The west wing of the rear courtyard of Shanglin Nunnery was where Qin Chang Ge and her son resided.
Originally, the princess had intended for Qin Chang Ge to live in the more spacious east wing, but Qin Chang Ge had refused. She was merely a palace maid in status. Although everyone who had entered the nunnery with the princess consisted of trusted confidants who had served her since childhood, she still couldn’t be too ostentatious. More importantly, the west wing was close to the courtyard wall and had a pond and bamboo grove nearby—secluded and deeply green, with shadows swaying, rarely visited by anyone. For Qin Chang Ge, it was most suitable.
Deep in the bamboo grove was a dried-up well with a white stone platform, surrounded by wild grass. Qin Chang Ge kept a flock of pigeons there in the bamboo grove, letting them eat grass seeds and occasionally feeding them.
The morning sunlight passed through an exquisite window lattice, filtering through crimson cloud-shadow gauze with a faint red tinge, falling on Qin Chang Ge dressed in moon-white robes. It painted her frost-pale cheek, slender fingers, and the paper in her hand with a layer of warm color.
After staring at the paper for a long while, Qin Chang Ge sighed softly: “…Yu Zixi… a masked man in white with supreme martial arts… a masked man in black with strange fighting techniques… fighting fiercely over my remains? Whereabouts unknown… What is all this? I asked them to investigate the whereabouts of the bones, and they give me this?”
Xiao Baozi was holding a large bowl drinking porridge, his entire head buried in the bowl. Hearing this, he immediately looked up and asked: “What, what bones?”
A few grains of rice still hung from the tip of his small nose.
Qin Chang Ge said carelessly: “Oh, meat bones.”
“Ha,” Xiao Baozi’s eyes lit up with interest: “Speaking of meat bones, did they put some in this porridge? It’s so fresh and delicious. Even Four Seasons Spring in Yingdu, which makes the best porridge, doesn’t seem this fresh.”
“How can Four Seasons Spring compare to this?” Qin Chang Ge said lazily: “This porridge has dried scallops, fresh shellfish, goji berries, lily bulbs, pearl rice, and chicken shreds, slowly simmered over low heat. It’s originally the imperial cuisine most beloved by palace nobles—do you often go to Four Seasons Spring for porridge?”
“Yes, Uncle Qi Heng loves porridge and often takes me there,” his tender white face with large dark eyes rolling around: “But I think he’s pretending to drink porridge while actually looking at people.”
“Hmm?” Qin Chang Ge put down the paper and narrowed her eyes.
“Four Seasons Spring has a girl who sings songs and is very beautiful,” Xiao Baozi said with a grin: “Uncle Heng drinks porridge while watching her, and often gets porridge up his nose.”
“You don’t remind him?” Qin Chang Ge smiled.
“How could he hear me talking?” Xiao Baozi looked helpless: “Once he ordered lotus leaf and ginknut porridge for me. That day the porridge tasted a bit off, and I called for him to help me change it, but he didn’t hear. Later I learned they put the wrong sugar in the porridge. When I went back and told Uncle Qi Fan, he gave Uncle Heng a terrible scolding.”
As he was tattling, his extremely protective mother immediately automatically ignored the last two sentences, smiling ominously: “This boy dares to be so inattentive when taking you out?” After smiling darkly for a while longer, Xiao Baozi stared at his mother’s smile and shrank back, but saw his mother beckoning to him: “Come, come here.”
“What for?”
“Next time you go to Four Seasons Spring with Uncle Heng for porridge, go to the kitchen and teach the cook to make a special porridge, specifically recommend it to Qi Heng. Say that drinking it will make him more spirited and distinguished. Your Uncle Heng will definitely be very happy.”
Glancing at his mother, Xiao Baozi smiled even more maliciously, saying with pure innocence: “Really? Great.”
“Here, first put sheep kidneys, mutton, goji berries, and glutinous rice in a pot, add appropriate water, cook the porridge over low heat. When it’s almost done, add Chinese chives and cook for two or three more boils. But you don’t need to tell him these details—just say this porridge is called ‘Heroic Radiance Porridge’ and that the more you drink, the more elegant and distinguished you become.”
“Oh,” Xiao Baozi memorized it once and smiled mischievously. Though he didn’t know what kind of porridge this was, his bad mother’s ideas were definitely bad ones. Following mother couldn’t be wrong.
The exemplary young master Xiao Rong, who “loved Xiliang, loved martial arts, and loved mother,” went out with a smile, memorizing the porridge recipe to check on the pigeons his mother had put him in charge of.
Qin Chang Ge picked up her brush to write a letter.
“Letter to Mr. Qi Fan: Your letter has been read. Every word is like pigs and chickens—I see only clouds and mist, but no trace of people. Parallel phrases and flowery couplets, heavy with classical allusions and ornate writing, beautiful literary style like gold thread and jade robes. Yet regarding the whereabouts of the sought remains, despite a thousand calls and ten thousand pleas, you still hold a pipa half-covering your face. How stingy you are! How elite your Huang Meng is! Secret reports like merchant negotiations, coded letters like pedantic compositions. If Ruiyi’s spirit has knowledge in the afterlife, she would surely rise from the yellow springs, clap her hands and sigh deeply: ‘There are indeed successors!'”
After finishing, she set down the brush. Thinking of Qi Fan’s expression when he received the letter and his nose twisted with anger, Qin Chang Ge smiled slightly. She wasn’t an unreasonable person—today’s sarcasm was because she felt Qi Fan’s abilities shouldn’t be limited to this. Why was he being so evasive?
After sealing the letter and releasing a carrier pigeon, Qin Chang Ge caught sight of Princess Wen Chang standing by the bamboo grove, slightly bent over talking happily with Xiao Rong. Qin Chang Ge slowly walked over. When Xiao Rong saw her, he immediately rushed over holding something in his hand, calling out joyfully: “Mother, Aunt Princess gave me a treasure!”
Glancing lightly at the princess, Qin Chang Ge bent down to embrace her son and smiled: “Silly boy, you called it wrong. It should be Aunt Princess, but you mustn’t call her that in front of others.”
From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Wen Chang’s sleeve move slightly, as if sighing softly, but she also gently continued: “Then call me aunt. This is aunt’s meeting gift for you.”
After looking at the small golden crossbow, Qin Chang Ge said: “Rong’er, have you thanked Aunt Princess?”
Xiao Baozi said with a grin: “Thank you, Aunt. Aunt is the most beautiful, aunt is the best.”
Qin Chang Ge had long suspected her son’s opportunistic nature, like grass bending with the wind. Too lazy to be angry with him, she only said: “Have you learned how to use it?”
Xiao Rong said proudly: “Uncle Rong taught me.”
“Then go practice. Don’t shoot the pigeons, and don’t aim at people.”
Xiao Rong happily went off to play with his small crossbow. Wen Chang watched his small retreating figure and smiled wistfully: “A’Jue also loved these things when he was little…”
Qin Chang Ge slowly turned around and looked directly into her eyes: “This small crossbow belonged to Xiao Jue, didn’t it?”
“Yes…” Still immersed in memories, Wen Chang responded absently, then came to her senses with a start and hurriedly waved her hands: “No… no, no, don’t misunderstand. A’Jue won’t know… These are A’Jue’s childhood toys that I collected…”
Seeing her anxiety, Qin Chang Ge actually laughed and said gently: “Don’t be nervous. That’s not what I meant. Even if you told Xiao Jue about Rong’er’s identity, he wouldn’t believe it. What I mean is, why do you do this?”
Wen Chang calmed down and sighed sadly: “I see father and son meeting without recognition, not knowing when they can acknowledge each other. Thinking that A’Jue has been on the throne for several years, and no son born after Rong’er has grown up, my heart always feels uncomfortable…”
Smiling reluctantly, she added: “You won’t let Rong’er call me aunt, which means you don’t acknowledge A’Jue as your husband. Forgive my boldness in asking—regarding A’Jue, what are your plans?”
“I have always conducted myself neither carelessly wronging others nor carelessly indulging them, because human life comes only once, and no one has the right to treat life carelessly,” Qin Chang Ge raised her head, looking at the blue sky and clear clouds, wild geese migrating south, her expression distant, her voice also distant: “So no matter how great Xiao Jue’s suspicion, before the truth is completely clear, I will not strike to kill. But if in the previous life, Ruiyi was truly killed by him, then regardless of how loving we once were, regardless of him once being my husband who vowed eternal union—I will not have a fraction of pity or hesitation—I will certainly kill him.”