From the palace to Nishan Hunting Grounds, the Imperial Guard rode day and night, returning before noon the next day.
In just that half day, everything had changed utterly.
Jiang Nong had gone from being an obscure princess deep in the palace—merely pretty and decent in her studies—to a rising star in the Empress Dowager’s favor. Not only did the Empress Dowager keep her at her side at all times, but she also moved her lodgings closer to her own tent and gave her a tent of her own.
Emperor Zhengyuan rarely saw the Empress Dowager so happy. He took a serious look at this daughter for the first time. Previously, she had only ever knelt at a distance to receive rewards. He had many children and was in the prime of his life, so he paid little attention to any except the children of his favored consorts.
He suddenly realized he had a daughter this beautiful—and that she would make an excellent pawn.
The Empress Dowager had already given her rewards, so he waved his hand grandly and promoted Lady Song to the rank of Jieyu, commending her for raising such a fine daughter.
There were many beauties in the palace, but Lady Song had long faded from favor. She hadn’t seen the emperor’s face in years. Trembling with excitement, she stepped forward to express her gratitude.
Back at her seat, she couldn’t stop her tears. The consorts beside her, though jealous, managed to offer comforting smiles: “Sister has raised a wonderful daughter. Good days are ahead—why cry?”
Lady Song wiped her tears and nodded. She knew it—Nongnong was a good child, reliable, her good daughter.
The emperor’s tone shifted: “Xiao Jiu is seventeen this year?”
“Oh, she’ll be seventeen next year,” he nodded approvingly. “Old enough to start thinking about marriage.”
His words fell with weight. The nobles below exchanged glances, and their minds began to stir.
But mother and son as they were, the Empress Dowager’s face immediately cooled. She took Jiang Nong’s hand: “No rush. Let her stay by my side for a few more years. I can’t bear to marry her off so soon.”
Jiang Nong leaned against the Empress Dowager, staying out of the clash between mother and son.
…
Jiang Nong went to see Yu Lingxin several times. Chao Ning was there too.
Yu Lingxin was barely holding on—more exhaling than inhaling. Even with the blood ginseng, the physicians remained grim-faced, saying they could only do their best. There was only a thirty percent chance of success—they advised making preparations.
The preparations they meant were for funeral rites. The Court of the Imperial Treasury and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices had already found an auspicious burial site near Mount Ni and dug a grave three feet deep.
Xunliang had been weeping uncontrollably by the bedside. When he saw Jiang Nong enter, he kowtowed desperately until his forehead turned red: “Thank you, Your Highness, for saving our master. Xunliang will never forget this kindness.”
Xunliang hadn’t slept in a day and a night. Jiang Nong ordered someone to take him away for a brief rest.
She couldn’t stay long by Yu Lingxin’s side. After giving the physicians some instructions, she returned to attend to the Empress Dowager.
It wasn’t until evening, when the sun had shifted westward and the Empress Dowager was taking a nap, that she had a moment to slip away. From a distance, she heard Xunliang’s wailing. Her heart sank cold—she hurried inside with Rong Mian.
The physicians were in a frenzy, gathered around Yu Lingxin.
“Quick! His breathing has stopped! His heart has stopped! Needles! Pericardium point! Inner Gate point!”
“The ginseng soup! Cut it all and force it down—there’s no time to be careful!”
Jiang Nong dared not look at Yu Lingxin’s final moments.
Once the heart stops, breath stops, then the pulse.
Officials from the Court of the Imperial Treasury had also arrived. Their shadows flickered outside the tent. A coffin lay ready. Intermittent murmurs of eunuchs’ low voices drifted in—waiting only for the moment death came to carry him away.
Xunliang scrambled over to her in panic, clutching her legs and kowtowing: “Ninth Princess, please call out to our master! He listens to you most—maybe he won’t want to leave and will come back!”
“Please! Please!”
Jiang Nong knew there was little hope—like trying to revive a dead horse—but seeing Xunliang’s desperate tears and snot running together, she couldn’t bear to refuse. Following his pull, she stepped forward and called Yu Lingxin’s name: “A Xin, A Xin—Yu Lingxin…”
The physician-in-chief was pressing firmly on Yu Lingxin’s wrist. His furrowed brow suddenly twitched: “There! There it is! More needles!”
The despondent faces of the physicians grew a shade more serious.
Caught up in the moment, Jiang Nong called out again and again—perhaps Yu Lingxin could still be saved.
“There it is! There it is again! He can be saved!”
Even Chao Ning was anxious and shouted: “Yu Lingxin! Wake up! Brother! Can you hear me?”
Yu Lingxin’s chest convulsed. His heart beat. He opened his eyes, gasping raggedly. His gaze swept past Chao Ning’s face, his fingers clutching the bedsheet briefly before slowly relaxing. Weakly, he looked at Jiang Nong—a tear slid from the corner of his eye as he silently mouthed words to her.
The physicians all wiped their brows, their backs soaked through with sweat. Now they finally breathed a collective sigh of relief: “He’s alive—he’ll make it.”
Jiang Nong closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and wiped away the tear at the corner of Yu Lingxin’s eye. He gently rubbed his cheek against her warm palm.
“Get some rest. I’ll come see you when I have time.”
Yu Lingxin kept his eyes open, reluctantly watching her leave.
Chao Ning and Jiang Nong walked out one after the other. Standing on the open grass, they let out a synchronized sigh.
“What do you think happened to him after he went back in that past life? How did his personality change so completely? Could it be because of unrequited love for you? Some ‘grudge of a stolen wife is irreconcilable’ business—and then he devoted himself to revenge and whack—chopped me clean off!”
In her past life, Jiang Nong and Yu Lingxin had reached a point of mutual hatred and no reconciliation—how could she have asked him about any of this? “I was never that important to him. I only vaguely heard servants mention that after he was sent back, he was thrown into the side courts for a time.” Jiang Nong bit her nail, trying to recall carefully. “I do remember that he had many hideous scars on his body—tissue turned outward, raised and severe. There was one that ran from his collarbone all the way down to his waist. Both his wrists had scars too, like they’d been rubbed raw.”
Just thinking about it made her shiver—as if recalling some unbearable memory.
Chao Ning didn’t see anything wrong with this. Instead, he clapped his hands in sudden understanding: “Then that’s it! He must have suffered inhuman torture in the side courts. That’s what bred resentment in his heart, twisted his nature, made him hate everyone! Tsk—who knew his father was such a monster. At the time, you were truly kind-hearted, trying to send him back with the condition of your marriage alliance. In the end, it all comes back to his father!”
His analysis traced the blame to its source, finally pinpointing the ultimate cause of Yu Lingxin’s future tyranny and the bloodbath across five kingdoms.
“Actually, if you ask me—given the current situation, killing him isn’t the only way to prevent the future.”
Jiang Nong knew what Chao Ning was about to say, but she still had concerns: “What if something goes wrong?”
Chao Ning was full of confidence: “How could it? Look at him now—timid as a little bunny, so obedient! And he listens to you so well. Just treat him like a younger brother and guide him properly—nothing will go wrong! And think about it—if you don’t get entangled with him in this life, your affair won’t be exposed. If it’s not exposed, he won’t be sent back to his country. If he’s not sent back, he won’t be thrown into the side courts. Everything will work out!”
He looked into her eyes, certain she would agree, and extended his hand. Jiang Nong hesitated, then raised her hand and tapped his in agreement. But she added: “Zhuangzi said, ‘The life of things is like a galloping horse—nothing moves without changing, nothing remains unchanged with time.’ His transformation was brought about by fate. Perhaps we truly can try to change his fate and preserve his true nature, to prevent what is yet to come.”
“Actually, I’ve been thinking: if we decide that he will inevitably become a villain in the future and therefore kill the Yu Lingxin of now—then what are we? Good or bad?”
“It’s like the story of the death of Chaos. ‘Emptiness’ was Chaos’s nature. Goodness is Yu Lingxin’s nature. If we kill him, we are only killing a good man now. Maintaining his nature seems like the right thing to do. But I also often feel that this line of thinking is too indecisive.”
Chao Ning scratched between his brows. He wasn’t much of a reader—whenever Jiang Nong got philosophical, his head hurt and he couldn’t follow. “Wait, hold on—first tell me how this ‘Chaos’ fellow died, will you?”
Jiang Nong’s philosophical musings were interrupted—it was like playing a zither to a cow. She waved him off, signaling him to get lost.
…
Xunliang wiped his tears, moistened Yu Lingxin’s parched lips with a cotton swab, and said: “Your Highness, you’re awake. This time again, we have the Ninth Princess to thank. She obtained the blood ginseng from the Empress Dowager—that’s what saved you. The Ninth Princess is truly a living bodhisattva. When this servant prospers one day, I’ll have a grand golden statue of her enshrined in a temple.”
Yu Lingxin’s lashes trembled. He closed his eyes, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
What do I do, Sister? With a heart this soft—it’s only natural that you’d be entangled with me.
Sister, you like me when I’m kind, don’t you?
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