Chapter 4

And she was so gentle with Ji Yunqing.

Li Yu wasn't worried.

None of the great families currently had a son of marriageable age. Who could Cui Wenying marry besides him?

Surely not Ji Yunqing, with his meager family backing?

“Yes,” he said.

“Then go and apologize, Your Highness. Girls are softhearted. They forgive easily.”

Remembering how badly he'd behaved, Li Yu feared he'd say something cruel again if he saw Yingying.

“Never mind. Later will do. We have plenty of time.

“She'll come to understand how well I treat her.”

He looked at the white jade pin and chuckled softly.

“Forget it. If her temper can't be tamed, I'll leave it alone. If I never have a peaceful day, so be it.”

The Princess held her poetry gathering beside the river.

Two rows of peach trees stood nearby.

Branches swayed, petals filled the air. It really was lovely.

Those who could ride had come on horseback.

I stared at little sparrows playing in the branches, remembering when I'd told Mother I didn't like Li Yu.

Fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, she'd curved her lips slightly.

“Yingying, for families like ours, affection matters least. Once you're a prince's consort, you'll understand your parents' intentions.”

But I wasn't that eager to become a prince's consort.

What did that change?

Affection mattered least.

I sighed softly.

Suddenly, a horse took fright. Whinnying, it charged straight at me.

Of all the rotten luck. I scrambled to get away.

But a horse was faster than a person.

It reared, a huge shadow falling over me.

“Yingying!”

Someone shoved me aside. I fell.

The horse's hoof struck Ji Yunqing hard in the abdomen.

He spat a mouthful of blood.

Everyone hurried him away for treatment. The horse's owner was terribly apologetic.

He shot the maddened horse dead on the spot.

“You've had a fright, Miss Cui.”

I shook my head, my eyes following Ji Yunqing.

How badly must that hoof have hurt?

I caught the owner's sleeve.

“Ji Yunqing is seriously injured. You should apologize to him.”

He frowned.

“But he's not from a great family. It doesn't matter. He's hardly as precious as you.”

Only after I insisted repeatedly did he agree, irritated.

“All right, all right. Once he recovers, I'll bring generous gifts and apologize in person. Satisfied?

“I don't understand you. A daughter of a great family, speaking up for someone with no backing? Aren't you afraid people will laugh?”

Being at fault and refusing to apologize was what deserved ridicule.

Li Yu, standing some distance away, relaxed when he saw Cui Wenying was unhurt.

Only after Ji Yunqing had been carried off did he inspect the frightened horse.

He discovered it had accidentally stepped on a sharp rock, panicked, and bolted.

The Crown Prince valued Ji Yunqing. He sent an imperial physician and ensured he received the best medicines.

But he remained unconscious, leaving me worried for a long time.

I couldn't eat or sleep properly.

Mother asked what was wrong. Why had I been eating so little?

I didn't dare tell her.

I simply ran to Ji Yunqing's residence several times a day to see whether he was better.

When I heard he'd awakened, I hurried to prepare some light, nourishing food and took it to him.

At the door, I heard my brother.

“When Yingying fell into the water at the Lantern Festival, you saved her. You could have taken the opportunity to propose. Why pretend to be a woman?

“You did it so quickly that even I was surprised.”

Ji Yunqing coughed twice.

“Using a rescue to force a marriage is little different from making an enemy.

“Besides, Miss Cui's life and reputation came first.”

My brother sounded exasperated at his lack of initiative.

“Don't you like Yingying? You used to save your rice cakes for her. Half the money you earned copying books went home to your father; the other half went on Yingying.

“You knew she got lost, so wherever she went for amusement, you quietly followed nearby.

“This time, you'd barely sat down after returning from flood prevention before you were thinking of buying her something. I don't know what to say to you. You may not come from a great clan, and your family may be humbler.

“But you placed third in the examinations and His Majesty appointed you personally. Why worry about your prospects?”

He sighed.

“Or do you really think you're unworthy of her?”

Without hesitation, Ji Yunqing replied, “It isn't a question of worthiness.”

To him, a willow in the imperial gardens was no different from one beside the river. People were all people.

But the world's customs were what they were. Vermilion gates married vermilion gates; bamboo cottages married bamboo cottages.

There was no need to expose Yingying to a storm of criticism over feelings never spoken aloud.

“Gossip is frightening. Enough slander can destroy a person. I can't be that selfish.

“Being able to protect her quietly from behind already makes me happy.”

He laughed softly, as though the chance to protect me were the greatest reward in the world.

Suddenly, I understood why he always seemed to arrive in time whenever something went wrong.

Those weren't coincidences.

He had been watching over me all along. That was why he could keep helping me out of danger.

Holding the food carrier, I thought for a long time.

He cared for me, and I cared for him.

But family standing lay between us. In the end, we still couldn't be together.

“A match in social standing.” The words repeated in my head.

I remembered his injured hand, the blood he'd coughed up, the sweet rice cakes, the grasshoppers...

And so much more that I couldn't name.

Five years. Only now did I realize how much he'd done for me.

I'd thought I could make my heart stone.

But people weren't grass or trees. How could we be entirely without feeling?

Before, I'd mentioned wanting to marry Ji Yunqing to my parents only once.

Now I wanted to fight for a chance.

I didn't quarrel with them or make a scene.

They had raised me. I couldn't roll about crying before them, disappointing and hurting them.

Changing their minds about this marriage wouldn't be easy.

I needed to offer enough benefit to move them.

Unfortunately, in this age, women could neither hold office nor sit the imperial examinations.

Red apricot blossoms crowned the branches. Spring was everywhere.

Outside my window, two round little sparrows nestled together.

Hidden in my dressing case were two banknotes, my private savings.

I used them to open an embroidery workshop in secret.

Xiaotao was astonished.

But she'd been with me since childhood. Of course she supported me.

In a little over two months, the workshop was bringing in a good income.

By then, the season of Minor Heat had arrived. The weather was growing hot.

I took my account book to Mother and handed it over while she was eating sweet melon.

“Mother, I don't want to marry the Sixth Prince. I can earn money. Lots and lots of silver. Even without marrying into the imperial family, I can benefit the clan.”

I knew perfectly well that money and power weren't the same.

I only wanted to gamble on one chance.

That after seeing my efforts, Mother might favor me just once.

She leafed through the accounts. After a long time, her finger tapped the table.

“Yingying, do you remember what I taught you?”

I nodded and repeated it.

“In marriages between great families, affection matters least.

“But Mother, I truly love Ji Yunqing. For him, I still want to try.”

To make those accounts look so promising, I'd worked myself off my feet for two months, determined to build the workshop into something substantial.

Mother neither agreed nor refused.

She only said she'd think about it and discuss it with Father.

My brother soon learned I'd secretly opened a workshop to prove myself.

He looked at me for a long time.

“For Ji Yunqing?”

I nodded, then shook my head.

“For him, but not entirely.”

I really did want to prove I could benefit the family without marrying a prince.

But I'd been thinking about opening a workshop for a long time.

So many women had no income after marriage. Every day, they had to hold out their hands for someone else's money. It wasn't an easy way to live.

I wanted to give them somewhere they could earn their own.

I didn't know what had got into Ji Yunqing. He kept working until he forgot food and sleep.

One achievement followed another. Still young, he'd already become a fifth-rank ministry secretary.