In the third month of spring, warm sunlight gently spilled down, making the water’s surface shimmer and glisten.
An oar broke the calm surface of the water, bringing with it the sound of splashing.
Rapid footsteps shook the small boat, tilting it slightly, and a light cry of surprise escaped: “County Princess, do be careful!”
A young girl in an apricot-red gold-embroidered gauze dress ran out from the bow of the boat, with the palace maid Liu Ying, dressed in a grape-purple embroidered dress with small sunflower patterns, hurrying two steps behind her. Liu Ying steadied the girl’s swaying figure, her round face and round eyes showing a look of disapproval: “County Princess, do be careful! Running so fast on this little boat—what if you fall in?”
“Alright, alright, I know what I’m doing.” Feng Mian was standing on her tiptoes, peering toward the opposite shore. She turned back in a hurry to give Liu Ying a reassuring smile.
The sunlight filtered through the swaying leaves on the bank, scattering a handful of spring light that danced across Feng Mian’s delicate features, falling into her dark, moist eyes, clear as if soaked in water.
With just one look from her, all of Liu Ying’s complaints vanished. She followed Feng Mian’s gaze toward the opposite shore and asked in confusion, “What is the County Princess looking at?”
On the opposite shore, the trees and water were serene, with the occasional chirping of orioles and swallows, but not a single figure in sight.
Liu Ying glanced over and then withdrew her gaze, fussing as she tried to wrap the apricot-yellow silver-butterfly-embroidered light cloak draped over her arm around Feng Mian: “The spring wind is still chilly, and the County Princess has just recovered from a cough. Please put on the cloak and be careful not to catch a chill.”
“Dear Liu Ying, I’m not cold right now. I’ll put it on when the wind picks up.” Feng Mian took the cloak and hugged it to her chest, then answered Liu Ying’s earlier question: “Didn’t my uncle host a spring banquet today, inviting all the new jinshi to tour the Qionglin Garden? I came to watch the excitement. But… where is everyone?”
The opposite shore remained completely still. Feng Mian furrowed her brow, recalling the passage she had seen in her dream last night—
“In the third month of spring, in the sixteenth year of the Chengping reign, the Emperor visited the Qionglin Garden and held a spring banquet. The day was warm and the wind gentle, with all flowers in bloom. The County Princess of Qingping brought her maid on a boat for pleasure. She wore an apricot-red gold-embroidered gauze dress, and her glances shone like morning clouds reflecting on snow. The zhuangyuan, Gu Xuzhi, caught a glimpse of her from the shore and could not forget her for a long time. Three days later, he personally came to the palace gates to request marriage.”
The sunlight filtering through the leaves was like rippling water, illuminating a few lines of ink-black text in her swaying vision.
In the dream, she had quickly flipped the book in her hands to the next page, and a line at the top of the page was deeply imprinted in her mind: “After marriage, they lived in harmony for forty years, growing old together, and their union became a celebrated tale.”
After waking, she had hurriedly changed her clothes and rushed to the Qionglin Garden, boarding a small boat to try to encounter the zhuangyuan mentioned in the book.
Feng Mian had reached the age of marriage. Recently, Consort Rou and the Empress Dowager had been frequently pressing her about her marriage prospects. The portraits they brought were either of men who were all show and no substance, or their own useless nephews and relatives—clearly intending to use her marriage to manipulate and exploit her.
Marriage determined a woman’s fate for life—how could she allow others to control it? Over the past few days, she had privately gathered information on all the promising young men in Shengjing, picked out a few decent candidates, and was just thinking about how to get her imperial uncle to issue a marriage decree for her first, when she had another dream of the future.
This was a dream she had occasionally begun having since her father’s death. She would dream of a strange place, utterly different from the Dayong she lived in—with odd clothing, peculiar buildings, and many miraculous objects she had never seen before—
Lamps as bright as daylight, wide and open long streets with flying bridges, iron chariots that could travel a thousand li a day…
At first, she had been terrified, crying and falling ill, nearly frightening those around her half to death. It was only later that she gradually came to understand that the world in her dreams was hundreds or thousands of years distant from Dayong. Dynasties had risen and fallen several times, and Dayong had become mere words in history books.
She had once wondered whether this was merely Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly—whether it was all just her imagination.
But in her dreams, she had seen historical records about Dayong. After waking, though she could only remember a few insignificant fragments—such as the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review being dismissed for corruption, or that in the tenth year of the Chengping reign, the Bureau of Foreign Affairs had introduced hazelnuts from foreign lands…
These were all confirmed one by one after she woke.
Feng Mian gradually discovered that only matters related to her could be clearly remembered after waking.
This was a gift from heaven—an opportunity to take her fate into her own hands. She would not waste it.
So when she dreamed last night of historical records mentioning her marriage, she had paid especially close attention.
The zhuangyuan of this year’s examination, Gu Chunwen, was indeed a rare and outstanding talent. It was said that during the palace examination, the Emperor took one look at him and was inclined to name him tanhua, but after seeing that his essay was even more impressive than his looks, he named him zhuangyuan instead.
Among the future husbands Feng Mian had selected for herself, his name happened to be there as well.
If this succeeded, her greatest worry would be resolved!
Feng Mian was immersed in the wonderful vision of a bright future when suddenly the sound of waves rose, a strong impact struck, and the small boat beneath her feet shook violently. Feng Mian felt as if someone had pushed her from behind, sending her sprawling against the boat’s canopy. Then came the sound of a splash behind her.
She grabbed the canopy and quickly turned around, only to see that the spot where Liu Ying had been standing was now empty.
In that moment of peril, it was Liu Ying who pushed Feng Mian toward the boat’s awning, while she herself tumbled into the water.
Feng Mian’s face went pale with shock. Without a second thought, she dove into the water after her.
Liu Ying couldn’t swim!
The early spring lake water was still icy cold, closing in on Feng Mian from all directions. She struggled to open her eyes in the current and caught sight of a figure sinking helplessly.
Liu Ying had choked on water when she fell in and had already lost consciousness.
Feng Mian swam with all her might, grabbing hold of Liu Ying’s soft, limp hand.
The two burst out of the water and collapsed on the shore. The boatman who had been rowing for Feng Mian fell to his knees beside her with a thud, trembling all over, not daring to utter a single word.
Feng Mian pressed on Liu Ying’s chest, mimicking the emergency techniques she had seen in her dreams, and shot the boatman a glare in her haste: “What are you standing there for? Go fetch the imperial physician!”
The boatman prostrated himself on the ground, shaking, too terrified to move.
“And what has made my dear sister look so bedraggled?” A familiar, arrogant voice rang out. Feng Mian looked up at the sound.
A black-canopied boat shoved Feng Mian’s small vessel aside without a care, and standing at its prow was Princess Zhaoning, Chu Jinglian, adorned in jade and jewels. She looked down with a haughty expression, her delicate brows arched slightly, a glint of smug satisfaction hidden in her eyes, one hand holding an ivory-handled round fan, waving it idly.
Why her again?
Feng Mian frowned inwardly. Chu Jinglian was the daughter of Consort Rou, who had enjoyed the emperor’s favor for years without decline. Pampered since childhood, she had always been jealous of Feng Mian for receiving a bit more of the emperor’s attention. The two had never gotten along, from childhood to now.
These past few days, Feng Mian had been troubled and had been avoiding Chu Jinglian. Not out of fear, but simply because she didn’t want to pile a nuisance on top of her worries—that would truly be maddening.
Today, Feng Mian had gone out of her way to keep a low profile, bringing only Liu Ying and borrowing a single boatman from the Pond and Garden Bureau. Now that Chu Jinglian had cornered her here with her entourage, no one would likely dare to fetch the imperial physician for her.
Feng Mian’s hands never stopped working to save Liu Ying as she swept a glance at the distance between herself and Chu Jinglian, calculating that if worse came to worst, she would charge onto that boat and push Chu Jinglian into the water too—then see if they still refused to call the physician.
Fortunately, at that moment, Liu Ying coughed up a mouthful of water and regained consciousness.
“You’re awake? How do you feel? Can you get up?” Feng Mian instantly cast Chu Jinglian from her mind, helping Liu Ying to her feet. “Come, I’ll take you back. I’ll have a physician come to examine you shortly.”
Liu Ying groggily rose with Feng Mian’s help, only then taking in Feng Mian’s soaked clothes, wet hair plastered messily to her cheeks, and the bone-chilling cold radiating from the arm supporting her. Realizing she had been saved by Feng Mian, her eyes immediately reddened, and she spoke in frantic self-reproach: “My lady, how could you jump in to save me! You’re… you’re so cold! You’ll fall ill again once we’re back!”
Liu Ying tried to take off her outer robe to drape over Feng Mian, only to realize she too was drenched through. The discomfort of nearly drowning vanished in an instant as she floundered helplessly for a moment, then turned to support Feng Mian, urgently insisting on escorting her back to the bedchamber.
Chu Jinglian, completely ignored by the mistress and maid, was furious: “How rude! Did I say you could leave?”
Four palace maids responded, disembarking to block Feng Mian and Liu Ying’s path.
Feng Mian hadn’t noticed it while saving Liu Ying, but now, with her wet clothes hit by the wind, the chill truly seeped into her bones. Her plain gauze undergarments clung damply to her skin, heavy and stifling, making even her breathing feel labored.
Feng Mian just wanted to hurry back to her chambers for a hot bath and a bowl of ginger soup to ward off the cold. She had no desire to tangle with Chu Jinglian, so she cut straight to the point: “You know my constitution. If I’m exposed to this wind any longer, I’ll collapse once I’m back. My uncle will certainly ask questions, and I won’t cover for you.”
“If my uncle learns that you knocked me into the water and refused to let me summon a physician, he will surely punish you. But if you step aside now, I’ll pretend none of this happened.”
In the past, whenever Chu Jinglian provoked her, she would always be scolded by Emperor Jiayu. So whenever Feng Mian brought up Emperor Jiayu, Chu Jinglian, no matter how furious, would show some restraint. But today, for some reason, upon hearing Feng Mian’s words, she nearly jumped out of her skin: “So what if Father finds out! Don’t think that just because Father favors you, I wouldn’t dare touch you! I am a proper princess—do you think I fear you?”
The shrill, rage-filled voice pierced Feng Mian’s eardrums, and her head began to ache.
If she wouldn’t let her leave, then she simply wouldn’t leave. The spring banquet was today; the emperor would eventually arrive with the scholars. When that happened…
Under Chu Jinglian’s stunned gaze, Feng Mian pulled Liu Ying down to sit on the ground and asked calmly, “Then what do you want?”
Chu Jinglian was momentarily at a loss for words.
When she had spotted Feng Mian on the boat, Chu Jinglian had planned to knock her into the water. Seeing her frantic to save someone and summon a physician, she had wanted to thwart her wishes. If Feng Mian wanted to leave, she would insist on keeping her there.
But now that Feng Mian wasn’t leaving, Chu Jinglian didn’t know what to do with her.
She couldn’t… she couldn’t really charge over and beat her up, could she?
An awkward silence spread between them as Feng Mian and Chu Jinglian stared each other down.
Feng Mian was almost amused enough to laugh at Chu Jinglian’s expense: “What, you just want to sit here and waste time with me?”
Her head was buzzing, and the not-quite-scorching sunlight blurred into large white patches before her eyes. Feng Mian blinked uncomfortably, turning her head to avoid the direct glare.
Chu Jinglian caught this subtle movement and immediately raised her chin proudly again, speaking with arrogant disdain: “That’s right, this princess is right here watching, letting the sun burn you to death!”
Her tone was fierce, as if it weren’t the warm spring of March but the scorching heat of July.
Bi Tao, the personal palace maid attending at Chu Jinglian’s side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If the princess truly ordered them to harm the county mistress, injuring her and angering the Emperor would indeed be a difficult situation to resolve.
This was fine—just sitting in silent confrontation. Within less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the princess would grow bored, and then they could slip away and quietly have the lower palace attendants send the county mistress back…
Bi Tao’s pleasant fantasy came to an abrupt halt. She widened her eyes at the shore and grabbed Chu Jinglian’s arm in alarm: “Pr-Prince, the county mistress has fainted!”
On the bank, Feng Mian, who had been sitting perfectly fine just moments ago, collapsed like a willow branch snapped by the wind, tumbling straight into Liu Ying’s arms.
Liu Ying was stunned as well, flapping her arms like a startled hen as she caught Feng Mian: “County mistress? County mistress, don’t frighten your servant!”
Chu Jinglian forced herself to stay calm, gripping Bi Tao’s hand and signaling another palace maid to go check the situation: “Don’t panic, all of you! She’s definitely faking it! Wake up this instant!”
At that very moment, from the other shore behind them came Emperor Jiayu’s puzzled voice: “Zhaoning? What are you doing here?”
Chu Jinglian stood frozen in place, her fear transforming into a furious glare directed at the unconscious Feng Mian: Damn it—she must have seen Father Emperor coming and fainted on purpose!