Chapter 74

 

The emperor was surprised: “Why are you crying?”

“Your Majesty is so busy with affairs of state, yet you still remember the small one. The small one is deeply touched. Just now, seeing Your Majesty’s compassionate face, the small one couldn’t help but think of Lord Pei…”

The more Qingtou thought about it, the more he felt that Lord Pei Gong was truly kind. In the past, even if he made a mistake, Lord Pei would just lecture him a few words and that would be it. If not for the fact that Chang’an was such a wonderful place and he hadn’t had his fill of it yet, he might have already packed up and hurried off to the Eastern Capital overnight to serve Lord Pei instead.

The emperor laughed involuntarily, put down the book in his hand and observed Qingtou.

“Most men in Guanzhong have broad foreheads, fleshy noses, and well-proportioned bodies, while men in Ganliang have long faces, thin noses, dark skin, and strong bodies. Zhen sees that you look a bit like a native of Ganliang? Did you go to work for Pei Ji after he went to Ganliang?”

Qingtou nodded continuously, exclaiming from the bottom of his heart: “Your Majesty is wise! You can even see this!”

The emperor stroked his beard and smiled: “Zhen have seen countless people, so naturally have some experience. Tell Zhen, how did you get into the Pei family?”

Qingtou quickly responded, saying that when he was five to six years old, he was herding sheep along the road one day when he encountered a scholar riding a mule. The man asked him how to get to Weiyuan City. Without fearing the snowy weather or the long distance, Qingtou led the man there, taking half a day to reach the destination. Only then did he learn that the man was the newly appointed county governor. The county governor, upon seeing such a young boy out herding sheep in the dead of winter, poorly dressed and wearing only a pair of tattered shoes, began asking questions. He learned that Qingtou had lost his mother at a young age and was living with a father who was a hopeless gambler. One day, the father drowned after falling drunk into a river, leaving Qingtou to fend for himself by herding sheep to earn a bite to eat. Because of his dull and clumsy nature, he was often bullied, not even having a proper name. The county governor took pity on him and brought him into his household. Since their met in the twelfth month, he combined the characters for “twelve” (十二) to form the word “green” (青 Qing) and named him Pei Qing, with the nickname “Qingtou.”

The emperor sighed and murmured that he wished there were no orphans in the world, and then asked him to eat the fruit in the plate on the table.

Qingtou had heard that the rich and noble families in Chang’an could eat fresh fruits soaked with ice in the summer. After taking a bite, the stomach would feel cooled and the heat would disappear. But following his master, he naturally didn’t have this blessing. Hearing the emperor’s words, he took a look and secretly swallowed his saliva. However, thinking of the look his master had just given him, he shook his head and said, “Thank you for the reward, Your Majesty. The small one won’t eat it.”

“Why?”

“This small one’s eating manners are crude, afraid it will offend Your Majesty.”

The emperor laughed and said, “Zhen likes it that you don’t follow those rules. Eat without worries!”

Qingtou was still hesitant. At this time, he saw Miss Ye finish making tea, pour a cup for the emperor, and then peel a few grapes with her own hands, put the crystal-clear flesh in front of him, and said with a smile: “Eat it, don’t worry about your master. If you are afraid of what he will say, just don’t tell him.”

Since she said so, Qingtou put his heart down, sighed, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the emperor. He then carefully ate a frozen grape that Miss Ye had peeled for him. As soon as he took a bite, his mouth indeed felt cool and seemed to be sweeter.

The emperor then asked about Pei Ji’s life over there.

Qingtou gradually opened up and kept talking about how honest Pei Ji was, how much he cared about the people under his rule, and how much he was loved by the people. He was very happy and looked proud of it.

After listening to this, the emperor was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked: “And your Master Pei? What did he like to do on weekdays?”

Xuyu glanced at the emperor. His expression looked normal, smiling at Qingtou.

Qingtou said, “Master Pei is different from Lord Pei. He doesn’t talk much and often goes out for ten days or even half a month without a trace. But Master Pei is also a good person. He handles everything himself and doesn’t put on any airs. Back when he was studying, he often asked me to study with him. It’s just that I didn’t want to learn—I’d feel sleepy as soon as I saw a book.”

Although Qingtou had been very dissatisfied with his master recently, he still has to protect his master in front of outsiders.

The emperor smiled and shook his head: “You want to sleep when you read. You really let your master down.”

“Yes, master couldn’t do anything about it, later on, he just stopped caring about me.” Qingtou scratched his head and seemed a little regretful when he thought about it.

“Then do you know where he goes? Who does he usually interact with?” The emperor continued to chat with the servant.

Qingtou thought hard: “Where did Master go? Sometimes it was official business sent by Lord Pei. If it was not official business, the small one also doesn’t know. Master has never said it. As for the people he usually interact with, the small one only know Captain He.”

“Who is Captain He?” the emperor asked with interest.

“He’s the former subordinate of Master’s your father, General Pei of Shenhu Army, Captain He Jin! The small one heard that he was a brave warrior who fought in the Battle of Beiyuan back then!” Speaking of this, Qingtou unconsciously straightened his chest.

“He Jin…” The emperor seemed to remember something and repeated the name in a low voice.

“Yes! Although he is not in a high position now, in Weiyuan County, no one in the army will disrespect him when his name is mentioned!”

The emperor nodded slowly, “Does your master often go out with this Captain He?”

Qingtou was about to answer the emperor’s question when Miss Ye suddenly interrupted, “Your Majesty!”

“Let’s set off! If we don’t leave now, we won’t know at what time we get there tonight!”

Although he knew that Miss Ye was extremely favored by the emperor, Qingtou was still shocked when she interrupted him. The emperor turned to look at her, and she did not avoid his gaze at all. The two of them stared at each other, with a hint of faint confrontation.

There was silence in the tent for a moment. The old palace eunuch lowered his eyes. As for the other eunuchs and maids, they held their breath and did not dare to make any sound.

At this time Qingtou finally reacted, and became uneasy. He kept suspecting that he had said something wrong to cause such a situation. However, he had no idea what the mistake was. He couldn’t help but become panic-stricken, and even the fruit he ate became tasteless. He hurriedly got down and lay on the ground, not daring to breathe.

Fortunately, after a moment, he heard the emperor say lightly: “Very well. Let’s get moving.” When Qingtou looked up again, the emperor seemed composed, as if nothing had happened. Turning to Qingtou, he kindly instructed people to pack all the fruits into a food box for him to take and eat on the road. The emperor then asked what kind of carriage Qingtou was riding in. When hearing it was the last large mule cart, he seemed about to say something when Miss Ye suddenly interjected, saying she would ride in a carriage by herself for the rest of the journey and could take Qingtou along with her.

The emperor looked at her again, narrowed his eyes, and said nothing more, only asking Zhao Zhongfang to make arrangements. Zhao Zhongfang complied, and then went out to convey the emperor’s order to set off.

The order was quickly passed around to the front and to the rear. The ceremonial guards and escort teams quickly took their positions. The emperor, under the escort of Han Kerang and others, once again ascended his imperial carriage. Qingtou held the basket of fruit tightly, and followed Miss Ye under the gazes of countless people around him, as well as his master, and climbed into another carriage, one that followed directly behind the emperor’s carriage.

It turned out that he was riding in the carriage, and his master was riding on a horse beside him, guarding the road for him.

Qingtou was momentarily dizzy with excitement, completely forgetting himself. It wasn’t until he had boarded the carriage and they had traveled some distance that he gradually calmed down. Recalling the earlier scene that left him deeply uneasy, he quietly asked Miss Ye beside him whether he had said anything wrong.

She opened a corner of the carriage curtain and looked out.

Passing through a sea of ​​fluttering flags and neatly-organized cavalry with swords and spears, she seemed to be looking at the figure of his master riding a horse in the distance. After a moment, she turned around and said, “It’s fine. It has nothing to do with you.”

Although Miss Ye tried to comfort him, Qingtou’s intuition still made him unable to completely calm down.

That night, after dark, after a full day of traveling on the road, the imperial carriage finally arrived at Cangshan.

During the reign of the previous emperor, the imperial entourage came here every year to escape the summer heat, so the summer palace was not only extremely well built, but also far surpassed the imperial palace in terms of opulence. Centered around Qingrong Palace, the complex followed the natural contours of the mountain, with structures rising and falling in harmony with the terrain. Some buildings were seamlessly interconnected, while others stood as independent entities. In addition to the central palace, the summer palace no fewer than several dozen other pavilions and structures, including soaring towers of various designs.

Back when Chang’an fell, this place was naturally occupied, but the rebels were only interested in pleasure, and this place did not suffer any damage. Now, in order to welcome the arrival of the emperor, this place had made all preparations early, sweeping and dusting, and it looks brand new inside and out.

That night, the emperor resided in Qingrong Palace, the main palace of the complex. The Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, Prince Kang, Prince Ning, the Grand Princess, along with Prince Xin’an, and the County Princesses of Yucheng and Danyang, were accommodated in secondary palaces such as Zhuoxiu, Miaofu, and Yingzhou. Ministers, noblewomen, and envoys of vassal states who were privileged to bask in the imperial favor were assigned to residences like Caichun, Qingjin, and Ruiyu. The remaining attendees were also lodged according to their respective ranks and titles, each taking up residence in designated quarters.

They were busy settling down that night. The lights on the hillsides near the palace were as bright as day. Outside the palace gardens and on the paths connecting the many palaces, you could see the stewards, palace eunuchs and servant busy moving things back and forth in an endless stream. The noise did not completely stop until midnight.

After Qingtou arrived, he lived with his master.

Pei Xiaoyuan followed Han Kerang and lived with other Jinwu Guards in a large house not far behind Qingrong Palace for the convenience of accompanying the emperor. He had his own room. Qingtou quickly cleaned up, made the bed, went to the dining room to eat something to fill his stomach, and finally waited until his master came back to change clothes. He helped him take off his armor and changed into the casual clothes of military officer he usually wore, and handed him the belt. When the master finished dressing, he grabbed his horizontal sword and seemed to be leaving. Qingtou quickly brought out the plate of grapes he had hidden and presented it to him.

“These are all gifts from His Majesty. And these few were peeled for me by Miss Ye herself. I couldn’t bear to eat them, so I only ate two. I brought the rest back and kept them in an ice container. Master, you eat them!”

In order to let his master taste the ice grapes, he shamelessly asked the old palace eunuch to borrow an ice jar. The old palace eunuch heard that he wanted to leave it for Master Pei to eat, so he lent it to him without saying a word. At this moment, he looked at his master eagerly, hoping to please him.

Pei Xiaoyuan’s eyes fell on the peeled grapes on the plate. He looked at them for a while, then slowly raised his eyes and finally spoke, “I have eaten and already full. You eat it.”

His tone was gentler than it had been in many days.

“I still have to go on night patrol. You should go to bed early and don’t have to wait for me.”

He gave another order and then walked out.

Qingtou looked at his back, and felt his heart getting warmed. He could no longer hold back, and at the risk of being scolded again, he shouted “Master”, put down the grapes, chased him and asked timidly: “Master, why don’t you ask me what His Majesty asked me during the day?”

Pei Xiaoyuan stopped and asked, “What did he ask?”

Qingtou looked at his expression and repeated the emperor’s questions and his answers in detail.

“… Suddenly, Miss Ye interrupted His Majesty and said we should leave. His Majesty seemed a little unhappy, but he didn’t blame her. He really stopped asking me questions and got up and left. The more I thought about it, the more scared I became, for fear that I had said something wrong again. Later, I asked Miss Ye, and she said it was fine. But I was still worried, so I wanted to ask Master…”

After Qingtou finished speaking, he looked at him anxiously, and saw that his master felt silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

“She’s right. It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry.”

At this point, Qingtou finally let go of his worry and breathed a long sigh of relief.

“I’m glad I didn’t say anything wrong, I’m glad I didn’t say anything wrong!” He patted his chest.

“His Majesty is really a good man!

“Also, Master, you should come back early and rest! I have made your bed!”

Pei Xiaoyuan glanced at the servant, nodded, and turned away.

After he walked out, he met Liu Bo and others who were walking towards him. They talked about tonight’s arrangements, and then went separate way. His figure disappeared at the end of the mountain path covered with lush trees behind Qingrong Palace.

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