Ch61 - Sending you 10 miles off

On the night before departure, Xie Huaian was still bent over the table, working.

The job of combing through seeds for the best variety to grow was in its final stages. The work sounded simple, but it was akin to talking about finance tables, where one thing led to another until you had a heap of topics.

How many regions in Great Jing were suitable for planting, and which crops did best in which area? The ones suitable for cotton, which type of seed was best suited to raise in each province? If there was cotton, should he also look into rice paddies, sweet potatoes, and potatoes? The latter two were foreign crops, which meant they needed to build ships to sail over the sea. Southern Great Jing at least had more drought-resistant, non-discriminating land for rice paddies, which could be harvested multiple times a year and should be promoted early…

Xie Huaian always wanted to slack off when he ran into thorny issues. Just as he prepared to sleep, he suddenly recalled how he’d put off recuperating from his illness for a while. Moving to the capital would take time, so what if that affected the spring plowing times? He might as well take advantage of Hong Yao going out to drain his own essence completely and complete the paperwork with one shot.

Head dizzy and vision swimming, he wrote to the point where it felt like the very pencil in his hand was floating away. His stomach was also surging with the urge to throw up, but he finished and stuffed the pages beneath his pillow before pretending to feel tired and going to bed early.

Next morning, it was a gloomy-faced Hong Yao that greeted him along with the familiar feeling of fever.

“Cough, cough…”Xie Huaian felt inexplicably conscience-stricken as he suppressed his coughs and dug out his results from underneath the pillow. With a grin, he smugly handed them over to Hong Yao.

“Jingchun cotton, Huaqing cotton, Longwen rice, Ningquan rice…and a bunch of alternatives too, are all ideal crop varieties to promote for planting. Where to find them and the best places to plant them, as well as the sowing and harvesting periods, I’ve written them all down…cough cough,I ask Your Majesty to help me edit my words after reading it over, then pass it on to the Ministry of Works.”

Hong Yao reverently put away the report.

Xie Huaian’s shoulders shrank as he anticipated Hong Yao scolding him next. He had seen himself in the mirror with a fever in his past life and was very satisfied with his looks. He knew right now that his eyes were slightly red and his lips dry. As long as he softened his voice to coax the people who loved him, he could get whatever he wanted.

“Your Majesty…I shouldn’t have gone to the study after I said I was resting, I know my wrongs.” Xie Huaian smiled softly as he tugged at Hong Yao’s robes. His fingers were icy most of the year and only grew hot when he was ill. As soon as he reached out, Hong Yao caught his hand.

He sighed and kissed the fingers before planting another peck on the slightly hot forehead.

“Why are you apologizing toZhen?Teacher, do you know what you’ve given with a wave of your hand?”

“A report filled with typos and even charts instead of words in some places,” Xie Huaian humbled himself before retreating to hide.

“It’s human life. Clothing and food are the hope for survival.” Hong Yao half-kneeled on the ground while holding Xie Huaian’s hands in veneration. “Zhenwould rather everyone in the world busy themselves. It’s only Teacher…”

“Don’t say any more, Your Majesty!Cough cough,let me busy myself!” Xie Huaian couldn’t bear compliments and wanted to retract his hands even as he coughed and gasped for breath. “I can’t do much more than this. Thankfully, Your Majesty trusts me… It’s not just the south, but also the new capital up north that has fertile land. With luck, we’ll all be able to eat delicious fragrant rice in a few years.”

**

Outside the north gates of Zhaoge.

The caravans slowly moved forward in consideration of the crowd behind them. Old and young alike had poured out of the city to send them off. Pei Wenzheng drove his large, empty carriage. By his side followed two smaller carts from Xuanji Pavilion carrying the wrapped-up stone tablets. Occasionally, he’d look around him.

Suddenly, his face broke into joy.

Lou He was driving a rustic carriage that appeared that the end of a forest path intersecting the main road. Everyone in the caravan procession received the signal and stopped. Officials descended from their carriages to bow, paying their respects. Lou He drove his horse to pull the carriage alongside Pei Wenzheng’s bigger one.

Dressed in all black, the Son of Heaven leaped off the carriage like a heroic guard, before lifting the curtains in front of the hundreds of military and civil officials to help its occupant down. The person inside was dressed in a thickcrane cloak.

The celestial figure wore a single uncarved jade hairpin in his hair. His eyes were limpid autumn pools of water, his lips drawn in a slight smile. The snow-white skin of his face was flushed red with illness, and he seemed to have trouble standing steady even with the Son of Heaven’s support. It was obvious at a glance that his health was unwell.

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Ah-Sang stumbled to the front with her bundle of cotton fabric, flopping to her knees on the ground as she wept. “Your Excellency Immortal Master! There are winter clothes now!”

Although the stock of cotton fabric was low, Ah-Sang had mixed it with hem to finally sew a few thick garments that she burnt over the mass graves as offerings.

A hunchbacked old crone being supported by her grandson came forward next, trembling as she bent her knees. “Son of God, ah…Your Majesty….!”

Her whole family had been wracked with illness and she could only wait to die, but theyamenhad sent out money and grain just in time. Moreover, Divine Doctor Ling had brought physicians to every lane and alley to do treat them for free, allowing them to carry through and survive.

The porter and his wife held hands together as they both kowtowed loudly at the Son of God. There were calluses on the wife’s hand and traces of hard labor on her face. She suddenly covered her face as it filled with tears. The porter, a coarse and heavyset man, panicked and drew close to console her. “Lanjuan, why are you weeping?”

Both of them had grown up in the same village but were displaced from their homes and went to make a living in Zhaoge without ever meeting. It was the porter who sought out the Son of God at the altar to divine her whereabouts.

Xie Huaian heard them clearly, his eyes growing hot as he looked at them. His head was dizzy, but his heart stirred. Though he wanted to speak, the cool autumn wind blew past and made him cough lightly.

“Get inside,” the Son of Heaven said softly before helping Xie Huaian into the warm and comfortable interior of the large carriage and then coming out.

Hong Yao’s voice was majestic and calm as he spoke. “Everyone, you’ve taken pains to send us off for a while. The mountain roads are long and far, but there’ll come a time when we reunite. May you all take care and please, go back.”

Xie Huaian listened from within the carriage before a teardrop suddenly fell from his eyes.

The horse carriage started moving again. Pei Wenzheng and Lou He changed spots so that the latter remained driving the horses. Hong Yao bent down to enter the carriage and blanched at the sight of Xie Huaian crying. He quietly asked him what was the matter before realizing it wasn’t from pain, but losing control over his emotions.

“Your Majesty said there’ll be time to reunite. Was that true or false…” Xie Huaian’s face was scalding from fever as he nestled by Hong Yao’s nape.

“Of course it’s true. Provincial governors aren’t as useful asZhen.The emperor can’t just deal with affairs high up in the imperial court, but needs to come down and walk among the fields, too.”

Hong Yao was still nostalgic over Xie Huaian’s old sayings and felt his forehead temperature. “Don’t cry. Is Teacher happy or uncomfortable?Zhenwon’t be able to tell. We still need to travel someways today before reaching the rest stop, so save some strength.”

“I didn’t know…I never saw…” Xie Huaian sniffled. “Everyone was crying, so I couldn’t help it either.”

Hong Yao’s heart was about to melt from his tears.

He recalled the image of a water-soaked Chubby shrinking his head and shaking his feathers, before bringing a towel to wipe Xie Huaian’s face. Starting from the corners of his eyes, he kissed him, then moved on to his forehead, temples, the tip of his nose…until Xie Huaian stared at him with watery eyes, gasping softly without making another peep.

The carriage traveled very slowly as if wandering through the suburbs. The entirety of Zhaoge seemed to have followed after them, stretching into a long line back to the city’s north gates. The hunchbacked old crone couldn’t keep up with the group and went to the side of the road, still walking stubbornly.

Hong Yao had Xie Huaian lie down to rest before summoning a FlyingLuanGuard to persuade the crowd behind them. After some time, he asked the carriage to stop and brought the civil and military officials with him to once upon pay their respects and bid the populace farewell.

Xie Huaian wasn’t clear on these details. He was thoroughly exhausted and sucking on a piece of medicine in his mouth as he clutched a pillow to sink into dreamland. The rocking carriage and chirping birds were like a lullaby. He slept for an unknown length of time before Hong Yao called his groggy self awake.

Hong Yao pinched his wrist to check his pulse. “Teacher, can you walk?”

“Yes, I’m just tired, not crippled…” Xie Huaian forced himself upright and rubbed his temples. “What is it, Your Majesty? Are there assassins?”

Hong Yao wrapped his arms around Xie Huaian, letting the man lean against him to ease his dizziness. “No, butZhenmay have to trouble Teacher to get down the carriage together.”

Xie Huaian waited for Hong Yao to help him sort out his clothes and hair and got off cluelessly from the carriage. Once again, his eyes reddened.

He thought the people who sent them off had already scattered, but never imagined the huge crowd was still there behind him after his nap.

There was a10-mile pavilionby the side of the road.

The first time he walked through Zhaoge’s streets and alleyways to open a divination session, the roads had been deserted.

Now that he was leaving Zhaoge, its people had saw him off for 10 full miles.

“Immortal Master….pleasecherish yourself.”

Some people gave him the grandest, most formal bows, before prostrating themselves in worship. One by one, everyone else seeing them off crouched down, cupped their hands—with left on top of right—and touched their heads to the groundin prostration.

A stunned Xie Huaian could only watch as the layers of people before him seemed to ripple out like a soft cloth laid out on the ground.

Lou He came over to support him, afraid he’d lose his footing.

Xie Huaian signaled that there was no need. After transmigrating here, he had seen all manner of bowing and scraping. Whether it was Hong Yao or Kong Qing bowing to him, he always felt nervous and bewildered about how to respond. Later all, he began to more or less imitate the forms to return those greetings.

This time, before the crowds of people sending him off in the autumn winds of the ninth lunar month, he seemed to suddenly understand something. It was as if a strict teacher had taught him since his youth the different types of rituals and bowing, so he now knew what to do.

Xie Huaian moved in unison with Hong Yao and the military and civil officials. Together, they faced the people sending them off and returned the most standard bowing of the head in obesiance.

“Don’t send us off anymore. Please go back, please return.”

After passing the 10-mile pavilion, the pace of the horses picked up as they began to gallop. Xie Huaian perched by the carriage window, unwilling to fall asleep. Hong Yao checked his temperature every once in a while, afraid that long-term fever might induce other illnesses. In the end he forcefully embraced the person, covered him with a blanket, and spoke softly.

“Today’s weather is good. Since Teacher doesn’t want to rest, listen toZhenread.”

“Which…book?”

“Which one does Teacher want to hear?”

Xie Huaian said tearfully, “I don’t know. Your Majesty has only ever read theHeavenly Saint Canonto me.”

Hong Yao recalled how he’d tried to probe at Xie Huaian’s past by scaring him and coughed drily. Then he continued, “Does Teacher prefer to hear about history, local customs, or poems? There’s also various plays and ghost stories. There aren’t books in this carriage, but we can ask the steward beside us to get some.”

“Nonono, no ghost stories.”

“Then let’s go with a past hermit’s records of delicious mountain treats and cooking. If Teacher wants to try any of them, we can eat them on the road.”

Xie Huaian swallowed his drool and nodded.

Hong Yao began to recite in his storytelling voice. Meanwhile, the carriage continued heading north. In front of them, Xuanji Pavilion disciples were guarding their stone tablets and singing a clear, fresh ditty. The song traveled far as it drfited after them.

“The tired bird returns, the skies are clear; Tianji School asks for heavenly secrets, while the passing gentleman fills a cup, oh; the roads are open, don’t hesitate—”

—

The author has something to say:=3=

Translator’s Note:Oh, he’s reciting from the past Xie Huaian’s own travelogue, isn’t he.🥹 This chapter was both sweet and sad… (P.S. Don’t worry about the Chinese comments, the series doesn’t actually end here. We still have 7 chapters to go!)