The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time - Chapter 67

The moment he saw this scene, Zhang Xiaojing realized that the congestion would probably last at least an hour, that their clumsy carriage definitely couldn’t get through. After a brief consultation with others, he decided to have those soldiers escort the carriage and slowly detour around this area from the south side. He himself would precede them, since crossing the Rosefinch Street single-handedly was much quicker than crossing it with a couple of horses and a carriage.

Zhang Xiaojing asked Tanqi to go with the carriage, but she shot a dark glance at him and said, “Isn’t you the one who keeps saying that everybody has to be responsible for their own choices? A moment ago, you demanded that I follow you, but now you want to kick me out of this?” After saying this, she obstinately turned her horse aside.

Zhang Xiaojing had no choice but to let her. So he and Tanqi rode forward while others took a detour.

As for that Deacon Es who following their rear, Zhang Xiaojing’s opinion was that they should just ignore him, that he was free to follow them if he wanted to, and if he got lost, that would be him getting his just deserts.

The moment the decision was made, the driver turned around the carriage and headed straight south. Zhang Xiaojing and Tanqi dismounted from their horses and wrapped the reins around their wrists. These two horses had no turtle browbands on them, so they couldn’t ride them on the Rosefinch Street. Besides, currently there were too many people on the road, and it was quicker to walk than it was to ride.

So the two of them walked side by side leading their horses, trying hard to elbow their way through the crowds under the candlelight given off by colorful lanterns all around as well as loud music performed with qins (A seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither) and drums. Occasionally, some people threw pieces of spring-ornaments (Silver adornments worn by women at the beginning of spring in feudal China) and Flowermoney into mid-air, which then slowly fell to the ground sending ripples of excitement through the crowd. The whole street was filled with fragrance of rouge, funky odor of sweat and the oily smell given off by thousands of candles, which were so strong that audiences felt slightly dizzy.

The two people progressed silently in stark contrast to the excited crowd. Walking among the crowds, Zhang Xiaojing concealed his murderous aura and ferocity. He kept such a low profile that it seemed as if he didn’t exist. There were several occasions when excited audience banged into him and was surprised by his existence. For several times, Tanqi turned her head aside and wanted to talk to Zhang Xiaojing but had no idea what to say.

A wastrel, a convict condemned to death, a ferocious Yama, a gentle man who refused to let a woman sacrifice her life to save him, a cruel official, an agent, a paladin –in the past few hours, Tanqi had seen many sides of Zhang Xiaojing, but she still wasn’t sure what kind of man he really was. Surprisingly, this crowded street temporarily removed those seemingly obtrusive personality traits from Zhang Xiaojing to reveal his true nature, like a gurgling stream washing away greasepaint.

A word popped into Tanqi’s mind to describe him: lonely.

Zhang Xiaojing’s figure appeared very forlorn. The more clamorous his surrounding, the more forlorn he seemed. He was walking in the most prosperous and vigorous place in the world, yet it seemed as if he and everything around him were scenes in two different paintings, which were so close to each other but would never be at one with each other.

To some extent, he was even further away from this world than her master was.

Thinking about this, she involuntarily lowered her head, held the reins at the back and started humming a pastoral song. The melodies lingered around the two of them. Low as her voice was, the noises on the street never drowned it out.

This was a song that residents in villages near Qi Mountain sang to add to the fun when they drink after sacrificing livestock to a deity. Those the lyrics were somewhat vulgar, but true to the heart. Her master once said that this song was passed down from ancient generations, that it could be interpreted for its beauty and appreciated by the mind. The great principles always looked simple, but today’s people were unaware of it.

At this moment, the bright moon shone high up in the sky, perfectly round and clear, shining a chilly light. Tanqi believed that the moon had heard her song, wondering whose hearts the light had reached.

Walking and singing, Tanqi suddenly noticed that Zhang Xiaojing was tapping his thick fingers lightly on the copper ring attached to the bridle, while holding the reins. The tapping was in rhythm with the pastoral song. He was doing this in a highly concealed manner, as if afraid that anybody would notice it.

Tanqi smiled but didn’t expose him. She just kept humming. The two of them walked through the noisy crowd, one of them singing and the other one tapping. Zhang Xiaojing’s gait seemed to have become more relaxed.

It took them half a quarter to walk through the crowd. On the sight of the Fang wall of Xingdao Fang, Tanqi was greatly relieved and couldn’t help sighing, “If only watchtowers were still working. In that case, at least they could tell us which street is not congested.”

After Jing’an Department was attacked, the whole watchtower network was paralyzed. In fact, most watchtowers were still operating, but without the big watchtower as the coordinator, they were nothing but some loosely sited watchtowers which were unable to work as a whole.

Staff members of Jing’an Department felt it very inconvenient to work without timely news updates of Chang’an.

Tanqi looked over her shoulder in the direction of Guangde Fang, deep concern gleaming in her eyes. She had chosen to go to Pingkangli, and she believed that her master would have done the same thing if he were in her shoes, but concern was not a something that could be subdued.

Zhang Xiaojing suddenly reined his mount in, turned his head back and said to Tanqi with a grin, “You reminded me. Let me perform a trick for you.” Tanqi was stunned, wondering why he brought this up.

Zhang Xiaojing fished out a folded paper lantern out of the bag hanging at the side of the horse, propped it up, lit the candle inside, and then unfolded a long bamboo pole consisted of three sections. He raised the lantern high up with it. Tanqi was puzzled. This was a set of equipment field agents of Jing’an Department used to communicate with watchtowers at night, but currently, the big watchtower wasn’t working. What was the point trying to send messages with this?

Zhang Xiaojing moved the purple lantern up and down in a pattern. Sometimes he covered it. Sometimes he raised it high up. Tanqi was not familiar with this set of lantern light code and didn’t know what he was trying to convey. But Zhang Xiaojing held his forefinger to his lips and hushed her, signaling her to wait.

Before long, a purple lantern was lit on the watchtower of Xingdao Fang and flashed on and off several times, as if people there had received Zhang Xiaojing’s message. And with that, someone on the watchtower in Kaihua Fang also lit a purple lantern which then flashed in a pattern similar to the way the lantern in Xingdao Fang had just done.

Zhang Xiaojing kept moving the lantern, and then watchtowers in Guanglu Fang, Zhiye Fang also responded. Before long, Anren Fang, Fengle Fang, Wuben Fang, Chongyi Fang… all watchtowers, both those in nearby Fangs and those in faraway ones, came around one after another. Purple lanterns flashed and flickered, and soon there was a patch of them, responding to Zhang Xiaojing’s movements, as if a Taoist master was practicing magic to help people get rid of bad fortune.

Zhang Xiaojing inserted the bamboo pole, to which the purple lantern was fastened, into a buckle on the horseback and then said to Tanqi, “Now the watchtower network is restored. It was just that their center was no longer the big watchtower in Guangde Fang, but me.” While saying the last word, he held up his left thumb and pointed it at his chest.

“Now I am the hub of Jing’an Department.”

Tanqi widened her eyes with surprise, feeling that this was even more amazing than a trick. How did he take over watchtowers so easily and become the supreme commander?”

Zhang Xiaojing mounted his horse which shook the purple lantern hanging high above its butt.

“Don’t forget that Sicheng Li delegated the authority to command watchtowers to me at Shenchu, and this order has never been revoked.”

Yao Runeng passed a glass of water to Wen Ran. She took a sip of the water, feeling that even the water tasted like burnt things. Yao Runeng said in an apologetic tone, “Sorry. All wells are surrounded by people. We’ll have to wait a while longer.” Wen Ran said with a bitter smile, “I was so lucky to have survived. What could I possibly complain about?”

After Gan Shoucheng left, they had nowhere to go, so they stayed in the drugstore. There were still a lot of flustered people bustling outside and they didn’t even have time to bury Cui Qi. His body was still placed on the door plank on the side for the moment.

“Can I go home?” Wen Ran asked pitifully. She had been encountering misfortunes all along since noon. She was abducted and taken to various places, which exhausted her. Yao Runeng made a gesture of apology, “Sorry. You can’t. Sicheng Li ordered me to lock you up. And there’s been no order to release you.” For fear of Wen Ran misunderstanding him, he explained, “It’s dangerous outside. This is the safest place.”

“Because this place has already been burnt?” Wen Ran asked rhetorically.

“Eh… ” Yao Runeng was blindsided by this question. Wen Ran chuckled. Suddenly, she noticed that the wound in Yao Runeng’s shoulder was carelessly bound up just a rag, so she asked him to sit down, lowered her head, tore a strip of cloth from the flare of her dress and redressed his wound with care.

Wen Ran skillfully wrapped the strip of cloth around his wound with her white fingers. Yao Runeng smelled whiffs of perfume and lowered his head, thinking, ‘It turned out that by following this perfume could Commandant Zhang find this girl. This perfume was faint but lingering. It’s perfect for tracking down suspects.’

‘Alas. How would Commandant Zhang and Lady Tanqi react when they hear about the attack on Jing’an Department? How’s the investigation into Kailu Hodo going?’

As he thought about this, he suddenly realized that this was a very good opportunity, so he casually asked, “Who’s Commandant Zhang to… Eh, Commandant Zhang Xiaojing to you?”

While intently dressing his wound, Wen Ran answered in a soft voice, “He’s the one who saved my life.”

“He saved your life?”

A look of deep grief appeared on Wen Ran’s face. “He did more than just saving me… He sacrificed his life for my family.” Yao Runeng was startled. This was the real reason why he was condemned to death? Didn’t Tanqi say that it was because he killed the Vice County Magistrate?

Since they had nothing else to do for the moment, Wen Ran told him the whole story.

It turned out that Zhang Xiaojing and Wen Ran’s father, Wen Wuji, fought side-by-side when they were serving in the army in the Western Regions. Wen Wuji was also one of the three soldiers who survived the last defense of Fengsui City. He saved Zhang Xiaojing’s life and lost a leg for it.

After the successful defense of Suifeng City, Wen Wuji was incapable of continuing his service and chose to retire from the army. He brought his daughter and the reward given by Duhu (A military agency in charge of inspecting border areas where ethnic minorities lived in feudal China) to Chang’an where he set up an incense store and lived a pretty good life. Afterwards, Zhang Xiaojing was appointed as the General of the Indecent. The two people, who were old comrade-in-arms like Damon and Pythias, had been taking care of each other all along.

Last October, when Zhang Xiaojing happened to be on a business trip to another province, Wen’s Incense Store suddenly received a notification from the Ministry of Mining, which said that the Imperial Court was going to build a hotel in Guoyi Fang for the envoy of Gilgit. The price the Ministry of Mining offered was very low, so naturally Wen Wuji didn’t agree to move. On that very night, a group of masked hooligans holding thick sticks intruded into his store and started smashing things around. Wen Wuji tried to reason with them but was beaten to death. And Wen Ran nearly got raped. Fortunately, with her quick reflexes and strong will, she managed to escape.

Wen Ran intended to report this to the local authority but happened to encounter the Vice County Magistrate who was leading a team patrolling the streets that night, and who asserted emphatically that she violated the curfew and arrested her. She cried and tried to explain but was ignored and locked up. Before long, someone handed a pleading to her which said that her father colluded with thieves and was killed because of an unfair division of the spoils, that the money he used to set up the incense store was part of the spoils. If she refused to sign the pleading, she would be sold and become somebody’s handmaid.

Wen Ran firmly rejected the demand, but a couple of prison guards came over, grabbed her and forced her into putting her handprint onto the pleading. In deep despair, she thought about committing suicide for several times.

After a few days, she was suddenly released. Wen Ran made a few inquiries and was told that things had changed drastically. Zhang Xiaojing had returned to the capital city. After hearing about what had happened to Wen’s Incense Store, he almost wiped out the whole Fires Gang. After that, for some unknown reason, he killed the Vice County Magistrate of Wannian County, which shocked the county government. Eventually, he even abducted Prince Yong and nearly threw the Imperial Court into chaos.

Wen Ran had no idea how Zhang Xiaojing dragged Prince Yong into this matter, and neither did she know how he was caught and condemned to death, but the Wen’s Incense Store had been at peace ever since, and nobody came to bother her. As a vulnerable woman, she was unable to get access to her savior. All she could do was set up a wish-tablet for him at home, in front of which she lit incenses and prayed for him every day.

Near the end of the story, Wen Ran leaned against his arm and fell asleep.