Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Fifty-five,
Refugees

He Heng typically paid heed to pomp and circumstance, now when they were making the journey to the west capital, those following also included Nan Liang’s dethroned emperor, Xiao Zuo, so he made the efforts to display the current Jin’s sturdy national power to him. To the point that for this ancestral rite, He Heng personally ordered and managed the Ministry of Works, and sought for people to create a temporary palace that could be moved.

The temporary palace was modelled after He Heng’s bedchambers, the inside was able to fit in a hundred people, the outer walls were decorated in red powder, with gold and jade beads in between, while the pillars and window sills were engraved with complicated patterns, extremely gorgeous with observation. The two sides of the temporary palace were all lined with beautiful women found from the commoners’ realm, drawn with light makeup, dressed in flowing palace dresses, and holding fans made from jade while standing to the side- the wide sleeves fluttered around, the fragrant powder drifted about, like the immortal palace Qiong Yu.

That temporary palace was enormous, so typically, it would be lifted by the porters without anyone sitting in it, and only once they arrived, would it be put down. He Heng would sit then inside and accept the local government’s respects, putting up an emperor’s dragon aura, shocking the entire seas with his might.

When they were moving though, they would sit separately in their own horse carriages. The most luxurious one was naturally He Heng’s imperial carriage, the outside was painted with gold, then inlaid with gems and jades, with eunuchs and maids constantly bringing seasonal fruits and cakes inside, and to prevent the journey from being shaky, the entire interior of the carriage was spread with carpets from the west region, embroidered with delicate flower patterns on the surface. The top of the carriage was stuck with a flag with a delicately-drawn picture, and when moving, it would make fierce sounds in the wind, and looked particularly majestic.

He Heng’s carriage only sat with He Heng, and occasionally, Empress Liu would also chat with him and have a meal together, but most times, only he and Noble Fang would be inside chatting and frolicking, and it would occasionally seep out with Noble Fang’s merry laughter.

Behind He Heng’s carriage closely followed with Empress Liu’s phoenix carriage- it was slightly smaller than He Heng’s, but the decorations were similarly luxurious, with some extra phoenix engravings and pretty bead curtains, and when the carriage shook, it would make delicate echos.

And further to the back would be the princes and princesses’ carriages- other than He Xuan’s crown prince carriage, they were a bit smaller, however, these princes and princesses of Jin all were used to being indulgent, so the insides were all beautiful and luxurious, not even dyed in a speck of dust. Xiao Zuo, according to courtesy, would sit in the carriages along with all the court officials, however, He Xuan was worried he was not safe alone, so he had him sit together with him, and would normally not get down from the carriage either, so no one knew of it.

Though it was already the end of summer, and Jin’s autumns was already so close, but this journey made such an uproar, the trees to the two sides of the road were sparse, with very few places with shadows, so it was much hotter than in the residence.

He Xuan straightly placed ice inside the carriage, with servant girls taking turns to fan the fans, so it was quite cool. The inside of the carriage was all spread with fine carpets, Xiao Zuo tilted his body and leaned on a cushion, and propped his hand while flipping a book called the Wang Cheng Ke Anthology, and once he read to where the ends of the thousands of mountains fell with the setting sun, he felt a bit thirsty, then reached out to where the tea cup was on the table, but who knew he did not touch the teacup, but first touched a hand. Xiao Zuo lifted his eyes up, and saw He Xuan smile at him, [He Xuan] turned his hand and held his wrist, then bent over and gave a neither light nor heavy kiss on his forehead.

“Back so fast?” Just now, He Heng summoned him to discuss matters, but did not think with this little time, he only read three pages of his poem anthology.

However, the poems this person wrote was very ordinary, mostly piled with fancy phrases, imagery was used in repetition, and the used vocabulary was quite stiff too, Xiao Zuo closed the book and put it to the side, then listened to He Xuan speak.

“En, we’re about to arrive at Wanglook at Tong Hill, tonight, we should be stopping at Wang Tong Hill for the night, then past Wang Tong Hill and another half day’s journey, will be the west capital.”

“Alright.” Xiao Zuo nodded his head, just as he was going to grab the teacup on the table, [his hand] got taken by He Xuan again. He Xuan hintingly kneaded his hand, the corners of his lips curled with a thought-provoking curve, and quietly said in his ear, “In a moment, there will be a good play to watch.”

“Good play?” Xiao Zuo also pressed his voice down, could it be White Ears? But He Xuan did not make it clear to him, he only seemingly smiled, “You will know in a moment.”

Stirred by him like this, Xiao Zuo completely had no heart to read books anymore, he lifted up the hung curtains, and planned to look at the movements outside. As they constantly headed west, the air current turned much colder and dry, the grass gradually turned from Shang An’jing’s luxurious growth to sparser by the day- now on the road, only the elm trees that needed comparatively less water were still standing, extending its twisted branches towards the sky. The terrain was instead completely flat, and from the distance, all one could see was land covered in a thin blanket of grass, the places the carriages wheeled over brought up stretches of yellow sand, with a slight feeling of magnificence of the flat dunes meeting the skies[1].

The hints of civilization withdrew from the lands here, while the mad winds and yellow sides and the elms and diverse poplars regained the ground, in this high pass where only spring breezes of tens of thousands of miles could blow to, humans on this land, were merely mayflies in the world.

Xiao Zuo saw through all of Jiang Nan’s clothes-dying and wet almond flower rains and the willowy winds that would not be cold when blown to the face, yet never saw such a crude and rough northwest landscape, and went in a daze from watching for a brief moment, after being urged by He Xuan many times, he then unwillingly put down the carriage curtains.

“Once your face gets hurt from the wind, you will be in terrible pain in the night again.” He Xuan knitted his eyebrows, and stubbornly placed the curtain down for him, “Once we get to Yu Yang, it won’t be too late for you to look more carefully.”

“Wait a moment.” Xiao Zuo glanced from the corner of his eyes, and just so happened to see a string of figures from far off in the front- there should be quite many people, but because they were too far away, he could not see clearly how they were dressed.

He Xuan also got close, looked over the top of his head, then lifted his chin to him like victory was in his hands, and narrowed his eyes like a kind of carnivorous animal before it made a catch, “They’re here.”