Top Scholar

Chapter 436 The Nightless City of Beijing

Tongzhou is located forty miles southeast of the capital. It is the end point of the Grand Canal, guarding the capital and controlling Tianjin. Since ancient times, it has been a vital transportation hub and granary of the capital region.

Although the canal was frozen in the first month of the lunar calendar and the cargo ships had stopped, Tongzhou City was still bustling with carriages and horses, and the market was prosperous, as if it were a completely different world from Bazhou, which was a hundred miles away.

The Tongyun Gate was bustling with people, but Su Lu and Su Tai spotted Su Youcai and Su Man waiting anxiously by the roadside at a glance.

"Father! Brother!" The two could no longer contain themselves and ran over.

"Xia-ge'er! Qiu-ge'er!" Su Youcai excitedly greeted his two sons, embracing one in each arm and holding them tightly in his arms.

Su Man was rather reserved, standing to the side with a smile, but her eyes were slightly red.

Without saying a word, Su Lu and Su Tai each used one hand to pull their elder brother over and hug him tightly.

"Don't do this. Four grown men hugging and cuddling in public..." Su Man struggled and said, "It's too indecent."

"Brother, let me hug you properly." Su Lu said, his voice choked with emotion, "If it weren't for you, I might be in prison right now."

Su Man had no choice but to give up struggling and let him be...

After his excitement subsided, Su Youcai smiled at Su Lu and said, "Actually, the person you should thank the most is your eldest uncle. If he hadn't caught a panda from the deep mountains and sent it all the way to the Emperor, how could things have gone so smoothly?"

"Of course, my uncle is my great benefactor." Su Lu nodded emphatically and asked, "Where is he?"

“My father now works as a panda breeder for the Emperor and can’t come home even once a month,” Su Man said with heartache. “He spends the New Year with the pandas in the Leopard House.”

"There's nothing we can do. That little thing is too delicate. It would be a real problem if it didn't survive," Su Youcai sighed.

What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Qian Ning, who was already on his way to the capital and feeling utterly lost, suddenly brightened up upon hearing this and leaned closer with a fawning smile, saying, "I can learn that too! I can raise pandas too..."

Upon seeing the culprit who had abducted Su Lu, Su Youcai and Su Man immediately became wary.

"Grandson greets Grandpa!" Qian Ning didn't mince words and kowtowed to Su Youcai right at the city gate.

"Who is your grandfather?" Su Youcai was completely confused.

“He insisted on calling me godfather…” Su Lu explained embarrassedly, “I didn’t agree.”

"What are you guys up to?" Su Youcai was completely baffled.

"It's a long story, let's talk about it on the way." Su Lu couldn't explain it clearly in just a few words.

~~
The official road from Tongzhou to Beijing was wide and straight. After exchanging greetings, everyone boarded carriages and embarked on the final leg of their journey to Beijing for the imperial examinations.

In the swaying carriage, after Su Lu finished telling him about what had happened since they last met, Su Youcai said happily, "So I'm going to be a grandfather? Great, second son, you've got the same style as your father back in the day."

"..." Su Lu's lips twitched. It turned out that he had said a long string of words, but his father hadn't heard a word of it.

Okay, that is indeed the most important thing...

"It'll be another six months," Su Tai said with a sheepish grin, scratching his head. "I don't know how I got pregnant."

"Good, good, you've got the skills." Su Youcai patted Su Tai's big head happily, then asked Su Lu, "And you?"

"No rush, no rush," Su Lu said with an embarrassed smile. "We're still young, we plan to talk about it in a few years."

“What’s there to dawdle over?” Su Youcai said.

“I’m just worried that Dad won’t be able to keep up with everything…” Su Lu’s reasoning was perfectly valid.

"That's true." Upon hearing this, Su Youcai indeed stopped pressuring him to have more children. His youngest daughter was only six months old; if he were to have a grandson in half a year, he really wouldn't be able to manage it all...

"Grandpa, please do something for your godson first." Qian Ning couldn't help but climb onto the car and pleaded, "We're almost in Beijing, please give your grandson a way out."

"What exactly do you want?" Su Youcai asked.

"My grandson wants to learn how to raise pandas from his great-grandfather. From now on, my great-grandfather and I will work in shifts to help him out, so he won't have to work so hard," Qian Ning said with a smile.

"You gave up your position as a commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard to raise pandas?" Su Youcai didn't quite understand.

“Wasn’t my great-grandfather also a commander of a thousand households?” Qian Ning said matter-of-factly, “How could someone who wasn’t a commander of a thousand households be qualified to serve that treasure?”

Su Lu had already made up his mind to help Qian Ning get through this ordeal, so he spoke up for him, saying:

"Actually, this is also an idea. Xiao Ning is meticulous, hardworking, and willing to go all out. She should be able to take good care of the panda, which will also help share some of the burden with her uncle."

“Alright, I’ll talk to Eunuch Zhang later. He’s in charge of the Leopard House now.” Since his son had spoken, Su Youcai nodded and said, “Let’s see what he has to say.”

"Is Grandpa very familiar with Godfather Zhang?" Qian Ning asked cautiously.

"We're quite familiar with each other," Su Youcai said with a smile. "Eunuch Zhang is a very nice person; he even came to our house to pay his respects during the New Year."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Qian Ning kowtowed to him from the carriage, "Grandpa gave me my life."

“No, you’ve got it all mixed up, kid.” Su Youcai frowned. “You call me Grandpa, and you call Eunuch Zhang your godfather, but I call Eunuch Zhang my elder brother…”

"It's alright, it's alright, we'll each talk our own way," Qian Ning said with a smile. Right now, he just wanted to get through this hurdle; he didn't care whether he was treated like a son or a grandson...

~~
Su Lu and his group hurried along and finally arrived at the outskirts of Beijing before sunset.

The group of scholars, who were visiting the capital for the first time, couldn't help but stop and look up. They saw the towering city walls that stretched as far as the eye could see, with battlements that cut through the twilight sky over the plain like jagged teeth.

In the center of the city, a majestic city gate stands, its double-layered gate tower with upturned eaves and covered with green glazed tiles. Hanging in the center of the gate tower is a plaque that reads "Chaoyang Gate," the three powerful golden characters gleaming warmly in the setting sun.

At the city gate, soldiers dressed in bright red uniforms, fully armored and armed with spears, vigilantly watched the surging crowds entering the city.

At this time, Chaoyang Gate was still bustling with carriages and people, as merchants and ordinary citizens all wanted to enter the city before the gate closed.

The soldiers guarding the city ordered them to line up, check their travel permits one by one, and inspect their belongings. It seemed that most of them would have to spend the night outside the city.

Fortunately, the candidates' convoy, carrying a yellow flag that read "By Imperial Decree to Take the Examination," was able to cut in line and enter the city...

“The checks aren’t usually this strict.” Su Youcai watched the carriage enter the city before he felt relieved. “It’s because Eunuch Liu was assassinated a few days ago, so the authorities are naturally checking more strictly.”

"Did it work?" Su Lu and Qian Ning asked in unison.

"No," Su Youcai shook his head. "It's not that easy."

"Sigh..." The two sighed in disappointment.

~~
Upon entering the capital, everyone felt as if they had entered another dazzling world.

On both sides of the long street, various lanterns were dazzling and eye-catching, vying for beauty and dazzling the eyes.

It was already dark, and the long street was bathed in the glow of lanterns, creating a starry river of light. The octagonal lanterns under the eaves were as red as agate, the green gauze lanterns in front of the shops were as bright as jade, and the gilded melon-shaped lanterns hanging from the treetops were as yellow as scattered gold.

There were also adorable jade rabbit lanterns, seemingly swimming glass fish lanterns, and revolving lanterns adorned with silhouettes—a dazzling array of sights. Children laughed and played in the lantern light, running past the scholars…

While Su Lu and the others marveled at this, they couldn't help but be puzzled.

"It's already the 25th of the first lunar month, why haven't the lanterns been taken down yet?" Zhu Zihe asked.

"His Majesty likes it," Su Youcai said. "We didn't put up lanterns for the past two years because of the national mourning, so His Majesty said that we should make up for the lanterns from the previous two years and keep putting them up until the end of January."

"How much money will it cost to light so many lamps?" the scholars exclaimed indignantly. What they had seen and heard along the way had greatly agitated them.

"Don't talk nonsense." Qian Ning hurriedly whispered, "The Imperial Guards and Secret Service in the capital have a lot of informants. Be careful what you say today, or it will be on the eunuchs' desks tomorrow."

"What did we say? Are we not allowed to speak?!" The candidates retorted, but dared not speak again.

Su Youcai booked a private room at a restaurant on Chaoyangmen Inner Street to welcome the scholars.

Their respective attendants followed the convoy ahead to Sichuan Camp Alley outside Xuanwu Gate, where the Sichuan Guild Hall was located.

The scholars were exhausted from their long journey, so the banquet ended quickly so that everyone could go to the guild hall to rest.

The Su brothers followed their father and brother back to their temporary rented courtyard, also located on Luomashi Street outside Xuanwu Gate, just a few steps from the guild hall. They had rented this place originally to make it easier for the brothers to visit their classmates.

The courtyard is not large, consisting of only two sections, front and back, and three rooms in width.

“It’s not that we can’t afford a bigger one, it’s just that when doing things in the capital, it’s better to keep a low profile and be more cautious…” Su Youcai said, reaching out to remove the door chain and pushing open the courtyard gate with a creak.

The lights were on in the main room of the courtyard. Someone came out after hearing the noise, and it was Su Lu's cousin Youli.

He and Youxi had accompanied their uncle to the capital to deliver pandas. Their uncle stayed behind, and the two of them also stayed in the capital. Now they are both junior officers in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Today, Su Youxi went to the Leopard House to help his uncle, while Su Youli waited at home for them to return.

"We've been waiting for you all to come back!" Su Youli hurriedly ushered everyone into the main room, where a stove was burning, making it warm and cozy.

"You must be exhausted from the journey, right? Quickly soak your feet and get some rest." Su Youli worked very efficiently, taking a kettle from the stove to prepare foot bath water for everyone.

As soon as he got home, Su Lu was exhausted, feeling as if his whole body was filled with lead. He kept dozing off while soaking his feet.

“Don’t sleep sitting up. Go to the inner room. The kang (heated brick bed) is nice and warm, it’ll help you relax.” Su Youcai patted Su Lu on the shoulder. “But the four of us will have to squeeze in.”

"Grandpa, what about me?" Qian Ning was still there.

“Go back to your own home,” Su Youcai said matter-of-factly.

Qian Ning, however, said with a bitter face, "I dare not go back. I'll stay here until I see Godfather Zhang."

The spy knows the spy best; he knows that if he steps out of this door, he might be knocked unconscious and stuffed into a sack.

Helpless, the crowd had no choice but to arrange for him to share a room with Youli and two pageboys for a few nights.

Su Youli initially disliked this shameless fellow, but when he saw him take off his overcoat, revealing the uniform of a commander underneath, he quickly knelt down on one knee to pay his respects to the commander.

"No need to be so polite," the commander said casually. "Just give me the head of the kang (heated brick bed)."

(End of this chapter)