Persimmon Lantern

Qi Yuanzuo had no idea when the Qi Emperor had left.

By the time he woke, the thunder outside had died away. The sun had fought its way out, cleaving the sky in two: gray clouds shrouded one half, while clear sunlight stretched across the other.

The two evenly matched forces battled above the imperial palace.

Qi Yuanzuo rolled over, too content and lazy after a good sleep to want to move.

He shook the bell cord beside his bed. The bed curtains parted, and a pair of jade-white hands stroked his face.

Lady Yin?!

Qi Yuanzuo instantly perked up.

Simiao stood to one side holding a basin of water, while Lady Yin dampened a silk cloth.

"You're awake, Your Highness. His Majesty has gone to morning court. I feared you might suffer another fright, so I stayed to watch over you."

She wiped his face with the damp silk. He had cried for a while last night, and the dried tears had crusted over his lashes.

Lady Yin smelled lovely, and her touch was so gentle.

Qi Yuanzuo was used to doing these things himself. He felt a damp cloth never wiped his face clean enough; he preferred to cup water in his hands and wash it himself.

After wiping his face, Lady Yin wiped his hands, then moved to help him dress.

At that point, Qi Yuanzuo refused.

"I'll do it myself. Give me my clothes."

Those words made three people present breathe a sigh of relief.

They were Fat Eunuch, Simiao, and Bolao.

They attended the Crown Prince every day. Wiping his face, dressing him, feeding him-those were privileges!

When the Crown Prince refused their service, the servants took it as a personal quirk. If he accepted Lady Yin's attentions today, wouldn't that mean they had simply failed to win his favor before?

"Sorry for the trouble, Lady Yin, but please wait in the main hall while I make myself presentable."

"Simiao, go serve Lady Yin some tea."

Simiao immediately gestured for her to follow.

Lady Yin was surprised by the little Crown Prince's composure and maturity. Any other child who had fallen ill from fright would surely grow attached to someone he found keeping vigil at his bedside upon waking.

The little Crown Prince's businesslike manner caught her completely off guard. Then she recalled the protection he had offered in the Hall of Nurturing Origin, and it no longer seemed so surprising.

Without such calm and steadiness, how could he have held the Empress Dowager down?

Bolao approached in small steps, presenting the clothes.

Qi Yuanzuo gave him a few extra looks and said gently, "You were the first to run out and fetch an imperial physician for me last night. Have you recovered? Do your knees still hurt?"

A sense of fulfillment flooded Bolao's heart. Suddenly, he understood: this moment was what all his desperate maneuvering had been for.

He fought back his excitement. "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. This servant is perfectly well."

When had the little Crown Prince ever treated anyone else like this?

Even when Fat Eunuch had shielded His Highness from the hand warmer the Empress Dowager threw that day, he had not received a single affectionate word.

In the past, Bolao had feigned concern and tried every sort of flattery, yet never earned a favorable glance from His Highness.

Yesterday, when he rushed into the rain, his only thought had been to fetch the imperial physician as quickly as possible. Today, unlike before, he had made no attempt to display his efforts, openly or otherwise.

Yet His Highness had spoken to him gently and asked after his health.

The Crown Prince was young, but his mind was exquisitely discerning. He could distinguish truth from falsehood, knew good from evil, and was remarkably adept at handling people. He understood without being taught-a born strategist of the heart!

Bolao offered the clothes and tactfully withdrew. The little Crown Prince disliked being watched while dressing, so the servants retreated behind the screen with practiced ease.

Once dressed, he looked in the mirror and decided he resembled a yellow radish with two little sprouts poking out of its head.

Three was an awkward age for hair. Once it grew longer, he could wear a hairpin and bind it beneath a crown. Surely that would look better than this.

The little Crown Prince washed his face and hands again, then brushed his teeth.

His toothbrush had an ivory handle and pig-bristle tufts. His toothpaste was made from bamboo leaves, pearls, coal, and a few medicinal ingredients.

Some things in ancient times were inconvenient, but the extravagance of the imperial household surpassed even the modern world.

Watching from the side, Bolao and Fat Eunuch instantly lost the sour feeling in their hearts.

They had known His Highness would never let someone else wipe his face. He had only been polite to Consort Yin. Even they were not permitted to tend to the Crown Prince's little face-how could anyone else dream of it?

Lady Yin did not wait long before the poised, impeccably dressed Crown Prince appeared before her, rolling a familiar Blood-Jade Bead Bracelet through his fingers.

For a moment, she seemed to see another His Majesty.

His inner garment had a fluffy lotus-leaf-shaped collar, its red fabric embroidered with a hundred-bat pattern. His lantern-shaped trousers gathered at the ankles, and his cuffs were cinched as well.

Over it all was a little bright-yellow robe, drawn in at the waist with a belt for ease of movement. His shoulder-length hair was tied into a bun on either side with golden ribbons.

As he moved, bright yellow and vermilion interwove, the golden bat patterns appearing and disappearing like swimming fish.

Consort Yin remembered a Persimmon Lantern her elder sister had carried as a child, with embroidered silk for its skin and bamboo joints for its bones.

The Crown Prince was just like that Persimmon Lantern, warming the heart at the mere sight of it on a snowy day.

Consort Yin unconsciously rubbed her handkerchief. She and her sister did not look alike, but she considered herself no less beautiful. Her sister had borne the emperor such a lovely Crown Prince. She wanted to bear one too.

Consort Yin gazed at the Crown Prince in a trance, as though she could stare him into her belly.

"Thank you for watching over me yesterday, Lady Yin."

Lady Yin curtsied and said affectionately:

"Her Majesty the Empress and I are sisters. There's no need to thank me for looking after you, Your Highness."

She lowered her voice. "If you don't mind, Your Highness, could you call me Aunt?"

Qi Yuanzuo blinked and pretended not to hear.

"Brother Shouzhi is in the side hall. Would you like to see him, Lady Yin?"

Consort Yin could only change the subject. "Yes."

Yin Shouzhi knew neither the people nor the surroundings after entering the palace, and kept such a low profile that he was almost invisible.

He had borrowed some books from the palace library and spent each day reading and practicing calligraphy. When tired, he strolled through the Imperial Garden. Servants from the Hall of Inherited Blessing accompanied him, so Qi Yuanzuo had little to worry about.

Yin Shouzhi did not deliberately seek familiarity, and Qi Yuanzuo had no intention of drawing him over to his side either.

Only a mediocrity would cling to what he knew and remain trapped in old patterns. With two reborn people, the plot had long since become an uncertain answer fit only for reference.

Yin Shouzhi was merely six-year-old Yin Shouzhi. He was not yet the Top Scholar Yin who would later race three thousand li alongside the Crown Prince, only to meet an unjust death in an imperial prison.

Nor was he the Remonstrance Official whose letter written in blood would become known throughout the realm, whose integrity everyone would sing of.

Their party of two became three.

Breakfast included Qi Yuanzuo's favorite soup dumplings. After the meal, Lady Yin reluctantly left, and Yin Shouzhi also took his leave.

The Double Ninth banquet was tomorrow. The emperor had already secured Grand Commandant Yin's release, and Yin Shouzhi would leave the palace after attending the banquet.

His many days of walking on eggshells were finally almost over. Much of Yin Shouzhi's pent-up tension eased, and he took the servants to the Imperial Garden for a stroll to help digest his meal.

Qi Yuanzuo drained his medicine in one gulp. The strange taste at the root of his tongue made him want to vomit.

Simiao soothingly rubbed his back, her heart aching for him. "Have something else to take the taste away, Your Highness."

"You can't keep doing this every day."

He still had many days of medicine ahead.

Whenever Qi Yuanzuo did not want to agree to something, he pretended not to hear.

He lifted his eyelids and spotted a little creature.

A cat!

A Tabbyback, a white belly, four paws treading snow, and a sleek, glossy coat.

Qi Yuanzuo stared straight at it and called:

"Pspsps-"

Tabbyback: "...Meow?"

Tabbyback paused uncertainly for a moment, then seemed unable to resist the lure and sauntered over with swaying feline steps.

Fat Eunuch said, "Consort Xian is the only person in the palace who keeps a Tabbyback cat."

His eldest brother had told him about that. Qi Yuanzuo remembered.

Bolao worried the creature might scratch someone and did not particularly want the Crown Prince near it.

Qi Yuanzuo said, "Pspsps..."

Tabbyback brushed his hand with its tail in a gesture of affection.

Then it rolled belly-up and insistently licked Qi Yuanzuo's fingers, meowing fondly as it licked.

"Hungry?"

He offered it a pastry, but Tabbyback refused and jumped onto the table, sniffing back and forth.

Qi Yuanzuo understood.

It wanted a dumpling.