Chapter 131

Chapter 131: Don’t Cry

Chun Zhi took the handkerchief, dried her tears, and said to Madam Mu with a smile: “Mother, do not cry. I am living very well now.”

Madam Mu nodded and said: “Mother will not cry.”

Talking together as a family, they soon arrived at the new residence Huo Zheng had bought. There was no plaque on the gate yet, but the steward and maids had been waiting there for some time.

When the carriage stopped at the main door, a footman set out the step stool, a maid lifted the curtain, and the servants all called together: “Welcome home, Master.”

Mu Qing Shan stepped down, looked once at the Capital he had not seen for many years, then turned back to help Madam Mu alight.

The couple, along with the young Mu Kai Ji, had left the Capital eleven years before. Now that they had returned, everything felt strange.

Standing before the new house with his parents, Mu Kai Ji thought of the bitter cold and poverty of the Northern Frontier. They had lived for years among broken tiles and ruined walls and had not dared hope for a day when they could come back to the Capital.

Helping Chun Zhi down, Huo Zheng said courteously: “Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Big Brother, please come in.”

Mu Qing Shan lifted a hand and said: “Prince, after you.”

Inside, maids and attendants came forward to serve them. Hot water was brought right away so they could wash.

Huo Zheng reminded Mu Qing Shan: “Since Father-in-law was summoned back to the Capital, the first thing on arrival should be to enter the palace and have audience with the Emperor.”

“You are right,” Mu Qing Shan said, not even washing his face. “I will go into the palace at once.” He was not worried about looking travel-worn. The Emperor would want to see exactly how much he had changed.

Mu Qing Shan left immediately, taking the same blue-cloth carriage that had brought him back, and went to the palace.

Madam Mu and Mu Kai Ji grew anxious.

Huo Zheng tried to comfort them and said: “Since Emperor Father decided to summon Father-in-law back to the Capital, it means he intends to employ him again. Mother-in-law and Big Brother, please do not worry.”

Even so, it was hard not to worry. An emperor’s favor and anger could turn in a single thought. No one knew what would happen next.

Chun Zhi said gently: “Mother and Big Brother, the road has been tiring. Wash off the dust and change your clothes. I have already had food prepared. It will be ready very soon.”

Madam Mu agreed with a quiet “good,” though her eyes never left Chun Zhi.

“I will help Mother bathe,” Chun Zhi said.

Madam Mu nodded and said: “Then I will trouble Zhi’er.”

Water was scarce at the Northern Frontier. Bathing there was a luxury. After so many years of hardship, Mu Kai Ji had long since lost the habits of a spoiled young master. When a maid offered to help him bathe, he quickly refused and shut the door to wash himself.

Huo Zheng told the steward to set a welcoming feast for the Mu family.

Chun Zhi helped Madam Mu bathe, and the two of them talked in private. Madam Mu’s hands were rough from years of hard work without rest. If not for the hope of seeing her daughter again, she might have given out long ago, buried under wind and snow at the Northern Frontier.

“Zhi’er, does Prince Chang’an treat you well?” Madam Mu asked softly.

“Yes,” Chun Zhi said. “He treats me very well.”

From the way Prince Chang’an had personally helped Zhi’er on and off the carriage, Madam Mu had already guessed as much. People of the Imperial Clan often had little true feeling. If she could have chosen freely, she would have wished for a son-in-law of lower rank. But after eleven years apart, it was blessing enough to meet again alive. There was no use bringing up things that did not matter now.

Chun Zhi scooped warm water and poured it gently over her mother’s shoulders. Images flashed in her mind of her mother bathing her when she was little. She raised a hand to her forehead.

Seeing this, Madam Mu quickly steadied her and asked: “Zhi’er, what is wrong?”

“It is nothing,” Chun Zhi said. “I just remembered some things from childhood and got a small headache.”

“If the past is forgotten, let it be,” Madam Mu said softly. “We can remember the present, and that we will see each other often from now on.”

Chun Zhi answered with a quiet “mm.”

Madam Mu told Chun Zhi to sit and rest, saying she could finish bathing herself. Chun Zhi sat obediently to the side and said in a low voice: “I was only thinking how you used to bathe me like this when I was small.”

Madam Mu had loved her daughter dearly and always did everything herself. When they were separated, Zhi’er had been only nine. If she woke from a nightmare at night and could not find her mother, she would cry.

Madam Mu did not know how Zhi’er had lived through the eleven years away. She had once been so pampered. How had she managed to rise before dawn to make tofu and sell it?

While she bathed, Madam Mu cried in silence. Her tears fell into the tub without a sound.

“Mother, do not cry. From now on our days will be good,” Chun Zhi said when she noticed.

“Not crying, Mother is not crying,” Madam Mu answered as she wiped her eyes in a hurry. She washed away the dust of travel and put on the silk clothes Chun Zhi had prepared.

With her own hands, Chun Zhi arranged a simple and elegant bun for her mother and set in a jade hairpin and earrings.

Seated before the bronze mirror, Madam Mu stared for a moment. She could not remember the last time she had dressed herself properly. After wearing rough cloth for so long, she had forgotten what silk felt like. The eleven years at the Northern Frontier had been a very long nightmare, one she thought she would never wake from. Yet one day, someone broke that dream and brought them back to life.

Looking at her reflection, Madam Mu sighed and said: “Zhi’er has only just grown up, yet Mother is already old.”

“Mother is not old,” Chun Zhi said. “You have only suffered too much. If you rest and take care, you will recover.”

Madam Mu smiled and said: “As long as I can see Zhi’er every day, I will be happy.”

“There is much more for you to be happy about,” Chun Zhi said as she helped her mother stand. “You not only have me. You also have a grandson. He is still very little, so I did not bring him today. In a few days, I will bring him for you to see.”

“Grandson?” Madam Mu asked in surprise. She had not expected her daughter to already have a child. “You and Prince Chang’an…”

Chun Zhi said calmly: “Prince Chang’an and I already married back in Linshui Town, and the child is from that time. It is a long story between us. When there is time, I will tell you everything.”

Madam Mu stroked Chun Zhi’s hair with love. Mother and daughter left the courtyard for the front hall and saw Mu Kai Ji speaking with Huo Zheng.

Mu Kai Ji had always been handsome. Clean and dressed in brocade with a jade hairpin holding his hair, his features were even more striking. He already had half the charm Mu Qing Shan had when he once captivated the Capital.

Seeing Chun Zhi and Madam Mu, both men stood at once. “Mother-in-law,” Huo Zheng called politely, though his eyes stayed on Chun Zhi.

“Mother and Sister are here,” Mu Kai Ji said. “The Prince and I were just saying we do not know how Father is doing in the palace.”

Already worried, Madam Mu knew well her husband’s unbending nature. She feared he might offend the Emperor again and that the Emperor would send them back to the Northern Frontier. She could not sit still.

Seeing her mother like this, Chun Zhi also could not help worrying.