This year, A-Ji passed the provincial examination. The metropolitan examination would not be held again for another three years, and since he was still young, his family was in no hurry to see him enter officialdom. In other words, after this major examination, he would have another three years of relatively carefree time.
“I’m older now. I can’t go on wasting my days as carelessly as a child.”
A-Ji raised his hand and tossed two arrows. Both landed neatly in the wine jar. He rolled his wrist, then threw the remaining arrow into the jar on Qin Shu’s side.
“But I don’t want to spend all my time buried in books at school, either.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
Qin Shu picked up a candied longan filled with lotus seeds from the lotus-patterned porcelain dish and brought it to the young man’s lips.
A-Ji bent down and bit into the sweet, then looked up at Little Shu. “The mountains and rivers of this vast land are so beautiful. I’d like to travel and see the world.”
“Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.”
Qin Shu did not dismiss A-Ji’s fanciful idea. On the contrary, he seemed rather approving.
The sons of officials had spent most of their lives in the capital. Though it was the most prosperous place in the world, after living there for more than a decade, they knew every corner of it by heart. How could that compare with traveling and broadening one’s horizons?
When A-Ji saw that Little Shu had not objected, he was delighted for only a moment before an uneasy feeling arose in him.
He moved closer and leaned his head toward him. “If we’re traveling, a short trip would be three to five months, while a long one might last a year or even half a year. Would you truly be willing to part with me?”
Qin Shu raised his eyes. “You were the one who suggested it. That already shows you’re willing to leave me behind. Since that’s the case, naturally, I’m willing to let you go.”
“When did I ever say I was willing to leave you?”
A-Ji denied it at once. He took Qin Shu’s hand and said, “It’s precisely because I can’t bear to leave you that I haven’t mentioned this to my family. I only told you.”
Qin Shu said nothing, allowing him to hold his hand. After a moment, he asked, “Was this merely a sudden impulse, or have you been planning it for a long time?”
“I was born in Qianzhou, but my memories from when I was little have long since faded. Sometimes, I can still recall fragments in my dreams. I want to visit Qianzhou and see the land where the Song and Duan families once lived.”
Qin Shu gazed at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes. This was not an idea that had occurred to him only today, but an earnest desire to pursue those incomplete memories from his dreams.
More than anyone, Qin Shu understood that feeling.
“Then let’s go together.”
Qin Shu said it calmly.
A-Ji’s eyes suddenly lit up. He sprang from his stool and ran excitedly around the room.
Being happy was one thing, but the matter could not be decided by the two of them alone. They still had to seek permission from their elders. Thus, the two went their separate ways to sound out their families.
“Qianzhou has been developing rather well this year. I’ve been saying for a long time that I’d go back and take a look, but with official duties keeping me busy, I’ve never found the time. Now that your studies have reached a certain level and you haven’t entered official service, you’re at the prime of your youth. You still have time to do the things you enjoy, so go back to Qianzhou in your father’s place and take a look.”
After Duan Yan and Song Fengsui heard A-Ji’s plans, they were naturally worried, but they were also quite supportive.
They had only one son, and wanting to keep him safely by their side, sheltered beneath their wings, was perfectly natural. But the two of them had come through years of hardship themselves. They knew all too well how the years they had spent in Qianzhou had shown them the unpredictability of life and the constant changes of the world. The best protection they could give their child was to let him leave the shelter of his parents’ status and learn how to deal with problems on his own.
A-Ji was seventeen this year. When Song Fengsui had been that age, he had already been facing the upheaval that would shatter his family. A-Ji, by contrast, was still carefree and innocent. It was time for him to temper his character.
It was rare enough that he had come up with the idea of traveling and gaining experience on his own.
“Now that the realm is at peace, unlike those years when disasters and warfare were everywhere, the roads are safe and open. If you want to go, you can begin making preparations—”
Seeing how open-minded his family was, A-Ji grew bolder. He went straight to the point. “I plan to travel with Little Shu!”
Duan Yan nearly choked on his tea. “The heir apparent?”
“Absurd! This isn’t a spring outing to the outskirts of the capital. How could the heir apparent accompany you all the way to some distant region?”
Song Fengsui added, “Among all the capital’s noble families, Little Shu is the one His Majesty cherishes and dotes on most. How could he allow you to take him away from the capital? We can indulge your usual foolishness, but you are not to bring this up again. Otherwise, you can forget about leaving the capital at all.”
The couple’s expressions changed at once. Duan Yan and Song Fengsui naturally knew that A-Ji and Little Shu had grown up together and shared an exceptionally close bond.
Their own son could be raised a little more roughly. It would do him no harm to suffer a bit or endure some hardship out in the world. But Little Shu’s identity was entirely different. If anything happened to him, no one could bear the consequences.
“Little Shu wasn’t born in the capital, either. Just like me, he dreams about things from his childhood. That’s why he wants to take this opportunity to visit the eastern regions.”
A-Ji continued arguing on behalf of their travel plans. “Since we both want to return and see the places where we were born, wouldn’t it be better for us to go together? We could look out for each other.”
But no matter how A-Ji tried to persuade them, Duan Yan and Song Fengsui refused to relent. In truth, even if they agreed, it was not a matter they could decide on their own. Little Shu’s affairs were not something that even a favored and powerful minister could make decisions about.
They thought the matter would have to be shelved for the time being. Unexpectedly, the next day Duan Yan was summoned to the palace. There was no urgent official business or military matter at hand, so being called to see the emperor could only mean one thing: the children’s plan.
Since Little Ji had spoken to him and Sui Sui about traveling with Little Shu, the two of them must have already discussed it beforehand. Once that boy returned home and reported it, Little Shu would certainly have gone to the palace. Qin Zhitian loved Little Shu too much to scold him, but that brat A-Ji had actually come up with the idea of coaxing the heir apparent into leaving the capital. He was sure to receive a stern reprimand.
Duan Yan could not help feeling tense. He only hoped His Majesty would not be too angry.
Song Fengsui knew that Duan Yan had been summoned to the palace early that morning, and he was so uneasy that he could not settle down. He did not attend to any other matters that day. Instead, he took a carriage and waited from a distance outside the palace gates.
After roughly an hour, he finally saw Duan Yan emerge from the palace, his brows drawn together. When Duan Yan spotted their carriage, he strode over and climbed inside.
“Did His Majesty get angry and punish you?”
Duan Yan took Song Fengsui’s hand.
“We’re going to be fathers-in-law…”
Song Fengsui stared at him in confusion. “What?”
“His Majesty says he intends to grant them a marriage.”
…
When A-Ji heard the news, he shot upright.
“His Majesty is going to grant Little Shu and me a marriage!”
His face flushed with excitement, but then he looked bewildered. “Why would he suddenly grant us a marriage out of nowhere?”
A-Ji grabbed the edge of Duan Yan’s robe and asked anxiously, “Father, you didn’t hear wrong, did you?”
Duan Yan and Song Fengsui looked at their son, who was so happy he was practically beside himself. His foolishness was almost infectious. When they had first heard the news, the two of them had been full of worry on the way home, afraid that their brat would be unhappy about having a marriage arranged for him.
Although A-Ji and Little Shu were childhood sweethearts and got along extremely well, matters of the heart were impossible to predict. They were not the only two children who had grown up together. Rongrong had grown up alongside them as well. She often played with them, and all three had attended the same school.
No one could say for sure what these youngsters were thinking. After all, their fathers had been young once themselves.
But judging from the rascal’s reaction, he might as well have marched in with gongs and drums to announce it. He was only afraid that his fathers had misunderstood and that he would get his hopes up for nothing.
Duan Yan was both exasperated and amused. “Your father isn’t senile yet. Do you think I can’t even understand His Majesty’s words?”
A-Ji let out a joyful whoop. “No way! Dad, Papa, I’m going to the heir apparent’s residence to see Little Shu!”
With that, he ran off like a gust of wind.
Song Fengsui shook his head. “A grown child is water poured out—never to be gathered back.”
Duan Yan smiled and comforted him. “Since he’s so happy, it saves us from having to deal with one more major matter later.”
Thinking about it, Song Fengsui couldn’t help smiling as well.
By the time A-Ji rode to the heir apparent’s residence, Little Shu had just returned from the palace. If he had arrived a moment earlier or a minute later, the two of them would have missed each other.
“His Majesty wants to arrange a marriage between the two of us?!”
The moment A-Ji saw him, he could no longer hold back the question he had been carrying all the way there. He hurriedly reined in his horse, leaped down, and landed right in front of Little Shu.
Qin Shu looked at the hair that had been tousled by the wind. He gave a quiet hum. “You came at just the right time. I was about to look for you and tell you about this.
“The decree hasn’t been drafted yet, so the matter may not come to pass. If you’re unwilling, I’ll explain everything to Imperial Uncle. I won’t let you bear any blame.”
“Such a wonderful favor would be difficult to obtain even if one begged for it. How could I possibly refuse?” A-Ji said at once. “But we were talking about traveling. How did it turn into a marriage decree?”
Qin Shu said nothing.
If he told A-Ji that he had been the one to ask Imperial Uncle for the marriage decree, he wondered whether A-Ji would be angry with him for it.
He looked into A-Ji’s clear, limpid eyes and said, “You’re a man, and I’m a ge’er. We’re also both at the age when we can marry. If we continue behaving without restraint as we did when we were children, people will inevitably gossip.
“As for this journey, we can only tell outsiders that we’re visiting relatives. If we travel together to visit relatives without any proper relationship between us, how could we get past the rules of propriety?”
With that, Qin Shu turned and walked into the residence. “Imperial Uncle said that without a respectable relationship, we won’t be allowed to leave the capital.”
A-Ji hurried two steps to get in front of him, walking backward as he faced Little Shu. “Then doesn’t this kill two birds with one stone?”
Qin Shu pressed his lips together, his eyes drifting aside to hide the hint of a smile in them.
The marriage was settled. Yet whenever an edict came from the palace, every required procedure had to be completed, and the whole process took nearly two months.
During that time, A-Ji and Qin Shu packed their belongings together. They wanted to travel light, and neither of them cared much about clothes or provisions. What mattered was carefully planning the route they would take.
Both of them were filled with anticipation for the journey, just as they had been when they first traveled together to the outskirts of the capital for a spring outing as children.
Han Rongrong lounged in a chair, watching the two of them sit side by side as they pored over maps and travel records to plan their route. She was so annoyed that she popped an entire crab-paste pastry into her mouth.
She was upset not only because she couldn’t leave the capital and travel with them, but also because that contest from their childhood had finally, more than a decade later, ended in A-Ji’s victory.
What a pity. What a pity!
A draw was supposed to count as both sides losing, but the detestable Duan Ji had actually won!
“If you two don’t send me delicious food and interesting things after you leave, then once you return to the capital and get married, don’t even think about receiving a wedding gift from this young lady.”
“Young Master Duan has always been considerate toward the defeated. Your request is approved.”
Han Rongrong gave a huff and turned her back to them. “You’re both so annoying.”
By the time A-Ji and Little Shu left the capital, summer was drawing to a close and autumn was just beginning. The weather had turned pleasantly cool, making it the perfect season for travel.
They headed toward Qianzhou, where they could also enjoy the beautiful sights of the autumn harvest. By the time they reached Qianzhou, winter was just beginning.
After leaving the capital, they traveled on horseback. Along the way, they stayed at the same relay stations they had used when they first entered the capital as children, and they made camp in places they still remembered.
They experienced sleeping under the open sky and dining in the wind. They hitched rides on ox carts carrying grain to the cities to sell. They traveled alongside merchant caravans and escort agencies whose routes took them across the land.
Kindhearted strangers shared local delicacies with them, while people with ulterior motives managed to steal their money.
They taught a few tyrannical local families who bullied the common people a lesson, and they also suffered injuries when those families retaliated.
Every sight the two of them encountered was fresh and fascinating. They visited famous mountains and great rivers, admired the misty rain of Jiangnan, and even experienced the deserts of the northern frontier and voyages along the eastern coast. It was a dazzling richness unlike anything they had known during the first half of their lives.
It was rare for young people to travel in the springtime of their lives. With ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers beneath their feet, the whole world seemed theirs to explore.
The red glow of the sunset filled the sky and scattered across the deck like spilled cinnabar sand.
A-Ji stood at the edge of the deck, gazing out over the vast river and sea. Today’s sunset felt much like the one on the day they had entered the capital many years ago.
Back then, the two little boys had huddled together in the carriage, unable to bear parting. Little Shu had told him that if A-Ji remembered him, he would come find him.
Bathed in the sunset glow, Qin Shu asked, “Do you still remember what you said?”
The corners of A-Ji’s lips curved upward. Just as he had when they were children, he leaned toward Qin Shu.
Only, when they were young, he had kissed Qin Shu on the cheek. This time, he tenderly kissed his thin lips instead.
“I’ll only ever be with my gege.”
