“Whichever one you want, I’ll shoot it down for you.”

Zhao Chu himself perhaps did not yet know, but for Fang Linyuan, it was truly and sincerely that he had gained another friend.

An especially beautiful friend.

Though Zhao Chu still was not very fond of speaking, he seemed to be a person of great patience. No matter what Fang Linyuan said, he would listen quietly; no matter when one looked at him, he always bore a calm and focused expression.

Such a person always made others feel at ease.

Thus, Fang Linyuan regarded him as a most loyal and righteous friend, and treated Zhao Chu with special sincerity. Whenever he came across something amusing or delightful, he could not wait to present it first to Zhao Chu.

Time flew swiftly, and soon it was this year’s Flower Festival.

In these two years since the new emperor’s ascension, the winds and rains had been in harmony, the governance clear and orderly; Daxuan was renewed from top to bottom—let alone the imperial capital itself.

Half a month before the Flower Festival, the Rongchang streets had already begun to be decorated with colorful sheds. It was said that this year, apart from the nighttime flower-street festivities, there would also be a rather grand lantern fair.

Well before the festival day, many friends had invited Fang Linyuan to go out with them to celebrate.

But Fang Linyuan kept thinking of his friend in the palace, and so he did not agree to anyone’s invitation. Instead, when entering Wenhua Hall for study, he slipped over to Zhao Chu’s desk. “A few days from now is the Flower Festival—will Your Highness go to see the lanterns?”

“Lanterns?” Zhao Chu lifted his eyes.

Fang Linyuan nodded repeatedly.

“I’ve seen them before, they’re incredibly beautiful. I heard this year will be far livelier than in past years—they’re even building a DaAo Mountain in the middle of the street.” Fang Linyuan said.

(NT: DaAo mountain was a giant man made structure with lanterns. In ancient Chinese mythology, the Ao is a giant sea turtle or sometimes a dragon-turtle. DaAo mountains symbolized prosperity, stability, and imperial blessing.)

At this point, he suddenly recalled another matter, and scratched his head.

“Only… it means going outside the palace.” He raised his eyes toward the lady official following behind Zhao Chu.

“Good elder sister, can the Fifth Highness leave the palace?”

Even the palace women and matrons who had seen countless things in their lives could not withstand a burning-eyed “good elder sister” from this young master.

They exchanged glances, then remembered the Emperor’s earlier instructions. After a moment’s hesitation, they said: “The palace gates lock at the hour of Xu (NT: 7 – 9 pm), young master. If you return too late, we will have difficulty accounting for it.”

Fang Linyuan’s eyes lit up.

That meant—it was allowed!

*

And so, on the day of the Flower Festival, the quite popular Young master Fang of the capital gave no face to anyone’s invitations, and devoted himself single-mindedly to leading his palace friend to Rongchang Street to behold the grand sights of the imperial capital.

That young master Zhao from the palace indeed had never seen such spectacle.

Lanterns shone on hundreds of flowers, colorful sheds swayed. The streets were already crowded with people, and with a female sovereign on the throne, the customs were open: women of both official and common families mingled with men without distinction. They need not veil their faces or hide behind hats—friends in groups of three or five went out together, fragrant and radiant, more dazzling than the blossoms themselves.

For children, the riot of lanterns and the small toys carried on vendors’ racks and boxes were simply an irresistible temptation.

But Zhao Chu’s gaze swept over it all, letting the blazing lights of the whole street reflect in his eyes—yet his gaze remained calm and unruffled, unmoved in the slightest.

Until it fell upon that figure not far away.

The lively, open-hearted young master was like a fish darting into water, eyes bright, face alight with excitement, tugging at him constantly, pointing here and there for him to look.

He followed Fang Linyuan’s pointing to see, and from time to time, in the intervals of his glances, his eyes would linger on him for a moment.

Zhao Chu truly had never seen such a bright and cheerful person—like a sudden shaft of sunlight piercing through heavy clouds.

Others were always scrutinizing him: when he had been forced to wear gowns, and even more so after he returned to the form of a man.

Scrutinizing, probing, spying out his secrets, or weighing the power at his back.

Only Fang Linyuan was different.

His eyes were clear, his smile was sincere. His heart bore no impurities, pure and transparent, so much so that even to look at him a few moments more felt like being granted a blessing from Heaven itself.

Zhao Chu cautiously, preciously guarded this blessing that had fallen to his side. At the same time, he could not control himself from being attracted to him—like a horse held in his hand.

As he watched Fang Linyuan play, laugh, and chatter in excitement, he too felt as though he were being gathered into sunlight.

Naturally, Fang Linyuan was entirely unaware.

This was a once-a-year Flower Festival, so bustling and so beautiful—a sight rare even in the imperial capital itself!

These adornments all over the street made him unable to tear his eyes away.

The street was crowded, and between himself and Zhao Chu they had brought only two attendants. Everything he saw was novel to him, and with so many family members and friends on his mind, before they had even gone half the length of the street, he had already bought a great pile of all sorts of odds and ends.

At the Su family cloth shop by the roadside, there was displayed a newly designed hundred-flowers silk gauze, said to have been created by the uniquely gifted daughter of the shopkeeper. He bought two bolts—one for his mother, and one for the sister-in-law who had not yet entered the family. A few toys of the same style but in different colors were for his close brothers. The two beaded bouquets were for those two easy-going “good elder sisters” who served at Zhao Chu’s side.

And then, with the excuse of the sugar paintings drawn so vividly, that largest, most stately peony sugar painting…

He stuffed it straight into Zhao Chu’s hands.

Zhao Chu was slightly taken aback, then saw Fang Linyuan smile at him.

“Their sugar paintings are the prettiest, and the tastiest,” Fang Linyuan said. “They never sell these fancy ones on ordinary days—only during the Flower Festival do they have them. It’s really rare. Quickly, taste it.”

The sweet fragrance of sugar drifted to the nose. Amid the curling sweetness, Zhao Chu looked toward Fang Linyuan.

The glow of the lantern light refracted on the glittering sugar painting, casting bright shadows across Fang Linyuan’s fair little face.

As though compelled by some unseen force, Zhao Chu placed the candy into his mouth.

Fang Linyuan’s eyes blazed as he stared fixedly at him. “Sweet? Is it sweet?” he asked, nervous yet concerned.

Zhao Chu looked at him, and nodded.

“Very sweet,” he said.

*

The two of them went all the way to the end of Rongchang Street. In front of the massive DaAo Mountain stood a tall wall built of wooden frames, covered all over with flower lanterns. When the night wind blew, they swayed gently, looking splendid and dazzling.

A crowd had gathered before the lanterns, and the workers there were calling out, saying that if one could hit any flower lantern with a dart, they would win the prize written on it.

Fang Linyuan was immediately interested. Hopping with excitement, he craned his neck, trying to see the words written on the lanterns.

But unfortunately… the words were all written inside. Only by shooting down a lantern could one see what prize was on it.

Fang Linyuan very much wanted to shoot one down, just to see what he could draw.

But alas, they had already strolled through an entire street, and the two attendants behind them had their hands full of things. Fang Linyuan’s own hands were also piled up with purchases, leaving him no way to free them to play the game.

He looked several times, but there was nothing else he could do, so he gave up.

“Then let’s go, Fifth Highness,” he said to Zhao Chu.

But then he saw Zhao Chu lift his eyes, glancing up and down at the wall of lanterns.

“Which one do you fancy?” he heard Zhao Chu ask him.

“Mm? What?” Fang Linyuan did not understand for a moment, then followed his gaze back to the wall of lanterns.

And saw Zhao Chu withdraw his eyes, and look back at him.

The tipsy night, the whole wall of lanterns—reflected into Zhao Chu’s eyes.

“Whichever one you want, I’ll shoot it down for you.”

 

Translator : DarNan