An Jing didn’t want Shi Xiaolan to know her and her husband’s true identities, so she found such an excuse, claiming that she had received relocation orders and hence she went to the Imperial Capital.
As soon as Shi Xiaolan heard An Jing had been reassigned to the Imperial Capital as an official, she immediately expressed delight, "An Jing, this is a wonderful thing! The Imperial Capital is right under the Son of Heaven’s feet, it’s so much better than here, you’ve essentially been promoted!"
Then, Shi Xiaolan’s joy faded, and she said dejectedly, "Is it not next month... the sixth day of the first lunar month?"
"So how many years will you be relocated?"
An Jing shook her head, "The order didn’t specify, so I don’t know for how many years." She and her husband planned to return here after the Emperor of Xiyun’s death, and they couldn’t predict exactly when that would be, so she indeed didn’t know how long they would stay in the Imperial Capital.
Upon hearing this, Shi Xiaolan became even more disheartened, clutching An Jing’s hands tightly she said, "Once you’re transferred, we don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again, An Jing, I really can’t bear to let you go."
"I’ll write to you often, you can find someone literate to read it for you."
Shi Xiaolan’s mood improved slightly, "Then you must write to me often."
"I still owe you money, how can I repay you if you’re always in the Imperial Capital?" Shi Xiaolan worried.
An Jing didn’t say that the money need not be repaid to her, she simply smiled and replied, "Hold onto it for now, I don’t know when I’ll be back yet, but my roots and my husband’s are here, we’ll definitely come back here to retire when we’re old. You can give it to me then, it will be the same."
Immediately thereafter, An Jing added, "Both my husband and I will be in the Imperial Capital, and these fields can’t be tended, so just let your family farm them."
Shi Xiaolan was so touched that her eyes reddened, "An Jing, you’re so good to me."
Taking a deep breath, Shi Xiaolan then asked, "How about the land rent?"
An Jing didn’t care about such a trivial amount of rent, but she didn’t want Shi Xiaolan and her family to take it for granted, so she smiled and said, "Just like with Youbao, a friendly price, I’ll charge you ten percent."
"But the land you lease to us is quite a lot, more than ten acres; isn’t ten percent too little?" Generally, renting land from a landlord would require paying thirty percent of the harvest as rent.
"If you didn’t farm, I would have let the fields go fallow. Besides, ten percent is not a small amount. Youbao is not as close to you as I am, and he only charges you ten percent. If I charge you ten percent, it’s actually a bit too much, which hardly qualifies as a friendly price."
Shi Xiaolan immediately said, "Not at all! It’s not too much!"
Fearing that An Jing might further reduce the rent, Shi Xiaolan hastily added, "Ten percent is ten percent, thank you, An Jing." She felt she would be in debt to her friend for life.
"What’s there to thank for? When the time comes, you’ll have to trouble yourself to collect it for me first, and give it to me when I return."
When Gong Juechen learned from Gong Juese that An Jing was really Going to the Capital, he immediately went to look for An Jing and Xiao Changyi.
"Changyi, Jingjing, I really don’t want to go to the Imperial Capital, can’t you just not go?" Gong Juechen appeared genuinely disdainful of the Capital.
An Jing replied, "We didn’t ask you to come with us."
"But I have to follow my sister, didn’t I tell you last time?"
An Jing then firmly said, "You can’t!" She and her husband were determined to go to the Imperial Capital!