The night of the winter solstice, the lanterns were all hung up.
Under the eaves the tiny orbs of light, seeping through the thin red paper, forming a red trail, illuminating the entire courtyard.
The snow continued its descent, not heavy-handed nor a fine dusting, enough to turn the world white, there was a thick layer forming on the rooftop, the ground and the trees also.
Martial artists were not affected by the cold, the door was open, no errant wind tracking the snow in, sitting indoors, with underground heating, they could enjoy the snowy scenery, two birds with one stone.
This was not Xuanduguan, but Chang'an Shaoshi Manor, now renamed Guogong Manor.
After Yang Jian ascended to the throne, like Yuwen Yong before him, he conferred the title of shaoshi upon Yan Wushi, with the rank of guogong, truth be told everyone knew this was merely a title, anything would do, even if it was general or some lordship, Yan Wushi was still Yan Wushi, Huanyue Sect was still Huanyue Sect, no one could change that.
Compared to Yuwen Yong, Yang Jian was more aware that in this world, not everything was decided by the emperor alone, there were still many noble families and bloodlines, their established histories and influence, even the emperor had to lend his ear, in order to breakthrough the influence of these powerful families, Yang Jian announced a revision to the imperial examination system to enter civil service that had been in place since Wei-Jin, so that suffering scholars everywhere could access the imperial exams as a step towards advancing themselves.
Under this new system, the power of the original officials in charge of selection no longer existed, this power had been returned to the emperor, the scholars were happy, the noble families not so much, to contend against their massive influence, for this long interim, it was impossible for Yang Jian to part ways with Huanyue Sect.
As for Xuandushan, as a cornerstone of the Daoist sects today, it was preferable to have them close rather than to give them up, as the founding emperor of a dynasty, Yang Jian naturally recognized this point, under the pretext of preferential treatment of the Buddhist sects, he didn't neglect the Daoist sects, his intention was that between these two large authorities they would hold each other in check, on the other hand, he also supported the Ru sects, intending to compete with Chen, drawing up the talent from the south.
The power differential between the north and the south grew more apparent each day, a clash seemed inevitable, people's allegiances seemed to waver, there were indeed no small number of scholars from the south who came to Chang'an, to participate in the northern dynasty's imperial examinations.
The circumstances of the northern dynasty were good, many people believed, unless something drastic happened, after the Wei-Jin splitting of the central plains, the world was about to welcome another era of unification.
At this moment, the person sitting in Shaoshi Manor, facing the snowy courtyard, did not appear very happy.
That was because in front him was a bowl of dumplings.
To be precise, it was a bowl of lamb soup base dumplings, with sweet tangyuan.
Shen Qiao frowned, faced with this bowl of "hybrid-non-look-alike", he didn't know how to react.
A person walked out from behind the folding screen, seeing his expression, laughed: "Winter solstice is akin to the new year, in the north they eat dumplings, in the south tangyuan, in the Chuan region lamb soup, now all three varieties are represented, for you the world's finest are gathered, why are you unhappy about it?"
Shen Qiao shook his head: "I don't enjoy eating it like this, tangyuan ought to be sweet, how can it be mixed into lamb soup? Did someone come up with this to garner favour with the emperor?"
Yan Wushi clapped his hands: "Your guess is right, this year at the winter solstice banquet, Lord Jin came up with this to suck up to the emperor, he even named this dish "unity soup", implying the unification of every region, Yang Jian was quite pleased, and rewarded him handsomely at the time, the crown prince was there too, his expression was something else!"
The winter solstice banquet had been held yesterday, Shen Qiao hadn't been in the capital yesterday and had not attended, Yan Wushi had gone however, to him, it was like attending a piece of theatre.
Shen Qiao's small exhale was visible in the air: "When they become an adult, their motivations grow complicated, Lord Jin speaks better than the crown prince, to receive more attention in front of his parents is only natural, I've seen that his expression is heavy, between his brows there is a viciousness, I fear he will not be content staying in the position of Lord Jin for long."
Yan Wushi, a small smirk: "So when he was small his motivations were uncomplicated?"
Hearing this Shen Qiao recalled the sword that Yang Guang had thrust violently into Chen Gong.
"Does the emperor intend to rename the crown prince?"
Anyone else hearing this controversial topic would blanch, but for them it was just another triviality, a minor detail.
Yan Wushi: "For now maybe not, but who knows in the future, most likely, in the conquest next year against Chen, if Yang Jian and Dugu-shi favour Yang Guang, they will certainly make him the commander, to accrue more military accomplishments."
He sat down opposite Shen Qiao, directly pulled him into his embrace, then bent his head to pick up a dumpling, taking a bite of it: "It's not bad, come, let this husband feed you?"
Yan Wushi made a motion with the wooden spoon, of course Shen Qiao stopped him with a glare: "Yan-zongzhu, please respect yourself."
No matter how many years had passed, this person's face was still as thin as paper, unable to withstand the tiniest bit of teasing, but the more he was like this, the more Yan Wushi loved to tease him.
"What am I to do with all that self-respect, it's too heavy, otherwise at night when I'm lying on top of you, you won't be able to stand it."
Before Shen Qiao could say anything else that could spoil the fun, Yan Wushi seized his chin, and passed him a mouthful of soup.
For a moment, all was still, except for the falling snow outside, and the movement of lips and tongues inside.
After a long while, Shen Qiao finally managed to push aside the person that "clung" to him, out of breath he huffed: "We were having a normal conversation, keep your hands to yourself!"
Yan Wushi: "This is more fun."
Shen Qiao clearly did not agree to this definition of fun, the thing that made his expression sour was in fact the lingering aftertaste of lamb soup.
This type of tangyuan-dumpling lamb soup…made people run away while declining politely.
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It can be imagined that at the winter solstice banquet, there was no shortage of people unaccustomed to this "unity soup", but they were too focused on the emperor's good spirits, and didn't dare say anything.
Shen Qiao sighed: "When it comes to ruling as emperor, Yang Jian can be considered quite clear-headed, this leads me to believe that I was not wrong in my choice, but when it comes to his children, he appears quite confused, since the titles have already been conferred, he should not be so obvious with his preference of his second son in front of everyone, this will put the eldest son in a difficult position."
Yan Wushi moved to touch him, seeing the other quickly retract his hands into his sleeves, gave a pitiful expression, then said: "It's not hard to understand, many smart people, often on one thing will be blinded by the light, Yang Jian and Dugu-shi are like this, if things continue, a fight will be enacted eventually among the brothers, since antiquity, the royal family has no brothers, it's hardly uncommon."
Shen Qiao: "The crown prince's personality is a bit weak, if he ascends the throne, he'll still follow precedent, but it's hard to say with Yang Guang, when I read his person…"
He shook his head and didn't continue, only saying: "Sometimes it's not good to be too smart, smart people feel like the world exists for them alone, they feel excessively lonely, and compelled to accomplish some thing, ultimately exhausting others and themselves, if the crown prince is renamed, for the Yang family, for the world, it may not turn out to be a good thing."
Yan Wushi laughed: "Qiao, are you talking about me?"
Shen Qiao gave him a look: "Is Yan-zongzhu like this?"
Yan Wushi: "Not necessarily, after all I'm much smarter than Yang Guang."
A smile slipped out from Shen Qiao.
When he smiled, his eyes curved, a blow to the heart.
Yan Wushi believed that even if he stood in the pouring rain, seeing this smile, he'd forget every misfortune, even the heavens and earth would become gentler.
"That Yu Xiu, he's not quite what he seems."
Yan Wushi had begun to imagine the beauty in his arms tonight, and where he wanted to lavish his affections, he replied absentmindedly: "Naturally not, I had Bian Yanmei look into it, from the information gathered so far, this person's birth is like Duan Wenyang, mixed ancestry."
Shen Qiao: "He is part Tujue?"
Yan Wushi nodded: "The events are very interesting, a person of part Tujue ancestry enters the Buddhist sects, becoming a Buddist disciple, and he sticks to Lord Jin's side, his relationship with Lord Jin is ambiguous, the Sui dynasty and Tujue have a poor relationship, but Lord Jin has a half-Tujue monk by his side, what do you think he intends to do? Isn't this a very interesting thing?"
Shen Qiao suffered no small a shock: "You're saying…Yu Xiu and Lord Jin, have that kind of relationship?"
Yan Wushi bit back: "Surely you saw it?"
Shen Qiao was still digesting this piece of information: "I really wasn't thinking in this direction…"
Yan Wushi clicked his tongue: "It's because of your inexperience, that even this you weren't able to notice."
Shen Qiao: "…"
Yan Wushi: "It looks like this venerable one will have to take it upon myself to use my own body to teach you."
Shen Qiao: "…"