Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Eighty-six,
Eliminating Locusts

“Your Highness, this mustn’t be done!” Qing Ling’s country official Lu Zhi Nian thought his ears weren’t good due to his old age, and misheard the young crown prince in front of him. After blankly standing for a moment, he then clasped his hands and clamoured, “When it comes to disasters of nature, how can they be suppressed with human power! That locust is the product of the Yin and Yang losing balance after raising troops and its violent airs becoming an insect, how could one eat it, please reconsider, your Highness!”

He Xuan knitted his eyebrows, and glanced at the old man in front of him blowing up his beard glaring at him, and spoke calmly, “In the past, there was a great drought during Zhen Guan, the founding emperor ate several locusts to decree it was harmless for the people, and since then, the locusts no longer became a plague. If it is as Lord Lu says, wouldn’t the founder be damaging the balance of the heavens, then how could he be a sagely monarch?”

“This……” Lu Zhi Nian hung his head down, and deeply brushed his proud beautiful beard. Just when he was about to open his mouth, he saw He Xuan impatiently lift his chin at another slightly younger official seated in the court, and called him by name, “What does the granary official[1] think?”

The young man was Qing Ling’s granary official who managed local agriculture, upon hearing He Xuan, he immediately straightened his waist, and spoke sternly, “This subject things the things your Highness has said is correct, there were locusts during the reign of Zhao Ning in the past, the emperor did not destroy them, and the grasses and wood all got died, to the point people ate each other, serving as a warning for others. Furthermore, this subject hears Zhen Nan’s Li Country has a tradition of eating fried locusts along with rice or bread, so it can be seen that locusts can be eaten without harm. Filling and can also rid the bugs, is this not a good plan that can deal with both issues?”

“But……” Lu Zhi Nian opened his mouth, and turned speechless for the time being. Just when he thought of some words to refute, he was interrupted by the seated He Xuan, “Do as Ig say then, Ig am weary, you guys can step down now.”

As He Xuan said this, he got up and left, leaving the few people in the hall to look to each other, that slightly younger chang he ping first came to, and merrily clasped his hands, and said, “This official still has some things to do, and will return to the residence first, go ahead, everyone.”

❀

“Your Highness.” The outside was falling with some fine rain, the raindrops dropped past the corridor’s overlapping eaves, and dripped on the stairs, like composing a crystal curtain.

He Xuan turned his head back, and saw it was the granary official who showed off his cleverness just now. That young man respectfully bowed at him, He Xuan indifferently made a response, then heard him say, “Your Highness, this official in the past wrote a few essays on the discourse of eradicating locusts, and never had been recognized, today I heard that your Highness is also looking into this, could your Highness take time amidst the pressing times to grant a look?”

He Xuan then looked at the granary official a few more times, and asked, “You are called Yu Xiu Jie?”

The young man’s face revealed shock over the honour, and smiled, “To think your Highness actually remembers this official’s name, it truly is this official’s honour.”

“Do you also approve of burning them with fire?”

“Yes, this is this officials’ few essays.” As Yu Xiu Jie spoke, he took out a few folded papers from his sleeves, and handed them to He Xuan with both hands. Looks like he was long already prepared, He Xuan took then with slight interest, and said with a low voice, “Ig understand, there will naturally be places you can be used in.”

“Thank you, your Highness.” It was hard to contain the excitement in Yu Xiu Jie’s voice, and after repeatedly thanking him, he then retreated. He Xuan lowered his head and looked at the essay in his hands, and lazily kneaded one corner and unfolded it, the characters were written quite well, but the contents were as expected, same things from long ago, straight and narrow, and unimpressive. To the point that He Xuan lost his interest, then randomly gathered them into his sleeve, and headed into the backyard along the winding deep corridor.

“It’s raining outside?” Xiao Zuo poked the candlewick a bit, the skies were dark, and the candlelight swayed with a flicker, barely spreading a layer of thin light onto the scroll.

“It came down just now, only a bit of rain.” These days, Tao Jin already got familiar with Xiao Zuo, she was leaning on a small chair outside room about to sleep, hearing Xiao Zuo ask her, she then rubbed her eyes, and lifted the curtains to take a look outside.

“I will go take a look outside.”

Daylight fortunately had leaked a few slivers down from within the layers of dense clouds, the fine rain fell onto the eaves with the dusk, like sorrows to the ear. Xiao Zuo draped on an outer robe, leaned on the door and looked outside, and a few slivers of rain drifted over and hit the side of his face, leaving a faint mark of water .

He Xuan’s steps took pause, since returning to Nan Liang, though Xiao Zuo no longer revealed any sad emotion in front of him after the first day he went to see the palace, the blue and black underneath his eyes clearly increased and turned darker, just what is he…… He Xuan hung his eyes down, and rubbed the bead of rain he brought back on his fingertip subconsciously, and quietly sighed.

“What are you doing dressed so little outside? He Xuan reached out and tightened the outer robe on his body, “You’re going to get a chill again.”

“Waiting for you.”

“What?” He Xuan slightly froze, Xiao Zuo curved his eyes, and very quickly pecked his still icy lips, and even pretended to clear his throat, and fabricated lies with a serious face, “Where has the rain fallen, let me help you wipe them down.”

He Xuan lightly laughed, and wrapped around Xiao Zuo’s waist and continued on with that kiss just now- he just had tea in the hall, so his mouth carried the bitterness of tea, making Xiao Zuo unhappily knit his eyebrows, He Xuan pressed his back neck like a warning and rubbed it, then [Xiao Zuo] turned into jelly in his arms again, and humphed with little strength.

“Your mouth has some too.”

XIao Zuo blanked out for a moment, then realized, immediately turned red in the face again, and slowly went in the door with He Xuan. Tao Jin who was inside nodding her head saw He Xuan from afar and long already retreated, He Xuan took one glance at the books spread across the table, and curved his lips, “I was about to talk to you about these things.”

“You…… have resided in Nan Liang for many years, after all, you understand it more compared to me.”

He Xuan pursed his lips, he hugged the little cat hanging its head down into his embrace, and intimately stroked his sleek black hair while lowly speaking by his ears, “Li Nu, I know you want to do something, right now, Nan Liang has many things waiting to be done, Qing Ling especially. Right now, it has only been one brief month, give me a year’s time to plan carefully……”

Xiao Zuo silently put his chin on his shoulder, he was still slender, who knows at what time he could be fattened up, his chin was so sharp it made He Xuan a bit in pain, He Xuan paused, and said each word very slowly, “I will be able to bring peace to the waters and the world[2].”

Xiao Zuo closed his eyes, and listened to this person’s heavy and resolute heartbeat. These days, the concerns stuffed in his heart finally got washed into bits and pieces, and he lightly patted He Xuan’s back, “En, I believe it.”

“I…… have always believed it.”

“Brother Xuan, actually, there is something I want to……” Xiao Zuo was originally still a bit hesitant, but now wanted to tell He Xuan clearly in one go- but just as he lifted his head up, he instead heard Tao Jin knock on the door, and say, “Your Highness, the lord, the law official is waiting outside, he said he would like an audience.”

He Xuan immediately put on a cold face, once he thought to that old man’s thickheaded and dull face, he was going to reject him, but Xiao Zuo hurriedly persuaded, “Since Official Lu has something important, why not go see him, in the future when it comes to Qing Ling’s general affairs, you will still need to discuss them with him.”

He Xuan unwillingly kneaded his palm, and knitted his eyebrows as he took up an outer robe to put on from the rack, “I will be back soon, tonight’s dinner has your favourite fish, you must eat more.”

“I know, I know.” Xiao Zuo smiled and he helped him tie the buckle, “Hurry on.”

Xiao Zuo waited for He Xuan to leave before sitting down again, he was just drafting a 《On Flourishing Qing Ling》, and already wrote to the end. He lifted his brush and dipped it in ink, then pondered for a moment, and added the final lines to it.

Just as he wrote the last line, Xiao Zuo blew on the still-wet ink, Tao Jin outside already called him to eat, “My Lord, his Highness has called in dinner, and asked this servant to bring you over.”

“I know.”