Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Seventy-two,
Prayer

The gingko in the yard fell all over the ground, like it cast a weaved gold blanket over the stiff stone-paved path, that when walking atop of it, it would be so soft one would pretty much fall to the bottom. The colds winds in the morning still carried the frost of autumn, He Xuan, with intent or not, walked in front of Xiao Zuo, blocking away all the fine wind completely, with a few ends of some escapees lightly brushing past the loose hairs on Xiao Zuo’s temple occasionally.

Past the hanging lattice door, through the winding and climbing withered vines in the corridor, would one arrive at the dining room normally used for eating.

Zi Wan and Ling Xiang long already waited inside. When they saw them come, they bowed, and Zi Wan opened up, “This servant will go to the kitchen and bring breakfast.”

Normally in the mornings, the kitchen would prepare some meat porridge, fried pancakes, steamed buns and other foods, anymore would be a few piles of marinated gourds or chicken, but today was a bit different, Xiao Zuo looked at the group of maids following behind Zi Wan, each person’s hands held a silver tray, creating the atmosphere of extravagance. Those maids entered in a single file, stood by the table, and filled the table with the silver trays in their hands one by one until it was full.

Xiao Zuo froze for a moment, he suspected inside if it was because He Xuan knew today was his birthday, and just as this thought popped up, he saw He Xuan get up, and take a bowl of noodles from Zi Wan, with his features congealed with an extreme seriousness, and very carefully placed it in front of him.

“Have a taste, see if it is delicious.” He Xuan’s voice secretly carried some eagerness, and looked at him without blinking an eye. Xiao Zuo’s heart flashed by with a sliver of suspicion, he responded, then reached towards the bowl and grabbed a chopsticks full.

That bowl of noodles was a very ordinary plain noodles, the soup rarely had any oil or meat, only sparsely scattered with some green onions, laid with an egg, with an extremely unappealing look to it. The noodle was overcooked as well, Xiao Zuo ate two mouthfuls, it lost of its chewiness, it was all soft and mushy, he suspected if the person making the noddles did not even add salt, the noodles only had a tasteless soup and a sliver of fragrance from the green onions. Xiao Zuo used chopsticks to poke at that egg, the inside flowed with some bright yellow juices, it was even a soft-boiled egg, but the taste was a bit bitter.

The suspicions in Xiao Zuo’s heart increased by eight-tenths at the time he ate the second mouthful. He put down the chopsticks, and glanced at Zi Wan beside him who looked like she wanted to speak.

Zi Wan seemed to guess what he was thinking, so she bent down over his ear, “Duke, this was made by his Highness after busying the entire morning, even his hands are all hurt.”

Zi Wan’s voice was not loud nor soft, just enough to allow He Xuan across from him hear it too, Xiao Zuo moved his astonished gaze to the hands He Xuan shrunk back into his sleeves, the right hand’s forefinger was wrapped in white gauze, yet he did not notice it at all during the morning.

He pretty much found it hard to understand the words Zi Wan said to him, a crown prince who was above many people like He Xuan, who sits high in the imperial courts to command the country, filled with golds and silks of embroidery and brocades, someone like him, should be, should be openly sitting atop the altar, hanging the hand with a brush to compose a brocaded essay, not make long-living noodles for a person of a fallen country like him in an oil and smoke-filled kitchen rushing around there, even hurting his hand.

He anxiously and sorrily looked at He Xuan’s right hand wrapped in gauze, and felt like the chest on the left side had a dull pain to it, like using an unsharpened axe, scraping inch by inch, tearing at his heart to the point it bled all over, mixed with an acidic bitterness, trickling down all over the floor with a gurgle.

“What happened, Duke?” Zi Wan stamped her feet upsetly, and thought Xiao Zuo was unhappy because she was being too talkative, she fearfully made a quick glance at He Xuan, and reached into her sleeves to bring out a handkerchief while trembling.

When Xiao Zuo heard this, he blankly lifted his hand up and wiped the corner of his eye, then discovered that his lashes had been blurred by tears. He randomly used the back of his hand to wipe it, and when speaking, he even had a nasal tone, making his voice seem muffled, like a little kitty acting spoiled, “I’m fine, a bug just fell into my eye.”

A stubborn little kitty, even.

He Xuan lightly laughed, then used his left thumb to rub Xiao Zuo’s still tear-stained cheek, and teased, “A mere crown prince washing his hands making soup, makes our Li Nu even drop gold nuggets?”

As he said this, He Xuan brought that bowl of noodles to himself, he scooped a mouthful of soup using the spoon Xiao Zuo used before, then knitted his eyebrows and sighed, “This noodle has certainly been a failure.”

“How could it, it’s so delicious.” Xiao Zuo stole the noodles back, unsure who he was fighting with, he lifted his chopsticks up and shovelled the remaining noodles into his stomach in a few motions, and as though it was not enough, he even lifted his head up and drank all the soup, then satisfactorily put the bowl back down, then turned his head and said to He Xuan, “What to do? The noodles were too delicious, I can’t even eat anything else anymore.”

The corners of his eyes were still spread with a shallow red, so at this time when he was dejectedly looking at the remaining extravagant breakfast all over the table, he looked to be a bit regretful.

“Finishing the noodles is enough, the rest are not important.” He Xuan waved his hands, and then those elegantly-plated breakfast foods were brought down without being touched at all. Zi Wan and Ling Xiang got signalled by He Xuan’s gaze, and brought the other maids standing to the side all away, He Xuan propped his chin with his left hand, pointed to his own side, then Xiao Zuo obediently got up and sat by him.

“Do you like your birthday present?” He Xuan reached out and stroked the jade pin in Xiao Zuo’s hair, and hung his eyes down to ask.

Xiao Zuo nodded his head, he then supported himself on He Xuan’s shoulders, and his lips slowly rubbed on the side of He Xuan’s lips. He just finished eating noodles and didn’t have time to wipe, so his lips were still soaked in oil, at this time when it was rubbed, it made He Xuan’s mouth all oily, he curved his eyes and mischievously smiled, then said, “With such a big present from your Highness, Li Nu can only repay with the body.”

“That’s fine.” He Xuan’s phoenix eyes slightly narrowed, his right hand longingly stroked Xiao Zuo’s back neck, saying with a lax tone, “Then tell me, Li Nu, Nan Liang’s former subordinates causing incidents in the midst of Bai Xiao’s rebellion, is it due to Li Nu’s contributions?”

Xiao Zuo’s smile froze, he felt like the happiness that filled him up just now was watered over by this ice-cold water from the head, and tumbled into a bunch of fragments. The He Xuan in front of him hanging his eyes down smiling seemed like a well-experienced hunter, with a random extension of the hand, he gripped this inexperienced small little cat firmly, while the small cat could only helplessly struggle in the hunter’s hands, and randomly kick up its legs.

He Xuan saw Xiao Zuo did not answer, but did not get angry either, and only quietly said, “There are some things that are good in thought, but typically, the results instead run counter to its purpose[1].” He Xuan took back his hand, then got up and smoothed the wrinkles on his silk robe, and said, “You will soon understand.”

Xiao Zuo couldn’t ascertain what He Xuan knew for the time being, he stiffly sat in the chair, up until He Xuan lightly kissed his left cheek, “But today, these things are not important, Li Nu’s birthday just started, after all.”

Actually, normally even on a day of rest, as the crown prince, He Xuan was very busy, if he was not in the study taking care of mountain-like piles of scrolls, he would go out and chitchat with various parties, for a military division’s assistant minister’s son’s one-month banquet, he would have to show up, Duke Fu Yang’s seventieth birthday, he would have to make a run, and each day, he even needed to put his guard up against the Liu family’s attacks in public and private, as well as the Fourth Highness’ various schemes……

There was one time when the residence was locked, Xiao Zuo brought tea as an excuse to see him in the study- He Xuan’s left hand was propping his cheek, while the right held a brush where the ink had already dried up, the long lashes hung low, and already slept. The candlelight echoed with a rustle, while the dim yellow light dragged the darkness beneath He Xuan’s eyes narrow and long, about to cover his entire person in the shadows of fatigue.

In the night, Xiao Zuo stood in a meadow at the outskirts, he seemed to not dare believe He Xuan actually pushed back a day of lengthy and tedious affairs to accompany him this birthday. During noon, they ate what He Xuan said was the most traditional Jin cuisine at Fu Man Ying, though the dishes were certainly good, especially that roasted duck- the crisp and soft outer skin was dipped with Fu Man Ying’s special sauce, added with cucumber slivers and big leeks, wrapped with thin pancakes, it truly was the best-tasting in the human realm. But…… Xiao Zuo licked his lips, the gaze the owner of Fu Man Ying looked at him always felt a bit strange, perhaps that was his misconception.

In the afternoon, He Xuan brought him to a gingko forest in the outskirts, considering it now, Nan Liang’s autumns did not have this kind of scenery, the gingko forest spanning for tens of miles weaved into a dream of gold, wrapping the people within it in a cocoon they never wanted to wake up from.

“This is a place I coincidentally discovered when we were resting on the way back to the capital from patrolling other cities. There is a small village a few miles away from this place, but each time I came here, I would never meet another, and thought, this beautiful of a scenery should be partaken by you and I.” He Xuan lightly smiled, the cold dew in the night seeped through the clothes, the cloak He Xuan wore outside formed with specks of frost, like bits of snow. He Xuan patted it away without care, then spread a carpet brought from the carriage onto the ground, and reached towards Xiao Zuo, “Come here.”

The skies suspended with a cold moon, like a lantern lit far away in the quiet wilderness. The frost was heavy and the clouds were close, Xiao Zuo propped his hands and sat beside He Xuan, and lifted his head to see the stars hidden behind the clouds.

“Li Nu has yet to make a birthday wish.” He Xuan randomly picked up a blade of grass, and pinched it in his hands to play.

Xiao Zuo looked at the stars in the sky, with his voice all muffled, “Nan Liang’s common realm has a rumour, if you make a wish beneath the Ming star[2], its god can hear it. Tonight there are clouds covering the stars, the wish would not come true.”

He Xuan nodded his head like he understood, and after a while, he suddenly made a few complicated movements with a great big gesture, and said with a stern face.

“Just now I came upon a divination, there shall be winds arriving in a short moment, the clouds shall disperse and reveal the star’s illumination.”

Xiao Zuo froze, and did not think that He Xuan even had this kind of vagrant side to him. He nodded his head unable to cry or laugh, and clasped his hands, then took a deep breath in, “There is nothing I wish for, but to hope that Nan Liang’s war stops, with no fires of war in its tens of thousands of miles.”

“How about for yourself?”

“Me?” Xiao Zuo paused, “I already made a wish during the Moon Festival, I cannot be too greedy.”

“En, Li Nu is right.” He Xuan lightly laughed, he tossed the blade of grass that was kneaded into a mess to the side, then pointed to the sky.

“Have a look.”

Xiao Zuo lifted his head in the direction his finger pointed to, unknown if there really was a deity invisibly keeping watch, the northern winds rustled and lifted up the curtain of clouds hiding the stars, and the glittering stars beneath responded to the young man in the mortal realm’s wishes one after another.

Xiao Zuo’s eyes could not hide his surprise, he lowly spilled out a gasp, then smiled and turned his head, “It really got predicted by you!”

“En.” He Xuan nodded his head, with his voice so quiet it was almost like a sigh, “The gods above the skies must be like me, unwilling to let Li Nu be disappointed.”

“What?”

He Xuan did not answer, he suddenly sat up, with his eyes reflecting with a glistening silver toad, saying.

“Though I am not the birthday star today, I will also make a wish, and wish that my Li Nu……”

Many years later, the birthdays Xiao Zuo had, and the wishes he wished for, were already of a countless number, yet he would always recall this night.

Recall that underneath that year’s star’s lights, the young crown prince draped in a cloak piously closed his eyes, with his voice so nice it seemed like wine brewed from the northern winds.

“From far or near, all can be travelled to and forth. In the springs and autumns day and night, all will be fulfilled.”