Chapter 16 Sixteen Others' Wedding Dresses
The couple also spotted Xu Heng across the street. Yu Mingzhe, the Minister of Justice who was out shopping with his wife, almost blurted out, "Your Majesty—Young Master Huang!"
Yu Mingzhe changed his mind and hurriedly crossed the street. Why was the Emperor at the Lantern Festival? Could it be that he had secretly adopted his suggestion? He thought to himself, glancing around but not finding the Empress.
Just as they were pondering how to bring up the matter with the emperor and whether they should make a getaway, they suddenly heard the emperor ask first, "Where are you all going?"
Yu Mingzhe's wife, Liu, mistook Xu Heng for her husband's colleague and took "Bi" as the surname "Bi". She was lively and enthusiastic, and was spoiled by Yu Mingzhe, so she rushed to answer: "Replying to Young Master Bi, my husband and I were just strolling around. When we came across a shop that we liked, we went in to take a look. We didn't say that we were going anywhere in particular."
Yu Mingzhe suddenly tightened his grip on Liu's hand, and the word "bold" rushed to his throat.
Ouch! Liu frowned. Why did her husband suddenly pinch her so hard?
Yu Mingzhe hurriedly bowed to Xu Heng: "My wife is being presumptuous, please forgive her, young master."
"No problem," Xu Heng said with a smile. "I don't know where to go either, let's go for a stroll together."
This sentence stunned Yu Mingzhe. Why would the emperor interfere in the marriage of his subject? It just didn't seem right...
Xu Heng, however, did not feel anything was wrong at this moment. He finally met someone he knew and thought that if he went with the two of them, he would no longer be an oddity at the lantern festival, no longer a lone wolf, and would be able to come back to life.
Yu Mingzhe held his wife Liu's hand with his right hand, while Xu Heng strolled to Yu Mingzhe's left, half a step ahead of him, keeping a half-body distance, and further away from Liu.
"When did you get married?" Xu Heng asked, taking a step forward. Seeing that Yu Mingzhe and Liu were still standing in the same spot, he stopped and waited for the couple.
Yu Mingzhe hesitated for a moment, then let go of Liu's hand, then held it tightly again, and caught up with Xu Heng, maintaining the half-step distance left by the emperor: "Reporting to Young Master Bi, it was last winter."
There's no other way but to make the best of a bad situation; Your Majesty will temporarily take the surname Bi.
Xu Heng didn't mind the fake surname. He thought to himself: We got married last year, which is less than a year ago. When he and Wang Yuying first got married, they also loved to stroll around the streets and were inseparable.
“Not bad,” Xu Heng affirmed.
As you walk towards the busiest section of Zhuque Avenue, you'll find a dazzling array of shops on both sides, including cloth shops, pastry shops, and general stores. There are also many small stalls crowding in front of the shops, offering everything from clothing and food to housing and transportation. For a moment, it's hard to know where to look.
Xu Heng turned around and asked the silent Yu couple, "Is there anything you like?"
Yu Mingzhe was instantly consumed by jealousy when he thought the emperor was responding to his wife's comment, "If you see a shop you like, go in and take a look." However, he didn't dare to use his eyes and fists to warn the emperor as he would with other men with ulterior motives.
Yu Mingzhe's fist, hidden in his sleeve, trembled slightly.
Just as he was about to lower his head, the emperor suddenly stared intently at Yu Mingzhe: "What do you like? The Four Treasures of the Study, the Book of Writing, or the Bookstore, or what your wife likes? You may go in and take a look at any of them, don't be shy."
The dark clouds in Yu Mingzhe's heart immediately dissipated, and he instantly understood—the emperor was simply lonely and wanted to join in the fun.
He pointed to the nearest shop, a stationery store: "Young Master Bi, why don't we go in and take a look?"
Xu Heng nodded with a smile and stepped in first. Yu Mingzhe and Liu followed closely behind, exchanging a glance. Liu sighed inwardly: This young master Bi is so pitiful. He has no family and can't find anyone to talk to or go shopping with.
Liu nudged Yu Mingzhe with his elbow, implying that he should spend more time with this poor colleague in the future.
Yu Mingzhe pinched his wife's fingers: How could he dare?
Yu Mingzhe was puzzled again. How could an emperor with three palaces and six courtyards, and hundreds of people serving him, be so lonely?
A thought suddenly popped into his mind: It seems that sitting in a high position is not so good after all; there is only boundless loneliness.
Then he was startled by his own disrespect and broke out in a cold sweat. No, no, in this life, one should strive for fame and fortune, study officialdom, and naturally rise step by step. The higher one goes, the more prestigious one becomes, bringing glory to one's ancestors.
Thinking this, he quickly followed behind the emperor.
Inside the Wenfang Baozhai (文房宝斋), a couplet reads, "To do a good job, one must first have the right tools." Below it, various brushes and inkstones are displayed. Xu Heng glances at them one by one. The shop mainly sells rabbit hair and sheep hair brushes. Three Xuancheng purple hair brushes are displayed in the most conspicuous place, covered by a cover. One has a jadeite handle, one has an ivory handle, and the other, although made of wood, is decorated with a tiger-crouching arhat and lotus petal patterns, with intricate relief carvings.
Xu Heng shook his head inwardly. A pen was worth several years' worth of food for an ordinary family. It was too extravagant. He wouldn't use it, and this kind of trend should not be encouraged among the people.
Xu Heng approached the Yu couple, who were examining inkstones, and asked, "Have you found one you like?"
Yu Mingzhe shook his head.
"Then let's look around elsewhere," Xu Heng said with a smile.
Yu Mingzhe and Liu Shi both nodded in agreement, and the three of them left the Wenfangbaozhai shop and continued on their way. Actually, before Liu Shi went out shopping, she told Yu Mingzhe that she wanted to buy a suitable jade bracelet, and Yu Mingzhe had agreed to her request. At this moment, Liu Shi saw a shop selling jewelry ahead and unconsciously slowed down her pace, glancing at the entrance repeatedly.
Yu Mingzhe knew his wife's wishes and wanted to accompany her inside to make sure she had no regrets, but he hesitated because of the emperor.
Xu Heng glanced at Yu Mingzhe, then at Liu Shi, and quickly understood. He nodded his chin toward the jewelry shop: "Want to go in and take a look?"
Before Yu Mingzhe could stop her, Liu parted her lips and blurted out, "Okay—okay!"
"Is there anything you particularly want to buy?" Xu Heng asked with a smile. Wang Yuying's expression in the past meant that she already had her eye on something.
Yu Mingzhe stepped aside to block Liu Shi, and forced himself to speak: "It's like this, my wife has been looking for a suitable jade bracelet." He knew that Xu Heng was looking for someone to talk to and wouldn't leave, so he said, "If Young Master Bi doesn't mind, could you help us take a look?"
Xu Heng smiled faintly: "I wouldn't call it expert advice, but I'll accompany you. It mainly depends on what Lord Yu and your wife think."
The three of them entered the noodle shop with smiles on their faces.
Three inches above the shop door is a black lacquered plaque with the three characters "Linglong Pavilion" painted in gold, which is the Linglong Pavilion in the capital that is famous for its skilled craftsmen.
However, when choosing a jade bracelet, the main thing to look at is the material, not the craftsmanship, and Linglong Pavilion doesn't have many options. Liu took a liking to a bracelet made of mutton-fat white jade, but didn't show it, pretending to be casual, and casually asked, "How much is this?"
After hearing the shopkeeper's quote, she pouted and said, "Tsk—the color seems too pale."
Her slender fingers brushed over the green and blue jade, picking out a piece of yellow jade that should be much cheaper: "This one is alright, it looks like steamed millet."
The yellow jade bracelet was slipped onto her wrist.
The shop assistant smiled and said, "This one is the perfect size for you, Madam."
Yu Mingzhe guessed that his wife was trying to save him money. He could save some for himself, but he wanted to buy her something she truly liked. Yu Mingzhe reached for the mutton-fat jade pendant: "I think this one suits you better than the previous one."
Mrs. Liu shook her head repeatedly: "Oh dear, this color is too light, it doesn't suit my skin tone at all!"
Yu Mingzhe gazed at Liu's profile for a long while, then took her hand and said, "Let's take another look at the jade."
One declined, the other insisted. Seeing this scene, Xu Heng was deeply moved—it was the same when he and Wang Yuying were going through hard times. He cut back on his own food, clothing, and daily necessities, saving wherever he could, unwilling to spend a single penny, yet he was generous to her, willingly and at any cost, just to please her. And Wang Yuying always put Xu Heng first, repeatedly pretending not to like him, thus wronging herself.
This is what a truly loving couple looks like...
Xu Heng felt a tightness in his throat and a stinging sensation in his eyes as he followed the Yu couple toward the jade counter.
Liu ignored the jadeite pieces that were so green they seemed to drip with oil, only picking up red and yellow jadeite, and examining the colorless black jadeite. Just now she had complained that the colors were too pale, but now she was holding pieces with a gray base that didn't have any icy texture. Yu Mingzhe felt a pang of sadness, picked up a piece of high-icy purple jadeite, and slowly slipped it onto Liu's wrist: "This one is better."
"Ugh, I don't like it!"
Yu Mingzhe did not refute, and looked at Liu with tenderness in his eyes: "Then let's take the same mutton fat jade as before."
"Let me look again, let me look again." Liu insisted on not taking it and turned to leave, but Yu Mingzhe did not move. Xu Heng looked at the couple and thought to himself, Liu had only just married Yu Mingzhe, it was still early. In two years, when he was granted the title of Lady of the Imperial Court, he could add a pair of fine bracelets to her reward.
"Let's go!" Liu turned back and pulled Yu Mingzhe. Yu Mingzhe then took a step, with Xu Heng following half a body length behind him. As they approached the door, Yu Mingzhe suddenly spoke, his tone revealing his surprise: "Commander Jing?"
"Lord Yu."
Xu Heng looked up and caught sight of General Jing Ye of Wuwei standing at the door, his hands full of things. He looked down and saw that Jing Ye was carrying paper packages tied tightly with rope, each square of red paper with the character "王" (king) pasted on it, and speckled with oil stains.
Xu Heng recognized it at a glance as Wang Ji Fried Balls.
Wang Yuying's favorite food used to be the radish balls from their shop.
She insists on using radishes from northern Xinjiang mixed with chopped pork tenderloin; other radishes won't do, and it has to be pork tenderloin—she has to have some meat in everything she eats.
Suddenly I remembered that she had been on a vegetarian diet for three years at Yuqing Temple, which must have been tough on her.
Xu Heng slowly pursed his lips into a thin line.
When Jing Ye saw Xu Heng, he bowed and was about to pay his respects when Xu Heng smiled and said, "General Jing, do you also like Wang Ji's food?"
Jing Ye's heart tightened suddenly, and then a sour feeling welled up because of the word "also".
He kept his head down, afraid he wouldn't be able to hide his expression: "I smelled the fragrance when I passed by, so I bought some."
“I also like Wangji’s food.” Xu Heng smiled slowly. With everyone present, he didn’t refer to himself as “I, the Emperor,” and his tone was approachable. “Which flavors did you buy?”
He found himself having a strange expectation that he would be happy if someone else bought his radish balls.
"I've ordered two ounces of each flavor," Jing Ye answered truthfully. Although Wang Yuying had only asked for radish balls, he still ordered all the flavors from Wang Ji's store: two jin of radish balls and two ounces of each of the other flavors.
Of course, he would never tell the emperor these details, because every "also" the emperor used made him feel like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat.
"This place is delicious." Xu Heng admitted that he liked it because of the house, and his brows relaxed completely. He raised his hand and patted Jing Ye's shoulder. "Do all people from the border region like to eat this kind of fried meatball?"
In an instant, Jingye didn't even have time to pick the sour fruit; all that remained was a heart pounding with fear.
He pondered for a moment, then feigned ignorance: "Huh?"
"Oh, sir, you've arrived?" The shop assistant remembered Jing Ye's appearance and rushed over to bow. "The pendant is finished. Please wait a moment while I go and call our boss."
A moment later, the host came out from the inner room, invited him to sit down, and warmly brought out the prepared Qixi Festival pastries and a pot of hot tea. Xu Heng and his party had not bought any jewelry, so they were not supposed to receive this hospitality. However, since the host knew that Jing Ye was familiar with Xu Heng and Yu Mingzhe, he served the Yu couple and Xu Heng a portion of pastries and hot tea as well.
Yu Mingzhe was secretly alarmed. Without testing the poison, the emperor couldn't be allowed to taste it! He glanced at Jing Ye again, who was still looking down, appearing dazed, seemingly unconcerned about the emperor's safety!
Just as Yu Mingzhe was about to speak up to refuse on behalf of the emperor, Xu Heng spoke first: "You all eat, I ate a bit too much tonight."
Xu Heng turned to Jing Ye: "You ordered the pendant?"
I have never heard of General Wuwei marrying and having children. Moreover, Jingye has just been transferred back, and the camp in the suburbs of the capital is a den of men. Who is this woman's jewelry to give to?
Jing Ye, feeling timid, whispered as softly as a mosquito's buzz: "She was my... former lover from Yumen."
Worried that the servants of Linglong Pavilion might overhear the word "臣" (chen, meaning subject/minister), Yu Mingzhe quickly nudged Jing Ye's leg with his knee under the table, subtly giving him a hint.
In the first year of Yuanjia, he and Jingye worked together at Shahu Pass for eight months. Jingye was quite clever back then, so why has he been so dull ever since we met tonight?
Xu Heng noticed Yu Mingzhe's subtle actions but misunderstood, thinking that Jing Ye was keeping a concubine or mistress in Yumen Pass, a fact that Yu Mingzhe was also aware of.
Xu Heng smiled faintly, lowering his head slightly. Another woman from the border? Is she as forthright and radiant as Wang Yuying?
He vaguely heard the sounds of yellow sand and camel bells.
The shop assistant brought out a wooden box containing the earrings. The owner opened the box and placed it on the table. Xu Heng glanced at it and saw two blood-red gemstones, smaller than a fingernail, carved into the shape of pomegranate seeds and strung on gold hooks.
Xu Heng then thought of Wang Yuying. She didn't like these kinds of small earrings; in fact, she disliked them quite a bit. She preferred large pendants, the more flamboyant and vibrant the better. Sometimes he worried that they were too heavy and might hurt her ears. Wang Yuying also had a fondness for fluorite, liking the intermingled shades of lake blue, star blue, distant mountain purple, and wild chrysanthemum purple within, rather than pomegranate red.
Everyone is different, and Jing Ye is different from him, so the women he likes have very different personalities.
Xu Heng pointed to the pomegranate earrings in the air. In a good mood, he offered some pointers: "This one is a bit rounder here. If you make another cut to add two more sides, it will be even more crystal clear."
The owner remained silent for a moment, then had his apprentice summon the craftsman.
The craftsman exchanged a few words with Xu Heng, then called over other craftsmen. Xu Heng asked with a smile, "Do you have paper and pens here?"
The craftsman hurriedly ordered someone to hand it over. Xu Heng sketched it in one stroke, and not only the craftsman, but even Madam Yu and Jing Ye understood it. The craftsman clapped his hands: "Master, master!"
The craftsmen took the earrings to be modified, and within fifteen minutes they wiped off the dust and brought them back. Holding them between three fingers and showing them to everyone in the candlelight, they were clearly more lifelike, evoking a sense of "eating something and bursting with flavor."
"It would probably look even better during the day," Liu couldn't help but exclaim.
"Why aren't you thanking Young Master Bi yet?" Yu Mingzhe kicked Jing Ye again under the table. Why isn't this kid thanking him? What's wrong with Jing Ye? He's slow to react and acting awkwardly, like he's lost his mind.
"Thanks."
Xu Heng smiled and said, "It's nothing, no need to be so polite. I'm just doing this to help you achieve your goal. I only hope that General Jing and his sweetheart will live happily ever after, and that this pair of earrings will make them even more loving."
"Forever and ever!" Yu Mingzhe echoed, then couldn't help but glance at his wife. The couple met eyes and smiled sweetly.
A note from the author:
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