Chapter 24.1

Jiang Suizhou rested at Xu Du’s place purely because he was bone-tired for the day.

He had been very busy at the Ministry of Rites. After he returned home, he had a showdown with Xu Du, so he ate merely a few bites of the dinner.

When the dinner was cleared, and he was ready to leave, he had a dizzy spell when he stood up, making him almost plunge to the ground.

Xu Du held him up.

“Your Highness is weak, so you mustn’t overwork,” Xu Du advised.

Jiang Suizhou steadied himself and took a few breaths before he regained his strength. He propped himself up on the table with one hand and waved his hand feebly. “Because of His Majesty’s birthday banquet, the Ministry of Rites is busy day in and day out.”

Xu Du helped him sit on a couch. He then turned around and lit up the soothing incense. He said, “Yes, at this time every year, the court is very busy. Should I send someone to ask the mansion doctor to come and check you out?”

Jiang Suizhou shook his head.

“No need,” he declined. “A troubling round trip will only tire unnecessary people.”

Xu Du nodded. “Indeed. Then I’ll ask someone to brew a calming soup for Your Highness —— Why don’t you rest here today?”

His proposal was reasonable. After all, the back courtyard was far away from Anyin Hall, and there was a vast garden in between. Wherever Jiang Suizhou went, he had to ride in a palanquin. It was inconvenient to walk around the garden in a palanquin, so he had to take a detour.

Enduring a bumpy ride while the wind blew was too tiring.

Jiang Suizhou was moved, but then suddenly thought of something and hesitantly asked, “Do you have an extra bed in your room?”

Xu Du smiled: “Don’t worry, Your Highness. There is a Bisha cupboard1 in the room. Changyun usually comes to stay here and sleeps there.”

Hearing that both of them had beds to sleep on, Jiang Suizhou nodded in relief.

So long as there was a bed to lie in, why should he care where he slept?

So, that night, he rested in Xu Du’s room.

——

Jiang Suizhou did not sleep well that night.

He didn’t know if the ink fragrance in the room was too light, or if the bed Xu Du used to sleep on was a bit hard. In short, Jiang Suizhou felt like something was missing in the room.

He tried to sleep, but kept waking up all night long. When he got up in the morning, the soles of his feet were like stepping on cotton, and underneath his eyes were a little blue.

There was also a Grand Court Assembly today.

The moment Jiang Suizhou rose from the bed early in the morning, his head felt heavy and his feet light. He was also groggy.

He was a bit chagrined. If only he hadn’t been lazy last night and gone back to sleep in his own courtyard.

Meng Qianshan was waiting outside the courtyard early in the morning.

Meng Qianshan didn’t deliver him his court uniform because he had to go through the front courtyard to get out of the house from here anyway. Jiang Suizhou had a casual breakfast at Xu Du’s place and went back to Anyin Hall.

When he entered the door, he found a tall and straight figure sitting at the table in the main hall.

The bright daylight elongated his shadow until it touched the ink bamboo painting hanging in front of the hall. He was akin to a sharp blade chopping into the depths of the bamboo forest.

It was Huo Wujiu, having his breakfast.

Jiang Suizhou crossed the threshold and saw Huo Wujiu eating by himself, sitting straight and upright, with no intention of paying attention to him.

This kind of cold treatment was all too familiar to Jiang Suizhou. It was so familiar that it felt a little homely, which dissipated a bit of his irritation for having a troubled sleep all night.

He didn’t fuss about Huo Wujiu, nor rush to greet him. He only acted as if he didn’t see this man, and then let Meng Qianshan support him as he bypassed Huo Wujiu to change his robes in the inner room.

While walking, Meng Qianshan also rambled and complained, “Master, did Madam Xu serve you well yesterday? I find Your Highness’s complexion terrible…”

Jiang Suizhou immediately interrupted him when he heard this. “Shut it,” he ordered.

Meng Qianshan repeatedly nodded.

Jiang Suizhou paused and said, “The window paper in Xu Du’s room is a bit old, so ask someone to go there later and see if there are any items that need to be changed. Replace them with new ones.”

The window papers were indeed in disrepair. Whistling wind blew in all night. Although other people could not feel it, Jiang Suizhou suffered from it. When he got up early in the morning, his nose felt clogged.

Meng Qianshan again repeatedly nodded.

The two talked while heading to the inner room.

Jiang Suizhou did not see that the moment he walked around the screen, Huo Wujiu raised his head and frowned at his back.

His footsteps were unstable, and his eye bags were blue. He looked exhausted at a glance.

Usually, even if Jiang Suizhou slept all night on the couch, Huo Wujiu had never seen him in such a tired state.

If he got this exhausted overnight, what else could have caused it?

Huo Wujiu inexplicably felt that the chopsticks in his hand were unmanageable. He could hardly use them to pick at a dish, and the force on his hand inevitably rose a few degrees heavier.

He tried hard to focus on the food on his plate, but it didn’t work.

Jiang Suizhou’s appearance just now kept popping up in his mind. He obviously only took one glance, but it got deeply imprinted in his mind. It hooked him so hard into guessing what Jiang Suizhou had done last night.

The chopsticks in Huo Wujiu’s hand seemed to have grown a blade, because he shredded the sauced beef in sauce in a couple of strokes.

Footnote:

1 Bisha cupboard – first used as a shelter from the summer heat.

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