The two of them walked back pensively, their feelings so tangled they could hardly put them into words.
"Is it clear?" Zhang Qingyuan asked.
"It should be," Zhang Junbao answered.
"Senior Brother Chen is a real man!"
Zhang Junbao stopped and tilted his head, looking at him in surprise.
Zhang Qingyuan continued, "Isn't he?"
"You suspect that woman..."
"Little brother, don't tell me you didn't notice." Zhang Qingyuan turned back and continued walking. "Why are you playing dumb with me?"
Zhang Junbao lowered his head and sighed. "I'm just not certain."
Neither of them was a fool. After seeing that woman, both had formed a suspicion: she could be their sister-in-law.
The very sister-in-law Chen Xugu had blocked them from meeting at every turn, the one asking about meant death.
It was already obvious. If their sister-in-law were an ordinary person, even if she were no kingdom-toppling beauty and merely looked average, Chen Xugu would not have hidden her for so long.
Only his own people had seen her face. Outsiders were forbidden from meeting her.
There had to be a reason!
What was that reason?
Did the village woman's extraordinary appearance count as a reason?
Yes!
The village woman lived in a village at the foot of Pure Yang Palace's mountain. Was that a coincidence?
Yes!
If you had a wife who looked like that, would you have the same conflicted feelings?
Yes!
So, with both the reason and the coincidence falling into place, there was a ninety-percent chance it was her.
Perhaps someone might ask: what if it was only a coincidence, she had nothing to do with Chen Xugu, and his wife was someone else?
They could deal with that when the time came.
What concerned them now was what to do next, having seen their sister-in-law's face!
Even if neither mentioned it, Chen Xugu would find out. After all, husband and wife had to meet. When the time came, she would say, "I saw two young Daoists while washing clothes today. They wore blue-green Daoist robes, different from the ones at your Pure Yang Palace."
Chen Xugu: "You two little brats, stay on the mountain and join my Pure Yang Daoist Sect!"
So,
Play dumb?
Act clueless?
Pretend they knew nothing?
Or lay it out in the open?
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao agonized over whether they should say anything.
By the time they returned to Pure Yang Palace, they finally agreed on their story: they would act as though they knew nothing.
When they reached the entrance, something suddenly occurred to Zhang Junbao. Turning with his brows tightly knitted, he asked, "Brother Yuan?"
"Hmm?"
"Say, back when Senior Brother Chen went alone to Great Feng's capital to steal the bride and escaped unscathed with our sister-in-law, could it have been... that the Great Feng imperial palace never intended to stop him?"
"Hiss!" Zhang Qingyuan drew a deep breath and stared at Zhang Junbao in astonishment. "That brain of yours works fast!"
"I'm just throwing it out there."
"You might have hit the nail on the head," Zhang Qingyuan agreed.
"If that really was the case, then our sister-in-law... was far too pitiful," Zhang Junbao sighed.
"Yes."
Zhang Qingyuan agreed, and the two sank deep into thought.
They had no intention of mocking her. Their repeated attempts to verify things after first seeing her had only come from surprise.
But if their conjecture was the truth, it was undoubtedly a sorrowful tale.
Imagine a princess of the Great Qian dynasty.
Raised in silks and fed on delicacies, yet subjected to endless controversy because of her looks.
Hidden deep within the palace by the old emperor since childhood, unable to see the outside world or interact with others.
Dreaming of studying in the Great Main Hall like the other princes and princesses, of admiring flowers and enjoying song and dance in the rear gardens. Whenever the emperor held a state banquet, everyone could attend; only she could not appear before others.
A repressed life, suffocating surroundings, a lonely childhood...
By chance, she met Chen Xugu.
Feelings blossomed between them...
No!
By chance, Chen Xugu saw her, but only from behind.
One showed only her back, while the other gazed up at a fairy.
As they conversed, feelings blossomed between them.
But one day, the Great Feng Kingdom sent an envoy seeking a marriage alliance, and one of the princesses had to shoulder that responsibility.
Whom should they choose?
The old emperor turned his gaze toward this third princess, whose front and back were nothing alike!
That day, in the Qian Kingdom's great hall, the princesses stood in a row, with only one facing away from everyone.
The Feng Kingdom's prince looked back and forth among them, hoping to choose a girl to his liking.
Every princess was as beautiful as a heavenly fairy, with faces like peach blossoms, their charms beyond words.
Yet however beautiful those princesses were, none could rival the sight of the third princess's back.
Her back alone instantly defeated every woman beneath heaven!
The Great Feng prince was stunned by her heavenly beauty. Pointing at the third princess, he asked for her by name, even offering to increase the betrothal gifts.
The old emperor agreed on the spot, and their marriage was settled just like that.
But Chen Xugu, who had already privately pledged his life to hers, refused to accept this marriage. Yet he, too, was torn.
A marriage alliance was a matter of state. Using marriage to maintain peace between two nations was an unchanging principle throughout the ages.
On one side was the person he loved; on the other, his devotion to his homeland.
In the end, love still went to his head.
On the day the princess was married off, he traveled alone to Great Feng's capital and stormed into that imposing imperial palace.
But he was puzzled. In the capital of a sovereign nation, within Great Feng's imperial city, there were surprisingly few guards.
Even the high priest, reputed to be the greatest in the Feng Kingdom, happened to be in seclusion. He quickly found the princess's bridal chamber.
Thank heaven and earth, they had not consummated the marriage yet. Chen Xugu burst into the bridal chamber and fled the palace with the person he loved.
Little did he know that behind him was the Feng Kingdom prince's face, relieved of a great burden.
Because things were not as Chen Xugu imagined. The prince had already lifted her veil and seen that face, overflowing with incongruity.
And so he regretted it.
As someone happened to come and steal the bride, he simply went with the current and did them a favor, letting the lovers finally be together.
After escaping the palace, Chen Xugu lifted the veil...
What followed was that his actions had caused such a stir that the entire nation already knew.
So he could only abandon the choice of Qin Shuangjiang, the Joyous Union Sect's holy maiden, whose beauty could rank first on the Rouge Ranking and who was willing to leave the Joyous Union Sect for him, and marry the princess instead.
He had had no choice.
That was why he had put the third princess in such a little village, keeping her from interacting with others and even forbidding outsiders from seeing her.
The two opened their eyes at the same time, exchanged a look, and said, "This is confinement!"
Zhang Qingyuan added, "Scumbag. He's no real man!"
"Exactly! That waiter in Xia County put it well. Once a man makes a choice, he must face its outcome openly, whatever it may be. Otherwise, he's a coward!"
"He lusted after her looks. He's unworthy of being the Pure Yang Daoist Chief!" Zhang Qingyuan cursed. "Just because she has a flaw, does that mean she can be tossed aside like a toy?"
"Since he chose the princess, then whatever she looks like, they should sustain each other through hardship and live in harmony like a zither and its strings, not hide her in the countryside to suffer while he plays the glamorous Pure Yang Daoist Chief!" Zhang Junbao bristled with righteous indignation.
"Even a wife who has shared your husks and chaff must not be neglected and hidden away just because you fear losing face. This is imprisonment!"
Zhang Junbao took a deep breath. "Such conduct goes against the principles left by the Dao Ancestor, and even more against the character a sect's Daoist chief should possess!
"If he were an ordinary person, we would have no right to interfere.
"But he is a sect's Daoist chief. Having read so many scriptures and studied so many principles, for his heart to remain so narrow means he has broken the precepts."
Zhang Qingyuan turned, and both of them gazed at the Daoist palace before them.
Their gazes grew firmer, their eyes sharper.
"Brother, we should correct his mistake."
"Mm." Zhang Qingyuan nodded, but then added, "Shouldn't we investigate first, though? What if we guessed wrong?"
Zhang Junbao looked at him in surprise. "Why is it your turn to play dumb now?"