Chapter 251

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Over the next half month and more, Liu Qi went privately to the Ling Shu Hou Mansion and the Lu Hou Mansion every few days to mooch meals and mooch the stove.

Tang Jia watched this and did not feel disappointment over the busy birds of prey rarely returning to their nests to eat; instead, he felt deeply relieved and was glad to see it — if a bird with broken wings hid in its nest all day, constantly worrying about its soul molding, that would be what worried him most.

Moreover, having vaguely learned from Deng Hu that His Highness seemed to have privately secured a status before the Witch God, Tang Jia worked with even greater vigor, often voluntarily taking on all manner of affairs and urging the busy His Highness to find time to seek the Witch God, so as to consolidate the position he had just obtained.

The Sixth Prince's Residence had become the Crown Prince's Mansion, and there was also a Crown Prince Palace in the palace, but Liu Qi was more accustomed to living outside the palace, and the Emperor did not force him.

With the rising tide lifting all boats, Tang Changshi still held the position of Changshi, yet he had transformed from a Commandery Prince Mansion Changshi who was effectively exiled into a Crown Prince Mansion Changshi, his status second only to the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor, managing all affairs and personnel appointments and dismissals in the Crown Prince's Mansion; for a time, he could also be called a red-hot figure in the capital, inevitably attracting much attention, goodwill, and currying of favor.

Even more, after the news spread back to the Tang clan in Hedong Commandery, a commotion occurred — the Tang family had originally thought this upright, stubborn man who knew no flexibility and had no political sense or fortune had been exiled along with that Sixth Prince; when they learned he insisted on following that Sixth Prince through blood and storms to return to the capital, they flicked their sleeves and sighed, privately already prepared to wait for news of his death to return so his wife and children could don mourning and wail. Who knew the death notice was long awaited but never came; instead came the earth-shaking news that the Crown Prince Position had changed hands, and the Sixth Imperial Son had received the Mandate of Heaven.

The Tang clan was in an uproar; letter after letter arrived, and many clan members trudged through snowflakes into the capital.

Tang Jia was exhausted dealing with all this fawning and entanglement, and had far too many official duties weighing on him; rebuilding the official staff roster of the Crown Prince's Mansion was what he cared about most right now —

Back then, the Ling Taizi Gu witchcraft case had always been the greatest sorrow and shadow in Tang Jia's heart; he feared above all that someone with ulterior motives might infiltrate, so he guarded strictly against every unfamiliar face and suspected every brick he passed, watching daily whether their color or cracks had changed, lest something ominous be buried.

In many people's eyes, this Crown Prince Mansion Changshi was like a mother hen guarding her nest; he had to inquire into everything, fluttered back and forth daily, and wherever he went there was always a floor of trivial chicken feathers.

Tang Changshi, busy to this extent, even had his time for sentimental tears severely squeezed.

Within half a month, the court's decree to re-investigate the two Ling cases of that year had already spread everywhere, causing a sensation and also stirring countless sighs and remembrances, spreading like damp snow mist.

Perhaps too many people harbored a clear account in their hearts; once they saw signs of a re-investigation, the sentiment of remembrance actually appeared a step before the truth.

The Emperor saw this and felt a tremendous irony; his illness showed signs of worsening again.

Tang Jia privately heard a few veiled poems of remembrance, and wept tears while wanting to compose poems himself, but because he was upright and unwilling to neglect his proper duties, he rigidly stipulated that he could only complete this task each night before sleep; yet often just as his emotions were brewing properly, fatigue and drowsiness struck, and to this day a good poem has still not taken shape.

Liu Qi also had too many things to be busy with; at the start of the Crown Prince succession, affairs were already heavy, and with the Emperor unable to manage affairs, all manner of court matters pressed down, so he could only go mooch meals every few days.

Even so, this one day still drew a "complaint" from Jiang Fu.

It was afternoon; Jiang Fu, three parts drunk, leaned askew on the couch in the hall, her snow-white hair loosely tied with a blue belt spilling over her shoulder, covered by a thin blanket, half-asleep.

Mo Li sat cross-legged below, seriously roasting chestnuts and mushrooms with a small stove.

Qing Wu, who had the same rest day as Shaowei, was making new boots for Shaowei on the side; it was well known that Shaowei grew teeth all over her body; this raccoon dog loved to run and jump, liked to hit and kill, so her clothes and boots wore out faster; the Ling Shu Hou Mansion lacked no fine materials, and Qing Wu made things in her leisure; she liked this kind of daily triviality, and every time she made them with care, she felt her feet on solid ground, life orderly, days real and dear.

Looking at the mushrooms Mo Li was roasting, Qing Wu thought of Ji Jin, and of how a few days ago she heard Shaowei say the Liang Guo war was progressing smoothly, and perhaps by the second month after the New Year she could await Ji Jin and Shan Gu's triumphant return; Qing Wu began counting the days.

Zhan Zhan dragged its long tail walking back and forth in the warm room; a few days ago it accidentally burned several tail feathers while roasting by the stove, and was very dejected; first it plucked the beard of the servant responsible for lighting the stove to relieve its anxiety, then tore up Jiang Fu's habitual bamboo mat, stuffing broken bamboo pieces into its tail feathers as padding and decoration, dragging it long like a peacock, walking back and forth in the room showing off.

The green ox outside the door, with only a crack open, lay like a door god guarding the entrance; as it chewed its cud, a pair of warm, docile ox eyes watched two child laborers in the courtyard who had just massaged Jiang Fu's shoulders and pounded her legs, now preparing to build a snowman.

Until someone dragged a long pole past the front of the house, making a piercing sound that tore through this winter afternoon's peaceful atmosphere, filling it with a thick, intense color.

Jiang Fu knew from the sound that the raccoon dog was out; even on rest days this raccoon dog never idled; if it didn't go out, it would have to practice staff, saber, bow, and crossbow in rotation, like sharpening claws, never slacking.

Accompanied by the sound of the long pole scraping the ground, Jiang Fu, eyes closed, muttered as if in a dream: "You say that Liu family brat, neither kin nor slave, nameless and without status, yet every three or five days comes to the house to mooch food and mooch charcoal..."

Mo Li nodded at the words "mooch food"; Qing Wu silently pursed her lips and smiled; Zhan Zhan was about to mimic, when the house door was pushed open by a long pole; Shaowei strode past the unmoved door god green ox, stepped into the room, and said to Jiang Fu: "He isn't nameless and without status; I've already agreed with him to be partners."

Jiang Fu had already sensed a change from the two's recent interactions; this complaint was teasing and probing, but she never expected to directly hear such a declaration of claim —

Jiang Fu let out a light "hiss" and opened her eyes; Qing Wu suddenly pricked her finger with a needle and also let out a light "hiss"; the servant behind Shaowei carrying a bowl of medicine stumbled, a few drops of scalding medicine soup splashing onto the back of his hand; he, who disliked following the crowd, forcibly held back the third hiss.

"Part, partners..." Qing Wu pinched her bleeding fingertip, face full of shock and blush, and asked: "Shaowei, do you know what these two words mean..."

Shaowei confidently nodded "mm" and said: "A few days ago I already told Mother; Mother has already agreed."

She had also wanted to tell Jiang Fu at the same time, but because the way the two of them interacted was always full of mockery and traps, Shaowei couldn't help wanting to choose the opportunity more carefully; today, taking advantage of Jiang Fu bringing up the matter of status, she simply announced and explained without any reservation.

Jiang Fu slowly sat up; seeing the little ghost so composed, she didn't bother with teasing for the moment, but mostly observed and pondered.

Even if a stubborn stone is enlightened to gain spirituality, it still retains its nature; this little ghost has undergone no training, and in recent years, relatively enlightened worldly people's understanding of love between men and women mostly stems from romantic poetry and unspeakable secular experience, thus gradually adding many fixed impressions such as that it should be mysterious, profound, shy, and euphemistically concealed —

But this little ghost is not bound or guided; her previous realization was only to make her own heart clear; once she had the answer, she naturally faced it, and also did not feel she needed to blush and change color for liking a man worthy of liking.

And she clearly does not believe from the bottom of her heart that love between men and women has much hierarchy compared to other emotions, and does not especially deify it.

In Jiang Fu's view, although there is ignorance here, it is not stupidity, but the wonderful true nature of confident, natural composure.

As a teacher, at this moment she couldn't help but smile in relief; only because the little ghost she raised, no matter what relationship she is in, is still that little ghost; this is a very good thing.

Qing Wu stared blankly at Shaowei facing her heart so directly and speaking so plainly; her expression changed from shock to a daze.

Jiang Fu lay back on her side again, propping her head, smiling faintly and asking Shaowei: "Since that's the case, New Year's Day is approaching; will your partner come to the house for the festival? Does this master need to prepare ya sui qian for your partner?"

She said "your partner" every time, carrying a certain teasing playfulness, making Shaowei start to feel a bit hot in the face, yet she didn't evade and said: "Prepare it; prepare more; he probably hasn't received ya sui qian from an elder in many years — how about giving him five portions?"

"Five portions..." Jiang Fu sighed: "Our little ghost, even though it's her first time being partners with someone, does it quite convincingly."

Shaowei felt prickly all over, no longer willing to stay, turned and left: "Anyway you just prepare it; last month didn't you just get a box of gold cakes and two boxes of money? If it's not enough, go get it from the storehouse yourself; I'm going to practice staff!"

Shaowei carried her staff and jumped over the green ox; the servant carrying medicine also stepped over the green ox and entered the room, and saw Jiang Fu unable to hold back her amusement repeating: "Did you hear? Her partner..."

The servant "mm"ed: "Heard it."

But Jiang Fu repeated "her partner" those four words again; the more she thought, the more she wanted to laugh; she just felt there was a kind of serious, convincing, innocent and adorable ridiculousness in it, to the point she both laughed and sighed and couldn't stop, just short of laughing tears out.

The servant originally didn't want to laugh; seeing her like this, he also twitched his mouth corners, holding the medicine and waiting for her to finish laughing.

Qing Wu also couldn't help silently laughing; after pulling the last stitch, tying the knot, biting off the thread end with her teeth, she picked up the sewing basket, stood up, bowed to the elder, and returned to the room specially kept for her in Shaowei's mansion.

Jiang Fu finished the medicine, her gaze passing over the green ox's occasionally twitching ears, looking at the winter scene outside the door; the girl's back running away with the staff seemed to still linger before her eyes; she said softly: "Such good children, such an interesting world, these days really should last a long time..."

The servant had already sat down beside Mo Li, peeling chestnuts for Jiang Fu; hearing this, his hand paused, and he asked hoarsely: "Did you see something?"

Jiang Fu closed her eyes, shook her head lightly: "Precisely because I cannot see the trend, and have not yet seen the sign of the Qi mechanism truly settling..."

This world has already been knocked off course by the little ghost's reckless charging; no one can spy on the remaining path anymore. Only because she was born with the ability to observe Qi did she see the Qi mechanism of heaven and earth disturbed, floating in chaos, yet for some reason it refused to settle for a long time.

"The replacement of all things always needs time to complete; in winter the Qi mechanism tends to close and solidify, flow is slow; perhaps we must wait until spring arrives next year to look again..." Jiang Fu spoke slowly with eyes closed.

The servant "mm"ed, and said in a low voice: "The person has already done to this extent; may Heaven open its eyes."

After speaking, Jiang Fu felt this was not quite right either. Jiang Fu had once said that the Heavenly Way was formless and emotionless; when dealing with all things, it was often like a child treating grass, trees, and ants—sometimes opening its eyes was worse than closing them. Many striking precedents of mortals overcoming heaven often occurred in the gaps when the Heavenly Way was "asleep."

But the words were already spoken. Given the current situation, the house slave had no choice but to change his words: "May it open one eye and close the other."

While speaking, he peeled out an extremely whole chestnut kernel and placed it in the bowl on the small table beside Jiang Fu. Jiang Fu, with eyes closed, groped for it, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly. Suddenly thinking of that phrase "her consort," he couldn't help but show a smile, sighed, and changed to lying flat on his back.

The lazy, quiet-loving master raised the most restless disciple in the world. Shaowei practiced stick fighting in the courtyard, her moves opening and closing, sweeping horizontally, leaping and striking. Every move carried a stubborn refusal to accept defeat or stop, wanting another breakthrough, wanting to advance further.

The stick wind also carried her master's unparalleled stubborn spirit. In the sweeping, it directly gouged a concave line on the chest of the snow dog piled up by Xiao Yu and Que Er, truly called snow splashing on the spot. This made Xiao Yu jump up in surprise, glare, and loudly clap and praise. For a moment she didn't even care about playing anymore, grabbed her own stick, and began practicing too.

When Shaowei put away her stick, Que Er ran forward holding a clean cotton towel. Shaowei sat on the swing to the side to wipe her sweat, watching Xiao Yu's moves. Just about to open her mouth to give pointers, her words were preempted by a sneeze.

This sneeze was inexplicable. Shaowei believed her constitution was strong like a wild ox or fierce tiger, and unreasonably suspected that Liu Qi was absurdly missing her. For a moment she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing at this very moment.

At this moment Liu Qi stood under the long corridor of Weiyang Palace to catch his breath, yet he was thinking the same question as Shaowei, guessing what she was doing.

Liu Qi had also recently noticed Jiang Fu's judgment of Shaowei's mindset toward love with her consort—he was overly immersed in it, regarding this relationship as the supreme treasure, and had already hopelessly deified it. But Shaowei's treatment of various emotions seemed to be merely different ways of getting along, without too much distinction of importance.

Liu Qi was anxious and at a loss. He deeply knew this was a difference in the fundamental nature of their temperaments. Asking himself, such a Shaowei instead made him feel soul-stirring and dazzled. Wasn't it precisely because of her uniquely special and untransferable self-radiance that he first fell for her? This was originally part of her. If he forcibly tried to erase this radiance, wouldn't he be an evil-doer consort of the utmost evil?

Such matters have always been a matter of mutual willingness, willing to strike and willing to be struck—where is there any talk of fairness? But if everyone were forced into the mold of love and cast into the same shape, it would lose the significance of companionship as consorts. Worry and joy occurring together, Liu Qi fell into this. Resigning himself to fate, he tasted all sorts of flavors. Master Zhuang gave targeted advice on this—suggesting Your Highness regulate himself.

Waiting until evening, he went to Jiang's Residence, saw Shaowei, and tasted the rice cake she had specially saved for him. The rice cake was warm, sweet, and glutinous, thoroughly regulating Liu Qi, sweeping away all other flavors in his heart. For a moment only contentment remained.

The moonlight shone on the accumulated snow. The two sat together on the swing, sitting very close. After finishing the rice cake, they spoke in low voices, exchanging news from various places recently, looking forward to the arrival of this year's New Year's Day.

As the title says, this is a chapter of daily transition~ The plot of the next chapter arrives next year.

But I'm moving tomorrow and can't update, everyone don't wait, ow.