Jun Huailang in the eastern courtyard also had not expected that the roof of the Governor’s Residence would actually be washed through.
The Governor’s Residence had been built for quite some years. Every governor who took office would stay here, live for two years or so before moving away, and then the residence would immediately have to welcome the next one. Thus, very few people would specifically have it repaired.
This year, however, the rainfall had been extremely abundant ever since the beginning of spring. Moss had even grown in the gaps between the roof tiles. When today’s sudden downpour came crashing down, it washed away and damaged some of the roof tiles, and the rainwater immediately began leaking into the room.
This left all the servants who had come from Chang’an completely at a loss.
Just as everyone was frantically trying to block the holes in the roof while scrambling to save the belongings inside, Fuyi hurried in.
“Young Master, His Highness the Prince is here,” he said.
Jun Huailang was standing off to the side watching them repair the roof. Hearing this, he turned his head and saw Xue Yan lower his umbrella beneath the corridor and walk over from the hazy night lit by the lanterns.
He raised his head and first glanced at Jun Huailang’s roof.
Several places on the roof had been damaged by the rain. Water, together with the accumulated rainwater along the eaves, was streaming down in a rustling flow, soaking quite a few of the tables, chairs, bed curtains, and carpets inside the room. The maids and servants in the room clearly had little experience with this sort of thing, and were rushing around in every direction, thrown into complete chaos.
And Jun Huailang, standing to the side, although he still looked as quiet and cool as ever, also revealed a hint of barely perceptible helplessness.
After all, he was a young nobleman who had been waited on by others since childhood. Naturally, he had no idea how to deal with such trivial matters as a leaking roof.
When he looked toward Xue Yan, there was still a trace of bewilderment in his eyes.
Xue Yan felt something soft bump against his heart. He then turned his gaze toward Su Xiaoqian, who was following beside him.
Su Xiaoqian nodded and replied, “Your Highness, this servant can handle it. Tonight, I’ll first have the roof repaired for His Highness the Heir. Once the weather clears tomorrow, we can come back and properly repair it.”
Her family had been poor since she was young, and Jinling had abundant rainfall, so they inevitably had to repair their roof every year. Thus, she was quite experienced with this sort of matter.
Xue Yan gave a sound of acknowledgment and said to Jun Huailang, “Go to my place for now.”
Jun Huailang froze. “Hm?”
The Prince of Guangling, who had always disliked explaining himself to others and usually only said something once, patiently explained, “You can’t stay here tonight. Once everything is sorted out tomorrow, you can move back.”
Jun Huailang hesitated.
Although his room truly could not be lived in tonight, he had personally arranged the courtyard opposite his, so he knew very well that there was only one bed in the main room there.
He had originally planned to have Fuyi look for an empty courtyard, or find an unused side room or a green-gauze chamber where he could make do for one night. If he really moved into Xue Yan’s courtyard, where would Xue Yan sleep?
The moment he hesitated, Jinbao, who was following behind, understood what he meant.
As his master’s capable dog-servant, not only did he have to understand his master’s intentions, he also had to express them for him when his master could not say them himself.
“It would be better for His Highness the Heir to go sit in His Highness the Prince’s courtyard for now. It’s so chaotic here at the moment that there isn’t even a place to sit, and it won’t be sorted out anytime soon,” Jinbao said with a grin as he interjected. “You were just caught in the rain today, too. This servant has brewed some red-date tea. Once you go over there, it’ll save this servant the trouble of bringing it here.”
Jun Huailang was just about to say that he had barely gotten wet today, while it was actually his master who had been drenched through, but Xue Yan beside him immediately gave a quiet hum of agreement.
Jun Huailang looked over and saw that Xue Yan had already taken the umbrella from Jinbao’s hand.
“Let’s go,” he said.
And so, in this muddled fashion, Jun Huailang followed Xue Yan to the western courtyard.
—
It had only just become night, and it was not particularly late yet. Jinbao invited Jun Huailang into Xue Yan’s main room, served him tea, and brought over some books for him to pass the time.
Normally, at this hour, his master would still have to work in the study for another hour or so before returning to his room to rest. Unexpectedly, his master had accompanied His Highness the Heir all the way to the room with an umbrella, and then entered as well. He simply sat down at the table in the bedchamber and picked up a military book to read quietly.
This entire series of actions left Jinbao completely dumbfounded.
Was this… his master not planning to deal with that pile of official documents on the study desk tonight?
Yet he did not dare say anything more. He could only serve this great Buddha another pot of tea before leading the servants out.
For a moment, only the two of them remained in the room.
Back in the quiet, dry room, Jun Huailang took two sips of tea and gradually settled his mind. The rain outside the window still had not stopped, pattering softly. He picked up a book, but could not bring himself to read it, and could not help falling into deep thought.
Even though the Governor’s Residence was old and had not been properly maintained, it was still an official residence carefully constructed by the government. If even his own room could have its roof tiles washed away by the rain today, then how many common people’s houses inside and outside the city would have suffered?
And he knew that this was only the beginning.
Now that summer had arrived, the rain would only grow heavier. By July, the river waters would even burst through the dikes and flood into Jinling City.
He remembered the official records he had read in his previous life. This time, when the dikes broke, the fields north of Jinling and nearly half of the northern part of Jinling City were immediately submerged, causing many common people to become displaced.
After that, because of the continuous rain and flooding, the corpses in the city could not be dealt with in time. Before long, an epidemic would break out in Jinling City again.
With the floods and epidemic coming one after another, it would not be long before many bandits appeared around Jinling. These bandits would even gather together and launch a rebellion. Jinling’s garrison was insufficient, while there were too many rebellious bandits. Before long, the surrounding villages and towns would all be occupied by them.
At that time, Jinling would be like an isolated island.
Jun Huailang’s expression gradually became solemn.
During the final years of his previous life, he had read through all the records of this flood several times and studied many texts on water management. Although he now had some confidence in managing the waters and had made ample preparations in this life, he was still uncertain in his heart. He did not know whether he could, by his own strength, overturn the situation of his previous life.
The heavens were not cooperating, and there were also officials secretly scheming against him. It was as if he were facing a vast fog he could not see through, while behind him was a bottomless cliff…
“What’s wrong?”
Suddenly, a low voice carrying a hint of hoarseness interrupted his thoughts.
Jun Huailang raised his head and saw Xue Yan sitting opposite him. With one hand holding a book, he was lazily leaning against the couch, looking at him.
…It seemed that he was not exactly fighting alone, either.
For some reason, meeting those amber-colored eyes somehow brought a little more peace to his heart.
In this life, there was Xue Yan.
Whether it was because he knew that Xue Yan had been the final victor in his previous life, or because Xue Yan had repeatedly saved him in this life, some place in Jun Huailang’s heart that had always been hanging in suspense slowly settled.
He could not help saying, “…I was just thinking, with weather like this this year, might it bring disaster?”
Although he knew that he absolutely could not tell anyone about his rebirth, his instincts at this moment nevertheless drove him to want to tell Xue Yan about it.
Xue Yan asked, “You’re worried about this?”
Jun Huailang nodded.
Xue Yan did not hesitate much. He spoke as a matter of course, “It’s nothing difficult. Tomorrow I’ll send people to take a look. Anyone who has suffered from the disaster will be compensated uniformly.”
Naturally, he would not normally concern himself with these messy little matters. Whose house had been washed away, whose fields had been flooded—in his eyes, these were all trivial matters that he would forget the moment he looked away.
But he could not stand seeing Jun Huailang worry over such nonsense.
Jun Huailang nodded at his words, but the solemnity on his face did not lessen. He continued, “It’s not just that. I have a feeling that something major may happen this year.”
Xue Yan looked at him.
This father and son were rather in sync when it came to matters like this. Just a few days ago, the Duke of Yongning had told him that he felt this year’s rain was unusual and that they needed to make preparations in advance and report it to His Majesty.
And now, Jun Huailang had said the exact same thing to him.
His expression was extremely earnest. Jun Huailang had always had a faint expression, but at this moment his brows were knitted together, and there was not even the slightest trace of a smile on his face.
Xue Yan slowly lowered the book in his hand.
“Just put your mind at ease,” he said. “Even if disaster comes, I’ll be here.”
It was only a simple sentence, but Jun Huailang could hear the weight behind it.
He suddenly remembered the last time he had seen Xue Yan before leaving Chang’an, and what Xue Yan had said to him.
“There won’t be any accidents.”
That was what he had said then.
And then, one year later, he had come here without a sound.
From the time they had met in this life until now, Xue Yan had never been a man of many words, and was always silent. But whenever he said something, as long as it was a promise he had made, he would certainly fulfill it.
Jun Huailang’s heart suddenly settled for no reason. At the same time, along with that settling heart, some inexplicable stirrings slowly revealed the slightest hint of themselves.
He looked at Xue Yan, unable to say anything for a moment.
Xue Yan waited for a while but still did not receive a response. He raised his brows and asked faintly, “What, you don’t believe me?”
Only then did Jun Huailang come back to himself. He blinked, then revealed a gentle smile.
There was quite a bit of relief in that smile.
“I do,” he said with a slight smile. “With you here, I’m at ease.”
He spoke with complete sincerity.
After all, he knew how dependable Xue Yan was, how powerful he would become in the future, and that he would be the one who survived to the very end.
Yet Xue Yan’s ears inexplicably turned red when he heard those words.
He gave a low hum, somewhat awkwardly picked up the military book again, but after reading two lines, he only felt that the words on the page were jumping around. Jumping here and there, they all turned into the same sentence.
“With you here, I’m at ease.”
Xue Yan’s heart began beating restlessly. After a moment, he abruptly placed the military book on the table and stood up.
“You’ll rest here tonight,” he said. “I’ll go out first.”
He needed to be alone for a while. If he continued staying in the same room with Jun Huailang, he felt that his ears would become so hot they might burn.
Jun Huailang hurriedly stood as well. “Then where will you rest tonight?”
Xue Yan said, “I’ll stay in the outer room. There’s a couch there.”
These were things he did not care about in the slightest. Back in Yan Commandery, where had he not slept? Even wrapped in iron armor and sleeping in the freezing wilderness during the dead of winter, he could still fall asleep.
But the young master before him was different. This little peacock, raised delicately in a greenhouse since childhood, was naturally different from someone like him, who had grown like wild grass.
Before Jun Huailang could stop him, he had already turned and walked out.
Not long afterward, Fuyi pushed the door open and walked in.
“Young Master, His Highness the Prince instructed this servant to attend to you for the night,” Fuyi said. Several maids followed behind him, carrying basins, cups, and cloths, filing in one after another.
Jun Huailang gave a hum and sat down on the edge of the bed.
The bed beneath him was rather hard, and the fabric and patterns of the bedding were simple as well. The bed was permeated with the sandalwood scent belonging to Xue Yan. Before long, it had already lingered all around Jun Huailang.
Suddenly, he could not help recalling the shoulder and arm Xue Yan had held out beside him in the rain today.