Chapter 5
That night, Li Gou Wa tossed and turned but couldn't figure out the feeling. He could only fall asleep from exhaustion. The three of them stayed alone in this room, day after day.
Later, the steward no longer came to watch over them every day, and the servants came once in the morning and once in the evening according to the schedule. At first, they would feed them broth, but later the oil in the broth became less and less.
Li Gou Wa and his companions were allowed to go out during the day, but they were only allowed to walk around the yard for less than an hour with the help of servants. At first, Li Gou Wa felt that he could not stand up at all, and was almost dragged to his feet by the servants to walk to the yard.
His legs were shaking and he was gasping for breath because of the pain in his lower body. Even though he said he wanted to rest for a while, the servants dragged him away as if they didn't understand what he was saying.
During those days, he almost slept until the next morning as soon as he entered the house. The three of them were able to start talking to each other. The one who had been lying in bed and had not tried to get up was called Zhao Wu. The other one didn't know his last name. He was sold by the original owner and was called Eleven according to his number.
Li Gou Wa memorized their names and, whenever he could speak, led them in cursing. Life was good, and indeed, they had meat broth every day and didn't have to do much work. But the broth had been getting thinner and thinner in recent days, and every day they had to be carried around the yard several times to stretch their legs.
Eleven was usually speechless, and Zhao Wu looked more distressed than the other two every day. Li Gou Wa didn't hesitate to ask about their bathroom breaks. Since they were all in the same room, they were probably in the same boat. With this androgynous body, there was no telling what he would do after a hundred days...
As autumn gradually fell in Chang'an, the windows of their house were often left open. When they got up in the middle of the night, they could walk in the moonlight without bumping into the corner of the table.
The steward had only come once, and Li Gou Wa remembered it clearly: it was early one morning. The wind was blowing through the windows, making them rattle. When he heard the door open, he was still wiping his eyes, dazed, and thinking that dinner had come much earlier that day.
The steward ordered the servants to drag Eleven out, and only then did he regain consciousness and sit up to watch. Zhao Wu woke even earlier, his hands and feet curled up and trembling. "I didn't expect it to be all show and no substance... What a waste of money."
Li Gou Wa was sipping his porridge when he heard the steward curse. Belatedly, he realized what had happened. Eleven—he must have gotten hard when they didn't know, and died on the couch. He felt strangely nauseous and retched a few times. The servants took a second look at him and took the bowl away.
Li Gou Wa could smell the fishy, medicinal odor again. He asked Zhao Wu several times, only to relax a little when he heard him stutter and say no before returning to his stool. Now the two of them no longer needed servants to constantly support them; they could walk around the courtyard on their own. The steward was busy dealing with Eleven's affairs today, so he rarely bothered to urge them to get up and move around.
Li Gou Wa took a sip of tea. They usually didn't drink much water to avoid going to the bathroom. After all, every time they took off their pants and saw their private parts, they would be shocked. He sighed, really unable to understand why Eleven had just spoken to them last night, so this morning...
Zhao Wu seemed terrified, tossing and turning on the couch, unable to fall asleep, making small noises from time to time. Li Gou Wa wasn't afraid. They had food and drink every day, and who would die so easily when they were living a good life? He wouldn't die, anyway. He would wait until the good times were over before dying.
He also lay back on the couch. After Eleven was carried away, the couch felt even emptier. Li Gou Wa stretched out his legs. The pain in his lower body hadn't been so severe in the past few days. The scabby wound was a little itchy, but they didn't dare move it. They just changed the dressing every few days.
The smell was different from before, at least not as bad. He closed his eyes and prepared to sleep. While he could still remember Eleven's face, he planned to dream about being reborn into a wealthy family. In his opinion, Eleven had suffered in vain, and could not live on before the good days were over.
Just as he was about to start dreaming, Zhao Wu leaned over and whispered, "Will we... end up like Eleventh Brother?" Li Gou Wa was woken up by the noise. He vaguely saw Zhao Wu's figure in the moonlight and blew on his head, "Don't say unlucky words. I don't know if you can do it, but I can do it anyway. Every day I live now is a day earned."
After that, he no longer paid attention to Zhao Wu, moved to the side and continued to sleep, continuing to sink into the beautiful dream he had woven, calling the wind and rain in it.
It was a few days later that the steward came to see them again. Li Gou Wa was in the yard at that time and saw the steward leading a man dressed as a scholar. "I didn't ask you to come here to eat for free. Come and learn from the teacher. It will be useful for you after you enter the palace." Zhao Wu was stunned and nodded. The steward took a satisfied look at him and kept the teacher here.
Li Gou Wa had no choice but to sit down at the table. The teacher was dressed in a long gown and looked like a scholar. He was reminded of the village children who shook their heads while studying, and naturally he felt a bit of contempt.
Let him learn to read and write? It's not too late to learn now if his parents didn't teach him. As for entering the palace and the master, he hasn't seen that master for a month. That's all for the future.
The master first asked their names, said it was vulgar, and then pulled them over to change their names. "If you enter the palace, you must choose a good name." Li Gou Wa watched him dip his finger into ink and write black characters on the spread of coarse cloth. The steward came in once, and he had to learn to write his new name. He could no longer say "Li Gou Wa", but "Li Fuquan". Zhao Wu remained two characters, easy to remember and pronounce, so he would be called Zhao Cai. Zhao Cai, attracting wealth, Li Gou Wa felt that he had a really good surname.
He mumbled a few words and kept repeating his new name, Li Fuquan. Fuquan is so hard to remember, it's better to say Zhaocai. Thinking this, he followed the teacher and traced the three words on the table with his finger dipped in tea.
By the time the master left, Li Fuquan had memorized his name perfectly, or at least could pronounce it. He walked around the yard, occasionally squatting down when no servants were watching to catch a bug and place it in his palm. When the servants came back, he would put the bug back into the grass, thinking about catching it again tomorrow.
Zhao Wu… should be called Zhao Cai now. He finally stopped shaking when he slept at night, and Li Fuquan could lie down a little wider without having to worry about being woken up by him in the middle of the night. He rested his head on his arm and thought about their new names. Zhao Cai, Zhao Cai is good, but according to what the master said, Fu Quan is a bit broader, and it emphasizes the concept of "complete", which means "to attract wealth".
Li Fuquan thought about this and gradually fell asleep. For the sake of the occasional meat soup, listening to the teacher's daily nagging for a good life was within his tolerance. He no longer thought about his parents and his second and third brothers. Who knew how far their village was from Chang'an? Anyway, he would never see them again. His ability to live a good life was his own ability.
The autumn wind outside the window began to blow vigorously. When Li Fuquan woke up and opened the door, he found that frost had begun to form on the ground. However, the servants and teachers still came on time every day, and he was gradually able to sit still. Otherwise, he would always be punished with a ruler. Each time, the pain would last for two or three days, and he would also get a scolding from the steward.
He felt that the teacher didn't know much, talking about etiquette, monarch and ministers, and those obscure words that he couldn't understand. What did benevolence, righteousness, and morality have to do with them? Li Fuquan thought that for them, just having a good life was enough. Zhao Cai also nodded, but the teacher just shook his head and said they didn't understand.
If the steward hadn't come to check, he wouldn't have bothered to learn these things. Li Fuquan was often distracted, and only learned about 70% or 80% of it through the steward's inspection and the teacher's daily ear-teaching.
He stared at the insects in the yard; if it got any colder, they would all be nearly dead. Li Fuquan began counting the days. Now, only half a month remained until the hundredth day. The teacher stopped speaking those obscure sentences and only urged them to learn etiquette every day, explaining that they were destined to enter the palace.
Entering the palace, Li Fuquan knew that the emperor lived there, and nothing else had anything to do with him. As for the emperor's food, it was naturally much better than theirs. The master also talked about many things, such as the palace and women, but he also warned that they had nothing to do with them.
They just need to remember the etiquette and do their best to serve their master. Li Fuquan only remembered one sentence: whether he can live a good life in prison depends on himself. If he is not careful, he will lose his head.
That night was the first time in recent memory that he hadn't fallen asleep until midnight. A falling head meant death. He felt that his current life was enough, so why would he enter the palace to seek death? But then he remembered that he had been sold to his master, and that master could do whatever he wanted.
Zhao Cai returned to his daily life of fear and anxiety, and Li Fuquan felt a lot of annoyance, but he was too lazy to talk and could only bear it. He still had some time before entering the palace, and as long as he could have a mouthful of meat soup, he wouldn't be at a disadvantage for the time being.
The master came back a few days later and said goodbye to them, saying only that they would enter the palace in the future and would be blessed to see His Majesty. Li Fuquan did not listen to this, thinking that if he had the chance, he could continue to live a good life.
This sentence was enough for him, so he slept very soundly at night for the past few days and had sweet dreams. In his dreams, he ate barbecue and drank wine, which were what the villagers sometimes talked about when they gathered together to gossip.
He thought, "Let's go to the palace, then." He had no choice. Perhaps life in the palace would be even better than it was now. He wouldn't have to serve the master, but would have to serve the concubines and the emperor. He felt that the pain he had endured was not in vain. He just didn't know how long it would take for him to live the same good life as he did now.
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