Jing Yi [with an innocent smile]: Not cold, not... (⊙o⊙)!
Wang Ye [with a light smile]: Since you enjoy being so down-to-earth, you'll surely do well with this task.
Jing Yi [heart trembling]: What task...
Wang Ye [with a light smile]: Qi Bo at the Royal Mansion's suburban farm is short-handed, and you happen to be free.
Jing Yi [teary-eyed, fidgeting]: Wang Ye...
Wang Ye [face turning icy in an instant]: How can one serve as an official without knowing physical labor or the basics of farming?
Jing Yi [silently scratching the wall in his mind]: Yes...
[Prince An Manor Suburban Farm, Morning]
Jing Yi [forcing a smile with a deep breath]: Qi Bo, Wang Ye sent me to help you.
Qi Bo [beaming]: Good, good... Have you done farm work before?
Jing Yi [grinning through gritted teeth]: Yes... often! [Looking around pretentiously] As expected of an experienced farmer, even the horse grass is so robust!
Qi Bo [speechless]: Lord Jing, that's wheat...
Jing Yi [(⊙o⊙)!]
[One Hour Later]
Jing Yi [wiping sweat]: Qi Bo, all the chickens have been fed!
Qi Bo [puzzled, looking at the chicken coop]: Good... but what's with the extra fences inside?
Jing Yi [smugly]: I counted—one rooster with three hens is perfect. Keeping four together stops them from wandering, so we'll know who the father is when chicks hatch!
Qi Bo [-_-b]
[One and a Half Hours Later]
Qi Bo [puzzled]: Lord Jing, what are you looking for?
Jing Yi [covering his neck, still looking up]: Didn't you tell me to harvest peanuts...
Qi Bo [confused]: Yes, so what are you doing?
Jing Yi [innocently]: I've checked all the trees in this area, but I don't see any peanuts... Are you sure this is the right spot?
Qi Bo [speechless, pointing down]: You're stepping on them...
Jing Yi [(⊙o⊙)!]
Qi Bo [cautiously]: Lord Jing, are you sure you understand everything now?
Jing Yi [patting his chest]: Don't worry! Big potatoes in the big basket, small potatoes in the small basket—how hard can that be?
Qi Bo [leaves reassured]
[Two Hours Later]
Qi Bo [bewildered, staring at potatoes lined up by size]: Lord Jing, what are you doing now?
Jing Yi [frantically grabbing his hair]: Tell me! These potatoes in the middle—bigger than the ones in front but smaller than the ones behind—do they count as big or small potatoes!
Qi Bo [tearing up]: Lord Jing, you should just go home and rest...
Jing Yi [clenching fists]: I'm not tired!
Qi Bo [weeping]: But I am...
Jing Yi [=_=]
[Prince An Manor, Hall of Ten Admonishments]
Wang Ye [with interest]: How were the results?
Jing Yi [shamelessly smiling]: Quite fruitful, quite fruitful...
Wang Ye [seriously]: After this experience, which do you find more interesting—people or crops and livestock?
Jing Yi [without hesitation]: People!
Wang Ye [thoughtfully nodding]: Good... then no more farm work for you.
Jing Yi [eyes welling up]: Yes, Wang Ye!
Wang Ye [with a light smile]: The Ministry of Justice Morgue starts clearing unidentified corpses tomorrow. You'll assist there.
Jing Yi [(⊙o⊙)!]
☆、64 Xiao Jue's HappinessWhen Jing Yi escorted Xiao Jue back from the magistrate's office, the main gate of the Prince of Wu's Estate had already been reinstalled. The moss and weeds on the courtyard walls had been thoroughly cleared, and the yard had been tidied up—neat and artfully arranged. The once desolate and bleak courtyard had transformed into a tranquil little dwelling, leaving Xiao Jue utterly stunned. He remained dazed even as Jing Yi carried him to the bed.
"Don't look at me like that," Jing Yi said, covering him with a quilt and narrowing his fox-like eyes. "I certainly didn't have the spare time to clean your house."
"Then who..." Xiao Jue gazed around in confusion within his limited line of sight. "Where's Steward Tian?"
"Before I could even investigate him, he fled. Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later." Jing Yi flashed a meaningful smile. "It doesn't matter that Tian Kun is gone. The Emperor has sent someone better to attend to you... I have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now. Rest well."
Before Xiao Jue could utter a word, Jing Yi had already leaped out through the window.
Sent by the Emperor?
Someone better?
Xiao Jue stared blankly at the freshly arranged room. A vase stood on the table by the window, holding a few branches of yellow wintersweet, their subtle fragrance drifting faintly through the air.
His favorite flowers, placed precisely where he could see them most easily while lying in bed.
On the low bedside table sat a completed chess game. Xiao Jue recognized it at once—it was the solution to the unfinished game that Chu Chu had overturned earlier, solved with both ingenuity and logical elegance.
Four charcoal braziers burned brightly in the corners of the room, filling it with a warmth it had never known before. Since his injury, he had become particularly sensitive to cold, enduring winters with great difficulty—though he had never complained, or perhaps he had, but no one had ever paid attention.
Who could be so familiar with his past while also understanding his present circumstances?
Sent by the Emperor...
He had been taken to the magistrate's office by Jing Yi early in the morning and had remained there until dusk. Exhausted beyond measure, enveloped in the room's warmth and subtle fragrance, Xiao Jue hadn't even begun to ponder the implications before he drifted into a heavy slumber.
He slept deeply and comfortably—the most restful sleep he'd had in three years—until a familiar voice faintly roused him from his stupor.
"Xiao Jue... Xiao Jue, wake up..."
That voice... so vivid, as if it were right beside him. But how could that be...
From the moment he first laid eyes on that spirited young maiden from a military family in the palace at thirteen, his heart had been completely captivated. He had never told her, had scarcely exchanged more than a few words with her. He had been waiting for the right moment—to achieve something through his own efforts before confessing his feelings to the beloved daughter of the top-ranking general and the captain of the imperial guards in the Empress's palace.
He had been ready. That summer three years ago, after the final battle in Lingnan, he would return to the capital to confess. If she didn't refuse, he would immediately propose to the Leng family and had even begun planning the betrothal gifts. But then, just as spring began, that incident occurred... and now, in this state...
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