Wei Caiwei was anxious to connect with Ding Rukui and couldn’t be bothered to answer Wang Daxia’s string of questions. She hurriedly leaned on her walking stick to catch up and said: “Ding Wu said that the jar of Scholar’s Red wine buried under the peach tree by the study window—someday you two will dig it up together, share this wine, and drink until thoroughly drunk.”
The clanking of the leg shackles suddenly stopped.
Wei Caiwei looked at Ding Rukui’s back with anticipation. This was what Ding Wu had told her—only father and son knew about this matter. Hearing these words, Ding Rukui should believe what she said.
But the clanking of the leg shackles resumed. Ding Rukui didn’t respond to Wei Caiwei and continued following the prison guard toward the underground cell.
Just as Wei Caiwei was about to pursue further, the prison guard blocked her: “Lord Lu has ordered that anyone visiting prisoner Ding must have his personal token. Please don’t make things difficult for us.”
Wang Daxia grabbed her sleeve: “He’s completely ignoring you. You can’t force a deal. Let’s go.”
Having used her last resort and still failing to move Ding Rukui, Wei Caiwei was deeply disappointed. In her current weakened state, walking this distance had truly exhausted her. There were stone hammers in the courtyard that soldiers used for arm strength training, so she sat on one to rest, puzzled by Ding Rukui’s cold reaction.
In her previous life, after Lu Bing’s death, Ding Rukui lost Lu Bing’s protection but still didn’t die because Wei Caiwei protected him from behind. She was the most trusted person of favored consort Noble Consort Shang, a prominent figure in the palace.
Wei Caiwei found it more convenient to act in the palace than Lu Bing. Every year when Emperor Jiajing reviewed death penalty cases, she used Noble Consort Shang’s influence to have eunuchs place Ding Rukui’s files at the bottom, exploiting loopholes in the death penalty review process to block any possibility of Ding Rukui’s execution.
So year after year, death row prisoner Ding Rukui eventually outlived Lu Bing who had imprisoned him in the imperial prison, even outliving his enemies Yan Song and Yan Shifan, father and son, who had shifted blame onto him. He remained alive and well!
Until Emperor Jiajing passed away, Wang Daxia, with his merit in supporting Prince Yu’s ascension to the throne, overturned Ding Rukui’s case after the new emperor’s accession. The responsibility for harming the country was attributed to the Yan Song father and son. The new emperor issued a decree declaring Ding Rukui innocent and released him, even granting him an official position. His son Ding Wu also had his civilian status restored and returned from exile in Tieling, achieving father-son reunion.
In this life, why would Ding Rukui reject me?
Wang Daxia was completely unaware of Wei Caiwei’s confusion and tactlessly continued asking his five questions about Ding Wu. What kind of person? How old? Handsome? Who’s more handsome, me or him? What’s your relationship?
This annoyed Wei Caiwei, who retorted: “Shouldn’t a normal person ask why I know a death row prisoner? Besides, what does a criminal official’s descendant who can never leave Tieling have to do with you, the son of a chiliarch in the capital? Why are you asking about all this irrelevant stuff!”
Wei Caiwei was ruthless enough to render Wang Daxia speechless.
Right, what came over me just now? Getting excited upon hearing a strange man’s name, forgetting he was an exile.
Besides, Wei Caiwei had always insisted that only her deceased husband was in her heart. She was a widow, and her dead husband was Wang Erlang—obviously not Ding Wu.
So regardless of how old Ding Wu was or how handsome, it didn’t matter.
Wang Daxia fell silent, and the summer night returned to tranquility, with only the soft humming of summer insects.
Wei Caiwei calmed down. Regardless, she had delivered Ding Wu’s message and done her best. Whether Ding Rukui believed it or not was beyond her control.
But how should she tell Ding Wu about this? Should she truthfully tell him about tonight’s rejection, or comfort him by saying his father was very happy to hear news of him and would strive to survive for their future reunion?
Wei Caiwei struggled internally.
Slap!
Wang Daxia suddenly struck the back of his neck, killing a mosquito, then waved his large hand like a whirlwind toward Wei Caiwei who sat quietly on the stone hammer.
Her train of thought was interrupted like that flattened mosquito on Wang Daxia’s neck.
Wei Caiwei looked at Wang Daxia swatting at the air: “What are you doing?”
“I’m helping you drive away mosquitoes,” Wang Daxia fanned with his palm. “One just bit me.”
Wang Daxia walked a tightrope on a cliff edge every day, always managing to steady himself just before falling, like a roly-poly doll.
Was I too harsh when I scolded him just now? Wei Caiwei sighed, removed the pouch from her waist, and took out a fragrant sachet: “Here, wear this and mosquitoes won’t bite you.”
Wang Daxia took the sachet and hung it on his belt: “Does this really work?”
“It’s fine for ordinary mosquito repelling, but if you deliberately walk into mosquito nests like waterside grass, it won’t work.” Wei Caiwei said: “And it’s only effective for five days, getting less effective each day. You need to replace it after five days.”
Wang Daxia immediately felt the sachet at his waist wasn’t so fragrant anymore: “So you’re just giving me a trial, and I’ll have to buy new ones from you every few days.”
Wei Caiwei said: “This isn’t a gift either. Fifty coins—I’ll put it on the tab for now. When you have time, send the money to my house. It’s a small business, and this unexpected disaster means I can’t go out to practice medicine for at least ten days. I need to earn what I can. Please understand, Second Young Master Wang.”
As she spoke, Wei Caiwei used her walking stick to stand up. Her legs were weak and she felt dizzy, but fortunately the walking stick provided support so she didn’t sway.
Wang Daxia crouched down and patted his back: “Forget it, I’ll do a good deed today and carry you back.”
Wei Caiwei said: “It’s fine, I have the walking stick.”
Wang Daxia maintained his crouching position: “Stop dawdling, hurry up. Night roads aren’t safe to walk. What if you stumble and fall with that limp? Then I’d have to carry you back anyway.”
Wei Caiwei indeed lacked strength, so she climbed onto Wang Daxia’s back, holding the walking stick in one hand and wrapping the other around his neck.
Wang Daxia held her legs and stood up. This time Wei Caiwei had recovered some strength and didn’t need to slump her entire body against his back. She pulled her chest in and straightened her waist, trying to leave space between his back and her chest.
With the suspicion about Ding Wu dispelled by “deceased husband Wang Erlang,” Wang Daxia’s jealousy lessened and he finally asked about the main issue: “You mentioned adoption earlier, about being separated from family during war chaos. So you came to the capital alone to search for your scattered family.”
Wei Caiwei hummed in agreement. Of course not.
My family is all dead. I’m here for revenge.
When she escaped from that den of evil in West Sanli River that killed her sister, she fled in panic not knowing east from west. To avoid pursuit by Chiliarch Chen and his son, she deliberately went in directions without roads and nearly became wolf food in the forest.
Later she made her way north. Her small bundle was snatched by beggars, heavy rain fell, and she collapsed sick in the mud, thinking she would die. In her delirium, an umbrella sheltered her from the cold rain.
It was the Wei Nanshan couple, following exiled Ding Wu northward, heading for Tieling.
This couple had once had a seven-year-old daughter who died young. Seeing Wei Caiwei, the same age as their daughter, they felt pity and saved her.
Later at the relay station, Wei Caiwei burned with fever for three days. When she awoke, the Wei Nanshan couple were outside preparing medicine, and before her was the young exile Ding Wu.
Ding Wu asked her: “Who are you?”
Wei Caiwei certainly wouldn’t truthfully say she was an escaped official slave. Because official slaves were private property, “finding” an official slave and keeping her instead of returning her to the master would be stealing someone’s property.
In that case, no one would be willing to take her in, and she might even be sent back to the Chen family.
Wei Caiwei shook her head in confusion, saying: “I don’t remember. I only remember fighting, many dead people, crying sounds, someone told me to keep running, keep running, so bad people couldn’t catch up. So I ran and ran until I couldn’t run anymore.”
After hearing this, Ding Wu was silent for a moment, then said: “From your accent, you’re like us—from the capital. Your family must have lived in the outskirts and encountered the Gengxu Rebellion.”
Wei Caiwei went along with this and tacitly agreed.
The Wei Nanshan couple pitied her and remembered their deceased daughter who would have been this age. Besides, at their age, having another child would be difficult, so they adopted Wei Caiwei, took her to Tieling, treated her like their own daughter, and taught her medicine, which made the current Wei Caiwei possible.
It seemed like divine will—the character “Wei” (魏) broken down becomes three characters “grain-woman-ghost” (禾女鬼). Because her brain was addled by fever and she couldn’t remember her name, the Wei Nanshan couple gave her their deceased daughter’s nickname, calling her “Banxia” (Half-summer).
Banxia was the name of a medicinal herb, and their deceased daughter was born in mid-June when summer was half over, so her nickname was Banxia.
Later, when the Wei Nanshan couple died and she inherited the family business, when Ding Wu helped her establish a female household, she gave herself a formal name—Wei Caiwei—to remind herself not to forget revenge.
Even Wei Caiwei hadn’t expected that her future husband’s name would also contain the character “Xia” (summer).
In the previous life, when prominent palace female official Wei Caiwei chose to marry a eunuch as nominal spouses, Wang Daxia was remembered by Wei Caiwei through this very name among the recent graduates from the Inner Academy, adding him to her candidate list…
Now, in this second life, Wang Daxia asked if she came to the capital to search for scattered family.
Actually, the so-called separation from family was a lie, just to create a legitimate reason for coming to the capital to practice medicine.
For revenge, Wei Caiwei planned every detail thoroughly so that if anyone ever suspected her, she could justify herself and clear suspicion.
Wei Caiwei said: “My family probably died in that catastrophe ten years ago. My only remaining memory of family is someone shouting for me to run quickly, don’t look back, keep running. They must have died at enemy hands. But knowing this, I’ve always had an obsession in my heart—in this lifetime I must come to the capital to walk around and see. Even fallen leaves return to their roots, let alone people.”
Hearing this, Wang Daxia sighed deeply for Wei Caiwei’s background: “I previously suspected you were Second Miss He, and I still suspect it. When Second Miss He escaped back then, the Chen family never found her. Could you be that little girl, just having lost your memory from fever?”
Wei Caiwei said: “I don’t know. My impression of parents is my adoptive parents. They were very good to me. They used to be Ding Rukui’s family retainers and went to Tieling to care for exiled Ding Wu. Ding Wu has always missed his father, but as an exile, he has no freedom and is trapped in Tieling for life. He entrusted me, after coming to the capital, to find a way to see his father and tell him all is well.”
Wang Daxia said: “Ding Rukui heard everything you said just now, so you’ve fulfilled your mission. Why are you still so dejected? Whether he believes it or not is up to him. It’s useless for you to secretly grieve here. But you just said Ding Wu is trapped in Tieling for life, so why did you relay a message about future father-son reunion, digging up Scholar’s Red wine under the peach tree to drink until thoroughly drunk? Other people’s fathers are always better—if my father saw me drinking, he’d definitely kick over the wine jar and beat and scold me.”
Wei Caiwei said: “Of course it’s hope—longing for the future, you need something to live for. Many death row prisoners can’t endure and commit suicide in prison. Only by staying alive is there hope for reunion.”
In the previous life, Ding Rukui did outlive all his opponents, was released from prison alive, had his official status restored, got his family property back, and returned home with his son Ding Wu to dig up the Scholar’s Red wine under the peach tree—Wei Caiwei and her husband Wang Daxia even shared a cup!
The two chatted as they returned. Wang Daxia had just set Wei Caiwei on the arhat bed when a guard came looking for them: “Lord Lu has awakened again and can barely speak. He wants to see Doctor Wei immediately.”
Wang Daxia was overjoyed: “He must want to give you a generous reward. With money, you won’t worry about living expenses even if you rest for a year.”
Author’s Note: From Second Miss He to Wei Caiwei, all the twists and turns of this journey are explained clearly in this chapter.
Looking at comments, some readers don’t know how to pronounce Ding Rukui.
Ding Ru (ru—the ‘ru’ in ‘I will take care of your wife’ 汝妻子吾养之) Kui (kui—the scenery on five-yuan bills is Kui Gate of Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River)
So everyone should understand why I named his son Ding Wu, because Wu Gorge is downstream from Kui Gate…