Chapter 849: Heart Like Iron

"Speaking of Yan Baoru, that brings Tong Mo to mind." Niu Youdao suddenly tossed out the remark. After pondering for a while, he slowly said, "Make preparations. We're going to Yanjing."

"Yanjing?" Guan Fangyi's expression turned solemn. "I'm afraid we don't have enough manpower to guarantee your safety there."

Niu Youdao gave a faint, ambiguous snort. "No need to mobilize everyone. After all these years, I've never shown myself openly in Yanjing. This time, let's give it a try."

"Show yourself openly?" Guan Fangyi was shocked and immediately urged him to think twice.

...

An honored guest arrived in Nanzhou's provincial capital: Shang Youlan, Empress Dowager of Zhao. She had come to see her own daughter, Hai Ruyue.

Naturally, seeking out Hai Ruyue at a time like this was also for the sake of negotiating a ceasefire between Yan and Zhao.

Shang Jianxiong had explained the situation clearly enough, but Shang Youlan also knew that Shang Chaozong probably could not decide the matter on his own either. The cultivator powers standing behind the various factions had already fought until their eyes were red. Those cultivators were the true key to whether the war continued or peace was made.

Even if Shang Chaozong could help, going to him directly would probably be useless. If she could not even move a nephew related to her more closely, what hope was there in relying on a more distant family connection with Shang Chaozong?

That was why she had come to seek out her daughter instead. Hai Ruyue was her own flesh and blood. Perhaps if she personally pleaded with her, it might have some effect.

Hai Ruyue, after all, controlled Jinzhou's forces and was currently fighting alongside Shang Chaozong. Holding a certain amount of military power meant she should have at least some influence over him. If Shang Youlan could persuade her daughter to accompany her in speaking to Shang Chaozong, her chances would improve.

The reason Hai Ruyue was presently in Nanzhou was that the war had not yet ended.

She was temporarily staying in Nanzhou and handling Jinzhou's affairs from afar. As for the fighting at the front, she had never personally gone onto a battlefield and knew nothing of warfare. Forced by circumstances, she had already handed full command of Jinzhou's forces to Shang Chaozong.

Whatever the relations between Yan and Zhao, Shang Youlan's seniority within the family remained what it was. When word came that she had arrived, not only Hai Ruyue but also the heavily pregnant Princess Consort Feng Ruonan and Commandery Princess Shang Shuqing personally went out to welcome her. Both younger women had to address her as Great-Aunt.

Although Shang Youlan had heard certain things about the tall and powerfully built Feng Ruonan, seeing her appearance with her own eyes still left her rather surprised.

She was a woman who had seen much of the world. What sort of Princess Consort had she not encountered? Yet this was the first time she had ever seen one who looked like this.

She could not help sighing inwardly. Those who accomplish great things truly do not fuss over trifles. For the sake of rising to power, Shang Chaozong had actually married a woman with looks like these. Even some idle member of the Shang imperial clan would probably have married someone prettier.

As for Shang Shuqing, she inspired another inward sigh. Everyone knew the Shang bloodline was noble, and among the daughters of the Shang clan, for one to be this ugly—ugly enough to frighten people—made her a singular oddity.

Shang Youlan did not even know what kind of luck Shang Chaozong was supposed to have. Not one of his closest female relatives was attractive. His wife was tall and broad like a man, while his younger sister was frighteningly ugly. What kind of fortune was that?

As these thoughts passed through her mind, she glanced at her own daughter. If fate had not played tricks on them, the families might once have become kin upon kin. Shang Shuqing might even have been her own granddaughter. Had the girl been born to Hai Ruyue, she probably would not have looked this bad.

Back when Hai Ruyue had been sent to Yanjing as a hostage, Shang Youlan had known of the relationship between the two cousins. Shang Jianbo should have been Hai Ruyue's first man.

Perhaps this daughter of hers had been destined to share a bond with her cousin Shang Jianbo. In those years in Yanjing, Hai Ruyue had received Shang Jianbo's protection. Now, years later, she was being protected by Shang Jianbo's son.

Old affairs led all the way to the present day. Between then and now, how many mists and storms had passed, how many turns of wind and cloud, how much laughter, blood, and tears? The thought left Shang Youlan filled with emotion.

Even so, she still took Shang Shuqing's hand and patted it between her own, smiling warmly. "Qing'er, the last time I saw you should have been twenty years ago, when I came home to visit my family. Your father brought you and your elder brother to see me. You were still very young then. I imagine you no longer remember me?"

Shang Shuqing replied politely, "Great-Aunt's voice, features, and smile left a deep impression. I have never forgotten them. I still remember."

Outside the city was no place for a proper conversation, so they invited Shang Youlan inside.

A guest residence had originally been arranged for her, but Shang Youlan declined it and said she wished to stay with her daughter.

Feng Ruonan had merely been fulfilling the courtesies of a host and did not insist. Lan Ruoting, acting in his usual role as adviser, had reminded her properly of everything beforehand, so there would be no mistakes.

Although Shang Shuqing was Shang Chaozong's younger sister, in a certain sense her status was still slightly below Feng Ruonan's. Feng Ruonan was the Princess Consort, the mistress of this household. With Shang Chaozong absent, it naturally fell to Feng Ruonan to perform the duties of the host.

There was no helping it. If their parents were still alive, and if this were still Shang Shuqing's natal home—the old Prince Ning's Residence—then Feng Ruonan's standing in that residence would certainly not surpass hers as Commandery Princess.

If Shang Chaozong had remained unmarried, then the younger sister who had depended on him all these years could also be counted as the mistress here.

But Shang Chaozong had now married and established his own household. Feng Ruonan, the woman he married into it, naturally became the mistress of the Prince's residence. Even Meng Shanming and Lan Ruoting had come to support that arrangement almost without noticing it. Shang Shuqing, the Commandery Princess, could only find herself gradually moved aside, yielding the place of mistress to Feng Ruonan without anyone ever formally declaring it...

"Where is my little grandson?"

The moment they reached Hai Ruyue's residence, Shang Youlan began calling for the child.

Hai Ruyue's smile was somewhat forced. In truth, she did not want her mother to see her son. But the visitor was still her own mother, and the request was entirely reasonable. She could hardly refuse, so she ordered someone to bring him over.

When Shang Youlan saw the fair, plump little boy, now old enough to toddle unsteadily, she broke into a delighted smile. Forgetting the dignity of an Empress Dowager, she crouched on the ground to tease her little grandson, hugged him, and kissed him again and again, plainly very fond of him.

Most elderly people liked children. With age came experience, and with experience came knowledge of how complicated the human heart could be. Children, by contrast, were simple and innocent. Around them, the elderly could genuinely lower their guard.

Afterward, Shang Youlan beckoned behind her. A eunuch carried over a casket and opened it. She personally took out an exquisitely crafted golden longevity lock and prepared to hang it around her little grandson's neck.

Hai Ruyue's eyes flew wide. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she shrieked, "Don't!"

The cry startled everyone. Cultivator guards nearby flashed into view one after another, while the retainer cultivators accompanying Shang Youlan also went on alert and scanned the surroundings.

Hai Ruyue had already slapped her mother's hand aside and snatched up her son, retreating with him in her arms. She hurriedly ordered someone to take the child away.

Shang Youlan slowly rose, stunned, still holding the golden lock. "This is only a small token from a grandmother to her grandson. Why refuse it?"

Pain showed faintly on Hai Ruyue's face. She shook her head. "Mother, I'm afraid. The gifts you sent last time nearly cost both me and your grandson our lives. I'm truly afraid now. The gifts you people send are impossible to guard against. I truly don't dare casually..." She stopped before finishing and shook her head again.

Everyone understood what she meant. Once bitten by a snake, one feared the well rope for ten years.

Shang Youlan's expression cooled slightly. "You don't even trust your own mother?"

Hai Ruyue looked helpless. "It was precisely because I trusted you that I couldn't resist touching the things you sent. Those were all memories from my childhood, things you had gathered and kept for me. How could you bear to put poison on the things carrying your daughter's childhood memories?"

The words left Shang Youlan looking ashamed. Pain surfaced in her eyes. "Yue'er, you've misunderstood. That was not something Mother did. It was your... it was the Emperor. I knew nothing at the time. I only learned afterward, and when I did, I gave the Emperor a vicious scolding!"

She had almost said "your elder brother," but changed it to "the Emperor" before the words left her mouth.

Hai Ruyue shook her head. "Who did it no longer matters. The memories of my childhood that you sent me became my nightmares. I burned them all in a single fire. I truly didn't dare keep them anymore. It's all in the past now."

The words stabbed deeply into Shang Youlan's heart. She drew the golden lock back and slowly returned it to the casket, then waved for her attendants to withdraw.

Hai Ruyue likewise waved away the guards who had been watching everyone like tigers.

For mother and daughter to have reached the point where they guarded against each other with such caution left every onlooker sighing inwardly.

Once most of the others were gone, Shang Youlan stepped forward and took Hai Ruyue's hand. "Yue'er, Mother knows you've had a hard life. You've suffered all these years."

In an instant, countless memories surged through Hai Ruyue's mind. How many times had she hovered at the edge of life and death? How many times had she stripped herself before one man after another and degraded herself merely to survive, earning endless whispers and fingers pointed behind her back? She had not even been able to care for her eldest son. No one knew how much bitterness she had swallowed.

At last, tears welled in her eyes. Hai Ruyue choked out, "It's all right. I'm used to it."

"All these years, you never returned to the capital to see Mother, but I never blamed you. I've lived through things too. I understand. I know the difficulties you faced. I understand all of it. But there was no other way!" Shang Youlan patted the back of her daughter's hand, tears filling her own eyes.

"Wah..." Hai Ruyue finally broke. She threw her arms around her mother and began sobbing uncontrollably in her embrace.

Shang Youlan patted her daughter's back, tears spilling down her face as she lifted her gaze toward the heavens.

Only after the mother and daughter had both steadied their emotions and wiped away their tears did Hai Ruyue become the Hai Ruyue of the present once more. She was no longer the young girl who had once sat at her mother's knee dreaming of the future. Some things could move her for a moment, but they could no longer make her act on emotion.

After weathering so many storms, her heart was like iron.

When Shang Youlan raised the matter of Yan and Zhao, Hai Ruyue kept changing the subject and simply refused to engage with it.

At last Shang Youlan was driven to desperation. "Yue'er, will you only be satisfied once you've driven your mother to death?"

Hai Ruyue replied, "Mother, I truly cannot decide this matter. It would be useless."

"If you don't even try your hardest, how do you know it will be useless?" Shang Youlan said. "Mother promises you here and now: if this succeeds, it won't stop at Jinzhou. I will make the Emperor agree to carve out another two provinces' worth of territory from Zhao and give it to you. Will that do?"

Hai Ruyue said, "Mother, don't you think it's a little late to say such things now?"

Shang Youlan was heartbroken. "That is your elder brother! Both of you are flesh that fell from my body. Why must brother and sister reach the point of killing one another?"

Hai Ruyue answered with perfect calm. "Mother, when Elder Brother wanted to kill me, did you stop him? Could you have stopped him? Whether I can do anything now is beside the point. You understand better than anyone that even if I spare him today, he will still try to kill me tomorrow. So long as an opportunity exists, he will never leave me a road to survival."

"Where is Niu Youdao? Can you introduce me to him? Even if Mother has to beg you!"

"Mother, there's no need. If I have the chance to return to Jinzhou, come live there with me. Your daughter will certainly take good care of you."

The young girl of those years had weathered wind and rain.

Her heart was now like iron.

[End of Chapter 849]