Chapter 157: A Sudden Pang of Jealousy

Outside the carriage, the world was a vast expanse of silver. The wheels crunched against the lingering snow with a creaking sound, and not a single soul was to be seen on the road leading to the countryside; the entire world felt as if it had come to a standstill. Xiao He and Lucia looked out the windows with a mixture of curiosity, yearning for the future, and apprehension toward the unknown.

Zhen Qian had no wife, so his household lacked a female master, nor did he have aging parents. Having witnessed the coldness and disdain of mistresses in other households and dreading the stifling strictness of family propriety, Xiao He looked around with bright-eyed wonder, constantly murmuring, "My lord, the scenery here is so beautiful!"

Lucia appeared heavily burdened with worry. Zhen Qian had placed her in the care of Chrysanthemum Mother to learn the Tang language, and now she was being thrust into yet another unfamiliar environment, with no idea what sort of destiny awaited her.

Noticing that Zhen Qian was lost in thought, Lucia nudged Xiao He. "You... be... quiet!"

Xiao He pouting her lips, she showed no reservation toward Lucia, who shared her same fate. "Is this place not beautiful? Tell me about where you lived before, was it beautiful?"

Since Lucia's Tang language was poor, she naturally was reluctant to say much. "My hometown... is beautiful! There, you can... see the sea..."

"The sea? What kind of thing is that?"

Zhen Qian glanced sideways at Xiao He, raising a hand as if to tap her on the head, but instead, his outstretched hand gently caressed her glossy hair. "The sea is a very, very large lake with an endless expanse of water, so vast that you can never see the other shore. The water is a deep, vivid green, and the blue sky and the sea intertwine on the horizon..."

"There is a fish in the Northern Darkness, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so huge that no one knows how many thousands of li it spans. It transforms into a bird, and its name is Peng. The back of the Peng spans no one knows how many thousands of li. When it rises in anger and flies, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. When the sea stirs, this bird will migrate to the Southern Darkness. The Southern Darkness is the heavenly pool."

Xiao He recited a passage, looking up at Zhen Qian for favor. "I want to go see the Kun and the Peng. Are there really Kun and Peng in the sea?"

"There are Kun in the sea—giant fish as huge as mountains. But the Kun do not transform into Peng; those are merely legends!"

"A fish as big as a mountain..." Xiao He spread her hands wide to gesture, only to realize she still could not imagine just how massive a mountain-sized fish would be.

"I have seen one..." Lucia also struggled to picture a fish the size of a mountain. "A fish... as big as a horse-drawn carriage?"

"That is a tuna. They indeed grow to the size of a carriage, and their meat is exceptionally delicious..." As he spoke, Zhen Qian felt a sudden impulse to build a ship and sail for Europe. He wondered if the Colosseum of ancient Rome was still standing, alongside the Byzantine-style architecture, Greek temples, the indigenous peoples of the British Isles, the Germanic savages hiding in the forests dressed in animal skins, and the fierce Gauls. Did they too believe the earth was flat?

"First Master, we have arrived home!" Wang You's voice from outside the carriage interrupted Zhen Qian's thoughts. The carriage came to a halt, and Zhen Qian shook his head. These were impractical notions; crossing the ocean to Europe was far less convenient and safe than traveling overland from the Western Regions across the Congling Mountains.

Xiao He and Lucia alighted from the carriage and looked at their new home with curiosity. The unassuming walls and somewhat dilapidated main gate made it look no different from the estate of a minor local landowner. Was this truly their new home?

"What, do you not like it?"

Lucia showed little reaction, but Xiao He jumped in surprise. "No! It's just..."

"It's just... not what I imagined!"

It was one thing for a courtyard in the county town to be unremarkable, but Xiao He had assumed the countryside would be entirely different. Many local squires' estates in the rural areas were built with extreme grandeur. In Xiao He's imagination, Zhen Qian was a wealthy landowner, and his country estate should have been magnificent. The gap between imagination and reality left her momentarily unable to accept it.

Xiao Mei stood at the doorway, her gaze shifting from Xiao He and Lucia to finally rest upon Zhen Qian's face. "My lord, you're back! It's cold outside, hurry inside!"

The feeling of returning home was truly wonderful. Zhen Qian cherished this tranquil, carefree life; even if he were to live ten lifetimes, he would never grow weary of it.

"Mei Niang... these are Xiao He and Lucia. From now on, I leave the two of them in your care." Zhen Qian accepted the warm towel handed to him by Xiao Mei, wiped his face, and asked, "Where is Xiao Zhu?"

With a hint of distraction in her eyes, Xiao Mei replied, "That girl saw that you hadn't returned and ran off to the private school. I've already sent someone to fetch her!"

Xiao Mei's eyes carried a deep trace of jealousy, feeling that Xiao He and Lucia posed a direct threat to her status. Xiao He was petite with an oval face, and two little dimples that made her smile particularly charming. Looking then at Lucia beside her, the girl was a veritable enchantress—large-bosomed, tiny-waisted, with blue eyes, golden hair, and skin so pale it was frightening. If this wasn't a legendary seductress, what was?

Zhen Qian smiled and took hold of Xiao Mei's slender, delicate fingers. "What, are you afraid I won't like you anymore in the future?"

Having spent a long time together, Xiao Mei made no attempt to hide her feelings. "I don't like them!"

Having stayed with Zhen Qian for so long, she knew his character and preferences, as he often inadvertently revealed his aesthetic viewpoints. Glancing down at her own modest bosom, Xiao Mei felt a profound sense of crisis.

"Very well! Since my little Mei doesn't like them, shall I send them away?"

"No!" Xiao Mei instantly jumped up. "I must keep an eye on them! So they don't bewitch my lord..."

Zhen Qian reached out and gently flicked Xiao Mei's pretty nose. "With just these little thoughts, the two of you have been utterly spoiled. Aren't you afraid that a future female master will enter this house and punish you?"

"Will my lord have a female master in this house in the future?" Xiao Mei's delicate eyebrows arched, and a trace of loss flashed in her heart. "Xiao Mei knows... my lord loves a carefree life and would never allow himself to be restricted by anyone."

To marry a virtuous wife for a family, but take concubines for their beauty—if a young lady of a prominent family steeped in the feudal ethics of the Three Obedience and Four Virtues were to enter the household, leaving aside whether her appearance suited his tastes, her constant nagging alone would be unbearable. How could it compare to the present freedom, where he could hold beauties in his arms, and even purchase maids strictly according to his own aesthetic tastes? While the Tang dynasty favored plumpness—and this "plumpness" naturally did not mean obesity, but rather fullness—it still failed to win Zhen Qian's favor. Aside from the extra softness when holding them in his arms, such figures were truly difficult for him to appreciate.

After moving to Luquan County, there were indeed several local squires who wished to marry their daughters to Zhen Qian, but he had declined them one by one. His excuse, naturally, was that his elders were not by his side; in truth, he simply had no wish to marry and subject himself to the constraints of ancient ritual laws.

As someone who stayed constantly by his side, how could Xiao Mei not know Zhen Qian's thoughts? She wished nothing more than for Zhen Qian never to marry for the rest of his life. She made no secret of this small desire, hoping that she, Xiao Zhu, and Zhen Qian could simply live out their days together just like this forever!

Of course, this was unrealistic. The social standing of Xiao Zhu and Xiao Mei precluded them from becoming legitimate wives; leaving aside whether the Zhen family would ever consent, even if he truly took Xiao Zhu and Xiao Mei as wives, feudal public opinion would crush the two of them until they could barely breathe.

Zhen Qian was not a stubborn man, and in matters of the heart, he never tormented himself. Having gone through hardships together with Xiao Zhu and Xiao Mei, the bond they shared—one akin to true family—was something only the three of them understood in their hearts; it was irreplaceable and he had no wish to change it.

Lucia looked blankly at Zhen Qian and Xiao Mei, sensing the hostility emanating from Xiao Mei, though she chose to brush it aside. Xiao He, however, felt a strange knot in her stomach, finding it utterly baffling that a mere serving maid could act so spoiled and demand favors from her master to such an extent. Even stranger was the fact that Zhen Qian seemed to indulge her completely, treating her almost with the air of a mistress of the house. Could this be what people often referred to as a favored concubine overstepping her bounds?