Chapter 8
Li Fuquan bent over and held the lamp steadily, pinched his slightly trembling fingertips and took a breath, and heard the footsteps of a group of people getting closer.
The first thing he caught sight of was the dark hem of the garment, embroidered with colorful threads depicting a dragon's body sinking downwards. He bowed before uttering the words, "Your Majesty, be personally welcomed." Of course, the emperor generally paid no attention to people like them. Only when the solemn incense had dissipated did he rise and raise the oil lamp higher.
The emperor was followed by attendants holding lanterns. Li Fuquan watched them enter the palace, and then all the lights inside were lit, making it brighter than usual. According to the instructions of the beloved, the emperor could not go back to rest early today and had to keep watch outside the palace.
Li Fuquan shifted his position, trying to avoid the cold wind blowing directly at his face. Chang'an, freshly arrived in winter, was much colder than their village. He covered half his hand with his sleeves and continued to hold the oil lamp. The zither music from the hall was almost inaudible by the time it reached his ears, leaving only a few notes of the melody.
The beloved he served should be rewarded handsomely after tonight, he speculated. He wondered what the emperor would reward him with this time. It wouldn't be the same translucent jade bracelet. If the beloved was pleased, he could also receive an additional reward.
Thinking of this, Li Fuquan reached out and touched the silver in his arms. No matter how he calculated it, the amount for two months was neither too much nor too little. As the night deepened, he looked up and saw that the moon was finally mostly obscured by clouds. He couldn't really tell whether it was full or not.
The lights in the hall suddenly went out, and the sounds could be faintly heard. Li Fuquan stood a little further away, staying with the wintersweet tree, and finally his ears were quiet.
The teacher had only taught them four words about the emperor: Don't listen, don't look. He replaced the lantern and tucked his frozen fingertips back into his sleeve to warm them up. The bleak wind rustled the branches.
The palace was freezing in winter. Li Fuquan listened to the noises, but couldn't let himself fall asleep. He watched the warm air he exhaled turn into white mist. When he peered into the hall, he could see intertwined figures through the screen. He only glanced briefly before turning his head back to stare at the tree beside him.
I don't know what's so beautiful about this tree that the emperor gave me. It's so short and stunted, and every time I water it, I see more and more leaves falling. But it's also a tree that the emperor gave me, so I need to take care of it every day.
He touched the dry bark and whispered, "Just hang in there. At least get through this winter. When the spring comes and the weather warms up, there will be good times. I don't have to worry about it dying here every day. If it dies in my hands, I'll at least get a good beating."
The noises in the hall gradually died down. Li Fuquan returned to the outside, still holding the lantern. The clouds gathered, nearly obscuring the moon. The emperor seemed to have stayed in the hall for only an hour or two. Before he nearly passed out from the cold, he dressed and led his entourage out of the hall.
He still bowed his head and saluted to see His Majesty off, his eyes fixed on the ground and the swaying black hem of the robe, until he saw them go far away before returning to his couch and lying down.
It was already daybreak, with the sun casting a warm glow through the window. Li Fuquan gathered himself in bed, warmed himself for a moment, and then fell asleep. It was a rare sight to see Zhao Cai in his dreams, and he looked the same as before, which made him feel uncomfortable.
As for the specifics of his dream, he had completely forgotten it after waking up. Counting the days, he realized that except for the first month's salary, he hadn't seen Zhao Cai again. But no matter how he thought about it, Zhao Cai was probably similar to him, and wouldn't be promoted so quickly.
After Li Fuquan finished cleaning up, he continued to sweep the dust in the yard. Now all the trees in the yard were dead, and he felt more relaxed since he had no fallen leaves to sweep.
However, for several nights in a row, he had no chance to return to the emperor's bedside. The emperor stayed in the palace every day. Li Fuquan could only keep the winter plum blossoms in the courtyard for company. When the night was quiet, he could whisper a few words.
He naturally didn't expect the tree to respond, so he just kept talking to himself. Chang'an's winter was still too cold. He didn't know why the emperor kept coming lately. Although his beloved didn't have to wait in the palace every day, his hands and feet were almost frozen these past few nights. But he heard from them that if the emperor was pleased to give his beloved a promotion, he could also share in the blessing.
Thinking of this, Li Fuquan couldn't even sigh anymore. He switched to a lantern and continued to stand guard outside the hall. The moon was still hidden in the dark clouds tonight, and there were not many stars in the sky. He could only see a few in the courtyard.
He had to collect his monthly salary at daybreak, and when spring came, he would find a wooden box to store his money in. It was still winter, and with his belt fastened, no one could tell how much he had stuffed inside his arms.
He waited in line for the attendants inside to distribute this month's silver, but Zhao Cai was in a row next to him. Li Fuquan listened to their casual conversation and roughly understood how Zhao Cai had been doing over the past few months. From the second month on, Zhao Cai was promoted along with her master, who had already been promoted to a concubine, and her monthly salary doubled.
Now Zhao Cai seemed to no longer have the problem of shaking easily. He wore new uniform and received his monthly salary. He could not even fit it in his arms, so he had to put the extra money into his purse.
Li Fuquan was jealous that Zhao Cai had been promoted before him, even though he had come in with him. He thought it was because the master had given him a name that he was more likely to attract wealth than himself. He simply brushed past Zhao Cai without even saying hello, but he figured Zhao Cai wouldn't bother with him now.
Li Fuquan yawned, covered his sleeves with his hands, and returned to his bedside, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. It was a rare sweet dream. In the dream, he, like Zhao Cai, had been promoted to a higher position, and even served the emperor. As for his monthly salary, he filled his purse with it all at once.
He woke up from this dream with a smile, went to get his meal, ate it, and then returned to the courtyard he was responsible for. The sun was buried in the clouds today. Li Fuquan touched the branches of the wintersweet tree and felt that they were slightly swollen compared to the previous few days.
He watered the wintersweet as usual. According to his experience in the village, if the clouds didn't disperse for a few days, it meant snow was coming. The emperor hadn't come in the past few days, and the beloved hadn't come out for a walk either.
I don’t know if she has received any reward, or if the emperor has allowed her to be promoted. The emperor has come here every time in the past few days, so she must be extremely favored by the emperor.
Fortunately, when the emperor wasn't coming, he only needed to light the lamp for half an hour at night before returning to his couch and curling up under the quilt to keep warm. The wind was getting stronger at night, and if he had to stand all night like before, he would probably freeze to death in the courtyard.
The heaters in the hall had been lit, but the heat couldn't escape. He could only warm his hands and feet by approaching the hall door while walking, then he had to get back to his work. Li Fuquan warmed his hands with a bowl of hot soup. The food seemed to have changed for the past few days, and the soup had a strange, fishy smell.
Of course, he himself was not picky about these things. Instead, the beloved in the palace would leave a lot of food every day. Sometimes the maids could not share it all, so he could eat some leftovers. After all, it tasted better than his original bowl of soup with only minced meat.
The wintersweet in the garden performed better than he had expected. The small bumps had become more prominent in the past few days, and he could tell they were buds, showing a hint of tender yellow through the dry branches.
He had never seen a tree that could bloom in winter, but since this tree was a gift from the emperor, it was not surprising that it would bloom. So he watered it more diligently over the past few days. Every day he could see new flowers growing, and the number gradually increased to a number he couldn't count.
As expected, the clouds in the sky had not dispersed for the past few days. The good man took a day to summon him, gave him some silver coins and sent him out to continue looking after the courtyard. He also reminded him that next time His Majesty passed by, he should go out of the courtyard first and invite His Majesty in to sit down.
Li Fuquan noticed the jade bracelet on her hand had changed in style, and he had a rough idea of what the emperor had rewarded her with. The heat inside the palace made it feel like winter. Although her voice was still slurred, her complexion was much better than before. Whether the emperor stayed in the palace was important to her.
He bowed, accepting his husband's order, and stood up to continue cleaning the courtyard outside. The flowers on the tree were bulging more and more, and the branches were visibly bent. Li Fuquan swept away the gravel that the wind had blown in from somewhere, and then carefully examined each bulge to confirm that it would not be blown away by the wind, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn't help but worry. Although there were flowers under the tree now, they were a variety he had never seen before. He didn't know if they could survive the winter. If the snow was as thick as a quilt as it had been in the village before, they might not survive.
So these few days he would look up at the sky from time to time. The clouds in the sky gathered and dispersed, with no stability at all. Only the cold wind that made people shiver was the same as always.
That night, it was his turn to light the lamp. Li Fuquan waited for half an hour, but the emperor didn't show up. He had just extinguished the oil lamp and returned to his couch when the window he had just closed was blown open by the north wind. He had no choice but to put on his outer robe and get down to close the window. For some reason, this night wasn't as cold as the previous few days, so he slept more soundly.
The sound of the wind outside the window gradually died down. Li Fuquan slept peacefully on the couch, wrapped tightly in the quilt. He had no idea that it was a moonless night, nor did he realize that Chang'an had already had its first snow of the year. It was a heavy snow that he didn't want to see, like a layer of quilt covering him.
The sky was covered with white all over the courtyard, and he was unable to see immediately whether the wintersweet tree given by the emperor survived the heavy snow that night.
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