For a man like Pei Huaiche, whose legs had been crippled and whose pride ran deep, nothing was more taboo than having his disability laid bare for all to see.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the one tending to his wounds and accompanying him through the long, grueling recovery was Cuihua.
From start to finish, his simple-hearted young wife had never once thought to conceal the fact that his legs were ruined.
When he first stirred awake on her earthen bed, she had delivered her verdict without preamble: "You're awake? I know it hurts, but don't move. You've got injuries all over—the more you move, the more it'll hurt… Oh, right, you probably can't move much anyway. Your legs are the worst off—bones poking out in several places. Even after they heal, walking again will be very difficult."
Later, when he married into her household, the former Regent Prince who had once galloped across battlefields found himself confined to a narrow bed, resigned to dragging his useless legs through the remainder of his days. Yet even as her newlywed husband, she remained utterly unrestrained in word and deed.
When teasing him, she would hold whatever he wanted high above her head and provoke him with a mischievous grin: "Go on, stand up and get it if you can!"
When they bickered and she found herself losing the argument, she would dash off—knowing full well he couldn't chase her—and stand at a distance, sticking out her tongue: "You can't catch me anyway, so I'll be unreasonable if I want to!"
And when she finally realized, belatedly, that he actually minded, she was taken aback. After a long pause, she gently hooked her pinky around his and said, "But your legs aren't going to get better, are they? You can't spend your whole life brooding over something that can't be changed, can you?"
Pei Huaiche brought up the unvarnished gossip among the neighbors: "People say you reached marriageable age without a single matchmaker coming to your door, and you were afraid of becoming an old maid—so you didn't even bother to be picky, settling for a cripple like me who can only lie in bed all day."
Back when he was the Regent Prince wielding power over the entire court, he had never once entertained the thought of taking a wife.
The world called him ambitious and treacherous, but in his heart, he had never truly coveted the throne. Since he intended to one day return the reins of power to the young emperor, he saw no reason to complicate matters by adding an in-law clan to the equation.
After all, he could only govern his own heart—he couldn't guarantee that whatever clan latched onto him would willingly fade from the center of power alongside him when the time came.
Moreover, buried in state affairs day and night, matters of romance had never been a priority.
But having been indifferent in the past didn't mean that now that he'd half-reluctantly entered into this marriage, he could simply claim it was never his wish and let this young woman who had already shared his bed support him for the rest of his life—while enduring public scorn for taking in a crippled live-in husband.
Cuihua, however, laughed without a care, her apricot-shaped eyes curving into crescents: "They're not wrong. If my family were better off, if I had parents and brothers to back me up, even if I were taking in a live-in husband, it wouldn't be you."
Pei Huaiche had once stood at the very pinnacle of power in all of Great Yuan. Gifted in both letters and martial arts, and blessed with a strikingly handsome face, he had never lacked for noble ladies throwing themselves at him—he simply couldn't be bothered to acknowledge them.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that when he finally did marry, his own wife would so bluntly "look down" on him.
Just as a flicker of irritation and bitterness rose in his chest, she suddenly leaned in close, her soft, warm lips brushing lightly against the corner of his mouth like a dragonfly skimming water.
She looked at him, eyes clear and candid, so guileless that he couldn't possibly stay angry at her: "But just like your legs won't get better, I'm only a poor girl with no one to rely on! So being able to marry you into my home—I'm already more than satisfied and happy. You should look on the bright side too. Your legs may not work anymore, but you've gained a pretty and capable wife!"
Her intention was presumably to console him into contentment, but the way she put it only made Pei Huaiche feel as though his already aching heart had been given another none-too-gentle prod.
As for why he eventually came to accept the reality of his crippled legs—it was purely because every time he received her "comfort," his wounds got another jab to the gut. After enough repetitions, he simply went numb…
Today was no different. He had long grown accustomed to letting her remarks about "striding briskly" roll off him. Calmly setting down his ebony chopsticks, he pushed the bowl with the chicken leg toward her, faint weariness in his brow: "I've been eating for a while, and the chicken leg is awkward to pick up with chopsticks. My hand aches—the rest will have to be fed to me by my dear wife."
Since she planned to accompany him to try out the wheelchair the next day and push him around the sprawling Princess Estate for a proper tour, Cuihua didn't linger in his room after dinner.
Pei Huaiche had no intention of keeping her there overnight either. Compared to whether he might gain a bit more respect and preferential treatment within the estate thanks to her "favor" and "attention," he cared far more about how the servants would perceive her as a princess.
A princess who indulged night after night in intimate dalliance with a crippled consort—in the eyes of others, that would hardly be proper or respectable.
Love, once kindled, knows not where it begins, yet deepens evermore.
Just as Cuihua had said, at first neither of them may have regarded the other as a deeply devoted match, but after two years of sharing life's hardships together, the small moments accumulated in those fleeting days had long since made them irreplaceable in each other's hearts.
Cuihua returned to her own bedchamber, thinking of the surprise she had prepared for Pei Huaiche, and slept soundly through the night, at peace.
The next morning, she awoke before the sky was fully light.
It happened that Baodian arrived with the newly altered summer garments from the tailor, and Cuihua immediately took a liking to one—a pink gown embroidered with light green trailing floral patterns. She then called for Baodian to carefully dress her hair.
In the bronze mirror, as Baodian's nimble hands flew, her cloud-like coiffure gradually took shape, adorned with delicate pearls and ornaments, and the reflection before her grew ever more radiant and breathtaking.
Cuihua studied herself for a moment, then praised sincerely: "After staying in the palace these past few days, I still find your hands the most skilled. The maids my mother the Empress assigned on short notice never style my hair to my liking the way you do."
Baodian pressed her lips into a smile and steadily inserted a jadeite hairpin into Cuihua's bun: "The Princess flatters me. It is your natural beauty—you look lovely however you are adorned."
Cuihua seemed to mention casually: "I heard from my fourth and fifth sisters that senior maidservants like you who serve closely receive two or three times the monthly allowance of ordinary maids. Is that also the rule in our household?"
Baodian replied respectfully: "There is indeed a similar precedent in the household, but this servant merely accompanied the Princess to the capital and has served you for a longer time. I do not yet count as your true senior maidservant."
She had originally been a palace attendant serving the Empress, and it was only because of her composure, quick wit, and loyal reliability that she had been fortunate enough to be selected to accompany Liu Qingzi and the other guards in welcoming the Princess back to the palace.
This had certainly given her an advantageous position, but whether she could truly secure the role of senior maidservant in the future would ultimately depend on whether she pleased the Princess.
Cuihua nodded, her tone warm and assured: "Then from today onward, you are. I'll speak with Steward Di shortly—starting next month, your allowance will follow the senior maidservant's standard."
Baodian immediately bent her knees in a salute: "This servant thanks the Princess for her grace. From this day forth, I shall devote myself wholeheartedly to serving the Princess well."
Cuihua reached out to gesture her up, her smile genuine: "You've already served me very well. I grew up in the countryside and don't understand many of the rules. My husband told me that I need someone trustworthy by my side to offer constant guidance. I'll need you to put in extra care from now on."
This was a clear message that Baodian must not only be loyal to Cuihua, but also to Cuihua's husband—and that as long as she remained unwavering in her loyalty, they would never treat her poorly.
Cuihua, having come from common folk, had never learned the arts of managing subordinates.
Pei Huaiche knew he could not teach her to be flawless overnight, so he simplified matters: he merely helped her identify which people in the household were trustworthy and capable, then told her—if these people handled matters properly and pleased her, besides praise and rewards, she could also take the opportunity to express her expectations for them going forward. This was what he called balancing kindness with authority.
Cuihua silently took note, but a thought turned in her mind: since kindness and authority were such fine things, she could hardly keep them all to herself. So she applied what she had just learned and, on her own initiative, copied the same approach onto Pei Huaiche.
After testing the waters with Baodian, Cuihua did the same with Di Xin, the old steward of the Princess's residence.
Seeing that he had not only handled the purchase of the wheelchair properly but, fearing Pei Huaiche might fall, had also carefully ordered servants to test-push it several times before confirming it was stable enough to be brought into the courtyard, she praised him with genuine sincerity for his thorough consideration.
And so, that morning, when Pei Huaiche's door was gently pushed open, what met his eyes was not only his young wife standing in the morning light with smiling eyes, but also the three wheelchairs that several servants behind her, following her instructions, carried in.
There she stood, charming and bright in the faint dawn, her cloud-like hair lightly gathered, adorned with a single distinctive jadeite hairpin. Her features were pure and elegant, yet her brows and eyes brimmed with uncontainable pride and anticipation. Her glances sparkled with life, like clear water reflecting spring peach blossoms—adorably naive and playfully sly all at once.
Di Xin, thorough in his work, had long prepared wooden planks to lay across the thresholds on both sides, making it easy for the wheelchairs to pass through.
And once everything was arranged, he tactfully led the others away, leaving the room to the two of them for private words.
Cuihua leaned in with curved eyes, her voice brimming with excitement: "See? Yesterday you obediently ate the chicken leg, and today I'm going to take you 'striding like the wind'!"
Pei Huaiche was far too perceptive a man. As early as last night's meal, he had noticed from the way she occasionally covered her lips to stifle a smile that she must be secretly planning something to delight him.
But he had never imagined that the surprise she intended to give him was a wheelchair.
He had long resigned himself to being confined to a small courtyard for the rest of his life, and now this unexpected gesture of thoughtfulness warmed his heart.
His lips relaxed slightly—that barely audible sigh from the night before had finally transformed into the faint trace of a smile at the corners of his mouth this morning.
Cuihua, seeing his expression soften, grew even more delighted: "I've had the kitchen set out breakfast in the garden. Pick one of the wheelchairs, and I'll push you there."
Pei Huaiche followed her suggestion readily: "The rattan one."
Although the rattan wheelchair was bumpier than solid wood, it was also much lighter. After entering the residence, he had asked Steward Di for the estate blueprints and glanced over them—the garden was not close by, and he did not want her to have to push the chair with great effort on an empty stomach.
Cuihua had only been back at the residence for three days. On the first day, she had quarreled with him over accepting Wei Jiangran's hairpin, and on the second, she had racked her brains trying to figure out how to win him back. It was only now that she finally had the chance to take a careful look at this residence that belonged to her.
Having spent eight days in the palace, she had seen the Empress Mother's imperial garden and stayed in the Crown Princess sister's eastern palace side hall, but those were ultimately other people's domains—naturally not as comfortable and reassuring as strolling through her own residence.
She pushed him slowly along the corridor path, chattering away the whole time, pouring out everything she had been holding in for two days.
"Husband, let me tell you—I not only have a mother now, but I've also gained four siblings. Although when I entered the palace this time, the eldest sister and third brother weren't there, so I didn't get to see them."
"Mother Empress truly treats me extremely well. Lord Liu said that when my third brother was enfeoffed with his own residence last year, not only was it less than half the size of mine, but its location wasn't as good either—it's in the northwest corner of the city… I think it must be because it's too far, and it's quite a hassle for him to travel back and forth, which is why Mother Empress didn't summon him back to meet me."
"But I did meet my two younger sisters. They don't resemble Mother Empress as much as my Crown Princess sister and I do, but they're still beauties in the making. Though they're twins born together and look exactly alike, their temperaments are completely different—one quiet, one lively—so you could never mix them up."
"Speaking of which, it was my fifth sister who told me that there's a furniture shop in Xiangjing selling wheelchairs. Don't let her age of twelve fool you—she's incredibly skilled at business. She's acquired many shops herself and knows every kind of store in the city like the back of her hand."
"Oh right, guess what their father gave me as a welcome gift? A string of Buddhist beads! Mother Empress said that my stepfather was originally a monk. That year on the summer solstice, she went to the temple to pray, and when she looked up, she saw this young monk assisting the abbot with the ceremony—so handsome. After finishing her prayers, she brought him straight back to the palace."
"I think the reason I couldn't walk away the first time I saw you is probably inherited… Huh? Why has your expression turned bad again? Can you really not stand hearing me praise another man's looks? Being jealous of my brother-in-law is one thing, but that's the stepfather my mother found for me!"
She spoke with great enthusiasm, and it wasn't until she pushed Pei Huaiche to the stone table in the garden and bent down to secure his wheelchair that she noticed his expression, which had just begun to soften, had darkened once more.
In truth, regarding whether she might, like his imperial nephew, one day be corroded at heart by the desires of imperial power, Pei Huaiche had already come to some understanding last night.
He had never fought for the throne in the past, only because he was grateful that his imperial brother had spared his life after killing all the other brothers, and had granted his mother a peaceful end. For that, he had adhered strictly to his duties for a full decade, supporting the young sovereign to sit firmly on the throne and keeping Great Yuan prosperous and peaceful.
But in the end, it had only earned him estrangement from his nephew. The foundation he had painstakingly built was squandered by that worthless nephew within two years, and he had even been forced to pursue the imperial throne himself to intimidate the covetous forces both within and without.
Now, a situation eerily similar seemed poised to repeat itself, and he still could not bring himself to cast aside those deep affections for those closest to him. Since he could not sever them and was unwilling to repeat the same mistakes, could he not also fight for it once?
Fight for a measure of peace for her, and for himself… fight for her lifelong devotion.
Moreover, at this moment, her heart and eyes were still full of him as her husband. If he were to retreat in self-abandonment first, it would be no different from him being the first to betray their bond.
The moment he saw her push the wheelchair over that morning, the gloom hanging over him had already been dispelled by the radiance in her eyes.
But that relief had not lasted even the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before it gradually cooled due to her subsequent words.
Her being favored by the Empress might be true, but the fact that her third brother's residence was less than half the size of hers and relegated to a remote corner of the city undoubtedly indicated that, as the only prince among the siblings, he was actually the one least favored by the Empress.
And given the gravity of the Empress having searched far and wide to find Cuihua, the fact that he never entered the palace to acknowledge his second sister—wasn't it more likely that he harbored jealousy and resentment toward her the moment she returned to the palace?
As for her fifth sister, who excelled in commerce and knew every shop in the city like the back of her hand—she had asked for a recommendation and then directly sent someone to purchase the wheelchair from the shop her fifth sister suggested. It seemed that if her fifth sister were even slightly nosy, the fact that her beloved bedmate was a cripple would not escape her notice.
And that successor male consort who had given her the Buddhist beads, a monk who had been brought into the Empress's harem…
He had long heard that the Liang Empire's Empress had a well-stocked harem. For this man to not only stand out and secure the position of Empress Consort, but also to be the only one to father her children after Cuihua—with such skill, how could he be merely a worldly monk who had returned to secular life?
Pei Huaiche had only heard her rough account, yet he already sensed the undercurrents running deep beneath the surface. He could only sigh that the wealth and glory of the imperial family—no matter where it was—never came with true peace.
So leaving his young wife in the palace—how lacking in sense was that? The nine-tiered imperial court, fraught with hidden daggers and veiled schemes, had in her telling become a place of such harmony and joy, where brothers were fraternal and sons were filial?
And why had his expression changed… Could he not lament his own fate of endless toil? Having rested a mere two years, he was once again to raise "children," contending with heaven, with earth, and with men—"infinite delight," indeed.