Meeting you in my prime - Chapter 1
The spring breeze was like a sword, slicing out pieces of light green and delicate red . The further south you travelled, the stronger the air of spring will be.
The tea shed next to the official road was simple and crude, but there are many people sitting around as it was noon. The old tea master shuttled around with a long-mouthed copper pot, refilling tea and pouring hot water for the guests.
This place was more than ten miles away from Baoling City. The people going out of the city were casually talking about the interesting things that happened in the city recently, and the guests who were going to Baoling City were listening with great interest.
At this time, someone mentioned that there were a few young masters who had arrived at Baoling City today. Their accents sounded like they were from the capital, and all of them were handsome. Some said one of them had a figure like Pan An Songyu.
Some people didn’t believe it: “Could it be comparable to Jiafeng (city) Qiao’s (family) Yulang?”
Jiafeng is located in the south of Baoling, and it will take two or three days to go down by boat. The fact that Qiao Yulang’s reputation could spread until here was enough to show how outstanding he is.
The person who spoke earlier drank a few sips of herbal tea, smiled and showed his crooked teeth: “I have never seen Qiao Family’s Yulang, but I don’t believe that he can match up with the young man I met in the city.”
As soon as these words came out, many people immediately jumped out to refute, and several other people who had also met the several young masters in the city argued with him.
“Old man, bring me a pot of tea and two plates of sweet cakes.” A voice interrupted the argument between the two parties.
Everyone looked around, and saw a man in his thirties stopping not too far from the tea shed. He turned around and helped a girl of twelve or thirteen years old from the back of the donkey.
Seeing that everyone was looking over, the man tied the donkey to a tree by the side of the road. He blocked most of the girl’s body and shouted impatiently, “Hurry up, my daughter is not feeling well, we are rushing into the city”.
“Hello—” the tea owner hastily served a pot of tea and two plates of sweet cakes.
The man pushed a plate of sweet cakes in front of the girl, and said softly, “Eat it.”
After he finished speaking, he grabbed the tea bowl and took a few sips.
Ordinary people did not pay much attention to them. It was common for girls to ride donkeys on the road, so everyone looked away.
Only a few sharp-eyed people were surprised by the beauty of the girl, and couldn’t help but take a few more glances.
The man was obviously not happy that others looked at his daughter, so he snorted a few times.
He was born tall and well built, so he was not easy to provoke. The people sitting in this simple tea shed were all ordinary people. Since they didn’t want to cause trouble, they stopped paying attention to their side and resumed the topic just now.
“If you ask me, the young man from the city is definitely not as good looking as Qiao Yulang! Although the capital is good, it can’t compare to our beautiful scenery, especially Jiafeng County, which is famous for its beautiful men and women.”
The girl who had been very well-behaved and honest since she sat down in the tea shed couldn’t help but look up and glanced at the speaker.
“What, how then did I hear that Qiao Yulang is also from the capital?”
“It’s true that Yulang from the Qiao family came from the capital, but he is an authentic Jiafeng man. Mr. Qiao passed away the year before last, and he went back to his hometown with his family to guard his grandfather’s tomb.”
“Ah, it turns out that Qiao Jia Yulang is Mr. Qiao’s grandson…”
When mentioning Qiao family’s Yulang, the locals need to add a prefix: Jia Feng County.
But when it comes to Mr. Qiao, everyone in the world would immeditely think of the same person: the former official head of the Imperial College, a world famous scholar, the one and only most talented man who was unanimously known as Mr. Qiao Zhuo to all.
Unfortunately, Mr. Qiao passed away more than two years ago.
There were voices of regret in the tea shop.
The girl drooped her eyes to hide the strangeness brewing in her eyes, until she could no longer hear those voices in her ears.
The moment she had opened her eyes a few hours ago, Qiao Zhao, the wife of General Shao Mingyuan of the Northern Expedition and the granddaughter of Mr. Qiao, realised that she had become a thirteen-year-old girl, Li Zhao, who had fallen into the hands of human traffickers. Unexpectedly, after going around, she was about to return to her hometown.
Grandfather……
Qiao Zhao murmured in his heart.
After marrying into the capital, she never expected that with another identity, she would be able to come so close to the place she had missed in countless midnight dreams.
Jiafeng, her most beloved grandfather was buried there, and her relatives who came back from the capital lived there.
After all, father and brother should have been about done with carrying their filial piety.
(t/n: there is a tradition of carrying ‘Xiao (filial piety)’ when someone in your family passes away. It may vary slightly from regions, but they typically avoid celebratory events, only wear monotone clothing while avoiding bright clothing (especially red) as a form of filial mourning.)
Qiao Zhao clenched her fist quietly and cast a glance at the man who was drunk.
In the memory remaining in her mind, ever since the little girl Li Zhao fell into this man’s hands, she had tried to escape several times, but all of them had ended in failure.
In one of the most violent attempts, the little girl took an opportunity to break free, cried and shouted that she was kidnapped by this man, and had attracted many passers-by to watch.
The man chased after her earnestly, wiped away his tears while saying, “Girl, daddy knows you hate me, because I stopped you from eloping with Wang Erniu next door. But no matter how much you hate me, daddy can’t watch you go astray! Stop making trouble, obediently go home with daddy, your mother is almost blind from crying…”
The little girl cried hoarsely and did not manage to keep the onlookers, and the man went to a place where no one was around to give her a hard lesson. From then on, he kept an even tighter watch on her.
Being able to enjoy this level of freedom now was due to the result of Qiao Zhao, who had come back to life as the little girl, and had been behaving extraordinarily in the past two days.
“Let’s go.” The man left a few copper coins on the table and stood up.
Qiao Zhao hurriedly stood up, following the man out without looking sideways.
Because of this movement, those eyes fell on her again.
The girl walked slowly, and the inadvertent elegance in her stride made the man frown.
This time, the good he acquired was the best one he had obtained in the past years. She was just too good, and simply by walking so casually was already so eye-catching.
Why didn’t you sense it two days ago?
The man sighed, and secretly made up his mind that it would be better to change to a comfortable carriage after entering the city.
An hour later.
Qiao Zhao was riding on the back of the donkey, looking up at the word “Bao Ling” on the city gate, a little lost in thought.
She had once been to Baoling.
Grandfather Qiao Zhuo was unrestrained and free. He was impatient to be an official early on. After he resigned, he took her grandmother to indulge in the mountains and rivers. Later, his health started failing and thus he returned to Jiafeng to live in seclusion.
She had traveled to Baoling twice because of her grandfather’s illness.
The city was still the same city, but she has changed thoroughly.
The man’s cautiousness had finally relaxed a little at this moment, and a smile self-mockery flashed across the corner of her mouth.
The man took Qiao Zhao into the city to find a place to sell the donkey. As they walked on the bustling streets, the man was worried that the little girl who had just settled down for two days would make trouble again, so he comforted her in a low voice: “Be obedient, I will take you to a good restaurant for dinner, and then hire a carriage later, so that you will not be exposed to the wind and sun.”
“Where else are you going?” Qiao Zhao, who had been taciturn all this time, suddenly asked.
The girl and the man looked at each other, their eyes were clear, like the softest water waves in spring being wrinkled by the breeze.
Somehow, the man replied, “Yangzhou.”
When he came back to his senses, the man was a little annoyed, and then he comforted himself: so what if the little girl knows? After passing Baoling, we will arrive at Yangzhou City soon.
Yangzhou.
There was no change on Qiao Zhao’s face, but there was a thump in her heart, secretly thinking that something was wrong.
From here to Yangzhou, she will be taking another road, and she will be getting farther and farther away from her hometown, Jiafeng.
Even if she escapes in this completely unfamiliar place, the little girl who is only twelve or thirteen years old may just come out of the wolf’s den and to fall into the tiger’s mouth again.
Qiao Zhao didn’t think it would be possible to reconcile with her relatives with her current appearance, but at the very least, she knew that her father and brother were both gentlemen, and would not have any ill intentions towards a little girl in trouble.
She wanted to go home no matter what, so she had to escape in Baoling City!