Chapter 304 Sister... Don't Die
The bustling marketplace was filled with a vibrant atmosphere, unlike anything ever seen in the otherwise refined and cold imperial palace.
The group walked slowly and sat down to rest at a small stall selling almond milk.
Emperor Zhaoheng used his own silver spoon to scoop a little water from the narcissus's bowl, tested the temperature, and then handed it to her.
At the next table, several burly men were drinking heavily, their faces flushed, their voices rising, and their language becoming increasingly vulgar.
Emperor Zhaoheng didn't even glance in that direction; he simply raised his hand to brush away non-existent dust from Shui Xian's shoulder.
Almost simultaneously, several inconspicuous figures quietly approached from the shadows. In a short while, the drunkards were "politely" and quickly asked to leave. The whole process was as fast as a gust of wind, without disturbing a speck of dust or the narcissus in the slightest.
Narcissus lowered her eyes, sipping the warm almond milk. The sweet taste melted in her mouth, but a bitter feeling rose in her heart.
His protection was always so thorough and meticulous.
But for some reason, this thoughtfulness made her feel a kind of invisible constraint.
What she might want isn't absolute certainty, but rather a little bit of freedom to breathe.
Just as my thoughts were drifting, a suppressed sob suddenly came from the street corner ahead, mixed with the murmurs of the crowd.
Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a thin, ragged girl kneeling on the cold ground in the crowd.
A withered yellow straw was stuck in her messy hair, and a dirty white cloth was spread in front of her, on which the words "Selling myself to bury my father" were written crookedly.
The girl, head bowed and shoulders heaving, sobbed uncontrollably as she recounted: "My father died of illness and we had no money for his burial... My younger brother went missing before the New Year and we haven't heard from him since... Our only two acres of meager land were seized by our uncle..."
"I am a descendant of artisans, and I am truly desperate. I beg some kind-hearted gentleman to buy me..."
Onlookers pointed and whispered, their gazes mostly indifferent or disgusted.
"Craftsman status? Isn't that a lowly status? It's a very unlucky one after being registered as a criminal."
"Exactly, buying this kind of property might bring bad luck to the family."
"He's quite handsome, but it's a pity about his background..."
Narcissus's gaze had only swept over the girl briefly, but when the kneeling girl raised her head slightly in despair, revealing a face stained with tears and dirt, yet still with discernible features, Narcissus's breath caught in her throat.
Her fingers tightened suddenly around the porcelain spoon, her knuckles turning a bone-white!
This face... unexpectedly overlapped with a face from a snowy, cold night deep in her memory, a face also covered in tears, yet trying to force a kind smile at her!
That was her darkest time in her past life, in a brothel.
A young maid secretly loosened the ropes binding her while the head maid was whipping her, and even stuffed half a hard, coarse cake into her mouth.
The maid herself was also living a precarious life, but with her hands, which were frozen purple, she clumsily comforted her: "Sister... don't die, as long as you live... there is always hope."
Not long after, the maid was beaten to death for a minor offense, and her body was wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into a mass grave.
Her heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by an icy hand, aching and almost suffocating her.
Judging by the timeline, it's likely that due to her lowly birth, even selling herself to bury her father wouldn't find a buyer. Later, in order to obtain money, the young woman sold herself into the hellish world of a brothel...
Everything fits together now.
Narcissus suddenly stood up, her movements even somewhat hurried.
Emperor Zhaoheng immediately stood up, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily before following her.
Narcissus walked up to the girl and slowly squatted down.
The girl looked up in surprise, and through her teary eyes, she saw a woman dressed in simple clothes with an extraordinary air looking at her with a complex and indescribable gaze.
There was pity, pain, and a kind of reminiscence in that gaze that she couldn't understand.
Narcissus reached out, but instead of touching the grass marker, she gently removed a warm and smooth jade bracelet from her wrist.
She placed the bracelet into the girl's cold, trembling palm and closed her fingers.
Narcissus's voice was very soft, with a slightly hoarse quality.
"Take this and give your father a proper burial. Then, go to the Dengdi Inn and find the innkeeper named Zhou Yan. Just tell him... an old friend sent you. He will arrange a job for you so you can earn a living with your own hands."
The girl was completely stunned, staring blankly at the bracelet still warm in her palm, then looking up at the blurry but gentle face behind the narcissus veil. The immense shock and disbelief made her forget to cry, and she instinctively kowtowed heavily.
Her smooth forehead struck the cold stone slab with a thud.
Narcissus stood up, her eyes slightly hot, but she quickly blinked to suppress the surging sorrow, and her face regained its usual calm.
Emperor Zhaoheng silently stepped forward, took her somewhat cold hand, and asked in a low voice, "Do you know her?"
Narcissus gently shook her head, the thin veil of her hat swaying slightly: "It's just... pitiful to look at, and it reminds me of some... old stories."
She did not explain, nor could she explain, that memory from her past life, a memory intertwined with blood and tears.
Emperor Zhaoheng gave her a deep look, but did not ask any further questions. He only gave a barely perceptible nod to a guard hidden in the crowd.
The guard understood and quietly withdrew, intending to properly handle Xiaosui's father's funeral arrangements and do his best to find her lost younger brother.
In the afternoon, the carriage headed towards Huangzhuang in the western suburbs.
This is not a field; it is the time for transplanting rice seedlings.
Emperor Zhaoheng rolled up the sleeves of his brocade robe, revealing his strong forearms, and personally led Qingyan and Qinghe, who had just had a good sleep, down to the edge of the field.
At first, the two young princes looked at the murky mud and the tiny seedlings with some disdain and hesitated to move forward.
Emperor Zhaoheng did not reprimand them, but pointed to the farmers working in the fields in the distance and said gently to his sons, "Look, those people work from sunrise to sunset, facing the yellow earth and turning their backs to the sky. Their sweat drips into the soil so that they can grow the rice we eat every day."
“You are princes, born into nobility, but you should know that every grain of rice in this bowl is hard-earned, filled with sweat and hardship.”
As he spoke, he actually took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers, and stepped barefoot into the slightly cool muddy water.
Although his movements were somewhat clumsy, he was extremely serious. He took the seedlings handed to him by the head of the village and carefully inserted them into the water one by one. Soon, his hands and even the hem of his robe were covered in mud.
After watching their father leave, Qingyan and Qinghe exchanged a glance and finally mustered their courage. With the careful assistance of the eunuchs, they cautiously stepped into the shallow water at the edge of the field.
The little ones imitated their father, clumsily handling the rice seedlings. Soon, their faces and clothes were covered in mud, but they gradually found it amusing and started giggling.
Shuixian sat under the shade of a tree by the edge of the field, with Yongning nestled obediently beside her.
She pointed to the disheveled yet harmonious figures of the father and his two sons in the field and whispered to her daughter, "Yongning, look. Your father is the emperor, the most honorable person in the world, yet he is still willing to stoop down and step into the mud to personally experience the hardships of farmers."
"You must remember that this country cannot be governed simply by sitting on a high dragon throne and issuing orders. You need to know the hardships of the people and understand their difficulties."
Yongning blinked her big eyes, seemingly understanding but not quite.
She watched for a long time, then suddenly broke free from Narcissus's hand, ran down the ridge with her short legs, took out her small handkerchief, stood on tiptoe, and tried to wipe the sweat rolling down Emperor Zhaoheng's forehead and the mud splattered on his face.
Emperor Zhaoheng was taken aback. He looked down at his daughter's earnest and painstaking little face, and then burst into laughter.
As the sun set over the fields, the laughter, joyful and carefree, startled the birds in the nearby treetops.
He simply lifted Yongning high and let her sit on his mud-covered shoulders.
In the sunlight, mud splattered on his luxurious robes, but he didn't care at all. His smile was as bright as that of the most ordinary father, content with his children around him.
As Narcissus watched this scene in silence, the icy wall in her heart seemed to melt away in a corner without her even realizing it.
If it weren't for those suspicions about having children, I could just watch my children, with their father by their side, slowly learn about the world and grow up healthy and happy...
Such days are ordinary yet real, and it seems... not so bad.
Emperor Zhaoheng was playing with his daughter, but his sons wouldn't have it, grabbing his trouser legs as if they wanted to climb up.
The scene became even more chaotic. Emperor Zhaoheng had to ensure the children's safety... After all, Qinghe and Qingyan had only recently learned to walk, and the fields were muddy and slippery, so the twins would often end up sitting on the same spot.
Not to mention their seemingly exquisite robes, which looked as if they had been soaked in mud.
While ensuring their safety, Emperor Zhaoheng took a quick glance at the narcissus under the shade of the tree.
From afar, he seemed to see the narcissus raising a faint smile at him.
Emperor Zhaoheng returned her smile and waved Yongning's small hand toward the direction of the narcissus.
——
As evening fell, the carriage stopped at the back gate of the Dengdi Inn in the west of the city. Zhou Yan and Yin Zhu had been waiting there for quite some time.
The private room was elegantly decorated, and Yinzhu personally cooked several home-style dishes, her skills were surprisingly good.
During the meal, she and Zhou Yan served each other food and tea with natural and fluid movements.
Zhou Yan would occasionally whisper a few words to her, his gaze gentle.
As Shui Xian looked at her, she saw a soft glow, one she had never seen on Yin Zhu's face before, a glow imbued with simple happiness.
Zhou Yan reported the inn's recent situation to Emperor Zhaoheng and Shui Xian, his tone calm: "Thanks to the Emperor and Empress's new policies, the inn has recently hired three staff members who have been freed from their lowly status."
“A former accountant at the Jinxiu Pavilion in the city was implicated by his employer and confiscated as a slave. He was only recently freed from his slave status.”
"One was a cook at a pastry shop in the south of the city. Her husband gambled away the family fortune and sold her into a lowly status to pay off the debt. She gritted her teeth and worked hard for five years before she could save enough money to redeem herself."
"There was also an embroiderer who was originally a top-notch embroidery worker. However, she refused to become the workshop owner's concubine and was dismissed for some reason, losing her livelihood."
Narcissus listened attentively and asked, "Do they still face discrimination and prejudice while working here?"
Zhou Yan shook his head, his expression showing a certainty: "Initially, a few guests were indeed picky and their words were often disdainful."
"But our inn has a rule—everyone who comes is a guest, and we will do our best to entertain them. However, if anyone insults us or bullies our staff without cause, regardless of their status, our inn will not accept them."
Zhou Yan took a sip of wine and said proudly, "Now that this rule has spread, it has actually won praise from many upright gentry. As far as I know, seven or eight shops in the city have already begun to follow this practice."
Yinzhu added softly from the side, her tone filled with satisfaction.
"That embroiderer, Sister Lan, received a big order the other day. She is embroidering a wedding dress for the young lady of the Li family in the south of the city."
"The wages are generous, enough for her to support her elderly mother and young brother. The day before yesterday, she received the deposit, hid in her room and cried. She told me that she never thought she could not only get rid of the cheap debt, but also earn a living with her own skills and support her family."
Narcissus listened quietly, her fingers tightening slightly as she held the teacup.
A warm current quietly welled up from the depths of my heart, spreading to every part of my body...
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