It was well-known to everyone that there would be a melodious and moving erhu music played from this Taoist temple at this time.
The music was indeed beautiful, hence attracting many customers to nearby tea-booths or restaurants at this specific time to listen. The music received praises from many people, but the popularity of the maiden playing the music was even greater than the Erhu,--only that the maiden does not know it herself.
Today, the lesson ended again by the children’s pleading, the maiden — Kou Shuurei then played the Erhu, but she was not playing any music compositions today, instead she was playing the legend of the establishment of Saiunkoku that the children like. Following the end of the music, Shuurei ends the story as usual.
“……in the end, the Eight Coloured Sages disappeared without a trace, and it is said that they have blended into the commoners’ life, maybe as our neighbours!”
When Shuurei laughed: “Okay, the story has ended!” The children surrounding her let a sigh.
“Teacher Shuurei!”
“Yes?”
“Is there really a Sento Palace in the royal palace?”
Shuurei put her Erhu aside and smiled: “Yes,” and patted the boy’s head.
“Although it is now known as Sento Province, but according to what Seiran said, it really resides in the royal palace somewhere.”
“Then has Teacher Shuurei seen it before?”
A cute girl with her hair in a bun climbed up Shuurei’s lap.
Hearing this question, Shuurei let out a serious sigh of regret.
“Although it is regretful, I have not seen it before. I have always hoped to see it at least once too, but it is a pity that the Sento Palace is in the royal palace. I could have gotten in if I had joined the state exam; however it is only opened to males.”
“Then I shall join the state exam when I grow up and become a great official. I shall marry Teacher Shuurei and then bring Teacher Shuurei into the royal palace.”
Looking at the energetic boy proudly standing tall, Shuurei couldn’t help smiling:
“Really? That will be great. –But Ryuujin, since you have now set your target, you should work even harder. I bet you forgot to finish your homework for yesterday, right?”
“That, that is because……“
The boy was at a loss without knowing what to do; the girl, with the bun hairstyle hugging Shuurei, rolled out her tongue and made a cheeky face.
“You should stop daydreaming; you have never done your homework.”
“If Ryuujin wants to be an official, he should just follow Seiran, enter the state martial arts exam, and become a military official.
“Ah — Exactly! Because he is good at fighting! And he is only good at that.”
“But he is afraid of his mother and Teacher Shuurei. Isn’t he a bit too useless?”
“You, you guys……”
The boy blushed and clenched his fists, but someone knocked at the temple door at this moment.
“Sorry, pardon my intrusion, Miss.”
When Shuurei saw the tall figure that entered the doors, she was surprised:
“—Seiran! Why are you here?”
“Ah—it’s Seiran!”
“Seiran! Let’s play some war games--!”
The youth that was immediately surrounded by the children, --Seiran showed a wry smile.
“Erm……Sorry, I am busy today, maybe next time?”
A boy let out a sigh of disappointment; the youth tapped the boy’s forehead and moved towards Shuurei.
“Miss, could you please hurry back? You have an important visitor.”
“What--?” This time all the children shouted disappointingly.
Shuurei also groan inwardly due to this uninvited guest. –What a coincidence, I have a very important ‘job’ waiting for me today! Which gullible guest has chosen to visit us today? Even so, Shuurei still stood up quickly, caressing the head of the children that were tugging at her skirt, unwilling for her to leave.
“Sorry, we will have to end here today. Do not forget what was taught today, and Ryuujin, you have to do your homework.”
In a blink of an eye, Shuurei had left with Seiran; on the way, Shuurei wondered:
“Seiran, why are you here at this time? I thought you were supposed to go for a court meeting today?”
“Yes — Miss, you are right. But the guest requested that I travel together……”
“The guest wanted you to return home due to personal reasons? –This guest’s identity isn’t simple then?”
“Yes, yes……”
The vague answer made Shuurei even more suspicious.
Even though Seiren was courtly, he was actually strong in his swordsmanship. Therefore, even if Shuurei’s family — Kou family only backs him in name, he still cut a striking figure with a new record, now a small standing in the military. Even though he has not amounted to much in the imperial court, but to be someone that can influence Seiran, the guest must be a big shot.
“I do not know who the guest is, or why he wanted to see me, but as courtesy, he should have informed me earlier. A sudden visit…… will ruin my plans and schedule!”
Shuurei clenched her fists, glared at Seiran, and held onto his shirt firmly.
“What should we do, Seiran--?” We are in an overdraft for this month again! There was a good-paying job, but it is all ruined now! I thought we would be able to afford rice with the pay, but only barley…… barley…… barley ah--! The middle line in the barley! That middle line that differentiates it from rice is going to mock me again this month : ‘I am not rice!’ Ah—I am not willing, not willing! I hate that guest~!”
“Miss! Nobody said that! Wheat can’t talk.”
Seiran, afraid of attracting sideway glances from passers-by, quickly looked around. This reaction was natural, after all Shuurei was standing in the streets yelling…… but the passers-by ignored her.
“Miss, please do not worry, I will take up more part time jobs. I still have to repair the roof tiles that were blown off a few days ago, otherwise it would troublesome if it rains. Buckets are expensive, so I will go buy tiles and repair them myself. This will save quite a sum of money. I will also get some lattice doors from town to replace the broken ones…… Miss, please do not be sad, I love to eat barley, it’s very nutritious.”
“Waaaaaaaaaa — Seiran! I am sorry! We’re always troubling you. If only my father was more useful, then we would not end up in this situation!”
“Miss should not be mindful of little things like this.”
“Because our Kou family couldn't pay their salaries, all the other servants have left…… but you have always stayed. A dignified military officer has to do the accounting for restaurants, write letters for others and do errands for merchants. In the entire world, only our Kou family orders people around like this.”
“…………”
It seems to be so, Seiran thought. “Originally, your salary would be sufficient for yourself, but staying in Kou family, you have to spend all your salary repairing our house and for our livelihood…… Even so, our family is still afraid and not willing to let you go find a better master, please forgive us! However, if you really find a better environment, then it is okay to not care about us.”
“Miss.”
Seiran interrupted Shuurei with a wry smile.
“Really, you do not have to mind about these. Unless you chase me out, I would not leave you. I have no complains, and I am actually happy that I am able to repay the kindness that your family has shown me.”
“Kindness……?”
“13 years ago, the Kou family accepted and took me in even though I was a stranger. I am already determined that I will repay the grace with my life, so Miss, you should not brood on this at all.”
“……Seiran……”
Shuurei’s face distorted once more.
“Ay — so frustrating! Why did our family end up in this situation--! Only having a high status is totally useless-----!”
“…………”
Patting the back of Shuurei, Seiran nodded and agreed to this statement with mixed feelings.
(…… indeed high status ‘only’……)
This can be seen from the surname of Kou.
Saiunkoku territories were split into eight states. They were the Ran state, Kou state, Heki state, Ko state, Haku state, Koku state, Sa state and the Shi state. These names of the states followed the old names. Six hundred years ago, the emperor ordered the ruling clan of each state to change their surnames on a whim. The Marquis of Ran state changed to Ran, the Marquis of the Kou state changed to Kou, and so on. At the same time, commoners were forbidden to share the same surname as these eight clans. Hence, having these eight colour surnames were a symbol of the nobles among the nobles. Due to the capital—where the imperial court resided, the Marquis of Shi state was the emperor. Since then, the Shi surname represented the surname of the royal family.
600 years later, the ruling system gradually changed from the Marquises ruling of the states to the imperial court ruling, but the seven surnames —Shi surname being another matter as it was the royal family—still exists.
The imperial courts that used to consist of mostly the noble clans were now open to commoners too, through the official appointment system—state exam that had been implemented for decades, though the participants that were able to enter the final round were mostly members from the seven clans. This was because when the state exam was implemented, the seven clans were willing to spent large sums of money to nurture the talents, the result was obviously that the seven clans having many talented and outstanding men, and their popularity in its heyday. Once they were honoured with high official titles, they were able to get good wages; hence it caused no harm to the seven clans.
Shuurei was born in the Kou family — she was of pure lineage and the daughter of the eminent family. Kou family was only under the Ran family in terms of power among the seven clans, the noble among the nobles. It was said that the Shi representing the royal family was the combination of the Ran and Kou family, hence giving the Kou and Ran surname to two of the most powerful clans then.
(…… if so, Miss should be living a generous life, served by a large group of maids.)
No matter how ridiculous, she should not be crying on the streets that they could only eat barley for the month; their family being overdraft, the tiles being blown away, worrying about the leaking roof but having no money to repair and such.
Why did a lady of the Kou family end up in such a situation--?
The reason may be the eldest son of the Kou family, Shuurei’s father, Shoka. Due to his gentle personality and love for literature from birth, there were frequent criticisms of him not being able to be family head; and there was his talented younger brother. Hence, before his death, Shoka’s father instructed his brother to be the next head. Originally believing that he himself was not meant to be the head, Shoka had no complaints and was happy to follow the instructions of his father.
However, after his brother inherited the family business, Shoka’s position as the eldest son became awkward. Therefore, after much consideration, he decided to bring his whole family and leave the Kou state, but the Kou clan would never let the eldest son be displaced, hence they build a residence in the Shi state beforehand and arranged a high position in the imperial court for Shoka. Thus, Shoka’s family migrated to the Shi state, and on the way, took in Seiran who fainted on the side of the road, then moved into the current residence.
The imperial high official was actually just a post responsible of taking care of the library, a post that was dispensable, not many people have even heard of this post. Hence the management of the financial board often forgot to pay Shoka his salary. Furthermore Shoka had never complained about this, thus his salary decreased gradually, until in the end it turned into the situation where everyone in the family — a total of three people, Shoka, Shuurei and Seiran — had to work to support themselves. Yet, Shoka was always buried in books. It was almost impossible to depend on him to support the family. Thus it was really only Shuurei and Seiran supporting the family.
Seiran thought of the past, his eyes becoming misty.
(……I didn’t think that huge residence would require such a high maintenance fee……)
In the beginning, Shuurei and Seiran were optimistic as life was thrifty and as long as sufficient money was earned for 3 people, life could still go on, however……
It was completely unexpected that in order to maintain the large residence as a suitable living environment, one actually had to spend more than half of their pay; since their salaries were dropping, the workload had only been increasing. Even though they strictly regulated Shoka to earn a certain amount of salary, he did not take it seriously. Once he entered the library, he would be free of ‘distractions’.
“Miss……Miss, you have tried really hard, you have been teaching children in the Taoist temple day in and day out after house chores, working until the sun sets…… Today must be a holiday given by God to Miss, furthermore my salary will be increasing soon……”
Shuurei looked up, her face filled with happiness.
“Does that mean you are going to be promoted again? Congratulation, Seiran! Alright, then I’ll pay for dinner today!”
“Ah? But……”
“Relax! The ingredients may be few, but the methods of cooking are varied. Just the chance to showcase my skills. Just you watch, I will cook a table of amazing cuisine!”
Watching Shuurei walk happily, Seiran laughed softly.
What made Shuurei happy was not the rise in salary, but the promotion, and this thought made Seiran very pleased.
“One of the three Grand Officials of the Palace — Sho-Tai Shi!?”
After aggressively pressing Seiran who was being vague about the identity of the guest, the answer shocked Shuurei. She almost spilled the tea leaves on the floor. – close! Tea leaves were expensive, it can be seen how surprising the answer from Seiren was.
The three Grand Officials of the Palace were the mentors of the emperor. Their positions were just below the emperor, although they are not involved in the politics, they were still one of the hundred officials, and their power was even greater than the royals who were of lower seniority.
Furthermore, Sho-Tai Shi was the famed previous emperor’s right hand man, as the highly respected and prestigious minister.
To Shuurei, he was a legendary character.
“Why, why, why did Sho-Tai Shi come and see me!!”
“I have no idea.”
Seiran had no idea too. When Sho-Tai Shi had told him straightforwardly: “I want to talk to the young lady of Kou family, please pass on the message.” He did not really understand it at first, because he could not link ‘young lady of Kou family’ to Shuurei and the residence where Shuurei lived in did not have enough servants to pass on the message, and the lady was working outside during the day and not at home.
“……Currently, is it only ‘that’ father dealing with that big shot……?”
“……Yes.”
“He actually didn’t serve tea to the guest.”
“……Because Master do not know where the tea set is.”
Seiran smiled helplessly, while putting the buns onto the plate to be served as refreshments.
The messy dishes in the kitchen looked like the work of a burglar, but the most important tea set was untouched. ……Looked like he worked really hard but couldn’t find the tea set, the master’s ability in housework really makes people afraid to set expectations for him.
“……forget it, at least he deserves to be praised for knowing to serve tea to guests, this is good considering his normal standard.”
Shuurei sighed deeply, and then carried the prepared tray.
At this moment, Shuurei’s movements changed. Her back became straighter, and her steps became smooth like flowing water. Her graceful movements always amazed Seiran. Not even the female officers in the royal palace had such perfect etiquette.
And because of this, Seiran always felt regretful. If Shuurei spends the rest of her life in the marketplace like this, it would be such a waste of her knowledge and upbringing.
Upon reaching the living room, the soft laughter from within surprised Shuurei.
“……it seems that they are chatting agreeably, but father has no eloquence at all. Unless their interests are common?”
Or maybe it was Sho-Tai Shi deliberately catering to Father…… very possible, no, it is definitely the latter.
Just as Shuurei hid her expression, Seiran entered the living room, kneeling on his knees to his master and guest.
“—Master, Lady Shuurei has returned.”
“Oh, she has already returned?”
A man stood up upon hearing this, an approachable smile appearing on his face. He is the master of the mansion, Kou Shoka. Forty years old, but he has no beard, hence he looked like he was only about thirty.
“Erm…… Where’s…… the tea……?’
Watching his master whisper hesitatingly, Seiran couldn't help laughing.
“Miss is carrying the tea here, and the red bean buns that Master likes the most.”
Hearing that, Shoka’s expression brightened up.
The straight-forward reaction almost makes Seiran laugh out loud, but he immediately restrained himself as there were other people present, and it is impolite to laugh out loud.
After trying hard to adjust to a serious expression, Seiran slowly opened the door.
Shuurei entered the room gracefully, put down the tray, and moved back three steps, kneeling down on both knees.
“—Shuurei pays her respects to Sho-Tai Shi. Tai Shi specially came to see me, but I could not welcome you personally and made Tai Shi wait for me, I am deeply sorry, forgive us for the poor reception.”
Shuurei placed both hands in front of her chest, and did a perfect ceremony bow.
The old man observed Shuurei’s every action, nodded slightly and stood up.
“……Please rise, Miss Shuurei.”
Shuurei couldn’t help raising her head.
Due to wrinkles left by the years, the long beard and his eyes which displayed wisdom — Tai Shi with his back straight, looked like a hundred year old tree. Shuurei unconsciously lowered her head.
“To be able to see the countenance of Sho-Tai Shi today, Shuurei is deeply honoured.”
“It’s fine, enough with the etiquette, let’s sit!— Seiran-san, take a seat too.”
Sho-Tai Shi said solemnly before Seiran could protest.
“This issue is related to Seiran-san too, come, both of you please sit.”
Shuurei and Seiran couldn’t help but look at each other. ……What exactly was happening?
“Can you help to pour some tea for me? After drinking so much water, my stomach feels cold.”
Sho-Tai Shi seemed slightly uncomfortable while stroking his stomach. Hearing this, Shuurei looked at the table and her face immediately turned pale.
It looked like Father was unable to find the tea set, and went straight to serve water. Observing closely, there was a water bucket on the floor. It seemed that the water was taken from the well using the bucket, and then served using a bowl to scoop the water in front of Sho-Tai Shi. They were not feeding cows or horses — and, and the worst thing was that the guest was one of the most important officials!
(Father----!)
Shuurei cried secretly, yet Shoka is smiling happily, hoping that his daughter will praise him: “Well thought out.” Shuurei ignored her own feelings and immediately poured tea.
Sho-Tai Shi did not bring up the issue immediately, but sipped the tea, reached for a bun, and he was surprised:
“This delicacy is made by Miss Shuurei, right?”
“Ah, yes! ......Thank you Sho-Tai Shi for the compliment.”
Watching the buns disappear one by one, Shuurei was filled with anxiety. Although she had hoped that Sho-Tai Shi would start on the serious issue soon, she could not say it out loud.
“Feel free to eat more.”
Never kill the joy of the guest! –This was one of the teachings of her late mother. Never initiate a request, she must silently wait till the guest is willing to say it. Before that, she had do her best to serve the guest, placing herself in second place, these were the basics for dealing with guests.
(Mother, I understand.)
Shuurei carefully poured the tea into the cup. Seiran also looked as if nothing happened, and kept adding buns to Sho-Tai Shi’s plate.
Sho-Tai Shi glanced at Shoka, Shoka spotted Sho-Tai Shi’s glance, and smiled proudly. It seemed like he was saying: “See, these two children are very well-behaved right?”
After a moment of silence, Sho-Tai Shi coughed softly, and put down his cup.
“—Shuurei-san, Seiran-san! ……I ask for your forgiveness for coming uninvited. I have something to ask for your help.”
Upon hearing this, Shuurei and Seiran sat up straight.
“If both of you are willing to accept this job — I will pay a reward.”
Sho-Tai Shi extended his shriveled right hand.
Starting the discussion with money, Seiran couldn't help but be stunned, but Shuurei’s reaction was different.—because she was responsible for managing the whole family’s finance, she couldn't beat around the bush. While calculating and planning in her mind, she immediately replied.
“—how much is the pay? 50 copper? 500 copper? … …it, it can’t be 5 silver?”
Sho-Tai Shi smiled proudly but did not nod, Shurei felt her palms were sweating. “…… This, can’t be…… a big business……!?”
Feeling the creepy atmosphere between the two, Shoka and Seiran slowly stepped back.
Sho-Tai Shi stared at her, almost shouting: “You are shocked, right!”
“—it’s 500, gold!”
Shuurei's expression changed drastically. She couldn't believe her ears. This was sufficient to feed a family of 5 for 10 years — including the repair and maintenance fee for the big mansion, and every little luxury — this sum of money could feed the whole family with white rice every day.
“I accept--!! I am willing to do anything!””
No more barley! No more using buckets to contain the leaking water when it's raining! That was the only thing going through her mind right now.
“Then!”
Sho-Tai Shi never asked whether Shuurei was sure, if she was unsure it would be troublesome.
“Seiran-san will then be promoted to be in the Habayashi Army, serving as His Majesty’s bodyguard.”
A leap of a few ranks in one go, Seiran still wondered if he misheard anything.
Sho-Tai Shi then announced seriously to Shuurei:
“—Miss Shurei, please enter the imperial harem as a princess consort.”
After that, Seiran described Shuurei's expression at that moment to be a unique and odd sight.
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