Shen Que was in such a hurry that he didn’t even notice when the thin bead curtain brushed against him. The wind roared in his ears, matching the rapid beating of his heart, which was getting faster and faster. 

It wasn’t until he had rushed out quite a distance that Shen Que realized it had started to snow again outside. He walked briskly around the courtyard a few times, but kept running into a few servants. 

These servants would always come up eagerly and ask, “Where is the guest going? If you need to change clothes, I can take you there.” 

Shen Que silently shook his head. 

At this moment, anyone’s gaze made him feel embarrassed, so he simply found a secluded side room, climbed onto the roof, and squatted there, staring blankly. 

Even now, his heart was still in chaos. 

He hung his head in frustration. It wasn’t entirely the little singer’s fault. The young actor did make him uncomfortable, but his heart was only for His Highness. His face was red, but his heart was cold. 

But just thinking about how Xie Shiguan secretly burned his contract of sale and planned for him in his heart, Shen Que felt a sour and itchy feeling inside. 

His heart was burning, and naturally, he was no longer that wooden person without desires. 

But after all, it was in front of His Highness. How could he dare? 

If it weren’t for the little actor as a cover, His Highness might have discovered the dirty thoughts in his heart. Shen Que felt he was worse than a beast. 

The snow was falling harder, and the wind on the eaves was strong. Shen Que hadn’t been up there long before frost formed on his hair and eyelashes. 

Because of the freezing cold, the redness on his face gradually faded, and then his heart followed, becoming desolate. 

Even if His Highness was willing to give him a few more glances, so what? He was still so insignificant, like a snowflake in the vast snow, like an ephemeral mayfly or an ant, never able to reach even the hem of Xie Shiguan’s robe. 

Just as he was staring into the distance, lost in thought, he suddenly heard a crisp child’s voice from below: “Sir, what are you doing squatting up there?” 

Shen Que looked down at the sound and saw a seven or eight-year-old boy standing in the white courtyard. He had an oval face, round eyes, rosy cheeks, and was wearing a very old dark brown jacket, holding a wooden box, and tilting his head to look at him. 

Shen Que felt a bit embarrassed being stared at by him, so he quickly jumped down from the eaves. The boy watched his movements, dumbfounded, and asked foolishly, “Doesn’t it hurt your legs to jump like that?” 

Shen Que shook his head and was about to leave, but the boy followed him like a shadow, asking in an exaggerated tone, “Are you a hero? Can you fly from this rooftop to that rooftop?” 

Shen Que looked in the direction he pointed. The distance was so far that even a fine horse couldn’t leap over it, so he shook his head again. 

The boy wasn’t disappointed, tugging at his sleeve and asking him to squat down. Shen Que, though puzzled, thought for a moment and complied. 

The boy stared at him without blinking, then suddenly reached out and gently brushed the frost off his eyelashes. 

“All done.” The boy smiled. 

His features didn’t resemble Xie Shiguan’s at all, but for some reason, Shen Que was reminded of the young Little Prince, a child wrapped in brocade and jade, who had also reached out like this when they first met, touching his eyelashes. 

Then he smiled and said, “Come back with me, and you’ll have as much of this food as you want in the future.” 

But when the boy raised his hand, his sleeve slipped down, revealing whip marks on his forearm, bruises, and frostbite on his hands, with swollen knuckles, all a purplish-red at first glance. 

Seeing Shen Que staring at his hand, the boy quickly pulled it back. 

Shen Que thought he was also a servant here, so he mouthed, “Did they hit you?” 

He couldn’t make a sound, but the boy understood and shook his head: “I’m my master’s follower. The troupe leader said I have no talent, so I’m only allowed to do rough work in the troupe.” 

Shen Que understood. He was a child brought by the little actor named Sixian. Actors were even lower than slaves, constantly beaten and scolded. If they couldn’t become stars, they would be the lowest servants for life, with no monthly pay, never able to rise. 

Even if they became stars, they were just playthings for rich merchants and officials. 

The one called Sixian looked only sixteen or seventeen, such a young child, yet accustomed to such sordid things and skilled in seduction. 

He remembered the boy’s mention of his master and asked, “Your mother…” 

The boy seemed unfamiliar with the term, pausing for a while before saying, “She’s been gone for a long time.” 

“The troupe leader said she deserved it. She secretly had a child with a tea merchant and became his concubine. Later, when the merchant’s family fell, they sold her and me. It was my master who bought us back.” 

“Everyone in the troupe laughed at her. My mother said she was too ashamed to live and jumped into a well.” 

When he spoke, his eyes were indifferent, his tone as if mentioning an irrelevant person, and he answered so smoothly, he must have heard it often. 

Shen Que looked at his pure, clean eyes. Although their experiences were different and their ages didn’t match, he understood him. 

Just as a sense of melancholy arose in his heart, he suddenly heard a light sound on the eaves behind him, and a tall figure landed softly. 

Shen Que immediately turned around, his curved knife already half-drawn, but when he looked closely, he found it was Xie Shiguan. 

He didn’t know how long he had been watching them from the rooftop, holding a silk umbrella, the surface as white as snow, with a string of meticulously painted landscapes along the edge. Standing in the flying snow, he looked like a painting. 

Shen Que and the boy couldn’t help but be a little dazed until Xie Shiguan lightly coughed, bringing them back to their senses. 

“Your Highness,” Shen Que saluted first, then signed, “When did you arrive?” 

Xie Shiguan: “Just now.” 

He paused slightly, then added, “I saw someone standing on the roof from afar, so I came to take a look.” 

Shen Que didn’t expect that when he was squatting on the roof reflecting on himself… that foolish look was all seen by the Prince. He immediately felt as if he had been stripped naked, lowering his head in shame. 

Fortunately, Xie Shiguan didn’t seem to want to make things difficult for him, casually beckoning him over: “Come hold the umbrella for me.” 

Shen Que quickly stepped forward, skillfully taking the umbrella, and when he looked back at the boy, he was still timidly following with the wooden box. 

Shen Que didn’t dare to get too close to Xie Shiguan, so half of his body was outside the umbrella. 

His heart was still in turmoil, thinking about the embarrassing incident that made him blush earlier, and the poor boy behind him. 

Halfway there, Shen Que finally mustered the courage, lowered his head slightly, and looked at Xie Shiguan’s chin. 

Xie Shiguan saw him suddenly stop, so he also turned his head: “What is it?” 

The distance between them was really too close, Shen Que’s heart was pounding like a drum. He handed the umbrella back to the Prince, then lowered his head to avoid his gaze, slowly signing: “I… want to redeem this child.” 

Xie Shiguan didn’t speak. 

“He’s only seven or eight years old. If he stays in the troupe, sooner or later… sooner or later,” Shen Que didn’t know how to say it, paused, then continued signing, “He’s still so young, he has choices in life.” 

Only then did Xie Shiguan look at the boy properly. He looked thin and short, so frail that a gust of wind could blow him away. His thin body made him look top-heavy, like a head stuck on a few stalks. 

Fortunately, his features were still somewhat delicate, but in Xie Shiguan’s eyes, he was just a slightly more decent ugly thing. 

“If your courtyard lacks a little servant,” Xie Shiguan said, “you can go to the outer mansion and pick a clever servant.” 

Shen Que quickly shook his head. He wasn’t short of someone to serve him: “The courtyard doesn’t lack servants. I just pity him.” 

“You pity him?” A slave who hadn’t yet shed his lowly status pitying a performer, Xie Shiguan found it somewhat amusing, then slowly asked back, “You don’t take him as a little servant, yet you redeem him. Do you want him to beg on the street in the future?” 

The boy was quite clever, knowing that he would never make it in the troupe, and this might be his only chance. So he quickly stepped forward and knelt before Xie Shiguan: “I am willing to follow this gentleman back as a little servant. I can do anything, not worse than adults, and I eat less!” 

Xie Shiguan looked down at him, like looking at a dirty cat or dog: “Things from the brothels and theaters, how many are clean? Want to enter the Prince’s Mansion, do you deserve it?” 

Shen Que’s eyes dimmed, and his gaze at Xie Shiguan was almost pleading. He slowly signed: “He’s still young. If strictly disciplined, he won’t be different from ordinary children…” 

It was rare for him to dare to ask Xie Shiguan for something, the first time ever. 

Xie Shiguan glanced at him, then noticed his half-wet body from the snow. In such cold weather, he was still only wearing a dark-colored guard uniform, his shoulders thin, making the Prince recall the feel of holding him. 

He didn’t speak, just held the umbrella and walked forward. Just when Shen Que thought it was hopeless, Xie Shiguan suddenly spoke again: “Go ask that little singer for the person yourself.” 

By saying this, he agreed, and the boy was overjoyed, climbing up from the snow and following closely behind Shen Que. 

When Shen Que followed Xie Shiguan back to the door of the main room, he was a bit timid, unwilling to go inside. 

Just as he was about to raise his hand to sign, he suddenly heard a deep male voice from inside. The man’s voice seemed to roll with flames, suppressing his anger: “The Xiongnu repeatedly invade, how many border soldiers have died? Last year’s great battle, 20,000 soldiers from Longyou faced 80,000 Xiongnu troops, and in the end, only a hundred soldiers remained!” 

“We endure day by day, firmly believing that reinforcements and military supplies will arrive. But what were the Miao faction doing at that time? They were controlling military power, fighting with Xie Ling, trying to seize his power!” 

“Who in this Chang’an city, in their eyes, has the people, the country, and us?” 

“The bodies of the dead soldiers are not yet cold, and your Ministry of Revenue can’t approve the pension silver. How can I give an explanation to their families?” 

Then a middle-aged man, slurring his words, tried to soothe: “Calm down, calm down, General Fang. It’s not that our Ministry of Revenue doesn’t want to approve it. At the beginning of last year, the Sage’s birthday, followed by the Empress Dowager’s birthday, His Majesty, to show filial piety, decreed light taxes and labor, to rest with the people, and to pray for the Empress Dowager’s longevity.” 

“Large amounts of silver were approved, but the tax silver is just that little bit. The Ministry of Revenue is also poor! The big figures fight, and we at the bottom suffer. Not to mention the pension silver for the border soldiers, this year the Ministry of Revenue may not even be able to pay the salaries of the officials in the Ministry of Rites.” 

“You cry poor, he cries poor. This matter is reported up, and the top says all money matters are managed by the Ministry of Revenue. When it reaches the Ministry of Revenue, my people urge and plead, but can’t get half a tael of silver. Doesn’t this chill the hearts of the soldiers? When the Xiongnu come to invade again, who will be willing to go to the battlefield?!” 

There was no sound from the other side. 

Shen Que was stunned for a moment, looking at Xie Shiguan half a step ahead of him, seeing his usual expression, clearly having anticipated this scene. 

Of course, how could the Prince make such a big fuss over his trivial matter of shedding his lowly status, inviting the Minister of Revenue here? It seems that asking Minister Chen to help him shed his status and inviting the Yunhui General for a reunion were just a cover.