Chapter Twenty-nine, Scheme

Approximately in the evening, Ling Xiang came over to say the preserved meat porridge was done.

He Xuan was marking official documents, Xiao Zuo was covered in a blanket curling on the small couch by the side, with his hands holding up some country annals. The charcoal in the room warmly made people all drowsy and wanting to sleep, his head nodded again and again, and sleepiness rose up to the point even the eyelids almost could not be propped up.

“Your Highness, Duke, the preserved meat porridge is ready, should this servant bring it over now?”

He Xuan reached his hand out and placed it by the mouth and made a shush sound. Ling Xiang turned and saw Xiao Zuo sleeping on the couch, and purposefully lightened her footsteps, then He Xuan nodded his head, and said quietly, “Place it on the table.”

Once Ling Xiang left, He Xuan lowered his head again and looked at scrolls for a while. Since the inside of the room was warm, this preserved meat porridge would not go cold for the time being, and when he predicted Xiao Zuo would wake up soon, he lifted the lid on the porcelain bowl, and immediately, the fragrance of meat spread all around and to the nose. Xiao Zuo seemed to have smelled it in his dreams as well, and he forcefully energized himself and yawned, and sleepily asked, “Is the porridge ready yet?”

“It’s ready, come have a taste.”

This time, Ling Xiang even brought a small porcelain bowl and two spoons. He Xuan scooped a bowl for him, Xiao Zuo hazily moved over, then put it in his mouth to taste. He quietly hissed from getting scalded, and He Xuan didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, “It’s hot, you need to eat slower.”

Xiao Zuo nodded his head. This time, he carefully blew, then tasted it, “Have a try too, your Highness, it’s delicious this time.”

“Certainly, this method of yours is quite ingenious.” He Xuan narrowed his eyes and savoured it, and sighed in slight lament, “This taste is just the same as the one when Mother made it.”

Xiao Zuo froze, like he faintly felt like he made contact with that place He Xuan hid safely, yet was afraid if he hastily invaded it, that originally hazy cloudy mountain covered in mist[1] would directly disappear cleanly like a building in the seas, where even way-finding birds could not guide him into the doors. He was a bit nervous for the time being, unsure if he should pretend to be an idiot or if he should go along with his words and find that door. He thought about it for a while, then slowly and very carefully asked, “What is, your Highness’ mother like?”

Perhaps this bowl of preserved meat porridge that was like a previous acquaintance made He Xuan slightly withdraw the thorns on his body, making Xiao Zuo briefly peer into his soft abdomen. He Xuan leaned on the back of the chair, went silent for a moment, then at the time Xiao Zuo regretfully planned on diverging the topic, he then lightly said, “Mother is the daughter of a noble family in the capital. When she was very young, she had already been appointed the marriage by the former emperor, and after her coming of age, then was made the crown prince consort. She and Father had always been very much in love, and was extremely affectionate. After Father ascended the throne, she was then made Empress Yuan.”

Xiao Zuo made an en sound, He Xuan did not look at him, and continued on himself, “Mother had a gentile nature, when she spoke, she always used a soft voice, and very rarely blamed the servants, but her body was never good, not long after Ig……”

He Xuan paused, and did not continue on, “Ig would often think, if Mother was always here, Ig could go into the palace everyday to look at her, speak with her, and during the new year, have the courage to ask ask for rewards……”

Like he had come to, He Xuan suddenly stopped, then he pulled at the corners of his mouth in self-ridicule, and lightly said, “What am I doing speaking to you about this.”

“Act……” Xiao Zuo originally wanted to open his mouth and comfort him, but hearing these words, he dejectedly swallowed it back. He hung his eyes down and silently thought of something, and after a while, then spoke a few words, “Have some more, your Highness, I’m not eating anymore, I am a bit full.”

The room had some indescribable awkward silence, Xiao Zuo hung his eyes down and depressingly sat to one side, and stared at the book in his hands he flipped over, and was in a daze. He Xuan put down the brush, and casually asked, “Last time you said there was something you wanted to tell megu, what is it?”

Xiao Zuo paused, then recalled the matter regarding white ears. He had a rough idea, but it was still not mature, he thought about talking about it with He Xuan, and ask if it was possible, then put down the book in his hands, and picked some important points to tell him.

“You can try.” Just as Xiao Zuo said a few words, He Xuan seemed to cut him off in slight annoyance. He flipped a page of the book in neither acceptance nor denial, and the slightly knitted eyebrows overlapped like a winter day’s distant mountain on a big foggy day, “Ig won’t intercept.”

The hand Xiao Zuo placed on the knee gripped tight, and secretly stifled in the strength.

❀

After a few days, when Xiao Zuo went to He Xuan’s residence, he saw his mood today was not bad. He Xuan was flipping over a thick literacy book on something, and seldom revealed a slightly satisfied smile.

“Your Highness, on the fourth prince’s birthday banquet, can [you] bring me there?” Xiao Zuo absentmindedly stroked the yellowed page in his hands, and hesitated for a long time before asking. He Xuan paused, and lifted his eyes with an indifferent face, “What about it?”

“I……” Xiao Zuo pursed his lips, and was a bit nervous, “That day, what I mentioned with your Highness, the plan regarding White Ears……”

He Xuan seemed like he wanted to laugh, but when the corner of his eyes glanced at Xiao Zuo lifting his face looking at him, with his eyes still left with something between innocence and ardour, it immediately made [He Xuan] unable to say some harmful words, and in the end, he only raised the corners of his mouth. Perhaps he also wanted to see what kind of shocking thing this seemingly harmless little fellow in front of him could do, and strangely enough, he actually nodded his head, “Alright.” He Xuan heard himself say.

“I know your Highness won’t……” Xiao Zuo’s rebutting words were said halfway, and he suddenly realized what He Xuan said. He paused in astonishment, opened his mouth, and the remaining half spun a circle in the mouth, then was swallowed back, “Thank you, your Highness.”

He Yang’s birthday banquet was at the year’s end, at that time, the airs of the year already dilapidated much, and after the final grand event of the moon and lantern-gazing, the crumbs of the fireworks all over the street as well as the colourful bands made a considerably profuse curtain call for this old year.

Since then, Jin’s commoners removed their precious new clothes, put away the final plate of braised meat, and took up hoes and needles, made fabrics and farmed, day after day, year after year.

“Your Highness, today if something were to happen to me at the Fourth Prince’s residence, don’t mind me.” Xiao Zuo said while hanging his head down. He Xuan knitted his eyebrows, he was standing while picking at the wick of a lantern placed on the study table, that candlelight flickered, then dimmed down again.

“Is it related with that plan of yours?”

Xiao Zuo did not deny it, he made an en sound, and opened his mouth.

“Don’t worry, your Highness, I know my bounds.”

“You……” He Xuan, unbeknownst why, suddenly turned irate. He lowered his eyes to look at Xiao Zuo, and seldom did not speak up. “Fine.” After a while, He Xuan took back his gaze, took up the scissor placed on the table and snipped that lantern wick. In the end, he did not pay attention to him again, and sat back down in his seat and continued reading books.

That vaguely visible big door towards Peng Lai[2] was still shrouded in a seemingly deep layer of cloud and fog, the solitary traveller was completely unarmed, he satisfactorily carried his bag, yet did not know that the guiding compass long already grew with rust.

In a moment’s time, the room sunk into a stagnate silence. Xiao Zuo lightly flipped a page, and those difficult-to-articulate words and lines emerged in front of his eyes. Just like a child who just started learning read an obscure and hard-to-understand prose, he read it over and over again, yet did not remember any of it. Once he flipped through half the book, He Xuan finally opened up, “It is about time, come with megu.”

He Yang was dressed in a new set of clothes embroidered with gold thread, with the sleeves buried in patterns of auspicious clouds. He was standing in the courtyard speaking with some members of aristocratic families when he heard the servant boy report that He Xuan had arrived. He Yang raised his eyebrows, and smiled while welcoming, “Brother has come, I see.”

“For Fourth Brother’s birthday, Ig have especially brought a gem from the south sea, wasn’t Fourth Brother’s headpiece missing one a few days ago?” He Xuan spuriously waved his hand, and the servant following behind then brought up a wooden box on top of a red fabric.

“It must have been hard for Brother to remember, thank you, Brother.” He Yang had a servant take it, then led He Xuan to his seat, “Please, Brother.”

A few days ago, He Heng’s wind chill got more severe again. The news from the palace said that He Heng accompanied the newly titled Noble[3] Jiang at the imperial flower garden for some hours in the night, where dew got heavier, and then got cold. Empress Liu even found an excuse because of this matter to strike Noble Jiang for a while, unknown if there would be some enmity born between the emperor and empress because of this, but He Heng already did not even step into Empress Liu’s Han Yuan Palace for a good few days.

He Heng’s wind chill lingered for a long while, the medicine the imperial doctor prescribed meant to treat it, but it wasn’t seen to get better. Today when [He Heng] was getting up in the morning, he felt dizzy, so He Yang originally thought about not holding the birthday celebration to go to the palace to watch over his sickness. However, He Heng felt that since he normally hunted deer and pulled bows, his body can’t get that bad, and it was not considered some important matter too, so he had He Yang hold it himself, while Empress Liu stayed at the palace to take care of it. But in the end, the body was unwell, and He Heng only sent some presents this time and did not personally come- but coincidentally, He Heng not attending did not restrict everyone, so they could play to their heart’s content.

Xiao Zuo did not go together with He Xuan. He waited for He Xuan to go in, then followed other people with lower statuses and mixed in. When he went inside, the seats at the front were already filled, so Xiao Zuo just found an inconspicuous seat at a corner and sat, while a bunch of family members of officials to the side spoke of some vulgarities- he only silently picked up a few peanuts, tossed them into the mouth to eat, and thought about how to get to the front of He Yang.

Without realizing it, when the plate of peanuts in front of him almost got finished by him alone, He Yang then came in. He spoke something at the front, Xiao Zuo did not hear clearly, but it should be some words about thanks for the birthday wishes. Xiao Zuo idlely used his chopsticks to poke at the cold dishes in his bowl, and in between, would pick some shredded chicken and place it in the mouth, and when He Yang finished those words, he then came down and toasted table by table.

“Is this not the Nan Hun Duke?” When He Yang came to toast this table, he already had a lot of yellow stuff down the stomach, and his face already emitted with a red colour. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Xiao Zuo, swayed the cup of wine in his hands, and smiled, “Then we must toast.”

“Greetings to your Fourth Highness.” Xiao Zuo bowed, then poured a cup full of wine for himself, and also smiled, “To your Highness.”

He Yang waited for Xiao Zuo to lift his head and finish it in one gulp, then praised, and also finished the wine in his own cup, “There is still some main dishes in a moment, take your time, Duke.”

“Please wait, your Highness.” Xiao Zuo apologetically scratched his head, and slightly dejectedly said, “On the way here, I seemed to have dropped my pouch, the inside has a picture of my mother, I treasure it much, may I leave my seat to search for it?”

“Oh?” He Yang paused, then nodded his head, “Do as you please, Duke, just don’t go into the inner residence where the women are.”

“Your Highness must jest.” Xiao Zuo lowered his head, and He Yang no longer looked at him, then turned to a neighbouring seat.

He Xuan was sitting at the topmost seat in the middle. Today, other than the birthday star, only he was of the highest status- he did not need to particularly go curry favour or fawn on anybody, he simply absentmindedly ate dishes, fussily drank with the guests coming in an endless stream to toast with him, then apathetically replied randomly to some ice-breaking words with the others at the same time, and once three cups of wine went down the stomach, He Xuan narrowed his eyes and pretended to nonchalantly look toward the seat Xiao Zuo sat at before, and saw it was empty.