The next day, the sky was clear and cloudless.
Early in the morning, Jinbao yawned as he arranged Xue Yan’s breakfast. He was making his way back along the corridor when he happened to run into Su Xiaoqian, who had just returned to report.
“How did it go?” Jinbao asked.
Su Xiaoqian replied, “Reporting to Eunuch, everything in His Highness the Heir’s room has been safely stored away, and the damaged roof has been temporarily sealed. We only need to call a few craftsmen over later, and it can be repaired today.”
Her voice was soft and melodious, like the song of an oriole.
Jinbao cast a sidelong glance toward the room.
“It can be repaired today?” he asked.
Su Xiaoqian nodded.
Jinbao continued, “What if we wait another two days before repairing it?”
Su Xiaoqian froze. “Another two days?”
Jinbao looked at her, his eyes shifting mischievously. He gave an ambiguous glance toward the main room, then casually turned his gaze back.
He said nothing, merely gave a soft little hum.
Su Xiaoqian was stunned for a moment before suddenly understanding.
She covered her lips and smiled. “Of course. In that case, I’ll have to personally go and summon the craftsmen.”
Jinbao gave her an approving look. “Then go take care of it.”
Su Xiaoqian gave him a graceful curtsy and turned to leave. Her waist was slender as a willow branch, and even without deliberately swaying it, every step carried an effortless, graceful movement.
“Only when I realize my love has gone unnoticed, do I understand it has already seeped into my very bones. Love knows not where it begins…”
After walking some distance away, Su Xiaoqian began humming the tune to herself.
In the bright early-summer sunshine, it sounded especially pleasant.
Jinbao didn’t understand the lyrics very well, but his mood brightened along with them. He quickly went inside, attended to Xue Yan as he got up, and then instructed the maids to arrange breakfast for the two of them in the outer room.
When it was time to eat, Jinbao began serving Xue Yan food with the air of someone presenting a great treasure.
“Speaking of which, it really is unfortunate. Su Xiaoqian just came to report that His Highness the Heir’s roof was damaged rather badly. It’ll probably take two days to get everything fixed up properly.”
Jun Huailang didn’t know much about these things either. Hearing that, he frowned slightly.
“That much trouble?”
Xue Yan glanced sideways at Jinbao and saw immediately that the man looked shifty-eyed. He was obviously making the whole thing up.
He looked away, pretending he hadn’t noticed.
Jun Huailang had injured his right hand, so holding chopsticks was somewhat difficult. Fuyi therefore had no choice but to pick up food and place it into his bowl, after which Jun Huailang would use his left hand to hold a spoon and eat.
Jun Huailang had grown up in a household with strict rules, so he didn’t talk much while eating. Whatever Fuyi put into his bowl, he silently ate without complaint or fuss.
But Xue Yan noticed that when Jun Huailang tasted some steamed sea bass, his eyes visibly brightened.
Fuyi seemed to be concerned that it would be difficult for him to pick out the bones, so he only served him one bite and then stopped.
Jun Huailang didn’t say anything about it either.
Xue Yan withdrew his gaze, picked up a new pair of chopsticks from beside him, and directly lifted a large piece of the fish belly into his own bowl. He carefully removed the few bones inside.
“Then stay here for another two days.”
Jun Huailang said, “You can’t sleep in the outer room every day.”
Xue Yan lowered his eyes.
“It’s fine. Just stay.”
Just then, Su Xiaoqian hurried inside.
Jinbao looked up and saw an unusual trace of panic on her face. She kept looking at him, but seemed unable to get the words out.
“What happened?” Jinbao hurriedly asked.
Su Xiaoqian’s gaze moved between Jun Huailang and Xue Yan’s faces. When she saw both of them looking up, she quickly concealed her flustered expression.
“His Highness the Heir, Young Master Shen has arrived.”
She glanced at Jinbao before hurriedly speaking to Jun Huailang.
“He… heard that the roof of Your Highness’s room was damaged, so he brought a group of craftsmen with him. He says he wants to repair the roof for Your Highness…”
At that point, she stopped speaking.
Xue Yan’s hand, which had been picking bones from the fish, froze in place.
Jinbao’s face took on an expression of unbearable resignation.
That idiot from the Shen family…
He really knew how to cause trouble.
Of everyone in the room, only Jun Huailang remained completely oblivious. At the thought of Shen Liufeng’s enthusiasm, a faint smile appeared on his face.
“Liufeng really is…” he said with a smile. “I’ll go take a look.”
With that, he put down his chopsticks and prepared to go outside.
After all, someone had come all the way to his residence to repair his roof. He couldn’t possibly let the other man handle everything himself. At the very least, he ought to thank him and invite him to sit down for a cup of hot tea…
Suddenly, a piece of snowy-white fish belly landed in Jun Huailang’s bowl.
It was a large, perfectly intact piece of fish, but every single bone had already been painstakingly removed.
Jun Huailang looked toward Xue Yan.
Xue Yan hadn’t even raised his head. He quietly remained where he was, picked up another piece of fish, placed it in his own bowl, and began removing the bones.
Sensing Jun Huailang’s gaze, Xue Yan finally looked up and gave him a calm glance. His expression was placid, but there was an unmistakable firmness in his eyes.
“Eat first,” he said.
And so, for no apparent reason, Jun Huailang was stuffed full of fish. He was made to eat nearly half the sea bass before Xue Yan finally let him go.
Fortunately, the sea bass was light and delicious. He had been amazed by the first bite, so even after eating so much, he didn’t find it greasy. Instead, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
After putting down his chopsticks, Jun Huailang rose to leave, but Xue Yan suddenly spoke.
“If you only want to read, you don’t need to go to the academy.”
He looked up at Jun Huailang.
“I have some books here that you can use. You can read them here at the residence. That young master from the Shen family spends all day wandering around mountains and rivers. He’ll only distract you.”
As he spoke, he glanced toward Jinbao.
“Didn’t we happen to bring some? Sort them out later and send them to His Highness’s room.”
Jinbao inwardly rolled his eyes.
“Happened to bring some?”
How could this master, who was always threatening to beat people to death, possibly have happened to bring along collections of commentaries on the Four Books and Five Classics?
Hadn’t he spent the past few days ordering Jinbao to scour every bookstore in Jinling, collecting a huge pile of them?
And now, “happened to bring some”?
That sort of lie could be used to fool that kind-hearted Bodhisattva, perhaps.
Jinbao grumbled inwardly, but his face remained perfectly composed. He smiled broadly.
“Understood. I’ll fetch them in a moment and have them delivered to His Highness.”
Jun Huailang had spent quite some time at Xue Yan’s residence, so by the time he returned to his own courtyard, the roof was already almost completely repaired.
The craftsmen on the roof were busily making their final cleanup, while Shen Liufeng sat in a grand armchair in the courtyard with his legs crossed, drinking tea and supervising the work.
Jun Huailang couldn’t help being amazed.
Was Shen Liufeng really that wealthy?
The craftsmen hired by his own household had said it would take two days to repair the roof, yet the people Shen Liufeng had brought had finished it in the time it took to eat a single breakfast?
When Shen Liufeng saw Jun Huailang arrive, he raised a hand and greeted him.
“You’re here, Huailang!”
Jun Huailang walked over and thanked him first.
“You really went to so much trouble. It was only a damaged roof, yet I made you come all this way yourself.”
Shen Liufeng waved his hand.
“I was already planning to come find you and have some fun. When I happened to hear at the gate that your roof was damaged, I just brought a few people over to fix it while I was here. The Longjing tea at your place is too bitter, anyway. I’ve already sent someone to fetch this year’s newly dried Da Hong Pao.”
Jun Huailang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Then what did you originally come here for today?”
Afraid that Shen Liufeng would spot something else that seemed unsuitable and send over another huge pile of things, Jun Huailang quickly changed the subject.
Sure enough, the moment Shen Liufeng heard this, he immediately forgot about the tea.
“I wanted to ask you—do you want to go to Yangzhou for an outing?”
Jun Huailang was puzzled.
“What would we go to Yangzhou for?”
Shen Liufeng said, “Yangzhou is beautiful in summer. I want to visit Slender West Lake and see the drooping willows. And a few days ago, I heard someone say that there’s a reclusive miracle physician living in the mountains outside Yangzhou. Apparently, he was once a famous figure throughout the martial world! I’ve never seen a miracle physician before, so I thought I’d go take a look and see what he looks like.”
Hearing this, Jun Huailang couldn’t help thinking of what Xue Yan had just said.
He had never heard Xue Yan speak ill of anyone before. Today was the first time.
And yet, no sooner had Xue Yan criticized Shen Liufeng for “wandering around mountains and rivers all day” than Shen Liufeng had turned around and invited him out to wander around with him.
Jun Huailang couldn’t help laughing.
“What are you laughing at?” Shen Liufeng asked, confused.
Jun Huailang straightened his expression.
“I was just thinking—if that miracle physician is a reclusive master, how could anyone find him so easily?”
“That’s why we have to go look!” Shen Liufeng said. “I’ve already gathered a general idea of where he might be. We just have to go to Yangzhou and search!”
Jun Huailang found it rather interesting as he listened, but summer had already arrived, and the flood that had occurred in his previous life was about to happen.
Going somewhere else to search for a miracle physician was the sort of journey with no definite return date. Besides, Jun Huailang didn’t dare indulge in such leisure.
“I don’t feel like traveling around, so I’ll pass,” Jun Huailang gently declined.
Shen Liufeng found it a pity, but he didn’t press him any further. He only said that he would go himself, and if he encountered anything interesting, he would tell Jun Huailang all about it when he returned.
Jun Huailang smiled and agreed.
And so, after the roof was repaired, Shen Liufeng led the craftsmen away.
Jun Huailang returned to his room, and the servants began carrying back the trunks and chests that had been moved into the side room for safekeeping the previous night.
Just then, another burst of bustling activity came from the entrance to Jun Huailang’s courtyard.
Jun Huailang looked outside and saw a group of servants carrying all sorts of large and small objects, making their way toward his room in a grand procession.
What… was Shen Liufeng doing this time?
But then Jun Huailang saw the figure following behind them.
It was Jinbao.
Jinbao directed the servants as they carried an entire set of furniture into Jun Huailang’s courtyard.
The furniture was all carved from golden-thread nanmu, with exquisite patterns and exceptionally fine workmanship. The servants carefully placed the pieces beneath the corridor outside Jun Huailang’s room before going back inside to move out the old furniture.
The old furniture had originally belonged to the Governor’s Residence. Since Jun Huailang and his father would only be staying here for two years at most, they had kept things simple and had basically never replaced any of the furnishings.
“What is this…?”
When Jinbao entered, Jun Huailang hurried over to ask.
Jinbao grinned from ear to ear.
“Reporting to His Highness the Heir, the Prince was worried that the furnishings in your room might have been damaged by the water, so he decided to replace them all at once.”
As he spoke, he continued directing the servants in and out as they replaced the furniture.
Jun Huailang hurriedly stopped him.
“Nothing was damaged by the water. There’s no need to go through all this.”
How could that possibly work?
Jinbao knew perfectly well that his master’s intentions had little to do with the water.
Young Master Shen had repaired Jun Huailang’s roof, and his master refused to be outdone. He therefore had to replace all the furnishings in Jun Huailang’s room with brand-new ones, as though only then could he claim to have beaten his rival by a head.
It was just like male animals in the wild. To attract a mate, they had to display their tail feathers and fur, and even fight other males to demonstrate their strength.
This was probably the competitive instinct rooted deep in the bones of males, becoming especially intense in front of someone they favored.
It was terribly childish.
Jinbao smiled.
“His Highness should accept them. The Prince put a great deal of thought into this! These furnishings were all brought from the Prince’s residence in Chang’an. They were originally kept for the Prince’s own use. Since the Prince has given the order, there’s nothing wrong with replacing the furnishings. His Highness can rest assured.”
Jun Huailang still didn’t understand.
“But there really was no need…”
Behind him, Fuyi stared dumbfoundedly as people streamed in and out of the room.
Even a single table or chair they carried in was worth enough to furnish an entire room.
“Why does this feel like they’re competing for his favor…?”
Fuyi muttered to himself.