Chapter 7

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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="750" data-orig-width="402"></figure>You know the typhoon that I mentioned a couple of chapters ago? Well, it finally arrived and sadly (or rather happily from my perspective), Jian Zhang and Jing Wan are caught right in the middle of it. This chapter basically sets the events of the rest of the book in motion and we are one more chapter closer to seeing our OTP reunite. :D

One thing that bothered me in the drama adaptation was that Murong Feng used Western doctors to treat his father and Jing Wan, yet Western medicine was banned in China. It doesn’t make sense to force Western doctors to use Chinese herbs to treat them… Can anyone enlighten me on this matter?

Encountering Love: Chapter 7

She leaned her head against his chest, as he gently patted her on the back and whispered: “I will return in half a month. If everything goes smoothly, perhaps I will have everything finished in ten days.”

He set out the next day and once he got to Cheng Zhou, he sent a telegram to report that he was safe. After a few more days, he sent another telegram, and Jing Wan saw that it only had a few words, it said: “If all goes well, I will arrive in Qing Ping on the morning of May 9^th, don’t worry.” She was relieved.

On May 8^th, she decided to go to the train station early the next morning to welcome Xu Jian Zhang, so she went to bed very early. Since it was spring-time, the weather was hot and humid, she laid in bed, tossing and turning for quite a while before she finally drifted off to sleep.

She faintly recalled standing in a very large reception hall, which was completely empty and silent. Even though she is usually very bold, but upon seeing this barren place, deep down, she was also a bit frightened. Suddenly she saw someone walking towards her, who obviously looked like Jian Zhang; she was so happy and called out his name. He ignored her but continued to walk forward so she went up and grabbed onto his sleeve, asking: “Jian Zhang, why are you ignoring me?” That person turned around but he was not Jian Zhang; his face was fierce and strange, and grinning fiendishly, he replied: “Xu Jian Zhang will not survive.” She looked behind her and did indeed see two guards dragging Xu Jian Zhang through the door, his entire body dripping with fresh blood. The two guards who were dragging him acted like they were dragging a sack of something, and the floor was covered with his bloodstains. She was about to catch up to them but the two guards were walking very fast and within the blink of an eye, the three of them had disappeared. She was so scared that she began to weep, grabbing onto that person, she screamed: “Return Xu Jian Zhang to me! Return Xu Jian Zhang to me! 

She was choked full of tears and suddenly woke up to complete silence. There was a lamp on in the room and the pearl-encrusted canopy only allowed a glimmer of light to pass through, but she was obviously in her own bedroom. She only heard the soft ticking of the clock on her nightstand. Cold sweat had drenched her entire body and her silk nightgown stuck to her icy cold body. She remembered the circumstances of her dream, which was extremely frightening, she slowly wrapped her blankets around herself and reassured herself: “It was only a dream, only a dream. Good thing it was only a dream.” She soothed herself like this and slowly drifted off to sleep again.

Since she hadn’t slept well for half the night, she slept very deeply for the rest of the night. In the midst of her sleep, she suddenly heard her mother call her name and hurriedly sat up to answer her. She wrapped herself in a robe when Madam Yin opened the door and came in. There was a telegram in her hand and a worried expression on her face, but she only said: “Jing Wan, don’t get too agitated. Something has happened to Jian Zhang.” She was in the midst of putting on her clothes and she had just stuck her arm through one of her sleeves. When she heard her mother’s words, it was as if lightning had struck her, and she just stood there in a daze.

Apparently, the Cheng army has been watching the importation of Western medicine, an embargoed good, very severely, but since the the Xu family has been in the medicine business for many years and they had friendly relations with many important people in the Cheng army, they did not have any difficulties these past few years. Surprisingly, after Murong Feng took over the army and subdued the nine provinces in the north, he turned around to strengthen the laws, and he was most strict upon the embargo of Western medicine. That Young Master Murong Feng was successful; he was resolute in carrying out the laws and imprisoned many corrupt officials, whom he hated the most. On this matter, he remained unmoved, and suddenly turned against an old officer of the Cheng army by having him investigated and removed from office. After that, he further investigated the matter and imprisoned everyone who was suspected of having been involved with smuggling. Xu Jian Zhang was also captured and detained with his merchandise after leaving the city, and was now imprisoned in jail. No one knew whether he was dead or alive.

At first, Madam Yin thought Jing Wan would cry, but surprisingly, she did not weep. Even though she seemed agitated, after a while, she calmed down and asked: “Does Aunt Xu know about this?” Madam Yin replied: “She was the one who told He Ma to bring the telegram over. I heard from He Ma that Madam Xu is about to go crazy with worry, she hasn’t stopped weeping since.”

Even though Xu Jian Zhang has two younger brothers, they were still young so he, as the eldest son, usually took care of all the important family matters. Because of this, the Xu family has lost their pillar of strength, so everything was a mess. Jing Wan gave a soft “oh” and then asked: “What did Father say?” Madam Yin responded: “Your father just heard about this and has gone to find Cabinet Minister Wang. Hopefully, they will be able to think of a plan.”

Yin Chu Fan went to go see this Cabinet Minister Wang, who was originally part of the Cheng army and now is working for the government as Minister of Finance. When he heard why Yin Chu Fan had come, he didn’t say anything but kept shaking his head, saying: “I could help you if it was anything else but this matter because Liu Shao will not listen to anyone. Surely you’ve heard about his temper; he always stands by his decisions. When the warlord was still alive, only he could deal with him. Right now, he is still furious about the matter and perhaps he wants to execute him as an example to everyone. No one dares to ruffle the tiger’s pelt. I advise you to go back and when the matter has subsided, to think of another plan.“

Yin Chu Fan saw that he had gotten to this point and that nothing could be done to save the situation. He could only return empty handed. Jing Wan saw that her father was examining each and every one of their powerful friends but did not say a word. Yin Chu Fan comforted her by saying: “Even though smuggling Western medicine is a grave military offense, the Xu family has many friends in the Cheng army so you don’t have to worry about his life being in danger. If we prepare some more money, we should be able to take care of this problem.” She still did not say a word but deep down, she was very anxious. She did not even eat lunch and returned to her room alone.