Chapter 3

“What did you say?” Bai Xinrou walked toward them in disbelief.

“General Chu Feng was gravely wounded and has just been carried to the palace gate. He urgently needs an imperial physician, or his life may be in danger,” the eunuch said, catching his breath.

The servant hurried to add, “Madam, Second Young Master appears to have been frightened senseless. You—”

“Silence!”

Before he finished, Bai Xinrou slapped him. The blow swelled half his face red.

“Spreading rumors without thought! Have you no Chu family discipline?”

The servant covered his cheek and dropped to his knees.

“This lowly one spoke poorly and deserves death. Please hurry home, Madam. The Young Master fainted, and the master was badly frightened.”

Only then did Bai Xinrou’s expression improve.

She turned to Chu Ying, who was rushing toward her. “Ying’er…”

“Do not worry, Mother. I will handle Eldest Brother. Nothing will happen to him. If it does, I will make the entire Imperial Medical Academy follow him into the grave.”

Chu Ying clasped her hand. Relieved, Bai Xinrou patted her daughter’s shoulder with tearful eyes and turned to leave with the servant.

Then she noticed Mother and me eating with complete disregard for the commotion.

“Luo Yunjin!”

“Who? Who called me?” Mother looked around for a long time before finally turning toward Bai Xinrou with surprise. “Why are you still here? Didn’t your son faint? Why have you not hurried home? What do you want with me?”

Bai Xinrou drew a deep breath and closed her eyes before speaking again.

“My son charged into battle for the realm. Now he has collapsed outside the capital and lies between life and death in the palace. You are his elder and a general’s wife. How can you have no conscience and no concern for a young man who defended your home and country? How can you still sit here eating?”

She nearly fainted from fury before finishing.

The Minister of Revenue’s wife and several of Bai Xinrou’s usual companions immediately criticized Mother too, flattering Bai Xinrou while soothing her.

“Oh?” Mother’s lazy tone pierced straight into the heart. “Are you certain the man carried into the palace is your son, Chu Feng? Was he not sent to the frontier by imperial command? Have I remembered wrongly? Returning to the capital without an edict would be desertion before the enemy—a capital crime.”

Bai Xinrou’s eyes widened. She seized the eunuch by his collar.

“Did you see clearly? Is the man truly my son?”

“There can be no mistake. The officer commanding the city gate grew up with General Chu Feng. He was the first to recognize him.”

Bai Xinrou trembled and fainted.

Chu Ying rushed to support her and ordered a matron to summon a physician. The banquet dissolved in chaos.

As I left the imperial garden, I felt a stare fixed upon my back. I turned and met the hatred in Chu Ying’s eyes.

Mother and I reached home in the early afternoon. I assumed Father and Yun Mo had eaten and gone to rest. Instead, both sat upright in the main hall beside a table packed with steaming dishes, unmistakably Father’s cooking.

“I asked Mo’er to estimate when you would return,” Father said with a smile. “He was exactly right. I had just placed the last dish on the table.”

He took Mother with one hand and me with the other and led us to our seats.

“The food at palace banquets is fit for no one. Everything is either cold or hard. How can it compare with home? You cannot have eaten enough.”

Under his concerned gaze, I touched my overfull stomach and silently accepted the chopsticks.

“Father, have you and Brother truly not eaten lunch?” I asked, seeing their untouched bowls.

“It does not matter. Your brother is a grown man. Missing one meal will not kill him.”

Yun Mo glanced at Father, and for one instant I saw speechless disbelief in his eyes. When he looked at me, his usual severity returned, and he nodded as if Father’s words were perfectly correct.

I lowered my head and began eating.

My brother was eight years older and had supervised my childhood studies. Whenever I was careless, he struck my palm. His face was usually cold, and I still feared him a little.

Father treasured me so carefully that he could not bear to see me lose a hair. Mother threatened, but never truly hurt me because her heart softened first.

Only Yun Mo hit me for real.

And it truly hurt.

No matter how good Father’s dishes were, I swallowed barely a dozen bites. Mother did about the same. She set down her chopsticks and looked regretfully at the crowded table.

“If I had known, I would not have eaten so much merely to anger Bai Xinrou.”

Father laughed.

“Then do not force yourself. Since my wife enjoys my cooking, I shall prepare not only lunch, but all three meals every day.”

His teasing made Mother blush. Then she noticed her children watching, adopted a stern face, and pinched him beneath the table before changing the subject.

“Mo’er, Qing’er and I witnessed two excellent jokes at the banquet. One Chu son was wounded and the other became a fool—exactly like the recent rumors about you and your father. Did you arrange it?”

I looked at him too.

“Those two decorative pillows are not worth my effort.” Yun Mo spoke as if discussing ants, and his chopsticks did not pause.

Our curiosity eventually forced him to set them down.

“In the capital, Chu Feng spent every night in pleasure houses. He forgot the little skill he learned when young. How could he possess genuine ability on a battlefield? An arrow merely grazed his shoulder, yet he wailed that he was dying and insisted on returning to the capital. He turned a light wound into a grave one. Blame the family that spoiled him until he became capable of deserting before the enemy.”

“As for Chu Jie, he is so timid that he cannot watch a chicken being slaughtered. Yet he demanded my position at the Court of Judicial Review. To gain prestige and humiliate me, he rushed to investigate the ghost-murder case. I expected him to be frightened, but not truly driven senseless. He provided you with an extra spectacle for nothing.”

“I know nothing about the rumors in the capital. Ask Father.”

He resumed eating at his leisure.

Mother and I turned together. Father covered his mouth and coughed.

“I was distressed over Qing’er’s humiliation. At the same time, news came from the frontier that useless Chu Feng had fled toward the capital overnight. So I spread false reports here. I wanted the Chu family to enjoy a few proud days before falling from the height. The landing would hurt.”

Father looked satisfied, but Mother slammed down her chopsticks.

“If Chu Feng was already fleeing, we only needed to wait and laugh. Why did you curse yourself and Mo’er? Do you think I enjoyed hearing people say every day that my husband was dying and my son had gone mad?”

“Do not be angry, my wife. That was not my intention. I failed to consider your feelings.”

Father hurried to embrace her, but she shoved him away. When he failed to soothe her, he appealed to me with a pitiful look.

I could not ignore him and coaxed Mother back into her seat. Father immediately drew close.

“Listen to my explanation. Disgracing the Chu family was only one purpose. More important, I wished to separate friend from enemy.”

“Everyone heard that our family’s influence was finished while the Chu family rose. Those with fickle loyalties could not remain still. With my wife’s exquisite judgment, you must have identified everyone who kicked us while we were down at today’s banquet.”

Mother’s expression improved slightly.

“It was all your husband’s fault,” Father continued carefully. “I forgot the taboo against such words. If your anger remains, strike me. I promise not to make a sound.”

Mother lowered her head and did not answer.

Father seized her hand and slapped his own face with it. Alarmed, she tried to pull away, but her palm still landed lightly against his cheek.

“What are you doing? The children are here!”

“Then wait until we return to the bedchamber. My wife may punish me however she wishes.”

The shameless heat in his eyes made even my face warm.

“Have you no dignity?” Mother withdrew her hand and stamped hard on his foot. Yet her color had improved, and her anger appeared gone.

Father started to sit beside her. Mother slapped the table.

“I am questioning Mo’er. How can I see him with you blocking the way?”

Father stood meekly aside like a young wife waiting for permission.

“Mo’er, you always loved investigating cases. You worked hard for your position as Deputy Minister. Now that it has been taken, what will you do?”

“Do not worry, Mother. I have somewhere to go.”

His confidence ended her questions. He always planned ahead; the cunning of the other three of us combined could not equal his.

Mother turned to Father.

“And you? Are you truly not returning to the border? I want you home with us, but you protected those frontier people for more than ten years and worried about them whenever you returned. Now Chu Feng has openly deserted. Will the border not fall into disorder? Are you not concerned?”

Her own words irritated her.

“I want you to take responsibility, yet I do not. The thought of you defending Qin Bai’s realm makes me furious. But if you stay away and disaster strikes, I fear you will regret it and carry a knot in your heart.”

“My wife need not worry.” Father smiled and held her hand. Then he turned, saw my frown, and stroked my head. “Qing’er need not worry either. Someone is already guarding the frontier for me.”

He smoothed his beard, the corners of his eyes creasing with satisfaction.

“Who?” Mother asked.

“Qin Yi, heir to the Prince of Zhenbei.”

“Him?” Her surprise quickly became relief. “If he is there, then you need not return. That is good.”

Qin Yi. The name sounded familiar, but after searching my memory without success, I abandoned it.

“Mother, if you did not know Chu Feng was wounded and returning without permission, why were you so certain when you confronted Bai Xinrou?”

I had assumed Mother pried the information from Father the previous night.

“Your brother never speaks without certainty. More importantly, if Bai Xinrou stands before me, then even when I have no confidence, I will never surrender the advantage. She will not suppress me in this lifetime. Not a chance.”

Mother sneered, then suddenly stood.

“Yes, yes. Heaven truly has eyes. I must buy offerings and worship properly tonight.”

She strode out with her usual decisiveness. Father followed, only to be driven back at the door.

“Isn’t your old illness supposedly acting up? Do you want someone to see you and accuse you of deceiving the emperor?”

“I can disguise—”

“Silence. I will count to three. If you are still before my eyes, you may not enter my bedchamber for a month.”

Father vanished before she finished.

After Mother left, silence filled the courtyard. I felt someone studying the back of my head and turned.

“Brother?”

Yun Mo stared at me.

“The heir to the Prince of Zhenbei,” he repeated.

I looked at him in confusion. Something flashed through his eyes.

“Never mind. Go back to your room and play.”

I wanted to shout into his ear that I had already come of age.