Song of the Bright Moon Chapter 123

Shen Yujiao seemed to catch a glimpse of a crimson shadow from the corner of her eye.

When she looked up, there really was someone behind the flower window—

But it was Pei Xia, in his blue robes, walking unhurriedly into the courtyard.

She was surprised. “Langjun, what brings you here?”

It wasn’t yet noon, he seldom came to the back courtyard during the day. They each had their own affairs to attend to; they weren’t together at all hours.

“I got a bit tired handling matters in the study,” he said mildly. “Came to have a look.”

As he walked beneath the veranda, his gaze fell upon the embroidery in her hands.

A fire-red qilin treading on clouds, though only its outline had been traced in gold thread, it already looked fierce and majestic.

“How many more days until it’s done?” Pei Xia asked.

“At the fastest, three,” Shen Yujiao said. “A qilin is hard to embroider, I spent nearly two hours just sketching the pattern.”

Her eyes were still a little tired from it.

Pei Xia mused quietly. “Three days should be enough.”

Shen Yujiao lifted her eyes, not quite understanding what he meant.

Pei Xia said, “The Yanbei army is leaving Chang’an today. By now, they’ve likely already set out.”

Shen Yujiao was taken aback. They’re leaving today? So soon?

“Then this sachet…” She blinked in confusion. Was there even a point in continuing to embroider it?

“Keep embroidering,” he said.

The man’s long, slender hand came to rest on her shoulder, his voice smooth and clear. “In a few days, the quartermaster can bring it to Yanbei for you.”

Hearing this, Shen Yujiao couldn’t help but let out a quiet breath of relief.

Pei Xia felt the subtle easing of her shoulders beneath his palm and pressed his lips together slightly.

After a moment, he withdrew his hand.

Casually, Shen Yujiao asked, “The front line is in dire straits. Whom does the court plan to send to escort the supplies? This is no small matter, carelessness would be disastrous.”

Pei Xia said, “It’s not yet decided.”

Shen Yujiao looked at him. “Then, in Langjun’s opinion, who among the court could take on such a duty?”

Pei Xia thought for a moment, then gave three names.

“The Vice Minister of War, Wei Fanggang.” 

“The Grand Censor, Shan Zhixing.”

“Duke Li, Lu Mingge.”

Half a day later, when Chief Eunuch Rong Qing came to Pei Mansion by the emperor’s order to inquire, Pei Xia gave the same answer.

Emperor Chunqing wrote the three names upon a sheet of fine paper, looked at them for a long while, and summoned them one by one.

Upon learning His Majesty’s intent, the Vice Minister of War pleaded that he was old and suffered from a chronic leg ailment, he feared he could not endure the northern wind and snow, and that the journey might be one of no return.

The Grand Censor, though still in his prime, had an aged grandmother who was gravely ill and unlikely to survive the winter. He begged to remain in Chang’an to fulfill his filial duty and care for her.

As for Duke Li, Lu Mingge, he was young, with no ailing elders at home. But he happened to be the Empress’s own elder brother.

When the Empress heard that the Emperor intended to send her brother all the way to distant Yanzhou, she could no longer sit still. She ran to the Emperor in tears.

“Your Majesty, Yanzhou is at war, and my sister-in-law is due to give birth in just two months. If my brother is sent away now and anything should happen to him on the road, what would become of my sister-in-law and nephews? I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and assign this task to someone else.”

The mission to deliver military funds, those with daring might see it as a chance to profit, but the cautious feared hardship.

The Lu family, having witnessed the ruin of the Sun family of Duke Ying’s household, had always tread carefully as in-laws of the throne. They would never dare embezzle even a coin.

Thus, this duty, thankless and perilous, was to them nothing but a burden.

And besides, in the northern winter, the land was buried in endless snow, the cold was bitter, and the journey was full of suffering. Worse yet, if the Rong Di tribes sent men to intercept the convoy, their very lives might be forfeit.

When the Empress learned that Pei Xia had recommended her brother, her expression shifted several times.

She knew well that Pei Xia’s recommendations were always based on ability, never on personal favor or dislike—but still, sending her own kin on such a mission displeased her deeply.

“With all the civil and military officials in the court,” she cried, “is there anyone more capable than Pei Shouzhen himself? If he truly holds the world in his heart, if he truly serves the country and the people, why doesn’t he go?”

Emperor Chunqing gave an awkward laugh. “Didn’t I just demote him to Luoyang…”

“So what? He can go to Luoyang after returning from Yanbei!”

The Empress looked at him with tearful pleading. “Your Majesty, I lost my mother young, and my father’s new wife was a scheming woman. Were it not for my elder brother’s protection of me and my younger brother, I might have long been married off to that cripple from the Sun family. I would never have become Your Majesty’s wife. I beg you, pity me and assign this task to another minister.”

A man’s wife, bound to him since their hair was black, her affection carried a different weight.

If her elder brother were to suffer some misfortune in the north, the Empress would likely resent him for a lifetime.

The thought of such an outcome made Emperor Chunqing’s face stiffen. He finally gave up the idea of appointing Lu Mingge as quartermaster.

Since all three of Pei Xia’s recommendations had proved unsuitable, the Emperor sat staring at the list in silence. Aside from Pei Xia, not a single other name came to mind.

The talent of the court had truly withered.

After a long sigh of regret, Emperor Chunqing finally steeled himself and summoned Pei Xia to Zichen Hall.

—

That evening, the sky was filled with crimson clouds.

“His Majesty has ordered me to escort the military supplies to Yanbei. I depart the day after tomorrow.”

In the back courtyard, Pei Xia spoke with quiet calm but his words fell like a great stone into a still lake, stirring ripples of shock.

Shen Yujiao’s hand trembled, and the embroidery needle pricked her fingertip. She gasped softly.

A drop of blood welled quickly on the pale tip of her finger.

Pei Xia’s dark brows drew together; he bent down to look. “Are you alright?”

“It’s just a prick. I’m fine.”

She placed her fingertip in her mouth briefly, then lifted her gaze to the anxious man before her. A shadow of worry had gathered between her brows. “But hadn’t His Majesty already assigned you to Luoyang? How did this duty fall to you?”

Yanbei was a land of bitter cold and heavy snow and now, war had broken out there.

First Xie Wuling went, and now Pei Xia must go too.

Though she sat in a warm room, Shen Yujiao felt a chill seep through her body. Her heart trembled, uneasy and fearful.

Pei Xia took her hand and sat beside her. Seeing that her finger had stopped bleeding, his brows relaxed slightly. “Most likely, the three I recommended each had their own difficulties.”

Shen Yujiao frowned. “What difficulties? It’s plain cowardice.”

There was some truth in her words but not entirely.

Pei Xia knew those three men well; they were not timid or base. But people have attachments. Not everyone can abandon family and comfort, devoting themselves wholly to the nation.

Yanbei was a harsh, desolate land, few wished to go there even in peace, let alone in times of war.

“Who in this world isn’t afraid of death?” he murmured.

Pei Xia gently squeezed his wife’s slender wrist, his dark, gentle eyes resting on her. “I’m afraid too.”

Once, he had devoted himself wholly to his country and people, eager to pour all his passion and ambition into the empire, without fear or regret.

But now, with a wife and a child, every time he thought of their small family, he too became someone afraid of death, clinging to life.

“If you’re afraid, then why agree to him?”

Shen Yujiao felt a tightness in her chest; her tone carried a trace of displeasure. “If you refused, could he really tie you up and force you to go?”

She had met Emperor Chunqing a few times before, and back then, she had never thought the emperor was such a shameless man.

But now, he had drugged her, thrown Pei Xia into prison, and was still forcing Pei Xia to deliver military supplies to clean up his own mess? Even a landlord wouldn’t exploit a laborer this ruthlessly.

Much less when Pei Xia was his minister, not his servant!

Pei Xia rarely saw his wife so angry.

Her small nose wrinkled, lips pursed, and her clear dark eyes shone with unmistakable anger under the candlelight, yet in their reflection, he could see himself.

She was… rather adorable.

The corners of Pei Xia’s mouth curved up; he couldn’t help but reach out and pinch her cheek.

Shen Yujiao froze, eyes widening. “Langjun…?”

Pei Xia smiled. “Now I know who Di Ge’er takes after when he throws a tantrum.”

Shen Yujiao blinked, then blushed and pushed his hand away in embarrassment. “I’m trying to speak seriously with you.”

Pei Xia chuckled softly. “Don’t be angry. I’m not doing this entirely for him.”

“When the empire thrives, the people suffer. When it falls, the people suffer. Only when the nation is at peace can a family be at ease.”

He turned his hand over, clasping hers, his expression calm. “I’ve already promised Xie Wuling I’ll pick a trustworthy quartermaster so the soldiers at the front can fight without worrying about what’s behind them.”

Anything left to others would never be as reliable as doing it himself.

Pei Xia gave a faint, bitter smile. “Let’s just call it repaying a favor.”

That man had taken the initiative to withdraw and end their entanglement.

So he would return the gesture, easing the troubles behind him.

Shen Yujiao frowned slightly. “You’ve seen him since your release?”

Pei Xia’s eyelids flickered, he realized he’d slipped but his expression didn’t change. “Before leaving, he sent someone to deliver a message.”

Shen Yujiao didn’t doubt him. She was only a little surprised that he could now speak of Xie Wuling so calmly.

Once, even hearing that name would turn his entire demeanor cold.

Could it be that, during their time in prison, they had put past grudges to rest?

Whatever the case, Pei Xia escorting the supplies was now decided.

As Shen Yujiao embroidered a sachet for Xie Wuling, she also busied herself packing Pei Xia’s travel trunk.

In the northern lands, snow began to fall by the tenth month; by the twelfth, water froze solid and mountains were sealed in snow until the second month, when the thaw came and roads reopened.

Pei Xia’s round trip would take at least half a year.

“This is a serious matter, you should personally write a letter to Luoyang.”

On the eve of his departure, Shen Yujiao checked the trunk one last time and tied the sachet she’d made for Xie Wuling in a cloth bag, placing it to the side. “Seeing your handwriting will set Mother’s heart at ease.”

Pei Xia had just finished his bath. His black hair fell loosely behind him; his pale face was still faintly flushed from the wine he’d drunk earlier that night during the family dinner with the Shens.

Dressed in loose white night robes, he sat sideways on the bed, tall and elegant as a jade mountain, cold and noble, yet touched with languid charm.

“The family letter’s already prepared,” he said lazily, leaning against the bedpost. “It’ll be sent to Luoyang tomorrow.”

Shen Yujiao, knowing his thoroughness, only nodded. “As long as you’ve arranged it.”

“Yuniang, stop packing,” Pei Xia said softly. “You’ve gone through that trunk half a dozen times already.”

Her hand holding the list paused.

When she turned around, she met his deep, narrow gaze, and her heart skipped a beat.

After all these years of marriage, she knew perfectly well what that look meant.

Strangely, tonight she felt more nervous than usual.

Perhaps it was because of their impending separation.

That night, Pei Xia was especially fervent, almost desperate.

As if no matter how tightly he held her, it still wasn’t enough. He kissed her lips, traced her waist, over and over, again and again.

Hot sweat dripped onto her brow, her collarbone, the hollows of her waist…

Their breaths tangled; skin met skin, heat and fragrance melting together.

Only when dawn began to pale outside the window did he finally stop—yet he did not withdraw.

Holding her from behind, his lips brushed over her shoulder and back in slow, lingering kisses. “Yuniang…”

Shen Yujiao was completely drained, curled against him, murmuring sleepily.

He called her name again and again.

Half-asleep, she knew he would be leaving at dawn.

For a moment, she felt as though she had gone back to that night years ago, before he marched south to quell the rebellion in Huainan, her heart filled with nameless unease.

Lowering her head, she rubbed her cheek against his firm arm and whispered hoarsely, “Langjun.”

Pei Xia buried his face in her fragrant neck. “I’m here.”

Many words rose to her lips, but she swallowed them back. Instead, she pressed her face more tightly against his arm and said softly, “I noticed the tassel on your peace amulet is worn out. I replaced it with a new one before bed, it’s by your trunk. Remember to wear it tomorrow.”

Her tender reliance and gentle reminder made Pei Xia’s heart soften completely.

“I know.”

He lowered his head and kissed her earlobe. “Tomorrow morning, stay in bed and sleep. No need to see me off.”

“How could I not?”

“If you come to see me off, I fear I won’t be able to leave.”

Shen Yujiao’s ears flushed hot.

Was it because they were about to part that he was saying so many tender, teasing words tonight?

Her heart beat noisily, and his low, husky voice brushed her ear again. “You and our son stay home peacefully. When I return in the spring, I’ll take you both to Qujiang to fly kites, how about that?”

Shen Yujiao softly replied, “All right.”

“I’ll be waiting for you,” she said silently in her heart—waiting for you to return soon, for our family to be whole again.

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