Chapter 72: To Meet You in the Mortal Realm; To Find Flowers Beneath the Rain (Part 1)
After hearing what Mu Qing said, Xie Lian paused briefly in his step, but he didn't turn back. He waved his hand and continued forward by himself.
When he returned to the Xian Le capital, Xie Lian first headed straight for the royal palace.
He didn't know why he needed to go there since it's not exactly to see his parents. It wasn't only because of the fact that as a heavenly official he was forbidden to reveal himself to his closest family members, but more so because, in the time he had left home and in the years that had passed, he didn't really know how to initiate conversation with his parents anymore. This was probably the same for every child in the world. Thus, he concealed himself and haphazardly ran about the palace he was so familiar with, but his majesty the king was nowhere to be seen until finally, when he came to the Qi Feng Manor his father and mother were found.
The two had just dismissed the palace servants and were chatting between themselves. The queen sat on the side of the bed. The mask that she was fiddling around with in her hands was the very one that Xie Lian wore three years ago at the Heavenly Ceremonial Procession. The shape of the golden mask was carefully molded in Xie Lian's features, which was why it had fit him perfectly and comfortably when he had worn it. When it's seen by others, the degree of replication was almost frightening. The king chided from the side, "Stop playing around with that and come give me a head massage."
Even though the king and the queen put up a front in front of the people, ever since Xie Lian was little, he had seen clearly that behind the scenes, his parents would bicker like any other normal married couple. The queen put down the mask as expected and sat down by the king's side to help massage his temples. As she was combing through his hair, she suddenly said, "You've more white in your hair again."
Xie Lian took a closer look. True to his mother's words, the sides of his father's hair were greying and it aged him a few years. He wondered to himself, 'Didn't father visit the Huang Ji Pavilion to pray just a while back? At the time, his hair was still black, how did it grey so suddenly?'
The queen handed a copper mirror to the king, but he pushed it away, "No need to see. Just dye it black again next time we go visit Mount Taicang."
It was then that Xie Lian had realized, 'His hair didn't grey only recently! It greyed a long time ago, it's just that he dyed it black every time before coming to see me. Yet because I've been too occupied listening to the prayers of my devotee and running about, I rarely made time to come back and visit which was why I didn't suspect anything.'
Coming to this conclusion, Xie Lian was filled with guilt. For once he was glad his parents weren't able to see him. As the queen massaged the king's head, she murmured, "I told you to rest early everyday, yet you never listen to me and even said that I nag you day and night. Now look at how unseemly you've become. If our son sees you, he definitely wouldn't want anything to do with you."
The king huffed, "Ever since your son grew up and his wings had toughened, he stopped caring about me anyway." Though he said it in such a manner, he still couldn't help but take a peek at the copper mirror by the bedside and muttered, "It's not that bad, isn't it still the same face?"
Xie Lian was speechless. He never realized that his father had this side to him, talking bad about him behind his back with such a petulant bitterness, he couldn't help but smile. The queen laughed, "Okay, okay, it's not bad. Your health is more important than the heavens, you should rest early today."
The King shook his head, "I can't rest right now. Recently, there's a number of people from Yong'an that arrived at the capital. If they want to come that's fine, but they've also stirred up trouble, making people feel uneasy. It's a tricky situation."
It turns out that the reason behind his father's greying hair was because of the drought at Yong'an. There was an unspeakable kind of misery in Xie Lian's heart. The queen nodded, "I heard from Rong-Er that he met someone from Yong'an today. He said that the man tried to steal money from the temple, how frightening!"
The king had a wary look in his eyes, "Indeed, it's shocking. If there were only tens or hundreds of them, that's fine, but if a couple hundred thousand of them came and go rogue all over the capital, then who knows what's going to happen."
The queen debated for a while and finally said, "That might not happen. If they follow the laws and keep to themselves, then let them come."
The king became agitated, "As the king of a nation, how can I take risk in something that 'might not' happen? Besides, they definitely can't come over. Looking after a few more people isn't as simple as placing a couple more sets of chopsticks down at the table. There are many complications involved that you don't understand, so stop talking."
The queen soothed, "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. I don't understand the things you spoke of to begin with anyway. If only our son was still here. Then he could at least help take some burden off of you."
The king scoffed, "Him? What can he do? As long as he doesn't cause me any more worries, then that's already good enough."
At the mention of Xie Lian, the king seemed to liven up again, "That son of yours, he's already ten-something years old, but he was raised like a princess. Even if he knew, it won't do any good, he'll just add more problems to it. It's best if he stays carefree in the heavens without knowing anything. Let him do what he wants to do. He's not the Crown Prince anymore, there's no need for him to care about matters in the mortal realm. Let him fly to his heart's content."
Xie Lian listened silently as his father ranted with growing excitement. With a knowing smile on her face, the queen nudged the king, "Now you call him a princess. Weren't you the one who spoiled our princess since he was young? And now you want to blame it all on me?" She then sighed, "That child is good in everything except for missing home. Before, when he was studying at the Huang Ji Pavilion, he'd only come back to visit once every few months. Now that he ascended, it's even more difficult. We haven't seen him once in three years. Who knows when we'll see him again."
Hearing her complain, the king stood back on Xie Lian's side, "How would a woman know anything? The Guoshi said those were the laws of Heaven, how can we treat him like a common mortal? If you call your son back, you'd be weighing him down."
The queen hurriedly explained herself, "I'm only just saying. I won't make any such demands when we're in front of him." Then she muttered to herself, "It's not too bad looking at the statues either; they look pretty much like him, and the statues are everywhere."
Watching them for so long, Xie Lian felt an ache in his heart and a hard lump lodged in his throat, making it painful for him to swallow. He couldn't stay hidden any longer, yet he couldn't reveal himself either. It wasn't because he was afraid of breaking Heaven's laws, but rather, even now, he still didn't know what to say. As for the situation in Yong'an, he didn't have any solutions at the moment. If he were to suddenly appear, it would only cause his parents more agitation and stress.
He dashed out of the royal palace. The moment he was outside, Xie Lian took in a couple of deep breaths, and it was only then that he was finally able to calm down. He steadied his heart and pulled himself together, thinking action was better than standing around sighing, he casted a spell and transformed himself into a plainly dressed young cultivator. He ran around the capital, digging for information and recorded his finds. Traversing all over, after a full day of work, he finally got the answers he wanted.
Indeed the water level in all the lakes and rivers within the royal capital of Xian Le was lower than the previous years. Back when he was still at the Huang Ji Pavilion, there were a few times when he'd snuck down the mountain to play. As he rowed his boat happily along the largest river that crossed through the Kingdom of Xian Le, the water level at that time was only just a tad short of the levee, yet now, it had dropped several meters. On top of that, the residents of the city said it's been like that for a while; it wasn't something that happened overnight. Before this, Xie Lian really hadn't paid much attention, but now that he had, he was shocked to see all the warning signs. He had originally hoped there'd be some mistake in Mu Qing's report and thus decided to come and see it for himself. But now he can't deny the fact that Mu Qing had never let him down before.
Once the situation was confirmed, Xie Lian stood solemnly by the riverside, deep in contemplation. Pedestrians passed behind from time to time, some nodded and smiled, others looked on curiously, but most went about happily minding their own business. An unknown amount of time passed and quietly, clouds gathered from the edge of the skies; sounds of pitter-patter filled the surroundings. It had started to rain.
Numerous pedestrians on the street looked up to the sky, "So unlucky! It's raining, let's hurry back!"
"Yea! How troublesome!"
Plip... plop... plip... plop...
Raindrops were beating down on Xie Lian's face and clothes before he finally became aware of his surroundings, "It's raining?"
When the people in the capital saw rain, they would drop everything to find shelter. Little do they know just how many were dying on the other side of Xian Le for a rainstorm like this to come. A group of people with umbrellas ran past, and when they saw Xie Lian, alone, getting soaked by the rain, they pulled him along and beckoned, "Young Cultivator, why aren't you getting out of this rain? It's coming down harder!"
Dazed, Xie Lian followed along and ran to seek shelter under a long roof. Not soon after the group of people tucked away their umbrellas, they broke out in laughter, "Luckily, I saw the clouds gather when I came out today and grabbed an umbrella, or else I would've really become a drowned rat!"
"It's been too long since it last rained. The storm is way overdue so it's going to be a big one."
"Gosh, see! It really is coming down harder! At this rate, it's going to turn into a deluge!"
The raindrops were beating down on the ground, splattering outwards. Those people spoke in such a familiar accent that Xie Lian felt deeply that this was his home; this was the place he was born and grew up, and those were the citizens he knew.
As the chitter chatter continued, the rain became a little lighter. A few people urged, "While it's still light, we should hurry and go!" Right after that, the men opened their umbrellas and stepped out from under the roof one after another, but Xie Lian still stood where he was. A couple of them glanced back and after a brief discussion among themselves, one came over and handed him a worn down umbrella. He offered politely, "Young Cultivator, are you not able to return home? This rain is quite heavy, why don't you take this umbrella."
Xie Lian snapped out of his daydream, "Thank you very much, but what about you?"
A few people in the group under the rain called out, "We still have a couple of umbrellas here that we can squeeze under together. Let's go, let's go!"
Urged by his companions, the man left the umbrella in Xie Lian's hand and ran back. The 'pa pa' sounds of their footsteps slowly faded away in the distance as Xie Lian stood for a while longer, holding onto the umbrella. Suddenly, his eyes caught a glimpse of an inconspicuous shrine not too far away. He opened his umbrella and walked towards it in the rain. Upon a closer look, the two sides of the small shrine doors were written with the verses, 'Body in abyss; Heart in Paradise'. Turns out that this was a Shrine of the Crown Prince.
Since eight thousand temples were built within only the span of three years, it was only natural not every one of them would be as extravagant and breathtaking as the one on Mount Taicang. Amongst the shrines, there were quite a few that were built by amateurs to fill the number and generate the excitement. Not only did they lack a Donations Box, but they also didn't have any shrine priests. The only things that they had was a clay statue, a couple of offering plates placed with assorted fruits and refreshments. Those with kind hearts would come by once in a while to freshen the place a little so that it could at least pass for a decent shrine.
Well hidden in an area like this was such an inconspicuous Shrine of the Crown Prince. Without stepping in, Xie Lian could already make out what could be described as a charmingly tacky Crown Prince statue. Exquisite clothing, a pale, round face with a slightly pinkish undertone, and a silly smile. The statue looked like a big doll. If it wasn't with so much on his mind, he probably would've laughed out loud.
In the past three years, Xie Lian had seen three thousand, if not five thousand Crown Prince statues. There were none that looked exactly like himself, even the most similar one was still seven points off. As for the rest, they were either too ugly or too beautiful. A majority of the divine statues of most other heavenly officials were too ugly, and yet, Xie Lian was the exact opposite. There were some that were beautiful beyond recognition and to the point where he, himself, was embarrassed. He didn't really take a good look at this clay statue to begin with, his eyes had glossed over it quickly, but unexpectedly, a snow white blur caught his eye and grabbed his attention.
Grasped in the left hand of that crudely made clay Crown Prince statue was a flower, white as snow.
The pearl white petals, with crystal dew clinging on to it, looked beyond delicate. One could faintly catch a wisp of its fragrance floating in the air, lovely and endearing. The signature pose of Crown Prince statue was 'Sword in One Hand; flower in the Other'. The said flower that was held in the left hand would, of course, be a finely crafted flower of gold, flower of gems, flower of jade. However, this was the first time Xie Lian had seen a real flower clasped within his statue's hand, and he couldn't help but lean forward to get a better look.
After a close examination, he discovered that the Crown Prince statue had probably held a clay flower once a upon a time. Whether if it fell due to the sculptor's poor skills or if someone had intentionally picked it off as some form of a prank, only a small hole remained in the left fist. That little white flower just so happened to be placed in this hole. If there was a person that had especially picked a flower to fill the empty space within this statue, then that person is truly kind-hearted.
Xie Lian's thoughts came to a halt when he heard a series of hurried footsteps. He didn't look back immediately, but instead hid his form. With the umbrella in hand, he lightly leapt onto the altar, and then turned around to look down. Within the grey fog of rain, a young boy barged in.
This boy was no older than twelve or thirteen. His dirt-stained, patched clothes were soaked from head to toe, and his face was covered by filthy bandages. His right fist was tightly clutching onto his left, as if protecting something important. It was only after he had entered the shrine did he finally release his hands.
A tiny, single flower as white as snow was sitting in his palms.