Hu Youlu used the strength he’d fought his way out of the womb with to wail and cry, and worked up a full body of sweat, the sour smell rising off him assaulting Hu Yougui to the point of misery.
In the old days, life had been hard, and even falling into a cesspit wouldn’t have seemed out of the ordinary. But now that life was good, and there was a clean-obsessed sister-in-law at home, they’d all developed the habit of wiping themselves down every day with warm water steeped in medicinal herbs, top to bottom, without fail.
As for the elder brother, he’d already been “Fifth Brother” for some years now — his own family had four older brothers above him, so his little temper had long since been cultivated.
So without any courtesy at all, he shoved Hu Youlu away, and with a face full of disgust said, “Second Brother, how long has it been since you bathed?”
Hu Youlu froze. He felt like his elder brother was speaking words he should understand, yet somehow couldn’t quite grasp.
Bathed? He’d never once bathed in his whole life. When he got truly filthy, he’d find a basin at home, heat up some water, and wash up — his toenails, when they got too long, he’d soak them soft in water and tear them off.
And it wasn’t just him — most people were like this. Even some fairly well-off households in the city bathed at most once a month. As for why women always kept a cloud-collar draped around their necks, it was because they liked using hair oil, and worried the oil would stain their clothes and make them hard to wash, so cloud-collars in every color had come into fashion.
But a nose accustomed to cleanliness grew sharp. Hu Yougui pinched his nose and stepped further back. “Second Brother, you’ve gone sour.”
“Huh?”
Hu Youlu lifted his sleeve and sniffed left and right. What was his elder brother talking about? There was no smell at all!
Of course he couldn’t smell it. A hot water bath alone was a luxury ordinary people couldn’t afford — even the cheapest large tub at the bathhouse cost over ten wen. One wen could buy two coarse flour cakes.
Watching his brother step back and back, Hu Youlu finally realized he was being shunned, and mumbled as he retreated himself, looking at his brother dressed in fine, exquisite clothes. He thought, that’s right, my brother isn’t like before anymore — how could someone as crude and disgusting as me still have the face to call him brother?
Seeing his younger brother retreat, Hu Yougui, at a loss, reached out to grab his sleeve and pull him along — but Hu Youlu’s sleeve wasn’t sturdy at all, and with barely any force, a whole strip of it tore off in his hand.
How many years old was this thing? How many people had worn this ragged old garment before him?
Hu Yougui looked down at the scrap of cloth in his hand. This kind of fabric was all too familiar — stripped from corpses time and again, washed and reused, stripped and washed again, until it finally fell apart. That was always how it ended.
This coat was probably older than Youlu himself.
So he looked at his younger brother and asked seriously, “Being a capital official may not be easy, but I remember he — Hu Chunhou — is the judicial officer of Nanfeng County. A judicial officer may be a minor post, but it’s still an official rank within the imperial bureaucracy, a proper appointed official!
Our Sage Emperor has always been generous and dignified — as a rank seven-A official, he gets eight guan five hundred coins a month, ninety dan of grain a year, and the office grants at least two hundred mu of official land for his household’s use besides. As a judicial officer who also manages court records and assists with lawsuits, even the livestock trading contracts in the market need his official seal on the sheepskin deeds — that alone brings in tens of wen in tea money. Even as an upright, incorruptible official, his own untaxed monthly income shouldn’t fall below thirty guan. How could he let his own legitimate son wear such a rotten, tattered padded jacket in the dead of winter?”
Hu Youlu looked down at his own jacket, missing half a sleeve, and after a good long moment burst out laughing. He said to his brother, “Brother, why are you talking like that? You’re scaring me!”
But Hu Yougui stared at him intently and asked again, “I’m asking you — don’t hide anything, tell me the truth.”
Hu Youlu touched his sleeve, a little embarrassed, but he’d long since grown used to it, and didn’t feel wronged at all. He said, “Judicial Officer Hu is in the prime of his life, and he’s always been one for grand displays of righteousness.”
Hu Yougui sneered. “Hmph. His old sickness has flared up again.”
Hu Youlu shook his head. “He learned his lesson. He hasn’t been like that for a long time now. These days at most he spends ten wen a month helping out here and there, and he’s even learned to check first whether the other party actually needs the help before he does anything.”
Hu Yougui scoffed coldly. “A dog eating shit — one pile or a whole trail, makes no difference. Can’t even take care of his own children properly, yet wants to wear someone else’s skin outside to prove he’s got humanity!”
Hu Youlu just stood there and laughed. So many years now — whatever life his brother had lived, he’d lived it too, and he’d grown used to it, endured it, made peace with it. He just worked twice as hard so he could find his own ease.
He didn’t mind. He laughed and said, “Think about it — really, nobody has it easy. The fact that I can study at the Imperial Academy now is thanks to him too. Credit where it’s due. If you don’t expect anything from him to begin with, you won’t get so angry over it. He’s got elders above and children below, three daughters and two sons, and he took in a young mistress with a child of her own besides — the household’s a mess, and everyone in it has their own scheming ways. He brought the trouble on himself, and for the rest of his life he won’t have a single person who’s truly devoted to him.
On top of that, he brought back two disabled brothers-in-arms from the battlefield. A judicial officer might scrape together twenty or thirty guan a month, but with such a large household to support, even his own underclothes are patched on top of patches.”
Hu Yougui glared at him. “And you’re just his good little son, aren’t you!”
Hu Youlu stepped forward instead. “No, no — I’m not his good son. I hate him. He knows it.”
At least that sounded like something a person would actually say. Anger was fine as anger — no need to explain himself to someone so heartless.
Hu Yougui nodded. “The Imperial Academy provides grain stipends for its students, and you can read and write. How did you end up living like this?”
Hu Youlu burst out laughing. “It used to be alright. But this past year, his savior’s children grew up, and the household’s gotten tight on money. On the first and fifteenth of each month, Grandfather and Grandmother send someone to cry to me, saying all the money in the house is controlled by the young mistress, but they still want to save some up for my future bride-price. How much can I even earn? Ha — this coat of mine, actually, I pawned my winter clothes from home for it. What I got in exchange were these two old sets from the pawnshop — no wonder they’re not sturdy.”
Hu Yougui drew a sharp breath. “You go to the pawnshop?”
Hu Youlu nodded. “Mm, I go. Often. Trade for a bit of rice — as long as my stomach’s not growling, I can study in peace. The household hasn’t sent this winter’s allotment yet. I figure, maybe they won’t send it at all anymore… Ever since — ever since he found you, he hasn’t much wanted to see my face, or ask after me at all. Brother, you know how it is — inside and out, two different faces. That inner face of his is a coward’s face.”
Hu Yougui raised an eyebrow. “Those two old folks are trying to get you a bride? I don’t believe it.”
Hu Youlu shook his head helplessly. “How could it possibly be about finding me a wife. They’ve just run out of money to spend, and they’ve got no face to admit it outside, but they still want to keep up the pretense of being the proud parents of an official. Brother, don’t be angry — the old folks are getting on in years, and every month when they ask their daughter-in-law for money they get shot down. Round and round it goes, until they remember they’ve still got this grandson who’s studying and can scrape together a little something, so every month they send someone.”
Hu Yougui ground his back teeth. “And you just give it to them?”
Hu Youlu nodded readily. “I give it! When you two were gone, when the war broke out, when the famine came, the younger children in the village were the ones traded off to others as mutton on two legs — but they didn’t trade me. They gritted their teeth and fled with me in tow. For that alone, I owe them coal and clothes for winter. Money’s just something outside the body — it’s not worth more than my life.”
What could Hu Yougui say to that? He could only grunt.
But Hu Youlu had long since made peace with it all, and he laughed and said, “I’ve done plenty of reading these past years, and I’ve picked up a few truths from it too. The relationship between father and son is like an inverted process — at first the elder holds the power, but later the power shifts to the young. Grandfather and Grandmother can’t push around the younger generation anymore now, so with no money in hand, they try to squeeze a little courage-money out of me instead.
I’ve never expected him to stand up for anyone. The people who aren’t outright bad are often the most infuriating ones of all — what can you do about it? Keep your distance, put some space between you, and everyone breathes easier. If he can spend this life looking after that one thing properly, that’s fortune enough for me. You don’t know this, but he’s raising three children from his brothers’ families — those two men saved his life on the battlefield, so he has to see to it that other people’s children are provided for first. Outsiders all know it, and who doesn’t praise him for it.
What can we do — we still have to keep up this one reputation of grand righteousness he’s built, or else there’ll truly be nothing left at all.
Honestly, I never intended to marry and start a family of my own anyway. Isn’t that how you think too, Brother? We’re both afraid of being bad parents to someone else, so we might as well give up the idea entirely. Brother, everyone has it hard in their own way. I’ve made my peace with it — you should too!”
His little brother had grown up. All that reading hadn’t been for nothing after all.
A cold gust of wind blew past. Hu Yougui sniffed, then reached out and undid his own bearskin cloak, waving his brother over to wrap it around him, pulling him close as they walked. “Come with me, Brother. I’ll provide for you!”
Hu Youlu bared his teeth in a grin, tears falling. “No need — I’m grown now. I won’t be getting my stipend for a few more months, but next month I will. I copy books and write for people, and once the New Year festival comes, I can trade calligraphy scrolls and paintings for money to support myself. Brother, my handwriting is really beautiful — I rank first or second in the whole academy for it.”
“Ah, then from now on write everything for your brother — we won’t sell your calligraphy anymore.”
“That won’t do…”
“Listen to me!”
In Yandu, you could hear it — merchants from distant lands trudging thousands of miles, bringing camels and horses into the capital, camel bells jingling, cart wheels creaking over the flagstones of Yandu’s streets. The heavy snow had come, and the bearers carrying their masters’ palanquins quickened their pace, slipping past the Hu brothers.
Hu Yougui threw on the sheepskin cloak his personal guard had brought for him, and pulling his brother along, they slipped past the camel caravan, weaving hand in hand through the bustling talk of the crowd, down the winding lanes and into the West Market.
The West Market never feared wind or snow — food stalls lined the whole street, steam rising into the air, drawing in every traveler in Yandu who dared brave the cold.
The moment Hu Youlu entered the market, the smell of food hit him, the scent of meat broth overpowering everything else, and his stomach began to growl.
Hu Yougui reached out and patted his brother’s shriveled belly with a sigh. “Ai, a grown man like you, and you’ve got nothing on you at all!”
Hu Youlu just laughed. “I’ve got you, Brother.”
Hu Yougui smiled, and pulled him over to lean against the wall of a shop with a heated wall.
The old stall owner boiling meat soup clearly knew Hu Yougui, and greeted him warmly with delight. “Well, what a rare sight! Heavy snow like this, and your feet get itchy for a walk too? Good timing, good meat in the pot — you never come by when it’s like this, but now, in the snow, everyone wants something hot. You’ve finally come? Let me see, let me see — it’s all just thin broth now, nothing left in it. What’d you come for?”
Hu Yougui smiled, reached into the small pouch at his waist, and pulled out two handfuls of gleaming coins, setting them on the table, and said generously, “Who wants to eat those scraps of yours — that bloody-necked cheap meat, I wouldn’t touch it! Quick, send your grandson running — tell the butcher shop to cut a good slice from the three-layer fat around the loin, and simmer it in your old broth.”
The old shopkeeper laughed heartily, tossed a handful of salt into the pot, threw in a few old bones, then waved over a boy from inside the shop, counted the coins into his hand and sent him off. Only then did he look Hu Youlu over, sizing him up for a good while before saying, “Is this really a relative of yours come to the city, sir? You’re a stingy one — bringing an old relative on a freezing day like this, and you don’t even take him to the Eight Immortals Restaurant!”
Hu Yougui smiled gently. “Can’t do that — too many acquaintances there, I’d worry about someone else picking up the bill and putting me in their debt. You’ve seen the world, old sir — this is my younger brother.”
Hu Youlu blinked, on the verge of tears again, but the hunger in his belly chased the sorrow away, and he could think of nothing else.
Seeing his brother start to lose composure, Hu Yougui said quietly to the old man, “It’s cold out — bring us a good bowl of broth first.”
He said this while winking at the old man, glancing at the pot. “Give it a good stir with the ladle, work the bottom of the pot a little. Your grandson eats this every day, he’s probably sick of it by now — there’s still some good bits left. Take care of my brother today, would you?”
Seen through, the old man grunted, turned, and grabbed the ladle, stirring seriously through the boiling pot, and really did manage to fish out some mutton liver and lung.
Hu Yougui stood and took the bowl, bringing it to his brother. Hu Youlu, past caring about manners, was about to drink straight from it when his brother stopped him.
Before he could react, he saw his brother pulling out some dry flatbread he’d bought at some point, breaking it piece by piece into his bowl.
Once the bowl was solidly filled with a floating raft of bread and noodles, Hu Yougui let out a satisfied breath, pushed the bowl toward him and said, “Eat. This’ll actually fill you up.”
Hu Youlu took a breath, picked up his chopsticks with a slightly trembling hand, and buried his face in the bowl — after that, only the sound of slurping remained.
Next door, a food stall lifted the lid off its steamer, white mist curling up to reveal plump, puffy mutton buns.
Seeing his brother eating with such relish, Hu Yougui walked over, tossed a few coins down, and brought back two buns.
He’d barely sat down when he spotted, at the stall beyond that one, a cutting board with sesame-sprinkled layered flatbread. He got up again to pay, and came back with a whole stack of it, setting it in front of his brother…
By the time Hu Youlu finally looked up to breathe, there was already a whole pile of food in front of him. He startled, looked up at his brother — but his brother, holding a coarse porcelain bowl of wine, was simply watching him eat with a smile, watching his astonishment, and said, just like when they were children, “What are you looking at me for? Eat. There’s plenty. Don’t eat too fast — I bought you good meat, the loin strip!”
When Hu Youlu was small, whenever he went into the city with his brother, every time they passed a butcher’s stall he’d lean against the wooden counter and stare at the meat, gnawing on the wood itself. Every time, he’d gnaw the wood pale white on the inside before his brother would forcibly haul him away on his back, always coaxing him — next time, I’ll buy you some, next time… And in the end, he really had bought it. He hadn’t lied.
Hu Youlu nodded. He wasn’t hungry anymore now, but he found himself craving that wine, and without quite knowing why, he found himself speaking in the tone of his childhood self. “Brother, what’s that you’re drinking?”
Hu Yougui laughed, took a bowl, tossed five coins into it, and called out across the street toward a shop with a straw gourd hanging outside, “Shopkeeper! Another good bowl over here.”
Before long, the old man tending the wine jars came out, took the empty bowl, filled it, and brought it over.
Hu Yougui pushed the bowl of wine toward his brother and said with a smile, “You’re grown now — drink up. It’s nothing special, just the weak stuff idle men drink, not even thick. Next time we’re both free, I’ll take you to Sanjiagou — they’ve got the good stuff out there.”
Hu Youlu smiled, lifted the bowl, and drank half of it in one go, baring his teeth. “Sour.”
“Ah.” Hu Yougui nodded. “Five wen worth…”
Just then, the old stall owner’s grandson came back carrying a whole cooked slab of meat glistening with fat in a basket. The old man took it and began slicing it on the board. His grandson watched, drooling, and the old man turned to glance at Hu Yougui, who quickly looked down at his wine bowl out of politeness. The old man sliced off a piece and popped it neatly into his grandson’s mouth, then flipped the boy’s small shoulder around and gave him a kick, saying, “Get lost, you shameless little thing! Cold as it is, and you’re just standing here in the way.”
Hu Yougui coughed once, and just as he tipped his head back to finish off the last of the cheap wine, his eye caught sight of a few people in the market, and he choked violently, coughing hard.
Hu Youlu moved to pat his brother’s back, but saw him instead wave over the guard standing by the heated wall, pointing down the street.
The guard startled too, instinctively reaching for his saber at his waist — but today was his day off, and they were all in plain clothes.
“What should we do, my lord?”
Hu Yougui sighed helplessly, and finally said in a low voice, “Hurry back to the guard quarters, get the others here quickly.”
The guard said, “That’s a bit far, isn’t it — and today’s Liu-daren’s shift with the Golden Guard.”
Hu Yougui ground his teeth. “His shift? Then how did they get out here? Doesn’t he know the old man and the young masters have snuck out? I don’t believe it! And you — get it through your head, the Long Blade Guard is the Long Blade Guard, the Golden Guard is the Golden Guard.”
The guard’s face went pale, and he clasped his fists and hurried off.
Hu Youlu’s face looked uneasy, but Hu Yougui just smiled at him. “Eat your food. It’s nothing.”
Emperor Wu, Yang Zao, had woken up today with some strange whim of his own — and had brought along the Second Prince, Fifth Prince, and Sixth Prince, the four of them, father and sons together, wandering happily through the West Market.
A blind old man, leading his granddaughter by the hand, approached Hu Youlu. “Would the young master like to hear a song?”
Hu Youlu looked at his brother, took a breath, then handed the mutton bun on the table to the grandfather and granddaughter and waved them off. The pair of street performers thanked him profusely and left.
Hu Yougui looked out over the street, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile.
He kept watching all around, waiting, and once the great trouble had wandered past the mutton soup stall, Hu Yougui stood up, grabbed the stack of layered flatbread from the table, swept over to the cutting board, wrapped the meat inside the bread, stuffed it into his stunned brother’s arms, and pulled him along as he followed after.
It had snowed today, and it was also his day off — His Majesty hadn’t originally meant to go out, but upon hearing from the Astronomical Bureau that the snow would grow heavier, he’d suddenly felt the urge to go out for a stroll.
Being the emperor, if he wanted to go out unseen, he naturally had his own ways of managing it — but unfortunately, his household had too many eyes and ears watching him. Somehow, along the way, he’d slipped past the watch guards on duty, and picked up all three of his sons along the road as well. What could he do? He was forced to bring them all along to enjoy the bustle of the West Market.
This father and his sons were the type who’d never really seen the world, having lived their whole lives cooped up like prisoners in the palace — so the moment they entered the West Market, they were practically giddy with excitement, marveling at everything, having eaten nothing but the finest delicacies their whole lives. They hadn’t gone more than a few steps into the market before they stopped, refusing to move on, in front of a stall selling spring pancakes rolled with mixed vegetables.
And it wasn’t really their fault — in the old days, She Shang hadn’t had this kind of bustling prosperity, and once he’d entered Yandu he’d never left again.
Standing in front of the spring pancake stall, His Majesty reached for the pouch at his waist to fetch some coins. He was in a good mood, wanting to play the simple, doting father from among the common folk and buy pancakes for his sons — when he suddenly heard someone clear their throat beside him.
Father and sons all looked up together, and there was Hu Yougui, holding his younger brother by the arm.
His Majesty felt a flash of embarrassment inside, but kept up appearances regardless. “Why, it’s you?”
Hu Yougui let go of his brother, clasped his fists in salute with a smile, and said, “Greetings to you, sir, and to the young lords. This lowly one was over there eating meat broth, and who knew what luck struck me — I looked up and saw immortals descended from the heavens.”
The Sixth Prince, who’d been looking all around, perked right up the moment he heard the word “immortal.” “Immortals? Where, where are they?”
Having searched all around and found no immortals, he turned, undeterred, to the old woman running the spring pancake stall and asked, “Grandma, where are the immortals?”
He was plump, which made him look rather simple-minded.
The old woman looked at him, dressed in such fine, precious clothes, yet clearly not the sharpest, and gazed at His Majesty with deep sympathy. “You’ve got it hard too, old sir. Weather’s bad today — you’d best keep a close eye on him, don’t let him wander off. All sorts of people come through this West Market.”
The Second Prince, Yang Zhen, flushed red on the spot, pulled his younger brother aside, and scolded him. “Immortals! Immortals! Immortals my ass, don’t go running off!”
The Sixth Prince’s eyes lit up. “Immortal… ass?”
He closed his eyes and sniffed the air.
His Majesty rubbed his forehead helplessly, then looked at Hu Yougui. “You want me to go back?”
Hu Yougui smiled good-naturedly. “Who would dare, sir? You go on and enjoy your walk, this lowly one will wander about on his own — it’s simply a coincidence.”
His Majesty grunted. “Then hurry along, don’t stand around here being an eyesore.”
But Hu Yougui said, “That won’t do at all. Now that I’ve seen you, sir, I can’t very well let you out of my sight.”
His Majesty glared at him threateningly. “Now that’s an interesting thing to say. What do you mean, can’t let me out of your sight?”
Hu Yougui stepped forward, glanced at the pancakes, then at the pouch at His Majesty’s waist, and said with a smile, “You brought silver out with you, didn’t you, sir?”
His Majesty, somewhat pleased with himself, patted his pouch. “Naturally.”
He opened the pouch to show Hu Yougui, laughing. “Hmph, We — ahem — really did think of everything. No need for you all to lecture Us. That business of ‘why don’t they just eat meat porridge’ — never happening to Us! Hmph!”
But Hu Yougui said, “You’ve thought far ahead, sir, naturally you’ve considered everything. But this is a five-tael ingot, and an ingot of this quality is top grade — and right now the exchange rate on the street runs about one thousand three hundred wen per tael. Even reckoning a string as a thousand wen, that’s still six or seven catties of copper. If you break this smallest ingot to buy the young lords these pancakes at three wen a roll, four people, that’s twelve wen — once you break the five-tael ingot, you’ll have nearly forty catties of copper coins left over. Are you going to carry that, sir, or shoulder it, while you go strolling through this market?”
The imperial father and sons all drew a sharp breath together, and looking down the long stretch of the West Market, suddenly felt the weight of it.
Well then.
His Majesty, determined to keep up appearances to the end, gave his cloak a haughty pat and said to Hu Yougui, none too graciously, “You carry it.”
But Hu Yougui said, “This lowly one must protect you, sir — it wouldn’t be convenient. Besides, though I’m a military man, I do have my principles — I despise gold and silver most of all. You mustn’t insult this lowly one with it.”
Carrying dozens of catties of copper while guarding four people at once — he wasn’t a fool.
His Majesty huffed in frustration. “You lot get bolder by the day. Look at the others — would any of them dare speak to me like this? This, this is all Qingling’s fault, spoiling you all until you’ve got no manners left at all. Get lost, quickly!”
But Hu Yougui just grinned cheekily. “Look at you, sir — in Teacher’s eyes there’s only his eldest grandson, what are the rest of us? These days he looks down on everyone anyway, so why not just let this lowly one stay by your side and serve you…” He stepped forward, opened the small leather pouch at his waist and shook it, revealing the gleam of copper coins inside. “This lowly one has money.”
His Majesty took a sharp breath, turned to walk away with his hands behind his back, then spun back around, reached out, and snatched the pouch right off Hu Yougui’s waist, then stormed off in a huff.
Hu Yougui’s mouth twitched, and he turned to see his younger brother clutching a huge meat pancake, chomping away fiercely with one eye on the show ahead and the other on his own brother.
Ai, a rare day off, and already one thing after another — enough to worry a man to death.
Hu Yougui grabbed his brother and quickly hurried after them.
What this whole group failed to notice was that the row of idle men who’d been leaning against the wine-bowl shop to keep warm all stood up together the moment they left, rolling up their sleeves, and sauntered off after them at an unhurried pace…