Chapter 55: I'm scared

Ning Hanmo obediently did a kicking motion, and the court physician felt there was no problem with his joints.

"Does it hurt?"

"No feeling."

One question, one answer.

The court physician stood up, washed his hands again, and then replied, "The leg has healed, but don't forget the princess consort's instructions, young master."

His words don't work!

Only the princess consort's words work.

To keep the young master from courting disaster, we might as well raise the princess consort's banner.

"Go out."

"This young master knows."

When Ning Hanmo heard Jiang Yunchu's name, even the news that his leg had healed could not dispel his anxiety.

Three days passed, and Jiang Yunchu still had no trace.

Ning Hanmo looked at Bai Zhi and said, "Still not speaking?"

Zi Su still shook her head, the handkerchief in her hand becoming creased from her grip.

Ning Yue Xue's face looked like she wanted to cry but held back; her whole body went limp, as if she were ill.

Three days have passed, and Yun chu hasn't returned for three days.

She misses Yun chu so much!

"I'll speak!" Bai Zhi struggled, lifting her head.

"Bai Zhi!" Zi Su suddenly lifted her head, looking at the spot beside her, her eyes warning.

Bai Zhi didn't look at the young master and miss, but looked at Zi Su.

"Three days have passed, the princess consort has been out for three days, Zi Su—I'm uneasy."

"I'm scared."

Bai Zhi's eyes were swollen; these three days, she didn't know how the princess consort was doing. After more than half a year of companionship, no one had spent more time with the princess consort than she had.

In the mornings she accompanied the princess consort in training, chatted about food, and went to various places with her.

When serving before the imperial noble consort, even though the latter was more kind, she still knew she was merely a maid, merely a servant.

But before the princess consort it was different; in her heart, the princess consort would not regard them as maids, even though she never said so, even though she always just gave a faint smile.

But...

She knows that!

Although she knows less than Zi Su, is less meticulous than Zi Wu, and not as good at calculations as Su Xin, she is not a fool—can she not sense how others treat her?

"Sigh." Zi Su let out a breath.

She...

How could she be at ease?

"The princess consort went to Ningguang Peak." Zi Su sighed, closed her eyes, never expecting this answer, and finally spoke it from her own mouth.

Ning Hanmo quickly rose and then looked at Zi Su.

"Ningguang Peak?"

"What place is that? I've never even heard of it."

Zi Su looked at Ning Hanmo's bewildered face and sighed.

"The Wang Fu cannot lack someone in charge; when the princess consort left, she said that the Cao family's side might have some backup, and I cannot leave the Wang Fu."

"This route is far; by carriage, the quickest would take a day and night, and the young master's leg has just healed—he cannot endure such a long carriage ride."

"A hundred li to the east there is a relay station where you can rest for a night."

As Zi Su said these things, she had already thought through all the details.

It's clear that over these three days she has thought a lot.

"Our Da Ning has four great scholars: Qing Feng Da Ru, Ningguang Master, Kang Meng Master, and Cherry Rose Hairpin Flower."

"And the Ningguang Peak that our princess consort went to is where the Ningguang Master lives, also the place where the Ningguang Master secluded herself for eighteen years and never came down the mountain."

Bai Zhi knew where the princess consort had gone, but not what she was going to do there.

Zi Su said all that, and the meaning expressed was already clear.

Why go.

What to do.

What is the purpose.

Just a simple introduction, and that's all that was said.

"Now we set out." Ning Hanmo hammered the decision home.

"Carriages, water skins, and dry rations—I've had them all prepared."

Zi Su looked at the few people and said, "Since you've decided to go, then…"

"Let's set out early."

Everything is ready…

If it weren't for Ning Hanmo's coercion, Zi Su would also have prepared to send someone else.

Three days have passed with no word from the princess consort—how could she not be worried?

"Bai Zhi, assign ten people to follow; the safety of the young master and the princess consort is entrusted to you."

"Yes!" Bai Zhi firmly nodded.

The party set out from the Wang Fu.

At this moment, Ningguang Peak.

Madam, please go.

Today is the first day the young man is on duty; he helplessly squats beside Jiang Yunchu, not even looking at his books.

If it weren't for his breathing, they would have thought he was dead.

Three days have passed; this lady neither eats nor drinks, does not take a single step into the mountains, just leans against a big tree, as if asleep.

Her face is swollen from mosquito bites, and crawling insects are on her body, yet she is like an old monk in meditation, completely motionless, as if her five senses are blocked.

Don't advise her anymore; these past few days we've said everything we could and advised everything we could, but she seems deaf… but… are you sure she isn't deaf?

Otherwise, with so many people speaking, how could there be no movement at all?

At the very least, give some reaction!

No!" the young man answered.

Why won't she answer? She's just wasting time like this; even everyone wouldn't come out." The young man was utterly perplexed.

Jiang Yunchu's appearance, in the tranquil lake waters of Ningguang Peak, was like throwing a small pebble, becoming a topic of their after-dinner chat.

She said so." the young man sighed.

What did she say?" that person wondered, what does it mean she said, what did she say?

The young man looked at Jiang Yunchu, then at his companion; he didn't smile, and today, going down the mountain, he had no books in his hands.

She said, when we have a child, we will naturally understand what the meaning is.

The young man didn't understand before, but now seeing her persistence.

Although he still doesn't understand, he is moved by it and has developed compassion.

Child?

That companion likewise fell into deep thought.

Most of the people at Ningguang Peak are abandoned children; some are in poor health, some for unknown reasons have become little beggars, and some…

Anyway, they have never known love; at Ningguang Peak, that is their home.

They cannot understand: a woman doing this, is it just because of her child?

We don't have it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the world.

The young man sat cross-legged to one side; unusually, he wasn't reading, but was studying Jiang Yunchu, perhaps wanting to discover the favor he had never received.

The fourth day passed…

The fifth day passed…

At dusk, a footstep sound came from outside the mountain.

A footstep sound came from inside the mountain.

Two footstep sounds converged toward a direction.

"Everyone, are we going down the mountain now?" the attending servant boy beside them, some didn't understand.

Everyone hasn't gone down the mountain for eighteen years; how come today they went down?

Is it because of the people down the mountain?

But…

Before, someone had been like this, but everyone had never felt compassion.