In Prince Luo’s eyes, Ling Yanhuai was a man of few words and even less presence. Whether it was state sacrifices to Heaven and Earth or ceremonies at the imperial mausoleums, Ling Yanhuai rarely appeared.
Prince Luo had never regarded him as a rival for the throne. Yet for ten years, Prince Luo had been the Emperor and Empress’s only child. It was difficult for him to feel any affection toward this elder brother who had suddenly appeared. He still remembered what Ling Yanhuai had looked like seven years ago when they first met.
At the time, Ling Yanhuai had been sallow and emaciated, covered from head to toe in old and new wounds. Even dressed in brocade robes, he resembled a monkey that had gone days without food, so gaunt that he seemed little more than a skeleton draped in human skin.
Prince Luo had never seen such an ugly child before. So he had innocently asked: “Are you a beggar? Why have you come to steal my father and mother?”
That was also the first time he learned how frightening his father’s anger could be. That thoughtless remark earned him a severe reprimand, and the attendants serving him and the tutors teaching him were punished as well, costing him all dignity and face. Now, hearing Ling Yanhuai openly insult him in front of their mother, Prince Luo stared in shock. Then he turned and discovered that the Empress was actually smiling?
Mother, your eldest son just insulted your youngest son. What exactly are you so happy about?
Sensing the accusatory look from her younger son, the Empress hastily suppressed her smile. “Huai’er, you’ve arrived. Come sit and talk.”
She had forgotten for a moment that it was her younger son being scolded. Smiling so obviously really wasn’t appropriate. She would be more careful next time.
Ling Yanhuai stared silently at Prince Luo. The gaze made Prince Luo’s scalp tingle. Almost instinctively, he shifted a little closer toward the Empress. “If you like the Marquis Chengping family’s granddaughter, I can make her your Princess Consort instead.”
The Empress set Miss Cui’s portrait aside. “Your principal consort hasn’t been officially chosen yet. Changing your mind now won’t damage any other young lady’s reputation.”
“Then Miss Cui is probably the more suitable choice.” With Ling Yanhuai’s gaze fixed on him, Prince Luo felt as if needles were pricking his back. Sitting ramrod straight, he said, “A princess consort should have a more dignified temperament.”
The smile vanished from the Empress’s face. Until now, she had treated Prince Luo’s words as youthful nonsense. But now, she realized her younger son understood everything perfectly well. He was weighing benefits and losses. He wanted both. He liked Miss Yun’s beauty, yet he also wanted the Cui family’s status and influence. His earlier criticism of Miss Cui had merely been an attempt to persuade the Empress to allow Yun Qiya to become his secondary consort.
Seeing the Empress’s expression darken, Prince Luo forgot all about the tingling on his scalp. Every hair on his body stood on end. This is bad.
“Ling Yijian!”
He sprang to his feet, intending to run.
The Empress promptly shoved him back into his chair. “Bring me the family discipline rod!”
The polished bamboo paddle, burnished smooth by years of use, sliced through the air.
The whistle of the bamboo rod, Prince Luo’s anguished cries, and the attendants’ attempts to intercede blended into a chaotic symphony.
Ling Yanhuai watched the lively scene calmly. Then he picked up a pastry from the table and took a bite. Sweet but not cloying. It had a faint floral fragrance. Yun Qiya would probably like it. He beckoned to a palace maid and asked for the recipe.
The palace maid: “…”
A crying younger brother. A furious mother. And an utterly serene elder brother asking her for pastry instructions. “Very well, Your Highness. This servant will go to the Imperial Kitchen at once and obtain the recipe.”
The palace maid could only conclude that perhaps this was simply how affection worked within the imperial family.
After receiving twenty or thirty strokes, Prince Luo’s mind became considerably clearer. He no longer dared mention any young ladies. Instead, he shamelessly busied himself pouring tea and serving water for the Empress. Only after successfully soothing her temper did he quietly slip away.
“Your younger brother behaves absurdly. Don’t pay him any mind.”
Once Prince Luo left, the room grew quiet.
When dealing with her younger son, the Empress could scold and punish him freely. But when facing her eldest son, she always felt she could never be careful enough.
Fortunately, the imperial physician’s arrival broke the awkward atmosphere between mother and son.
While taking Ling Yanhuai’s pulse, the physician’s expression became slightly strange.
The Empress was so frightened that she scarcely dared breathe.
After what felt like an eternity, the physician finally released Ling Yanhuai’s wrist.
“How is my son’s health?” she immediately asked.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Highness. The First Prince’s condition has improved.”
Ever since Prince Ruining had been found and brought back, Imperial Physician Wang had been responsible for treating him. Every winter, he wrote a will for his family. It couldn’t be helped. Treating members of the imperial family was a high-risk profession.
The Emperor and Empress treasured Prince Ruining like the apple of their eye. Unfortunately, Prince Ruining’s health was difficult to describe.
Whenever winter arrived, Physician Wang would begin praying to heaven and his ancestors, begging them to keep Prince Ruining alive. He was genuinely afraid that if Prince Ruining died, the Emperor would order him buried alongside the prince.
This time, however, when he took Prince Ruining’s pulse, he was pleasantly surprised to find it noticeably stronger than before.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Highness! The First Prince’s health has improved.”
That single sentence nearly brought Imperial Physician Wang to tears. Excellent. Absolutely excellent. His family would no longer have to worry about him being buried alongside the prince.
“Truly?!” The Empress was overjoyed. Rising at once and hurrying to Ling Yanhuai’s side, she grabbed his sleeve and asked the physician in a trembling voice, “Physician Wang, whatever medicines or rare ingredients are needed, just name them. I will find them.”
Ling Yanhuai lowered his eyes to the sleeve the Empress clutched so tightly. He remembered something Yun Qiya had said earlier that day.
A child finally born after eight years of marriage… Were such children truly that special to their parents?
“Your Majesty,” Physician Wang replied, “the spirit is the master of the body. Those whose spirits flourish will prosper. As long as His Highness maintains his current state of mind and continues to recuperate properly, his health will steadily improve.”
The Empress froze. The physician’s meaning was clear. Huai’er’s recovery depended not on medicine alone, but on his state of mind and his will to live. Only then did she realize she was still gripping her son’s sleeve. She quickly let go and pretended nothing had happened, smoothing the wrinkles she had made in the fabric.
Physician Wang picked up his brush and rapidly wrote out a health-preservation prescription. It was the smoothest prescription he had ever written after examining Prince Ruining. Upon leaving the Empress’s palace, his steps felt unusually light. Even the mice peeking from rat holes looked pleasing to the eye.
Thank the ancestors for their protection. I can live for another year. Perhaps even many more years. Father! The plaque you left behind reading “Master Physician of the Apricot Grove” has been preserved by your son!
“Mother, do you still need my opinion on the matter?”
“What?” The Empress was still immersed in her joy. It took her several moments to realize what Ling Yanhuai meant.
“Your brother’s temperament is still immature. If we hastily arrange a marriage for him, we may create an unhappy couple, harming him and wronging someone else’s daughter.” She placed Miss Cui’s portrait back into its box. “For now, we’ll drop the matter.”
“Mm.”
After a brief silence, Ling Yanhuai said, “Please don’t forget what I said, Mother.”
Prince Luo and the Empress both turned toward him.
The Empress suddenly remembered what Ling Yanhuai had said earlier.
“You’re not worthy.”
The corners of her mouth immediately began twitching again. Her son had not only learned how to curse people. He had even remembered to follow up afterward.
“W-Which words?” The Empress’s mind began racing.
She was terrified she might have overlooked something her eldest son needed and made him think she didn’t care about him. Even the smile on her face stiffened.
“My younger brother is not worthy of the Yun family’s granddaughter,” Ling Yanhuai said. “He is still young. He doesn’t know how to take care of others.”
“Oh, that matter.” The Empress let out a breath of relief. “The Yun family has served the realm with loyalty for generations. I would never allow a daughter of that family to become a secondary consort.”
“Good.” Ling Yanhuai sat with the Empress a while longer. Seeing her growing increasingly cautious around him, he tucked away the pastry recipe the palace maid had copied from the Imperial Kitchen and rose to take his leave. When he reached the palace doors, he stopped and looked back.
The Empress was still standing inside, watching him.
Mother and son gazed at one another across the doorway.
The Empress’s face lay hidden in the shadows, making it impossible for him to see her clearly, just like his countless memories of his mother. It was not that her face was blurry. His memories were. He had been reunited with his parents for seven years, yet his early childhood memories had not become clearer. Instead, they had faded, changed, and dimmed until barely a trace remained.
Prince Luo left the palace, baring his teeth in pain from the beating. Spotting an old man blocking his horse’s path, he simply stared without speaking.
“Prince Luo, a calamity awaits you in the near future.”
Prince Luo raised an eyebrow and laughed contemptuously.
“You were born in early summer, while your elder brother was born in early winter. Winter and summer oppose one another. As one rises, the other falls.” The gray-robed old man lowered his voice, his expression solemn and mysterious. “Your disaster is close at hand.”
“The winter has passed. Spring has come, and summer is on its way.”
Prince Luo casually twirled his riding whip and lifted his chin arrogantly. “Old man, what’s all this nonsense about winter opposing summer? Personally, I dislike winter for being too cold and summer for being too hot.”
A whole pile of muttered nonsense. Not a single word he cared to hear. In the entire capital, aside from his father and mother, and perhaps Ling Yanhuai if he generously counted him as half a person, Prince Luo looked down on everyone equally. “I was born noble.” He snapped his whip across the old man’s body. “Who are you to stand here babbling at me?”
Then he waved a hand. “Men, take this old fool who is stirring up discord within the imperial family and deliver him to the authorities.”
Even if Prince Luo found Ling Yanhuai irritating, that was still a matter for the Ling family to settle among themselves. What right did some old man of unknown background have to stand before him and sow discord? Was he worthy?
After accompanying her aunt to the Song family’s full-month celebration banquet, Yun Qiya returned laden with praise, bracelets, and gold hairpins. As a result, when she went strolling through Ning’an Lane with her little partner the following afternoon, she was in an exceptionally good mood.
“Brother Song and Sister-in-law Song were so happy they could barely do anything except smile,” Yun Qiya sighed wistfully. “Even standing several dozen paces away, I could feel their joy.” She shook the new bracelet on her wrist. “I told them I could read faces and complimented the baby a few times. Sister-in-law Song immediately gave me such a beautiful bracelet.”
She ran her fingers over it repeatedly, her eyes curving into happy crescents. After showing off her spoils from the previous day, she pulled a jade thumb ring from her purse.
“Everyone who sees it gets a share. Brother Song gave this to me as payment for my face-reading.” She placed it in Ling Yanhuai’s hand. “Your fingers are long and elegant. It’ll definitely look good on you.”
At a neighboring table, several scholars were whispering among themselves.
“Have you heard? A day ago, the servants of Prince Luo’s residence accidentally lost track of some suspicious villain. Prince Luo was furious. The commotion was so loud that half the street could hear it.”
“Prince Luo has such a bad temper?”
“Well, he’s a prince. Maybe even the future Crown Prince. Of course he can afford to have a temper.”
“Not necessarily. There’s still the First Prince.”
“The First Prince’s health is poor, so perhaps…”
“Shh. Keep your voices down.”
Yun Qiya placed the thumb ring into Ling Yanhuai’s palm. Then she leaned closer to him and lowered her voice. “Ling Shou’an, whatever you do, don’t get involved in any struggle over the succession.”
Little partner was a member of the imperial clan. He absolutely must not pick the wrong side in a succession struggle. If something happened to him, where would she find such an excellent golden thigh to rely on?
The jade thumb ring resting in his palm was still warm. Yet Ling Yanhuai was looking at her.
“I saw His Majesty in person at the Empress’s birthday banquet,” Yun Qiya said confidently. She had tremendous faith in her half-baked physiognomy skills. “His Majesty has the features of a long life.”
“There’s no point fighting over succession right now.”
“What about me?” Ling Yanhuai asked.
“Your courtesy name contains both Shou and An.” Yun Qiya lifted her chin with absolute certainty. “That naturally means longevity and peace. You’ll live a long life, free of worries, safe and healthy.” She nodded emphatically. “It’s definitely an exceptionally fortunate fate.”
“Mm.” Ling Yanhuai slowly closed his fingers around the thumb ring. “Thank you.”
Hearing her little partner thank her, Yun Qiya became even more convinced of her face-reading abilities.
“You’re welcome. Don’t worry.”
“I’ve never been wrong before.”
Perhaps it was because spring was arriving. Ling Yanhuai felt as though he could hear the roadside trees putting forth new buds.