“Sister, why aren’t you responding to me? What are you thinking about?” Jiang Caiping’s voice pulled Yunyi back from her contemplation. She smiled to cover her thoughts and said, “It’s nothing. I was just wondering if the Ji family really has enchanting incense. By the way, Caiping, you said the Ji family medical clinic was quite famous before, and your home isn’t far from Shuangqiao Village. Have you ever been there? What medicine were they most famous for?”
Jiang Caiping felt somewhat parched from talking and poured herself a cup of water to moisten her throat. “Well, I heard from mother that when I was little, I had a cough that wouldn’t get better. Father heard people say that Old Doctor Ji had excellent medical skills, so he carried me to the Ji family medical clinic. After taking a few doses of medicine, I indeed got much better. As for what medicine was most famous…” She tilted her head and thought for a while, then shook her head. “I really can’t remember off the top of my head. Come to think of it, sister, you also lived in Shuangqiao Village—didn’t you hear about it?”
Yunyi smiled and said, “My family only had a few acres of poor farmland, and life was quite difficult. Where would we have extra money to see doctors? Occasionally when we got sick, we just endured it ourselves, so I’m not very clear about the medical clinic’s affairs.”
“It must have been so hard for you, sister.” Saying this, Jiang Caiping’s eyes brightened and she exclaimed, “I remember now! It was a medicine for treating external injuries. I heard that many people with injured hands and feet would travel great distances to the Ji family medical clinic just to seek that medicine. Unless it was a chronic condition from many years past, it could basically cure anything. But after Old Doctor Ji passed away, it could no longer be found anywhere.”
Yunyi hurriedly asked, “What was that medicine called?”
Jiang Caiping carefully recalled, then shook her head. “It seemed to be called some kind of powder—I can’t remember the specifics. Sister, why do you keep asking about this?”
Yunyi’s eyes flashed slightly as she said, “I was thinking, since they had such miraculous medicine, perhaps as you said, they might even have enchanting incense, only outsiders don’t know about it.”
She understood now. What Li Jiancheng cared about most was his leg that had become lame due to illness. Back when Meixue had merely glanced at it once, she had nearly brought disaster upon herself. If Jirong had medicine that could cure Li Jiancheng’s foot ailment, then all of this would make perfect sense.
Jirong probably didn’t have the finished medicine yet, otherwise she would have already treated Li Jiancheng. From her repeated trips to the pharmacy to obtain medicines, it seemed very likely that she was researching that medicine.
Jiang Caiping didn’t know Yunyi’s true thoughts and nodded vigorously. “She must have it! Otherwise, how could she make the First Young Master obey her every word? I say we should search her room, then report it to the Governor and Second Madam, and have her and Chunxiu driven out together. Then there would truly be peace.”
“Perhaps…” Yunyi narrowed her eyes slightly and said slowly, “We really should search Jirong’s room.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Caiping immediately perked up and hurriedly asked, “When shall we go?” Without waiting for Yunyi’s response, she glanced at the dark sky outside and said urgently, “Jirong should have already gone to the kitchen to get dinner by now. How about right now?”
“This matter isn’t urgent. We should wait for a more secure opportunity.” Seeing Yunyi say this, Jiang Caiping had no choice but to give up. She turned the teacup in her hands and said, “By the way, when I passed through the back garden earlier, I saw that all the plum blossoms there had bloomed. They’re yellow and quite beautiful. Would sister like to go see them?”
Yunyi smiled and said, “Alright, we’ll go tomorrow after dance practice.”
The night passed without incident. The next day, the two went to Lefang as usual to practice dance. Without Chunxiu there to find fault, the dancing went more smoothly than any previous day, and Yunyi naturally took Chunxiu’s place as the lead dancer.
After finishing dance practice, there was still some time before the noon meal. Jiang Caiping eagerly pulled Yunyi to the back garden. As she had said, a large patch of plum blossoms was planted in the garden, all in full bloom. Looking out over them, the petals were golden yellow like wax, standing proud against frost and snow, with a penetrating fragrance that was elegant without being vulgar, making one feel refreshed and delighted.
Jiang Caiping was like a happy little bird, sometimes reaching for the branches of this plum tree, sometimes smelling those wax plum blossoms, her silver bell-like laughter echoing through the garden. “Sister, look! Isn’t it beautiful? When I was outside the residence, I saw some plum trees too, but the flowers were either white or red. I’d never seen yellow plum blossoms, let alone so many of them. And other plum trees only bloom after the New Year, but these bloomed in the eleventh month.”
Yunyi chuckled softly. “These are wax plums, also called yellow plum flowers. They’re much more precious than ordinary plum blossoms and usually bloom in the tenth month. Our Honghua Commandery doesn’t produce these plum flowers—they can only be transplanted from elsewhere, so naturally they’re rare to see. Such a large patch here must have cost quite a bit of silver.” As she spoke, she reached for a plum branch and gently inhaled, softly reciting, “Branches cross jade, naturally slender; breaking through golden fragrance, extraordinarily aromatic.” Mother’s palace had also planted many wax plums. Mother often stood under the eaves admiring the plums, and every time she did so, the expression in her eyes was very complex. She had never understood it, only knowing that Father Emperor didn’t like wax plums. Once when he came over and saw Mother staring at the wax plums in a daze, his face immediately darkened and he left without a word, sleeves fluttering.
But no matter how much Father Emperor disliked them, he never touched Mother’s wax plums even slightly. Instead, he ordered the gardeners to tend them carefully without neglect.
She didn’t understand why Father Emperor loved Mother so much, yet Mother seldom smiled when facing Father Emperor. She understood even less why Father Emperor had always been cold toward her. What exactly… had she done wrong?
Jiang Caiping listened in a daze, then clapped her hands and laughed. “So sister can compose poetry too! How lovely!”
Yunyi collected her wandering thoughts and smiled. “I don’t know how to compose poetry. That was written by someone else—I’m just reciting it from memory.”
“I really want to pick some to take back to our room as an offering. That way the whole room would have this fragrance.” As soon as Jiang Caiping finished speaking, Yunyi said seriously, “You absolutely must not have such thoughts. If anyone discovered that we privately picked wax plums, we would certainly be blamed.”
Jiang Caiping stuck out her pink tongue and said quietly, “I was just thinking about it—I didn’t actually pick any.” Then she smiled with curved eyes. “If I can’t pick them, surely I can dance here? Didn’t sister just say that my dance steps lacked some continuity? This is a perfect time to practice more.”
“Why don’t I see you being so studious normally?” After laughingly scolding her, Yunyi said, “Alright, practice quickly. I see the sky doesn’t look right—it might snow. Remember the key points Nanny Yang taught us.”
“I know!” Saying this, Jiang Caiping began dancing gracefully under the plum trees, extremely happy. With practice after practice, her dance steps became increasingly skilled, displaying the beautiful and gentle meaning that the dance was meant to express.
Yunyi watched with growing interest from the side, casually picking up a withered branch to draw on the ground. Soon a picture of music and dance appeared on the ground, with a female figure in the painting having flowing wide sleeves and beautiful dance postures, as if she might step out of the painting at any moment.