Xie Zheng became regent, and Fan Changyu was named General Huaihua.
With the young emperor enthroned and the court still unsettled, the couple stayed in the capital: one held the court steady, the other commanded the army. Everyone said the regent wielded power over the realm, but they didn’t know that after finishing his memorials each day, he went to the kitchen to leave a bowl of food for the general when she came home late. Everyone said General Huaihua was decisive and ruthless, but they didn’t know that the first thing she did when she returned home was pick up her little sister Changning and ask if she had been good that day.
Six-year-old Emperor Qi Yu slipped out of the palace every few days to dig for earthworms and share osmanthus cakes with Changning in the imperial garden. He would solemnly tell her, “When I grow up, I’ll marry you.” A six-year-old child didn’t understand what it meant to offer someone an empire as a wedding gift. He only knew to give her the candy he couldn’t bear to eat himself.
The Jinzhou massacre of seventeen years ago had long since been redressed, and Wei Yan had been brought to justice. But the letter he left before his execution was like a stone thrown into still water: “I was not the one who switched the Chongzhou military tally.”
Xie Zheng didn’t want to investigate. Changyu said, “If you want to look into it, then do. If you don’t, then don’t. I’ll be here either way.”
She didn’t say, “I’ll investigate with you,” or, “I’ll help you get revenge.” She simply told him that whatever he chose to do, she would be there.
Where swords are laid down, there is home.
This is a story about finding home: leaving the halls of power for ordinary streets, letting go of hatred, going from being alone to being a couple, and from two people to a family of four.
There are no grand, dramatic vows, only a bowl of food left out in the dead of night. No tearful promises to follow each other to the ends of life and death, only the words, “I’ll be here.”
The story begins in the capital and ends in Xigu Lane.
May love find its way into everyday life, and may people find their way back to the ordinary.
I hope the teacher will continue to update