Chapter 21
Chen Yi stood in the courtyard, holding a paper umbrella. The butterflies that should have been gathering were scattered by the sudden spring rain. The drizzle sifted through the clusters of bright yellow stamens, wetting the gravel on the ground.
Since that night of separation, when he went to the Spring Banquet at the singing hall again, he no longer saw Xue Congzhi. As if it were a drunken dream, he lowered his eyes to watch the water collect in the pothole, drop by drop.
He shouldn't be so anxious, Shen Yi consoled himself. Yesterday, he had the servants in the mansion deliver this year's new tribute tea to Xue Heng. Now that he thought about it, the reward he received from the royal family was probably even more extravagant than the expenses of the Marquis' Mansion.
Rain pelted the umbrella. The weather was warming, and Mrs. Huo had switched to milder herbs for her daily regimen. But she remained confined to her home, and when she did venture out, it was with the help of a maid, to admire the flowers in the pavilion.
When Shen Yi returned home, he met her once or twice. After he went up to greet her, Mrs. Huo didn't like to answer. After sitting quietly with him for a while, Mrs. Huo got up and went back to her room.
He held up his umbrella and took two steps toward the edge of the yard to prevent the rain from blowing the newly opened petals into the mud.
Mrs. Huo hasn't come out in the past two days. If even these flowers have wilted, his mother would probably be even less willing to go out for a walk.
"Young Marquis—Master Xue has also returned the gift." Shen Yi turned around and saw a servant approaching in the rain with a wooden box in his hand. "Shall I put it in the young marquis' room now?"
"I'll just take it now, no need to go through so much trouble." Shen Yi took out the plain-looking wooden box from his hand, and because he was still holding the umbrella, he stuffed the wooden box into his sleeve.
His fingertips brushed over the rough scratches on it, but he didn't open it to take a look immediately. Shen Yi looked at the increasingly gentle rain, and now the spring breeze blowing on his face brought warmth.
He plucked a bright red flower, and the umbrella tilted down for a moment, letting the drizzle wet his clothes. He thought, for now, he could still control his temper and wait until Xue Congzhi started his rebellion.
Thinking of Chen Xian, he gently placed the flower in his hand back into the grass. He wanted to trouble his sister to wait a little longer, wait for him, wait for the future spring scenery.
The spring rain gradually subsided, and Shen Yi returned to his room and closed the windows. He then took out the wooden box he had just tucked into his sleeve and pried open the loose lock.
A small cup of tea leaves lay spread out on the bright yellow silk cloth, and one could smell the delicate fragrance of tea without even getting close. However, in a relationship between two people, gifts were secondary.
Chen Yi lifted the heavy silk cloth and fished out a piece of paper from the bottom of the box. He unfolded the small piece of paper and quickly lit a candle, watching it burn to ashes and fall onto the table.
As for the burning sensation in his fingertips, he was used to it. When Xue Congzhi came up, he first asked for the white pigeon he had raised for many years.
Regardless, Shen Yi got up and went to the pigeon coop. It happened that Shen Qian was not at home, and since it was raining today, the pigeons were all huddled together in their cages. He put away his umbrella and, in the rain, took the pigeons out of the cage one by one and picked them out.
Pigeons with mixed feathers were naturally difficult to deliver, and some were unruly and untamed. He let the pigeons flutter around, brushing against his fallen feathers, before he caught three or four.
He planned to give one to the chef to stew for Mrs. Huo to nourish her body, and tie the rest together and send them to the Xue Mansion.
The paper umbrella was blown aside by the passing wind, and rolled down and got stained with mud. Shen Yi didn't care about the umbrella. He walked through the spring rain and gave instructions to the new servants in the mansion one by one.
Seeing him leave the house with an umbrella and then return to the pigeon coop, Shen Yi picked up the paper umbrella, but his coat was soaked. The white pigeon, which had just been captured, huddled deeper in the cage, leaving only its bean-sized eyes constantly looking out.
He counted the number of white pigeons again and decided not to add any new ones this year. Shen Yi closed the pigeon cage and walked back into the room.
As dusk deepened, the clouds lingered, and the spring rain in Chang'an City finally stopped.
After that, whenever he and Xue Heng had any communication, they would use the white pigeons in the mansion to deliver messages. After Fang Sheng ascended to the throne, Xue Congzhi was still as usual, rarely going out for banquets, but if there were guests who came to visit, he would never refuse them.
The flowers that filled the courtyard had fallen all at once, and the white doves, now with new feathers, looked even uglier. Shen Yi had calculated the expenses of the imperial court, and realized that his superior, Guo Fengchang, was even worse than Shen Qian.
He was also truly clueless, leaving his accounts and expenses piled up for years. When he looked through them, he would simply say he was confused, and when questioned about them in detail, he would simply nod and agree. It seemed that his status as a crown prince was still a hindrance; even when they met occasionally, it was difficult to tell his official rank.
He picked up a pen and sorted out the important items. The remaining unclear accounts were not urgent. Shen Yi copied out the expenses of previous years and calculated the new items added this year.
The one in the imperial family was willing to allocate more of his annual salary to the diviners and priests in the temple. Because it was a sinecure, they only stood in the court two or three days a month. When he went there, he preferred to gaze at the side halls in the distance, which he could not see. As for the emperor who occupied the upper throne, it was better to avoid him for a while.
He recorded the gold and silver items onto the bamboo slips, and chuckled softly as he looked at the significantly increased number. It turned out that His Majesty, sitting high on the chair, also believed in ghosts and gods, and in the fortunes and disasters.
It seemed that I was no different from them, but I just sat there watching thousands of people struggling for life and death, watching bones pile up and people disperse.
The notes Xue Heng sent over were also full of trivial matters. They were nothing more than collecting a few more visiting cards in the name of the Marquis' Mansion, and some of them were coded letters handed to him.
Shen Yi pulled out the bamboo slips, thought for a moment, and then placed the note in the wooden box beside his pillow. The ink marks on them recorded the righteousness and benevolence of the sages. He paused to glance at the annotations, then rolled them up and put them in the room.
He only had the last half of the volume left to remember. Fortunately, Xue Congzhi had not been very active recently and had not handed him any new notes.
At the dawn of summer, the heat of Chang'an had already settled in. The chirping of cicadas drifted into the room from the window. He sipped his cold tea and counted the days that had passed and the days that were to come.
The clouds on the horizon were thinned by the sunlight. At night, when one looked up in the courtyard, one could see the moon hanging on the eaves and the stars twinkling beside it. As for the celestial phenomena and constellations, Shen Yi had never believed in them. Moreover, the stars in the sky only corresponded to the emperors on earth and had nothing to do with them.
He changed into a thin shirt, but found the heat in the room unbearable. Even if he pushed the window open all the way, the biting autumn and winter wind couldn't bring in even a trace of cool air.
Shen Yi walked to the center of the courtyard and looked up at the moon hanging in the middle. The moon, which had been full a few days ago, was slowly becoming brittle. Only when he heard the noise did he turn his gaze to the pavilion.
His father, whom he almost avoided, was still sitting in the pavilion late at night. Shen Yi had no choice but to respond and walked over to sit opposite him.
A slight breeze blew across his sweaty body. The candlelight in the pavilion was almost burnt out, but the little light was enough for him to see things clearly.
A set of chess pieces was placed on the stone table, with black and white pieces laid out in an interlaced pattern on the sandalwood chessboard. He didn't know when Shen Qian would be willing to come out of his study and even have the leisure to play a game of chess with himself.
When he looked more closely, he couldn't see the corner near Shen Qian. Shen Yi lowered his head and simply called out, "Father."
He watched Chen Qian pick up the white piece and place it in the center. "Spring and summer have passed, and you have been in the court for almost half a year. How has Feng Chang treated you?"
Originally asking about something, Shen Yi stopped looking at the chessboard and instead looked at the half-burned candle on the table. "Thanks to my father's protection, I usually just do some accounting and other trivial things. Naturally, I'm not as busy as those in important positions, and I don't have any real sense of being an official."
Chen Qian placed a black piece on the white piece. "The court has been divided for a long time. The Huo family has no descendants. Who wants to see it again-"
Hearing his judgment, Shen Yi was not surprised, but he did not raise his head and look him in the eye as before.
As for the inner court attendants, the tree is big and ostentatious."
Chen Qian took the stone back and rubbed it between his fingers, playing with it. "The Grand Marshal's leg disease has been recurring since the battle in the southwest, and he has been recuperating in Chang'an for almost four years. The descendants of the Shan family have been granted titles of general and marquis, and the mountains and rivers are far away. The old man never leaves his house, but he knows everything about the world."
Shen Yi listened quietly to Shen Qian's words. He was not unaware of the likes of Zhao You and Shan Yun. However, they were all high-ranking officials. If the royal family wanted to eradicate them, it would be better to pray to the gods or get drunk, which would always be faster.
As for the Zhao and Shan families, I'm afraid that under heaven, all the land is vassal of the two families. Shen Yi looked at Shen Qian who had withdrawn a piece, and the candlelight reflected half of his figure beside the pavilion pillar.
"Father, you didn't come to ask me for my opinion tonight. Tomorrow is not a day off, so you'd better cut to the chase."
Chen Qian still held the chess piece in his hand, not letting it go for a long time. When he spoke again, the candlelight was only dim, unable to illuminate the chessboard or the pieces on it. "Deep roots may not necessarily attract trouble. Guo Fengchang comes from a humble family. Among the nobles and dukes, no one would dare to touch him."
The cool wind blew out the flickering candlelight, and Shen Yi didn't listen to whether Shen Qian finally dropped the chess piece.
"After you return home from Shen's residence, you can just hang out under Feng Chang. Don't take sides or stand out."
He walked out of the pavilion, having already forgotten how he responded. The Shen family, he silently pondered the meaning of Shen Qian's words. The meat on the chopping board, the aristocratic family, to him, was like the invisible chess game just now.
How could the Huo family be without descendants? Shen Yi closed the window and sat alone at the table, filling a cup of cold tea for himself.
He was told to idle away his time and seek pleasure, but Chen Qian himself was still standing in the court. In such a hot late night, he was still thinking about the ever-changing situation.
Even the Shen family was something he could give up, as long as his sister came back and his mother was safe. Then, riding a horse through the streets and reminiscing about his youth, perhaps it would still be possible.
But now, the summer heat was all gathered in the house. Shen Yi stretched out his hand, wanting to grasp something, but found that there was nothing in his hand.
If someone now said he was like Chen Qian, he would have no way to refute it. Chen Qian couldn't let go of the power he had held for twenty years and the pleasure of being at the mercy of others. He also couldn't let go of the things he once held but now didn't have.
Between the ends of the earth and on the king's land, everyone is a hungry ghost in disguise.
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