Gu Yuanbai forced Xue Yuan to listen to him talk about sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn for ten days straight.
He talked repeatedly, nonstop. Even during the day, while sitting on Xue Yuan’s back as he did push-ups, he continued talking. Xue Yuan never knew the emperor could talk so much. His eyes became lifeless, his soul almost leaving his body from the incessant chatter.
Besides talking, Gu Yuanbai also took him to the fields.
The precious seeds were planted in a specially guarded area within the palace. Gu Yuanbai visited daily to check on them. Covered in mud from head to toe, with Xue Yuan following closely behind, even his face was splattered with mud kicked up by the emperor’s boots.
“Get away,” the emperor said, bending down to inspect the seedlings and glaring at Xue Yuan, “Don’t stay so close.”
Xue Yuan reluctantly stepped back, barely a step away, and looked around. “Your Majesty, two out of three plots have sprouted. Why hasn’t the third shown any signs?”
Gu Yuanbai’s smiling face turned worried. He glanced at the unsprouted plot and sighed, “It’s probably dead.”
“What was planted there?”
“Potatoes,” he said, planted in the most fertile soil and tended by the best farmers, but they still hadn’t sprouted. “The seeds were likely already dead when they arrived in Great Heng.”
Potatoes—no one understood their value better than Gu Yuanbai.
He genuinely felt sad, but seeing the sprouting sweet potatoes and corn, he smiled again.
Content, it was already worthwhile.
Once sweet potatoes and corn succeeded, Great Heng could expect a significant population increase.
Xue Yuan pondered for a while, “Even if they’re dead, at least…” he said ambiguously, “the name ‘potato’ will still be known, and scholars will ponder how you came up with it.”
Gu Yuanbai: “…”
The ancestors named it; do you have a problem?
But thinking about the name “potato,” if it did thrive, wouldn’t scholars write poems praising it, like “Ode to the Potato”?
Ahem, how would the history books record it? “Emperor Gu Yuanbai personally named it ‘potato.'”
Compared to the refined naming style of the previous emperor, with names like “Jade Peak,” “Lotus Porcelain,” and “Flowerless Jujube Furnace,” Gu Yuanbai’s names were indeed down-to-earth.
It’s not bad, just difficult for scholars to praise.
Gu Yuanbai nonchalantly shifted his gaze, “The name doesn’t matter, its value does.”
He sighed again, “If potatoes could thrive, the yield per acre would be two to three times that of millet.”
In the Tang Dynasty, millet averaged over 330 jin per mu. Great Heng’s millet fields produced at a similar level. Potatoes, being high-yield crops, could produce thousands of jin per mu with modern farming methods. Gu Yuanbai wasn’t sure about ancient yields but expected at least 800-900 jin per mu in fertile Great Heng with favorable weather.
Xue Yuan’s pupils contracted as he looked back at the unsprouted potato field, “Two to three times?”
Instantly understanding the importance of these potato fields, Xue Yuan felt a surge of the same disappointment Gu Yuanbai had just expressed. Happy and sad at the same time, he stiffly said, “Your Majesty, are the seeds truly dead?”
Gu Yuanbai regretfully said, “They should be.”
Xue Yuan was at a loss for words, his heart aching.
“Fortunately, the sweet potatoes and corn have sprouted,” Gu Yuanbai gently touched a sweet potato seedling. “These two crops aren’t inferior to potatoes in yield.”
Xue Yuan felt he could breathe again. Cherishing the tiny seedlings, he half-jokingly said, “With Your Majesty’s words, I now understand why you’ve been talking about them non-stop. These seedlings are indeed more important than me.”
Such a sour remark.
Gu Yuanbai glanced at him, “Let’s go, it’s time for lunch.”
Xue Yuan followed, speaking slowly, “Your Majesty, you know so much. I need to learn more from you. Your Majesty, a kiss?”
Gu Yuanbai walked faster. Xue Yuan saw his back and laughed, “Your Majesty, your back is covered in mud.”
“No matter,” Gu Yuanbai frowned, glancing back, “I’ll clean up later.”
But Xue Yuan grabbed his arm, leading him behind a secluded tree. Softly, he said, “Let me wipe it off first. The large mud spots on your waist and hips are too noticeable.”
Before Gu Yuanbai could respond, Xue Yuan squatted down, carefully wiping the mud with a handkerchief. Gu Yuanbai, expressionless, endured for a while before exclaiming, “Xue Jiuyao!”
Xue Yuan let go and withdrew his unruly hands. He stood up calmly and led Gu Yuanbai out from behind the tree, “The mud has dried into clumps. It’s better to bathe when we get back.”
Gu Yuanbai snorted lightly, “Your hands and feet are always so unruly. It’s a good thing you became General Xue’s son; otherwise, you’d have probably turned into some kind of ruffian.”
Xue Yuan couldn’t help but smile meaningfully at his deliberate comment, “If I were a ruffian, I’d only be a ruffian for Your Majesty.”
Gu Yuanbai casually replied, “You wouldn’t even get to see me.”
Xue Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and after a moment, he slowly nodded, “Yes, I owe it to General Xue’s fortune.”
***
As soon as they returned to the palace, an attendant from the Beast Garden reported that the two adult wolves Xue Yuan had given to Gu Yuanbai were about to die.
Gu Yuanbai was stunned. Without even changing his clothes, he followed the attendant to the Beast Garden. The two wolves, their fur already covered in a layer of white dust, lay weakly on the ground. When Gu Yuanbai and Xue Yuan approached, they whimpered, their ghostly eyes struggling to move, nudging their master’s hand before slowly falling silent.
They had lived for twelve years and died of old age that day.
Xue Yuan helped Gu Yuanbai up, softly comforting him, “Your Majesty, let’s find a place to bury these two wolves.”
Gu Yuanbai, still somewhat dazed, replied, “Alright.”
There were two other wolves in the Beast Garden, young ones sent to the palace as pups. Gu Yuanbai silently watched as Xue Yuan led the two old wolves out and observed the attendants digging a pit to bury them.
These wolves, though wild, had been tamed by Xue Yuan to be extremely obedient, often staying by Gu Yuanbai’s side. They had caused him quite a bit of trouble but also brought much joy.
He and Xue Yuan would often take them for walks at night, and amidst the green, glowing eyes of the wolves, they would share intimate moments. But in the blink of an eye, two of them had grown old and died.
Tian Fusheng, standing nearby, consoled him, “Your Majesty, these two wolves never suffered, always well-fed and cared for by you. They must have had no regrets in their long lives.”
Gu Yuanbai sighed, but before he could finish, Xue Yuan covered his mouth, “Frequent sighing is not good.”
“I’m just a bit regretful,” Gu Yuanbai said, “After all, they accompanied me for many years.”
Xue Yuan released his hand. The two slightly younger wolves by his side cautiously licked Gu Yuanbai’s fingertips.
Dust settled, and leaves swayed in the wind. Once the wolves were buried, Gu Yuanbai walked back with Xue Yuan in silence. Halfway back, he suddenly remarked, “I felt a bit sad earlier, but now that I think about it, at least they went together.”
“That’s good,” Xue Yuan intertwined his fingers with Gu Yuanbai’s, “I will do the same with you, Your Majesty.”
Gu Yuanbai smiled, “That’s not possible. My health is much worse than yours, and the hidden injuries from the battlefield barely affect you. How could you die at the same time as me?”
Indeed, in the original novel adaptation, Chu Wei seemed to die first, and Xue Yuan lived alone for twenty more years.
Xue Yuan was truly a favored son of heaven, with a longevity that others couldn’t match. Gu Yuanbai’s eyes lowered, and every time he thought of Xue Yuan and Chu Wei in the original text, he felt deeply uncomfortable.
It was only Xue Yuan’s obsessive infatuation with him that could offset this discomfort.
His voice was so low that it dissipated in the wind, “You can live to be a hundred years old, but I can’t.”
These lives were snatched from the hands of the King of H*ll.
Xue Yuan’s expression darkened, which Gu Yuanbai did not see until he heard his somber voice, “Does Your Majesty think I would live alone?”
Gu Yuanbai thought quietly, Didn’t you live alone after your fated brother died in the original story?
“Has Your Majesty forgotten what I once told you?” Xue Yuan’s eyes were shadowy as he caressed the soft flesh at the corner of Gu Yuanbai’s mouth, thinking that those lips were about to say something hurtful again, stabbing him with a few more blades, “I told you that if you die, I will go first to block your path on the Yellow Springs Road.”
His voice softened abruptly, pleading, “Yuanbai, believe me.”
Gu Yuanbai opened his mouth to say, “I believe you,” but Xue Yuan had already lowered his head, pressing his forehead against Gu Yuanbai’s and holding his face in both hands. Gu Yuanbai could see into his slightly reddened eyes.
Xue Yuan murmured, “I can’t live without you.”
Gu Yuanbai’s heart began to race as he lowered his eyes, quietly feeling the warmth of the moment.
“I want to be with you forever,” Xue Yuan’s voice thickened with emotion, “Why do you always doubt my words? I only want you, only want to be with you. When I wake up and see you first thing every day, you don’t know how happy I am. If the day comes when you sleep beneath the earth forever, I just want to hold you and sleep with you. Live alone? Gu Yuanbai, how could you say something so heartless?”
After a long while, Gu Yuanbai smiled, “I’ll remember your words. If you don’t want to die then, I’ll have to give you a cup of poison.”
Xue Yuan relaxed, kissing him over a dozen times, “Even in death, I’ll chase after you. Don’t think any other ghost will touch you.”
Gu Yuanbai laughed.
But he couldn’t help but wonder, why in the original story did Xue Yuan continue to live well after Chu Wei’s death, until he died of old age?
***
As the months passed, there was no sign of growth from the potato-seeded land, and Gu Yuanbai had come to terms with the fact that the potatoes wouldn’t grow. He set aside his last bit of hope and focused entirely on the sweet potatoes and corn.
The farmers tended the seedlings carefully. By mid-August, the sweet potatoes and corn were finally ready for harvest. On a sunny day, a farmer, under the watchful eyes of the emperor and many others, swallowed nervously and unearthed something from the soil.
Author’s note: In the original text, there was no love between the gong and shou. In the original text, Xue Yuan did not follow Chu Wei to death but lived on leisurely. I’ll elaborate on this later~
