Yun Niang

Part 3

05

When I first met Song Xu, I was still a country girl.
The Song family held a minor official post in the capital. Though not particularly wealthy, they generally wouldn't consider a girl from the countryside like me as a potential match.

Generally, of course.

I met Song Xu while wandering in the hills.

He was out exploring, while I was gathering medicinal herbs for my mother.

He slipped and fell from a rocky cliff, injuring his leg, and I happened to pass by and saved him.

I applied herbal medicine to his wound and offered him a sesame flatbread for his hunger.
That flatbread was my entire ration for the day.

I didn't eat all day, yet I stubbornly insisted that I wasn't hungry.

I admit it was because he was handsome.

Later, I carried him down the mountain and left him at the clinic.

I thought it was just a brief encounter. To my surprise, not long after, he came to propose.

My parents felt we weren't a good match and didn't dare agree.

So, he knelt outside with the betrothal gifts, staying there all day and night.

My parents, afraid he'd actually harm himself, anxiously came to ask me.

They asked if I was willing to marry him.

I shyly nodded, my mind filled with thoughts of his beautiful face.

With no choice, my parents agreed to the marriage.

At first, we were deeply in love, inseparable.

But our happiness didn't last long. A few months later, war broke out on the border, and he was conscripted.

That departure lasted three years.

Three years later, the court's forces returned victorious, and the people gathered along the streets to welcome them.

Song Xu rode in the middle of the procession, full of confidence and vigor.

I stood in the crowd, looking at his face, both familiar and strange, worried that he might have forgotten me.
But he saw me right away.

He jumped off his horse, ran to me, and embraced me tightly.

He told me that he'd won honors on the battlefield, and the Emperor would surely promote him.

He said he'd build a new house and bring my parents into the city.

He promised that he would give me a better life.

He said he wanted us to grow old together.

After our brief moment of closeness, I watched him return to the group heading to the palace for his duties.

I thought we would reunite properly when he returned that night.

But I never expected that what awaited me was the news that Princess had taken a liking to him and publicly requested the Emperor to grant them marriage.

He tried to reassure me, saying the Emperor hadn't agreed, and that he had rejected Princess in person.

But I noticed a faint unease in his expression.

All night, he tossed and turned, holding me, repeating over and over that he needed me to stay by his side always.

I thought he just missed me terribly, so I smiled and agreed.
It wasn't until dawn that he finally fell asleep.

I covered him with a blanket and quietly slipped out.

It must have been the hardships of life on the battlefield that left him so restless and uneasy in his sleep.

I wanted to buy him some calming herbs.

But shortly after I stepped outside, I was killed by Princess in the street.

06

Song Xu stood in front of the Song residence with downcast eyes, letting my parents hit and curse him.

At last, they grew tired, withdrew their hands, and collapsed on the ground, weeping.

Song Xu called for his servants, instructing them to see my parents safely out of the city.

Then he spoke quietly to one of them, and I leaned in to listen, but couldn't catch what he said.

My parents boarded the carriage, and I climbed up as well.

I clung to my mother's arm, wanting to cry, but no tears would come.

I missed her so much; I wanted to go home with them.

But as soon as the carriage pulled away, that force once again grabbed hold of my soul.

I struggled, but I had no control as I was dragged back to Song Xu's side.

I could only watch helplessly as my parents disappeared down the long street.

Suddenly, memories of my days with them in the countryside rushed back.

Though life was poor back then, every day was filled with joy.

At home, whenever there was good food, they saved it for me first; if there were new clothes, they bought them for me first.

Neighbors often urged my parents to have a son, saying that only a son could be a true support.

But my parents always said that having Yun'er was enough.

With parents who loved me so much, how would they go on living without me?

The more I thought about it, the sadder I became, but my ghostly form could shed no tears, so I just howled and cursed.

"You bastard! I wish I'd never married you!"

"No, I shouldn't have saved you at all! I should've let you die at the bottom of that cliff!"

Song Xu couldn't hear a word of it.

He just stood there, gazing towards the city gates, a trace of melancholy in his eyes.