Chapter IBMLS Ch.24 Care (1)
Care
Mu Mingtang never thought that when she met the Marquis of Wu’an again, it would be under these circ.u.mstances.
He was the same young man who had saved her from the hands of the barbarians and told her that as long as she could walk, she should keep moving forward, that staying alive was hard, but dying was all too easy.
His words had eventually turned into Mu Mingtang’s greatest pillar of support. Yes, her parents had sacrificed their lives to give her a chance to live. How could she let herself die so easily? As long as she could walk, she should keep moving forward. As long as there was a single breath left inside her body, even if she had to crawl, she should crawl forward and get to a safe place.
On the day the Xiangyang skies were set alight by a raging fire that burned down the city, the youth on the white horse guided her to safety. Once she was out of the city, she joined the thousands of refugees from the other devastated cities behind the young man’s army and followed them northward.
She also learned from them that the youth who had rescued Xiangyang was the Marquis of Wu’an. He had been ordered to invade the Houshu Empire, and it was during his journey back that he discovered Xiangyang had been captured. The emperor had actually planned to send reinforcements to Xiangyang, but it was not naught because the cowardly prefecture chief ran away without even putting up a fight.
At the time, the Marquis of Wu’an was in a hurry to return to the capital, but how could he just sit back and ignore the city that was being destroyed, and the countless lives there were being taken? Therefore, he gathered up his most elite soldiers, broke away from the troops, and quickly killed the barbarians who were wreaking havoc in Xiangyang.
As a civilian who was fleeing with thousands of other refugees, Mu Mingtang naturally didn’t know that the Marquis of Wu’an was on his way back to the capital. The reason was actually because Emperor Guo Rong had become severely ill, and the Xie family intended to replace him.
Mu Mingtang didn’t know that the Marquis of Wu’an was Xie Xuanchen. The t.i.tle was bestowed upon him by Emperor Guo Rong, and after the Xie family took over, he became known as the Prince of Qiyang. When Xie Yi died and Xie Rui became the emperor, the Prince of Qiyang’s past was gradually forgotten.
Not once during her journey with Granny Zhou did Mu Mingtang forget about her savior. However, it was impossible for her, a common refugee, to know about what had happened to him, a high-ranking military official from the capital. Even when she was adopted by the Jiang family and became a lady of high status, she didn’t wield any power.
Instead, she was trapped inside Jiang Manor for rigorous training about etiquette and elegance. The interpersonal relationships that existed in the capital were not taught to her, so the only things she knew were from the chattering of the maidservants. They enjoyed fanning the flames of gossip and always exaggerated the stories related to the Prince of Qiyang’s insanity and the number of people he had killed.
Therefore, in Mu Mingtang’s mind, the Prince of Qiyang and the Marquis of Wu’an were two vastly different people. She’d once inquired the maidservants about the Marquis of Wu’an, but they were all clueless, and she didn’t dare ask Madam Jiang. After the nanny who was in charge of discipline arrived in the manor, Mu Mingtang could only give up and silently pray for her savior.
She harbored no delusions about him. Some people had the power to stand at the peak of the mountain, but most people were only capable of crowding around that mountain and looking up into the clouds. Her feelings for the Marquis of Wu’an were simply feelings of admiration and grat.i.tude for the hero who had saved her life.
Of course, she’d thought more than once about how young, handsome, and powerful her savior was. He didn’t look to be much older than her, yet he had already become a marquis. She believed that he must’ve continued living his life in peace and glory, making contributions that would allow him to be remembered through history.
She never thought he would become like this.
After she finished crying, Mu Mingtang wiped her tears and rolled up her sleeves. Her father always told her that she should never owe anyone a debt of grat.i.tude. The Jiang family had merely adopted her, while the Marquis of Wu’an had saved her life.