Chapter 2

I put down the coarse cloth glove I was mending.

“In this palace, the strong and well-connected have the right to speak. We have no one behind us. Going won’t help.”

Despite saying that, I went to Jingsi Courtyard myself.

The eunuch, surnamed Wang, was stubborn and wouldn’t give up a thing.

I asked patiently, “Eunuch Wang, His Highness is of imperial blood. Aren’t you afraid of what people will say if you take his allowance?”

He answered with oily sarcasm.

“You jest, Lady Shen. His Highness is staying at Zhutang Courtyard. Naturally, his allowance has been transferred there.”

After arguing for ages, I obtained only a small bag of coarse grain, barely enough to keep three people fed.

On the way home, Chuntao kept wiping tears away, full of resentment.

I said no more, only told her not to let Heng hear. I didn’t want him to feel burdened.

But the truth couldn’t stay hidden.

One day, she went to scoop grain from the cupboard. Seeing the nearly empty sack, she accidentally muttered, “How will this last until spring? I’m afraid none of us will get through winter.”

Heng heard as he came out of the side chamber.

From that day, he changed.

Before dawn, while everyone else slept, he was already working.

He carried water, chopped wood, and cleared the courtyard’s deep snow. He claimed every dirty, exhausting job and refused to rest for a moment.

Seeing him chop wood in the early morning wind, I couldn’t help speaking.

“Rest a little. There’s no hurry.”

He kept chopping, his head lowered.

“I eat your grain and live in your rooms. I can’t do nothing in return.”

“No one will call you a freeloader.”

He looked up, stubborn.

“I don’t want to make trouble for you.”

I stopped trying to persuade him.

In our free hours, I taught him to recognize the courtyard’s herbs and sort those we had dried.

Bit by bit, I showed him honeysuckle and licorice, how to judge their quality, dry them, and store them without mold.

He listened intently. Clever by nature, he remembered everything after hearing it once. When I tested him, he didn’t make a single mistake.

One evening, with little wind, I sat in the courtyard sewing coarse cloth gloves for him.

The fabric was rough, my sewing ordinary, the stitches crooked. But it was the thickest material I could find. It would keep out the wind so he wouldn’t have chilblains next winter.

He crouched beside me, turning the herbs and slowly playing with the dry stems.

“In winter at Jingsi Courtyard, there was no charcoal. When I couldn’t bear the cold, I crouched beside the stove for a little warmth.”

He turned the herbs, his voice calm.

“The head eunuch said I was in the way and brought bad luck. He kicked me outside.”

He spoke without emotion, as though it had happened to someone else.

My fingers tightened around the needle. My chest felt heavy.

He was still only a half-grown child.

“Heng,” I said quietly but firmly, “this isn’t Jingsi Courtyard. Stay here without worrying. From now on, I’ll protect you.”

He stared at me for a long time. His lips moved, but no words came.

Then he lowered his head, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and murmured, “Mm.”

### Part 4

Over these days, I could feel how much he had changed.

Before, he had been guarded from head to foot, afraid someone would come hurt him at any moment.

Now, safe in my courtyard, he smiled more.

The previous afternoon, while Chuntao was sweeping, he ran out with something in his hands.

“Chuntao!”

I leaned out to look.

A sparrow, frozen to death.

Wherever he had found it, he made it a little straw nest and spent a long time crouching under the eaves, feeding it millet.

Watching him, I thought: this was how a twelve-year-old should be.

But that afternoon, someone shoved the gate open.

Xiao Yu, the Second Prince, swaggered in with two attendants.

He surveyed my shabby courtyard and sneered.

“People actually live in this place?”

Then he fixed his eyes on Heng.

“I hear you’ve clung to Lady Shen’s home and refuse to leave.”

Heng still held the broom. His fingers tightened until they went white.

Seeing his silence, Yu grew more pleased.

“Nothing to say? You’re so used to acting pitiful for everyone else, but with me you’re mute? A brat with no mother to teach him manners. A coward wherever you go.”