When Jun Huailang passed over that red envelope, even he was startled by its thickness.
Just by squeezing it, he could tell from the feel that there was paper inside. It had to be banknotes. Such a thick stack of banknotes, regardless of the denomination, was simply astonishing.
Naturally, he did not know that every single banknote inside was worth at least several thousand or even ten thousand taels.
“…Why are you giving me so much?” Jun Huailang was so startled that even his voice sounded a little airy.
“It’s not much. New Year’s money.” Xue Yan said calmly.
Jun Huailang was both amused and exasperated.
“New Year’s money doesn’t mean you have to give me your entire fortune.” As he spoke, he took all the banknotes out of the red envelope, holding a full handful. He casually pulled out one note and accepted it together with the red envelope, then stuffed the rest back into Xue Yan’s hands.
Xue Yan did not take them.
“It’s not my entire fortune. I still have more,” he said.
He was not lying. The Prince of Yan had no wife or children. Ever since Xue Yan had been able to lead troops two years ago, the Prince of Yan had even handed him the key to his private treasury. Yan Commandery had to support its soldiers and people, so it naturally did not lack money. Once the Prince of Yan died, all the gold and silver in Yan territory would belong to him as well.
However, the Yan-Yun Iron Cavalry needed to be paid, and the dead soldiers he had brought back also needed to be supported. So the amount of money Xue Yan actually had available to spend was not much. These were all he could take out.
When he returned to the palace, the only thing he had brought with him was money. He wanted to give Jun Huailang another gift, to repay him for the jade koi he had given him, and the only thing he could offer was this much money.
Jun Huailang was both amused and helpless, so he handed the stack of banknotes to Jinbao.
Although Jinbao’s heart ached at the thought of it, how could he dare accept them? He hurriedly put his hands behind his back and kept retreating, wishing he had never been born with these two hands in the first place.
Jun Huailang had no choice but to threaten him.
“If you don’t take them, I’ll get angry,” he said. “I gave you a red envelope merely as a gesture of goodwill for good luck. And now you’re giving me so much money in return. What do you take me for?”
Upon hearing this, Xue Yan was rarely flustered.
Naturally, he was not giving Jun Huailang money in return. He simply felt that no matter how much he gave, it would still seem too little, so he had simply given him everything he could take out.
Besides, while he was in the palace, he had no place to spend money, and he had never cared much about such things. He only felt that money was something cheap and insignificant. Since he could not produce anything else for the moment, he could only give him more.
Seeing the rare look of discomposure on Xue Yan’s face, Jun Huailang felt a little reluctant to press him further. Nevertheless, he kept a stern expression and took this opportunity to stuff the banknotes back into Xue Yan’s hands.
Just then, he lowered his eyes and saw the denomination of the banknote in his own hand.
…Five thousand taels.
Jun Huailang could barely keep his composure, and a trace of amusement appeared on his face.
He knew that Xue Yan was not short of money. After all, he was the only child of the Prince of Yan. In his previous life, he had even been able to effortlessly absorb the Yan-Yun Iron Cavalry, which had already become part of the garrison at Yanmen Pass. Clearly, his financial resources were substantial.
But Jun Huailang had not expected this man to be so straightforward, casually emptying out so much of his family fortune just to give someone New Year’s money.
He wondered whether, many years later, His Highness the Prince of Qin would know that he had once been this innocent.
Suppressing his laughter, Jun Huailang reluctantly exchanged one of the banknotes in the large stack in Xue Yan’s hands for one of a smaller denomination.
“This is enough. No matter how much more you give me, your intentions are still the same,” Jun Huailang advised him after accepting the red envelope.
Xue Yan silently thought, How could they possibly be the same?
He stuffed the pile of banknotes into Jinbao’s hands and said to Jun Huailang, “Wait for me.”
With that, he turned and entered the inner room.
Jinbao stood where he was, hastily gathering up the banknotes. He awkwardly smiled at Jun Huailang and explained, “My master has never received New Year’s money before. He probably doesn’t understand the customs involved. Please forgive him, Your Highness.”
Jun Huailang smiled and shook his head.
How could this be something to laugh at?
It had nothing to do with whether he understood the customs or not. Whether one understood the rules or did not, very few people could possess such complete sincerity, as though they had taken their entire heart out and laid it bare for another person to see.
For a moment, Jun Huailang even felt that he had treated Xue Yan unfairly.
He had only befriended Xue Yan out of sympathy and to protect his family. It had been nothing more than a small favor. Yet now, Xue Yan had effortlessly handed everything he possessed over to him.
Instead, it made Jun Huailang feel ashamed of himself.
Over there, only a moment later, Xue Yan returned. He walked up to Jun Huailang, raised his hand, and held out something that was difficult to identify.
“Hold out your hand,” he heard Xue Yan say.
Jun Huailang extended his hand, and a small object fell into his palm.
He withdrew his hand and saw a beast’s tooth resting in his palm. There was a small hole drilled through it, with a simple leather cord threaded through it.
“This is…” Jun Huailang looked at Xue Yan.
It was the canine tooth of the first wolf Xue Yan had hunted several years ago.
At the time, the Prince of Yan had ordered him to kill a wolf and return to report his success. Xue Yan had pierced the wolf’s chest with an arrow, but when he approached it, the wolf was not yet completely dead. It leaped up and tried to tear him apart with its teeth.
He had struggled with the wolf for a long time before finally using a dagger to cut open its throat.
Covered in blood, he dragged the wolf all the way back to the camp and received praise from the Prince of Yan. He removed one of the wolf’s fangs and gave it to Xue Yan, telling him to keep it with him at all times.
“Today, you were made to kill a wolf. Once you become an adult, there will be even more and fiercer prey that will die beneath your blade,” the Prince of Yan had said. “Keep this tooth well. Just remember, no matter how savage your opponent is, as long as you fight with your life, they will never be able to defeat you.”
From then on, Xue Yan had always carried it with him.
Rather than a memento, it was more like a source of hope for Xue Yan. Whenever he was injured and the pain became unbearable, he would clutch the tooth tightly in his palm.
The only thought he held onto was to endure the pain, so that he could live to repay today’s suffering a hundredfold to his enemy in the future.
He himself did not know why he had decided to place this object into Jun Huailang’s hands. Perhaps because, besides those banknotes, this was the only other thing he had brought back with him from Yan territory.
But when Jun Huailang held it in his hand, Xue Yan’s thoughts changed somewhat.
That mottled wolf’s tooth resting in those fair, translucent hands made it seem as though he had handed over his own filthy, broken soul in its entirety to Jun Huailang.
Xue Yan’s voice was slightly hoarse as he replied indifferently, “It’s a wolf’s tooth.”
After a pause, he added, “The tooth from a wolf I hunted.”
Only after saying it did he feel that the thing was crude and somewhat barbaric.
Yet Jun Huailang’s face lit up with a smile when he heard this.
“Exactly. Isn’t giving me this much better than giving me a whole pile of banknotes?”
Xue Yan watched as Jun Huailang carefully and solemnly tucked the wolf’s tooth—the very one he had clutched in his bloodstained palm on countless nights—into his robes.
Xue Yan’s chest began to burn.
Then he heard Jun Huailang remind him, “You can’t do something like this again in the future. Keep your own fortune safe. You absolutely mustn’t casually take it out and give it to someone else.”
Xue Yan gave a faint hum.
He would not give it to anyone else anyway. He only wanted to give it to him.
——
By the time night fell, red lanterns had been lit throughout the palace. Outside Xuanwu Gate, carriages and horses streamed endlessly past, all carrying nobles and high-ranking officials arriving for the banquet.
The New Year’s Eve palace banquet was still being held in Yongle Hall.
This was the third time Jun Huailang had come here for a banquet since being reborn. The memories of the previous two occasions were not particularly pleasant, but now that the troubles had finally settled, he could at least enjoy a period of peace.
Thinking of this, Jun Huailang pressed his lips together in a smile.
The two of them, Jun Huailang and Xue Yan, led Jun Linghuan together as they made their way toward Yongle Hall. Just as they reached the front of the hall, Jun Huailang saw Jun Xiaowu waiting there.
“Big Brother! Did you miss me?” Jun Xiaowu waved at Jun Huailang from a distance.
Seeing him, Jun Huailang could not help smiling as well. The three members of the Jun family naturally began chatting warmly the moment they met.
As though performing a magic trick, Jun Xiaowu took out one red envelope after another and stuffed them into Jun Linghuan’s hands, without forgetting to stuff one into Jun Huailang’s hands as well.
“Big Brother, New Year’s money!” Jun Xiaowu grinned at Jun Huailang.
Jun Huailang smiled faintly and scolded him, “Stop fooling around. How could you give me a red envelope?”
Jun Xiaowu laughed merrily. “Why not? Uncle gives me military pay, you know. I’m richer than you now!”
Xue Yan stood quietly to the side, watching the three of them.
The warmth and familiarity that came from growing up and living together since childhood could not be faked, nor could it deceive anyone.
Xue Yan clearly knew that Jun Xiaowu was Jun Huailang’s biological younger brother, and that the warmth between them was only natural.
Yet he could not suppress the sourness that rose in his heart, leaving him somewhat restless.
It was not that he minded Jun Huailang being affectionate with someone else. Rather, simply by listening to their words, he could easily tell that they had lived together for many years.
He wanted to be like Jun Xiaowu, to have a relationship with Jun Huailang that had lasted for many years.
But at the same time, he seemed unwilling to be like Jun Xiaowu.
They were merely brothers. Somehow, that did not seem intimate enough, nor unique enough.
He was tormented by this inexplicable urge for something, his heart itching restlessly, yet he could not even figure out what exactly it was that he wanted.
Just then, he heard Jun Xiaowu ask, “Mother specifically told me to ask you when you’re coming home. It’s New Year’s, after all, and with two people missing from the family, the house feels much quieter. I’m not used to it.”
Xue Yan paused, his gaze falling inconspicuously onto Jun Huailang’s face.
He had actually forgotten that he could not even live together with Jun Huailang for a long time. Jun Huailang was merely staying with him temporarily.
Jun Huailang, however, did not notice the change in Xue Yan’s emotions. Hearing this, he smiled and raised his hand to pat Jun Xiaowu on the head.
“If you’re not used to it, why did you stay at Yumen Pass for three whole years? I suppose the army was lively enough that you enjoyed yourself so much you forgot to come home?”
Jun Xiaowu covered his head and laughed.
Jun Huailang continued, “Aunt asked me about it too. She still wants me to stay a little longer. So I’ll have to wait until spring before I can return home.”
Jun Xiaowu nodded. “That’s fine, too. Once spring comes, I’ll take you out to the countryside to ride horses and enjoy the spring scenery.”
Jun Huailang smiled and nodded.
Seeing that it was getting late, Jun Huailang called for Jun Xiaowu to go inside first. Jun Xiaowu pulled Jun Linghuan, who was standing beside Jun Huailang, into his arms and said, “All right, I’m going to find Mother. I’ll take Linghuan with me. Mother misses her terribly. I’ll let Linghuan stay with her tonight.”
Jun Huailang nodded in agreement.
After Jun Xiaowu left with Jun Linghuan, Jun Huailang turned around and saw Xue Yan standing there lost in thought, seemingly wondering about something.
“Fifth Highness?” Jun Huailang called out.
Xue Yan replied indifferently, “Mm. Shall we go in?”
Jun Huailang smiled and nodded, walking alongside him.
“Originally, Aunt also said that I should take Linghuan to watch the fireworks tonight,” Jun Huailang said as they walked. “Unfortunately, it seems it won’t be my turn today. I wonder if Fifth Highness would be willing to do me this favor?”
Xue Yan turned his head to look at him, only to meet Jun Huailang’s warm eyes filled with a smile.
“I know of a watchtower that is very quiet, and it has a good view of the fireworks. Would Fifth Highness be willing to go there with me?”
Xue Yan turned his gaze away and gave a faint nod.
The emotions that had been turning over and over in his mind just moments ago, emotions he could not understand, seemed to become faintly clear after merely meeting Jun Huailang’s eyes.
The person before him was a star in the heavens.
He could only look up at it. He could not touch it, yet he wanted to keep that star by his side forever.
Even though, at present, that star had only briefly streaked across the sky above his head.