Chapter 92: Apricot Tree Red

The Young Lord and Bai Li led people to gather the strong laborers.

Only Chen Ji and Chen Wenzong remained, standing side by side at the kiln entrance. One was covered in dirt, so much so that dust would fall off him with every shake of his head, like a stray dog. The other wore white as snow, like the protagonist of every story.

Chen Wenzong frowned, looking at the cheerfully grinning Chen Ji. He couldn't understand what his half-brother was so happy about. "Chen Ji, I see you arrange matters systematically and think clearly. You are actually a very intelligent person. Why are you content to associate with such mud and grime?"

Chen Ji brushed off the dust from his clothes and responded with an unconcerned smile, "I am very happy today. You may look down on this dilapidated kiln and this dusty, grimy work, but the more I look at it, the more I like it."

This was because it was the first time Chen Ji could possess something of his own in this world.

"Are you trying to earn some money?"

Chen Wenzong misunderstood. "Although a concubine's son cannot inherit the family business, when we divide the family assets, I, your elder brother, will certainly allot you some means of livelihood. If you are willing to turn over a new leaf, study hard, and take the imperial examinations, how could I stand by and watch you starve?"

Chen Ji cheerfully patted Chen Wenzong's shoulder, leaving a black handprint on his white long gown, and teased, "Brother, you are actually a good person, but I'm truly not cut out for studying classics. I'm more suited to working diligently, farming, and firing kilns."

Chen Wenzong took a step to his left but still couldn't avoid the dark handprint.

He frowned and said, "Confucius said: 'If the ruler upholds propriety and integrity, people from all four directions will carry their children and come to him. Why then would he need to farm?'"

Chen Ji paused. "What does that mean?"

Chen Wenzong explained, "The Great Sage Master said that if those in power uphold ritual and integrity, the common people will naturally flock to them, even carrying their children. Why would one need to farm? To work the land oneself is a lower strategy. As scholars, we should be examples for all under heaven, and followers will naturally be as numerous as clouds."

Chen Ji quietly looked at Chen Wenzong. He wasn't well-versed in Confucian culture, so he didn't know how to refute his brother's ideas with classical texts.

Just then, Bai Li's voice came from afar: "Chen Ji, I've found people who can modify the kiln! They said they built all the kilns in Liu Family Village and can help us."

Behind Bai Li followed a hunched old man with a long pipe tucked into his waist, and his tobacco pouch dangled like a purse.

Behind the old man were seven sturdy men.

As they drew closer, the hunched old man stopped at the kiln entrance, pressing tobacco into his pipe bowl, and looked at Chen Ji. "Are you the person in charge here?"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "Yes, I am."

The hunched old man slowly said, "All the kilns in Liu Family Village were built by us Liu family members. Building a kiln is no problem, but first, give us two hundred taels of silver. During the construction, you'll need to provide four catties of white flour, one catty of meat, plus two catties of good wine daily."

"What?"

The Young Lord's eyes widened.

The hunched old man looked up at him, expressionless. "These are the rules of business in Liu Family Village. No one outside our Liu family knows how to build a semi-downdraft kiln, nor would they dare to build one for you."

Chen Ji asked, puzzled, "Are you from Grand Secretary Liu's family?"

Behind the hunched old man, one of the sturdy men laughed, "You have some insight."

Chen Ji thought for a moment. "Gentlemen, please go back. We truly don't have that much money. We've almost exhausted all our savings just to acquire this kiln."

Without another word, the hunched old man turned and walked away. "If you change your mind, you can always find me."

Chen Ji watched his departing back. "No wonder Old Zhou was so eager to sell this kiln. No wonder his rundown kiln only had a simple updraft kiln. These days, to do any business, local despots peel off one layer of skin, and the officials peel off another."

Bai Li said with difficulty, "What should we do then? I'm sorry. I didn't know they were the local bullies who extort high prices. I shouldn't have brought them here."

Chen Ji calmly stated, "Let's do it ourselves. Without them, we can still build a kiln. If he can build a semi-downdraft kiln, then I'll build a full-downdraft kiln."

"Let's give them a little surprise."

As the group walked towards the kiln entrance, Chen Ji suddenly turned back to Chen Wenzong. "Brother, we're short-handed. Would you mind lending a hand?"

Chen Wenzong stood still, silent for a long time.

He looked at the dusty group before him, and at the earthen kiln behind them. He immediately took a silver ingot from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Ji. "I apologize, the autumn imperial examination is the day after tomorrow. I cannot delay here for too long. I left in a hurry and didn't bring much money, so I can only give you this for now. If it's not enough, I will send someone with more tomorrow."

Chen Ji pushed the silver ingot back into Chen Wenzong's hand, stepped back, and bowed. "Then I wish you great success, taking the top rank in the examination."

With that, he turned and led the Young Lord and the Princess to dismantle the kiln.

Chen Wenzong looked down at the silver ingot in his hand, wanting to say something but not knowing what.

After a long silence, he put the silver ingot back into his sleeve, turned, left the courtyard, and mounted his horse. The apology he had intended to say when he arrived remained unspoken.

Amidst the sounds of the kiln being dismantled, the white horse rode away.

Liang Mao'er exerted great strength. He wielded a hammer effortlessly, demolishing the old kiln with destructive force.

As Chen Ji cleared away the construction debris, he praised, "Brother Mao'er's large appetite wasn't for nothing."

Liang Mao'er was a little shy. "It's good to finally be of some use after being kept for so long."

Chen Ji looked at the Young Lord and the Princess. "I'm curious, why are the Young Lord and the Princess willing to do such dirty and tiring work? Look, my brother isn't willing to touch any of this."

The Young Lord chuckled, "It's fine for occasional work, but if you really made me do this every day, I'd run away too."

Chen Ji mused, "I always feel that the Prince of Jing is very different from other noble officials. He seems to be..."

Princess Bai Li thought for a moment and said, "Mother says Father suffered hardships since he was young, so naturally, he's different from other princes."

"Oh?"

"I heard Mother mention that not long after Father was born, he and his birth mother were expelled to Mount Ci Temple in the outskirts of the capital."

Chen Ji was stunned. "Normally, within the inner palace, even if a mother commits a fault and is banished, they only remove the mother and keep the child. They wouldn't expel both mother and child together."

Bai Li explained, "The late emperor had seventy-nine sons, and the succession struggle was extremely fierce. I don't know exactly what happened, but I only know that many princes and their birth mothers were driven out of the inner palace and later died outside. Father's birth mother also mysteriously died at Mount Ci Temple the year after they arrived there. Father was only a little over one year old at the time. It's said that he only barely survived thanks to the secret care of a high-ranking eunuch from the inner court's yamen."

"Later, Father grew up with an office of the Directorate of Ceremonial in the capital's suburbs, working daily with the young eunuchs. Chopping wood, making charcoal, washing clothes. It wasn't until he was eight that the current Empress Dowager brought him back to the palace to live with His Majesty. Father is three years older than His Majesty, and they lived together in the palace for six years, like brothers-in-arms."

"Then later, His Majesty ascended the throne at eleven. Father was sent out to his fiefdom at fourteen. The young prince formed alliances with the northern aristocratic families — the Chen, Hu, and Qi clans. He spent six years secretly collaborating with supervising censors and other upright civil officials to eliminate powerful maternal relatives, assisting His Majesty in ruling personally... Of course, I heard all this from my mother, so it might not be entirely accurate."

"Father always demanded that we do many things ourselves from a young age. I heard that Prince Fu was fed and dressed by others since he was little. We didn't have any of that. Sometimes when Father was free, we even had to go with him to the rural estates to chop wood and make charcoal."

Chen Ji listened silently for a moment, feeling that this short story seemed to contain much important information. The Liu clan was the maternal relative mentioned by the Princess. But why, after the Prince of Jing eliminated maternal relatives in his youth, did he later marry a woman from the Liu clan, taking her as Concubine Jing? Was it a political compromise, or was there another intention?

At night, the moon was bright and the stars sparse.

Originally, Chen Ji intended to stay at the kiln.

But the kiln had nowhere to sleep, so they had to return home.

The ox cart rumbled slowly on the way back to the city.

Everyone in the cart looked exhausted, so sleepy they could barely open their eyes.

After a day's work, everyone's backs ached, and their hands were blistered.

Someone's stomach rumbled first, and then everyone's stomachs started grumbling.

They looked at each other and then burst into laughter. "I wonder if any noodle stalls are still open in the city?"

"Definitely not," Liang Mao'er said.

"Let's go back to the medical hall. I'll make noodles for everyone. Is garlic-sauce noodles okay?"

"Anything!"

"I'm so hungry I could eat a whole ox!"

"I could eat two."

Liang Mao'er shyly said, "I could eat three."

"I don't think Brother Mao'er is joking."

"Hahahaha..."

They arrived at the entrance of Taiping Medical Hall.

With a creak, the Young Lord quietly pushed open the main gate and led everyone, bent low, towards the backyard. "Be quiet, everyone. Don't wake up Physician Yao. If we wake him now, I'm afraid his poisonous tongue will scold us to tears!"

"Oh? Really?"

Everyone was startled and looked up into the darkness of the medical hall's main hall.

They saw Old Man Yao lying on a bamboo chair, holding a small black cat.

He slowly rose and leisurely asked, "Young Lord, why don't you, my boy, explain to this old man how my tongue is 'poisonous'?"

The Young Lord's smile was uglier than a cry. "You must have misheard. It was Liu Quxing who said that."

Old Man Yao didn't bother with him, merely turned and walked towards the backyard. "There are kneaded noodles on the cutting board by the kitchen stove. If you want to eat, cook them yourselves."

The Young Lord swallowed hard. "Physician Yao, you are truly a living Bodhisattva."

A moment later, a group of "stray dogs" squatted in a row in the backyard, each holding a large bowl, slurping down noodles, their chopsticks continuously shoveling food into their mouths.

The Young Lord looked up and saw Physician Yao standing by the bare apricot tree, looking at them with a look of disdain.

The cat in Physician Yao's arms also looked at them with disdain.

The Young Lord hesitated. "Physician Yao, it seems to be looking down on us a bit?"

Physician Yao sneered, "Given how you're all eating, I'll allow it to look down on you."

The Young Lord: ...

Chen Ji: ...

Physician Yao looked at them with pity. "Eight people left this morning, and eight stray dogs came back tonight. Those who know will know you went to create new things. Those who don't might think you were exposed by a demon-revealing mirror."

He turned and walked back into the house, holding Wuyun. "I'm going to sleep. When you're done eating, remember to clean the kitchen."

After finishing his noodles, the Young Lord slumped to the ground and sighed, "Chen Ji, can't we take just one day off?"

Bai Li quickly interjected, "No! He made a military pledge to Father. If he doesn't complete it, Father will really banish him to Lingnan."

The Young Lord was speechless.

He finally mumbled softly, "You're even more enthusiastic than he is."

At that moment, Bai Li stood in front of the apricot tree in the courtyard, lost in thought.

Chen Ji sat cross-legged on the ground with his bowl and looked up, curiously asking, "What's wrong?"

Bai Li suddenly said, "The apricot tree has lost all its leaves. It doesn't look good. Wait for me."

With that, she bustled off, climbed a ladder, and scaled the wall into the Prince's mansion.

A short while later, she climbed back over with a piece of red cloth. Princess Bai Li cut the red cloth into long, thin strips and wrote words like "peace," "joy," "smoothness," and "no worries" on them, tying them to the branches.

She wrote on another red strip specifically for herself, brought a ladder, and tried to hang it at the very top of the apricot tree.

Chen Ji saw her clumsy efforts with the ladder and kindly offered, "Princess, should I help you hang it?"

Bai Li quickly said, "No, I'll hang it myself."

Not only that, she wrapped the strip around the branch several times, making it impossible to read from below.

Bai Li slowly climbed down the ladder and smiled, beckoning to everyone, "You all should write something too!"

Everyone looked at each other. "Write what?"

Bai Li's eyes curved with a smile. "Just write your wishes!"

Liu Quxing said, "I know what to write."

He dipped his brush in ink and wrote "Master, may you have health and longevity" on a red strip.

She Dengke cursed him for being a bootlicker, then wrote "Master, may you live ten thousand years without end."

Liang Gou'er wrote "Drink wine every day."

Liang Mao'er wrote "Acquire a few acres of good farmland."

The Young Lord hesitated for a moment, then also secretly wrote a strip like Bai Li, wrapping it high up on the apricot tree, not letting anyone see it.

He climbed down the ladder and looked at the bald monk beside him. "Little Monk, what's your wish?"

The little monk looked a bit awkward. "I cannot make wishes casually. Great vows must be fulfilled, and this matter is closely related to spiritual practice."

"Alright then, you don't have to write."

The red strips hung all over the apricot tree branches, like blooming red flowers.

The courtyard, where a group of grown men lived, suddenly gained a touch of gentle elegance.

Bai Li stood in front of the apricot tree with her hands behind her back, head tilted up, admiring her masterpiece with a joyful smile.

She turned to Chen Ji. "Chen Ji, what are you going to write? You haven't written anything yet."

Chen Ji pondered for a moment and then picked up the brush.

Bai Li leaned in to peek, only to see the young man had simply written four characters: "Tuan Tuan Yuan Yuan" (Reunion/Completeness).

Bai Li mumbled softly, "I thought you'd write something like 'ten thousand taels of gold.' Are you really looking forward to a reunion with your family? But your family..."

Chen Ji smiled without explaining.

The "reunion" he wrote did not refer to his family.

Bai Li looked at the red blessing strips on the branches, her expression serene. "Sometimes I also envy the lives of common people. I know it sounds like I'm taking my blessings for granted, but I still hope our home could be warmer, with more days of togetherness."

Hearing this, Chen Ji suddenly probed, "I see Concubine Yun gives the Princess a lot of monthly allowance. The Young Lord doesn't seem to live as well as the Princess. Why do you say that?"

Bai Li smiled. "Girls, you know. In our parents' eyes, as long as we grow up well, we don't need to study too much, just marry according to their wishes. Parents don't have such strict requirements for me, so they are naturally more lenient and indulgent. Mother has always wanted another son. Look, as soon as Father finally returned to the residence, she immediately sent people to clean the entire Anxi Street and even distributed Yanmen dates to all the neighbors."

Chen Ji was startled. So distributing Yanmen dates had a hidden meaning.

It just couldn't be too obvious, so she hadn't given the neighbors peanuts, longans, or lotus seeds...

He suddenly asked, "Princess, the persimmon tree in Feiyun Courtyard..."

Bai Li smiled and answered, "Mother originally wanted to cut it down and replace it with a pomegranate tree, but I stopped her. I think persimmons are prettier than pomegranates."

"Then why are the persimmons left on the branches and not picked?"

"To leave some food for the magpies in winter."

"So it was the Princess's kindness..."

Chen Ji felt a chilling cold creep up his spine to his neck.

Yanmen dates symbolizing an early birth of a noble son, and pomegranate trees symbolizing many sons and blessings.

Concubine Yun's desire for a son was almost overtly displayed.

But could a son born to her inherit the Prince of Jing's title?

No.

There was already the legitimate elder brother, the Young Lord.

Unless the Young Lord died in the inner prison.

Until this moment, Chen Ji's deductions formed a coherent logical chain.

Concubine Yun wanted the Young Lord to die in the inner prison. As for whether Bai Li would be implicated, she didn't care at all... Or perhaps, Concubine Yun's original intention was to send Bai Li into the inner prison as well.

This way, no one would suspect her.

Chen Ji looked at Bai Li with a complex expression.

He wanted to warn her but didn't know where to begin.

First there was Liu Quming, who personally killed his grandfather, and now the malicious Concubine Yun, who would devour her own child.

Compared to these two, Chen Ji suddenly felt that his own father from the Chen residence, who merely sent him to Taiping Medical Hall as an apprentice, seemed somewhat benevolent.

Such was this world.

Chen Ji quietly said, "Princess."

"Hmm?"

"Your kindness will be rewarded."

"Right? I think so too. Let's go. We still need to wash off the dust. See you tomorrow morning."

"See you tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, we'll call some helpers from the city to modify the kiln together."

Chen Ji watched Bai Li climb over the courtyard wall and disappear into the night.

He turned back to look at the gently elegant red apricot tree, remaining silent for a long time.

At one point, he wanted to unwrap the red strips at the highest point to see what wishes the Young Lord and Bai Li had written, but then he felt it was wrong to pry into others' privacy.

He could only smile and give up the idea.