“Oh?” The Emperor’s interest was immediately piqued. “And who might the Empress have in mind? The Empress is here in Zichen Palace with me every day, and has no opportunity to have dealings with young ladies outside the palace. Surely the person she has in mind is someone right here within these walls?”

Empress Wei answered with a smile. “Precisely. As it happens, Your Majesty is also quite familiar with her. On the day this consort first took charge of palace affairs, I found myself short of capable and reliable people around me. I had no choice but to be so bold as to request her from Your Majesty.”

“Over these past two years, this consort has truly been unable to do without her. This consort admires her quick wits and good sense, and I admire her beauty and pleasing manner equally. She is of distinguished family, outstanding in both talent and appearance. She is more than worthy of A’Yan.”

Empress Wei had not named her directly.

Yet the Emperor needed only the first two lines to know exactly who was meant.

Ling Jingshu!

To think that the person Empress Wei had in mind was her!

The Emperor instinctively furrowed his brow.

There was nothing to fault in Ling Jingshu, truly. And yet, regardless of all else, he had once harbored thoughts for her, had been so close to taking her into the inner palace…

Now Empress Wei was asking to decree a marriage between Ling Jingshu and Wei Yan, and hearing it, there was an uncomfortable prickle somewhere in the depths of his heart.

Then, thinking more carefully, he found the matter was not entirely unacceptable.

He was now like rotting wood — only capable of resting and recuperating, dragging out his remaining years. Desires of the flesh were long past and meaningless to him. A girl as lovely and clever as this, kept in the palace indefinitely, would only waste her best years.

Since Empress Wei had her eye on her as a younger sister-in-law, he might as well let Empress Wei have her way.

The Emperor made up his mind, and was just about to give his nod — when unexpectedly, Wei Yan actually furrowed his brow and spoke up. “Lady Ling is Her Majesty the Empress’s most capable and trusted attendant. This subject could not possibly deprive Her Majesty of one she values so greatly. This match had best be set aside.”

Empress Wei immediately grasped the meaning of Wei Yan’s strategy of “feigning withdrawal to advance,” and cooperated with great aptness by furrowing her own brow. She looked toward the Emperor with an expression of considerable grievance. “Your Majesty, now you have seen it for yourself. Every single time I raise the matter of his marriage with him, he always finds some excuse to evade it. As his elder sister, there is nothing I can do to get through to him.”

The Emperor, moved by sympathy for Empress Wei’s distress, immediately put on a stern expression. “Wei Yan, the Emperor and the Empress have personally arranged a match for you — what further dissatisfaction could you have? Dare to evade it again, and it is tantamount to defying an imperial decree! Do you truly think you are beyond my reach?”

Wei Yan knelt down with an expression of helplessness to plead guilty. “This subject would not dare.”

The Emperor let out a low sound of displeasure. “What would you not dare to do. The Empress has spent no end of effort over these years worrying over your marriage. And you — emboldened by the Empress’s indulgence, you simply pay her words no heed. This matter, I will take in hand today!”

“In accordance with the Empress’s wishes, Ling Jingshu is hereby decreed as your bride. Before the end of the year, select an auspicious day for the wedding!”

Once the Emperor had spoken, there was no further possibility of change.

Wei Yan suppressed the wild elation surging in his heart, and in a low voice expressed his gratitude for the honor.

This marriage had been personally decreed by the Emperor. Even if the Emperor later came to understand what had truly transpired, it would hardly be appropriate for him to pursue the matter.

“You little ingrate — a girl as beautiful and clever as this has been granted to you, and you still had the face to be reluctant.” The Emperor felt not the slightest remaining unease, and laughed as he teased. “Tell me, what on earth are you unhappy about?”

Wei Yan put on an expression of lingering ambivalence, made a show of apparent reluctance for a moment, then replied. “To answer Your Majesty — this subject has been living within the Imperial Medical Academy all these years. I have never set up a proper household outside the palace. Your Majesty has ordered this subject to wed before the end of the year, yet this subject would first need to establish a home in the capital before marrying. I fear the time may be very tight.”

The Emperor laughed with good-humored exasperation. “Is that the only concern. What difficulty is there in that! You have devoted so many years to the careful treatment of my illness, and you once saved the Crown Prince’s life — I have been remiss in adequately rewarding you all this time. Now, on the occasion of your happy event, what sort of gesture ought the Emperor, as your brother-in-law, to make?”

“The Emperor will bestow upon you a residence near the palace. The matter of renovations and preparation will be left to the Office of the Privy Purse to handle. You simply wait at ease to take your place as a bridegroom.”

Property in the capital was extraordinarily expensive. For Wei Yan’s means, acquiring a residence was not an impossibility. However, finding a suitable plot in the vicinity of the palace within a matter of months would indeed be exceedingly difficult to manage.

With one word, the Emperor had not only granted a residence, but had also taken the matter of renovations entirely off Wei Yan’s hands. It was an unexpected joy upon joy.

Wei Yan hurried to express his thanks again, and allowed the joy in his heart to show freely.

The Emperor, watching this, believed himself to have accomplished the successful “coercion of a groom,” and felt rather pleased with himself. He turned to Empress Wei with a triumphant air. “Empress, how has this Emperor handled matters? Are you satisfied?”

Empress Wei’s face was full of gratitude and warm feeling. “Your Majesty has shown A’Yan such great generosity — it is also giving face to this consort. This consort does not know what virtue she accumulated in how many past lives to be so deeply cherished by Your Majesty.”

The Emperor smiled, and answered with warmth. “Having the Empress’s companionship by my side — it is I who am fortunate.”

Empress Wei smiled with a gentle touch of shyness, and swiftly exchanged a knowing glance with Wei Yan.

Wonderful!

At last, what they had long hoped for had come to pass!

They had not, after all, let these two years of patient, silent endurance go to waste!

……

Ling Jingshu, waiting outside the bedchamber as she always did, had been quietly chatting in a low voice with Xin Yun, entirely unaware of what was unfolding inside.

Eunuch Ding came out with a face wreathed in smiles, an air of unmistakable knowing about him. “Lady Ling, His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress request your presence inside. There is something important to instruct you on.”

Ling Jingshu thought nothing of it and gave a sound of acknowledgment, then followed Eunuch Ding into the bedchamber.

She followed Empress Wei every single day and had long grown accustomed to being summoned at any moment. She had not the slightest inkling of what awaited her.

It was not until after she paid her respects that she saw it — the elation Wei Yan could not fully conceal in his eyes, the radiant brilliance of Empress Wei’s smile, and even the Emperor himself wearing an expression of rare and lively interest.

Only then did Ling Jingshu begin to sense that something was not quite right.

What was happening?

What was there to be so happy about?

“Jingshu, you are seventeen this year, are you not?” Empress Wei asked with a smile.

Why would she ask about her age out of nowhere?

Ling Jingshu’s heart stirred, and a vague premonition began to take shape. “Yes. This servant turned seventeen two months ago.”

“This consort remembers that when you entered the palace, you had not yet celebrated your coming-of-age. In the blink of an eye, it has been over two years.” Warmth and fondness settled in Empress Wei’s eyes. “A young woman’s years of youth are the most fleeting. This consort has no wish to see them wasted here in the palace. And so this consort wishes to arrange a marriage for you. Would you be willing?”

…An arranged marriage!

It was truly an arranged marriage!

How many times had she imagined this very moment.

Now it felt like a dream — so beautiful, so utterly impossible to believe was real.

The hands hidden in Ling Jingshu’s sleeves trembled without ceasing. She wrestled with every ounce of her will to suppress the urge to look up at Wei Yan, and answered softly. “This servant leaves all decisions in Her Majesty’s hands.”

Empress Wei’s voice rang out, serene and deliberate. “This consort’s younger brother Wei Yan is accomplished in the art of medicine, handsome of face and upright of conduct, pure and wholesome in character. This consort wishes to bestow you upon him in marriage. Are you willing?”