The youth’s long, crow-black lashes trembled. In a low, hoarse voice, he replied, “Yes. This slave thanks the Mistress for her concern.”
“Invite Lord Qi over,” Xue Yunyi said idly, watching the youth’s retreating back.
Before long, Mo Ying led Qi Yu into the hall.
“This humble subject pays respects to the Eldest Princess.” Qi Yu knelt respectfully and bowed his head.
Xue Yunyi said warmly, “No need for such formalities, Lord Qi. Mo Ying, a seat and tea for our guest.”
Qi Yu hurriedly accepted the teacup Mo Ying offered with both hands.
Xue Yunyi glanced at the palace maids nearby. They bowed their heads and withdrew, closing the hall doors tightly behind them.
Only then did she turn to Qi Yu and cut straight to the point. “Has Lord Qi come regarding the matter in Lang Province?”
Qi Yu nodded gravely. “Indeed. This humble subject sought a private audience with Your Highness today to inform you that although His Majesty has ordered the Ministry of Works to proceed according to your method, he has forbidden any mention of Your Highness to the outside world. If I may speak bluntly—”
He paused, lowering his voice. “His Majesty has reigned for many years without notable achievements. Without the efforts of old ministers like Prime Minister Lin, the court would have devolved into a complete mess long ago. His intention seems to be claiming this merit for himself. Spreading the word would give him a fine reputation among the common folk.”
Xue Yunyi wasn’t surprised. She had known all along that the Emperor had been reluctant to approve the plan, likely harboring some scheme of his own. But she had no intention of letting him use her hard work to bolster his own fame.
“Thank you for the information, Lord Qi. This Palace has a favor to ask of you. Would that be convenient?”
Qi Yu rose at once. “Your Highness, please command me. This humble subject is at your disposal.”
That was precisely why he had come today. Without Empress Jiang’s help all those years ago, he might still be toiling anonymously as some family’s accountant instead of achieving his current position.
Xue Yunyi gave Mo Ying a look. Mo Ying immediately presented a purple sandalwood box to Qi Yu. When opened, it revealed stacks of crisp silver notes.
“This Palace has been deeply concerned about Lang Province. Unfortunately, my health prevents me from going there in person, so I must trouble Lord Qi to use this silver to set up more porridge sheds and distribute porridge and simple meals to the people. They must have full bellies before they can work.”
This money had come from Xue Qingzhi. Better to spend it on the people of Lang Province than let it be squandered in Ninghua Palace.
Xue Yunyi had added more from her own funds, totaling thirty thousand taels. Combined with the court’s disaster relief allocation, it should suffice.
“Your Highness is most thoughtful,” Qi Yu said sincerely. He understood her implication perfectly. “Rest assured, Your Highness. This humble subject will distribute the silver in your name, ensuring it passes through no other hands.”
Dealing with a sharp mind saved Xue Yunyi considerable effort. She nodded approvingly and said evenly, “One more thing, Lord Qi. The Water Diversion Map requires your assistance as well.”
By the time she saw Qi Yu off, it was already noon.
Xue Yunyi leaned back in her chair and sipped some tea to rest. Glancing toward the side chamber, she saw Wu Lang hadn’t emerged yet and instructed Mo Ying to wheel her over.
“Spending all day cooped up with those medical books. Doesn’t he ever get tired? What about his health?”
Mo Ying couldn’t help chiming in. “Your Highness, don’t be too hard on him. Have you forgotten your own nights burning the midnight oil? This servant always had to urge you three or four times before you’d stop to rest.”
Xue Yunyi shot her a look. Mo Ying immediately fell silent, staring straight ahead.
In the side chamber, medicine bubbled on the stove.
Wu Lang was ladling the boiling decoction into a bowl and carefully blowing on it to cool when he noticed Xue Yunyi approaching. He hurried forward with the bowl, saying cautiously, “Your Highness, this slave brewed medicine for you. Take it once at noon each day. It might help restore some sensation to your legs.”
“Ah Lang is so thoughtful.”
Xue Yunyi smiled, reaching for the bowl. She habitually sniffed it first—no bitter scent.
Seeing her about to drink, Mo Ying hurriedly stopped her. “Your Highness, please wait. Your leg condition has always been under Imperial Physician Meng’s care. Why not have her come take a look first? We don’t know what’s in this medicine. Once she confirms it’s harmless, then you can take it. That would be safer.”
Though Wu Lang did have some skill—he had cured her chronic eczema a few days ago—he was still self-taught. Mo Ying simply couldn’t feel at ease about letting Xue Yunyi drink something he had brewed.
Xue Yunyi considered for a moment and nodded. “Very well. Have Judge Wu come as well.”
It wasn’t that she distrusted Wu Lang. Over the past six months, she had tried far too many medicines and tonics. Judge Wu had warned her that her body had developed adverse reactions to many of them and that she shouldn’t experiment lightly. Since Wu Lang didn’t know her condition, better to have Judge Wu examine it.
She had Mo Ying wheel her out and casually set the medicine bowl on the square table.
Wu Lang trailed behind her with his head down, standing silently to one side. His gaze fixed on the abandoned bowl, a shadow darkening his eyes.
Before long, Judge Wu and Meng Jiang arrived.
Meng Jiang saw nothing amiss, but Judge Wu paled the moment he smelled the medicine. “Your Highness, you absolutely must not drink this! It contains Tiger’s Whisker Leaf and Incense-Holding Grass in significant quantities. Both are profoundly chilling substances that stagnate qi and blood—terribly harmful to your leg condition. Who would dare use such a thing to harm Your Highness?”
The Eldest Princess’s health was far too precious. In his agitation, Judge Wu raised his voice.
Xue Yunyi clearly felt the youth behind her tremble in fear. Before she could reassure him, he instinctively dropped to his knees in a posture of abject submission and apology.
Xue Yunyi rubbed her brow. She knew Wu Lang was likely flashing back to the days when he was constantly berated. The instinct was deeply ingrained in his bones. Even with her daily gentleness and closeness these past days, it was hard to erase such profound terror.
Spotting this, Judge Wu realized Wu Lang had brewed the medicine. He immediately scolded him sternly. “Medicine for Your Highness demands utmost caution. How could you use it so recklessly? Do you realize you’re harming her? Do you know your crime?”
The youth kept his head bowed, saying nothing until those words hit. Then he suddenly looked up, lips pressed stubbornly. “I never meant to harm Your Highness.”
“You…”
“Enough.”
Judge Wu was about to continue when Xue Yunyi cut him off sharply. She tapped her armrest for silence and turned to the kneeling youth, her voice gentle. “Ah Lang, explain yourself.”
The youth hesitated before murmuring, “Tiger’s Whisker Leaf and Incense-Holding Grass are cold in nature, but they are sweet and moisturizing. They mask the bitterness of the other ingredients. This slave also prepared half a bowl of warming broth to counter the chill. Take them fifteen minutes apart, and there will be no issue. This slave never meant to harm Your Highness… Please believe me.”
The method was rather involved, but he didn’t mind the trouble. He had only devised it because he knew Xue Yunyi disliked bitter tastes.
Xue Yunyi glanced impassively at Judge Wu.
Mo Ying fetched the other half-bowl of broth from the side chamber. After careful inspection, Judge Wu’s expression turned embarrassed.
“This subject was overly anxious about Your Highness’s health and spoke hastily. I wrongly accused this young master. Please forgive me, Your Highness.”
“Judge Wu, your apology belongs not to This Palace, but to Ah Lang.”
Xue Yunyi’s voice deepened slightly as she said to Wu Lang, “Stand up. This Palace didn’t tell you to kneel, so you don’t need to kneel to anyone.”
Wu Lang froze for a moment, carefully watching Xue Yunyi’s expression before slowly rising to his feet.
He was tall, nearly a head taller than Judge Wu, and this sensation of looking others in the eye made him deeply uncomfortable.
For over a decade, he had only ever knelt on the ground to endure scoldings and beatings, as if he were born to be trampled underfoot. This was the first time anyone had ever told him to stand and that he didn’t need to kneel.
Judge Wu solemnly bowed to him in apology, and Wu Lang looked at Xue Yunyi in bewilderment, his thin lips pressed tightly together.
Xue Yunyi instructed Mo Ying to see the two imperial physicians out. Then, right in front of him, she drank the bowl of medicinal soup he had carefully brewed. As expected, there was only the faintest trace of bitterness.
She dabbed at the corner of her lips with a handkerchief and beckoned Wu Lang to stand before her. The young man instinctively moved to kneel, but Xue Yunyi stopped him.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, so why didn’t you defend yourself just now?” she asked softly, gazing into his eyes.
Wu Lang’s lips parted, but he fell silent. He had never had the right to defend himself before. If others said he was wrong, then he was wrong, and speaking up would only bring harsher punishment.
“Ah Lang, don’t be like this. You didn’t do anything wrong, so why bow your head? Why kneel?” Her voice was gentle, like a babbling brook—soft yet resolute.
Wu Lang’s heart trembled.
“I know it’s hard to forget those things, but Ah Lang, you have to move forward. You can’t be trapped in the past forever.”
She lowered her gaze slightly to her own legs.
“Ah Lang, I want you to stand tall and proud by my side, without fearing anyone’s expression. That’s how it should be. It was those wicked people who hurt you. You were never in the wrong.”
Stand tall and proud… by her side?
The unfamiliar words left Wu Lang stunned for a moment. His lips moved, unsure how to respond, and he instinctively clutched the white jade pendant hanging at his chest.
Xue Yunyi raised her face, a flicker of dimness passing through her eyes. She looked out the window and fell silent for a long time before suddenly saying, “Ah Lang, come fly a paper kite with me.”
A rare wind had risen, rustling the magnolia branches throughout the courtyard. It was perfect weather for flying a kite.
Wu Lang paused, then softly agreed. He pushed Xue Yunyi out of the bedchamber, down the stone steps, and into the yard. Mo Ying fetched an old paper kite dusted with gray from the storeroom—one that Empress Jiang had made for Xue Yunyi in her childhood. Back then, every spring, Empress Jiang would bring her to an open space in the palace to watch her run freely, the kite soaring high in her hands, dancing against the sky.
But now, with the kite in her hands, she could no longer make it fly.
She gently brushed the dust from the paper kite and handed it to Wu Lang beside her, curving her eyes in a smile.
“Fly it high for This Palace, alright?”
“Alright.”
The paper kite was light in Wu Lang’s hands, yet it felt impossibly heavy. He walked forward, glancing back with every step. Xue Yunyi sat in her wheelchair, the glazed tiles behind her bathed in sunlight. Farther still were the palace walls and distant mountain peaks.
She sat there quietly the whole time, magnolia petals drifting down in the late spring breeze to land softly on her knees.
Wu Lang gradually quickened his pace, his feet treading over the path and the slabs of bluestone. He had never run so freely before. He ran faster and faster, and the kite in his hands soared higher, over the treetops, over the rooftops, toward the golden sun at the horizon.
Xue Yunyi watched the young man’s receding figure, her lips curving into a gentle smile.
Her Ah Lang was meant to be this free and vibrant, wasn’t he?
Xue Yunyi tilted her head back slightly, her gaze fixed on the old paper kite. Unbeknownst to her, it had already flown very high, nearly out of sight.
When she came back to herself, the young man was nowhere to be seen.
An inexplicable pang of panic gripped Xue Yunyi for an instant—until someone suddenly grasped her wrist from behind.
She startled and looked down instinctively. Her Ah Lang had somehow returned to her side, half-kneeling at her skirts, carefully winding the kite string around her slender white wrist.
The paper kite soared high in the distant sky.
Yet the young man was very close, so close that his dark eyes deeply reflected her stunned face.
It was only now that he seemed to understand the meaning of her earlier words. His throat bobbed, and in a hoarse voice, he said to her, “Master, this slave will work hard.”
“But… may this slave always kneel by your side like this?”
“This slave likes it that way. It makes this slave feel so happy.”
The string was securely tied around her wrist.
The wind misted her eyes, and Xue Yunyi’s lashes fluttered as her heart raced.
She said yes. Then she leaned down and kissed the young man’s lips.
They kissed amid the shower of falling magnolia petals in the courtyard.
Oblivious to the sun and moon, to the passage of time.