Liu Che opened his mouth to argue, but found himself at a loss for words. Finally, he managed to choke out, "But you said you loved me."
A flicker of pity rose in Ah Jiao’s heart—pity for her former self.
"Ah Che, from the day we wed until the day I died, I loved you for many, many years. To hear those words from you now... it seems a bit too greedy, don't you think?"
She turned and walked toward the adjacent washroom. Having just drunk the juice, she needed to rinse her mouth and wash her face. A piercingly cold wind suddenly whipped through the curtains. Ah Jiao shivered and moved toward the entrance, only to freeze when she saw the state of it.
"Liu Che! What happened to my door?!"
Outside, the waiting attendants jumped at the sharp cry.
Liu Che took a handkerchief and dabbed at the tears pricked out by his earlier rage. "I'll have someone install a new one for you. What are you shouting for?"
He braced himself against the small table, stood up, and walked toward the exit. At the threshold, he paused and looked back. "There is nothing I want that I cannot obtain."
"?" Ah Jiao blinked in confusion. "What do you want?"
"Go to the side hall. You can't sleep here tonight!" Liu Che left without looking back, with Yang De-yi cautiously leading the way.
In his earlier desperation, His Majesty had kicked the door down. Yang De-yi had immediately ordered the side hall to be prepared; by now, the room should be sufficiently warmed.
Ah Jiao hesitated for a moment but decided not to follow him. Liu Che was clearly unstable after the shock he’d received today; it was best not to cross his path. After all, arguing was an exhausting endeavor.
Since it was late and no craftsmen were coming to fix the door at this hour, Ah Jiao had the servants move a large screen to block the entrance and draw the heavy curtains tight.
Lying in bed, it wasn't as cold as she had imagined.
However, before her blankets could even trap her body heat, Huang Yu’s voice drifted in from outside. "Your Grace, His Majesty requests your presence at the Moon-Reflecting Pavilion."
"I'm asleep. I'm not going!"
"Please, Your Grace, do not make things difficult for this humble servant." Huang Yu sounded as if he were on the verge of tears. Ah Jiao felt a twinge of pity for him.
That pity did not last long. Hearing footsteps so faint they were almost inaudible, Ah Jiao gritted her teeth to keep herself from using magic in front of the palace staff.
Wrapped into a bundle like a silken cocoon by the servants, Ah Jiao was carried into the Moon-Reflecting Pavilion and gently placed beside the Emperor. The bed curtains were lowered.
Liu Che had already washed. Dressed in his sleeping robes and wrapped in a fox-fur cloak, he sat on the bed examining some paper.
It was the new batch Lin Gao had submitted. It was better than the previous samples, but still not suitable for direct calligraphy; the ink still bled.
Liu Che looked at the bundled Ah Jiao beside him. He reached into the blankets and, as expected, felt the woman’s soft hair.
Moving his hand further down...
"Are you sick? Do you have any idea how cold your hands are?" Ah Jiao poked her head out of the blankets, fuming.
She truly admired Liu Che’s resilience; in such a short time, he had managed to look perfectly normal again.
The Emperor gazed at her for a moment, tracing the lines of her face to envision her true, original form, imagining what she ought to look like.
He leaned down and captured her lips, giving them a sharp nip. A bead of crimson blood seeped out. Ah Jiao pursed her lips, and the blood spread like rouge across them.
Ah Jiao: "..."
The man’s dark pupils reflected her exasperated expression. He said, "Ah Jiao, even if you have become an immortal, don't you still have to..." He paused. "Come out."
"No. It's cold!"
The old Emperor ignored her protests and yanked the blanket open, pulling their bodies together. Ah Jiao turned her back to him. She could not fathom how he could go from being consumed by rage one moment to being so tender the next, as if nothing had happened.
"Liu Che, do you know how annoying you are?"
"I don't. I just want to be close to you. Let us have a child." Lately, he felt more and more that if he and Ah Jiao had a child, they would never have reached this point.
"Heh. This immortal will not have a child with a mortal."
Liu Che kissed her earlobe. Looking at her closely, her skin seemed like untainted frost, her complexion like polished jade.
"Ah Jiao..." Liu Che turned her body toward him. He felt his feelings for her were now crystal clear; why could she still not understand?
Was the most obvious sign of an Emperor’s favor not the frequency with which he summoned a woman? He had set foot nowhere but the Hall of Luminous Clouds for over two months. Was that not clear enough?
"Oh, right!" Ah Jiao said suddenly.
Liu Che looked up immediately.
"I saved your eldest daughter from that sorcery. Remember to pay me!"
Liu Che: "???"
***
Lin Gao returned to Chang'an the day before the La Festival to present the Emperor with the first batch of paper produced by the new mill.
However, after two days passed without word from the palace, he decided to settle in. The Lin family had no residence in the city; back when he was a steward for the Chen family, his entire household lived in the Chen estate's outer quarters. Now that he had returned to the capital, Chen Xuan had generously offered him a house to stay in temporarily.
The house was the second residence in Jianyang Ward, in the northeast of the city. Lin Gao took a walk through it and found it much smaller than the Chen estate in Guanshang Ward—roughly a quarter of the size. Since his transmigration, he had gradually learned about the Western Han’s *Mingtian* system, which regulated land and house sizes based on noble rank.
The Chen family had previously purchased the rank of *Da Shuzhang*, which entitled them to ninety *qing* of land and ninety residential plots. A single plot was thirty paces square; ninety plots translated to nearly a hundred thousand square meters! Although the Chen estate hadn't reached that maximum limit, it still spanned tens of thousands of square meters.
And yet, the Wei family had the gall to look down on the Chen estate for being "small"! The light of socialism made it difficult for him to comprehend the decadence and "joys" of the feudal landlord class.
Chen Xuan’s "small" house was a square estate roughly a hundred and fifty meters on each side, complete with a pond and rockeries. The entire family had spent a whole day cleaning and still hadn't finished the rooms. Nevertheless, the next day, Lin Gao brought gifts to the gates of the Marquis of Zhaoping’s manor. Firstly to give thanks, and secondly... to pay rent.
Chen Xuan was currently regaling Princess Longlü, Liu Qi, and Princess Yi'an, Liu Chun, with tales of his time at the paper mill when the steward announced that the Director of Paper Production had come to visit.
Chen Xuan hurriedly called for him to be shown in.
Liu Chun raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected Chen Xuan to actually make friends while serving in office. Years ago, Chen Xuan had declined the positions her father, the late Emperor, had offered because he thought the ranks were too low and he would be subservient to others. Now, he seemed to genuinely like his superior.
Chen Xuan straightened his robes and told his princess mother and princess wife to prepare a banquet.
However, Lin Gao’s mood was not quite as bright as he walked through the Marquis’s manor. The estate was massive. From his walk in, it seemed it might even exceed the hundred-and-fifty-plot limit for a Marquis. This meant that the gifts he had spent a fortune on might be beneath their notice.
*Ugh, the struggles of the poor!* He was led by the steward to the reception hall, where Chen Xuan was already waiting at the door. Upon seeing him, Chen Xuan greeted him with a smile.
"Lin Gao, is your family settled in?" Chen Xuan patted Lin Gao on the shoulder.
Lin Gao smiled. "All settled. That is why I’ve come specifically to the Marquis’s manor to offer my thanks."
"Ah, don't be so formal. It’s just a dilapidated house. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten I even owned a property there."
That was likely the truth. When Lin Gao moved in, he found the place looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in ages; the stone paths were covered in moss. He doubted they would finish cleaning it before it was time to leave the capital again.
"Hahaha! It’s not about being formal, I truly am grateful. By the way, these are some gifts I bought for you. I hope you won't find them lacking."
The two men entered the hall, laughing.
Liu Chun knew that Lin Gao had been recommended by Consort Chen in the palace to create this thing called "paper," and that the Emperor placed great importance on the matter. Therefore, she saw no harm in Chen Xuan befriending the man.
Princess Longlü looked down on a mere Director of Paper Production and, having no desire to stay, returned to her own princess manor.
Yi'an, however, took up her duties as the lady of the house.
After several rounds of wine, Lin Gao finally spoke. "My Lord, though you may not care for that house, I feel I cannot stay there for free. Why don't you name a rental price, and I shall treat it as a lease?"
Chen Xuan’s face was flushed, his speech already slurring. "No need! Just stay there as long as you like!"
Liu Chun gave Chen Xuan a cool look. She felt that Lin Gao was indeed a man worth befriending—he was not greedy for small gains, and his speech and conduct were polite. She had heard he was originally a household servant of the Chens, but he was clearly talented. He simply lacked experience with the social etiquette of the Chang'an nobility.
Thus, she spoke up. "Director Lin is my husband’s superior. If you do not mind, we could sell the house to you so that you may provide for your parents."
Lin Gao’s rank carried a salary of six hundred *shi*, which meant seventy *hu* of grain per month and an annual cash salary of eighty-four thousand coins. If he wanted to buy that house, it would take him four or five years of not eating or drinking to afford it. But since they wanted to build a connection, selling it to him cheaply was no issue; after all, it was just sitting empty.
Lin Gao was stunned. He wanted to buy a house, but he had no money!
Chen Xuan blurted out, "I could just give it to him." It was only worth a few hundred thousand coins, anyway!
Liu Chun smiled. "If the Director finds it acceptable, we could arrange for payment in installments. Let us set the price at two hundred and fifty thousand coins, with a monthly payment of two thousand. What do you think?"
Lin Gao couldn't help but gasp. *Wait, did the Western Han have mortgages? Am I really going to take on a housing loan at such a young age?*
Lin Gao’s eyes lit up. His monthly salary was seven thousand coins. If the mortgage was two thousand a month, he would own the place outright in just ten years and five months! This was much cheaper than buying a house in the modern era!
Chen Xuan muttered again, "Giving it to him is fine too..."
Liu Chun silently rolled her eyes. A man like Lin Gao, who insisted on paying rent for a favor, would never accept a gift for nothing. It was better to lower the price so he would actually feel he owed them a favor.
Lin Gao was shamelessly tempted.
Not for any other reason than the fact that the price was just too low! He licked his lips and said, "The Princess is most kind, and I am deeply moved. However, purchasing a residence is a major affair; I must return and consult with my parents."
Liu Chun smiled. "That is only natural."
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 湢室 | Washroom / Bathhouse | A private room for washing or bathing. |
| 映月阁 | Moon-Reflecting Pavilion | A specific building/pavilion in the palace. |
| 采纸令 | Director of Paper Production | Lin Gao's official title (Prefect/Director of Paper). |
| 建阳里 | Jianyang Ward | A residential neighborhood/district in Chang'an. |
| 冠尚里 | Guanshang Ward | The neighborhood where the Chen family estate is located. |
| 名田制 | Mingtian System | "Ranked Land System" - Han dynasty system allocating land/housing based on rank. |
| 大庶长 | Da Shuzhang | "Grand Chief of the Multitude" - 18th of the 20 Han noble ranks. |
| 顷 | Qing | A unit of area (approx. 6.67 hectares). |
| 宅地 | Residential Plot | A standard unit of housing area in the Han system. |
| 昭平君 | Marquis of Zhaoping | Chen Xuan's title (Lord/Marquis of Zhaoping). |
| 夷安公主 | Princess Yi'an | Liu Chun, daughter of Emperor Wu and wife of Chen Xuan. |
| 隆虑公主 | Princess Longlü | Liu Qi, another daughter of Emperor Wu. |
| 秩六百石 | Rank of 600 Shi | A mid-level official rank/salary grade. |
| 斛 | Hu | A unit of dry volume for grain. |
