CH 34

Chapter 34 – Concentrated Love

Returning to Ping Le Courtyard at noon, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng and Lin Jia Bao ate lunch together. Xuan Yuan Han Cheng kept adding food to Jia Bao’s bowl and didn’t stop until Lin Jia Bao couldn’t eat anymore.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng wanted his baby to put a bit more meat on his body. In the following one to two years he’ll lay a good foundation for his baby, and then he’ll be able to eat. Just thinking about that future day made him giddy with excitement*. In the future, he wanted to have children with Lin Jia Bao. If Jia Bao’s body were in good health, then giving birth would be a bit safer.

[*T/N: giddy with excitement – 心猿意马 “heart like a frisky monkey, mind like a cantering horse.” The Chinese idiom was too good not to share, especially the frisky part because XYHC wants to get frisky with LJB.]

After lunch, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng took Lin Jia Bao to the Royal Garden to wander around to help with the digestion of the food. Xuan Yuan Han Cheng knew that it has been nearly two years since Lin Jia Bao entered the palace, but he had never been to the Royal Garden.

The rules in the palace were strict, and the people of the palace were not allowed to go around to places casually. There were some people who have been in the Forbidden City for more than ten years but have never been inside a palace building.

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Xuan Yuan Han Cheng took Jia Bao to look around the scenery of the Royal Garden. Lin Jia Bao was visibly excited and happy, looking left and right all along the way.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng looked at the happy Lin Jia Bao. “In the spring of next year, the scenery here will be even more beautiful. It is a splendid sight with truly all kinds of flowers and plants, colorful and rare.”

“En, en! It really is very pretty… Hey! There’s also a small pavilion here!” Lin Jia Bao pointed to the said pavilion not too far away.

Seeing the pavilion, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng stopped walking.

This was the place where he met Lin Jia Bao for the first time in his previous life. He had also stopped by here multiple times during his past life to reminisce.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng watched Lin Jia Bao run up to the pavilion and then turned around to say to him: “Your Royal Highness, let’s go sit in the pavilion.”

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng looked at the smiling Lin Jia Bao, and his heart was dazzled.

He quickly walked to the pavilion, hugged Lin Jia Bao into his arms and kissed him deeply, until Jia Bao was breathless.

Lin Jia Bao felt that the kiss just now was different from the past, as if he could feel the uneasiness of His Royal Highness. His Royal Highness looked into his eyes, and there was something he could not understand that made his chest feel stuffy.

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“Husband…” Lin Jia Bao buried his head in His Royal Highness’s chest and called out gently.

Although Lin Jia Bao’s voice was soft, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng still heard it, and his mood was instantly comforted.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng led Lin Jia Bao out of the pavilion, “Baby, let’s go back for a nap…”

“Okay.” Lin Jia Bao had developed a siesta habit, and once His Royal Highness mentioned a nap he felt a little sleepy.

After returning to Ping Le Courtyard, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng had Lin Jia Bao drink a cup of milk. Then he hugged him to bed together for a nap.

Not long after, Lin Jia Bao’s breathing slowed as he fell asleep. Xuan Yuan Han Cheng had closed his eyes in relaxation, but he did not go to sleep. To take a break with his beloved in his arms, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng felt very satisfied. He looked at Lin Jia Bao’s sleeping face with great fondness.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng looked for a good long while, and then he quietly got up and went to the inner study to deal with affairs.

These past two days, Xuan Yuan Han Cheng has been writing up an account about the peach-blossom time flood of the Luo River*.

[*T/N: luo he 洛河 – one name that encompasses several rivers, kind of like the Nile River.]

Peach-blossom time flood was also known as the spring flood. It referred to the floods of the Luo River in Luo City, Li City, Hu Province, Jiang Province, etc, of the Xuan Yuan Empire. These were all places within the river area.

In the second and third month of the lunar year, springtime caused the icicles to melt and become a deluge. By the time ice-melted water flowed downstream, it was precisely the time when peach blossoms were in bloom, thus it was called peach-blossom time flood or spring flood at peach-blossom time.

When spring returned to the earth and mountain peach blossoms bloom all over hills and dales, the ice of the Luo River melts. Several river sections connect together, like a giant dragon making waves.

This was a disaster for the common people living downstream, in the lower reaches of the river. A lot of people would be forced from their homes and displaced.

Although the court set aside money to repair the dam every year, it had little effect in the face of the monstrous deluge.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng was planning to start building dykes in stages this year to divert the river flow and irrigate the farmlands. In addition, he had plans to dig two artificial canals, which would reduce resistance and also facilitate waterway transportation.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

Xuan Yuan Han Cheng had done the same thing in his last life, except it was after he had been in power for more than ten years. This idea was proposed by Dai Heng, who was the assistant minister in the Ministry of Works.

Dai Heng, this person, had a great innate gift for hydraulic engineering, and he also gave his best effort in his field of research. It was a pity that although Dai Heng was already brilliant in his youth, the government minister of the Ministry of Works was a conservative person and did not accept his ideas.

Dai Heng did not achieve his heart’s aspirations, but he did not give up. Rather, he researched even more meticulously about the situation of the Luo River’s river area a.k.a. the flood area, trying to find the most suitable place for water diversion and damming.

Finally, when Dai Heng ascended to the position of assistant minister in the Ministry of Works, he stood his ground against the opinion of the masses to present a petition to the emperor. After Xuan Yuan Han Cheng approved the project, it took three years to complete the engineering work.