The mountain has trees, and the trees have seventy-three branches; on the road I met

  Han Emperor Hui's first year, spring.

  The mulberry trees by the roadside have sprouted new green, and the orioles are singing melodiously, flitting from one branch to another. The river ice has melted, and the water is flowing gently, splashing out clear waves. The earth is warming up, and east of the imperial capital Chang'an, everything is full of vitality, and the atmosphere is filled with the spirit of spring.

  A long way off, a team of horses and carriages came from afar. In the middle was the most spacious Tongmu Xuan carriage of the time, with an outer layer of oil wall, painted with black lacquer to resist wind and rain. On the wind-swept banner above the carriage, a "Zhao" character was written.

  After the death of Emperor Gao, Crown Prince Liu Ying ascended to the throne and Empress Lü Zhi became Empress Dowager. The current emperor is benevolent and filial, treating his mother with great respect. Empress Dowager Lü took advantage of this to change her gentle and yielding nature during Emperor Gao's reign, becoming arrogant and overbearing. In the autumn of the 12th year of Han, Empress Dowager Lü sent an envoy to Zhao State in Handan, summoning King You of Zhao to come to Chang'an for an audience. King You was young and didn't know what to do, but his prime minister Zhou Chang was extremely bold and said that the king was weak and shouldn't attend the audience, sending the Han envoy back. This happened several times, and on the fourth time, Empress Dowager Lü became enraged and sent another edict to Handan, no longer summoning King You of Zhao but instead summoning Prime Minister Zhou Chang.

  Zhou Chang could refuse to accept the imperial edict when he was in Zhao, but when it came to himself, he had no choice but to obey. As he bid farewell to King of Zhao, he sighed and said to the sky, "Emperor Gao, you entrusted Zhou Chang with a task, but Zhou Chang is unable to complete it." He instructed the King of Zhao, "Do not enter Chang'an."

  Zhou Chang returned to Chang'an. Empress Lü rebuked him face to face, saying: "Don't you know that I have been disgusted with Zhao Wang for a long time? Why do you still want to protect that little boy now?"

  Zhou Chang replied in a serious tone, "In the past, the former emperor ordered me to be the prime minister of Zhao State and entrusted the king of Zhao to me. I should do my best."

  In the past, Zhou Chang had helped Empress Lü and her son maintain their positions, so Empress Lü couldn't blame Zhou Chang too much. After a long silence, she said, "As the saying goes, 'Those not in office do not discuss its politics.' Now that you are no longer the Chancellor of Zhao, let it go."

  The envoy of Zhao Wang soon arrived in Handan. Liu Ruyi lost the protection of Zhou Chang and could not resist, so he had to board the carriage and return to Chang'an, where he once called home as a child, under the escort of the Han envoy.

  On this day, the horse and carriage passed through Xuanping County. It was already past noon. Ruyi lifted up the curtain of the carriage and instructed, "We've traveled for so many hours on the road. Let's take a break and have lunch."

  "Yes." The guard replied. The speed of the imperial carriage slowed down gradually.

  "What's wrong? What's wrong?" The carriage behind caught up. Han envoy Wei Chang held the token and stuck his head out to ask, "It's all right, why did you stop."

  Ru Yi took a deep breath and smiled, "Lord Wei. This king is feeling hungry and tired, wants to rest for a while before continuing on the journey, and also take lunch."

  "It's still early in the day." Wei Changpi smiled wryly and replied, "If King Zhao is hungry, I have brought some dry rations here that can fill his belly. Madame Qi is still waiting anxiously for Your Majesty to return to Chang'an. Can't you, King Zhao, even bear this little hardship?"

  "You——" The whole body of Ruo Yi Qi trembled with anger.

  "What about me?" Wei Changhui maintained a smiling expression and said lightly. "What does King Zhao intend to do?"

  With a flourish, he threw down the reins and shouted, "Continue on your journey."

  Wei Chang smiled faintly and looked up at the front of the main road.

  Ahead, dust rose where a carriage was coming. By its side walked a servant, suggesting it wasn't an ordinary family.

  "This is the imperial carriage of Zhao Wang entering the capital." The front guard had already shouted, "Don't you dare block the way!" However, the horse-drawn vehicle still didn't yield or give way, and directly came towards this side.

  "What kind of audacity does this young whelp have," Wei Chang shouted loudly, "to dare to crash into the royal carriage of King Zhao?"

  The carriage stopped before hitting the person, and the driver shouted in a loud voice, "Please forgive me, sir. My wife is the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Xuanping's family, and she heard that King Zhao was taking the road to Xuanping to return to Beijing, so she came to see him off."

  The carriage curtain was lifted, and a ten-year-old girl got out of the carriage, raised her head and shouted, "Ruyi."

  "A Yan."

  The servant set up a couch and table under the shade of the tree, and the two sat facing each other. After a long while, Zhang Yan smiled sideways and said, "It's been years since we last met, you've grown taller, thinner, and more melancholy." The boy who was as bright and beautiful as jade in the Chang Le Palace that year had disappeared, leaving behind only a youth who had experienced the taste of worldly affairs.

  Ru Yi also smiled, "Ah Yan has grown up and become beautiful."

  She wore a yellow silk skirt today, with a green underskirt underneath, her hair was styled in a bun on top of her head, with the remaining hair tied up again, making her look even more refreshing and elegant, like the gentle spring light that wafts through the fields.

  "You shouldn't have agreed to go to Chang'an." Zhang Yan said with a lowered head.

  "Yes." Ruyi smiled lightly, "Prime Minister Zhou also said so. But Ah Yan, my home is in Chang'an."

  "When my father passed away, I was in Handan and heard the news of national mourning. I cried so much that I couldn't eat. I wanted to return to Chang'an for the funeral, but Zhou Xiangguo wouldn't let me. He said, 'Your Highness, you should think about yourself too, and it's not suitable for you to enter Chang'an at this time.'"

  "I know he did it for my own good. But Ah Yan, as a son, I grew up under the Emperor's knees since childhood, and when he passed away, I didn't even have the chance to pay my respects in front of his tomb. Ah Yan, what can I do? I can live freely in Handan, but my mother is still in Chang'an, how can I abandon her?"

  Zhang Yan was speechless, looking at the excited young man in front of her. When did that carefree and innocent Zhao Wang also grow up to be a King with deep troubles? The wind by the Wei River that year could never return again.

  "What do you plan to do then?" She asked softly after a long while.

  Ru Yi sighed and said, "I want to take Mother Empress back to Zhao Di, serve her well and let her live out the rest of her years in peace. From now on, I will never enter Chang'an again."

  "The Empress Dowager will not easily agree."

  "I know." Ru Yi suddenly became excited, grasping Zhang Yan's hand, "So Ah Yan, the Empress Dowager has always doted on you, can you go and plead with her on my mother's behalf to let us mother and son go?"

  Zhang Yan struggled in shock, but Ruyi's strength was considerable, and she couldn't break free at all. Panting, she said, "Are you crazy? What virtue do I have to make the Empress Dowager change her mind? The Empress Dowager values the Emperor's uncle the most, yet even after the Emperor's uncle advised for half a year, did the Empress Dowager show any sign of intention?"

  "Yes." As if in a daze, she suddenly let go of his hand.

  She looked at him with a soft heart and advised, "Ru Yi, when you go to Chang'an, first, persuade Madame Qi to apologize to the Empress Dowager. The situation is stronger than people, bowing one's head is not a big deal. If she can keep her life, even if she becomes a concubine, it's not bad. Second, if things don't go well, rely on the Emperor's uncle, he has a soft heart and will definitely use all his strength to protect you."

  "Got it," Yiyi said with a sarcastic smile. "I'm not a kid, I need you to tell me what to do?"

  "The most important thing is," Zhang Yan suddenly stood up, holding the Ruyi tightly. "You must not slack off, follow the Emperor's uncle closely, eat what he eats, sleep where he sleeps. When he goes hunting, you have to follow him too. In short, don't leave his side for a single step."

  "It can't be that serious?" Yu smiled in surprise.

  "It's that serious." Zhang Yan emphasized solemnly.

  "Alright, alright." He said with a hint of annoyance, "Let's talk about it. Ah Yan, you're still younger than me by several years, so by seniority, you should be calling me Uncle. How can you lecture me with such big principles, one after another? It's not cute at all, and it's a waste of that pretty face of yours."

  Zhang Yan's forehead throbbed with anger, this dead kid, who was she working hard for, who was she busy for. And yet she still had to suffer his disdain.

  After drinking and eating, he let out a satisfied sigh and said vaguely, "A Yan, I should go."

  "Hmm." Zhang Yan also responded softly.

  Looking from afar at the two getting up, Wei Chang hurriedly came forward, his chubby face smiling like a chrysanthemum, and asked with a bow. "Madam Zhang is far away in Xuanping, I am about to escort King Zhao back to Chang'an. Does Madam have any items that you want me to deliver to Princess Ruyuan?"

  Zhang Yan gave him a strange look and said, "If I want to send something to my mother, there are post stations for transmission, no need for Lord Wei to trouble himself."

  Wei Chang ran into a soft nail and didn't dare get angry, slowly retreating to one side.

  "Your Excellency," a minor official in attendance asked curiously, "I don't understand. Zhao Wang is of noble birth and a king among the vassals. You treat him with such severity, it's not as if you're showing him respect. That girl is just a daughter of a vassal lord, why do you place such importance on her?"

  "What do you know?" Wei Chang slapped his palm impatiently and scolded, "Rising to power or losing it is not entirely dependent on one's status. Although Zhao Wang appears to be a noble king with unlimited glory on the surface, in reality he has a deep-seated grudge against Your Majesty from years ago, and he is also a thorn in the eye of the Empress Dowager. This time when the Empress Dowager summoned him to Chang'an, it's possible that he won't be able to return to Handan alive. I should follow the Empress Dowager's intentions and make things difficult for him; as for the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Xuanping, although she is only a daughter of a marquis, her mother is the Empress Dowager's own daughter, the Emperor's older sister, Princess Yuan of Lu. Can her relationship be compared to that of other daughters of marquises?"

  "Have a safe journey." Zhang Yan watched as Ruyi boarded the copper-walled carriage to return to Chang'an, her eyebrows furrowing into a slight frown. She opened her mouth to remind him of something, but didn't know what to say, and finally, all her words turned into the most ordinary blessing, "Take care."

  "Good." Ruyi didn't hear her heaviness, smiled and responded, with a bright face, vaguely visible the elegant demeanor of the third prince of Chang Le Palace in the past.

  Zhang Yan stood still, watching as the carriage disappeared into the distance, humming a vague tune.

  "What?" The person beside her turned around vaguely and asked, "What are you singing, wife?"

  "Nothing." She lowered her head.

  She sang: "The son is king, the mother is a captive, every day she pounds and thins the curtains, always with death as her companion! Separated by three thousand miles, who will tell you?"

  This is the song sung by Madame Qi when she was pounding rice in Yongxiang Alley.

  After her uncle ascended the throne, she followed her father back to Xuanping. Before leaving Chang'an, she had sent someone to Yongxiang several times to visit Madame Qi and told her to restrain her temper a bit. The king's defeat was already clear, and the loser should also have the demeanor of a loser. Being too stubborn would not be good for herself either. As for that shocking tragedy in history, she always thought that although Grandma was indeed ruthless, Qi Yi herself was not blameless either.

  Madam Qi refused to accept it and insisted that she had forgotten kindness and betrayed righteousness, and every time she scolded the beggar away.

  "My child," the family members came forward to persuade her, "Zhaowang has already left, let's turn back now."

  "Uh-huh." Zhang Yan withdrew her gaze and nodded, "Bring me a horse."

  The family member furrowed his brow and hesitated for a moment before finally nodding silently, saying "Yes."

  Zhang Yan flipped over onto the horse, and the spring breeze in the open fields blew her clothes into ripples, like the undulating waves of water. She took a deep breath, swung the rattan whip in her hand, and said, "Let's go." Suddenly, she heard a faint call from far behind her.

  "A Yan——"

  The wheels rolled again, and Yu Yi suddenly lifted the curtain of the carriage and stuck out his head to shout.

  Zhang Yan turned her head back on horseback, her eyebrows and eyes slightly puzzled.

  Ruyi grasped the curtain, and chuckled softly, "All these years, you haven't called me 'Uncle' even once. Who knows when I'll be back this time, are you okay? Call out to me just once."

  The spring breeze blew past Zhang Yan's temples, playfully circling around before leaving. Zhang Yan suddenly felt a pang of sadness, gazing down at her own shadow in the sunlight, biting her lip and smiling wistfully, "When you return to Handan, I'll come here to meet you again. By then... if there is still a then... I'll call out 'Uncle' to you."

  "Alright." Yu Yi Ha Ha laughed loudly, and her eyebrows were once again relaxed, "Well, Ah Yan, I'm really leaving now."

  The wheels creaked and groaned, as the two of them went further and further away. They turned their heads back to look at each other from horseback, and they had already become a small dot in the distance.

  After thinking for half a day, I decided to follow the blueprint in my heart.

  Want pink tickets, want collection, want recommendation. (, )