When they arrived at the dining place, the table was set and full of delicious-looking food. Jingting's stomach rumbled, and that was the moment he remembered he had actually been hungry and had eaten a long time ago.
"Sit down, let's have dinner as a family," the Liu matriarch said and gestured for them to sit around the round table. Jingting was visibly nervous, so Liu Sheng grabbed his hand, sat him down and joined him.
"Calm down and eat, I won't do anything or say anything until we finish eating," she gestured once again towards the food, and Jingting suddenly wasn't so nervous. He felt no hostility towards them from her. Maybe the opposite. They looked like a happy family sitting around. Liu Sheng picked chicken meat and placed it in his bowl. Madam Zhao picked vegetables and put them into his bowl also, then she put some in Xuhua's bowl. Only after that did her own sons get some too. It was so bizarre that Jinting couldn't start eating. He was just looking around with his eyes wide open. His mouth, too.
"Eat," Liu Sheng said and placed more food into his bowl. He picked up the chopstick and, somewhat confused, he started eating.
"What at the barracks?" Madam asked, and Liu Cheng looked at his younger brother with interest. Liu An lowered his head and continued eating without a word.
"Who is that general you brought from the Capital? I really don't like him." Liu Sheng said, and Jingting's eyebrows rose up higher than usual. New general?
"I don't know. But be careful. His friends have to really be powerful. I got it ordered as an imperial decree that I have to assist him and keep him safe if needed. Maybe he is from an imperial family? Some lower branch?" Everybody looked at Xuhua, whose mouth was stuffed full with meat. She slowly chewed it all while maintaining eye contact.
"How am I supposed to know who you are talking about? I'm quite stashed away from the barracks. I had been there only once. There is a stronger possibility of brother Wen knowing him, than me. He had seen all the portraits and lineage." All the eyes previously staring at her now moved their attention towards him.
"Portraits and lineages?" Liu Sheng asked.
"My father wanted me to know who my enemies are. I do have some lists and portraits of who is the enemy and who is not bad after all. I just hadn't looked at them for a while," he said. But that wasn't true. He remembered about the books right after Liu Sheng left the sanctuary and spent a week searching for them in the library, checking whether to move the entire sanctuary south or if they could stay there.
The Liu family was written in black.
"It looks like Wen Zhen was really meticulous in teaching you. I noticed that you still have his noble carrying. He always looked more noble than a doctor. But once he started, he was so focused and handsome, very few girls in the Capital weren't jealous of your mother when he asked for her hand." Jingting's mouth fell open again, but now he wasn't alone. Even her own sons and Xuhua were now staring at her, completely stunned.
"Mom, please, can you warn us? I know you were really loving the gossip in the Capital, but this is too much…" Liu An said, his eyes watery. Jingting looked at Liu Sheng, confused.
"Liu An is the youngest, and his mother really missed her old gossiping friends, so once she got some letters about something from the capital, she would share them and discuss them with Liu An. He probably knows more about the relationship and families there than my secret soldiers." Jingting wanted to laugh. Poor Liu An. That was why he looked so traumatized.
"Hey, you haven't heard about how the young girl from the Han family wanted to marry Wen Zhen, and she threw herself into the lake just to be saved by him, because she knew he was a doctor who would save everyone. In the end, it was Li Rou who jumped in and saved her. The face when she jumped in and realized the lake had only been knee deep, and it was all just pretend… Li Rou really left her handprint on both of little Han's cheeks. I was never as happy as at that time." She finished her face glowing with happiness. When she saw the speechless faces around her, she continued.
"She once stabbed my leg with a nail when I was chasing after your father. Li and I, we called her the shrew Han. Even though her father was the Grand Tutor, she was as stupid as a wood and equally elegant." Jingting couldn't hold it in anymore. All the pent-up nervousness just erupted in him, and he placed his face in his hands, shaking.
"Oh, little Wen, are you okay? I didn't mean to make you cry," Madam Zhao patted his back. Jingting wasn't crying, though, and when he erupted with laughter. It was the loud one; he was even crying. It felt so absurd. Every time he heard about his parents, it was always about the Wen massacre. Never about their love, marriage, or even friends.
"Is there something else my parents did? I'm not talking about the Imperial hospital or anything to do with the massacre. I just want to know… how was my mother? I never saw her," he asked, his voice varying at the end. Madam Zhao took his hand and patted it.
"She was the most beautiful woman I knew. She was smart and strong. The Li family she was from was the most prosperous and rewarded family; her uncle was holding the Grand Secretariat until recently. It was such a pity and blessing at once that she wrote a severing blood ties letter before everything happened. She was really smart and also… she could fight like no other. I think she even made her own style using a fan. Something we all wear but never dared to use as a weapon." Jingting was feeling a warm something spreading inside his chest.
Father never talked about mother. He was scared once Jingting demanded to see her. At that point, he left for a while and brought back a plum tree. He put it into the ground and told little Jingting that it was the spirit and heart of his mother. When it was blooming and living, she was living with them. Now, Jingting understood why it was a strong and resilient plum blossom.
"Thank you," he said and smiled at Madam Zhao. She shook her head.
"There is a past that shouldn't be talked about and won't be… Before you decide to leave, and want to know the relationship between Prince Xing, General Liu, and Doctor Wen, I can write you a letter. But we are not enemies." He nodded. He knew. Prince Xing and General Liu, the Liu family, were all written in black ink… black meant friend.