall of the Gu Residence. Buddhist monks were invited over to recite sutras to calm the soul, and seven days later, the coffin would finally be buried in a military funeral ceremony.

In the previous life, the Mu family and the Gu family didn’t have any relationship with each other, so Gu Miao’s death didn’t have a big impact on the Mu family. It was simply a topic of conversation between the father and son.

However, this life was different. The son of the Gu family had saved the life of the son of the Mu family. Therefore, on the second day that Gu Miao’s coffin was available to visit, Mu Boren led Mu Zhiming to the Gu Residence to mourn.

The last time the father and son had visited the Gu Residence, it seemed like a quiet, peaceful place. But at this moment, not only were many guests crowded in front of the main gate, but the Residence also looked as gray as ash. The grass, which once used to paint the place with a vibrant green color, had withered.

The Gu Residence had only three servants in total. Since they were so busy receiving mourning guests all at the same time, there was no way they could even free up a second to attend to the other jobs within the Residence. Because of this, the Residence was a total mess.

After waiting for almost half a day, no one came to greet Mu Boren and Mu Zhiming. So they dared to enter the Residence on their own and headed towards the main hall.

Just before he could enter the mourning hall, Mu Zhiming’s gaze was immediately fixed on Gu Heyan, who was wearing a plain set of white linen clothes, as he knelt in front of Gu Miao’s spiritual tablet4.

It was unknown how long Gu Heyan had been guarding the spiritual tablet, but there he was, kneeling with his head bowed down, completely still. It seemed as if his shoulders were carrying a heavy burden, but no matter what, he never moved an inch. Turning a deaf ear to everything that surrounded him, it was as if he wasn’t even part of this world.

Mu Zhiming’s original plan was to come to the Gu Residence to comfort Gu Heyan. But when he saw Gu Heyan like this, Mu Zhiming knew that there was nothing he could do.

‘If no one knows the pain you’re suffering, how can it be shared?’

A Buddhist monk came forward to take Mu Boren and Mu Zhiming to perform the ritual of mourning, then led them out of the mourning hall. As they left, Mu Zhiming couldn’t stop himself from looking back at Gu Heyan, who was still kneeling. His posture hasn’t changed, still looking as quiet as a rock.

“Don’t look, let’s go.” Mu Boren sighed. Lamenting how unpredictable this world was.

Mu Zhiming withdrew his gaze, feeling how his heart tightened in sadness. As he nodded, Mu Zhiming followed Mu Boren outside. While the two men walked through the courtyard of the Gu Residence, they suddenly heard someone shouting behind them: “Duke of Yan!”

Mu Boren turned around, only to see a man approaching. After bowing, Mu Boren said: “Lord Pei, you also came to mourn?”

Lord Pei, the Mayor of the Capital5, bowed back: “Indeed. Ah, but I have also hastened to disturb the Duke of Yan. You see, I have a complicated case in hand. There’s something particularly unusual with the corpse. I heard that among the Duke of Yan’s ancestors, there used to be a Criminal Official6, and I also happen to know that the Duke of Yan has a lot of knowledge in this area. Since this is an urgent case, and I just so happened to meet the Duke of Yan by chance, I would like to know if the Duke of Yan could help me?”

“Ah….That’s my ancestor’s glory. For my part, I only know a thing or two. I’m not as good as Lord Pei. But since Lord Pei holds me in such good esteem, I can’t bring myself to refuse it. So I will do whatever I can to help.” Mu Boren agreed, turned his head to look at Mu Zhiming, and said: “Lizhu, go outside and wait for me in the carriage.”

Mu Zhiming nodded, saluted and left on his own. As he walked, Mu Zhiming suddenly remembered the verdant parasol trees that he had seen in the East wing, when he visited the Gu Residence in the past. ‘I wonder if anyone has taken care of them these days.’

With this thought in mind, Mu Zhiming’s body moved before he even realized it. He was unable to stop himself from walking towards the direction where the East wing was located. It was then that Mu Zhiming saw a young woman huddled against the vermilion wall. She was dressed in mourning clothes, and while she held a stack of documents, she cried anxiously.

Mu Zhiming remembered her. She was one of the three servants of the Gu Residence, Miss Juan.

Mu Zhiming took a few steps forward and said to Miss Juan: “Are you alright?”

When hearing the concerned question, Miss Juan looked up with teary eyes. The moment she saw it was Mu Zhiming, she hurried to tidy up her appearance in a panic. Then, she said weakly: “I remember, you’re….ah! It’s Mu-gongzi!”

“What’s wrong?” Mu Zhiming asked. “Can I do something to help you?”

“Mu-gongzi, I….” Miss Juan clutched the documents in her hands, lowered her head with embarrassment, and hesitated whether she should say it or not.

“It’s alright,” Mu Zhiming comforted her. “If there’s anything I can do to help, just say it.”

When Miss Juan heard those words, it was as if she had found her last hope. After choking, she embarrassedly said: “Mu-gongzi, in reality, I shouldn’t be telling you this since it’s related to a private family matter. But as you may already know, General Gu’s Residence has only three servants. Including me, there’s my husband and my mother-in-law. Now that General Gu is gone, and since the Young Master is not a full grown adult yet, the funeral ceremony, as well as other matters related to etiquette, have to be supervised by us. But we are too busy to handle everything that needs to be done. The guests who came to mourn today were supposed to stay for dinner, but we haven’t been able to prepare anything. If that wasn’t enough, just now, another Eunuch came from the Palace to give me a stack of documents, saying that the General’s funeral should be done according to these rules. These rules include the list of guests that should be invited, as well as the gifts that should be offered. The Eunuch said so many things, but I couldn’t understand a single thing! I wanted to ask someone else if they could understand it, but my husband was busy adding incense to guard the ancestral hall, and my mother-in-law was taking care of the Buddhist monks’ meals7….”

The more Miss Juan spoke, the more anxious she became, to the point where tears began to form in her eyes. Mu Zhiming, on the other hand, said: “Don’t panic, let me see the documents.”

Miss Juan hurriedly handed the documents to Mu Zhiming. After receiving them, Mu Zhiming realized that what he was doing wasn’t appropriate. Although Miss Juan had difficulties, he was an outsider, and Gu Miao’s funeral was a major event for the Gu Family. If Mu Zhiming intervened and instructed a servant of the Gu Family, it would be as if he went beyond the sacrificial altar and took over the kitchen8.

Just when Mu Zhiming hesitated, Mu Boren’s voice was heard behind him: “Lizhu, what are you doing there?”

Frightened, Mu Zhiming unconsciously hid the documents in his sleeve.

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If Mu Boren became aware of such impoliteness, he would scold Mu Zhiming for three days, leaving him half-deaf with all of the scolding.

As soon as Mu Zhiming hid the documents, Mu Boren came over and said: “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me in the carriage? Could it be you’re playing around again and turning a deaf ear to what I tell you?”

Miss Juan was quite clever, and when she saw this situation, she didn’t mention the documents at all. Instead, she saluted and said: “I’ve seen the Duke of Yan. This maidservant was really sad, and Mu-gongzi was kind enough to comfort me.”

Mu Boren’s face softened a lot. He stopped scolding Mu Zhiming, and led him out of the Residence.

—

Mu Zhiming took the stack of documents home by mistake. After dinner, Mu Zhiming sat alone in his wing room, looking at the documents until his head began to ache. After pondering for a while, he took out a brush, ink, inkstone, and paper. Without saying a word, he sat down at his desk and went through the documents, one by one.

More than half an hour later, Mu Zhiming finally put down the brush made of wolf hair and blew on the fresh ink letters on the paper, drying it. Then, he carefully rolled it up, hid it inside his sleeve, and stood up. After opening the door of his wing room, Mu Zhiming tilted his head and shouted at the side room: “A-Yin!”

As soon as Mu Zhiming shouted, the sound of someone’s sleeves swept into the air. After the sound of something approaching at a fast speed was heard, Wen Heyin, dressed in an indigo bodyguard uniform, landed in front of Mu Zhiming.

Since Wen Heyin had quite sharp ears, and also just so happened to live close by, he was able to come to Mu Zhiming as soon as he shouted.

“Young Master, what’s wrong?” Wen Heyin asked.

Mu Zhiming said: “I have to go out, come with me.”

“Go out in the middle of the night?” Wen Heyin was confused. “Where are you going?”

Mu Zhiming lowered his voice: “I’m going to General Gu’s Residence. We must go in secret, my parents can’t know.”