ADWMCES Chapter85

On New Year’s Eve, Chu Fengqing took some medicine that contained sleeping pills. He felt groggy all day and had trouble staying awake. Although he told Ji Yujin in advance that this was normal, but Ji Yujin was still scared and stayed by his side, not daring to leave.

Imperial Physician Li even came to see him once. After taking his pulse, he told Ji Yujin that he was fine. Only then did he feel relieved. The new prescription was working very quickly. Including today, it has been three days in total. The symptoms of the epidemic have been subsiding little by little, and his pulse has also gradually stabilized. Imperial Physician Li stroked his beard and showed his first smile since he came here.

In the evening, the servants carried in the dishes. Seeing that the meal was lavish, Ji Yujin posed a question.

The servant who brought the food said with a happy face, “My Lord, the noble tend to forget things easily. Today is New Year’s Eve. Now that the prescription is out. It looks like we will get better soon. The chef in the kitchen said to cook a few more dishes to use the joy to dispel the bad luck of the past few days.”

Ji Yujin was slightly stunned and curled his fingers. It was New Year’s Eve again.

He suppressed the emotions that were about to burst out of his surging memories and called Zhao Li in, “Take some gold from my account and give it to the brothers below as a New Year’s gift.”

Zhao Li looked at him with some concern, opened his mouth, but in the end did not say a word, and just cupped his hands and said, “Yes.”

After Zhao Li left, he looked at the table full of dishes without moving his chopsticks. However, he poured glass after glass of wine. The wine was not so clear, but a little turbid. He tilted his head back and took a gulp, and the glass of wine was empty.

He drank several cups in a row, and the smell of alcohol inevitably stained his clothes. He looked up at the sky. The moon was slowly rising, and he stood up and walked towards the inner room.

He sat down next to the sleeping Chu Fengqing, touched his face with his hand, and a hint of tenderness finally appeared in his dark eyes.

Ji Yujin took out a piece of jade from his arms. The carving of the jade was not very good, but the quality of the jade was first-class and smooth to the touch.

The totem on the jade pendant is not the common auspicious symbols such as a dragon or unicorn, but a strange totem that looks like a dragon and a turtle.

When the flood was raging, many families posted the pattern of this auspicious beast. Ji Yujin asked curiously and was told, ‘This is the god worshipped by the local people. It is said that it can protect sick people from recovery and keep them safe and healthy.’

Thus, he spent a long time learning from the local craftsmen before finally being able to carve a piece that was pleasing to the eye.

The jade pendant was not big and was woven with a red string. Not wanting to disturb his sweet dream, Ji Yujin tied the red string around his wrist. Chu Fengqing’s wrist was thin and slender, and his snow-white skin looked particularly beautiful against the red string.

Ji Yujin looked at his masterpiece, then put his hand back under the quilt.

At this moment, a few firecrackers suddenly rang out outside the room. It turned out that some people were still celebrating New Year’s Eve.

Not sure if it was the sound of these firecrackers that caused the silent streets to suddenly become noisy or something else. Every household lit up the lights, and the sound of firecrackers then filled the air.

Ji Yujin calculated the time and found that it was the beginning of spring, it’s spring.

This year, the beginning of spring and New Year’s Eve fell on the same day, and the lifeless city finally became lively.

“Let’s welcome spring!”

“Spring is coming!”

Winter draws to a close, and spring approaches. The mountains and rivers remain secure, and the people live in peace.

……

Amid the sound of firecrackers, Ji Yujin leaned over and kissed Chu Fengqing on the lips. His voice was as clear as snow, yet it contained an indescribable tenderness, “The end of the year is approaching, I wish you a peaceful winter. I hope my young physician will recover from his old illness, and Chang’an will always be safe.”

He raised his eyes to look at the sky. The moon was bright and clear, unchanging as if it had washed away all the filth.

Just as he was about to rise, the corner of his robe was suddenly tugged. Ji Yujin turned back and saw Chu Fengqing, his eyes clouded, one hand clutching at the hem of his garment.

He hurriedly sat down, smoothed his messy hair with his hands, and smiled, “Are you awake?”

Chu Fengqing blinked, apparently still a little confused. He looked outside and noticed that there was no candle in the inner room, it was completely dark. He was stunned for a moment and asked, “What time is it now?”

Ji Yujin: “In another quarter of an hour, it will be Zishi¹11-1am.”

Chu Fengqing frowned. He didn’t expect that he would sleep for so long.

Ji Yujin: “You haven’t eaten for the whole day, are you hungry? I’ll get you some porridge.”

Afraid that Chu Fengqing would suddenly wake up, the porridge was kept warm in the kitchen.

Chu Fengqing was a little annoyed. He didn’t expect that he had slept for so long. He said softly, “Wait a minute.”

As he spoke, he looked towards the small box on the windowsill. Ji Yujin didn’t understand why, but seeing that he wanted to get out of bed, he stopped him and said, “I’ll get you whatever you want.”

Chu Fengqing hesitated for a moment and nodded. At this moment, he saw the jade pendant on his wrist and raised his hand to look at it curiously. “What is this?”

Ji Yujin followed his gaze and said with a smile, “This is New Year’s red envelope.”

He fixed his eyes on him and said slowly, “May the new year be blessed with good fortune and everything go smoothly.”

Chu Fengqing ran his hand over it. The carving lacked refinement and was clearly the work of a beginner. He immediately knew who had made it and said, “It’s very well carved.”

But he didn’t quite recognize the object carved on the head, and Ji Yujin just said it was a lucky item.

Ji Yujin helped him get the small box, but Chu Fengqing didn’t take it. “This is for you. Open it and take a look.”

Ji Yujin cast him a glance and opened the box. Inside lay something resembling a book. As he flipped through it, he discovered it was a collection of street jokes, all penned by the same hand.

Some of the street jokes weren’t particularly funny, yet these simple, everyday tidbits could still capture attention and showcase life’s small joys, reminding people that no matter how serious things seem, they are merely fragments, ordinary necessities of daily life.

He turned the pages. No two were the same in the thick book, and every word bore Chu Fengqing’s handwriting. How had he gathered so many jokes in such a short time? He seemed to glimpse the quiet person roaming the market, collecting stories.

Fool.

Ji Yujin lowered his eyes, afraid that his emotions would be seen. He pulled the corners of his lips and barely raised a smile, “Where did you find so many jokes?”

Chu Fengqing’s eyes curved slightly, “I asked around.”

He was someone who knew little about the world of grains and was not good at making up stories about the affairs of the market, so he spent a lot of effort to go to the market, where storytellers always had many stories, and he learned a lot from them.

Ji Yujin possessed both power and wealth. He pondered for a long time, unsure what to give as a gift, until he finally thought of the joke.

He promised to tell him street jokes, but nothing can go as planned. The time for his prescription changes is coming soon. Whether he can make it through or not is not up to him. But he didn’t want to break his promise, so he prepared this collection of stories. However, he didn’t have much time to prepare either, if he read one a day, it would only last for a year, so he could only read one a year or a month.

The firecrackers outside hadn’t fully faded when someone set off a cluster of fireworks, bursting brilliantly in the sky and lighting up half of it.

There was a hint of surprise in Chu Fengqing’s eyes. Ji Yujin was standing with his back to the fireworks behind him. The fireworks reflected half of his face, making him look extremely handsome.

Chu Fengqing paused and said through the fireworks, “May you have good days every year, beautiful scenery every morning, and be happy and live forever.”

His voice was like the gentle breeze, soothing and refreshing.

“Ji Yujin, happy birthday.”

Ji Yujin’s drooped eyes moved slightly, and strong emotions swept over him, making him unable to face it; he subconsciously wanted to run.

He raised his eyes to Chu Fengqing and said, “Wait for me, I… will bring you some porridge.”

Walking into the outer room, his clenched fists loosened a little. The festival that he had been avoiding seemed to be given something different today, like a spring breeze blowing, the frost and snow were slowly melting, and in the future the mountains would even be full of blooming flowers.

He was afraid of his birthday because of his mother. Every time he came to this day, he would think of the tragic death of his mother. He didn’t tell Chu Fengqing about it, mainly because he didn’t want these dirty things to dirty his ears.

At that time, he also thought that his mother died of illness. It was not until his uncle asked him to open the coffin for inspection that he found the body in the coffin was in a distorted posture and the coffin was covered with scratches from fingernails. Only then did he realize that his mother did not die of illness but was buried alive.

Even as he knelt before the grave, his mother might still be alive, struggling in pain, and he would know nothing.

He didn’t understand why that person hated his mother to such an extent. He had clearly relied on the power of his mother’s family to rise to the top step by step…

After he became the head of the Xichang, he spent several years uprooting that person bit by bit, and that person was eventually beheaded. On the day of his death, he drank all night and had a dream after getting drunk. In the dream, he was still very young, running towards a pair of nobles in gorgeous clothes with unsteady steps, reaching out his hands and shouting “Father, Mother” to the couple.

That noble couple also smiled and rubbed his head gently.

He thought he would feel great after taking revenge, but he didn’t. There was nothing but boundless emptiness, as though he were the last person left in the world, with no remaining ties to it.

Chu Fengqing stood up and walked behind him. He said nothing and simply asked to sit beside him. The two sat in silence as bursts of fireworks exploded outside, turning the room alternately dark and bright.

Ji Yujin reached out and touched his hand; fortunately, it was not cold.

Chu Fengqing drank a mouthful of the still warm porridge and then poured a glass of wine into two cups, one for each of them. “Would you like to drink some?”

Ji Yujin was stunned for a moment and only reacted after seeing him take a sip and immediately snatched the wine from his hand. “Chu Fengqing, have you forgotten about your body?”

Chu Fengqing wiped the wine off his lips and said, “Then, alright, I won’t drink. I’ll just accompany you.”

Ji Yujin didn’t drink either. He was afraid that the smell of alcohol would bother Chu Fengqing, so he deliberately pushed the wine away.

Chu Fengqing lit the candles in the room. The candlelight flickered, and the room suddenly became much warmer.

The night seems very long, yet very short.

Chu Fengqing took the collection of stories out. A bookmark lay inside the book. It was unusual, resembling a leaf, though Ji Yujin couldn’t tell which tree it came from. When Chu Fengqing noticed it, his eyes flickered slightly, and he placed the bookmark between the pages at the back again.

Then he recited the first street joke softly, the candlelight then flickered, and the coldness and loneliness in the room were slowly covered up by the witty and amusing words.

Ji Yujin curled his lips. He knew that Chu Fengqing was coaxing him in his unique way.

He leaned in and kissed him.

He really loved this person so much that he couldn’t express it in words. He just wanted to rub him into his bones and blood. No one could understand the deep love he felt for him.

Chu Fengqing transformed what he feared and hated little by little into the most beautiful things in the world and left his own mark on them bit by bit.

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