Chapter 44
Originally, it took half a day to get there by carriage, but the two of them arrived at the Western Mountain in a little over an hour.
While Rong Xiangmei was paying his respects to Mrs. Wang, Zhou Xianyang was on the mountain not far away, looking around. At the top of the mountain in the distance, there was a monk who was pulling up a bell and hitting the bell.
For a moment, birds flew in the mountains. After the three distant bells rang out, all was silent. For the first time in a long time, Zhou Xianyang returned to the capital and felt a sense of inner peace.
“Is there a temple in that mountain?” Zhou Xianyang waited for the princess to get up before asking, and Rong Xiangmian laughed: “It’s a nunnery. Your Highness is curious, so I’ll take you there to try the roasted meat when we get down from the mountain later.”
“Roasted meat?” Zhou Xian Yang became even more curious, and followed Rong Xiangmian as he continued to walk up the mountain, asking, “There’s even roasted meat in a nunnery?”
Rong Xiangmian said somewhat mysteriously, “It’s a nun who has returned to secularism, called Ming Jing. In the nunnery, she had a great reputation for goodness, and she was also very good at Buddhism, and was quite respected by the people who worshiped Buddha in the capital. One day, she suddenly became enlightened, and drank wine and ate meat, and dabbled in everything. The host said, Buddha never force, cultivation has its own destiny, let her live outside the nunnery. That Mingjing after the meat, especially love to eat barbecue meat, their own roasted meat is also excellent, so opened a store. Nowadays, a lot of visitors in Jinling, are for her barbecue meat to go, the nunnery incense is more prosperous because of this.”
“There is such a thing, I would like to go and see it today.”
While they were talking, they arrived at Rong Xiangmian’s mother’s grave. It could be seen that this place was carefully tended, weeds were pulled out, and flowers of various colors were planted. The four pine trees in the corners were in good condition.
Zhou Xian Yang watched the Princess carefully, fearing that she would be sad. I did not expect Rong Xiangmian did not look sad. Or rather, time and time again, the lonely worship, so that her every move in front of the tomb, are skilled to numb.
She knelt in the worship hall in front of the grave, nimbly arranging the offerings and spreading out the paper to make it easier to burn, so Xian Yang pulled back the hem and knelt in front of the grave with one leg after her.
Rong Xiangmian didn’t have time to stop her, “Your Highness, you can’t.”
“Why not? Your mother is my mother-in-law.”
Rong Xiangmian for a moment actually did not know what to say, “Do you …… you not mind those rumors outside about how demonic she was?”
“Since they are rumors, why should I mind? Looking at you, I know that she must not be what the outside rumors say.”
Rong Xiangmian was grateful in her heart. She never argued with people, feeling that it wasn’t worth it. At this moment, it was surprising that she took the unprecedented initiative to tell him about her mother while burning the meditative paper.
“My father, when he was originally the son of the Duke of England, he was determined to build his career and didn’t want to lie on his grandfather’s merit book to inherit his title and eat his old capital. But when he managed to assist His Majesty in ascending the throne and accomplished a lot, he lost one of his hands. At that time, His Majesty gave him an official position and entrusted him with important duties, but people around him only sympathized with him and did not dare to let him do anything. He resigned from his post and spent his days in disarray, not wanting to see anyone, hiding in the paddock with his horses. That’s when he met my mother. My mother didn’t mind that he had lost a hand, she said: I can tame the fiercest wild horse with one hand, can you?”
She looked at the tombstone and quietly recounted what she had heard, and Zhou Xian Yang listened intently.
“My father was so excited by my mother that he began to tame horses with one hand. Finally, one day, he succeeded and got his fighting spirit back. He said he wanted to go back to the capital to take up his family’s responsibilities, and he even brought my mother back with him. That’s the story my father told me himself. It’s simple and plain. Those who want to hear the story are disappointed, aren’t they.”
Zhou Xian Yang did not make a sound, he knew she just needed to talk.
“I’m the child of a horse taming woman, that’s a fact, I don’t care what they say. I just don’t understand why everyone who mentions my mother always has to have a tone of speaking of a demon, as if she has done the most unseemly and scandalous things in the world, and is a demonic spirit that charms people’s hearts. Obviously these people don’t know my mother, they don’t know what kind of person she is, they don’t even know her last name, why do they have so much malice towards someone they don’t know?”
Rong Xiangxian saw the more she spoke, the more aggrieved she became, and Xian Yang put his arm around her shoulders and said in relief, “They, what are they? Those irrelevant people, there is no need to be happy when they praise you, and there is no need to be angry when they scold you. We are the ones who are our own people, and what kind of person our own people recognize Mother is in their hearts is what matters most.”
Rong Xiangmian knew this truth, but hearing him say it was still a different kind of relief. She put her hand back on her shoulder and held his hand, “Your Highness, why are you so good to me?”
Zhou Xian Yang laughed unexpectedly, “How refreshing is that? You are my wife, if I don’t treat you well, who will I treat well?”
That’s not necessarily true. Rong Xiangyang thought to herself that in her last life, after she married into the Li Wang Mansion, she had once quietly disguised herself to come to the Western Mountain to pay her respects, and was discovered by the Li Wang Consort, who told the King of Li, and she suffered a few days of family law.
She was so lucky that she could do it all over again.
Rong Xiangmian smiled and said no more, turning to pray before her mother’s spirit: ”Mother, my daughter got married and brought her husband to visit today. His name is Zhou Xian Yang and he is two years older than me. He treats my daughter very well, please rest assured in heaven. Please also ask Mother to bless him, and from now on, make good fortune out of trouble, turn misfortune into good fortune, and have peace and prosperity. Bless us …… to grow old together and never separate.”
After the words, Rong Xiangmian devoutly bowed down, Zhou Xianyang had originally been watching her, at this moment slowed down, solemnly glanced at the tombstone, and followed her to kneel down and pay tribute three times.
Only after the paper had been burned to ashes did the two of them put on each other’s hats and get up to leave.
Zhou Xian Yang didn’t take a few steps before he was pushed back by the crown princess. The Concubine protected him behind her, as if she wanted to shield him from knives and guns.
He heard footsteps, it was someone coming.