Chapter 12: The Source is an Old Friend
The blood had not been washed away, so Shen Zijie washed his hands in a copper basin. The blood spread through his fingers, reflecting the bottom of the water in a strange dark red.
This was the second time he had touched Cui Junji's lifeblood in the torrent of time - in the last reincarnation, this son of aristocratic family would issue the "Equal Field Order" twenty years later, and use the red pen stained with the blood of the aristocratic family to tear open the thousand-year-old frozen soil of the Central Plains.
"You'd better have a good reason." Wen Youqing kept stirring the meat and bone porridge with his hands, but his mouth was hard, "Such a scoundrel, saving him has stained my hands. You have to explain clearly how he can let us go back."
Shen Zijie warmed his hands with the slightly hot bowl of porridge and told the story.
This was not his first time traveling through time. Two years after his previous life, in mid-September, the Luoyang earthquake caused the Yellow River to change its course. Cui Jun gathered 50,000 dan of official grain to open the granary for disaster relief, saving 270,000 victims.
The stirring stopped abruptly, leaving only the bubbling sound of the pot. Wen Youqing raised the candlestick and approached, plopped down beside him, the flames dancing into the shadows deep in his pupils. "Why didn't you mention the second time you traveled through time?"
"Let's not talk about it. In my previous life, I had many wives and concubines. I was born in the back house and died in the back house." Shen Zijie turned the spoon and continued to recall.
"I don't remember a lot of it clearly. There was a severe drought in Changle in the 15th year, and his policies were targeted by the aristocratic families. Even though Prime Minister Cui pushed through the new tax system against all odds, Cui Junji still had a hard time and almost died in Bianjing. I only heard that he found a rare stone that saved his life." The spoon suddenly stopped, and Shen Zijie turned to look at Wen Youqing. "I just suspect that the stone had something to do with our return. He always kept it with him. On the day he died, the stone was gone."
Wen Youqing grabbed his wrist: "It's a bit mysterious."
"Yes, it's very mysterious, so it's just a guess. But following such a son of luck, even if you can't go back, you can still do well." Shen Zijie expressed his speculation.
"That's right." Wen Youqing no longer held out much hope for returning, but at least she had found a companion, which made her feel much more at ease. So her anger faded quickly, and her attention quickly shifted back from Cui Junji: "Are you a liberal arts student?"
"How did you tell that?"
"Intuition," Wen Youqing crawled into the bed, turned off the lights, and turned sideways to face Shen Zijie. She patted the bed beside her, "Hey, how did you get here? I seem to have died suddenly and then traveled through the fetus. This place is horrible, it's not a place for people to stay. I thought I was born well, at least not a commoner or a slave, but my life is so miserable. I'm lucky I met you, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. Hey, how did you know I came here through time?"
It was really like two fellow villagers meeting each other, and Wen Youqing's true nature was completely exposed. She was talking so fast that Shen Zijie couldn't get a word in. He could only listen to her. When she finally finished speaking, Shen Zijie turned around and saw her obsidian-like eyes in the dark.
Something in his heart softened, and he imitated her and turned sideways to face her, "I also died suddenly."
The candle wax dried on the candlestick. Wen Youqing sighed, "It's not easy. They all died suddenly at such a young age. How old are you? What's your real name? My name is Zhang Zihan. I was born in 1997."
"Isn't it a joke?" Shen Zijie laughed out loud accidentally.
Wen Youqing hit him hard and said angrily, "I shouldn't have told you this earlier. I quite like my current name. Call me Sister Qing from now on!"
Shen Zijie begged for mercy, "Sister Qing, Sister Qing, my little brother is 92."
"It's so big, what's the name?"
"My name is Shen Zijie."
"Damn!" Wen Youqing's curse words burst out like water, and she suddenly felt embarrassed as if she had been tricked into revealing a secret by a bad friend. "Is your name so artistic?"
"My parents are both liberal arts students, please forgive me, Sister Qing." Shen Zijie suppressed his laughter and followed Wen Youqing's words.
The two of them talked like this until it was dark, and Wen Youqing finally fell asleep.
—
When Chen Zijie lifted the heavy felt curtain of the kitchen, Wen Youqing was standing on tiptoe to reach the smoked mutton hanging on the beam. The sheep was the same silly yellow sheep from last time, enough for them to eat for a whole winter.
Frost flowers condensed into tiny diamonds on the loose hair at her temples, and half of a rabbit fur wristband was revealed at the cuff of her crimson cotton robe - that was the snow rabbit he hunted last month. Ever since that day of "recognition", Wen Youqing had been willing to take it out to make a wristband.
"Who wants a snack?" He held up the oil-paper bag, letting her grab it. The sweetness of the frozen pear wafted through, mingling with the aroma of the mutton broth bubbling on the stove.
Wen Youqing didn't like sweet things, but in ancient times, sugar was a scarce commodity, so sweet things were naturally hard to come by. She sniffed, "West Market Wang Po's frozen autumn pears?"
"I bought it at the South Gate while on patrol." Shen Zijie untied the black iron wristband and watched her melt the pear in the pottery jar.
Outside the tent came the shouts of soldiers training, and a spark flew from the stove, splashing on the sheepskin boots he had mended last night.
Wen Youqing walked around him and went outside, lifting the wooden planks in the cellar. "I have something good to show you too!" Amidst the musty and earthy smell, tiny specks of tender yellow sprouted from the coarse earthenware basin. She used tweezers carved from arrowheads to pick up a bean sprout. "Your sister Qing's first attempt at cultivation was a success."
Shen Zijie flicked the bean sprouts with his fingers. "The Chinese farming gene has awakened. Sister Qing, are you going to be a Shennong guarding the border?"
He slipped a tin box from his sleeve and opened it to reveal half a block of hard cheese. "This is the new arrival from the Hu caravan. It goes perfectly with the frozen pears."
Shen Zijie was on duty today. Although he was a provincial governor, he still had to inspect the city. At dusk, a light snow fell. The two of them squatted in the lee of the arrow tower, building a brick stove. Shen Zijie carved a vent with a broken spear head, while Wen Youqing stuffed the double-layered ceramic jars with wool.
When the first handful of chestnuts burst in the jar, the night watchmen's torches were passing over the battlements.
"Does it look like the sugar-roasted chestnuts at the night market in University Town?" She peeled the hot chestnut shells.
Shen Zijie naturally held her fingertips and wiped them on his clothes: "It's covered in dust." But he wrapped the whole chestnut kernel in a handkerchief and stuffed it into her mouth with a smile while she was staring at him.
"I'm so angry!" Wen Youqing hit him a few more times. "Maids aren't supposed to do laundry. It's freezing in the middle of winter. Pay attention to your hygiene."
Shen Zijie curled his lips slightly and continued peeling chestnuts: "Mysophobia."
Life after the New Year is actually more comfortable than before the New Year, but there are always people who shouldn't be there.
Since waking up, Cui Junji has moved out of the mansion and created a fairyland filled with exotic flowers and plants throughout the borderland, which further annoys Wen Youqing, who already dislikes him. However, because he is the chief priest, many aspiring young people have flocked to Cui Junji.
Just as she was eating the third chestnut, she saw Cui Junji in white clothes leaving the house with his disciples.
Chen Zijie calmly blocked Wen Youqing behind him and saluted, saying, "Cui Jijiu, you're going out so late. It's snowing tonight, so be careful when you go out."
"Stargazing is best at night. I know a thing or two, and teaching them a few things will be beneficial to their marching and labor." Cui Junji saluted politely, speaking humbly as if he were a subordinate speaking to his superior.
Wen Youqing was too lazy to pretend, and behind Shen Zijie, she cracked her shell like a squirrel, silently urging him to hurry up.
Cui Junji wasn't blind; even if he couldn't hear, he'd already spotted the crimson dress. He politely said, "It's late, and the snow is so thick it's hard to travel. My lord, please continue your patrol, and I'll go ahead."
After everyone left, Wen Youqing lost interest in eating the chestnuts. He stuffed them all into his coat and said, "Go home. Don't patrol anymore. It's snowing so hard that you'll freeze to death. If you don't go back, the chestnuts will get cold."
On the other side, Cui Junji brought a group of disciples to observe the stars on a small mound in the south of the city.
After climbing for a long time, one student said, "Before, we could see the sky everywhere. Now, the governor's wife has to walk so far to get something important. It's really troublesome."
Another student with a rough face mocked: "You don't say that when you're hiding in the shade in the summer, but do you eat less winter melon in the autumn?"
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Cui Junji asked, "What's the matter with these trees and winter melons?"
The student who spoke last said: "When Madam Shen came, she installed gauze on the south wall of every household. Although her actions were unconventional, over the past year, those who did not remove the gauze have planted the horned melon and wax gourd seeds she bought. They have grown well and have fed many people." His words were full of respect and admiration.
Cui Junji didn't know about this because he didn't care to know and didn't think a woman could really achieve anything. But Cui Junji nodded and said to the student who looked like she came from a farming family, "What's your name?"
"My name is Tian Xunsheng." The student bowed. "Master Jijiu, do you have a more powerful stargazing technique that can help us people in Xunyang have a good harvest?"
But as for the gauze he couldn't understand, Cui Junji swallowed the superficial knowledge he had originally wanted to teach today and replaced it with the knowledge that he didn't understand yet and had only memorized. Swallowing his confusion, he said gently: "Of course."
Since that day, Cui Junji has been reading all kinds of books in his study, but he still can't find such a method.
But Cui Junji refused to give up. He brushed the snow off the map with a silver sable fur, his gaze fixed on the ink stains depicting agricultural work in the northern border. Outside the military tent, the creaking of supply carts over the frozen ground reached him. He raised his hand to silence his guards, his white jade ring clacking against the sandalwood table.
"Mrs. Shen used to grow vegetables. Did you see that?" He flipped through the grain book casually, his fingertips running across the record of "thirty pieces of old gauze."
The personal guard sent by Wang Shouren nodded in agreement, but when asked in detail, he could not provide any useful information.
Suddenly, a soldier outside the tent shouted "It's done!" The veins on the back of his hand bulged and he actually broke the deerskin rope in the bamboo slips.
The guard was so frightened that he lowered his head and dared not breathe.
"You follow Lord Wang every day, how come you don't know anything? Lord Wang is so smart and capable, don't you follow Lord Wang?" Cui Junji said calmly.
The personal guard was frightened and knelt down hurriedly. He was originally sent by the Wang family to restrain Cui Junji openly. Everyone should just be more restrained and pretend not to see it. Why did Cui Junji take it so seriously?
"No need to kneel, just go and investigate this little matter, and go as soon as possible." Cui Junji remained calm, but the faint smile on his lips made the guards feel cold on their backs.
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