Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Eighty-nine,
Memorial to the Throne

The dining hall long already all stuck with big red fortune characters, the maids were fewer than usual, the remaining ones busily paced back and forth between the kitchen and hall, and brought in plate after plate of hot steaming fish, meat, and chicken soup.

Xiao Zuo could smell its fragrance from far away, and followed He Xuan and sat in the main seats, then propped his hands up and watched as the yellow pear blossom wooden table was filled bit by bit.

He recalled last year when it was New Years Eve, he just came to Jin, and pretty much was considered to be at his wits end, and mutually depended on Zi Wan and De Qing for survival, not daring to ask for a future at all. Who knows how Zi Wan and De Qing are now……

“Thinking of Zi Wan and them?” He Xuan held up a jar of wine, filled a cup and passed it to him, then asked.

Xiao Zuo nodded his head, and took the cup of wine and sipped on it, chilly to the taste, bearing some sweetness, it was Nan Liang’s March spring, the wine that…… Father like most before.

“No need to worry, the capital sent news a few days ago, they are all quite well, and Zi Wan…… probably has something good[1] coming soon.”

Xiao Zuo lifted his head and finished the wine in the cup, and licked his lips like he didn’t have enough, and touched He Xuan’s elbow, “Pour me another cup.”

“This wine has strong aftereffects, you should drink less.” He Xuan said, but still filled it for him, “Last cup.”

Xiao Zuo did not pay attention to him, he drunkenly lifted his eyes up, and lightly glared at He Xuan, then grabbed the wine jar in his hands and swayed it, “I am going to drink, it’s already New Years Eve, and still you don’t let me drink some more, I’m happy.”

“Fine fine fine, you drink.” He Xuan could not fight back, and let him be, “Don’t just drink wine, eat something else.”

Xiao Zuo did not have a much capacity for alcohol, after flauntingly drinking half a jar, he was already eight-tenths drunk, and softly leaned on the back of the chair, still reaching out to the wine cup. He Xuan glanced at him, grabbed his disobedient hand and slightly used some strength, then Xiao Zuo got pulled into his arms, “Now now, don’t drink anymore, be good.”

“Oh.” Xiao Zuo pouted his lips with grievance, and extended his hands and wrapped them around He Xuan’s waist, them rubbed in his embrace, “Brother Xuan.”

“En.”

Xiao Zuo paused, he slightly raised his head up, the curled hairs on the top of the head scraped by He Xuan’s chin, and faintly had a fine and dense itch to it. Between the restlessness, He Xuan heard the small cat in his arms call him again, “Brother Xuan.”

“En.”

Xiao Zuo seemed to softly smile. When he smiled, the curved arcs made by the eyes were especially pretty, like a rainbow by the horizon right after the skies clear after rainfall.

“To be able to spend New Years Eve with you, makes me very happy.”

He Xuan froze for a moment, he sentimentally pinched Xiao Zuo’s earlobe, then after a moment, very quickly agreed, “Me too.”

The person in his arms seemed to be asleep, not making a sound for a long time. He Xuan waved his hand at a maid to the side, and quietly said, “Take [the food] away, have the kitchen bring some sobering soup in.”

“Mm, did I fall sleep?” Xiao Zuo rubbed his eyes, he had a sticky nasal tone, like there were strings pulling apart in between each word, with a kind of indescribable implication of acting spoiled.

Sobering soup was brought in from the kitchen, Xiao Zuo knitted his eyes and finished drinking it, then yawned.

“Let’s go, let’s go back to the room.” He Xuan fixed the fur coat on his body, then pushed the door open.

The rain outside already stopped, the winds in the middle of the night were cold, putting out the bit of drowsiness completely. Xiao Zuo rubbed his hands, and lifted his head up to look at the flickering skies illuminated by fireworks far away, “There’s fireworks.”

After that, was a string of ear-roaring sounds of firecrackers, as well as faint sounds of barking, stirring the quiet night of the winter into a bustling and vigorous one.

Xiao Zuo stared at the distant fireworks, He Xuan slightly turned his head, and was able to see the starry dust falling down after the fireworks bloomed in the skies rustling into his eyes.

“Happy New Year.”

Xiao Zuo’s lips were stained in the ashes of the fireworks, it was hot, burning the iciness of the frosty night. He took initiative to deepen this kiss, Xiao Zuo’s mouth was still left with a weak taste of March spring, He Xuan seemed like a drunkard consuming wine like his life, and licked it bit by bit, not daring to miss even a sliver. Threads of silver long and sticking to each other were pulled apart between lips, hanging on the corner of Xiao Zuo’s mouth, all glistening.

“Let…… let’s go back.” Xiao Zuo slightly panted, and spoke in He Xuan’s ear.

During Zi, the outside resounded with another string of firecrackers, making Xiao Zuo’s entire body tremble with a start, he unbearably bit his lower lip, while the right hand randomly scratched He Xuan’s back.

“Relax some more.” He Xuan’s throat was hoarse, and lowered his head to kiss Xiao Zuo’s side hairs dampened by sweat, and quickened the movements beneath, making Xiao Zuo whimper with reddened eyes, shattered into bits and pieces.

❀

“Send one to each person on the list.” He Xuan was instructing a subordinate, “Send it while it’s still the holiday, use a more respectful attitude.”

“Not to worry, your Highness.” That person left with his orders, and came face-to-face with Xiao Zuo just entering in, Xiao Zuo glanced at him, then straightly walked to He Xuan’s side, “What did you have him send?”

“The Confucianists you mentioned to me last time, I had them go prepare some New Years gifts to send [to them].” He Xuan flipped through the memorials on the table, after resting a few days for the new year, and the government affairs had already piled like a mountain, he took up the tea on the table and took a sip, the straight bitter taste pressed down the drowsiness a slight bit, “This is the drafted list of gifts, do you see any problems with it?”

Xiao Zuo took it, “Chen Hong Dao prefers to play chess, you can send something like a chessboard.”

“Alright.”

“You just rested for two days……” Xiao Zuo knitted his eyebrows, “What time did you sleep yesterday? When I woke up, you were already up.”

“It’s fine.”

“How about I help you look at some.” Just as the words came out, Xiao Zuo regretted it a bit, he glanced at He Xuan, and added, “I was just joking, you……”

“Alright.” He Xuan randomly pushed a pile of memorials to his right over to him, “These are all it, I will look at the ones on the left, you look through this stack.”

Xiao Zuo froze, He Xuan already sat down and lifted his brush and dipped it in ink, and flipped open the memorial by his left hand. Seeing Xiao Zuo still standing there, he spoke out to urge him, “What is it? You can start now, these need to be looked through before noon, there is still a stack to be sent here later.”

He is…… serious? Xiao Zuo pursed his lips, and slightly hesitantly lifted that stack of memorials into his arms, “Then I will go to that table?”

“En, if you cannot decide, you can ask me.”

“Alright.” Xiao Zuo nodded his head, He Xuan then no longer looked at him, and buried his head into the memorials and wrote, with only the rustling sounds of flipping pages to be heard.

Half the contents of the memorials were all just general affairs, Xiao Zuo dipped in the red ink, and wrote a few accepted characters by copying He Xuan’s handwriting, as for the rest, it needed his opinion, so Xiao Zuo stacked them to one side, and found another piece of paper and wrote his suggestions on top, then clipped it in the memorials.

After a moment, there were only two scrolls left, Xiao Zuo used one hand to prop his head, and absentmindedly looked at the small characters on the surface. After he read a line, he could not help but lift his head up, looked past the memorials piled on the table, and secretly watched He Xuan’s hanging head. Each inch of the curves on his profile were just right, like a drawing of a beauty that made its artist use all their life and blood to draw, adding an extra common-realm beauty to it, making it less indifferent.

He Xuan’s hanging wrist slightly paused, he lifted up his eyes like he could feel it, and just caught Xiao Zuo’s panicked gaze moving away. The person who was sneaking a peek long already redly lowered his head and pretended to continue marking memorials, the one who got peeked at curled his lips calmly, yet the memorials on the table were no longer got flipped through for a moment.

“Your Highness, there is someone who calls himself a granary official outside requesting an audience.” A civil official subordinate to He Xuan pushed open the door to report, He Xuan rubbed his aching wrists, and placed the brush on the rack, “En, Ig will go over to look.”

“If you’re tired, then go outside and have a walk.” Xiao Zuo was propping up his head, yawning while looking at the newly-delivered memorials, He Xuan bent over and took away the brush loosely hanging from his hand, and said with a smile.

“It’s alright, I will look for a while more, you go busy first.”

“En.”