The imperial return

The autumn hunt was over.

The procession traveled much more slowly on the return journey. The Imperial Guard soldiers had stayed up all night packing up the camp, and before daybreak they had begun dismantling the enclosures and loading the baggage. The hunting dogs were shut back in their cages, and the water deer and hares they had caught filled two whole carts. Xiao Huaijin rode his little bay horse, looking back toward the hunting grounds every so often. The morning mist in the valley had not yet entirely dispersed, and the embers of the campfires gave off their last wisps of bluish smoke, blown crooked by the wind.

"Crown Prince Brother, will we come again next year?"

Xiao Yu poked his head out of the carriage, his face still muddled with sleep. His gray rabbit had been put in a cage at the back of the carriage, beside Xiao Lan's medicine chest and the unfinished packet of dried tangerine peel.

"We will." Xiao Huaijin tugged the reins, bringing his little bay horse closer to the carriage. "Father said we'll come every year from now on."

"Really?"

"Father said so. Of course it's true."

Reassured, Xiao Yu drew his head back inside. A moment later, he poked it out again, holding a bird feather he had picked up somewhere, and waved it at Xiao Huaijin. "Crown Prince Brother, this is for you. I found it yesterday-it's a falcon feather."

Xiao Huaijin rode closer and took the feather. It was grayish brown, with a very stiff shaft, and did indeed look like a falcon's. He tucked it beside his quiver and nodded to Xiao Yu. "Thanks. When we get back, I'll have Kong Wu make you a little bow too-the one you have now is too small. You can't draw it."

Xiao Yu's eyes lit up, and his two dimples sank deep. He ducked back into the carriage and told the young eunuch beside him, "Did you hear? Crown Prince Brother said he's going to have a bow made for me!"

His voice was very low, as though he were sharing a momentous secret.

The procession entered the city gates and headed north along Vermilion Bird Avenue. Autumn in the capital was a little warmer than at the hunting grounds. The ginkgo trees beside the street were only just beginning to yellow, and vendors with carrying poles called out their sugar-roasted chestnuts by the roadside. A scorched, sweet fragrance drifted through the air. Xiao Huaijin sniffed and glanced back toward the palace city. Xiao Lin, riding up ahead, seemed to have smelled the chestnuts too. He turned his head and said something to Liu An. Liu An rode over to the roadside and returned a moment later with a paper packet of sugar-roasted chestnuts, which he presented to Xiao Huaijin.

"His Majesty said these are for Your Highness to share with the Second Prince and Fourth Princess."

Xiao Huaijin took the paper packet. It was still hot, so hot that he shifted it to his other hand. He peeled a chestnut and popped it into his mouth, his eyes narrowing at the sweetness. He passed the packet over to Xiao Yu's carriage curtain. Xiao Yu reached out with both hands to take it, struggled for ages to peel one, then grew so impatient that he bit straight into it. Xiao Lan called from the carriage behind, "Don't bite it! The shell will get stuck in your throat!" Only then did Xiao Yu obediently wait for the young eunuch to peel it for him.

The procession entered the East Glorious Gate, where people from every palace had come to meet them.

His nurse stood at the entrance to the passageway. When she caught sight of the apricot-yellow figure on the little bay horse in the distance, she nearly twisted the handkerchief in her hands into a rope. Xiao Huaijin swung down from his horse-without catching himself on the stirrup this time-and strode toward the Eastern Palace. Reaching his nurse, he pulled the falcon feather from his quiver and held it up for her to see.

"Nanny, look! A falcon feather! Second Brother found it!"

His nurse looked him up and down, making sure he had suffered no bumps or knocks, before taking the feather to examine it.

"Lovely. We'll put it in a vase when we get back."

"Not in a vase. It has to hang beside my bow."

As he walked into the Eastern Palace, he talked about what had happened at the hunting grounds-Father had shot a stag with five-tined antlers, he himself had shot a white rabbit, Xiao Yu's gray rabbit had been chased senseless by the hunting dogs, and Xiao Lan's medicine chest had been full of dried tangerine peel. His nurse followed behind, listening and responding now and then, every wrinkle around her eyes filled with smiles.

Over at the Palace of Nurtured Elegance.

Shen Mingzhu stood at the palace entrance in a simple, elegant moon-white everyday robe, her hair arranged in a plain bun. She watched Xiao Yu jump down from the carriage with a gray rabbit in his arms, his little face all smiles, and run over with a cry of "Mother!"

"Mother, look! A rabbit! My rabbit!"

Shen Mingzhu crouched to catch him, running her hands over his shoulders and back. Only after making sure he was unharmed did she lower her gaze to the gray rabbit. It was listless, its ears drooping, probably tired from the jolting journey.

"Who helped you catch it?"

"Crown Prince Brother!" Xiao Yu caught his breath, then hurriedly added, "He didn't catch it-the hunting dogs chased it senseless. Crown Prince Brother said it counted as my prey."

Shen Mingzhu gently patted Xiao Yu's back twice. Looking at the two adorable dimples on her son's face, she felt a complicated surge of emotions. There was happiness: Xiao Yu had been frail since childhood, yet this trip had not only left him free of illness but made him more spirited. But another, deeper emotion was wariness. The crown prince treated Xiao Yu too well, so well that it made her uneasy. She did not know whether this "kindness" came from the child's nature, whether His Majesty had taught him something behind the scenes, or whether-she was overthinking it.

"Come inside. Put the rabbit down and have a bowl of ginger soup first."

She stood and led Xiao Yu inside by the hand, looking back toward the Eastern Palace. Its lanterns were lit, swaying gently in the autumn wind.

Consort Xian brought Xiao Yue to see Xiao Huaijin.

The moment Xiao Yue saw Xiao Huaijin, he threw himself at him and hugged his leg, calling "Brother, Brother" without stopping. Anyone who did not know better would have thought they had been apart for three years. Consort Xian smiled beside them.

"If Your Highness had stayed away any longer, Yue'er would have turned my world upside down."

Xiao Huaijin crouched and rubbed Xiao Yue's head.

"I'll take you next time. When you're older, I'll take you to shoot deer."

Consort Xian paused, then smiled. "Very well. Your Highness mustn't forget when the time comes."

That afternoon, Xiao Huaijin returned to the Eastern Palace, hung his quiver on the wall, and tucked the falcon feather beside his bow. He stepped back twice to look, decided the position was wrong, then took it down and placed it again. Only after repeating this several times was he satisfied. Then he sat down at the low table and began his calligraphy practice for the day. Zhou Rucheng had not arrived yet, so he started on his own. After two lines, he set down his brush, took the "battle plan" from his sleeve, unfolded it for a look, and slipped it into his calligraphy copybook.

Toward evening, Liu An came to the Eastern Palace with a verbal decree.

"His Majesty's verbal decree-the crown prince improved his archery during this autumn hunt and is awarded three new bowstrings. The Second Prince entered the hunting grounds for the first time and is awarded one small bow. The Fourth Princess accompanied the party with medicines and is awarded five new books."

Xiao Huaijin knelt on the floor to hear it, then raised his head and asked, "Eunuch Liu, what is Second Brother's bow like?"

Liu An bowed. "Your Highness, it was newly made by the Ministry of Works. It is one inch shorter than yours, with a bow stave of cudrania wood."

"One inch shorter than mine-that's just right."

Xiao Huaijin stood and nodded in satisfaction. "His hands are small. One inch shorter will be just right for him to draw. Yesterday I was saying I'd have Kong Wu make him one, but Father has already awarded him one-then tell Kong Wu not to make it."

Liu An paused. In all his years of delivering verbal decrees, this was the first time he had heard a crown prince not only refrain from competing with his younger brother for things, but even work out the size of his brother's bow for him. He lowered his head and committed the words to memory, ready to report them to His Majesty upon his return.

After Liu An left, Xiao Huaijin put the three new bowstrings into the wooden box beside his quiver, then returned to the low table to continue his calligraphy. When he reached the third character, he suddenly put down his brush and asked his nurse beside him a question.

"Nanny, was Second Brother happy when he went back to the Palace of Nurtured Elegance?"

His nurse was folding clothes and did not even look up. "He was happy. He wouldn't let go of that gray rabbit, and all along the way he kept talking about how Crown Prince Brother had taught him to draw a bow."

Xiao Huaijin nodded and asked nothing more. He finished his calligraphy for the day, studied it himself for a while, and selected the best sheet to set aside-that one was for Father to see.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Xiao Lin had just finished reviewing the first batch of memorials since returning to the capital. Liu An reported the crown prince's reply in full detail. When he reached "Second Brother's hands are small; one inch shorter will be just right for him to draw," Xiao Lin's hand paused over a memorial.

"He really said that."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Those were His Highness's exact words."

Xiao Lin set down his brush and gazed out the window. The lanterns in the direction of the Eastern Palace were already lit, but through several palace walls, only a faint, hazy glow was visible. After a moment's silence, he asked another question. "When Xiao Yu went back, how did the Noble Consort react?"

Liu An considered his wording. "Her Highness the Noble Consort met the Second Prince at the entrance, checked him from head to toe, and then took him inside to have a bowl of ginger soup."

Xiao Lin said nothing. Leaning back in his chair, he remembered Xiao Yu in his previous life-the youth who had stood at the head of three hundred armored soldiers, smiling as he called him "my dear brother." Then he thought of Xiao Yu in this life-refusing to let go of his gray rabbit, arguing with the crown prince until his face and ears turned red over whether hunting dogs were dogs, poking his head out of the carriage to hand Xiao Huaijin a falcon feather. There had originally been no deep hatred between these two children. All the flashing blades and bloody shadows of their previous lives had been sins wrought by adults, from beginning to end.

He opened the memorial again, wrote two lines of comments, then told Liu An, "Tomorrow, before the Ministry of Works delivers that little bow, bring it for me to look at first."

"Yes."

After night fell, the Eastern Palace gradually grew quiet. His nurse took down the lanterns under the covered walkway and replaced two of them with new ones, painted with a rabbit and a round moon. Xiao Huaijin lay on his couch with the quilt pulled up to his chin, staring for a while at the falcon feather beside his bed.

"Nanny."

"Your Highness, aren't you going to sleep?"

"Do you think-Second Brother will always be this good?"

His nurse paused in the outer room. She put down her needlework, came to sit beside his bed, and reached out to feel his forehead. He had no fever, and his eyes were clear. He did not seem to be talking nonsense. She considered her words and spoke very softly.

"Your Highness, the Second Prince is your younger brother. If you treat him well, naturally he will treat you well too."

Xiao Huaijin was silent for a while. For some reason, a faint unease always lingered in his heart, as though someone had said something into his ear that he could not hear clearly. He tugged his quilt higher and rolled over.

"Nanny, I want to go to the Palace of Nurtured Elegance to see Second Brother tomorrow."

"Go on, then. Take a few pieces of osmanthus cake."

"Mm."

The lights in the Eastern Palace went out. Far away, the lights of the Palace of Nurtured Elegance went out too. The entire Forbidden City grew quiet in the autumn wind, with only the distant clacking of the night watchman's wooden clapper carrying down the long lanes.