HNYWEF -Chapter 52 Fulfilled

Eighteenth day of the first month, Zhenguan Year Two.

The lingering atmosphere of the New Year had not yet faded. Now and then, scattered sounds of firecrackers could still be heard on the streets.

But inside Liangyi Hall, it was very quiet, with only the soft crackling of charcoal in the brazier.

Li Shimin sat before his desk, holding a memorial report in his hands.

He had been reading it for a long time.

Fang Xuanling stood below, waiting.

He had been inside for nearly a quarter of an hour already. He was the one who had delivered the report — an urgent dispatch sent from the Jingji region, carried eight hundred li at full speed.

He had already read it himself. He knew exactly what was written on it.

But he said nothing.

He simply stood there and waited.

Li Shimin finally set the memorial down.

He lifted his head and looked at Fang Xuanling.

That look—

Fang Xuanling had seen that kind of look before.

Shock. Confusion. And something else, something difficult to describe.

Like a man who had just been struck across the head and still had not recovered his senses.

Li Shimin spoke.

His voice was slightly hoarse.

“When… did this happen?”

Fang Xuanling replied, “The sixteenth day of the first month. Farmers in several counties around Jingji were turning over the soil in preparation for spring planting. While digging, they uncovered something.”

Li Shimin said, “Eggs?”

Fang Xuanling nodded.

“Insect eggs. Piles of them buried in the earth. The farmers didn’t recognize what kind of insects they belonged to and were about to examine them more closely…”

He paused.

Li Shimin finished the sentence for him.

“The chickens and ducks ate them.”

Fang Xuanling nodded again.

“Yes. The chickens and ducks ate them.”

Silence settled over the hall.

Li Shimin sat there motionless.

He looked at the memorial in his hands, but his eyes were no longer reading.

He was thinking about something.

He had been born in troubled times and raised among armies.

He had seen corpses, seen rivers of blood, seen people driven to cannibalism.

But he had never seen locusts.

He had thought such things belonged to the past.

Thought they were only legends old men spoke of.

Even after writing the words “locust plague” on that note with his own hand back then, part of him had still doubted.

And now…

He slowly put the memorial down.

Rose to his feet.

Walked to the window.

Outside, the sky was dim and overcast. The clouds hung low. Several bare trees stood in the courtyard, patches of old snow still clinging to their branches.

He stared at those trees for a long time.

Then he spoke.

“Fang Xuanling.”

Fang Xuanling answered immediately.

“Your servant is here.”

Li Shimin did not turn around.

“What kind of insect eggs do you think those were?”

Fang Xuanling did not answer.

Li Shimin waited a moment.

Then Fang Xuanling finally spoke.

“I do not know.”

He paused.

“But I do know one thing—”

Li Shimin waited for him to continue.

Fang Xuanling said, “Those chickens and ducks ate the eggs.”

Another pause.

“No matter what kind of insect they belonged to, once the eggs are gone, the insects are gone too.”

Li Shimin stood there without moving.

Still looking out the window.

The gray sky. The barren trees. The lingering snow.

Then suddenly, he let out a soft laugh.

Very soft.

“The prophecy came true.”

he said.

His voice was quiet, almost as if he were speaking only to himself.

Fang Xuanling stood behind him in silence.

Li Shimin turned around.

Walked back to the desk and sat down again.

He looked at the memorial.

For a long time.

Then he raised his head and looked at Fang Xuanling.

“Send people to investigate.”

Fang Xuanling asked, “Investigate what?”

Li Shimin said, “Find out who ordered those chickens and ducks to be raised.”

Fang Xuanling froze for a moment.

“Your Majesty?”

Li Shimin said, “Last year, Zhou Xiong told me to encourage the raising of chickens and ducks throughout Jingji. I ordered people to carry it out. But I don’t know how well it was implemented. I don’t know which counties followed the order, which did not, how many were raised, or—”

He paused.

“I want to know whether the counties where the insect eggs were found were all raising chickens and ducks.”

Fang Xuanling understood immediately.

He nodded.

“I will handle it at once.”

He turned to leave.

But Li Shimin stopped him.

“Wait.”

Fang Xuanling halted.

Li Shimin looked at him.

“There’s one more thing.”

Fang Xuanling waited.

Li Shimin said, “Send someone to the Zhou family smithy.”

Fang Xuanling was momentarily stunned.

“Right now?”

Li Shimin nodded.

“Right now.”

He paused again.

“Tell him—”

Another pause.

Fang Xuanling waited for the rest.

Li Shimin was silent for a while.

Then he said:

“Tell him he was right.”

Fang Xuanling stood there, looking at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin looked back at him.

“What are you standing there for?”

Fang Xuanling finally came back to himself.

“I will go at once.”

He turned and walked toward the exit.

When he reached the doorway, he stopped.

Without turning back, he said,

“Your Majesty… that message…”

Li Shimin said, “What about it?”

Fang Xuanling asked, “Just those four words?”

Li Shimin fell silent once more.

Then he said:

“Forget it. Don’t go…”

Fang Xuanling stopped where he was. He said nothing, only nodded.

Then he pushed open the door and left.

The hall fell silent again.

Li Shimin sat there, staring at the memorial.

For a very long time.

Then he set it down.

Rose once more and walked back to the window.

Outside, the sky was still gray.

He looked at that dim, overcast sky.

For a while.

Wind slipped through the cracks of the window, cold against the skin.

He did not move.

He simply stood there.

Standing for a very long time.