CH 37

“Why are you here?” Xiao Chengjun asked. He didn’t move as he looked at Lou Jing. It was late autumn now, and the mornings were very cold. He was reluctant to leave Lou Jing’s warm embrace.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I ran over here to look for you,” Lou Jing said, burying his face in Min Wang’s chest. He nuzzled against Xiao Chengjun’s powder blue undershirt, one hand shiftily creeping over to tease a little bean on his chest beneath the fabric. 

Xiao Chengjun’s breath caught in his throat, and he quickly grabbed hold of Lou Jing’s wandering hand. “You should go back before it gets bright,” Xiao Chengjun said. As he said this, he couldn’t help frowning slightly. There was something that felt strange about what he had just said, though he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was.

“The Barracks only open at nine. There’s no hurry,” Lou Jing said, hooking a leg around Xiao Chengjun’s body. He was like an octopus now, wrapped tightly around Xiao Chengjun. He nuzzled like crazy against Xiao Chengjun, like a dog who had just reunited with its master after many years. “When you’re not by my side at night, I can’t sleep,” he wheedled.

Amusement crept into Xiao Chengjun’s eyes when he heard this. He reached out to pat Lou Jing’s soft hair. “You’re not a child any more. You still need someone to sleep with you?” he asked.

Lou Jing raised his head to gently bite Xiao Chengjun’s chin. “How about I move in with you?” he said. 

“How is that appropriate?” Xiao Chengjun said. His heart felt warm and fuzzy, and he didn’t do anything to stop Lou Jing’s affectionate biting. Nonetheless, he couldn’t agree to Lou Jing moving in. If word got out that he’d done so, the rumours spread about them would be very nasty to hear.

“Mmm…” Dissatisfied, Lou Jing pulled open Xiao Chengjun’s robes and bit down gently on his graceful collarbones. He only spoke about moving in because he couldn’t bear to be separated from Xiao Chengjun, but he knew that he couldn’t act on those words; rumours about their inappropriate relationship were one thing, but his moving in might be construed as Xiao Chengjun continuing to harbour strong ambitions for the throne by keeping his male wife by his side. The consequences would be dire if Xiao Chengjun aroused the Chunde Emperor’s suspicion this way.

“Wang ye, it’s time to get up,” An Shun said quietly, his voice coming from outside the door. Xiao Chengjun was still a Qinwang and had to attend the Imperial Court sessions.

The days were getting shorter as winter approached, and the sun rose later as well. In spring and summer, the Court sessions began between 5.00am and 7.00am, and after the tenth month, they started between 7.00am to 9.00am.

“Alright, stop messing around,” Xiao Chengjun said, using his chin to rub against the top of Lou Jing’s head. They cuddled for a bit more on the bed, and Xiao Chengjun finally managed to cajole Lou Jing into letting him go. It was getting very close to the time that the Imperial Court session would commence.

Le Xian and An Shun came in to wait on them, and when they saw Lou Jing was here, they initially didn’t realise anything was wrong and bowed in greeting as per normal. As Le Xian turned to look for Lou Jing’s clothes, he suddenly realised that something was off. Lou Jing wasn’t the Crown Prince Consort any more, so why was he here, in the bedroom of the Min Wang residence?

Lou Jing grinned as he watched Le Xian’s mouth fall open with surprise. He took Xiao Chengjun’s Imperial Court robes from An Shun’s hands and personally dressed his husband. The Qinwang Imperial Court robes were powder blue in colour, and had a four-clawed silver dragon embroidered on it. Xiao Chengjun looked more cold and aloof in these robes than he had when he wore his apricot-coloured Crown Prince robes.

Lou Jing accompanied Xiao Chengjun to eat some dianxin, and remained in the Min Wang residence until Xiao Chengjun left to go to Court. Lou Jing flipped back over the wall after that and returned to Zhuque Hall, then changed his clothes and headed to the Northern Barracks. 

The Imperial Guards at the Northern Barracks took their orders from the Yulin Troops. Among the guards in the Northern Barracks, there were those that performed special operations, such as the Shenshu Guards, but these special ops guards were much smaller in number than the main body of the Yulin Troops. The Yulin Troops were primarily in charge of the Imperial City’s security. There were two thousand men stationed within the city, and eight thousand men stationed outside the city. The Yulin Troops was headed by a General, and under this General, there were two Commander-Generals, called the Left Commander-General and the Right Commander-General. These two Commander-Generals were third-ranked officials. Under these two Commander-Generals, there were four Deputy Commanders, who were fourth-ranked officials.

The current General of the Yulin Troops was the Qingyang Bo. He was of the same generation as Lou Jing’s uncles. When Lou Jing entered the Northern Barracks, the first person he had to greet was the Qingyang Bo.

The Qingyang Bo had a very pleased expression on his face as he spoke to Lou Jing. “From now on, you’re the Left Commander-General, and you can’t be as playful as you were before,” he said. “As a Commander-General, you don’t need to do the night shift at the palace any more, but you’ll have to be in charge of the ceremonial honour guard for the New Year’s celebrations.” As he said this, he gave Lou Jing a book that set out what he had to do. He told Lou Jing to read it carefully, then come back to ask him if there was anything he didn’t understand.

Geglcu qfjmfalwf, atf Teilc Kgbbqr’ pby kjr ab qjagbi atf qjijmf ugbecvr jcv atf jgfj bearlvf atf qjijmf ugbecvr, jcv jirb obgw atf Swqfgbg’r tbcbeg uejgv. Pc jvvlalbc ab wjcjulcu atf uejgvr ecvfg atflg mbwwjcv, jcbatfg lwqbgajca veas atf Ofoa jcv Eluta Jbwwjcvfg-Xfcfgjir tjv ab qfgobgw kjr ab yf qjga bo atf Swqfgbg’r mfgfwbclji jgwfv uejgv veglcu boolmlji mfgfwbclfr, rajcvlcu ja tlr ifoa jcv gluta lc oeii jgwbeg. Ktfs kfgf atf bcfr ktb ifv atf tbcbeg uejgv jr kfii. Dfmjerf bo atlr, cba fnfgsbcf mbeiv glrf ab yf j Jbwwjcvfg-Xfcfgji fnfc lo bcf tjv atf rxliir; bcf jirb tjv ab yf gfjrbcjyis ubbv-ibbxlcu ab yf jqqblcafv ab atlr qbra. 

“Certainly,” Lou Jing said, smiling as he accepted the small book. He took out a brocade box from his sleeve. “This is for you. The Emperor bestowed this a few days ago, and I thought you would find it amusing.”

The Qingyang Bo laughed appreciatively as he took the box from Lou Jing. “You’ve been very bright since you were a little boy. Do your job well,” he said. He clapped Lou Jing on the shoulder, then led him out personally for his formal first meeting with his subordinates.

It was called a “formal first meeting”, but actually these men had all been Lou Jing’s comrades in arms before he was promoted. Everyone knew each other very well, and the only reason this meeting was necessary was because Lou Jing had been promoted, and customs had to be observed.

“Greetings to the Left Commander-General.” The two Deputy Commanders and the guards behind them all bowed in greeting. Lou Jing’s former post was now occupied by a man who was around his age. That man winked at him as he bowed. He was the Guanxi Hou’s second son, Zhou Song. 

“From today onwards, the Anguo Gong’s Shizi is the new Left Commander-General,” the Qingyang Bo announced. He then pointed at Zhou Song. “And this is the second son of the Guanxi Hou, Zhou Song. He was formerly from the Shenshu Guards.”

Lou Jing smiled as he thanked the Qingyang Bo. He personally walked the Qingyang Bo out thereafter.

“Big Lou, you couldn’t have guessed it, could you?” Zhou Song grinned. After the handover of responsibilities had been completed, everyone left to do their own tasks, and Zhou Song sidled over to Lou Jing immediately, as if he couldn’t wait to speak to him.

“How much money did your dad spend to stick you in here?” Lou Jing asked, raising an eyebrow. The Yulin Troops spent a lot of time in the Emperor’s presence, and was often staffed by people from aristocratic backgrounds. The Guanxi Hou was a military peerage with real military might, and it was not surprising that his second son had been able to get into the Yulin Troops. 

“Please, my dad is still in Guanxi. I can only rely on my own abilities here,” Zhou Song said, pointing a thumb at his chest proudly. He then pulled playfully at Lou Jing’s new Commander-General robes and grinned in a mischievous manner. “Do you find it more prestigious to be a Commander-General than to be a Crown Prince Consort?”

Lou Jing narrowed his eyes at him. “Whacking you would be the most prestigious,” he said ominously.

“Ah, don’t be like that,” Zhou Song said, smiling obsequiously now.

Since the time he had been soundly beaten by Lou Jing as a child, Zhou Song had acknowledged Lou Jing as his gege. His older brother, Zhou Chong, had refused to do the same, however, and had constantly picked fights with Lou Jing, though he had never won, not even once. Zhou Song was not his brother’s match, and he certainly wasn’t Lou Jing’s match – going up against Lou Jing would inevitably mean taking a sound beating. 

Lou Jing smiled but said nothing. The Zhou family brothers were not like the useless good-for-nothing aristocratic children in the Capital; they were genuinely capable people. The eldest son Zhou Chong was currently fighting the Tartars with his father, the Guanxi Hou, and the second son was clearly adept at politics. The position of Deputy Commander was a position coveted by many, and Zhou Song had managed to grab this position all on his own merit without his father and brother’s help, which spoke volumes about his skills at politicking.

“Sigh, Big Lou, let’s talk about serious stuff,” Zhou Song said. He looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. “I have something important to discuss with you. Shall we go to the Drunken Fairy and have a drink at noon?”

The Drunken Fairy was a very famous restaurant in the Capital. Lou Jing loved to eat the drunken crabs there, and they were right smack in crab season.

Lou Jing gave him a look. “Sucking up to your superiors should be done more subtly, don’t you think? You’re being way too obvious,” he said. 

“Who’s sucking to you? Please,” Zhou Song said, spitting on the ground for emphasis. He lowered his voice. “I have a business opportunity you might be interested in.”

Lou Jing’s lips curved upwards, and he nodded slightly. “I can’t do noon, so let’s meet at night,” he said. His Second Uncle and First Aunt were leaving the next day, and he had to go and help out at the Pingjiang Hou residence.

“Sounds good. Let’s go to Joyful Spring then. We can get Yueluo to sing for us,” Zhou Song said, his smile becoming a little randy. “I heard they just got a new ‘chaste official’, and she’s very alluring. How about we…” Zhou Song wiggled his eyebrows at Lou Jing. Joyful Spring was the largest brothel in the Capital, and Zhou Song had wanted to go there with Lou Jing for the longest time. However, Lou Jing had been in his mourning period all this while, and he didn’t have a chance to invite him there.

“Sure,” Lou Jing said with a lopsided smile. “At sunset, I’ll look for you at the Drunken Fairy.” 

“Alright! Then I’ll head there first and…” Zhou Song smiled as he replied, but as he watched Lou Jing walk off, he realised something wasn’t right. “Hey, hey, why are we going to the Drunken Fairy?!”

Lou Jing ignored him and walked out of the Northern Barracks. On his way to the Min Wang residence, he passed by the Drunken Fairy, and placed a special order for drunken crabs, instructing the restaurant to send it to the Min Wang mansion.

Xiao Chengjun left the Imperial Court and returned to his residence to find the Anguo Gong Shizi sitting patiently in front of the dining table, waiting for him to eat. He felt a headache coming on, and he rubbed at his temples vigorously. “Why are you here again?” he asked.

“I suddenly thought about the Drunken Fairy’s drunken crabs, and thought I’d bring some for you to try,” Lou Jing said, pulling at Xiao Chengjun and leading him to the dining table. He saw the look on Xiao Chengjun’s face. “I’ll leave immediately after I finish eating.” 

The moment these words left Lou Jing’s mouth, Xiao Chengjun’s heart gave a painful little squeeze. He sighed gently. “It’s good that you’re here, actually. I have something to discuss with you,” he said.

The Qinghe incident had yet to be resolved. The Ministry of Works had suggested that instead of repairing the river dikes every year, which was costly in terms of expense and effort, it would be better to just widen the river and dig canals branching out of the river to make it more convenient for the people to get water. When this was mentioned, others spoke up to say that there were canals, but they had been in a run-down state for some time and needed to be repaired. This issue was raised again today, and the Chunde Emperor had approved this course of action.

“Repairing the canals?’ Lou Jing asked, raising his eyebrows as he bit down on a crab leg. “Who raised it?”

“The Ministry of Works did. Shen Lian was clamouring to be the overseer.” Xiao Chengjun used a small silver hammer to crack open a crab claw, then put it in Lou Jing’s plate. 

For the Minister of the Right’s camp and Shen Lian to come up with this idea together, the motive had to be to distract the Emperor so that he didn’t look into the issue of the Imperial ancestral temple in Qinghe.

“Does the Ministry of Revenue have the funds to do this?” Lou Jing asked. He remembered Xiao Chengjun saying before that the Imperial treasury was not in good shape, and repairing canals would require a significant sum of money.

“The taxes from the various Counties are due to come in next month, and also…” Xiao Chengjun’s eyes became rather icy. “There was a suggestion to conscript forced labour.”

Since time immemorial, many instances of civil unrest had arisen from forced labour conscription. The moment this was suggested, many Imperial officials had objected strongly, and the whole of the Imperial Court had erupted into a flurry of impassioned arguments. After all that, they still had not come to a resolution on this issue. 

“What does Dianxia think?” Lou Jing asked, taking a big bite of fresh crab meat from a meaty claw. He then realised that it was Xiao Chengjun who cracked the claw for him, and he couldn’t help smiling. He put the crab roe that he’d just scraped out into Xiao Chengjun’s bowl.

“The Emperor seems very keen to repair the canals,” Xiao Chengjun said, sighing.

The Chunde Emperor had always held the strong belief that he enjoyed Heaven’s protection, and that he should do awe-inspiring things during his lifetime. He was therefore already predisposed to agree to things like repairing the river canals, which would not only be very popular with the people, but also be extolled in the history books. What was more difficult to decide on was whether they would use forced labour to do the repairs, and who to appoint to oversee the whole operation.

After lunch, Lou Jing wanted to stay for an afternoon nap, but Xiao Chengjun would have none of this and hurriedly shooed him out. Lou Jing had no choice but to leave Xiao Chengjun’s residence, looking back wistfully every three steps or so. 

Xiao Chengjun smiled equally wistfully as he watched Lou Jing walk away. He then turned to Chang En. “Get people to watch the side gate at night, and tell them to watch out for Lou Jing. If he comes, get him to just come in through the side gate,” he instructed. He thought it must be very tiring for Lou Jing to keep flipping over the wall to get to him. That side gate was meant for grocery deliveries to the kitchen staff, and was usually locked at night.

“Certainly,” Chang En said, bowing. Internally, he fretted over this instruction, wondering who would be reliable enough to entrust this sensitive task to.