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The imperial palace had lost its former silence and all the palaces and gardens became busy.
The imperial edict has been issued. In order to raise funds for the Northern Expedition, all supervisory departments in the inner court must take inventory of the treasury and register all non-essential utensils, furnishings, and livestock, and either sell them or use them for military purposes.
In the palace garden where the Imperial Stables were located, the tranquility that used to be heard only by the neighing of horses was completely broken.
The eunuchs held books and shuttled between the stables, pointing at the fat and strong imperial horses and discussing which ones could be sent to serve in the army.
A young eunuch named Dongzi, who was in his early twenties, was circling anxiously around a snow-white and extremely majestic horse.
The horse is named "Jade Lion" and has a very fierce temper. Except for Dongzi who takes care of it on a daily basis, no one else can get close to it. If you get close to it, it will snort loudly and dig the ground with its hooves restlessly.
"Register this horse!" A steward eunuch pointed at the jade lion and instructed the young eunuch who was recording beside him, "It looks like it has good legs. Send it to the Military Affairs Department. It will definitely be of great use!"
"Eunuch! No!" Dongzi rushed to the eunuch in charge and knelt down with a plop. His voice was filled with tears. "Eunuch, this jade lion was once the princess's mount! It has a fierce temper and recognizes its master. No one else can ride it! Please, have mercy on it and don't send it away!"
The eunuch in charge frowned and waved his hand impatiently: "Your Highness is busy with all sorts of affairs these days, why would he need to ride a horse? If it's a good horse, it should be sent to the front lines to kill the enemy and serve the country. How can it be kept in the stable for nothing and waste food? Get out of the way!"
"No! No way!" Dongzi didn't know where he got the courage from, but he hugged the jade lion's neck tightly, not letting anyone get close. "It has been waiting for Your Highness for three years! I carefully feed it and brush its fur every day, just hoping that Your Highness can ride it when you return! You can't take it away!"
"You are rebelling!" The eunuch in charge was angry and signaled to his subordinates.
"Pull this ungrateful brat away! Take the horse away!"
Several young eunuchs stepped forward and tried to pull Dongzi away. The jade lion seemed to sense the danger, and it let out a long hiss and stood up, scaring everyone back away.
In the chaos, Dongzi looked at the ropes that were trying to catch the jade lion, and with a determined heart, he suddenly untied the reins and jumped onto the horse's back. Although the jade lion had never let him ride before, perhaps it felt his protective intention at this moment and miraculously did not throw him off. Instead, it squeezed under his belly, knocked away the people who were blocking it, and galloped towards Xuehan Palace!
"Stop him! Stop that madman and that mad horse!"
There was a chaotic mix of exclamations and scolding behind him.
Dongzi lay on the horse's back, with the wind whistling in his ears. He had only one thought in his mind: to see His Highness and ask Him to leave the jade lion!
The jade lion seemed to recognize the direction of its former master's palace and galloped all the way. No one dared to stop it until it was stopped outside the Xue Han Palace by the guards in front of the palace holding spears.
"How dare you! Who dares to charge into the palace on horseback!" the guard shouted sternly.
Dongzi dismounted and knelt on the ground again, kowtowed repeatedly towards the palace gate, his voice mournful: "Your Highness, Your Highness! Your Highness! I, the servant Dongzi, beg to see Your Highness! Please, Your Highness, leave the jade lion! It has been waiting for you for three years!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs, his forehead hitting the cold bluestone slab, soon oozing blood. He didn't know that others had already changed their address to Ning Lingyi as "Your Majesty", while he still called her "Your Highness".
Inside the hall, Ning Lingyi was discussing with Su Qingfan the details of how to liquidate the confiscated properties from various places. Suddenly, she heard a commotion outside the hall and faintly heard the words "Jade Lion". Her hand holding the pen paused slightly.
"What's the noise outside?" she asked with a frown.
The eunuch hurried out to check and returned a moment later to report, "Your Majesty, it was a young eunuch from the Imperial Stables named Dongzi who rushed in here on a white horse called Jade Lion, begging Your Majesty not to send the horse away."
Jade lion...
Ning Lingyi seemed to have flashes of memories of galloping in the palace in the past. That spiritual white horse had indeed been her beloved mount.
After leaving the palace for three years and wandering around, he even forgot that it was still waiting for him in the palace.
She put down her pen, stood up and walked out of the hall.
The sunlight was a little dazzling, and she squinted her eyes to see the young eunuch kneeling at the bottom of the stairs and the white horse paddling restlessly beside him.
The horse was completely snow-white, without a single stray hair, and still looked majestic. When it saw her coming out, it stopped being restless, looked at her with its big, warm eyes, and let out a low neigh, as if confirming something.
"Raise your head." Ning Lingyi said.
Dongzi raised his head tremblingly, his face covered in tears and blood. Seeing Ning Lingyi, he burst into tears, "Your Highness, I have been taking care of the jade lion. It only recognizes Your Highness. No one else can get close to it, let alone ride it. Please don't send it away... It has waited for you for three years..."
Ning Lingyi walked slowly down the steps and came to the side of the jade lion. The horse lowered its head and rubbed her arm affectionately, just as before.
She stroked the smooth neck of the jade lion, and an indescribable sadness welled up in her heart.
After three years of blood and fire, everything has changed. I didn't expect that there is still such an old thing and old person in this palace, stubbornly guarding a thought of the past.
"You've taken good care of it." Ning Lingyi said softly, her eyes falling on Dongzi. "Your name is Dongzi?"
"Yes, I am Dongzi." Dongzi choked.
"Get up, Dongzi." Ning Lingyi sighed, "I'll keep this horse."
Upon hearing this, Dongzi kowtowed repeatedly in ecstasy: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your grace! Thank you, Your Highness, for your grace!"
Ning Lingyi looked at him and suddenly asked, "How many years have you been in the palace? Why did you enter?"
Dongzi answered honestly, "Your Highness, I entered the palace at the age of eight, and it has been fifteen years now. My hometown is in Hezhou. That year, there was a flood, and my parents and my land were all gone. My uncles and aunts sent me to the palace...to seek a way to survive."
Floods...selling children...
Ning Lingyi was silent for a moment, looking at the eunuch in front of her, and her heart moved.
"You've done well, serving your master loyally and caring for the horses diligently. You deserve a reward." She paused and said to the eunuch beside her, "I decree a reward of 100 taels of silver. In addition, your slave status will be revoked. Dongzi, I will let you leave the palace."
"Live a good life from now on."
When these words were spoken, not only Dongzi was stunned, but even the eunuchs around him were surprised.
For most eunuchs, being stripped of their membership in the palace was something they would never dare to dream of. Eunuchs always died of old age in the deep palace, without exception.
They have long been accustomed to life within the palace walls. Although humble, it is also a support. The outside world is strange and scary to them.
Dongzi opened his mouth wide and stared at Ning Lingyi blankly, forgetting to thank her for a moment.
"Why? Don't want to?" Ning Lingyi asked.
"No, no... Your servant thanks Your Highness for His Grace! Long live His Highness! Long live His Highness! Long live His Highness!" Dongzi reacted and kowtowed again.
*
A few days later, Dongzi took the 100 taels of reward silver and a document of release with a royal seal, and carried a simple bag on his back. He walked out of the palace gate in a daze, the one he had been in for fifteen years and never thought he would be able to leave.
The sun is glaring and the streets are noisy.
He stood under the towering palace wall, looking at the strange world with its bustling traffic and people coming and going, and a strong sense of panic instantly gripped him.
No more kneeling, no more calling oneself a slave, no more living in constant fear of being beaten for making mistakes...
But then, what? Where should he go? What could he do? Fifteen years of isolation, knowing nothing but serving people and tending horses, yet freedom weighed on his chest like a huge rock, suffocating him and making him regret leaving the palace.
He walked aimlessly on the street, listening to the discussions of people around him.
"The Military Affairs Office has posted a notice! The land is really being divided!"
"They say that as long as you have a clean household registration and no or little land, you can apply!"
"How much can I get?"
"Let's calculate it by the number of people! It seems like each person can get three to five acres! In the first three years, only 20% of the grain will be collected, and there will be no other taxes!"
"Oh my God! Is this true? Princess Mingzhu is truly a living Bodhisattva!"
"Go check it out! There's a registration office in the west of the city!"
Divide the land? Dongzi slowed down his pace. He remembered what he had said when Ning Lingyi asked him why he entered the palace - "I have lost my land too."
For people of his background, land is a desire ingrained in their bones.
He hesitated for a long time, and with an almost desperate mentality, he followed the crowd to the west of the city, just to give it a try.
A temporary yamen under the Military Affairs Department was crowded with people, thin and ragged. The clerks were so busy that they didn't even look up. They were loudly maintaining order, checking household registrations, and inquiring about the situation.
Dongzi waited in line for a very long time, watching the people in front of him, some of whom left happily with stamped slips, while others returned disappointed.
His heart was in his throat, and he clutched the thin household registration documents and release letter tightly in his arms, his palms full of sweat.
It was finally his turn.
He handed over the document tremblingly, with his head lowered very low, not daring to look at the clerk's face, for fear of seeing contempt.
"Originally from Hezhou? From the palace?" The clerk flipped through the documents with a calm tone, nothing unusual.
"Yes, yes..." Dongzi's voice was as thin as a mosquito.
The clerk looked up at him and continued, "Do you have a place to live in the capital now? Do you have a job?"
“No…no.”
The clerk nodded, took out a printed slip, and filled it out as he said, "According to the rules, in your case, you can be allocated a total of five mu of irrigated and dry land. The location is Taohua Village, eighty miles outside the capital. It's a newly designated resettlement village, and there's a ready-made, empty mud house. For the first three years, you only need to pay 20% of the harvest per mu of land, and all other taxes and labor service are exempt. After three years, you will pay the land tax according to the court's new policy. Are you willing to go?"
Dongzi was stunned and could hardly believe his ears.
Five acres of land? A house? Are you really going to give it to me like that?
"Really...really give it to me directly?" he asked in a trembling voice.
"I'll give you this note. Go to Taohua Village and find the village chief. He has the fish scale book and will help you identify the land boundaries and register your household." The clerk handed him the written note, his tone still businesslike, but he pointed to a box nearby and said, "Here are some dry food for the journey. Next!"
Dongzi took the piece of paper that felt light yet weighed a thousand pounds. His tears fell even more violently. He wiped them away carelessly, saying repeatedly, "Hey! Hey! Good! Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"
He held the note as if it were a priceless treasure and walked out of the yamen in a daze.
Taohua Village...80 miles...
He asked for directions, carrying some dry food, and walked out of the city step by step.
My feet were covered with blisters from walking so much, and I took a ride on a kind old farmer's ox cart. After two days of bumpy ride, I finally saw the new village that was just beginning to gain some popularity.
The village chief was a literate veteran. After reading his note, he took him to identify the land and the house.
The land was scattered around the village and was not very fertile, even somewhat barren, requiring a lot of effort to cultivate. The house was also very simple, with earthen walls and a thatched roof, and it was empty inside.
But Dongzi was filled with unprecedented excitement as he watched all this. This was his land! His house!
"We need to get some seeds first, and also hoes and rakes," the village chief said, rubbing his hands. "Spring has arrived, and there's no time to waste. Do you have any money?"
Dongzi nodded quickly: "Yes! Yes!"
He was reluctant to use the one hundred taels of reward silver, so he took out a few dozen taels of loose change that he had saved in the past, followed the village chief to the town, and carefully bought the most necessary grain seeds, farm tools and some simple daily necessities, which he moved back to his empty home one trip at a time.
In the following days, Dongzi got up early and went to bed late, following the farmers who came early in the village to learn how to prepare the land and how to sow seeds.
He was so tired that his back and waist ached, and his hands were covered with blisters, but his heart was full of hope. He thought he was living a good life.
Until one night, he dragged his tired body back to the deserted house, looked at the cold ashes in the stove, and suddenly felt that this home was too quiet.
A thought came to him: he had to have a child.
A few days later, he went to the town first, then to the county. After asking around, he brought back a dirty little beggar from the corner of the City God Temple.
The child was about six or seven years old. It was said that he became an orphan during the raids by the Western Qiang people and wandered all the way here.
He has no parents and he won't have children. The two of them are just right, Dongzi thought.
Dongzi boiled water for the child, carefully washed his hands, feet and face, and changed him into clean clothes. The child looked at him timidly, looking at this home that was simple but warm and safe.
Dongzi squatted down, looked into the child's eyes, and said seriously, "From now on, I will be your father. I will raise you now, and you will take care of me when I am old. Is that okay?"
The little beggar stared at him blankly for a long time, then nodded gently and uttered a subtle but clear sound from his throat: "Dad."
Dongzi's tears burst out instantly, he hugged the child and burst into tears.
He has a home now.
A complete home in the true sense.
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