Chapter 16
Li Rong lay on his couch, the window half-closed. The clamor of the street crowds continued to fill his ears. Amidst this bustle, he drifted off to sleep, a rare dreamless night in half a month. The tranquility of Jiangnan had faded, the wailing of the Central Plains had faded, the relentless rains of the north had ceased, and even the prosperity of Chang'an had been left behind.
When he woke up again, he heard Su Si's voice as usual. He got off the bed and put on his cloak, which blocked the cold wind from the window, keeping the room warm. "We're all in Chang'an now. Young Master, you'd be willing to try some pastries with me this time, right?" Li Rong chuckled as he watched him untie the pastry strings and replied, "Of course."
Without waiting for him to ask, Su Si continued, "Master Xue may have been tired these past few days. Seeing that there was no movement over there, I gave the portion I was sending to him to the waiter and will deliver it to him when he wakes up."
Li Rong was accustomed to Su Si's thoughtfulness, but it was the first time he realized his own servant was quite the smooth-talker. The two sat across from each other at the table. Su Si had brought back quite a few snacks, some still steaming through the oil-wrapped paper. They didn't order breakfast, but instead had two pots of hot tea brought out. Su Si asked for an empty bowl for himself, so he could drink from it.
Li Rong twisted the neatly shaped pastry between his fingers, chewed it carefully, and collected the crispy crumbs on his cotton handkerchief. The sweetness of honey mixed with the aroma of fried wheat filled his lips and teeth. The bitter green tea served by the shop softened the sweetness of the pastries from Chang'an, making it more suitable for his taste.
Su Si had a sweet tooth, and Li Rong was used to his gulping down food, so he only refilled his bowl with hot tea to prevent him from choking on the pastry crumbs. He heard a faint sound outside the door, and he thought perhaps Xue Heng had woken up. But since they had already reached Chang'an, he was fine, so it wouldn't hurt for him to rest for a few days.
After Su Si finished his snack, Li Rong handed him a handkerchief and watched him wipe the scattered snack crumbs on the table. "Chang'an is indeed much more lively than Luzhou. By the way, have you been with Master Xue recently?"
Li Rong agreed with the first half of the sentence, "It seems to me that you should rest for a while. Let's go for a walk in the street and buy some things to take home later." Chang'an is so lively, with many shops. There must be accessories that A Niang likes, or there may be skilled craftsmen who buy old wood and carve it into a wooden comb, which A Niang can use every day to calm her mind.
He instructed Su Si to recalculate the money, and with a rough idea in mind, he set out on the street. The white air from the shops hung thickly along the long street. Even though it couldn't block the biting cold wind blowing into Chang'an City, it at least provided a bit of warmth, keeping the passersby from feeling the chill. A caravan of merchants, with horses in tow, was approaching from the other end of the long street, a crowd of people shoving and blocking the way. The horses snorted, only to be silenced by shouts. Children were led by adults so they wouldn't be lost in the crowds.
The calls for customers often converged, and dim sum shops with long lines didn't need to shout; the sheer concentration of people in one place was enough to draw in outsiders. At the end of the year, it was the more unusual items that were more popular. Li Rong and Su Si walked and looked, and even if they didn't intend to linger for too long, they couldn't help but join the crowd in taking in everything.
The rich aroma of wine drifted from the deep alleys. The scent of cosmetics in Chang'an, far less frivolous than that of Jinling, mingled with the simple fragrance of incense, lingering among the buildings. After skirting the long street, the crowds eased, allowing them to stop and carefully examine their purchases. "Young Master, you already bought quite a bit in Gusu last time. If you want to keep them with you, choose something lightweight."
Li Rong chose a less crowded shop and walked in. The wooden boxes on the table held mostly plain hairpins, which didn't appeal to young ladies or wives. There were no shop assistants, only the accountant, who sat at the front of the shop, reading a book. Seeing customers, he didn't rush to introduce them, simply saying, "Come and ask him what you like."
"You're really worried about this. If you buy too many, put them together with the pearl and jade hairpins you bought earlier. If there's any problem..." Before Li Rong finished speaking, Su Si continued with the second half of the sentence, "Sir, why are you still remembering this? If there's any problem, I won't be able to get a wife anymore."
Li Rong chuckled and hummed, watching Su Si bustle around, asking the shopkeeper about styles and prices. He himself was happy to examine them carefully on his own. A-niang preferred floral designs, but disliked flashy colors. He looked for a long time before settling on one. Su Si also pulled him along to look at the styles he had chosen, and then he pointed out two more, which the shopkeeper packed into a wooden box.
As for the wooden combs, they all looked similar, differing only in the materials used. Li Rong pointed out the colors A Niang was accustomed to and listened to the shopkeeper's description of the materials. Sandalwood is best found in Jiangnan, so the ones on display in Chang'an are naturally inferior to those from Jinling and Suzhou. After discussing with Su Si, they settled on a boxwood comb.
The wooden box was lined with a bright yellow cloth, probably a tradition of the shop. It also seemed to complement the original color of the wooden comb, so Li Rong did not ask the shop to change it to a plain color.
Su Si gathered his bag and cradled the wooden box in his arms. Li Rong paid the deposit and walked a little behind him. "As expected, things in Chang'an are very expensive. But you have good taste, young master. I'm sure the old lady will like it when the time comes."
He just smiled when he heard this, "I haven't seen my mother for a long time. When we go back, she will definitely blame us for being away from home for too long. I don't know how to comfort her then." Su Si felt the same way, "Fortunately, the old lady is more worried about the young master. As for me, I am just a little extra so that the old lady won't blame me for so long."
"When my mother comes to her senses, it will be your turn." Li Rong replied to Su Si. They walked from the end of the long street into the alley, where there were even fewer people. The buildings were connected,
Although it wasn't as redwood as in Jinling City, it was clear the wood used was not ordinary. Most of them were busy with their own business, and most of them had servants standing on both sides to guard their mansions.
The glazed tiles shone brightly, and occasionally a solemnly decorated carriage would stop. When the owner of the mansion returned, the two red-painted doors would be tightly closed. Li Rong slowly identified the characters on the plaque and matched them to the official titles he remembered. He was about to ask a question, but then he remembered that it was Su Si walking beside him, not Xue Heng who had been there for the past few days, so he gave up.
Su Si muttered quietly about the wood or the gold and silver plating, calculating the price in his head. Li Rong was quite happy to hear his calculations. Suddenly, it occurred to him that Chang'an, at its peak of prosperity, was extravagant. The cost of building the mansion was no less than what Su Si could rattle off now, not to mention the food, clothing, and other expenses.
Chang'an's streets and alleys intertwine and twist, rarely ending in a dead end. As they entered the depths of the alley, they found themselves on another bustling street. The vendors on this long street were almost identical to the previous ones, selling sweets popular with children, necklaces, and hairpins. There were also acrobats performing on the side of the street, beating gongs and performing for the crowds.
Li Rong himself wasn't particularly interested in these things, but his servant insisted on squeezing in. The surrounding noise rang in his ears, and when the gong sounded again, Li Rong still couldn't remember what he had just seen. He just waited for the hand to be held in front of him and put two more copper coins in as a token of support.
By noon, the crowds on the street were pouring into the nearby restaurants and teahouses. Li Rong simply left Su Si to wait for his meal while he took the wooden box back to the inn to rest. Chang'an was colder than Luzhou in winter, but after a long day of squeezing in the crowd, he felt warm.
As they climbed the stairs, the shop assistants were busy preparing food. Li Rong took the wooden comb and hairpin he had bought and went into the side room first. As he opened the door, he glanced across. The door to the side room Xue Heng had chosen was still closed. The oil lamp on the table was still on, and through the thin silk, he could vaguely see the slanting light and shadows everywhere.
He first arranged the wooden box, then packed in everything that could fit into his own wooden box for silk books. Having an extra box would always prevent any unexpected bumps. The shopkeeper hadn't had time to replace the tea, so Li Rong sipped the slightly cooled tea, the lingering bitterness adding a touch of flavor.
He thought of the Chang'an he had glimpsed through the bamboo scrolls. It was the capital of the previous dynasty, and it was also the capital of the present. Not only were the long streets bustling with activity as always, but there were also clashes of swords and spears, sometimes bloodless, sometimes with corpses scattered across the fields. Even though these were relatively irrelevant to him now, he couldn't help but think of the world, like the one he had experienced during his travels, as vast as mountains and rivers, with the people moving about in it, representing a myriad of different forms. High officials and nobles spent their lives wandering within the palace, perhaps hesitating, perhaps with a look of hesitation on their faces.
Li Rong paused in his thoughts. Between ruler and subject, propriety must not be transgressed, and morality must not be discussed frivolously. He recalled the evening discussions with his father, the gentle teachings of his father, the daily recitation of the Confucian and Taoist sages, and even the quiet smile of Xue Zhuozhi during their discussion in Linyi.
He felt like half a year had passed quickly. He had already traveled from Luzhou to Chang'an, the capital of the country. Even if he hesitated, he had made up his mind about the path to officialdom. But he also felt that he could hardly overcome that hesitation. It would be difficult for him to maintain the peace and tranquility that enveloped the region south of the Yangtze River. He also didn't want to see any place suffer from the floods that plagued Yingchuan every year, and worry about whether there would be food in the granaries.
Li Rong put aside the thoughts that were weighing on his mind, and lying on the couch, he read over and over again the unsolved path he had written down, returning to the classics that he had been familiar with over the years, and fell asleep in the superficial peace he had sought.
In his dream, he could faintly hear the door opening and closing across from him, but he didn't know whether Xue Heng had returned or gone away. In his dream, Li Rong saw again the towering mountains of the north he had seen recently. A streak of white fell on the distant, rolling peaks—the snow of Chang'an, which he had yet to see. He also saw again the gentle waters of the south, gurgling as usual even in winter. But he didn't want to dream again of the muddy yellow earth and the bursting floods of the dikes, the exposed bones and those silent, turbid eyes, their repeated whispers about releasing grain to survive the winter.
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