Chapter Ninety-Two: Gone

Chen Yan shrieked for a long while. When she saw that Chen Shu had stared at her for a moment and then turned away, fear seized her. She hurriedly dropped the hands covering her ears, rushed forward in tears, and clutched Chen Shu tightly, choking out, “Fourth Brother, Fourth Brother, won’t you help me either?”

This was Chen Yan’s favorite line. When she had wanted Chen Shu to kill her closest female friend, she had said these very words. When Chen Shu had seen her “accidentally” kick her half-sister into the pond and she had begged him not to tell anyone, she had used the same plea.

All along, whenever she said this, everyone had helped her.

Through Chen Yan’s tear-filled eyes, Chen Shu slowly pried her hands away and said in a low voice, “Ayan, Fourth Brother has done all he can. You must take care of yourself.”

After a pause, Chen Shu sighed softly. “Hua Chang is utterly devoted to you. Ayan, he will be your husband from now on. You should treat him better.”

With that, he stepped out of the tent.

“No—” Seeing that even her most indulgent Fourth Brother was leaving her behind, Chen Yan clamped her hands over her ears and screamed again.

By the time daylight was fully upon them, a stir ran through the Chen caravan, and then several ox carts, along with a dozen sturdy servants and maids, broke away from the line. Seeing the ox cart at the very front, tightly covered from view, Ati puckered her lips and murmured, “The Chens are sending Chen Yan away.”

Xiao Yan also said, “Honestly, Chen Yan really is beautiful. What a shame.”

No sooner had she said that than a servant woman stepped out from the procession that had just reached the main road.

At first, everyone assumed the woman was heading back toward the Chen camp. To their surprise, she made straight for Lu Ying instead.

Before long, the servant woman had reached Lu Ying. After bowing to her, she said, “Lady Lu, my mistress wishes to see you.”

The mistress she referred to was naturally Chen Yan.

No one had expected it. Chen Yan was leaving, and she still wanted to see Lu Ying? And at this point, the servant woman at her side was still speaking in that haughty, imperious manner. At once, everyone turned to look at Lu Ying.

Did Chen Yan want to see her? Had she begun to suspect her?

That thought flashed through Lu Ying’s mind, but her lovely face showed nothing. She glanced at the servant woman and shook her head. “I am not familiar with your mistress.”

She had refused outright.

Seeing that Lu Ying would not comply, the servant woman looked somewhat embarrassed. She had come under strict orders. After thinking it over, she lowered herself and pleaded, “Lady Lu, my mistress is about to leave. She only wishes to speak with you once before she goes. Please, just agree.”

As soon as those words were spoken, Ati grew curious. She urged from the side, “Ah Ying, go see what she wants to say. Hee hee, she’s leaving and still insisting on seeing you. I’m dying to know what’s on her mind.”

Agree? Why should she agree? Chen Yan was already cornered; if Lu Ying went over on her own, what would she gain besides making a mess of herself?

As the sages say, a gentleman never stands beneath a collapsing wall.

So Lu Ying shook her head and said, “I am not acquainted with Lady Chen.” With that, she turned and stepped back.

Seeing her refusal, the servant woman had no choice but to return. She had barely said a word to the ox cart when another burst of shrill screaming rose from inside.

Hearing that cry, Chen Shu did not approach this time. In truth, he had been hiding in the tent all along and had not come to see his sister off at all.

Inside the ox cart, Chen Yan screamed for a while longer and then said something else, but no one paid any attention to her now. After someone from the Chen family barked an order, the convoy moved off amid Chen Yan’s renewed screams, receding into the distance.

Watching Chen Yan’s departing figure, Ati tilted her head and said, “Actually, she isn’t quite that miserable. Being with the person she likes doesn’t really count as misery.”

After that, both groups busied themselves again. Once breakfast was finished, they continued on toward Chengdu.

Compared with Ati and the others, who bounded along full of life, the Chen family was noticeably subdued. After all, they were relocating the entire clan to Chengdu, with many plans in motion. Yet before they had even reached their destination, something like this had happened. It was truly lamentable.

Inside the tent, Chen Shu was utterly exhausted. He had sensed that there was something suspicious about the matter of his sister and Hua Chang’s adultery; perhaps someone had set her up. But no matter how he thought about it, he could not determine who had done it.

For one thing, the bamboo tube containing the incense had been identified by others as belonging to Hua Chang. For another, Chen Yan insisted again and again that it had been done by Lady Lu. But Lady Lu was only a helpless woman with no strength to speak of. How could she possibly have had the means to carry out such a thing?

Even if Hua Chang claimed that the incense was meant for dealing with Lady Lu and had been left outside her tent, Chen Shu still believed that the person who had harmed his sister could only be the one secretly protecting Lady Lu—not Lady Lu herself.

After thinking it over, Chen Shu rubbed his brow and wearily told himself: it has come to this. What is the use of dwelling on it? There are so many people shielding that Lady Lu. How could one possibly move against her?

No sooner had everyone set out again than the sound of hoofbeats came pounding from behind them.

At that heavy drumming of hooves, everyone turned at once. Not far behind them, a cloud of dust rose high into the air, and some thirty riders came galloping hard after them. With every stride, the ground seemed to rumble.

Ati, Mo Yuan, and the others, who had been laughing and chatting moments before, fell silent at once. Even Lu Ying turned to look.

Last night, they had seen those riders only in the darkness. Today, with the sun high and bright, everyone wanted a proper look at this group of riders who had come and gone so mysteriously.

Soon, the thirty-odd riders in silver robes and silver armor came into view. The one at the head was precisely that young general. In the blazing sunlight, the young general’s features appeared all the more handsome and composed.

Amid a burst of hoofbeats, the riders slowed gradually. When they reached the group, the young general gave a slight nod in greeting, then rode over to Lu Ying’s donkey cart and looked down at her. “What happened this morning? Why were you all making such a commotion?”

The young general ignored everyone else and asked Lu Ying directly. In an instant, Chen Shu, Wen Qing, and Wang Shang all changed expression.

Lu Ying glanced back at the Chen family and said, “Only some private women’s trifles.”

The young general nodded, though his keen gaze remained fixed on Lu Ying.

This young general was strikingly handsome, and every gesture he made carried the arrogance of a noble-born son. Men like him were not someone ordinary people could simply draw near. So Wang Shang rode over at once, bowed to him, and asked respectfully, “May I ask, General, are you General Geng of the Left?”

The young general gave him a brief glance, then nodded. “Yes.”

The moment he spoke those two words, an uproar broke out all around them.

In that uproar, whether the young men and women or the Chen family, all became excited at once. Even Chen Shu, who had been despondent and stricken over Chen Yan’s affair, raised his head to look at the young general.

So he really was General Geng of the Left!

Last night, he had still wanted to have Ayan attract the general’s attention, had still listened to Ayan’s confident words about winning this man’s heart. Yet in the blink of an eye, everything had come to this.

Taking a deep breath and forcing down the bitterness in his heart, Chen Shu rode forward toward the young general.

But he was not the only one moving closer to him. Still, after a few steps on horseback, everyone who tried was met with a cold, ferocious glance from the man, and one by one they reined in their mounts without meaning to.

Behind Lu Ying, Xiao Yan lifted her face and gazed at the young general in a trance.

Not far away, Lu Ying heard several voices murmuring, “So he really is from the Geng family.” “We should have guessed long ago. In all of Luoyang, how many men that young and that handsome have ever risen to the rank of general?” “General Geng of the Left truly lives up to his name as one of Luoyang’s famed beauties.” “More than that, really. Not only is he handsome, he is also known for his spotless reputation. Since he has always been away at war, he has never married. They say every young lady in Luoyang dreams of becoming his wife.”

At that, Lu Ying was slightly startled. In this age, among noble youths of seventeen or eighteen who were still neither married nor betrothed, one could truly count them on one’s fingers. No one knew what reason had kept General Geng unmarried until now.

Amid the murmurs and whispered discussion, the convoy continued on. Meanwhile, the young general rode at an unhurried pace beside the young men.

The Geng clan wielded immense power throughout Luoyang, a power far beyond what any of the great families settled in remote Chengdu could compare with. Because of this, both the young men and women and the Chen family all strained to their utmost, each hoping to exchange a few words with him and win the favor of this outstanding scion of the Geng family.

But this general seemed rather cold by nature. His face remained stern, and whoever addressed him received only a chilly glance. In this manner, anyone who tried to draw near found themselves frozen into silence.

After traveling in silence for a while, General Geng nudged his horse and drew close again to Lu Ying’s donkey cart. In a cold voice, he said, “Those people did not come last night.”

Lu Ying shook her head and said softly, “Perhaps our guess was wrong.”

By now she had sensed that more and more eyes were turning toward her, even Ati blinking at her with undisguised curiosity.

Lu Ying lowered her head slightly. Though the movement was small, it clearly signaled her reluctance.

General Geng noticed her refusal. He glanced at her, the corner of his mouth tugging faintly, but did not ride away.

At that moment, another burst of hoofbeats sounded from behind them.

These hoofbeats were entirely different from those of General Geng’s party. They, too, came swiftly, but with a steady, deliberate rhythm. From the sound alone, the newcomers must number at least several hundred.

Lu Ying turned to look.

At the far edge of sight, dust surged skyward. Amid a rolling tide of cavalry came more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages.

As Lu Ying watched, General Geng also turned back. Looking and looking, he slowly furrowed his brow, and his eyes sharpened even more.

The force behind them drew nearer and nearer.

Seeing the approaching company made up entirely of cavalry and carriages, the crowd exchanged glances for a moment. Then Wen Qing turned to Lu Ying and asked, “Ah Ying, should we move aside?”

He did not ask the elder Master Chen, but rather Lu Ying, a woman. Without anyone quite realizing it, Lu Ying had already become their leader.

The young general cast Lu Ying a glance, then looked back at the convoy. After observing it for a moment, he said, “Better to step aside.”

As soon as he said this, Wang Shang, Wen Qing, and the Chen family at once ordered their vehicles to retreat to either side of the road, leaving a clear path in the middle.

After all, if a man of General Geng’s stature said that they ought to give way, then the status of the newcomers was obvious.

Amid the thunderous, ever-closer hoofbeats, the young men and women suddenly felt their own hearts quickening in time with that rhythm.