Saiunkoku Monogatari:Volume 1 Chapter1

Chapter 1: There is no free meal in this world

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-booth 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 is playing the legend of the establishment of the Saiunkoku that the children like. Following the end of the music, Shurei 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 Shurei laughed: “Ok, the story has ended!” The children that were surrounding let a sigh.

“Teacher Shuurei!”

“Yes?”

“Is there really a Sento Palace in the royal palace?”

Shurei put down her Erhu at one side, smiled: “Yes,” and pat the boy’s head.

“Although it is now renamed as Sento Province, but what Seiren said really resides in the royal palace somewhere.”

“Then has Teacher Shuurei seen it before?”

A cute girl with a bun hairstyle climbed up Shuurei’s lap.

Hearing this question, Shuurei let out a serious sign 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 got in if I joined the state exam; however it is only opened to males.”

“Then I shall join the state exam when I grow up, become a great official and marry Teacher Shuurei, then bring Teacher Shuurei into the royal palace.”

Looking at the energetic boy proudly stand 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, and I bet you have forgotten to finish your homework for yesterday, right?”

“That, that is because……“

The boy is at a loss without knowing what to do; the girl, with the bun hairstyle hugging Shurei; rolled out her tongue and make a grimace.

“You should stop daydreaming; you have never done your homework.”

“If Ryuujin want to be an official, he should just follow Seiren and 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 this.”

“But he is afraid of his mother and Teacher Shuurei, isn’t he a bit too useless?”

“You, you guys……”

The boy blushed, put up his fist, but someone knocked at the temple door at this time.

“Sorry, pardon my intrusion, Miss.”

When Shuurei saw the tall body that entered the doors, she was surprised:

“—Seiren! Why are you here?”

“Ah—it’s Seiren!”

“Seiren! Let’s play some war games--!”

The youth that were immediately surrounded by the children, --Seiren 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 stands 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 have to do your homework.”

In a blink of an eye, Shuurei had left with Seiren; on the way, Shuurei wondered:

“Seiren, why are you here at this time? I remembered 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 follow for personal stuff? –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 Shurei’s family—Hong family in name only backs him, he still cut a striking figure with a new record speed, he has now a small standing in the military. Even though he has not amounted to much in the imperial court, but someone that can influence Seiren, 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 planning and schedule!”

Shuurei hold her fist, look up at Seiren, and strongly gripped his shirt

“What should we do, Seiren--?” We are in overdraft for this month again! There is a job with good pay but it is all going to ruin now! I thought we will be able to afford rice with the pay, but only barley…… barley…… barley ah--! The middle line in the barley! That middle line that is distinct from rice is going to mock me this month again: ‘I am not rice!’ Ah—I am not willing, not willing! I hate that guest~!”

“Miss! Nobody said that! Wheat can’t talk.”

Seiren was afraid of attracting sideway glances from passer-by, quickly look around. This reaction was natural, after all Shuurei iwas 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 have to repair the tiles from the roof 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—Seiren! I am sorry! We’re always troubling you, if only my father was more useful, we will not end up in this situation!”

“Miss should not be mindful of little things like this.”

“Our Hong family couldn’t pay the salaries, all other servants have left…… but you have always stayed, a dignified military officer has to do the accounting for restaurants, write letters for others, do errands for merchants, only our Hong family in the world will order people.”

“…………”

It seems to be so, Seiren thought. “Your salary originally would be sufficient for you, but staying in Hong family, you have to spend all your salary repairing our house and livelihood…… Even so, our family are 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.”

Seiren interrupt Shuurei with a wry smile.

“Really do not have to mind about these, unless you chased me out, I would not leave you, I have no complains, and I am actually happy that I could repay the kindness that your family has shown me.”

“Grace……?”

“13 years ago, Hong family accepted and took me in even though I was a stranger, I am already determined that I will repay the grace in this life, so Miss, you should not brood on this at all.”

“……Seiren……”

Shurei’s face distorted once more.

“Ay—so frustrating! Why did our family end up in this situation--! Being of high statue only is useless at all-----!”

“…………”

Patting the back of Shuurei, Seiren nodded and agreed to this statement with mixed feelings.

(…… indeed high status ‘only’……)

This can be seen from the surname of Hong.

Saiunkoku territories were split into eight states, they were the Ran state, Hong 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 then ordered the ruling clan of each state to change their surname on a whim. The Marquis of Ran state changed to Ran, the Marquis of the Hong state changed to Hong, and so on. At the same time, commoners were forbidden to share the same surname as these eight clans, hence having these eight colour surname 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 changed from the Marquises ruling of the states to the imperial court ruling gradually, but the seven surnames —Shi surname being another story as it was the royal family—still exists.

The imperial courts that used to be consisted of mostly the noble clan were now open to commoners too, the official appointment system—state exam that had been implemented for decades, 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 sum of money to nurture the talents, the results 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 a good wages; hence it caused no harm to the seven clans.

Shuurei was born in the Hong family— she was of pure lineage and the daughter of the eminent family. Hong family was only under the Ran family in the seven clans, was the noble among the nobles. It was said that the Shi representing the royal family was the combination of the Ran and Hong family, hence giving the Hong 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 Hong family end up in such a situation--?

The reason may be the eldest son of the Hong 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 the head of the family; and there was his talented younger brother, hence Shoka’s father before his death, 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 Hong state, but Hong clan would never let the eldest son to be displaced, hence they build a residence in Shi state beforehand and arranged a high position for Shoka in the imperial court. Thus Shoka’s family migrated to Shi state, and on the way, took in Seiren 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, even not many people have heard of this post, hence the management of financial board often forgot to pay Shoka his salary, furthermore Shoka had never complained about this, thus the salary decreased gradually, until in the end it turned into the situation that everyone in the family—total of three people, Shoka, Shuurei and Seiren—had to work to support themselves. Yet, Shoka was always buried in the books, it was almost impossible to depend on him to support the family, thus it was really only Shuurei and Seiren supporting the family.

Seiren thought back to the past, his eyes becoming misty.

(……I didn’t think that huge residence requires such a huge maintenance fee……)

In the beginning, Shuurei and Seiren 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 totally unexpected, that large residence had to maintain a suitable environment actually had to spend more than half of their pay; since their salaries is 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 sun sets…… Today must be a holiday for 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! Seiren! 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, Seiren laughed softly.

What made Shuurei happy was not the rise in salary but the promotion, and this thought make Seiren very pleased.

“The three Grand Officials of the Palace—Sho-Tai Shi!?”

After aggressively presseing JinLan who was being vague about the identity of the guest, the answer shocked Shuurei. She almost spilling the tea leaves on the floor. – close! Tea leaves were expensive, enough to see 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 Shurei, he was a legendary character.

“Why, why, why did Sho-Tai Shi come see me!!”

“I have no idea.”

Seiren had no idea too. When Sho-Tai Shi had told him straightforwardly: “I want to talk to the young lady of Hong family, can you pass on the message.” He did not really understand at first. Because he could not link ‘young lady of Hong family’ to Shuurei and the residence when Shuurei lived in did not have enough servants to pass 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.”

Seiren smiled helplessly, while putting the buns into 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 expectation on him.

“…….forget it, at least he deserves to be praised for knowing to serve tea to guest, this is good considering his normal standard.”

Shuurei sighed deeply, carried the readied tray.

At this moment, Shuurei’s movements changed, her back became straighter, and her steps become smooth like flowing water. Her graceful movement always amazed Seiren, not even the female officers in the royal palace could have such perfect etiquette.

And because of this Seiren always feel pity, if Shuurei spend the rest of her life in the marketplace like this, it would be such a waste of her knowledge and upbringing.

Once reaching the living room, the soft laughter from inside make Shuurei surprised.

“……it seems that they are chatting congenially, 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, Seiren entered the living room, kneel with one knees to his master and guest.

“—Master, Lady Shuurei has returned.”

“Oh, she has returned already?”

A man stood up hearing this, an approachable smile appears on his face, he is the master of the mansion, Kou Shoka. Forty years old, he has no beard, hence he looked like he was only thirty plus.

“Erm…… Where’s…… the tea……?’

Watching the master hesitatingly whisper, Seiren can’t help laughing.

“Miss is carrying the tea here, and the red bean bun Master likes the most.”

Hearing that, Shoka’s expression brightens up.

The straight-forward reaction almost makes Seiren laugh out loud, he immediately applies strength on his diaphragm, as there are other people present, and it is impolite to laugh out loud.

After trying hard to adjust to a serious expression, Seiren slowly opened the door.

Shuurei entered the room gracefully, put down the tray, and moved back three steps, kneeled 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 hand in front of her chest, and did a perfect bow down ceremony.

The old man observed Shurei’s every actions, slight nod and stand up.

“……Please rise, Miss Shuurei.”

Shuurei can’t help raising her head.

Due to wrinkles left by the years, the long beard and his eyes that shows 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!— Seiren-san, take a seat too.”

Before Seiren could insist, Sho-Tai Shi said solemnly.

“This issue is related to Seiren-san too, come, both of you please sit.”

Shuurei and Seiren couldn’t help looking at each other. ……What exactly was happening?

“Can you help to pour some tea for me? After drinking quite the amount of water, my stomach feels cold.”

Sho-Tai Shi seemed slightly uncomfortable while stroking his stomach, hearing this Shurei looked at the table; and her face immediately turned white.

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 from the well using the bucket, then 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----!)

Shurei secretly cried, yet Shoka is smiling happily, hoping that his daughter will praise him: “Well thought out.” Shuurei ignored her own feelings, immediately poured tea.

Sho-Tai Shi did not mention the issue immediately, but sipping the tea, reaching for a bun, and he was surprised:

“This delicacy is made by Miss Shuurei, right?”

“Ah, yes! ......Thank Sho-Tai Shi for the compliment.”

Watching the bun disappearing one by one, Shuurei was filled with anxiety. Although she hoped that Sho-Tai Shi will start on the serious issue soon, she could not say it out.

“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 make every effort to serve the guest, placing yourself in the second, this was the basic for dealing with guests.

(Mother, I understand.)

Shurei carefully poured the tea into the cup. Seiren also looked as if nothing happen, 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, Seiren-san! ……I ask for your forgiveness for coming uninvited, I have something to ask for your help.”

Shuurei and Seiren hearing this, sat up properly.

“If both of you are willing to accept this job—I will pay a reward.”

Sho-Tai Shi extended out his shrivelled right hand.

Starting the discussion with money, Seiren couldn’t help but be stunned, 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 Seiren slowly stepped back.

Sho-Tai Shi stared at her, almost shouting “You are shocked, right!”

“—it’s 500, gold!”

Shuurei eyes changed radically, she couldn’t believe her ears. This was sufficient to feed the whole family of 5 for 10 years—plus 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 catch the leaking rain! This is the only thing going in her mind right now.

“Then!”

Sho-Tai Shi never asked whether Shuurei was sure, if she was unsure it would be troublesome.

“Seiren-san will then be promoted to Habayashi Army, serving as His Majesty’s bodyguard.”

A leap of few ranks in one go, Seiren still wondered whether he heard wrongly.

Sho-Tai Shi then announced seriously to Shuurei:

“—Miss Shurei, please enter the imperial harem as a princess consort.”

After this, Seiren could describe that the expression of Shuurei at that moment could be said to be a unique odd sight.

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