"Hm?" Already listless from illness, Pei Qing was even more muddled after just drinking his medicine. Hearing words he could not fathom, he tilted his head to look at her. His lashes were like the eaves of a thatched cottage after spring rain: the eaves sheltered the gathered raindrops but could not keep out the moisture lingering in the air. It clung to the walls and gathered into droplets again, bit by bit, hovering on the verge of falling.
Pei Qing's eyes were like that moisture after the rain, misty, as though given a little more time, it would gather into raindrops and fall.
Only what the droplets left behind would not be cottage walls, but eyes as clear as mirrors.
Was he going to cry?
Lou Yun leaned forward, then snatched her hand back just as her fingers were about to touch the corner of the young man's eye.
What had she just been about to do? Never mind whether Pei Qing would cry-even if he did, so what? He was her brother's husband!
Lou Yun turned her back. In her previous life, even when her country had been surrounded by enemies on all sides, she had never been this rattled. In this life, a single movement was enough to throw her thoughts into turmoil.
What could not be controlled must be killed.
Killing intent roiled in her eyes. The taste of blood in her mouth roused what little reason Lou Yun had left. When she turned back, the medicine had long since taken effect, and the young man was fast asleep.
Because of the killing intent Lou Yun had just released, the cat in his arms stiffened as she approached Pei Qing and bared his teeth. "Meow!"
A cat that protected his master, at least.
Watching Lou Yun draw closer step by step, the white cat kept lowering his body into an attacking stance, only to be pinned in place by a single look from her. His feeble "Meow-" carried fear and an instinctive urge to retreat.
Even trembling all over, the white cat did not shift his paws the slightest bit. A trace of appreciation passed through Lou Yun's eyes. This cat had more courage than quite a few people.
She continued forward without yielding an inch. The white cat bared his teeth but dared not spring at her. Just as he prepared to fight to the death and sacrifice himself for his master, Lou Yun laid a hand over his neck and stroked him up and down.
"Meow~" Lou Yun's practiced movements successfully won over the protective little cat for an instant. The white cat abruptly came to his senses, only to see that she was merely tucking Pei Qing's quilt around him. He immediately went limp, exposing his soft belly beneath her hand as comfortable purrs rumbled in his throat.
When Lou Yun went to withdraw her hand, he even betrayed his master by reaching out a paw to hug her retreating fingers and extending his tongue to curry favor. For some reason, the sight reminded Lou Yun of Pei Qing begging her for mercy at Yulan Pavilion.
Gathering the white cat into her arms, she rubbed his head a little harder, as though she wanted to vent her anger at Pei Qing on this little feline as well. She laughed and scolded, "Master and pet are exactly alike."
Unfortunately, the white cat did not consider it a punishment at all and rubbed against her palm again in considerable comfort.
Afraid Pei Qing's stomach would feel uncomfortable with nothing in his arms, Lou Yun even tucked a pillow into them before leaving.
Outside, A Zi, whose conversation had long since wandered to who knew what corner of the world, spotted the white cat in Lou Yun's arms and teased, "Well, it's rare to see the second young master take to anyone."
Stroking his goatee, Ying Yi added, "It seems Your Highness has won more of the 'people's' hearts than your elder brother."
Lou Yun: ... So what exactly happened whenever Lou Ze'an came here? Did he get roared at by a tiger on one side and frightened by a cat on the other?
The large yellow-and-black-striped cat that had been lounging on the grass raised his eyelids when Lou Yun came out. Seeing that the other two two-legged beasts made no move, he shook his neck and went back to teasing the hamster.
Lou Yun sat down on a stone chair nearby. "Perhaps my elder brother is too proper and restrained to win these little fellows' hearts."
A Zi threw back his head and laughed, while Ying Yi lowered his head to hide his smile.
Anyone familiar with Lou Ze'an knew that all that imperial bearing of a noble born to the heavenly family, a son and grandson of dragons, was an act. Before outsiders, he was a modest gentleman of extraordinary bearing.
The moment he ran into someone he knew, it became, "A Zi, where's your young master? I'm going to die of exhaustion! I'm going to die of exhaustion
"! Those slippery old foxes dumped all their official work on me today. They're clearly trying to work me sick!"
He would charge all the way into the bamboo house and commandeer Pei Qing's desk before the pets could react. "No, I want the imperial preceptor! I want the imperial preceptor! As a teacher, he has a responsibility to resolve his pupil's doubts. As a subject, he has a duty to share his sovereign's burdens! I want the imperial preceptor!"
He would shout those same few lines over and over until Pei Qing took the memorials, then rush out with a spear, full of vigor, to trade blows with A Zi.
Every time he lost, he would howl again, "Pei Qing, Imperial Preceptor, I want to learn some powerful moves. I must defeat A Zi with my spear!"
And every time, their young master would calmly toss the finished memorials back to him and shoo him away. "Your innate aptitude is lacking. Even if I gave you the finest spear technique under heaven, you still couldn't beat A Zi."
At the mention of the past, both men's eyes filled with nostalgia and amusement. Taking it all in, Lou Yun found herself thinking, Although I don't know whether these two understand the true relationship between Lou Ze'an and Pei Qing, they seem quite fond of him as things stand.
Perhaps they would agree even if they learned of it someday. Realizing what she was thinking, Lou Yun mocked herself inwardly. But what does their agreement have to do with me? I should send more people to search for Lou Ze'an, so this imperial preceptor of Great Yan stops unsettling me every day. I can neither kill him nor avoid him.
After several cups of tea, Lou Yun put down the white cat and rose. "Since the imperial preceptor is unwell today, I shall discuss matters with him another day."
A Zi and Ying Yi immediately sobered. "We respectfully see Your Highness off."
Lou Yun stopped A Zi from accompanying her out. As the two watched the girl, the spitting image of her elder brother, gradually disappear from view, A Zi tapped the handle of his fan and said in an unreadable tone, "This princess actually has more of an emperor's aura than the crown prince."
Ying Yi said nothing, but the hand stroking his beard noticeably slowed. After a long while, he sighed. "Let us hope it doesn't become a struggle between flesh and blood."
"Creak." The tightly shut bamboo door swung open. Looking considerably better, Pei Qing leaned against the doorway with an outer robe draped over his shoulders and argued, "She won't."
The imperial preceptor of Great Yan understood the ways of heaven and knew all things. Lou Yun's imperial aura was indeed far stronger than Lou Ze'an's, but it had always shown signs of suppression. An imperial aura was a celestial manifestation. For it to be suppressed to this degree could only mean that Lou Yun herself had no intention of contending for the throne.
Although the Heavenly Dao bestowed an imperial aura upon every child of the imperial family, Lou Yun's seemed to be more than that. Many years ago, he had risked performing a divination once. Lou Yun's destiny star had shone even brighter than Lou Qing's. How was that possible? The emperor's should have been the brightest, yet Lou Yun's...
He had been young then, unwilling to settle for seeing only this, and had wanted to look further. His master had forcibly stopped him, scolding, "Do you want to die? Layer upon layer of fog-the Heavenly Dao is warning you not to look any further!"
Later, the crown prince and second prince had fought for power, and he had forgotten the matter. If something happened to Ze'an, if he truly... could not return, then with Lou Yun's learning, talents, character, and bearing, it was not impossible for her to take the throne. It was just that being a female emperor would inevitably be more difficult.
"All right, all right, she won't, she won't." A Zi hurried to the side of the imperial preceptor who never let anyone stop worrying. Helping him back to bed, he coaxed, "Does your stomach feel better? Getting up already, and eavesdropping too."
Pei Qing protested indignantly, "I wasn't eavesdropping."
A Zi neither agreed nor disagreed, merely soothing him with, "Yes, yes, yes."
The imperial preceptors of Great Yan had all been people without parents, but Pei Qing was somewhat different. The former imperial preceptor and Pei Qing's mother had been close friends. When Pei Qing was eight, turmoil happened to break out within the pavilion, and the former imperial preceptor happened to visit his old friend. Counting on his fingertips, he found that Pei Qing's fate could not have been better, except for his family ties...
Upon hearing this, Pei Qing's mother entrusted him directly to the former imperial preceptor. Whatever his status, all that mattered was that he lived. The former imperial preceptor never found a more suitable candidate than Pei Qing afterward, so he kept him by his side and raised him as the next imperial preceptor.
In those early years, Lou Qing had only just ascended the throne, and the realm was unstable, so the customary
journey of master and disciple
was abandoned. Moreover, the former imperial preceptor deliberately sought to reduce Pei Qing's connections to the mortal world, so little Pei Qing was raised in a lofty pavilion within the imperial palace.
The emperor was young, and the princes and princesses had not yet been born. Pei Qing did not have even a single person his own age around him. A few more years passed before his birth mother had her hands free and remembered her child, whereupon she began sending him teachers one after another.
The former imperial preceptor already had too much to handle, so aside from what he had to teach personally, he entrusted everything else to the people Pei Qing's mother sent.
A Zi and Ying Yi were two of them. Pei Qing had little contact with others to begin with, and he was overjoyed to learn that many more people would be joining him.
Most of A Zi's companions came from Shu and enjoyed spicy food. But the imperial palace was crowded with watching eyes, and who knew how many spies were hidden in the imperial preceptor's quarters? They had to sneak into the palace one at a time, taking turns secretly teaching him. The palace servants only thought that the little imperial preceptor had recently developed a taste for spicy food and was eating more because he was growing. They noticed nothing else.
Perhaps Pei Qing was afraid these teachers would leave him. Though he clearly could not handle spicy food, he never said a word. Sometimes they even requested extra spice, and he would simply have the kitchen add more without a sound.
If Ying Yi had not been sent over later, they might still not have realized that Pei Qing could not eat spicy food. Even so, his stomach and intestines had always been weak, and years of his own deliberate and inadvertent abuse had made them worse. Yet for some reason, he had actually come to love the flavors of Sichuan and Shu.
A Zi was Pei Qing's last teacher. Everyone in the pavilion was a child of the jianghu, accustomed to rough living and inexperienced in raising children. Though they adored Pei Qing, the ways they expressed it often had problems.
As the saying went, no merchant was without cunning. After spending so long around slippery old foxes, A Zi naturally saw through a child like Pei Qing's expressions at a glance. Moreover, the former imperial preceptor had retired, and Pei Qing had reached the age to move out and establish his own residence, so A Zi had stayed by his side ever since. Over the years, he had slowly corrected the way Pei Qing interacted with others, finally getting him to express a little of what he wanted-only for it to concern food again, giving A Zi quite a headache.
As for Crown Prince Lou Ze'an, in a sense, he was Pei Qing's first friend. So whenever the crown prince came looking for him, they were glad at heart, even if they said nothing.
Now that something had happened to the crown prince, Pei Qing had not put it into words, but in truth, he had not relaxed for a very long time. Yesterday, Lou Yun had inadvertently taken Pei Qing to Yulan Pavilion to indulge himself, finally making him lie down properly in bed. In a roundabout way, she had helped take his mind off things.
"In a few days, the old goat will be leaving," A Zi suddenly said.
The young man, who was holding A Zi's arm as he returned to bed, paused. He lowered his head, looking at something unknown, and only after a long while asked, "What about you?"
That look of obvious reluctance, yet sensible enough not to ask further, only cautiously sounding out the other person, softened the heart. "I'll stay with you a little longer, Young Master."