Chapter 40: Red Plum in the Snow
Liu Ting stretched out his hand and hugged Han Min, patting his back through the blanket.
“It’s okay now, don’t be sad anymore.”
Han Min tilted his head, resting it on his senior brother’s shoulder, and sniffled once. “Mm.”
Liu Ting smiled and stroked his hair. “Still the same as when you were a child, silly as ever.”
He took out two scrolls. “That matter was originally my mother taking out her anger. She couldn’t understand at the time, but now she does. She asked me to bring you these two calligraphy and painting works to apologize. Don’t be mad anymore. If you want anything else, Senior Brother will get it for you.”
Han Min sat up, blinking. “I wasn’t really that angry… it’s just that I feel like I haven’t done anything since I came to Yong’an, a little down about it.”
Liu Ting chuckled, shaking his head. “What do you mean, ‘I’ve been here so long’? How long have you been here? Let me count.”
He counted on his fingers. “You came at the end of the month, and now it’s only March. You’ve been busy with your recovery, dealing with the Duke of Gong, and managing your family’s affairs to return to the capital. I can see you’re busy, so why say such things now?”
He pinched Han Min’s cheek. “Don’t worry about what others say. If there’s anything from my mother’s side that you can’t address directly, just tell Senior Brother, and I’ll help mediate.”
Han Min nodded. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”
“For tonight’s dinner, Grandpa seated you on the right-hand side, that was also to support you. He treats you as a true grandson; naturally, I treat you as a true brother, okay?”
Liu Ting smiled, unrolling one of the scrolls. “Stop worrying. Here, look at this piece I picked for you—the best calligraphy in Father’s study, by Xie Dingyuan from Jiangbei.”
Han Min finally perked up a bit, straightening slightly to look carefully.
Liu Ting continued: “During the day, you saw some calligraphy at Wen Yan’s place. This is the original. Keep it and study it slowly. There’s also a painting of ‘Cold River,’ you can keep that too.”
Han Min looked over the works several times, carefully rolling the scrolls back up. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”
Liu Ting handed him a brocade box to store them and placed it at the bedside.
Although his main goal this visit was to cheer Han Min up, seeing him like this still made him sigh.
“Just two things and you’re cheered up—silly boy.”
Liu Ting raised his hand to wrap it around him again.
Han Min smiled. “It’s okay now. It’s late; Senior Brother should go to sleep.”
“Don’t need Senior Brother to stay with you?”
“No, no need.”
“Then you go to bed early too.”
“Okay.”
After Liu Ting left, Han Min looked over the scrolls a few more times.
“System, come out and see your favorite Xie Dingyuan.”
The system awakened at his call, flustered. “Coming, coming!”
It was a literary system; besides collecting documents and data, it also loved calligraphy and paintings, storing all of them in its database.
The system exclaimed, “Xie Dingyuan is really handsome.”
Han Min suppressed a laugh: “You’re like an idiot.”
The system snorted: “You don’t understand. Anyway, Xie Dingyuan’s handwriting is much better than your’s.”
Xie Dingyuan’s calligraphy is sharp and spirited, full of vigor and ambition.
Han Min didn’t show it on his face, but he was inwardly impressed.
But he asked the system with a sour tone, “If you like Xie Dingyuan so much, why don’t you go and ask him to be your host?”
The system blurted out, “It’s just that I didn’t meet him sooner…”
After a moment of silence, Han Min put away the scroll, sat down at the table, and lowered his head: “Okay, I understand.”
The system hurriedly said, “It’s not what you think. Compared to him, you still have advantages, you…”
“I?”
The system noticed the manuscript he had taken out and said, “You write good storybooks.”
Han Min turned his head away.
“Good host, don’t be angry. It’s all my fault. Xie Dingyuan’s handwriting is just a little better. You are good in every way. You are the best in the world.”
The system kept muttering to itself, and Han Min, propping his head up, listened with great satisfaction. Suppressing a laugh, he asked, “Really?”
“Really, really, if I had to choose between him and you right now, I would still choose you.”
Han Min turned back, took one last look at Xie Dingyuan’s calligraphy, and finally closed the scroll with satisfaction, unfolding the half-finished manuscript.
*
Xie Dingyuan was not his real name; Dingyuan means “top scholar in the imperial examination”.
At the age of sixteen, he became the top scholar in the imperial examination in the Song Dynasty north of the Yangtze River. Later, dissatisfied with the decline of the Song Dynasty, he resigned from his official post and went into seclusion.
The ruler of Song felt this was a loss of face, so he banished him from the territory of Song and forbade anyone to mention his name.
Over time, no one remembered Xie Dingyuan’s name anymore.
No one knows where he went.
Only the occasional paintings and calligraphy circulating in the market reveal his whereabouts and also convey a message—He was poor and needed to write to earn money.
The system always felt regretful that it had never met Xie Dingyuan and had been unable to help him.
—
The Liu residence was divided into an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard. Han Min lived with Liu Ting in the outer courtyard, which was unrelated to the inner courtyard. Therefore, he did not have much interaction with Madam Liu or Liu Yu.
Madam Liu seemed to feel guilty towards him, but was too embarrassed to apologize to him directly. So she would send things to her son every day, and always prepared the exact same things for Han Min.
Even Jiang Huan didn’t receive such treatment.
A few days passed like this, and Han Min spent his free time writing stories in his room.
After writing two stacks of paper, he finally finished half of the first volume of the fifth book in the whole series, “The Emperor and the Top Scholar”.
After staying up all night, his eyes were a little blurry. At dawn, Han Min finished organizing his manuscript and climbed into bed to take a nap.
He had been asleep for a short while when he vaguely heard someone calling him.
Chu Yu touched his forehead with the back of her hand: “You’re not sick, Han Min?”
Han Min struggled to open his eyes, still groggy: “Huh? How did you get out of the storybook…”
How did you escape from the storybook?
Han Min realized his mistake halfway through his sentence and changed his question, “What’s wrong?”
“I wanted to ask you to go out for a walk. You stay in your room all day, aren’t you getting bored?”
Han Min rubbed his eyes, and as he sat up, the blanket covering him slipped down, revealing the long sword he was holding in his arms.
Chu Yu stared intently: “You?”
Han Min immediately snapped out of it and pulled the blanket up: “It’s nothing.”
“I feel like I’ve been here before…”
No, no.
Han Min hid the sword under the covers, got out of bed, and while dressing, said, “Why don’t you go play with my senior brothers?”
“Your senior brother went to the academy, and Lord Jiang went to Duke Gong’s Mansion.”
“Then go find Wen Bianzhang. He has a leg injury and can’t run away.”
Chu Yu paused for a moment: “Does Lord Wen know that you’ve been talking about him like this behind his back?”
Han Min recalled the way Wen Yan pushed the wheelchair and walked very quickly.
“Don’t tell him.”
“By the way, I’ve been helping His Majesty draft the list of officials these past few days, and you should be able to take up your post next month.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Chu Yu stood up, smiled, and put his arm around his shoulder: “Good colleague, please take care of me in the future.”
Han Min patted his shoulder: “Please also take good care of me, Scholar Chu.”
Without saying a word, Chu Yu dragged him away: “Then let’s go out for a walk, please? I’ve been busy for days.”
Han Min tried to speak: “I…”
“Let’s go, let’s go. I’ve had them prepare my family’s pleasure boat and will take you for a boat trip on the lake. I’ve already sent someone to fetch Lord Wen. I’ve told Lord Wen that you’ll definitely go. If you don’t go, he’ll get angry, and you’ll have to coax him then.”
Han Min shouted, “I didn’t wash my face!”
“Oh.” Chu Yu awkwardly let go of his hand. “I see.”
—
Outside Yong’an City lies Yuanyang Lake, where, in the springtime, the water is clear and the mountains are green, with painted boats coming and going on the lake.
However, due to the recent passing of the late emperor, there was no bustling music or urging to drink or make jokes, making it much quieter than in previous years.
The Chu family originally ran a security escort agency, and were proficient in both water and land transportation. Chu Yu’s father was also very supportive of his son’s literary career. While ordinary scholars would go boating on the lake and compose poems, he directly arranged a pleasure boat for Chu Yu.
A two-story ship with no walls on any of its four sides.
Previously, Chu Yu was an undercover agent under Duke Gong, and he was too lazy to get along with Duke Gong’s people. Only now has this ship come in handy.
Chu Yu took Wen Yan’s wooden wheelchair from the servants and pushed him up.
Han Min was still sleepy, yawning as he followed behind, his sleeves covering his mouth.
As the pleasure boat departed from the shore, the three of them leaned against the stern, enjoying the breeze.
Han Min said to Chu Yu, “Is this a painted boat that your father got for you? Or is it a dragon boat?”
From afar, there was no more magnificent pleasure boat than the Chu family’s.
Chu Yu said, “It’s just a boat. Can you drink? Or…”
Before he could finish speaking, another ornately decorated pleasure boat approached, and a servant stood at the bow, bowing respectfully.
“May I ask which young master is boating on the lake here? My master would like to invite you for a chat.”
Chu Yu waved his hand: “Not today. These two friends were invited by me at great personal request. Tell your host to come another day.”
The servant’s expression changed, and without bowing again, he went into the cabin.
Han Min glanced at it and saw a double red plum blossom painted on the hull, guessing that the owner of the boat must be surnamed Li.
Aside from Li Shu, who was not of the same surname—Li Shu was someone Han Min had known since childhood, someone he called “Little Uncle,” and someone who had pressed Duke Gong’s hand and made him touch the late emperor’s coffin in the Fengqian Hall last time.
Han Min knew that Li Shu didn’t like these things, but he couldn’t think of any other family in Yong’an City with the surname Li who owned such a ship.
He hasn’t returned to Yong’an for two years; I wonder which new elite family he’s dealing with.
Han Min asked, “Whose boat is this?”
Chu Yu lowered his voice: “The son of Duke of Xin.”
“Uncle’s?”
Wen Yan had played with them when he was a child, so he naturally knew that Li Shu didn’t like these things.
“It’s not Duke of Xin’s, it’s Duke of Xin’s nephew Ji Heng’s. He should be on that ship too.”
Han Min had never heard of this name before, so he asked again, “And who is that?”
“Duke of Xin’s family died fighting for the country. Emperor Dezong took pity on him because he was orphaned at a young age, so he adopted him as his son and granted him the title of Duke of Xin. He had a married sister who had lost her husband a year ago and came to Duke of Xin with her son, Ji Heng. Ji Heng is young and has all the vices of a spoiled brat. Duke of Xin is not often in Yong’an and does not know that his nephew is abusing his name. In short, just ignore him.”
Wen Yan turned his eyes away in disgust. Han Min, seeing his expression, guessed that Wen Yan had a conflict with Ji Heng in the past, which was why Wen Yan was angry.
At this moment, Ji Heng gently tapped his folding fan and stepped out of the cabin.
He saw Wen Yan sitting in a wooden wheelchair, so he quickly opened his folding fan and waved it in front of him.
The fan depicts a scene of red plum blossoms in the snow and a straw raincoat, but there are two or three dark brown spots.
“I wondered who had a limp; it’s Young Master Wen from the Marquis of Wenyuan’s mansion. Last summer, you and I snatched fans on Yutang Street, remember? Your men didn’t control their strength properly and knocked over the old man selling fans—”
Ji Heng flicked the fan with his hand: “The fight was a bit too fierce, but fortunately it was a twist of fate that added to the good things.”
The plum blossoms originally grew on a sickly plum tree that grew beside Xie Yi. Even the paint used was a slightly dark wood red with two or three blackish-brown spots, which made the old plum tree look even weaker.
Han Min and Chu Yu then realized that the two or three dark brown spots were blood.
Ji Heng chuckled twice, then saw Han Min and turned to ask the servant, “Who is that?”
The servant answered in a low voice. He turned back and smiled at Han Min, saying, “I’ve heard so much about you.”
Author’s Note:
Danger · Ji Heng · Danger
