Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Prince Rui’s poison could be cured?

I stared blankly.

Nanny Jin rushed in and snatched up the letter. “Is it true?”

When they confirmed the news, they wept with joy.

Only then did I understand. The prince would recover. He would not die.

It was wonderful news.

Prince Rui looked as stunned as I felt—until Nanny Jin pulled me forward.

“Your Highness, they say you coughed up that stagnant blood after eating this child’s candied hawthorn. On the first day you brought her home, we received two pieces of good news. She truly is the lucky star of this household.”

“A lucky star…”

His gaze settled on my face. His eyes glistened.

“Yes. She truly is.”

A lucky star?

I lowered my head and edged backward.

Father had called me a jinx. What if I talked too much and Prince Rui discovered the truth? He was so kind. I did not want him to hate me.

“Ah Yao, come here,” he called.

After a moment’s hesitation, I obeyed.

“Do you have somewhere to go?”

Did I?

Mother was dead, and Father did not want me. I wanted to return to Xianzhou, but it was far away. Mother had spent all our savings on the journey, and Father had given me only three copper coins.

I was too young even to make my way home.

But I had to be good. I did not want them to think I meant to cling to them.

“I can go back to Xianzhou,” I whispered.

Prince Rui saw through the lie, but he did not scold me.

“Would you like to stay here?”

“Since you arrived, I have received two pieces of good news. If you remain, perhaps I’ll soon recover completely.”

He extended his hand.

I knew the truth. The old blood had come up because he was already improving. A letter from distant lands took more than a month to reach the capital; the herb must have been found long before I arrived.

He was only making excuses so I could stay without feeling like a burden.

My tears finally fell. I grabbed his hand.

“I want to stay. I really do.”

And so I began living at Prince Rui’s estate.

He gave me the courtyard beside his, along with new clothes, shoes, and everything else I could need.

There was so much that I did not know how to repay him.

Every morning after breakfast, I heated water and carried it to his courtyard. I swept, tended the flowers, fed the fish—whatever work I could find.

Though I was small, I had learned early. In Xianzhou, Mother had to farm and earn money, so I always tried to do the chores.

Nanny Jin told me that if I took their work, the maids might be dismissed.

But there was one task they could entrust to me: making sure Prince Rui took his medicine.

The antidote herb would take time to arrive. Meanwhile, the physician prescribed an even more bitter medicine.

The prince had hated his old medicine, and the sight of the new one made him frown.

But if I carried it to him and offered a sweet afterward, he always drank it in one breath.

Suishan still acted cold. I thought my quiet nature displeased him.

Then one day, after Prince Rui set down his empty bowl, he frowned at me.

“Something is missing,” he murmured.

“A longevity lock,” Suishan blurted.

Mother had told me wealthy families gave babies such locks to wish them health and long life.

When our eyes met, Suishan looked away awkwardly.

“I’ll have one made.”

Prince Rui shook his head. “I’ll draw the design myself. In a few days, we’ll take it to the Gold Pavilion, and Ah Yao can choose some toys while we’re there.”

The next afternoon, they took me out in a carriage.

The Gold Pavilion was enormous.

Prince Rui went upstairs to discuss the lock with the proprietor, leaving Suishan to help me choose something.

I did not dare pick. The unfamiliar shop made me nervous.

Suishan chose an engraved gold bracelet and crouched to slip it onto my wrist.

Then a voice rang out behind him.

“Daddy, that bracelet is pretty. I want that one.”

I looked up and saw the little girl from the lantern festival holding Father’s hand and pointing at me.