Chapter 44.1
Zhao Heng's gaze met Li Wenjian's, taking in his handsome features and gentle eyes. Li Wenjian had a calming presence that could soothe even the most troubled soul.
"In all the time you've been in the East Palace, have you ever regretted your decision?" Li Wenjian asked unexpectedly, his voice laced with concern.
Zhao Heng's heart skipped a beat. "Why do you ask, Your Highness? Have you regretted it yourself?"
Li Wenjian shook his head firmly. "Never," he replied, his eyes filled with sincerity. "But I always worry that you might be unhappy here."
Li Wenjian's mind drifted back to when Zhao Heng had refused to stay in the East Palace when her grandmother was alive, even at the risk of offending him. He now understood her reasons. For her, the palace was never the best choice. And he was not the best choice for her.
He now understood the frequent sighs of his father and mother, who often lamented that despite their high status and power, they yearned for the simple joys of their rural past.
Zhao Heng turned her gaze back to Li Wenjian, a pang of sadness welling up in her heart. "No one can live a life without facing some grievances," she thought.
If Li Wenjian hadn't asked, she might not have felt so encompasses feelings of being wronged, aggrieved, or mistreated. But his question had opened the floodgates, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
"Anyway, I have no regrets being by your side, Your Highness," she said, her voice slightly choked with emotion. The words were simple, but they carried a weight that resonated deeply with Li Wenjian.
His clothes were tainted with the scent of alcohol, drifting gently into her nostrils, both soft and intoxicating.
Zhao Heng lowered her head, burying her face in Li Wenjian's chest.
Li Wenjian gently stroked her spine with his hand, pressing her closer to him.
Soon, he felt a dampness on his thin shirt, her tears soaking through her clothes and falling onto his warm chest. A sudden pang of unfamiliar melancholy gripped Li Wenjian's heart, as if sharp needles were pricking him.
This strange and inexplicable feeling seemed to connect him with her, tasting the bitterness in her tears.
As he gradually adapted to this intertwined melancholic emotion, his hand tightened around Zhao Heng, his long fingers interlacing through her wind-tossed hair, slowly combing through it.
Time flowed slowly, a new moon moving from the treetops to the palace roof. As Zhao Heng pulled away from Li Wenjian's embrace, she suppressed her tears and softly smiled at him, "It's time to go back to sleep."
Li Wenjian looked at her misty-eyed gaze and smiled in agreement.
With the lantern in her hand, the tassels on the palace lantern swayed in the wind.
She hadn't intended to cry, there was no reason to cry. She had faced even more difficult challenges without shedding a tear. Yet, when Li Wenjian asked if she was scared or upset, she felt like a weary traveler who had traveled three thousand miles alone, and had been given a bowl of steaming hot noodles when she was exhausted.
She didn't want Li Wenjian to see her in such a fragile state, but fortunately, he didn't wipe away her tears or try to comfort her again. He simply held her in silence, allowing her to shed a few tears.
As Zhao Heng walked ahead with the lantern, she heard his footsteps echoing in the empty palace corridor and turned to wait for him.
She regretted crying in front of His Highness. His recent feelings of frustration and discomfort were no less than hers, and he was trying his best to conceal his negative emotions. She shouldn't have let her own emotions affect him.
*
The dark sky, the pattering rain, and a row of horse stables extending into the distance at the horse farm. Water droplets formed a curtain under the eaves.
Yue Li, wearing a straw hat and a raincoat, knelt at the doorway of a stable. A chestnut horse lay on the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing uncontrollably.
As night fell and the rain poured, the dim light made Old Xue, with his gray hair, tremble even more in the storm. Rainwater poured down from the eaves, quickly soaking Yue Li.
"It's hopeless, child, get up," Old Xue said anxiously. "Summer ailments in horses progress quickly and are basically untreatable."
Yue Li seemed not to hear him at all. Unconcerned about the rain falling on her, she wiped a drop of rainwater from the horse's forehead, her hands still pressed against its neck.
Having worked at the Beast Garden for so many years, Old Xue could tell from the horse's condition that it was beyond saving. Unless they had plenty of good medicine to administer.
A few years earlier, they might have been able to get the medicine. General Wei had passed away too long ago, and his influence no longer reached out to this old comrade who had accompanied him through thick and thin. When he felt uncomfortable in the morning, he would go to the palace pharmacy for some medicine, and they would just give him a few ordinary packets to send him on his way.
Old Xue watched the resolute figure of Yue Li kneeling on the ground. Rainwater continued to trickle from her hair, rolling down her mournful face.
Since the child was burned by the fire, she had been living like a walking corpse, devoid of joy or sorrow.
For the first time in many years, she showed such a look of despair.
Watching her, he felt a deep sense of sorrow.
Under Yue Li's comforting touch, Lie Feng's breathing gradually calmed. Suddenly, she stood up, gently draped her cloak over Lie Feng, patted its head, pointed to the horse for Old Xue, and then gestured outside.
"It's getting dark, where are you going?" Old Xue frowned and asked.
Yue Li shook her head, lifted her skirts, and dashed into the rain.
Xue Lao shouted after her retreating figure, "Yue Li, put on your raincoat!"
Trembling, she began to untie her raincoat, but before she could unravel it, she had disappeared into the downpour.
Yue Li ran desperately towards the East Palace, her feet splashing through the muddy water, nearly knocking someone over.
"Hey, who's there? Watch where you're going?!" a palace maid, narrowly avoiding being knocked over, grumbled.
Her companion glanced at the figure running through the pouring rain and adjusted her dress, saying, "It looks like Yue Li. I heard Lie Feng has been ill since this morning and there hasn't been any improvement. It's probably not going to make it."
The mud-covered woman muttered, "Lie Feng is still alive? Feels like it's been years."
"No," the green-robed maid replied. "It's been about five or six years now, and it's always been Yue Li taking care of it. But I don't think it'll make it through this time."
"An ugly person raising a lame horse, quite a match," the other maid sneered.
The green-robed maid frowned slightly, feeling uncomfortable. "Lie Feng followed General Wei through countless battles, and injured its legs saving the general's remains. It's too much to say something like that!" she retorted, before storming off with an umbrella in hand.
Left behind with a dirty skirt hem, the maid stomped her foot in frustration.
*
At this moment, Zhao Heng stood at the desk in the Chengming Hall, with several pieces of fabric and patterns laid out in front of her.
That day at Lin Anchi, she promised Li Wenjian to make him a new purse. The patterns had been drawn up a couple of days ago and she was now selecting the fabric.
She was currently choosing a piece of indigo cloud brocade when Lin Mama came in with a plate of chopped melons. She mentioned, "There is a person standing outside the East Palace, not wearing a raincoat, just standing in the rain against the wall. I saw her there when I went to the Zhu Jing Hall, and she was still there when I returned."
"What does she look like?" Zhao Heng asked.
Lin Mama lowered her voice, "She's drenched, looking like a water ghost, with hair hanging in strands over her face, impossible to see clearly."
Glancing outside, where the sky had darkened, the rain looking like silver threads in the twilight, Zhao Heng picked up the lantern placed on the lamp stand and said, "Let's go, let's go see."
Walking to the door, she picked up the umbrella leaning against the wall and hurried towards the East Palace gate.
"Yue Li?" Zhao Heng recognized the person in the rain and softly called out her name.
Yue Li looked up from the rain, confirmed it was Zhao Heng in front of her, and immediately knelt down in front of her, "Please help me."
"Okay, I promise." Zhao Heng walked over to her holding the umbrella, covering half of it over her head.
"Zhaoxun, you..."
"Don't worry, get up first." Zhao Heng helped her up, and as Yue Li was afraid of dirtying Zhao Heng with the rain on her, she instinctively took a step back as Zhao Heng's hand approached.
"Liefeng is sick, the medicine I have at home is not working for it." Yue Li looked up, tears filling her eyes.
"Who is Liefeng?" Zhao Heng asked.
Yue Li choked up for a moment, unable to speak, tears streaming down her face.
Lin Mama hurriedly followed them out and upon hearing their conversation, hesitated, "Is it the former mount of General Wei?"
Yue Li nodded vigorously.
"Lin Mama, have Qin Zhu go to the Palace Supervisory Bureau and have them call a veterinarian to the Beast Garden." Zhao Heng instructed softly, then reassured Yue Li, "Stop crying, I will have them find a veterinarian to accompany you to treat it."
Yue Li suppressed her tears, but her eyes were red.
"I'll go back and wait first." Yue Li curtsied and, without waiting for Zhao Heng's detainment, turned and ran towards the Beast Park.
Zhao Heng watched her stumbling figure in the pouring rain, pondered for a moment, then called over Mu Gui and had him personally go to the Palace Supervisory Bureau.
On such a heavy rain tonight, it may not be easy for Qin Zhu to get anyone to come.
Lin Mama had not heard anything related to General Wei Zhan for a long time and was suddenly introduced to Liefeng, prompting a sense of melancholy.
When Zhao Heng entered, Lin Mama had just emptied the ash from the incense burner, preparing to change the incense. She sighed suddenly, causing the ash to scatter.
"What's wrong, Lin Mama?" Zhao Heng waved a handkerchief in front of Lin Mama, and pulled her away from the smoky table.
"Look at me, I got lost in my thoughts." Lin Mama embarrassedly brushed off the ash on Zhao Heng's body.
"Are you thinking about Liefeng, Lin Mama?" Zhao Heng asked.
Lin Mama sighed again, "After General Wei fell in battle, Liefeng snatched his remains from the military, wounded with several arrows and crippled. Later, following the troops escorting the general's remains back to the capital, it had been kept in the Beast Garden. It has been so many years, back when General Wei was young and loved to eat the green bean cakes I made, always pestering me to make some for him..."
Zhao Heng blinked gently and asked, "Why was Liefeng kept in the Beast Garden? Shouldn't it be kept in the stable?"
Lin Mama explained, "Master doesn't know, Liefeng was originally a wild horse hunted by General Wei, difficult to tame at first, so it was sent to the Beast Garden to be trained. Later, when its leg was injured, it was sent back to the Beast Garden again."
Yue Li did not shed a tear when taken away by the Palace Supervisory Bureau, but her eyes were red just now.
So, were her strange behaviors all because of Liefeng?
Or maybe, because of Wei Zhan.
Thinking of this, Zhao Heng couldn't help but look out the window at the rain curtain.
The lights inside the hall were flickering, the sound of the rain outside was steady, like two different worlds.
Zhao Heng coughed twice into the wind and rain, her fingers unconsciously tightened around the edge of the yellow pear wood desk.
Not long after, Mu Gui returned and reported from outside the door that the veterinarian had gone to the Beast Garden, but Liefeng's condition was not optimistic, it was uncertain whether it would make it through the night.
Zhao Heng's shoulders relaxed, leaning against the large desk, letting her arm hang down.
*