Chapter 44.2
The next day, it was still raining when Yue Li emerged from the stable after daybreak.
The rain was still drizzling, her clothes from yesterday were soaked and dried, sticking wrinkled against her body. Her face was pale, her steps unsteady, and she even stumbled a bit down the steps.
Zhao Heng lifted her skirt and hurried down the steps, holding up an umbrella in front of her, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Yue Li nodded, walked to the large tub in the courtyard corner, rinsed her hands with rainwater, then returned under the eaves to give Zhao Heng a bow, "Thank you for last night."
"No problem, is Liefeng better now?"
Yue Li wanted to say something, but suddenly coughed a few times. She lightly clenched her right palm into a fist, against her lips, then nodded once the coughing fit subsided, "It's better now."
"I had Lin Mama make ginger tea for you, drink it to warm up." Zhao Heng said softly.
"No need."
However, Zhao Heng took a food box from Lian Zhou's hands, opened the lid, and handed it to her. Inside the box was a bowl of ginger tea and a small plate of green bean cakes.
"That's the green bean cake Lin Mama made, leftover from last night. I thought you probably haven't eaten much, so I brought it for you to fill your stomach."
The ginger tea was freshly made by Lin Mama, still steaming hot.
Yue Li picked up a piece of green bean cake and put it in her mouth. It didn't have a complex taste, just the delicate fragrance of green beans, a light and familiar flavor, simple yet unfamiliar.
She chewed the green bean cake with her head down, tears falling from her cheeks into the steaming ginger tea.
"Zhaoxun, don't you have any questions for me?"
Zhao Heng shook her head, "I really wanted to ask you before I came, but now that I'm here, I just want you to finish this bowl of ginger tea quickly."
Upon hearing this, Yue Li let out a long sigh. The palace city in the torrential rain was eerily silent, the daylight dimmed by the thick rain strands.
Yue Li looked at the slanting rain strands and said softly, "During that scorching summer, I had no appetite, anything I ate, I vomited. He brought me a lot of food, but it was all in vain. I was afraid he would worry, so I picked the refreshing green bean cake to eat, telling him it was delicious. After that, he would bring it every time he came, and I would eat it until I felt like throwing up."
"He was a very, very good person."
She fell silent for a while, closed her eyes to hold back tears, then spoke again with a sorrowful tone, "Very, very good."
Zhao Heng looked down at the empty bowl in her hands and couldn't help but ask, "Are you staying in the palace for him?"
She had checked Yue Li's household registration document in the Yeting, she was already past the age to leave the palace.
Yue Li shook her head, "He's already gone. Why would it be for him? It's clearly for myself."
"The lilac bush, he planted it himself; the water tub, he brought it in from outside the palace, and he even used to keep a few goldfish... and then there's Liefeng, with his bad legs and stubborn temperament, leaving him in someone else's care, I just can't bear it." Yue Li smiled, "In this small space, he was the only real presence, once he leaves, it's like he was just a dream."
"It's me, I can't be without him."
Yue Li turned to the side, the shadow of the pagoda tree gradually falling on her face, the flawless skin of her half face shining porcelain-like white in the drizzle. Her eyes were red, holding back tears in her eyes, she cradled the bowl of ginger tea in her palm, unable to finish drinking it. She rubbed her slightly swollen eyes, trying to make her voice sound more natural, "It's all old stories that you've heard before, forgive me for the embarrassment."
The past she briefly mentioned was the deepest pain buried in her heart, yet as she spoke of it, it didn't feel as heart-wrenching as she had imagined.
Zhao Heng looked at Yue Li, and many things suddenly became clearer to her.
She was icy cold, yet with an unfathomable pride hidden in her eyes. She dared to quietly kill the eunuch who had harassed her, a person like that should find it difficult to ask for help from others.
Yet, last night, she knelt before her, pleading for Liefeng's help.
"Do you want to go to the ancestral temple to see him?" Zhao Heng lowered her eyes, softly asking.
Yue Li hesitated, shaking her head with tears in her eyes.
"He's not in the ancestral temple, it's just a plaque, a set of clothes." Yue Li said, "He's no longer here."
She had always known that clearly and soberly.
When a person is gone, they're gone. The plaque in the ancestral temple, the clothes in the suburban tomb, and the flowers and plants in her courtyard, they're all just memories.
If she could, she wanted to see him in person, talk to him.
Others said he was a haughty and cold youthful general, but she didn't see it that way, he could be quite talkative.
The time spent planting lilac bushes with him could be remembered even decades later.
Sometimes she found him too talkative, often avoiding him to work elsewhere.
Now looking back, she felt a tinge of regret.
There were so many stories she hadn't heard the end of.
Time is merciless, it took him away completely.
Now she had so many words to say to him. She had not only mastered animal training, but also needlework and literacy, only lacking pen and paper, making her writing skills rusty.
How could he hear them now?
He couldn't hear any of them.
*
As Zhao Heng returned from the Menagerie back to the Eastern Palace, the hem of her skirt was stained and soaked with mud, her eyes red from crying.
Li Wenjian, rarely found in the Yanju, stood with hands behind his back on the veranda listening to the rain. Seeing Zhao Heng's return, he called out to her through the rain curtain, "Ah Heng."
She hesitated for a moment, it had been a long time since someone called her that way. Peering through the rain, she spotted Li Wenjian's figure and lifted her skirt to ascend the steps.
"You Cried?" Li Wenjian asked, frowning as he gently rubbed her eyes with his warm and broad hand.
She shook her head, forcing a smile and cheerfully remarked, "I saw Liefeng in the Beast Garden."
Li Wenjian gazed at Zhao Heng with a deep, silent look, not uttering a word.
"Aren't you going out today, Your Highness?" Zhao Heng asked with a smile, shifting the topic.
Li Wenjian shook his head, saying there was no need.
Looking at the pouring rain behind her, Zhao Heng suggested, "Would Your Highness like some tea? I'll brew some for you."
Li Wenjian nodded, saying, "Let me taste your craftsmanship."
"Just wait." Zhao Heng left the umbrella on the veranda and entered the house, returning shortly after changing out of her soiled dress. Delicately, she laid out the tea set and charcoal on the stove on the veranda.
There were tea classes at the Artistry Academy, teaching the knowledge of tea-making and tea-drinking. Zhao Heng, usually busy with daily tasks, rarely had the opportunity to leisurely brew a pot of tea. Today was a chance to test her learning.
Sitting across from Li Wenjian, she leisurely heated the water, warmed the cups, used a tea needle to open the tea cake, added it to the pot, and patiently waited for the water to boil.
With her head lowered, her slender neck bent into a graceful curve, she made a steaming cup of tea with meticulous care, holding it in her hands. Rising, she handed the cup to Li Wenjian, "Your Highness, try it."
Li Wenjian still remembered the bitter tea she brewed that day by the pond.
In her hopeful gaze, he took the cup and took a sip, the faint tea fragrance spreading on his tongue.
"Your Highness, how is it?" Zhao Heng inquired.
Setting down the cup, Li Wenjian sincerely praised her, "You're very clever, quick to learn, and this tea is brewed beautifully."
Graced by his compliment, Zhao Heng smiled faintly at the corner of her lips, pouring herself a cup as well.
Indeed, it was fragrant.
Though Li Wenjian had a pile of matters awaiting his attention, he remained in the veranda.
While he reviewed the documents, Zhao Heng took out the purse she was embroidering for him, stitching every needle meticulously.
The two of them busied themselves with their respective tasks, undisturbed, except for the rustling sound of rain outside the curtain and the bubbling of water on the stove, there was no other sound.
In the rainy weather, brewing tea on the veranda while listening to the rain, there was a unique, serene beauty.
After finishing the documents, Li Wenjian lazily leaned back in his chair, leisurely observing Zhao Heng embroider the purse.
Noticing his gaze, Zhao Heng raised her eyes slightly and asked in surprise, "Your Highness, why are you watching me?"
"You're lovely," he said.
Zhao Heng bit her lip, gently scratching her head with the needle tip, and gave a soft "Oh."
Seeing her cup empty, Li Wenjian reached for the kettle to refill it when she extended her hand to take the cup.
As the hot water flowed from the kettle, almost instinctively, he reached across the tea table to hold her fingers.
Surprised, Zhao Heng looked up to see a stream of water falling into her cup.
Li Wenjian squeezed her hand tightly, gazing into her beautiful eyes, and suddenly said, "I'll teach you to write two characters."
Zhaoheng's hand trembled slightly as she discreetly withdrew her hand, her ears turning slightly red.
"What characters?" she asked.
Li Wenjian set down the kettle, gently caressed his warm fingertips, sat back in his chair, quickly wrote down one character, and asked, "Do you recognize this?"
"Mm," she nodded, "è¯ is liang."
Li Wenjian nodded and continued to skillfully write the second character.
Zhao Heng tilted her head in recognition for a moment, asking, "åª is yuan?"
"Yes," Li Wenjian paused his writing, and once the ink dried, he lifted the paper, blowing on the semi-dried ink stains, "è¯, excellent; åª, woman; a woman of virtue. Ah Heng, how do you feel about these two characters?"
"Very good." Zhao Heng tilted her head to look at the characters on the paper, secretly marveling at how well Li Wenjian wrote; a few strokes were enough for her to study for a long time.
Li Wenjian handed her the paper, saying, "Can I give you these two characters?"
"Give them to me? How do you give them to me?" she asked, slightly puzzled.
Li Wenjian smiled at her and said, "Zhao Heng of Zhaoxun, entering the palace half a year ago, with a gentle and kind disposition, gracefully polite, specially granted the title of Liangyuan."
Zhao Heng was so shocked that she absentmindedly took a sip from her teacup, her hand trembling slightly when she put it down.
Just as she was about to speak, Fei Yu suddenly appeared from the eaves, sprinkling a few raindrops and calling out, "Your Highness."
"What's the matter?" Li Wenjian squeezed out the words from his clenched teeth.
Fei Yu, unsure why the Prince looked so tense, truthfully reported, "The envoy from the Yue tribe has reported that Prince Ruo Zhen might have been poisoned. They request your appointment of a court physician to go and check..."
Zhao Heng's heart raced, and she glanced nervously at Li Wenjian.
"Let him die," Li Wenjian gritted his teeth.
Fei Yu u was taken aback and said, "Isn't that a bit harsh... Ruo Zhen is still the prince of the Yue tribe and our honored guest."
"Fei Yu." Zhao Heng waved him over.
Fei Yu hesitantly walked over to her.
Zhao Heng said, "Go to the Medical Academy and find Physician Zheng, have him go to the palace."
"But..." he glanced at the Crown Prince's tense face.
"Go on, it's alright," Zhao Heng blinked at him.
Fei Yu hesitated for a moment, then nodded lightly and turned to go to the Imperial Hospital.
"Where did you get the poison?" Li Wenjian glanced at Zhao Heng before pulling his gaze away.
Zhao Heng lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper, "There's no poison..."
"No poison?" Li Wenjian frowned.
Zhao Heng nodded, saying, "I fed him a sugar pill, pretending it was poison to scare him into obeying me in the future. I soaked the hairpin in gold juice and white jade paste, causing the wound to fester and not heal, making it seem like he was poisoned..."
Li Wenjian leaned forward, and Zhao Heng thought he was reaching for the tea cup, immediately picking it up to serve him.
However, unexpectedly, he avoided her hand, forming a circle with his index finger and thumb, and flicked her forehead.
Zhao Heng let out a soft "um," quickly covering her throbbing forehead with her hand, looking at Li Wenjian eagerly, not daring to get angry, her eyes slightly reddening.
"You're quite bold, wielding an embroidery needle like Guan Gong wielding his blade," he furrowed his brows, took the tea from her hands, feeling somewhat frustrated.
Zhao Heng rubbed her forehead, looking dejected with her head down, appearing powerless and defeated, saying, "I won't dare anymore..."
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The author's note:
Ah Heng: I'm so annoyed, my mother showed me the outline, and I have to work harder for the next promotion... This stupid dog is not working hard for half a day... I'm so frustrated!!! Is he capable or not, capable or not, capable or not!!!
Li Dog: ...