Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Ninety-four,
Sought After

“Sister.” Xiao Zuo held a food box, and knocked on the door.

Xiao You Ci put away her silk handkerchief into her chest, then wiped away the tear stains on her face, and sat up straight, “Come in.”

“Sister, give it a try and see if it’s good, I had the kitchen especially put some more chili in it.”

Xiao Zuo opened the box, the inside was placed with a plate of steamed buns, a pile of sauced gourds, and a pile of side dishes emitting red oil.

“In the temple these days, I’ve gotten used to eating vegetarian[1], my tastes have gone a bit mild.” Xiao You Ci smiled, and took up a bun and split it in half, then dipped it in the side dishes and took a bite, “This taste…… is quite reminiscent.”

Xiao You Ci ate quick, and after finishing the buns in a few bites, she then asked, “Are you going to look for Mr. Chen tomorrow?”

“En, Mr. Chen has high prestige among the Confucianists, so naturally, he will be the first we pay a visit to.”

Xiao You Ci nodded her head, “I still have a few old friends[2] in Mei Province, I came here this time to bid farewells with them as well.”

“Old friends?”

“En, friends of the boudoir, later on they married far away, and since have only communicated through letters[3].”

Xiao Zuo did not think much of it, “That would be good too, in the future, there won’t be too much of a chance to come.”

“A’Zuo.” Xiao You Ci suddenly called out to him softly, Xiao Zuo strangely felt his brows jump, “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Xiao You Ci sighed, she stared and carefully traced over Xiao Zuo’s features, then after a while, reached out and traced over the top of his head. At the same time, Xiao Zuo awkwardly moved his eyes away, and did not understand the hovering listlessness and unwillingness in her eyes, and heard her say, “Do you still remember when you were just born, you were weak as a kitten, each time I went to see you, you would cry without stop.”

“In the blink of an eye, you’ve already gotten so big.”

“Sister……” Xiao Zuo felt a wave of aching in his eyes suddenly, he slightly lifted his head up, yet his voice could not stop shaking.

Xiao You Ci hung her eyes down, when she turned her head, she faintly saw the dim yellow lantern, “When I was in the temple, there were a few times I would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, and still think I was in the palace, and would call for Xin Rou……”

“There would be no one to answer after a long time, and each time, I would then recall, Xin Rou……” Xiao You Ci’s eyes reddened, she brought her sleeves up in attempts to hide it and rub it, like she was fighting something, and continued on with a hoarse throat, “I still remember a few years ago when we came to Mei Province, there was a very big snowstorm that day, we were also like now, sitting beneath the lanterns, while many pans of fire were placed beside our legs……”

Xiao Zuo opened his mouth wanting to stop her, but his throat was blocked by something, so dry that it hurt, and after a while, he could not spit out a single word either. At some time ago, his eyes also got moistened, and arduously restrained them in, not letting them flow out.

“Say, next time you come again to Mei Province, you must take a branch of white plum and bring it back home, and place it in Mother’s bedchambers.” Xiao You Ci paused, her voice turned softer and softer, so soft it was pretty much going to fall into the dust, and be dispersed with a blow of the wind, but Xiao Zuo still heard it, and heard her say, “A’Zuo, if all of this never happened, how good would it be?”

Yes, had Father and Mother not pass away, and the Liang dynasty was still present, he could go by a worriless peaceful day without knowing about the outside, such brief dreams of splendour, he had already dreamed of countless times already.

Xiao Zuo paused, if it was like that, how about him and He Xuan? Perhaps on the same winter day, when Mei Province is in full bloom with white plums, they would pass by each other in the tens of miles of the plum forest, but then who would the white plum that He Xuan picks off be sent to?

Thinking about it, fate still left Xiao Zuo a final sliver of pity, and took this branch of white plum through spring, and sent it into his hands.

“A’Zuo?”

Xiao Zuo suddenly got startled away from his trance, he cast away the figure of He Xuan in his mind, and seemed to also cast away that yearning and listlessness from the past, “Sister, the past has already passed, it will definitely get better and better in the future.”

Xiao You Ci also smiled, the smile shallowly floated to the surface, like a ripple that would spread away at any time, “En, a’Zuo’s already grown up, he no longer likes to cry like back when he was young now.”

Xiao Zuo remembered that night, Xiao You Ci spoke to him about many things of the past, to the point that later on, he got a bit tired, and napped as he listened to Xiao You Ci g on as she looked back on memories.

Just at the time he was going to hang his eyelids down again, Xiao You Ci lightly sighed, and fixed the hairs by his forehead behind his ear, then patted his hand, “Go back and sleep.”

“En. Sister should sleep soon too.” Xiao Zuo yawned, the night winds of early spring still brought an oozing coldness, his drowsiness was dispersed for the most part when he opened the door and got blown by the wind, and he suddenly came to the realization and turned his head, “Sister.”

Xiao You Ci froze, and saw Xiao Zuo prop on the door frame with one hand. The lantern in the room traced his smile with a faint gold outline, “Sister, it will definitely get better and better in the future, we will too.”

“En.” Xiao You Ci seemed like she was burned by the hope in his eyes and moved her eyes away, “Hurry and head back to sleep.”

In the main room, the candlelight’s gentle flame shone through the window, Xiao Zuo hummed a tune and hurried two steps, and happily pushed open the door.

“Brother Xuan!”

He Xuan got startled by him, the book in his hands shook, and fell onto the ground. He calmly bent his waist to pick it up, and lifted his eyes up to look at Xiao Zuo, “Why so excited?”

“En……” Xiao Zuo pulled out the chair beside him, and seriously said, “Actually, before in Jin, each night when I couldn’t sleep, I would think, if I could wake up and return back to when I was little, how great it would be, everything would not have happened, then everything would still have time to be saved.”

He Xuan paused flipping through the book, and heard Xiao Zuo continue, “But today I suddenly came to a realization, the past cannot be redeemed, but the incoming could be sought[4]. Rather than wallowing in the past all day, and sinking in broken old dreams not willing to wake up, why not think of a way to get by better in the present.”

The book in He Xuan’s hands was already put down, the corners of his mouth held in a smile, and his gaze bearing a sliver of sentimental attachment and relief followed Xiao Zuo whose eyes were full of understanding underneath the light. His current appearance, in He Xuan’s eyes, was like a butterfly that just broke out of its cocoon and started dancing.

“It will get better and better in the future.” Xiao Zuo stood up, and kissed He Xuan’s lips, “It definitely will.”

“En, it will.” He Xuan lightly smiled, and held Xiao Zuo’s hand in return.

The two washed up and laid on the bed, Xiao Zuo dug into He Xuan’s arms, with one hand wrapped around his waist, and his breathing hit his chest again and again, like he was going to monopolize his heart for himself.

“Brother Xuan.”

He Xuan replied with an en, and reached out and played with his hair, his lips occasionally brushing by his forehead, creating a wave of numbing itches.

After a while, He Xuan did not hear the rest, he lowered his head to look, Xiao Zuo already buried into his arms and slept away. He Xuan moved the blankets up a bit, and wrapped Xiao Zuo tightly, only leaking in with a few threads of moonlight. He Xuan lifted his hand, and lightly swept it by Xiao Zuo’s face, and stopped for an instant on the ends of his eyes.

“Li Nu, I will be there in the future.”

On the next day, Xiao Zuo constantly yawned as he got dragged from the blankets by He Xuan, he half-narrowed his eyes and let He Xuan help him dress, and said, “What time is it?”

He Xuan pressed his chaotic hand down, “Quite late, I saw you slept quite well, and couldn’t bear to call you up. For now, if were any later, we can have dinner at the Chen residence.”

“Ah?” Xiao Zuo then rubbed his eyes, and got startled awake, “Mr. Chen does not like tardiness, we should hurry.”

“En, I had the kitchen place breakfast into food boxes, we can eat it on the road in a bit.”

The Chen residence was not too far from the place they were staying at, Xiao Zuo barely just finished the final piece of red bean pastry, He Xuan reached out and used his finger to lightly wipe away the crumbs on his cheek, then the carriage stopped.

Xiao Zuo licked his lips, savoured the taste of the red bean pastry, and could not stop praising, “The snacks made by this chef aren’t bad.”

“Then at the time, just have him come back with us.”

“Ah?” Xiao Zuo froze, “This…… isn’t too good, is it, his family is all in Mei Province.”

He Xuan curled his lips, when his cold rigid features relaxed, it was like a spring mountain having its ice melted and spread all over with fragrance, like rosy branches of flowers swaying about, forming into the smile in the corners of his mouth.

“You actually thought about bringing him back?”

Xiao Zuo then understood He Xuan was just teasing him, and held in his anger and glared at him, then pushed him away, “Go down, go down.”

Because Xiao Zuo saw Chen Hong Dao before, he would not reveal his face this time, and watched He Xuan’s back figure disappear in the corner. He randomly picked a blade of grass and swayed it in his hands, and walked towards a small path.

The side of the road had an elderly man sitting down, with some small toys placed in front of him. Xiao Zuo walked over to take a look, and picked up a bamboo flute. The craftsmanship was very crude, but it had some rustic charm to it, Xiao Zuo placed it by his lips to give it a try, the tone was unexpectedly clear and beautiful.

“Young man, you must not be a local.”

That elderly man held his hand up, and merrily chatted with him.

Xiao Zuo nodded his head, and asked him “How much for this bamboo flute?”

The elderly man said, “One hundred pence.” After he finished speaking, that elderly man took Xiao Zuo’s money, sucked on his tobacco rod, and said, “Young man, if you are bored, there is an apricot forest to the front, the apricot flowers are all bloomed now, it is a good place to go.”

Xiao Zuo lifted his eyebrows, and cupped his hands and thanked the elderly man, then took the bamboo flute and went forward as the elderly man had said.

When He Xuan finished speaking with Chen Hong Dao, he came out, and saw Xiao Zuo was not in the carriage, then knew he must have been bored and took a stroll. He got to know from the driver’s mouth that there was an apricot forest nearby, and bloomed right on time.

“He is in quite the mood.”