Chapter 5

Chapter 5

What did she mean, I was doing well? I was human. I could not remain a lynx forever.

Did she know how hard I practiced that sweet little mew until my throat practically smoked?

I had warned her long ago not to develop feelings for Number Two.

No one knew better than I did, living beside the Empress every day, how dangerous an imperial son’s life could be.

Especially a show-off like Number Two.

The hall was overflowing with flowers and celebration. While no one was looking, I slipped away.

The feast might have been called my birthday banquet, but it was really another excuse for the Empress to maneuver among her sons and ministers.

I wandered into the garden to breathe, and someone kicked me straight into the pond.

My first thought was: Is this divine punishment for kicking Sis Zhu?

Could lynxes swim?

It no longer mattered. I could not!

The instant I hit the water, I squealed in panic. The harder I thrashed, the faster I sank.

Through the confusion, I thought I heard Zhuzhu calling me.

“Your Highness Jiaojiao? Your Highness?”

Sis Zhu, help!

She had not even spotted me. She was fighting with someone on the bank!

My whole fur coat was waterlogged and terribly heavy. What use was all this fat? Weren’t fat people supposed to float?

At last I heard Zhuzhu’s voice crack. “Xiaoshui?!”

Then she jumped in.

I watched her sink too.

Oh no. Sis Zhu could not swim either.

A moment later, someone else dove in. From his build, it had to be Number Two.

He reached the water, grabbed his wife, and tried to swim away with her.

Zhuzhu nimbly kicked him.

Number Two looked utterly baffled.

Perhaps she had been relaxing her body. Once she stopped struggling, she sank close enough to lunge toward me and seize me.

By then I had swallowed so much water that I had passed out.

When I finally woke, the first thing I heard was Zhuzhu’s earthshaking sobs.

She was pumping my stomach and trying to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a lynx.

I wanted to sit up, but one push nearly sent me unconscious again.

Number Two said from the side, “Let it go. We can raise another one.”

Zhuzhu let out a howl. “Get lost!”

Then Princess Consort He said in her tiny voice, “Second Sister-in-law, why are you pretending? I saw you kick Her Highness Jiaojiao into the water.”

Well, well.

Number Three’s wife had hidden depths.

By then, the Empress had arrived with a ring of attendants.

She calmly ordered Zhuzhu dragged away and an imperial physician brought to examine me.

Number Two protested in a panic. Zhuzhu had jumped into the water to save me, he said. She could not even swim. If she had tried to kill me, why would she risk her life rescuing me?

Princess Consort He replied, “Only because this daughter saw her! If I had not happened by, Her Highness Jiaojiao would be lying at the bottom of the pond.”

Number Two was furious. “Prince He! You may oppose me, but must you drag the women into our feud?”

That was why people said he had no brains.

Imperial brothers were supposed to pretend to love one another. You did not say the quiet part aloud.

Sure enough, Prince He answered timidly, “Second Brother, why would you say such a thing? I have always respected and loved you.”

I finally recovered enough to twitch one leg.

The Empress saw it immediately. “Everyone, move!”

She came to me and, in front of the entire crowd, asked, “Jiaojiao, who harmed you?”

Everyone stared in disbelief.

Number Three whispered, “Imperial Mother, she-she is only a lynx. Besides, Jiahe saw it herself. It was Second Sister-in-law…”

I struggled upright.

Then I went berserk.

“Rrrow! Rrrow! Rrrow!”

I charged Princess Consort He and bit her leg.

Chaos erupted.

She screamed and tried to kick me.

She missed. I latched onto her leg instead.

I did not linger. After biting her twice, I ran back and hugged Sis Zhu.

Zhuzhu sobbed even harder. “Xiaoshui, you’re alive?”

“I’m not that easy to kill. I only swallowed a little water.”

Though perhaps she could loosen her grip before she squeezed me to death.

Princess Consort He was still shrieking because I had drawn blood.

Then the Empress stepped in front of her. At the sight of that dark expression, she fell silent at once.

Prince He and his wife had played their roles extremely well.

The Empress had scolded him many times for being timid and cowardly, but she had never truly objected to him and had gradually entrusted him with important duties.

If not for his sudden decision to murder one adorable little lynx, they might have fooled everyone indefinitely.

Princess Consort He had never imagined a lynx could testify for herself.

The Empress did not touch the terrified princess consort. Instead, she gave Number Three one loving slap across the face right there.

Then she stripped him of every office and sent him home under confinement.

That night, the Empress did not sleep even at midnight.

Imperial physicians filed in and out of the bedchamber to examine me.

Hu Yao, her most trusted official, appeared and quietly reported her findings.

At the end, Her Majesty laughed coldly.

“A barking dog does not bite. My third son has played his part well.”

Only then did I learn that Number Three had made countless secret moves against Number Two.

Ah, Sis Zhu. She must have sensed something. That was why she watched Number Three so intently at the banquet.

The Empress instructed Hu Yao, “Send an imperial physician to Prince Yong’s residence tomorrow morning. Once his princess consort is well, have her enter the palace to pay respects.”

Hu Yao acknowledged the order.

After a moment’s thought, the Empress added, “Transfer my second son back to the Ministry of War.”

I raised my head from the bed and looked at her.

I understood her troubles too.

The dynasty suffered ceaseless turmoil within and threats without. Without a powerful sovereign, the realm would weaken.

The Empress appeared stern and cold, but she had never complained that her children were troublesome.

She seemed perfectly aware that balancing her sons was one of the burdens she had to bear as ruler.

I felt ashamed.

I was always thinking about the hardships of being a lynx, always wanting Zhuzhu to rescue me or worrying that she had lost her mind over a man.

But who in this world truly lived free of care?