Chapter 40: Wandering Thoughts
Translator’s Note: The title refers to “heart-monkey and mind-horse,” an idiom meaning restless and whimsical thoughts.
During the return to Weiyang Palace, the numbers were still jumping. Tiantong was lagging severely, so Ying Xi remained undisturbed by Tiantong the whole time.
Inside the carriage, Ying Xi looked out leisurely.
This was his West Market of Chang’an. The commoners on the street were either busy or leisurely; he could see they were very peaceful.
For Ying Xi, who had received imperial education since childhood, the scene before him was an infinite affirmation of his ability as Emperor, and his sense of self-worth climbed continuously.
As for the Emperor’s unrealized little thoughts: for example, he wanted to get down and browse the bookstores; or, he also wanted to taste all the food sold at the West Market stalls without fearing poison…
—There is an external official present; it is inappropriate.
Ying Xi suddenly looked toward Xie Qianli, who was driving the carriage, because of the phrase “external official,” and a stinging pain rose in his heart.
When they were young, also in the West Market, he was sneaked out of Fanglan Hall by Xie Qianli. The other party wasn’t as rigid as now and would unintentionally scatter a youthful innocence.
He would enthusiastically tell him what was delicious, what tasted bad, what things were fun, and what entertainments not to touch…
At that time in the busy market, hitting twenty arrows in Touhu (Pitch-pot), the young general easily won cheers from the whole street and didn’t mind being conspicuous.
However, when riding a horse past the red sleeves beckoning from the full towers (brothels), he would hurryingly take him away, his expression feigning calm, afraid that the two of them would be stained by even a bit of the dusty world.
The colt was lively within limits, kind, and upright.
Ying Xi knew himself; he had been using him and deceiving him in the past, but back then, he never treated Xie Qianli as an outsider. He even treated him no less than he treated his younger brother, Ying Dang.
What about the future?
Ying Xi did not know.
Perhaps the imperial throne was lonely at the top, and the position of Lord Duke was not one that could be sat in easily either.
Just the opposition between monarchical power and military power was enough to end their past lives in tragedy.
In this life, in the end, would he kill him, depose him, exile him, or could they coexist peacefully for a number of years? Who could know the future?
The silver armor reflected in Ying Xi’s eyes.
The bright light shone into his heart, seemingly substantial, cold and heavy.
Xie Qianli parted ways with Ying Xi at the entrance of Weiyang Palace Hall.
Entering the hall and returning to the study, the study was tidy. The palace servants had thoroughly cleaned the place; the scent of medicine had long dissipated, and there were no traces of anyone having existed there.
Ying Xi had gone out to watch the execution in the morning, so he needed to make time in the afternoon to handle government affairs.
The memorials in the study had long been arranged in order of priority. Not seeing the person, the Right Chancellor had left a note.
Ying Xi picked it up; the paper was full of dashing ink characters.
“Subject Su Xueyi bows his head:
Regarding the bandit troubles in Yongzhou and several northern commanderies, the regional inspectors have all reported. I implore Your Majesty to decide whether to dispatch troops. The Southern Barbarian King has sent an envoy to the capital; the reception standards await clear instructions.”
Everything that should come, had come.
Everything proceeded according to Ying Xi’s expectations. It also seemed to remind him that if there were no subsequent actions, the country would perish and the clan would be exterminated, repeating the same disaster.
His Weiyang Palace, his Chang’an City, and even the Nine Provinces under heaven.
And his younger siblings, the civil and military officials—everyone would be trampled by iron hooves and burned to ashes in raging fire, with not a single survivor!
Ying Xi dipped the vermilion brush in ink and replied: “Zhen intends to establish an Amnesty Mission, employing parallel suppression and pacification to sweep away the chaos of bandits in the northern borders. Beloved Minister is fluent in the barbarian language and may receive the Barbarian King’s envoy on Zhen’s behalf.”
After finishing the comments, he had Yu Jing take them to the Department of State Affairs.
Yu Jing went. Not long after, he brought back the Prime Minister’s meaning: “Your Majesty, the Right Chancellor asks you for the specific charter of the Amnesty Mission so he can assign people to share the official duties of the courtiers going out.”
“Another thing is…” Yu Jing paused before saying awkwardly, “Prime Minister Su said his younger sister is ill and plans to ask for leave for a few days; he cannot host the Barbarian King’s envoy for Your Majesty.”
It rains in the house while leaking at night. Ying Xi thought.
Su Yin was in poor health and her intelligence was not like normal people; she was the apple of Su Xueyi’s eye. Ying Xi knew this.
But Su Yin was constantly ill.
If she were seriously ill, Su Xueyi wouldn’t dare to ask for leave; instead, he would have to try his best to show goodwill, beg for rare spiritual medicines, and beg for Imperial Physician Liu to enter his manor for consultation.
So it wasn’t that his sister was sick; it was Su Xueyi’s old habit acting up!
He had been tamed for a while, his arrogance suppressed, working steadily in the court.
But because he knew that many officials had been executed in the palace, and it was a time when people were needed, he knew he was indispensable.
Su Xueyi was triumphant, turning back into that peacock spreading its tail, dropping the ball at the critical moment—he had always liked doing this kind of thing.
Ying Xi remained composed, grinding his teeth secretly—this was also the difficulty of being an Emperor.
Even as an Emperor, there was no guarantee that everything would go as wished.
The Emperor couldn’t lose his dignity; he had to endure.
Ying Xi said calmly: “Then let him rest and return when Su Yin recovers. The Imperial Tutor is also fluent in the barbarian language, and his character is steadier than his. Decree that the Imperial Tutor shall receive the Barbarian King’s envoy.”
“Your servant obeys the decree. Your servant withdraws.”
Busying about and tossing around the whole afternoon.
Everything was urgent as a star fire, yet not a single good thing!
Ying Xi put down the vermilion brush and pulled out a storybook from the drawer to read.
The storybook was even more pedantic and tasteless. He was reading the chapter titled “Tang Minghuang Neglects Governance and Misleads the Country”, a moralistic lecture story.
“…” Tang Minghuang at least had Yang Guifei by his side!
Zhen is a dignified Emperor, yet there isn’t even the shadow of a concubine in the palace. Three thousand beauties—that quota was only exceeded in my adoptive father’s generation. Why must Zhen lose the country and lose himself!?
The more Ying Xi read, the more fire clogged his heart.
But with his temperament, extreme anger turned into depression.
He was like a statue made of jade, quiet and melancholy, yet carrying an unprovokable aura that made people gaze with awe.
Therefore, Tiantong waited until Ying Xi completely finished work and prepared to sleep before weakly saying:
“Your Majesty, your reward application has arrived. Legendary Lucky Bags (Mall Trial Version) x 50.”
“The Mall function has opened accordingly, with rich products. Would Your Majesty like to go for a stroll?”
Night, Duke of Ying’s Manor.
“The night is deep and quiet, the bright moon is high, no one comes to the small attic. Lady, do not sleep tonight, I have a word to say in a low voice: half a window sash, no need to knock lightly, when I come I will shake the flowering tree. You must remember, do not forget, when the shadow moves, Brother arrives.”
“Shadow moves ah, Brother arrives~”
That singing voice was rough, and the volume was loud.
As a bachelor in his twenties for whom no one had proposed a marriage yet, Lian Qing hummed little tunes; the sisters and ladies in the lyrics became his precious spiritual pillars.
It was just that although the spiritual pillar was beautiful, the singing sounded worse than a dog barking.
The black falcon scratched and clawed to make him shut up.
Lian Qing was once again sanctioned by Lord Falcon and entered the Duke’s study covered in disarray.
“General, during the days the General was recuperating, the Longwu Army trained as usual and can be ready to set off at any time.”
The lampstand on Xie Qianli’s table was not made of gold or silver.
The brass lampstand supported a weak candle flame, dyeing Xie Qianli’s towering body with a layer of textured golden red: “Understood.”
The Duke’s Manor actually bought grapes.
How expensive must these out-of-season grapes be!!!
Lian Qing was shocked, immediately thinking the General was no longer living frugally, then thinking the General might be suicidal. He immediately stopped him.
“Ge-General, recently the soldier’s pay has been issued as usual. I scrimped and saved, drank less wine, and still have three or four taels left in my pocket.”
“It’s better to be alive; please accept it with a smile!”
Lian Qing was talking nonsense opposite him, leaving Xie Qianli momentarily speechless.
He wasn’t without money; he was just used to being frugal.
Besides, eating grapes uses the mouth, not the eyes; why light it so brightly?
Tonight, Xie Qianli’s plain and unadorned view on eating grapes made him focus more on his taste buds, savoring the flavor of the grapes.
It was sour, a bit astringent on the teeth if eaten too much. But he still ate many.
He didn’t realize that what he wanted to reminisce about wasn’t actually the sour taste of the grapes.
He preferred the moment when peeling the grape skin, the grape overflowed with refreshing cool juice.
The soft and tender grape fruit gently pressed against his lips, slowly pushing into his teeth.
—Did he touch that person’s fingertips?
Suddenly.
Xie Qianli’s breathing became disordered in the lamplight.
The thought triggered carried a sense of taboo!
Just as it sprouted like a spring bamboo shoot, it was ruthlessly strangled by Xie Qianli!
Yet clearly it was only mid-spring, but he felt an unspeakable sultriness and hurriedly poured himself a cup of cold tea.
Ice-chilled grapes, yet he ate them with agitation.
Xie Qianli barely maintained his composure, pulled out a scroll, unrolled the map, and analyzed with Lian Qing the military supplies to be ordered this time.
“Mountain roads are difficult to travel; battering rams need not be brought.”
“Light armored troops are more adept at long-distance raids than heavy armored troops. The ratio should be three to seven. Select the most shrewd and capable ones. Also, since we represent the image of the Imperial Court, pay some attention to the soldiers’ appearance.”
“Troops infiltrating dense forests need camouflage and concealment; prepare relevant materials in advance.”
“Additionally, arrange for scouts to go ahead tonight to investigate the terrain and troop deployment of various bandit strongholds.”
He explained many deployments in minute detail.
However, both he and Lian Qing knew that even if these bandits were fierce, they couldn’t possibly oppose the entire country relying on some mountaintop.
Lian Qing said: “General, actually there’s nothing much to fight in this battle. The Longwu Army will coordinate with the Amnesty Mission. We are responsible for deterring the bandits and emboldening the Chief Envoy of the Amnesty Mission.”
“En.” Xie Qianli nodded.
Relying on his close relationship, and being in private, Lian Qing clapped his hands and laughed boldly: “Seeing you being so cautious, I thought His Majesty was going to lead the expedition personally.”
“…”
Mention of the Emperor by his vice general made Xie Qianli dazed again.
His state tonight was not right. Ghosts and gods at work, he looked toward that bowl of grapes. Each grape was like a jade bead, hooking up a heart full of questions in Xie Qianli.
He felt the Emperor was very contradictory.
Initially, Ying Xi told him to get out quickly, appearing cold and ruthless.
Then why send him so many grapes later?
Just because he liked eating them? Because he wrongly said that word “sweet”?
It wouldn’t go so far as to insist on sending him a whole warehouse of fruit; Ying Xi was not a wasteful character.
Thinking back and forth, Xie Qianli could only try to explain it.
—That is, Ying Xi is indeed very angry with him. A warehouse full of grapes is the Emperor’s test and punishment.
He deliberately gave him grapes he couldn’t finish, making him unable to waste the imperial gift, unable to finish eating them, and unable to sell them.
Correct.
Back when Ying Xi was still Miss Xiao Xi, Xie Qianli recalled, he had a hobby of giving him difficult problems.
Acrostics, embedded character couplets, riddles.
That riddle with the answer “shadow” had been forgotten in the long passage of time, but in an instant, it was carefully picked up by Xie Qianli again.
He repeated in a low voice:
“There is a heart but not yours, no heart but always accompanies me.
Meeting under the red sun, looking at each other hard to open mouth.”
Recalling the fragmented past of Fanglan Hall, Xie Qianli felt irritated at heart, the strangeness not decreasing but increasing.
Beautiful and good at deceiving people, Ying Xi loved word games the most.
The Monarch must want to see him powerless after thinking, scratching his ears and cheeks, and finally barely solving the difficult problem, right?
This was indeed something His Majesty could do…
Xie Qianli shook his head slightly in the candlelight.
That young and handsome face suddenly curled up a smile that even he didn’t notice, clear and clean, carrying a foolish infatuation.
Lian Qing, however, was scared silly by this smile of the Duke of Ying.
Lian Qing was certain they were about to go on an amnesty mission, not to do anything else.
The General was truly abnormal, forcing him to trace the source of the current abnormality.
Gra-pes!
Who gave these grapes? Were the grapes drugged???
Lian Qing couldn’t help but want to test the poison with his own body, righteously looking for a solution: “Please allow this subordinate to taste.”
Just as his big hand reached toward the rim of the bowl, it was lightly slapped away by Xie Qianli.
The Duke of Ying frowned: “Sour.”
Lian Qing was even more dumbfounded: Sour and you still eat so many???
Just in terms of romance and love affairs, Lian Qing had enlightened earlier than Xie Qianli; those little tunes about brothers and sisters weren’t sung for nothing.
Lian Qing got straight to the point: “Given by a girl!”
Xie Qianli’s face turned cold; the room seemed to freeze: “Presumptuous. An Imperial Gift.”
Lian Qing fell with a thump, kneeling toward the direction of Weiyang Palace: “Your Majesty, forgive me!”
But Lian Qing understood even less, kneeling and asking: “General, why did the Emperor send you grapes?”
To say sending grapes was to be angry with him, punish him, make things difficult for him… to maintain Ying Xi’s face, these things could not be told to outsiders.
Xie Qianli didn’t say it directly.
However, after pondering for less than a moment, he had already figured out how to respond to Ying Xi’s question and deal with the warehouse full of disaster grapes.
Xie Qianli said brightly: “Granting fruit to brew wine.”
“Ah?” Lian Qing raised his eyebrows and looked up.
The Duke of Ying was, after all, the leader of the palace peers back then. He had seriously studied books and could seriously fool Lian Qing, an illiterate.
—”‘Grape wine in luminous cups, intending to drink but the pipa summons from horseback,’ the Sovereign’s meaning is, we must set out as soon as possible.”
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