Chapter Four, The Capital

“Nan Hun Duke, this place is the residence that his Majesty has bestowed. From now on, you will be living here.” Xiao Zuo came down from the carriage with a slight totter, and when he lifted his head up, he saw a plaque of gold.

“May I ask when my servants will be able to come?”

That eunuch glanced at Xiao Zuo, “Didn’t his Majesty not say today? They will come tomorrow, what is Duke so hurried for.” Xiao Zuo pursed his lips. From that eunuch’s stingy cold gaze, he got a taste of the cold and warmth of the world. He took out a gold pendant from his sleeves, and stuffed it into the eunuch’s hand, “Then I ask that gong’gong you help aid in this.”

That eunuch took that pendant with an appropriate air, and nodded his head, “That is of course, Duke, do feel at ease.”

The ducal residence was an area with two courtyards. The inner courtyard had a neither big nor small flower garden, while the inside was planted with a few loquats and parasol trees. At this time, the parasol tree leaves spread over the entire area in the courtyard, so when Xiao Zuo was stepping over them, it would make a small rustling sound.

Once the eunuch brought him to the door, he left, leaving a few guards that the emperor sent by the entrance. Just at this time, there was a servant girl sweeping the fallen leaves in the courtyard. When she saw Xiao Zuo come in, she put the broom to the side in slight panic, then ran off, probably to notify the steward or something.

Xiao Zuo picked up a parasol tree leaf, and before he could look at it carefully, he heard hurried footsteps to the back, “Duke.” Xiao Zuo turned around, in front of his eyes was a man who looked to be middle-aged, wrapped in a thick cotton robe, and abidingly making a bow.

“This servant is the residence’s steward. Since the duke has already come, in a moment, I will have the servant girls and boys in the residence come out for introductions, then you can have dinner.”

The butler called a few times, and the servant girls and boys then sparsely gathered in the main hall. They must have thought that being sent to serve Xiao Zuo, this monarch of a fallen country, was no different from being sent off to the borders, with no days of rising to come, so each and every face was masked in a layer of death, lowering heads and staring at the tips of their toes, not saying a single word.

Xiao Zuo had been on the road for many days, and was long already utterly exhausted. Before this, he even forced the energy to face the emperor, and now was even more dizzy. When seeing this kind of situation, he truly had no strength to play along, so he randomly instructed a few things then waved his hand to have them withdraw.

Among them, one whose looks were slightly better seem to be a bit cleverer, and brought him to the bedchambers, and even prudently set the bed for him, “For dinner, does the duke have anything you avoid eating?”

“Never mind it, I don’t have much appetite, you can tell the kitchen to not busy themselves, and have them make some noodles.”

“What kind of noodles does the duke want to eat?”

Xiao Zuo froze. When he was young and did not have a good stomach, he would often get an upset stomach. Mother would bring in buckwheat noodles the kitchen made for him, buckwheat was gentle[1] and was easy to digest, and each time he ate it for a week, it would get better. As time went by, he also came to like the taste of buckwheat, so when he did not have much appetite, he would always have the kitchen cook a bowl of buckwheat noodles plus some green vegetables.

“Buckwheat, then.” Xiao Zuo swallowed all those past memories back into his stomach in a flurry, afraid he would chew out something worrisome, and hurriedly added, “Plus some greens.”

“Yes.” That small servant girl received the orders, then went out the door.

The bedchambers was a bit big, all barren and empty. The windows were not closed tight either, so it seeped with slivers of cold wind. Xiao Zuo was slightly at a loss, standing in the middle of the room, and did not know what he should do for the time being. Just as he was hesitating, he heard the fine footsteps from the small servant girl- she pushed the door open then came in, with her hands holding a bowl of steaming buckwheat noodles.

“Duke, the noodles are here. Be careful, it’s a bit hot.”

Xiao Zuo took it, then took up the chopsticks and pulled at the leafy green, then casually asked, “Where are you from? Your dialect doesn’t seem to be that similar to the others.”

“This servant’s ancestors are from Nan Liang. When Mother was young, she migrated north along with family to Jin, and then resided in Jin.”

“Oh?” Not expecting that he could meet someone from his old home in another place at this time, Xiao Zuo’s heart surged and tumbled. He forcibly pressed down the heat at the bottom of his eyes, and very carefully asked, as though afraid he would startle something awake, “What a coincidence, what is your name?”

The small servant girl smiled, “This servant is called Qing Xing[2].”

“Of greens and reds and colours of fragrance, with apricot flowers filling Jiang Nan[3]. It is a good name.” The small servant girl instantly turned red, and coyly muttered a few words, then urged on, “Hurry and eat, Duke, the noodles will go cold.”

Xiao Zuo then lifted the chopsticks up and picked up a few strands, and very expectantly sucked it into the mouth, but what entered the mouth was not a familiar taste. The soup was a bit denser, the vegetables were a bit overcooked, and the looks of it were far from that bowl of gentle noodles in his memories. He slightly dejectedly placed down the chopsticks, “It’s still a bit hot, I will eat it later. You can go busy with other things first.”

“If Duke has something, you can just call on Qing Xing, Qing Xing will be waiting outside.”

Once Qing Xing left, the insides that Xiao Zuo forced himself to dull since the country fell finally strengthened, warped, clamoured, about to rip off this peace in front of him that he meticulously embroidered, and spread open the bloody image of the country falling and being forced to leave native land, pressing his head to let him see it clearly and genuinely.

That dull and tasteless buckwheat noodle finally made him realize- that home of twenty years, those eight thousand miles of land, could only be glanced in dreams of old now. He leaned against the back of the bed like he was sleep-walking, and could not help but recall his Ji Le Palace in Nan Liang, that jaded tree with fine branches and soft silk, imperial maids wearing flowery ornaments playing the lute, playing a Magpie Treads On Branches.

Xiao Zuo suddenly felt something pressing against him from the back, and he touched his back- it was a rectangular small embroidered pouch threaded in his inner robe. Thinking about it, the long journey’s tremors probably made it fall out. Xiao Zuo hooked it over, and opened the mouth of it. Inside of it was an embroidered portrait of a woman, her face was decorated and gentle, wearing a phoenix crown, while the corners of her mouth held in a smile.

Xiao Zuo’s heart shook greatly. At this moment, what demeanour, integrity, mannerisms of a king, were all thrown to the back of his head. Xiao Zuo felt like he returned to when he was small, when he stole Father’s precious sword to play with, and accidentally cut his own finger. He originally stifled it in and did not cry, but once he saw Queen Mother worriedly entering the palace, he cried so loud it was like it would echo in the skies, and staggeringly pounced into Mother’s embrace. He still remembered the scent of incense on Mother’s collar, it was a very calming, faint fragrance.

Even though he was grown up now, and also once sat on that paramount position, when turning back and seeing it empty, after he recalled of that scent of wood on Mother’s collar that day, he would seem like a hunter with wounds all over the body after fighting with a fierce beast, who could still find some strength in the end, and go back home to get a cup of hot tea.

In an instant, tears came rolling down like it couldn’t be stopped, and Xiao Zuo couldn’t be bothered to wipe it. He seemed like an injured young beast, curling up at the end of the bed, burying his head into his arms and whimpering. He could no longer prop up that dignified and respectable look in the daytime- the stern and fearless wooden rack that he used all his might to put up long already swayed dangerously, and at this time, he straightforwardly pushed that wooden rack over, and let it spread all over the floor in bits and pieces.

“Looks like it wasn’t the right time for megu to be here.”

Xiao Zuo froze. He hurriedly wiped away the tears, and looked towards the door with red and swollen eyes. A young lord dressed in black robes was leaning against the doorframe, looking at him from the side with a bit of ridicule.

Xiao Zuo saw the four-clawed gold dragon threaded on his clothes.

He seemed like he got pricked by a needle, and hurriedly got up, tidied himself up in a fluster, then said with a hoarse throat, “I didn’t know that the crown prince has come, and have failed to come meet your Highness for coming a long ways, I hope that your Highness will pardon my mistakes.”

He Xuan humphed from his nosed, and looked at him up and down, then sneered, “Hoh, Ig thought the Nan Hun Duke was a five year-old child, so Ig had guessed wrong, Ig hope that the duke will not fault megu for it.”

These words were clearly making fun of how he was hiding here secretly crying. Xiao Zuo knew that at this time, the two people’s positions had a great disparity to it- meeting at this time was looking down upon him. He pursed his mouth, and pulled out a smile that was uglier than crying, “How could your Highness say this.”

Just as he said this, the embroidered pouch he randomly stuffed on top of the bed hurriedly fell down all of a sudden. He Xuan saw it with a single glance, but Xiao Zuo was afraid he would make fun of it, and quickly went to pick it up. Coincidentally, He Xuan also bent down to pick it up. The two’s fingers slightly touched, and Xiao Zuo abruptly shrunk it back, then lifted his eyes to look at him in shock.

He Xuan did not pay notice to it. He originally thought the one on it was a Wu Mountain goddess[4] that Xiao Zuo would dream of in the middle of the night- an unconventional king of a fallen country who was still infatuated with a lover in the old country while in a foreign place, the plot of books he especially couldn’t look up to.

He Xuan long prepared all sorts of prickling phrases to make him so ashamed he would be injured all over. He seemingly glanced at Xiao Zuo to the side, and just as he opened his mouth, he suddenly saw that line of small words beneath that embroidered portrait: From Mother to Li Nu. Those hurtful words spun around in He Xuan’s mouth, but in the end, was swallowed back.

He looked at Xiao Zuo’s reddened eyes, and immediately recalled his own beautiful Mother who died an early death, and on a rare occasion, his rock-like heart actually bore some feelings of being deeply affected by the recollection. He Xuan sighed, and placed the embroidered pouch back into Xiao Zuo’s hands, and softly said, “Is Li Nu your infant name?” He carefully looked at Xiao Zuo’s dampened gaze that was like a kitten’s once again, then lightly laughed, “It suits you very much.”

Xiao Zuo did not think he would suddenly turn so amiable. He looked at He Xuan’s eyes in a daze for a moment- that circulating light in those narrow and long phoenix eyes[5], at this time, could actually be slightly called kind. Xiao Zuo stiffly nodded his head, and after a moment, he then realized and felt a bit embarrassed, then moved away his gaze in a panic, answering, “The name that the Em…. Father and Mother gave, has let your Highness laugh.”

“His Majesty has considered it is your first time in Jin, and especially had megu look after your daily life. In the coming days, food and clothing, if there is anything lacking, come to mygu residence to speak of it.” He Xuan poured himself a cup of tea on his own, and just as he took one sip, that most sly mouth within a thousand-mile radius of Jin was angered so much by this crude tea that was like it was mixed with soil that a single Buddha came to birth, and then subsequently ascended to Heaven[6]. He forcibly held in the urge of tossing the teapot right there and then, and bit down and grit his teeth, “Is this tea of yours made for pigs to drink? Do the servants in this residence do things like this?”

“Please calm down, your Highness, the tea was made crudely, I will have the servants change it out.” Xiao Zuo could not understand this death god’s temper for the time being, and did not know if he was faking his anger to display his might or if he really was angry, and could only admit to this strange offence, then prepared to go out the door to call Qing Xing over.

What kind of good tea can this run-down residence have? He Xuan knitted his eyebrows, and stopped Xiao Zuo, waving his hand in irritation, “Never mind, never mind, Ig will have the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs send some newly sent good tea over in a while.”

As he said this, that cold wind leaking in from the window drew in the Highness’ resentment. He Xuan looked for a long while in the empty bedchambers, and found a bit of charcoal on its last breath in the corner, and shouted in a thunderous rage, “Have the steward come here!”