Five days later, early in the morning.
The soothing fragrance of storax incense burned inside the covered warming brazier, its gentle warmth seeping little by little into Li Ti’s bones and muscles. Even the deep, persistent chill that had plagued him for years was dispelled to some extent.
Li Ti awoke on the heated kang in the western warm chamber of Chengqian Hall. A soft, lightweight silk quilt woven from cloud brocade covered his body, and a warm ceramic hand warmer rested over his lower abdomen.
Its heat passed through his inner garments, continuously soothing the area where the cold, twisting pain had settled.
Outside, he could faintly hear the light footsteps of the palace attendants making their rounds. The sounds came at regular intervals from beyond the curtains, orderly and reassuring.
He stared blankly at the canopy above him, where a coiled dragon pattern had been embroidered, feeling somewhat dazed.
It was not just today.
He had been in a daze for days now.
How, exactly, had he ended up being settled in the western warm chamber of the emperor’s own sleeping quarters?
Every day, imperial physicians came to examine his pulse and adjust his prescriptions. Every bowl of medicinal soup and every meal passed before the emperor’s eyes, and the palace attendants looked after him with such meticulous care that not even the smallest detail was overlooked. Even his medicine was not delivered until His Majesty had personally inspected it.
“……”
The Son of Heaven, Jiang Yunzi… was entirely different from the man Li Ti had imagined.
Li Ti closed his eyes, and a complicated sense of guilt, long delayed, rose within his heart.
He had actually harbored such deep seated prejudice against the emperor all this time. Looking back now, he realized that it was merely because, while living in the Southern Border, he had heard too many one sided accounts from the old ministers and their advisers at court. They had described the new emperor as “mediocre and cowardly” and “unworthy of his position.” They had also pointed to the restraint and patience he had displayed during the early years of his reign.
And so Li Ti had genuinely believed that the emperor was nothing more than a puppet, manipulated by powerful ministers and incapable of accomplishing anything of significance.
Moreover… Jiang Yunnian had later repeatedly spoken to him about his imperial brother, describing the emperor as suspicious of his own brothers, ungrateful and harsh, narrow minded, and determined to take revenge over even the smallest grievance.
But what was the truth?
Several days earlier, Li Ti had fainted from unbearable pain before the throne. By the time he regained consciousness, he had already been placed on the soft couch in the warm chamber.
And the emperor had been sitting right beside him.
One of Jiang Yunzi’s hands held an unfolded memorial, which he was reading intently with his eyes lowered. His other hand rested firmly over Li Ti’s lower abdomen through the soft brocade quilt, applying steady, gentle pressure.
Li Ti had been so shocked that he had nearly lost his wits.
He could not understand it.
He had come to the capital to atone for his supposed crimes, lower his head, and beg for mercy. Given the grievances between him and the new emperor, he had expected that the emperor would seize the opportunity to humiliate and persecute him, perhaps even subject him to severe punishment. If His Majesty refrained from doing so, that alone would have been an extraordinary display of magnanimity.
Thus, despite his profound weakness, he had still struggled to sit up. “Your Majesty, this humble subject is overwhelmed with trepidation. I dare not trouble you with…”
But the moment he moved, the dormant agony surged back like a raging tide.
A muffled groan escaped him, and his body immediately curled forward. Both hands clutched desperately at his abdomen, yet he could not stop the successive waves of cold, twisting pain from crashing over him. He writhed helplessly against the brocade quilt, his movements utterly disheveled and undignified.
“Don’t move.”
The emperor’s voice sounded beside him. The hand that had been massaging his abdomen pressed steadily against the spasming area, while the other set down the vermilion writing brush and reached around his shoulders and back, drawing his trembling body halfway into his embrace. The movement was gentle, yet allowed no room for resistance.
A faint fragrance of dragon’s saliva incense lingered around them.
The warmth of the embrace was unfamiliar, yet, strangely enough, it dispelled most of the pain.
Li Ti lay limp in those arms, allowing the warm palm to move in patient circles over his abdomen, gradually easing the cold knots of agony twisting deep inside him. Little by little, he managed to recover his breath.
His heart, however, remained bewildered and disbelieving.
Why would someone as exalted as the Son of Heaven be willing to do such things for a disgraced, fallen heir to a vassal prince who had come to the capital under accusation?
The man behind him let out a faint sigh as he continued massaging his abdomen.
“Heir, there is no need to stand on ceremony.”
“Ultimately, the pain and suffering you have endured are also inseparable from the actions of my good for nothing younger brother.”
Li Ti’s breathing abruptly caught.
“Regarding what happened between you and Yunnian, he did reveal some of it when he returned to the capital to confess his crimes. I also managed to make him disclose a little more under questioning.”
“That child… was taken from his swaddling clothes and adopted by Consort De, who had no children of her own. He was spoiled far too much from a young age, and that was how he developed such a reckless and willful temperament.”
“Although I knew he was capable of behaving outrageously, I truly never expected him to grow so brazen as to dabble in such sinister, forbidden arts and harm someone with gu poison.”
The emperor’s hand continued moving slowly over Li Ti’s abdomen, never once ceasing its gentle massage, while a trace of helpless weariness crept into his voice.
“I can only blame myself for neglecting my duties as his elder brother and failing to discipline him properly.”
“I originally intended to punish him severely. Unfortunately, the Empress Dowager and Imperial Noble Consort De both came to me and pleaded for him in tears for several days… In the end, I could only change his punishment to exile in Qiongzhou, hoping that he would reflect upon his mistakes in that desolate place.”
“Still, you have suffered a great injustice, heir.”
“I have many brothers, but only the seventeenth was born of the same mother as me. As his elder brother, I ought to bear at least some of the burden for the debts he has incurred.”
“……”
As the medicinal effects took hold and the emperor’s warm palm continued to soothe his abdomen, Li Ti soon began to grow drowsy.
In the final moments before consciousness slipped away, he remembered only that someone had carefully tucked the quilt around him, their movements light and gentle.
When he awoke again, lamps had already been lit throughout the hall.
Candlelight filtered through the silk gauze of the lantern shades, spreading a soft, warm yellow glow across the room. Outside the windows, the night was deep, and the occasional distant chime of the water clock only made the silence inside the hall feel more profound.
It was already the third watch of the night.
At such a late hour, medical officials were still entering the warm chamber one after another to examine his pulse.
Li Ti lay quietly and allowed each of them to examine him in turn.
Everything in the imperial palace was orderly and meticulously managed. Even after staying in the western warm chamber for only a single day, he had already come to appreciate this deeply.
From the warm water provided for washing as soon as he awoke in the morning, to the medicinal soup delivered to his bedside punctually three times a day, to the physicians who took turns examining and treating him late into the night, everything followed established procedures and strict rules. Every part of the process fitted seamlessly into place, without the slightest omission or mistake.
Once they had finished taking his pulse, the medical officials withdrew silently to the outer chamber. He could faintly hear them discussing his condition in hushed voices. Before long, another group entered, conducting the same examinations of observation, listening, questioning, and pulse taking before withdrawing to confer with their colleagues.
Three or four groups rotated through in this manner, while Jiang Yunzi remained patiently seated beside the couch throughout.
One of his hands continued to rest lightly over Li Ti’s abdomen through the brocade quilt. With the other, he held his vermilion writing brush and took advantage of every available moment to review and annotate several more memorials by the flickering candlelight.
Li Ti vaguely remembered that the emperor had behaved in much the same way during the day.
There was one difference now, however. The emperor had removed his solemn court robes and was dressed only in the moon white informal garments he wore in his private chambers. His wide sleeves fell loosely at his sides, and the collar was tied rather casually, revealing a section of his long, slender neck.
His black hair had also been gathered up somewhat carelessly with a plain jade hairpin, leaving a few loose strands that lent him a slightly unrestrained appearance.
Candlelight cast a gentle, warm glow over his profile, accentuating the straight bridge of his nose and the sharply defined line of his jaw.
His features had always been exceptionally handsome. Yet now, with the imposing dignity he wore before the court set aside, he seemed to possess a softer, more refined elegance, like a scholar steeped in books and classical learning.
Li Ti stared at him in a daze for a moment before silently lowering his gaze and turning his attention to the furnishings of the warm chamber.
Several pieces of antique jade were displayed on a rosewood curio stand. A painting of a snowy, wintry forest, its brushwork cool and restrained, hung upon the wall. Even the plain copper incense burner was designed in an understated, classical style, entirely free of ostentation. The emperor’s informal robes were similarly muted in color.
Indeed… Li Ti had heard praise of the emperor’s reputation before.
Beyond the rumors that described him as “mediocre and cowardly,” there had occasionally been other reports. Some praised the new emperor for his diligence in governing, his frugality, his willingness to seek out and honor capable men, his habit of rising early and retiring late, and his genuine concern for the common people.
Why, then, had he chosen to listen only to those malicious words back then, believing them without the slightest doubt?
At last, the chief physician of the Imperial Medical Academy, an elderly man with hair and beard entirely white, entered the chamber in person. He bowed respectfully and reported, “Your Majesty, the pulse of the heir to Prince Jing is weak and floating, and his internal vital energy has suffered a severe depletion. His underlying constitution has already been damaged. The most urgent priority is to strengthen his foundation and restore his vitality with warming and nourishing medicines, supplemented by acupuncture and therapeutic exercises. His body must be nursed back to health gradually, and he must avoid further exposure to cold and exhaustion at all costs.”
“As for the gu poison… we physicians shall certainly devote every effort to searching far and wide for an effective remedy, so that the heir may be freed from his suffering!”
The elderly physician paused briefly, then raised his eyes to gauge the emperor’s expression before continuing, “However… this gu is extraordinarily sinister and unusual. Ordinary medicines and treatments cannot alleviate it. Until a method of removing it is found, Your Majesty will have to… will have to apply warm pressure to the heir’s Guanyuan acupoint every day, massaging and soothing the area to promote the circulation of vital energy. Only then can the underlying condition of his internal organs be barely maintained.”
Daily massage and soothing.
Li Ti’s fingertips trembled slightly. He could not help finding the entire situation utterly absurd.
For someone as exalted as the Son of Heaven, a man whose body was worth more than ten thousand pieces of gold, to personally care for him every single day, a subject who had come to the capital under accusation and was awaiting judgment…?
Silence settled over the chamber.
Jiang Yunzi lifted his eyes and looked toward the man lying on the couch, his gaze clear and composed. “Li Jingzhao, did you hear what Physician Xu just said?”
“If you have no objections, then follow their instructions and remain in the palace to recuperate properly for the next year.”
“……”
Li Ti’s throat tightened. He could not utter a single word.
Such an arrangement was contrary to the rules of propriety and incompatible with the established regulations. How could he dare to overstep the bounds of his position to such an extent…?
Yet in the end, all the words he wanted to say dissolved into a dull, bitter emptiness.
### 13
After the chief physician of the Imperial Medical Academy withdrew, silence once again returned to the chamber.
Jiang Yunzi rubbed his brow, weariness gathering between his eyebrows. “I’m tired.”
He rose to his feet and casually tossed the memorial he had only half finished reviewing onto the couch beside Li Ti. “Take a look. If you were in my position, how would you handle this?”
“……”
The emperor was forcing him to overstep the bounds of his position.
Li Ti stared at the memorial in a daze, but in the end, he could only pick it up and read it carefully.
The memorial had been submitted by the Protectorate General’s Office of the Northern Frontier. It stated that the leader of a nomadic tribe along the border had sent envoys requesting permission to establish five trading markets. The tribe was willing to exchange fine horses and cattle and sheep for silk, tea, and ironware from the Central Plains.
However, the same tribe had raided three border towns the previous year, killing and plundering hundreds of civilians. Most officials at court therefore advocated the position that “the barbarians are untrustworthy and should be refused permission to trade and attacked instead.”
“This humble subject… does not dare to comment recklessly on matters of state.”
Jiang Yunzi let out a low laugh. “When you wrote, ‘The imperial palace, ninefold deep, lies shrouded in cold mist; it cannot rival the spring of a single corner of the Southern Border,’ you were considerably bolder than you are now.”
“……”
“Li Jingzhao, I have read the Memorial on Border Trade you wrote in your younger years. You have also spent more than twenty years in the Southern Border and understand frontier affairs better than most. You must have your own well founded insights.”
Li Ti remained silent for a long time before finally speaking in a low voice. “The northern tribes respect strength but do not respond to kindness. They raided our borders last year, yet now they have taken the initiative to request permission to trade. There must have been some internal upheaval among them, leaving them in urgent need of supplies.”
“We should agree to open the markets on the surface, then dispatch capable and experienced men to accompany their trading caravans under the pretext of inspecting the goods and verifying the quantities. Officially, they would be there to assist with the arrangements, but in reality, their task would be to investigate the situation. Once we have a clear understanding of their true circumstances, we can then…”
Jiang Yunzi fell silent for a moment.
“Truly worthy of being the heir to Prince Jing, who once governed the Southern Border so effectively that everything ran in perfect order and earned the admiration of the entire population.”
“…”
“Li Jingzhao.”
“Back when you were in the Southern Border, you truly gave me a great deal of trouble.”
The candlelight flickered, causing shifting shadows to fall across Jiang Yunzi’s face. He possessed strikingly sharp and beautiful features, and when he was not smiling, his expression was cold and stern, every inch of him radiating the oppressive authority of an emperor.
But in the very next moment, the corners of his lips lifted slightly. The chill in his expression melted away like ice breaking apart at the first touch of spring, replaced by a warm, gentle smile.
“Fortunately, the grudges of the past are long behind us.”
“Now that we are sovereign and subject, let us simply laugh away our former enmity and make peace.”
“Truthfully, although I was annoyed by your refusal to yield at every turn back then, I could not help but secretly admire your abilities and integrity.”
“Besides, if our positions had been reversed…” He turned his gaze toward the dark night beyond the window. “If I were the ruler of the Southern Border, I would have made the same choices you did.”
He turned around, his wide sleeves sweeping across the edge of the couch. “It is late. Get some rest.”
“…”
When Li Ti looked back on that night later, he would realize that things should have ended just like that.
He had already received so many kindnesses from the emperor. He should simply have listened to the sovereign’s words, whether they were genuine expressions of sincerity or merely another calculated attempt to probe his thoughts, and allowed the conversation to end in a daze.
Yet, for reasons he could not explain, as though compelled by some unseen force, he spoke just as Jiang Yunzi was turning away.
“Your Majesty.”
Jiang Yunzi stopped.
Li Ti parted his lips. His throat felt unbearably dry and constricted, and when he finally spoke, his voice was so low that it was almost inaudible.
“Does the palace… happen to have any Changle Smoke? Could Your Majesty… bestow a little upon this humble subject?”
Jiang Yunzi turned around abruptly.
Changle Smoke.
It was a secret medicinal preparation from the imperial court of the previous dynasty, made primarily from the Five Minerals and supplemented with hallucinogenic flowers such as datura. Inhaling it could temporarily free a person from the sensation of pain, allowing them to forget their suffering for a short while. However, its toxicity was exceptionally severe. Those who used it over an extended period would initially experience mental confusion, followed by vomiting and ulceration throughout the body, eventually wasting away and dying amid delusions and illusory visions.
What outsiders did not know was that the late emperor had become addicted to this very substance during the final years of his reign. In his last three months, his entire body had become covered in festering sores, and he had died in agony, his wails echoing through the palace.
Jiang Yunzi’s voice grew heavy. “Li Jingzhao, didn’t you just say that the pain was no longer so severe?”
Li Ti closed his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling faintly. “At this moment… I can still endure it. I am only afraid that once the night grows deeper…”
In truth, when the pain struck in the past, he had always been able to grit his teeth and force himself to endure it.
But during the final half month of his journey to the capital, the agony had grown increasingly severe. He had genuinely reached the point where he could no longer bear it. He had relied entirely on that substance to keep a final thread of life from slipping away, barely managing to hold on until he reached the capital.
It was difficult to return to a life of deprivation after experiencing luxury. Once he had tasted even a brief escape from the sea of suffering, it became almost impossible to endure again the endless torment of abdominal cramps that felt as though his insides were being twisted apart, leaving him tossing and turning throughout the night.
…
The chamber fell into absolute silence.
The candle crackled, and a tiny flower of flame bloomed at its wick.
The brocade quilt was lifted at one corner, and the mattress beside him sank slightly under a new weight.
Li Ti’s entire body stiffened. He could scarcely believe what was happening.
A faint fragrance of dragon’s saliva incense drifted toward him.
Jiang Yunzi had actually lain down beside him.
In the next instant, a warm arm circled his waist, and a broad palm settled firmly over his slightly chilled lower abdomen. The heat seeped through the layers of fabric, even warmer than it had been moments earlier.
“Sleep.”
Li Ti’s throat tightened. Every word he might have spoken became trapped in his chest, dissolving into a hot, constricted ache that he could neither express nor swallow.
“I will stay with you.”
“Close your eyes.”
Darkness descended gently over them.
The scorching warmth of another person’s body continued to flow toward him through the thin layers of their sleeping garments.
The distant sounds of the water clock gradually blurred, while the flickering glow of the candlelight was screened from view by his trembling eyelashes.
All was silent. The only sound remaining was the steady, powerful beat of the heart beside him, each thump echoing through the profound stillness of the night.
……
Author’s Note
Jiang Yunzi’s perspective: Putting on an act.
Li Ti’s perspective: A dignified and compassionate deity…