Chapter 303 - 191 Dawn Drumming
The first day in Chang’an ended amid the invisible smoke of battle between Ge Lan and Ran Meiyu.
As for the petty squabbles within the inner court, Ran Yan didn’t need to concern herself at all; even after being cut off from the world for two years, Ran Meiyu, now away from the Gao family, was no match for her.
The Gao mother and daughter had brought Ge Lan’s family to ruin, and even if Ge Lan truly did kill them, Ran Yan would feel no pity. This was a society where the legal system was not yet perfect; if one only hoped for the government to punish the wrongdoers with a full sense of justice, they would be oppressed all their life. Ran Yan had long passed the age of naivety.
Ge Lan knelt in the outer room, watching Ran Yan through the dense bamboo curtain as she read Medical Books by lamp light on the couch, and gradually, her heart softened.
Although Ran Yan said nothing, Ge Lan knew that she had been keeping her promise all along, just as she had said, "However you deal with the Gao family, I won’t hinder you, and when necessary, I’ll even help. This is the repayment I owe for borrowing your body, but please remember, your wife’s death has nothing to do with me. The day I discover you’ve done something detrimental to me, don’t blame me for showing no mercy..."
Now, Ran Yan was silently fulfilling the first part of her promise, and Ge Lan would ensure that the latter half would never come to pass.
...
The next day, at two o’clock in the fifth watch, as dawn began to break, the tranquil silence was shattered by the sound of the "morning drum" from the palace. The neighborhoods followed in sequence, beating their drums, and gradually, drumbeats filled the city as the gates of the wards began to open one after another. This drumming would continue for three thousand beats, until daylight.
The people of Chang’an City either rose with their clothes thrown on or slept even deeper amidst the rhythmic drumming.
It was Ran Yan’s first experience with the morning drum, and after about a dozen beats in Anshan Square, she awoke to see it was still dark and lay back down on her couch to rest her eyes.