Tie Ci couldn’t treat her wounds in front of Rong Pu, so she desperately chewed on flower roots, crunching audibly. Sitting up high, she didn’t hear clearly what Rong Pu was saying. Just as she leaned down to ask, her nose tip suddenly felt cold.

Looking up, she clicked her tongue: “I really have become a divine fortune-teller.”

It was raining.

Listening to rain in a bamboo grove had a poetic mood, but without rain gear, it was rather tragic.

Tie Ci wrapped her cloak over her head, preparing to run.

Looking back, she saw Rong Pu still standing in place. Thinking that a beauty would lose his charm if drenched, and besides, this one was a sickly beauty.

Her nature of cherishing flowers and pitying jade suddenly surged, so she beckoned him: “Come, my cloak is large – it can shelter two people.”

Just after saying this, she remembered that under the cloak, her clothes still had undried bloodstains with a smell.

However, someone like Rong Pu – jade-like, snow-like, yet naturally graceful – surely wouldn’t burrow under a woman’s cloak.

But immediately she was proven wrong.

“Alright.”

Tie Ci was stunned.

I was just being polite…

The cloak moved, and the beauty had already burrowed in, thanking her as he squeezed: “Thank you, Your Highness…”

He suddenly stopped speaking. Tie Ci’s heart tightened, but then Rong Pu continued: “I wonder if I’m crowding Your Highness?”

“Ah, yes… ah, no.”

Since he had already come in, driving him out would only arouse suspicion.

Both fell silent.

Rong Pu was taller than Tie Ci, so he naturally took over the task of holding up the cloak.

No matter how large the cloak, it was limited, and the space inside even more so. Though Tie Ci tried hard to move outward, she still inevitably made contact from time to time.

Tie Ci hadn’t expected that Rong Pu, who looked frail, actually had a quite solid physique. Even in the darkness, she could feel the smooth and graceful lines of the man’s silhouette.

The faint epiphyllum fragrance grew stronger, but it wasn’t disturbing when inhaled.

The spring rain fell gently on the cloak with a tender sound. The space under the cloak was narrow, dark, and warm.

Rong Pu’s profile glowed faintly in that darkness, like a distant but not cold snow line.

This was a hazy yet clear beauty, but with a slight coolness. Tie Ci suddenly remembered a poem:

“Don’t listen to the sound of rain beating through forest and leaves, why not chant and whistle while walking leisurely? Bamboo staff and hemp shoes are lighter than horses – who’s afraid? A straw raincoat for any weather in life.”

This was taught by Master, and she recited it casually, feeling it fit both the mood and scene.

Rong Pu suddenly said: “Good poem, did Your Highness compose it?”

Tie Ci then realized Su Shi didn’t exist here. She shamelessly hummed in agreement: “I’m well-read in five cartloads of books, you understand.”

This was said jokingly – the entire Great Qian court knew the Crown Princess loved martial arts over feminine pursuits, especially hating sour poetry, and never attended court poetry gatherings.

But Rong Pu also hummed in agreement: “Written with ups and downs yet transcendent and free. Your Highness has great talent.”

Tie Ci was stunned, suddenly feeling bored.

Was it so hard to tell the truth?

She wanted to speak, but her throat suddenly itched and she wanted to cough. She held back, but her back started burning again, and her steps stumbled.

A hand steadily supported her. Rong Pu’s gentle, light voice sounded by her ear: “Your Highness, roads are slippery on rainy days – allow me to support you.”

Tie Ci’s vision blurred. Knowing she had endured too long and couldn’t hold out much longer, she leaned on Rong Pu: “Much obliged.”

With Rong Pu supporting her, he couldn’t hold up the cloak anymore. The two wrapped in the cloak walked along swaying, and Tie Ci thought thankfully this road was quiet – if someone ran into them, they’d probably think a giant caterpillar had become sentient.

Under the cloak, their bodies pressed tightly together. Even slight contact seemed to echo. Tie Ci belatedly realized that walking together under a cloak in the rain like this, perhaps tomorrow Rong Pu would really become her male empress.

She suddenly said: “Minister Rong.”

Once the formal address was established, the slight romantic atmosphere was completely swept away. Rong Pu immediately straightened and said solemnly: “I am here.”

“Why have you not submitted a petition to withdraw from the betrothal?”

“Your Highness, why should I withdraw?”

“Not withdrawing shows your magnanimity.” Tie Ci laughed. “But I cannot bully magnanimous people.” She turned her head, staring into Rong Pu’s eyes: “So I have already chosen a new Crown Prince Consort.”

Rong Pu fell silent briefly before saying: “Might I have the honor of knowing who Your Highness’s new fiancé is?”

“You wouldn’t know him even if I told you.” Tie Ci waved her hand. “The eighteenth son of the King of Liaodong – see, don’t we make a perfect match?”

This time Rong Pu was silent much longer, so long that Tie Ci became puzzled. She turned to look at him and for an instant caught something strange in the light in Rong Pu’s eyes.

She was truly surprised – could he actually know that prince from the ends of the earth?

They had now turned onto the main road and began encountering patrolling guards. Tie Ci’s hand emerged from under the cloak, holding up her token. The guards bowed from afar and made way.

Soon, looking up, she saw the plaque of Ruixiang Palace. Tie Ci laughed: “There, I’ve arrived. You can leave the palace on your own from here. My cloak isn’t convenient to lend you – I’ll have someone bring you an umbrella.” She raised her hand to call someone.

But her hand was suddenly grasped.

Tie Ci turned around in surprise.

Rong Pu had already left the cloak’s shelter. The fine drizzle dampened his temples, making his eyes clearer and his complexion more snow-like. Tie Ci looked at her hand, but he only looked into Tie Ci’s eyes, asking: “Why?”

“Why what?”

Rong Pu didn’t speak or release her hand. Tie Ci then understood what he was asking.

She laughed, bright and noble.

“When the Crown Princess chose marriage partners, only the Rong family didn’t withdraw. Do you think I should be grateful rather than ungrateful?”

“I didn’t…”

Tie Ci flicked her fingers and freed herself from Rong Pu’s grasp. But Rong Pu stepped forward again, and something was pressed into Tie Ci’s hand. Looking down, it was a tube of golden wound ointment.

She calmly put away the ointment with the bearing of royalty accepting tribute. She nodded slightly to Rong Pu and turned to walk up the steps.

A crowd of people surged out from inside to receive her.

This time Rong Pu didn’t follow.

He stood in place, watching the Crown Princess ascend step by step surrounded by the crowd. Just when he thought he was destined not to get an answer, Tie Ci suddenly stopped.

“If the Rong family didn’t withdraw from the betrothal to compete with the Xiao family, why should I become a tool in your struggle? If not withdrawing is simply your pity, why should I accept others’ sympathy?”

She turned back. High on the steps, her smile was like clouds parting to reveal the moon.

“Love or power lust – no one can bind me.”

“My empire, I’ll win myself.”

Tie Ci put on quite a performance in front of Rong Pu, but as soon as she turned around, her body swayed. The maids hurriedly supported her, chattering with questions. Tie Ci sighed: “The Empress Dowager made me kneel again – massage, quickly massage.”

The women then competed to massage her. Gu Xiaoxiao came out from the inner hall to greet her, saw the crowd and retreated with a headache. This was exactly what Tie Ci wanted. She claimed kneeling had made her sweat all over and called for Dan Shuang to quickly prepare bath water.

Dan Shuang pushed open the window to look at her, then slammed the window shut heavily and went to prepare. Gu Xiaoxiao stood at the threshold, frowning as he said: “Your Highness, please don’t spoil these maids so much anymore. Aren’t those old ministers from the Crown Prince’s Household nagging enough?”

Before Tie Ci could answer, Dan Shuang appeared ghostlike from behind a screen: “If Young Master Gu visited our Highness less often, those old ministers would nag much less.”

Gu Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened. Unable to answer, he quickly retreated several steps. Except for Tie Ci and family members, being closer than three feet to anyone made him uneasy.

Tie Ci laughingly pushed him away: “We’re all good sisters, why get angry?”

Gu Xiaoxiao retreated while saying: “Who’s sisters with her…” Tie Ci had already laughingly waved and entered the bathhouse.

Inside, steam swirled. Her composed expression immediately turned to grimacing. Dan Shuang stood by the round bath holding towels, quickly undressing her in a few moves, then gasped.

But Tie Ci apologized to her: “Junior Sister, I’m sorry for keeping you here and wronging you.”

Dan Shuang’s response was to press a medicated cloth to her back. Tie Ci howled and quickly leaped into the water with a splash, creating large waves.

The bath water was also medicinal, quite invigorating to soak in, but Tie Ci endured silently. After a while she emerged from the bath. Dan Shuang applied a gel-like medicine to Tie Ci’s back, and the fearsome wounds were visibly sealed and smoothed. But Tie Ci still wasn’t satisfied: “Master’s liquid bandages from back then were still better.”

Dan Shuang rolled her eyes: “Master only brought a few small bottles total – enough to seal gashes like ditches on you?”

Tie Ci laughed, reaching out to play with the water: “I might have to leave the capital soon. Before leaving, I want to see Master once.”

Dan Shuang agreed: “Leaving the capital is good – look, your back is almost like Master’s barbecue grill. You’ll scare the groom to death when you marry.”

Tie Ci thought of her newly “betrothed” prospective fiancé and that portrait so ugly it could startle heaven and make ghosts weep. She laughed: “Not necessarily – maybe I’ll be the one scared to death.”

Dan Shuang snorted: “Either way, it’s just a front. If he doesn’t behave in the future, just kill him.” She continued: “Chi Xue sent word back saying that little wolf king from the west is heading toward the capital. Claims it’s about trade disputes with the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of War, but coincidentally our people are investigating him. They say he has a wild temperament – don’t let him cause trouble if you run into him.”

Tie Ci waved dismissively: “By the time he arrives, I might be a thousand li from the capital – what’s to fear?”

“Speaking of leaving the capital, with your status, how would the old ministers in court agree?”

“Disagree all they want – they still have to agree. Ultimately it’s the Empress Dowager’s court.” Tie Ci said: “Today the Empress Dowager suffered setbacks twice in a row. The marriage alliance with Xiao Chang is temporarily shelved, but if she doesn’t vent this anger, she’ll inevitably become estranged from the Xiao family. So I guess she’ll definitely invoke old rules again – Great Qian’s noble children have a tradition of traveling to study, and it should be my turn.”

“Study tours have several types: martial study, wandering study, and miscellaneous study. Martial study is most common – royal family should learn martial arts anyway. Finding famous teachers in the capital for two years is both practical and safe. Wandering study is cultural governance – traveling famous mountains and rivers. Though more arduous, it’s the best way to befriend renowned scholars and show goodwill to the world’s students. For winning literary hearts and future throne stability, it has immense benefits. Plus selecting great scholars and famous ministers to accompany as guides is another good chance to win over civil officials. Worst is miscellaneous study – all trades under heaven, randomly selected. Claims to observe popular sentiment and experience people’s lives, but mingling with dragons and snakes in markets, who knows what deadly troubles you’ll encounter? These so-called hundred trades are mostly of the three teachings and nine streams, lowly as ants. Done well, it doesn’t help the throne; done poorly, it easily ruins reputation and loses popular support. If you really must travel to study and train, you must find a way to avoid miscellaneous study at all costs.”

“I think the Empress Dowager won’t let me stay in the capital for martial study. Miscellaneous study is indeed dangerous and easily exploited. The Crown Prince’s Household mentioned several famous scholars to me, especially that Confucian sage with great reputation both in and out of court. If I get the wandering study opportunity, it would be perfect to visit him. But what we think of, the Empress Dowager thinks of too, so we need to find a way first…”

The two chatted in the bathhouse. Everyone else knew the rules – no one approached when the Crown Princess bathed. Unexpectedly someone entered at the door – a well-dressed young woman with two maids. The gatekeeper maid quickly bowed: “Consort Jing.”

This was the Crown Princess’s birth mother. Though she came rarely, the palace guards naturally couldn’t stop her. Nor could they ask her to wait for announcement. Consort Jing entered familiarly, with palace servants leading her to the warm pavilion near the bath, saying the Crown Princess was bathing and asking her to wait. But Consort Jing smiled: “I just made a set of undergarments using tribute silk from Hezhou Prefecture – softest and most delicate. Let me take it for the Crown Princess to try.”

Palace servants all knew this consort came from humble origins with a naturally gentle disposition. In the most profound and mysterious harem, she should have been someone who couldn’t survive three days, but while inferior in everything else, she could be called blessed in beauty and luck. Not long after entering the palace, the Empress died. The previously favored consorts bore sons one after another, but all died young. When her turn came to conceive early, she bore a daughter. After Tie Ci was established as Crown Princess, she was closely protected and lived peacefully in the palace without worry.

If there was any shortcoming, it was that Tie Ci never treated her as warmly as others, rarely visiting her palace, becoming more distant with age. Palace servants privately discussed that this one who could bear someone like the Crown Princess had already had great fortune. With no family support and unable to establish herself, the Crown Princess’s distance was natural. She was sensible enough to just keep to her place.

Consort Jing thought so too, harboring no resentment, but after so long, she inevitably missed her daughter. Today she found an excuse to come. Fortunately, though Tie Ci didn’t usually visit her, she always showed respect, and everyone in the palace understood this one would eventually be the future Empress Dowager, so they served her well and let her go.

Afraid to disturb her daughter, Consort Jing didn’t bring her maids, quietly approaching the bathhouse door herself. Just as she hesitated whether to disturb, she heard conversation inside.

Dan Shuang was applying medicine to Tie Ci a second time with medicated water to fade future scars. That medicine was truly potent – even someone as enduring as Tie Ci couldn’t help hissing continuously, laughing: “Good sister, please be gentler.”

Dan Shuang said coldly: “I might as well embroider flowers on ant backs!” Unable to help cursing: “The Empress Dowager’s hand is so ruthless!”

Consort Jing couldn’t bear it anymore. She licked the window paper and looked through. Tie Ci was sitting on the pool edge with her back to the main door – that back crisscrossed with scars suddenly crashed into Consort Jing’s vision!

Consort Jing’s mind thundered as she staggered back a step, dropping her clothes.

Inside fell quiet, then came a sharp question: “Who!”

Consort Jing instinctively startled, feeling she’d done something to anger her daughter. Shocked by those scars and panicked, she stepped on the clothes and fled.

When Dan Shuang rushed out, she only saw snow-white sleeping robes on the ground with large footprints.

…

Author’s Note: Today’s update is quite substantial – my heart aches.