He Truly Remembered Only His Beloved

A breeze had risen this morning, and rain followed in its wake.

When Steward Feng entered, he lifted the bamboo curtain, carried in a bowl of snow bird's nest, and went around the screen.

Shen Tingjue stirred his spoon as he ate, listening to the old steward tally the accounts of Red Sleeve Pavilion. Then he drank another bowl of medicine, his mouth full of bitterness, and hugged the jar as he picked out candied fruits.

Physician Zhang came as usual to take Shen Tingjue's pulse.

"Young Master has been meticulously nursed of late, and your vital energy is in good shape. As for your memory, have you occasionally recalled anything?"

Shen Tingjue chewed on a candied fruit, his cheeks puffed out. "No."

Physician Zhang's brows furrowed slightly. "Truly nothing?"

Shen Tingjue spread his hands. "Why would I lie to you? Truly nothing. How about you give my head a few knocks? Maybe I'll suddenly recover."

"That could be tried, but you must first sign a life-and-death waiver. One blow of the hammer, and whether you live or die is none of my concern."

Physician Zhang bantered with him, put away the pulse pillow, rolled up his sleeves, and took up his brush to write a prescription on a blank sheet of paper. "I'll prescribe you another formula. If you remember anything, be sure to tell me."

The rain was washing the clivias in the courtyard. Shen Tingjue looked over, sitting in a lazy posture. "Actually, it's not as though I've forgotten everything. I remember one person."

After finishing the prescription and handing it to a servant to fetch the medicine, Physician Zhang finally asked, "Who?"

Shen Tingjue looked at him. "My beloved."

Physician Zhang: "..."

Physician Zhang slung his medicine chest over his back and turned to leave.

"Hey, I'm not making fun of you." Shen Tingjue looked utterly sincere, wearing the expression of someone prepared to bare his heart. "I truly remember only my beloved."

Half-believing and half-doubting, Physician Zhang turned back. "Who is your beloved?"

Shen Tingjue sat up slightly straighter and said unhurriedly, "His Highness the Crown Prince."

"..." Physician Zhang assumed he had been fooled again. His beard twitched upward as he opened his umbrella and strode off with wind beneath his feet, leaving the Chancellor's Residence without looking back. The moment he reached the Imperial Academy of Medicine, an eunuch summoned him to the East Palace. Only upon arriving did he learn that the Crown Prince wanted him to treat two wolves.

"This humble official is an imperial physician, not a veterinarian." Physician Zhang's eyelids throbbed. "Your Highness should seek someone more skilled."

Xiao Hanye frowned. "Wolves are the same as people—they both have pulses. Can't you just take their pulses and see? Why so much nonsense?"

Hearing him speak without knowing the pain of standing, Physician Zhang dared to be angry but not to speak. His beard quivered as he glanced at White Dragon and White Tiger lying motionless on the ground. His gaze shifted to their round, bulging bellies, and he guessed, "Did Your Highness feed them too much?"

"Not too bad." Xiao Hanye said, "Yesterday, I hunted a large wild boar in the outskirts, so I gave them an extra meal today."

Physician Zhang immediately reached a conclusion. "Then they've overeaten. Once they digest it, the wolves will naturally recover. If Your Highness is worried, I have a bottle of digestion pills here. You can give each of them one."

Xiao Hanye frowned again. "Can wolves take pills meant for people?"

Physician Zhang tucked his hands into his sleeves. "Didn't you say it yourself? Wolves are the same as people."

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes slightly and stared until Physician Zhang's scalp went numb. Only then did he slowly look away and give a bland "Mm," with no further comment. Nor did he take the medicine bottle from Physician Zhang's hand.

Calling him here to look at the wolves had never been the real purpose.

Xiao Hanye bent a finger and lightly tapped the tabletop, asking casually, "I heard you went to take the pulse of the young master of Shen Residence this morning?"

Physician Zhang had been about to take his leave. At this, he paused in surprise. "Yes."

Xiao Hanye sounded careless. "When will he recover his memories?"

Physician Zhang said troubledly, "That is difficult to say. Young Master Shen has not recalled so much as a trace of anything yet. It will not be easy for him to recover."

At those words, Xiao Hanye's vision seemed to darken. His head began to ache again. He gathered himself as best he could and asked as though nothing were amiss, "If someone loses his memory yet remembers only one thing, why is that?"

"It means that thing is very important to him."

Physician Zhang stroked his beard. "It is perfectly normal to remember only one matter or one person after losing one's memory. If that matter or person is of utmost importance in his heart, even amnesia will find it difficult to erase all traces."

Xiao Hanye leaned back in his chair, the ivory fan in his hand opening and closing. He remained silent. Listening to the wind and rain intensify outside, his thoughts were tugged along, and he could not help recalling the past.

Seeing the shifts in his expression, and recalling the question he had asked out of nowhere, Physician Zhang could not help but entertain an absurd thought. "Did Your Highness know Young Master Shen before?"

Xiao Hanye raised his gaze slightly. "Mm?"

"Young Master Shen..." Physician Zhang hesitated, but still said it. "He said that Your Highness is his beloved."

Xiao Hanye: "..."

Wu Dequan hurriedly grabbed Physician Zhang and ushered him outside. Once they were farther from the Crown Prince, he found his confidence. "Don't listen to his wild nonsense. My master is upright and pure, spotless and clean!"

Physician Zhang was baffled. "He only said beloved. He did not say His Highness was his lover. How did this become a matter of chastity?"

"..."

Wu Dequan muddled through with a few vague excuses and quickly sent him away. When he entered the room again, he saw Xiao Hanye leaning against the desk, staring blankly at an inkstone, his eyes revealing a different kind of heavy concern.

That inkstone had been found by chance at the bottom of a chest, buried beneath clothes, when Wu Dequan had been ordered to pack up the belongings in the room of the chief secret guard after the latter's accident.

Dark Two had said that it was a birthday gift his chief had intended for His Highness. He had carved it himself, staying up night after night without sleep until his hands were cut, yet in the end, he had never given it away. As for why, Dark Two did not know.

Wu Dequan waited quietly for a while. Seeing the Crown Prince remain coldly still, he hesitated before lightly setting a cup of ginseng tea beside him.

The sweltering summer departed, autumn rains arrived, and the weather began to turn cold. Once Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, year's end was not far away. At this time every year, the Six Ministries became so busy their hands and feet scarcely touched the ground. Whenever certain matters could not be settled, they had to trouble the Chenghuan Emperor to make the final decision himself.

The Crown Prince helped govern, and from time to time still had to lock horns and scheme against the hundred officials. Unable to bear seeing Shen Tingjue idle, he handed him the task of re-examining the Imperial Guard roster.

At the Imperial Guard training grounds, lines of soldiers were already running drills early in the morning.

"Everyone outside says the Imperial Guard has been raised into uselessness. But let me tell you, the annual funds allocated by the Ministry of Revenue simply cannot support over twenty thousand Imperial Guards. How could we make them strong soldiers and sturdy horses? Before, I thought the training grounds were too small and wanted to move the guards somewhere more spacious. I submitted memorials several times, but every one was rejected by the Grand Secretariat."

Wen Jingkong stood with his arms folded, watching the Imperial Guard drill as he ceaselessly complained to Shen Tingjue.

"The Nine Camps are different. Their yearly military pay is several times that of the Imperial Guard. If there's a good location, they get it first. The Military Affairs Bureau is controlled by the aristocratic families and breathes through the same nostrils as the Ministry of Revenue. The Grand Secretariat is headed by Xie the Grand Secretary, and they replace the officials who inspect accounts and verify records with their own people. They can write the ledgers however they please. Openly and in secret, they are always thinking of suppressing the Imperial Guard."

Shen Tingjue flipped through the Imperial Guard roster. He could only occasionally recognize one or two characters, yet after pretending to read for a long while, he closed the roster without changing expression.

"What about His Majesty? The Imperial Guard is his most important talisman of protection. Can he tolerate others suppressing it?"

Wen Jingkong sighed. "The powers of the aristocratic families are tangled together like roots and branches—how could they be easily removed? His Majesty possesses the realm, yet must still yield to the prestige of those families. The past two years have been better. His Highness does not have His Majesty's mild temper; the aristocratic families cannot get a grip on him, and their control over the court is far weaker than before."