chapter 5

Dawn was already paling the sky by the time we returned.

The instant Pengpeng stepped through the door, she began to cry.

I tugged at her sleeve. “You still have a medical record to write.”

All emotion vanished from her face in sheer terror.

At last, she admitted, “I have no idea what is wrong with the noble consort.”

I found that amusing. Was it not obvious?

“What are you going to do, then?”

Resolve hardened her gaze. “Make something up.”

I had no answer to that.

After crumpling more sheets of paper than I could count, she invented a diagnosis of madness.

Morning came.

When the grand court assembly ended, Li You came in person.

Lady Pingyuan had watched over Noble Consort Song all night. She gave him her report.

“She woke near the end of the mao hour. Her mind was clear, and she ate and drank a little before falling asleep again.”

Li You nodded but said nothing.

Lady Pingyuan turned to us. “Physician, discuss your findings with the imperial doctors.”

Pengpeng had drafted her speech the night before and rehearsed it thoroughly. Even so, cold sweat beaded across her skin.

I gave her a small push. “Go on.”

Drawing a deep breath, she handed over the medical record she had fabricated.

The sharp-faced director of the Imperial Medical Bureau glanced at it. “Madness?”

Pengpeng forced herself to defend the diagnosis. “The afflicted may become wild or witless. They may sing or laugh, grieve or weep, rejoice or rage…”

The director nodded. “So that is the answer!”

Another physician chimed in. “What an illuminating diagnosis!”

Pengpeng stared at them.

She turned to me, bewildered. I silently gave her a thumbs-up.

At last, Lady Pingyuan smiled. “Who would have thought such a miracle physician truly existed among the common people? Your Majesty may set your mind at ease.”

“Wait a few days,” Li You said. “When her condition improves further, pay a visit to the Song residence.”

“It would be better to invite Madam Song into the palace to see her daughter herself.”

“Do as you see fit.”

Lady Pingyuan urged Li You to spend more time with Noble Consort Song.

In doing so, she mentioned the late empress.

“Pengpeng would have wanted you to treat the noble consort well.”

At those words, I glanced at Dongye Pengpeng.

Her eyes were lowered. I could not tell what she was thinking.

Li You answered with a few evasive words and hurried away.

Lady Pingyuan only sighed.

That night, Pengpeng tossed and turned again.

I deliberately brought up the subject. “I heard the late empress was also surnamed Dongye. It is an uncommon name. Did you know her?”

She flinched. “How could I? How could someone like me have known an empress?”

“Wasn’t she born among the common people too?”

For once, Pengpeng could not think of a lie.

“I thought you had come to the palace in search of family,” I said. “I was hoping to live in luxury on your good fortune.”

She shrank toward the inside of the bed, plainly avoiding the subject.

I kept edging closer until she could stand it no longer and whipped around.

“Living in luxury may still be possible.”

I propped myself on one elbow. “Oh?”

Humans always change the subject when a conversation strays somewhere they do not want to go.

Pengpeng said she had a plan. If I did exactly as she told me, I would never want for food or clothing again.

That caught my interest. “What plan?”

“Lady Pingyuan. She is a very good woman…”

She told me to win Lady Pingyuan’s sympathy.

She fed me details about Lingchuan City and invented an identity for me, promising that Lady Pingyuan would be moved by my story.

“Tell her you are a daughter of the Dongye clan’s second branch. You were abducted by human traffickers as a child and only recently learned your true origins. You entered the palace seeking refuge with Empress Dongye…”

“Oh.”

“Remember it well. Your future comfort depends on this.”

“Will it really work?”

Pengpeng lay back down. “It will. Just do exactly as I say.”

“And if I leave, what will you do alone?”

She yawned. “You say that as if you have ever been much help. If I settle your future, I will have one less thing to worry about.”

She fell asleep.

I was the one who stayed awake all night, chin in hand, considering how these things might fit together.