Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Fifty-four,
Sound of Strings

“Your Highness, Lord Xu has sent news, saying that the things you instructed is about to settle.” Li Fu Hai’s hand held a horsetail whisk, and bent down at He Xuan’s side and quietly said.

“This fast.” He Xuan lifted his eyebrows in slight surprise, he placed the brush in his hand on the brush rack, then rubbed his aching shoulders, “Prepare the horse, Ig will go to the Xu residence right now.”

Since Xu Yu Hang established a family, he certainly had cultivated his moral character and nature, things like the towers of Qing or the pavilions of Chu[1], he did not even touch one bit, good thing He Xuan did not go to these places for a long time either, so when the two people met now, if it they weren’t drinking tea in teahouses, they would be discussing matters in the courts, all open and peaceful and forthright.

“Stop.” When the carriage passed by the vermilion street, He Xuan glanced over a rouge store on the side, he wasn’t too informed on rouges and such, but last time when they got off the courts, Xu Yu Hang seemed to have mentioned it to him once, saying his madam like this store’s rouge very much, but this rouge store was very popular in Shang An’jing- if new styles were put up, one would have to wake up very early to line up, and even then, one might not even be able to get one.

He Xuan lifted the curtain up to take a look. Right now, the sun was shining down, the two rows of poplar trees on the street got shone so much it was all listless and droopy, yet the entrance of that rouge store was lined with a long line, all ladies ten or so dressed in some crude fabrics, looking to be the servant girls of big families here to purchase it.

He Xuan beckoned at the driver, took out a few silver pieces from his pockets, then instructed a few things to the driver. That driver happily ran off with the instructions, and not long after, he brought back a heart-shaped box of rouge, the top was engraved with a mellow and watery peach, very cute in appearance.

❀

“This is Ming Xiangclear fragrance Pavilion’s new rouge, even though I asked someone to help me buy it, they couldn’t even buy it for the longest time!” Li Qian Yu received that box of rouge with fondness, and smiled brightly, then thanked He Xuan, “Thank you your Highness for the troubles.”

“No problem, as long as Madam likes it.” He Xuan lightly smiled, there weren’t many times he smiled- however, he had a good face, and with a single smile, all sorts of romanticisms piled up in the corners of the eyes, making Li Qian Yu guiltily lower her head.

“Aye aye aye, hold it, hold it, your smile horrifies me.” Xu Yu Hang pulled Li Qian Yu to his back, and blocked off He Xuan’s gaze. He glared at him in a sulking manner, then turned to smile at Li Qian Yu, “Didn’t Lord Wang’s madam say she was coming over to chat with you? Go have a heart-to-heart with her, I have some important matters to discuss with his Highness.”

Li Qian Yu nodded her head, then happily held that box of rouge and returned to the back. With a face of leisure, He Xuan took out some tea leaves in the drawer, and tossed a whole bunch into the teapot about to steep them himself, provoking Xu Yu Hang to make a small run to block him from pouring hot water in, and angrily say, “This is this year’s newly-gotten good tea, a wealthy man like you might have been accustomed to drinking good tea, but I’m not the same, don’t go wasting my tea.”

As Xu Yu Hang said this, he very dearly snatched the teapot, then called in a maid for tea and had her steep it. He Xuan calmly leaned on the back of a chair, watched him busy about, and made some sarcastic remarks on the side, “Why are you so petty after marrying, aren’t you quite sweet with your little lady?”

Xu Yu Hang sat beside him, when he spoke of this matter, he seemed to go a bit red in the face, “Qian Yu’s nature is nice, we’ve been getting along quite well.” As he said this, he shrugged his shoulders, and said with an experienced tone, “You will know after getting married, ladies from big families, they’re bound to be the same.”

Marrying? He Xuan knitted his eyebrows, once he thought that the person sleeping by his side in the nights in the future would not be Xiao Zuo, it seemed like getting married turned into something without much to look forward to. He apathetically made a tone, then changed the topic, “Didn’t you say there was news?”

“Yes.” Seeing He Xuan mention business, Xu Yu Hang also turned serious. Just at this time, the maid steeping tea brought the tea in, and briefly, the fragrance of tea filled the whole room. Xu Yu Hang had the servant boys and girls around them all withdraw, closed the windows too, then came back, lifted the tea lid and made scraping motions with it, then blew, “Tong Province is Empress Liu’s old nest, with very few of our own people, however, we still found some information.”

“In the end, the Fourth Highness was too much in a hurry. Wasn’t his Majesty’s wind chill healed by his White Ears before? Once the Fourth Highness got benefits, he then encouraged the commoners at Tong Province to grow White Ears, and rewarded a lot. The people beneath all started growing it like the wind, and there were even some farmers that pulled the grains they grew in the ground, and changed it with White Ears.”

Xu Yu Hang took a sip, then continued, “But this White Ears is a product of the south, how would us northerners know how to grow them. Many of it were unable to live on, and the amount of water it consumed was a lot too, to the point that Tong Province’s water channels were all drawn to water the White Ears, and instead, the grains had no one watering them. Though there wasn’t much rain this spring, it wouldn’t be to the point to make a great drought appear.

Only because of this White Ears would Tong Province’s drought was particularly severe, to the point that the earth cracked, and people had to sell their sons to eat. Originally, it wasn’t some huge matter either, if it was reported to the courts, at most, his Highness would scold the Fourth Highness once, however……”

“Now that the ancestral rite is in sight, He Yang cannot possibly report it.” He Xuan slightly curled his lips, with the bottom of his eyes all iced over, “Isn’t Empress Liu’s older brother the Ministry of Revenue’s minister?”

“Precisely, then what kind of arrangements would your Highness like to make afterwards?”

He Xuan paused, he had a habit when he was in thought- he would subconsciously use his finger to knock on the table, the wooden tea table let out a rhythmic light echo, and after a while, he took back his hand, and sipped on the slightly hot tea.

“Of course…… to think in the interest of the commoners.”