CH 38

Lou Jing returned to the Anguo Gong mansion for a short while, then hurried on to the Pingjiang Hou mansion in a horse carriage.

His First Aunt was busy instructing the butler on what to pack. Lingnan was very far, and one had to go through a few mountain passes to get there. Even if one rode without stopping, it would take a month to get there, and everything had to be provisioned properly before they left, including their food, clothes and other daily necessities. The butler had started preparing a few days ago, and as such, the situation in the mansion was busy but not chaotic, with the luggage being packed in an orderly manner. The Second Uncle, Xu Che, was no help in this process, and could only sit by himself in the main hall. 

Lou Jing’s horse carriage arrived at the front gate. He instructed some servants to carry items that he’d brought in, and Xu Che came out to meet him. He couldn’t help frowning when he saw the servants filing in with items in hand. “What did you buy so many things for?” he asked.

“I accumulated these slowly to give to you guys over the months, but no one was able to bring them over to Lingnan. Jiujiu rarely comes to the Capital more than once every few years, so of course I have to take the opportunity to give everything to you now,” Lou Jing said, smiling as he pulled his Jiujiu by the hand toward the main hall.

He had bought Yunpian cake for his First Uncle, a jade smoking pipe and dry tobacco for his Third Uncle, a golden bird cage for his Fourth Uncle, various cosmetics for each of his Aunts, hunting crops for his male cousins, and accessories for his female cousins. 

“These hunting crops are made by a master craftsman in Jinzhou. I think my cousins will like them,” Lou Jing said, pointing at a few well-made hunting crops.

“Such a good boy. You can still remember what your uncles like,” the First Aunt said, her eyes a little misty as she looked at the gifts.

The First Uncle loved to eat the Yunpian cake from the Capital, and the Third Uncle often smoked dry tobacco. Lou Jing had heard that people in the South tended to smoke wet tobacco, and dry tobacco was difficult to come by. His Fourth Uncle liked to keep birds, but it wasn’t convenient to send a live bird over, so he decided to send a bird cage instead.

“I haven’t met some of my cousins’ wives, so I’m not very sure what they like. I got them some pearls instead,” Lou Jing said, smiling. Gifts like cosmetics or accessories were much too personal in nature, and it was inappropriate for him to give gifts like these to his cousins’ wives.

The Pingjiang Hou furen clasped Lou Jing’s hand in hers, then sighed. “If your eldest cousin could be as sensible as you are, I’d be so happy!” she said.

As they were speaking, a servant came in to report that Min Wang had sent an eunuch over.

Lou Jing was stunned for a moment. He turned to see Le Xian smiling gaily as he walked in. Le Xian bowed to the three of them, then took out a small brocade box and offered it respectfully to the Pingjiang Hou furen with both hands. “We heard that the General and the Hou furen are heading back to Lingnan. It was not convenient for Wang ye to come personally, and he seeks your forgiveness in this,” he said.

“No, not at all! Gong gong, please do convey our thanks to Dianxia,” the First Aunt said, bowing. Le Xian hurriedly returned her bow. 

After Le Xian left, the Pingjiang Hou furen opened the brocade box, revealing silver notes worth a thousand taels in it. This was Xiao Chengjun’s parting gift to the Pingjiang Hou family. “This… this is too much,” she exclaimed. Lou Jing wasn’t the Crown Prince Consort any more, and actually Xiao Chengjun did not have to give anything to the Pingjiang Hou family when they left. The Pingjiang Hou furen couldn’t help but wonder if Xiao Chengjun had ulterior motives in trying to butter up their family.

“Don’t worry, Jiumu. Just take it. It’s a gift, plain and simple; Dianxia has no other intentions,” Lou Jing said. He couldn’t help smiling as he looked at the silver notes. His Min Wang had probably thought that the Pingjiang Hou furen and her family would still be his Jiujiu and Jiumu in future, which was why he had sent over this parting gift.

“Min Wang is an upright, honest man. No one else is fit to be Crown Prince other than him!” Xu Che huffed unhappily.

“Ershu, we’re in the Capital. Please watch your words,” the First Aunt said, cutting him off hurriedly. She turned and pulled Lou Jing off for a long chat. 

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The Pingjiang Hou furen felt more and more worried as she spoke to Lou Jing. She instructed the butler to bring over the winter clothes she’d rushed out for Lou Jing. “Time was short, and I could only make this one piece. You must remember to wear more layers in winter. When Jiumu isn’t in the Capital, you must take care of yourself,” she said, unable to stop tears from sliding down her face as she said this.

The clothing she gave Lou Jing was a thick cotton robe. The sewing was finely done, and it was a little warm from having just been sunned. The First Aunt had been a grandmother for many years now, and hadn’t sewn anything personally in a long time, but had rushed out this warm winter robe just for Lou Jing because she’d been afraid that Lou Jing would be left without winter clothes to wear, like that year when his stepmother and the concubines were waging their petty little wars.

There wasn’t much to do in the Northern Barracks ordinarily, so Lou Jing accompanied the Pingjiang Hou furen and his Second Uncle until sunset. He then left for the Drunken Fairy. 

Zhou Song was already waiting in the private room, and had requested a girl to sing Jiangnan songs for him at one side of the room.

Lou Jing gave the songstress a silver bead and dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

“Sigh. Since when did you become this boring?” Zhou Song complained, looking wistfully at the songstress. She cut a pretty figure as she walked away carrying her qin.

Lou Jing raised an eyebrow. Zhou Song shrank back, feeling a little intimidated. He quickly got up to pour some wine for Lou Jing. 

“Recently, the Imperial Court has been discussing the issue of repairing the Qinghe canals,” Zhou Song said, gesturing for a servant to watch the door as he spoke. “My Third Uncle has just been promoted, and he’s now the Qingzhou Prefectural Governor. I’ve also got people in the Ministry of Works, and we can take part in the canal repairs.”

The pupils of Lou Jing’s eyes shrank in surprise. Xiao Chengjun had just spoken to him about this issue at lunch.

Repairing the canals was an important matter, but during this time, the Imperial Court was slow to disburse silver from its treasury for public works. If one wanted to commence public works quickly, then silver had to be borrowed first. If they invested in this enterprise, then when the Imperial silver was disbursed to repay them, they only needed to doctor the accounts a little in order to make a tidy profit.

“Sounds good. How much are you thinking of putting in?” Lou Jing asked, raising a hand and clinking his winecup to Zhou Song’s. 

“I have around twenty thousand taels in hand!” Zhou Song said proudly. He had actually asked for this money from his mother, who had taken it out of her private assets for him. He himself only had a few thousand taels of silver. The Guanxi Hou furen loved this younger son of hers dearly, and also believed that he wouldn’t squander her money, so she gave him ten thousand taels of silver.

Lou Jing narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “If we rely only on the Ministry of Works, then the most we can put in is fifty thousand taels,” he said.

“You think fifty thousand taels is too small a sum?!” Zhou Song asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Keep it on the down low for now. Let me go and ask around a bit,” Lou Jing said, gesturing to Zhou Song to keep calm and carry on as per normal. This matter was not a simple one, because the greedy Shen Lian would also be involved. There weren’t many corrupt things that Shen Lian would say no to doing, so they had to plan this carefully. 

Zhou Song always had utmost faith in Lou Jing, and when he saw Lou Jing’s serious look, he nodded immediately. He had originally wanted to go and pull in a few more of his aristocratic friends into this deal, but decided to put it off for the time being.

“Ye, Qingyang Bo’s Shizi is coming over with a few other gentlemen,” the servant at the door reported.

The two men in the room immediately changed the topic. Before long, the Qingyang Bo’s Shizi pulled open the curtains and walked in. “I knew I saw Zhou Song’s servant outside, but I didn’t think Big Lou would be here too,” he said.

“Why do I see you wherever I go?” Zhou Song said sourly, curling his lip disdainfully. 

The Qingyang Bo’s Shizi smiled as he smacked Zhou Song on the back. “Why? You don’t want to see me? Anyway, let me introduce you. This is the Guangcheng Bo’s second son,” he said. He pulled a refined-looking gentleman forward as he spoke.

Lou Jing looked up. He remembered that this legitimate second son of the Guangcheng Bo had been among the candidates for the Crown Prince Consort, and couldn’t help but examine him a little more closely than he would otherwise have had. His name was Luo Pei. He had delicate features, but a very timid demeanour, and his nervous smile gave him a rather mousy look.

Not all the children of the aristocracy had interactions with each other. At the time that the empire was founded, the Taizu Emperor bestowed many peerage titles, but only a fraction of them were able to preserve their eminence until today. The Guangcheng Bo and Madam Wei’s maiden family, the Yongning Bo, were two examples of families which had declined steadily after being bestowed their peerage titles. Both had not had any military power for generations now, and were not favoured by the Emperor. For this reason, this Luo gongzi did not really mix with Lou Jing and company, who were all from important aristocratic families. Lou Jing didn’t know how Luo Pei had managed to connect with the Qingyang Bo’s Shizi.

“Have a seat,” Lou Jing said. He didn’t rise to greet them, and just lifted his chin in their direction to indicate that they could sit down. No one dared to criticise him for being rude. They were all smiles as they sat down. 

The rest of the people who came with the Qingyang Bo were all familiar faces, so there was no need for further introduction. They chatted casually about interesting news in the Capital whilst drinking wine, and the atmosphere was very pleasant.

“I raise a toast to the Anguo Gong Shizi,” Luo Pei said, smiling as he stood up to pour Lou Jing a cup of wine. “Congratulations on being restored as the heir of the Anguo Gong!”

Originally, when Luo Pei had not been chosen as the Crown Prince Consort, he had been intensely jealous of Lou Jing and resented him for a long time. Now that the Crown Prince had been deposed, Luo Pei thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t married into the Imperial family. In raising the toast, he had hoped to win Lou Jing’s favour. To him, being able to resume his position as the Shizi of a peerage even after being married off and then sent back was a fortune amongst fortunes.

The moment he said this, the room immediately went quiet. 

The Qingyang Bo Shizi’s expression changed to one of consternation, and he hastily tried to defuse the situation. “Ah, Big Lou, you should’ve asked us out for drinks when you came back yesterday!” he said.

“I was busy packing yesterday,” Lou Jing said, smiling amiably as he picked up a crab leg. He put the crab leg in his mouth and started to eat it, pointedly ignoring Luo Pei’s awkwardly outstretched winecup.

The situation had not been defused, and in fact had become even more uncomfortable.

Zhou Song glanced at the tactless second son of the Guangcheng Bo, then turned to the Qingyang Bo’s Shizi. “I’ve been promoted, you know. Why aren’t you asking me out for drinks, eh?” he said. 

The Qingyang Bo Shizi laughed as he clinked winecups with Zhou Song, and the atmosphere became lively again. No one paid any attention to Luo Pei after that.

They drank until the moon was high in the sky. Lou Jing got up to leave first, saying that he didn’t have good alcohol tolerance. Everyone walked him to the door of the restaurant, then went back to continue drinking the night away.

The Qingyang Bo Shizi hung back as they were making their way back to the private room. His expression was dark as he spoke to  his servant. “Later, when we’re about to leave, give Luo gongzi’s gifts back to his servant,” he said.

“Certainly,” the servant said at once. 

Lou Jing walked back from the Drunken Fairy to Luotang Square himself. He hadn’t brought any servants with him. The autumn winds gusting in the Capital now were icy cold, and they worked well to sober Lou Jing up after an evening of drinks. Lou Jing didn’t return to Zhuque Hall, but went straight to Min Wang’s mansion and flipped over the wall with ease.

Xiao Chengjun hadn’t slept yet. He was writing in his study when a pair of warm arms suddenly hugged him from behind. He couldn’t help chuckling. “You flipped over the wall again?” he asked, amused.

“Nn.” Lou Jing plastered himself on Min Wang’s back and nuzzled him cosily.

Xiao Chengjun dragged the fellow on his back off to wash up. An Shun and Le Xian averted their eyes determinedly even as they helped to get the two ready for bed. 

The moment the bedcurtains were drawn, Lou Jing pressed Min Wang down and kissed him full on the lips.

“Mmph…” Xiao Chengjun was caught unawares by Lou Jing’s sudden action and was completely surprised.

Lou Jing seemed a little flustered today, as if he urgently needed to confirm something. His kiss was longer, rougher and more passionate than usual, and carried with it the taste of wine.

“Chengjun…” Lou Jing said softly, propping himself up on his elbows. He lowered his head to look at Min Wang, who was panting slightly after the long kiss. “If I became a crafty official, would you be angry with me?” 

Xiao Chengjun stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. He reached out to caress the handsome face in front of him. “Do whatever you want. I believe in you,” he said.

The moment he said this, he saw the beautiful eyes before him suddenly light up, as if they were stars in the night sky.

Nothing else could beat hearing someone say “I believe in you”. It was as if Xiao Chengjun had told Lou Jing, no matter what you do, I believe in you; that even if you were a crafty official, I know you wouldn’t do anything that would harm the empire, and that you would always be a loyal minister to me.

Lou Jing couldn’t hold back the joy overflowing in his heart. He wrapped his Min Wang Dianxia tightly in his arms and kissed him wildly, with no regard for propriety whatsoever. 

Xiao Chengjun was still pressed down under Lou Jing, and he reached up to stroke Lou Jing’s back, allowing the frisky fellow above him to do as he pleased.

A young man’s body could never withstand being stimulated. The two quickly deepened their kiss, and their nether regions also started reacting accordingly. Lou Jing stretched a hand into Xiao Chengjun’s soft underclothes, caressing his chest gently as they kissed.

Touching each other like this went a little way toward quenching their mutual thirst for each other at the start, but very soon, it ignited an even deeper desire that swallowed up their rational selves.