Even with his legs now able to move, His Highness the Crown Prince remained reserved.

Whether he could fully recover was still unknown, but his legs had indeed improved, so Zhao Sui chose to tell the Crown Princess and let her share in the joy.

However, at most Zhao Sui would simply shift his legs or bend his knees in front of the Crown Princess to prove he could really move them, but he was unwilling to let the Crown Princess see him practicing walking.

After sitting in a wheelchair for three years, although he persisted with daily massages, the muscles and sinews in Zhao Sui’s legs were still far inferior to those of an ordinary person. At present he didn’t even have the strength to support himself standing independently. When Zhao Sui practiced walking in the front courtyard, he mainly relied on his arms supporting himself on the bars, practicing only the movement of shifting his legs forward. Both sore and numb, after completing just one short circuit of the bars in the inner chamber, he would be drenched in sweat.

Aside from Imperial Physician Liao, who was indispensable for treating his legs, Zhao Sui didn’t want anyone to see him like that, especially not the Crown Princess.

But with just one sentence from the Crown Prince saying he would practice walking in the front courtyard, Yao Huang understood his meaning.

She didn’t need to watch—she only needed to hear the Crown Prince describe his degree of recovery, only needed to know he had hope. Yao Huang was already joyful and content.

Chatting about when he first discovered his legs could move, Zhao Sui stroked the Crown Princess’s long hair in his embrace and after a moment of silence said: “When I dismounted in the hunting grounds.”

Wanting to go help the Crown Princess, from dismounting to before landing, Zhao Sui had only thought of this one thing. Not until his legs powerlessly knelt and braced on the ground did Zhao Sui suddenly realize he had actually completed the entire sequence of lifting his leg over the horse’s back and jumping down.

Hearing this, Yao Huang sat up excitedly: “I knew it! I said Your Highness’s dismounting posture was especially nimble and good-looking—so you could already move them then!”

Zhao Sui looked at the Crown Princess’s round eyes that seemed filled with stars and asked: “Didn’t you say you didn’t see it?”

Yao Huang: “…I only saw Your Highness’s heroic dismounting figure, then immediately my back hurt and I collapsed back down, so I didn’t see how Your Highness fell.”

Zhao Sui lowered his eyes.

Yao Huang could tell the Crown Prince was still in very good spirits. Of course he was—anyone would be delighted to have legs crippled for three years healed by just one small fall.

“Speaking of which, we should give that wild boar great credit. If it hadn’t run out I wouldn’t have been in danger, and if I hadn’t been in danger Your Highness wouldn’t have been so anxious.”

Zhao Sui smiled slightly. That was indeed the logic.

Yao Huang patted the Crown Prince’s arm to have him lie down properly, then called out to A’Ji outside.

A’Ji walked in with his head lowered.

Yao Huang instructed: “Send someone to tell my brother to have those two tusks from that sow cleaned and sent over to me.”

Female wild boars also had tusks, just very short ones.

A’Ji went outside to arrange for a palace servant to run the errand, not understanding why.

Zhao Sui: “What do you want the tusks for?”

Yao Huang smiled at him: “To keep as a memento! I think this wild boar was actually a lucky boar, so its tusks are also lucky tusks. We’ll keep them as our Eastern Palace’s treasured heirlooms.”

Zhao Sui: “…”

On the last full day at the traveling palace, Yao Huang left behind her brother, sister-in-law, and the princesses with their consorts to push the Crown Prince out alone to view the scenery. They wandered until noon to return to the traveling palace for a meal. While she napped in the afternoon, the Crown Prince practiced walking and received massage in the front courtyard. When Yao Huang woke up, she would push His Highness out again. After dinner was another session of the Crown Prince practicing walking and massage.

Yao Huang waited patiently in the rear courtyard. It was almost the first watch when the Crown Prince arrived, his handsome face slightly flushed after exertion and a fresh bath, making the Crown Princess sitting cross-legged on the bed stare in fascination.

Zhao Sui glanced once then lowered his eyelids, pushing the wheelchair into the canopy bed and as usual lifting himself onto the bed just like before.

The couple lay down facing each other. Yao Huang gently squeezed the Crown Prince’s thigh and asked softly: “How does today compare to yesterday?”

Zhao Sui grasped that hand and said: “If yesterday was ten parts numb, today is only nine parts.”

While sitting in the wheelchair during the day, though he didn’t practice walking, he would constantly shift his legs in small movements—for instance, moving his feet on the wheelchair footrests left or right, or raising and lowering his knees when the Crown Princess was looking elsewhere.

This kind of exercise was like studying and practicing martial arts in his youth—practice makes perfect. And Zhao Sui had both the patience and perseverance.

Yao Huang said delightedly: “Such great progress in just one day…”

Zhao Sui: “Don’t be happy too soon. Imperial Physician Liao said even if I can fully recover, it will probably take half a year or even longer before I can move freely.”

Yao Huang burrowed into his embrace: “I’m just happy—I’m not anxious at all.”

Zhao Sui held the Crown Princess’s soft body, thinking of the position she had seen him in yesterday when he fell in the hunting grounds.

Although he still couldn’t stand up, if he used both hands and feet he could kneel and brace himself steadily, no longer needing to press on the Crown Princess’s back.

Imperial Physician Liao had also reminded him to practice all kinds of positions that could use his legs.

So the Crown Prince slowly turned the Crown Princess over.

The Crown Princess had been bullied many times by the Crown Prince transformed into a bamboo demon. Each time, besides being bullied by the bamboo demon, she also had to exert much strength bearing the bamboo demon’s weight. Now that the bamboo demon could brace himself, the Crown Princess who could finally cry single-mindedly cried intermittently for a very, very long time…

On the afternoon of August thirtieth, after another two and a half days of arduous travel by carriage and horse, the Crown Prince’s party successfully returned to the capital.

The Crown Prince needed to report to Emperor Yongchang about the testing situation with the heavy gunpowder. Although Yao Huang very much missed Jun’er, she still had to first go pay respects to Empress Zhou. Unexpectedly, both husband and wife came up empty—Emperor Yongchang, who happened to be on his rest day, had actually invited Empress Zhou to accompany him to the Imperial Garden to watch over their grandson. And this imperial grandson was naturally the little imperial grandson Jun’er of the Eastern Palace, doubly abandoned by both his father the prince and his mother the consort.

The Crown Prince couple met up again on the way to the Imperial Garden. Yao Huang took over the wheelchair and pushed the Crown Prince into the Imperial Garden.

In the Imperial Garden, osmanthus flowers filled the air with fragrance. Both sides of the small path were lined with two rows of famous chrysanthemums, some already in full bloom, others still budding. In this cooling season there were even a few butterflies flitting up and down among the chrysanthemum clusters.

Walking along, the couple saw Empress Zhou sitting in a pavilion tasting tea, and also saw Emperor Yongchang outside the pavilion holding Jun’er while chasing butterflies.

The sound of rolling wheels attracted Jun’er’s attention. The little fellow twisted his head around from his imperial grandfather’s embrace, recognized his parents whom he hadn’t seen for over ten days, and Jun’er happily arched his body toward them.

Emperor Yongchang laughingly patted his grandson’s bottom: “After accompanying you for over ten days, you still forget your imperial grandfather the moment you see your father and mother.”

Yao Huang stopped the Crown Prince beside Emperor Yongchang, taking Jun’er while laughing: “Father Emperor and Mother Empress have worked hard during this time. Now that your daughter-in-law has returned, how about this daughter-in-law takes back the little one and returns a big one to Father Emperor?”

Zhao Sui: “…”

Emperor Yongchang looked at his son in the wheelchair who didn’t even know how to smile, and humphed: “The big one isn’t as pleasing as the little one.”

Yao Huang: “But the big one has already learned a whole set of skills from Father Emperor and can help share Father Emperor’s burdens.”

Emperor Yongchang indeed valued the power of the heavy gunpowder greatly. He had his daughter-in-law carry Jun’er to the pavilion to pay respects to Empress Zhou, while Emperor Yongchang pushed his son to a long bench ahead, positioning the wheelchair to face the bench. He then sat on the bench and before asking questions, first looked his son over thoroughly—after all, it had been over ten days since he’d seen him, and as a father emperor he missed his son too.

Zhao Sui respectfully lowered his eyes.

Emperor Yongchang: “…”

This son had the ability to share his burdens, but when it came to making him happy, he wasn’t even as good as the eldest. Fortunately he’d married a silver-tongued daughter-in-law to make up for it.

“Speak.”

Discussing official business, the Crown Prince’s words finally increased. He clearly and thoroughly described the details of each test without a single superfluous word.

Emperor Yongchang nodded repeatedly, leaning back against the chair back and gazing at the high sky: “For mining and quarrying, the current heavy gunpowder can already be used. We only need to further improve preservation and safe transport methods. But how to make heavy gunpowder into a divine weapon for the battlefield requires more careful thought. This is a matter of enormous profit with minimal investment, directly related to Great Qi’s future national fortune. You should continue managing it—I won’t feel at ease handing it to anyone else.”

The second son had been on the battlefield and knew what kind of weapons the battlefield needed. The second son was also careful enough not to let the court’s methods for creating new weapons leak out.

Zhao Sui accepted the assignment.

With official business concluded, Emperor Yongchang began caring about how his son, daughter-in-law, daughters, and sons-in-law had enjoyed themselves at the traveling palace.

Zhao Sui spoke of the rabbit the Eldest Princess had personally shot, of the roe deer the Second Princess had killed that Fan Ruochuan had first wounded in the thigh, and also of the hunting competition between the Yao Lin and Li Fuwei couple. Some of this the Crown Princess had told him, and some Zhao Sui had participated in himself.

When the Crown Prince recounted such matters, he told them very dryly. Emperor Yongchang gleaned one thing from it: the Crown Princess was truly putting her heart into teaching the two princesses archery and had taught them to a level where they could hit prey.

Emperor Yongchang: “You only talk about others—what did you two as a couple shoot?”

Zhao Sui lowered his eyes and said: “The Crown Princess hunted one roe deer. Your son hunted one wild boar.”

Emperor Yongchang: “…When I held the hunting competition, you didn’t even enter the mountains, just waiting by a tree stump outside. But to play with your wife you dare to risk mounted archery.”

Zhao Sui: “When your son entered the mountains, he only planned to accompany the Crown Princess for a horse ride and didn’t think of taking action. Later…”

Hearing that his daughter-in-law had nearly been injured by a wild boar, Emperor Yongchang frowned and glanced toward the pavilion: “When wild boars become fierce they’re even harder to deal with than wolves. Although it was only a half-grown sow, your wife was still too bold. This was when she was with you and encountered the wild boar—what if the four sisters-in-law encountered such danger while hunting…”

Thinking of his two delicate princesses, Emperor Yongchang increasingly felt that the second son’s wife should rein in her playful interests.

Zhao Sui didn’t explain that when the Crown Princess’s group of four hunted, guards followed behind them. He only continued to describe how his legs had suddenly been able to move because of his anxiety to help the Crown Princess.

Back when Emperor Yongchang had first received the battle report that the second son had fallen off a cliff with uncertain life or death, he had only lowered his eyes and sat alone for a long time. Now, suddenly learning that his son’s legs could move, Emperor Yongchang actually stood up in agitation, lowering his head, his gaze moving back and forth between his son and his son’s legs, his words even stuttering: “Re-really can move?”

Zhao Sui placed both hands on the armrests, then slowly lifted his right foot off the footrest.

Seeing it with his own eyes, Emperor Yongchang abruptly turned around. Before he could raise his hand, two streams of old tears had already rolled down.

Zhao Sui looked at the jade belt at his father emperor’s waist and said in a low voice: “They can only move. Whether they can fully recover still requires continued observation. Father Emperor must not hope for too much.”

Emperor Yongchang wiped his tears with a handkerchief with one hand while waving the other hand behind him: “I hope for nothing—I’ll be happy with any degree of recovery.”

Zhao Sui: “Before there are definite results, your son wishes to keep this secret for now, to avoid adding to discussions inside and outside the court.”

Emperor Yongchang nodded with his back to his son: “That’s how it should be. Whatever you need, just tell me and I’ll arrange it for you.”

Zhao Sui: “Imperial Physician Liao will continue to assist your son in treating his legs. As for external materials, your son wishes to add a circle of hardwood support bars around the Eastern Palace’s deer park for convenient practice walking.”

The inner chamber was too small, and to construct in the deer park required requesting Father Emperor’s permission.

Emperor Yongchang calmed down somewhat, put away his handkerchief and turned around, his eyes full of comfort: “This is a small matter. You can arrange it yourself.”

The last thing Zhao Sui requested was that he hoped Father Emperor wouldn’t pursue the Crown Princess’s small oversight in releasing wild boars in the hunting grounds.

Emperor Yongchang was amused to hearty laughter by his son’s wife-protecting heart.

Pursue her?

The second son’s wife was simply the second son’s lucky star, and also the imperial family’s lucky star. He was only worried about how to properly reward this daughter-in-law!