The Southern Fragrant River flowed from north to south, passing the eastern side of the Imperial City. A waterway connected it to the lakes within the palace, which was how the nearby Bluestone Deep Alley acquired the name Longxi Alley.
Although close to the Imperial City, Longxi Alley was hardly a wealthy neighborhood. Most of its residents were elderly eunuchs and palace maids who had held low positions in the palace and had nowhere to go after retirement. A few Secret Guards disabled in the line of duty were also settled here.
The bright moon hung overhead, spilling cold moonlight into Bluestone Deep Alley. Lights dotted the buildings, and from one residence came the clear notes of a sanxian and a hoarse voice singing:
"Deng~ deng-deng~..."
"June comes, and the heat is hard to bear, wheat turns gold across the hills everywhere. Hired hands reap beneath the blazing sun~ the master sits in his cool room. Who made two kinds of people in this mortal world..."
The tune was "Liangzhou Ballad," a famous folk song that almost everyone in Liangzhou knew. Even Ye Jingtang could hum a few lines.
But because the song carried the meaning of urging the poor to resist injustice, and the gentlemen of the Capital City could not bear to see the common people suffering poverty, it was almost never heard in the capital.
In the little courtyard, the gray-haired Liu Qiansheng wore coarse cloth clothes and leaned back in a bamboo recliner, a sanxian cradled in his arms.
Ever since Qiu Tianhe had persuaded him to let go of that last defiant breath in his chest, Liu Qiansheng's complexion had actually improved considerably. He had an air of breezy serenity, as though he had seen through the ways of the world.
A sturdy little boy