Late autumn, early winter, the morning light was bright.
Sunlight spilled onto his brows and eyes, clean and crisp.
“Zhu Zi’an,” she asked in a low voice, “did you send people out all night?”
“Not really,” he answered with a smile, “wrote a few letters, met with a few people.”
“But,” she bit her lip, “I can’t get everyone involved in this…this isn’t a matter of the martial world.”
Before Zhu Zi’an could reply, Bai Ying knocked her on the head: “Xiaoman, how can you say that? We’re all in this together. Over the years whenever you helped us, and now we should help you too.”
“But…” Jiang Kui said softly.
“We’re friends,” Bai Ying interrupted her.
“There’s a saying, you know,” she pondered for a moment, “‘stab oneself in the ribs for a friend’?”
Jiang Kui was stunned: “I know of it. But I can’t quite imagine what that looks like.”
Bai Ying laughed brightly, “It looks just like this.”
Just as Jiang Kui wanted to say more, Elder Yuan with his white beard strode over, cupping his fists deeply to her: “On the Gang Leader’s order, this old man is willing to brave fire and water.”
The young girl by his side piped up: “Because big sister Jiang once saved me.”
Catching Zhu Zi’an’s glance, she amended in a small voice: “Young Master Zhu once saved me.”
Iron Master leaning against the tree didn’t even lift his eyelids, saying lightly: “Young Master Zhu did me a favor once.”
Ah Rong by the side said placidly: “I’m in it for the money.”
“In short, everyone has their own reasons for coming together for the same thing,” Zhu Zi’an smiled at Jiang Kui.
“Alright, you can’t refuse,” he yawned, patting her head, “I have things to take care of. You’re best at fighting, you make the arrangements.”
He turned and walked towards the front yard, closing the door behind him and promptly falling asleep.
In the deep autumn, nightfall came especially early.
Rosy sunset light spilled out from between the window cracks, flowing onto the face of the room’s occupant.
His long lashes trembled lightly as he gradually woke from his sleep, his eyes meeting Imperial Physician Shen sitting beside him in official robes.
“Imperial Physician Shen,” he said softly.
“The medicine is on the table,” Imperial Physician Shen said mildly.
Xie Wuyan coughed lightly for a while, slowly sitting up and reaching to take the medicine bowl by the bedside table.
His fingers had just touched the bowl without lifting it up when Shen suddenly stopped him.
He froze for a second, hearing anger in Shen’s voice: “The bowl is hot.”
Shen said sternly: “Your Highness clearly has lost sense of temperature. Now that this symptom has appeared, why didn’t Lu report it to me?”
“I told him not to,” Xie Wuyan answered lowly, “My condition has been improving recently.”
“If you feel your condition is improving, that is not a good sign,” Shen coldly snorted, “Your Highness, I applied acupuncture on you earlier…your current physical condition is worse than I expected.”
“How much longer do I have?” Xie Wuyan asked softly.
“About one year left,” Shen heaved a heavy sigh, “…originally there would have been at least a year and a half.”
“That’s enough,” Xie Wuyan closed his eyes for a second, “the plans Ruohang and I have make is also about one year left.”
“Not enough!” Shen said coldly, “Healing your illness is my medical duty.”
He spoke slowly: “These past days I have tried some new prescriptions. Since you are here, don’t leave these next few days. Stay and nurture yourself. I will watch you take your medicine morning and night, apply acupuncture morning and evening. When you eat meals and when you sleep, everything must follow medical orders.”
Xie Wuyan answered very obediently: “I’ll listen to everything Imperial Physician says.”
Shen seemed distrustful, coldly saying: “Your Highness, don’t try Minister Ling’s tricks on me.”
Xie Wuyan laughed softly: “I really will stay here these next few days.”
He lowered his head, gazing at the rosy light spilling between his fingers, “Such nostalgia…I haven’t stayed here for many years already.”
Shen took a look at this young patient. His lowered eyes were tranquil, an unusual lack of smiles on his face, letting the sunset light spill cleanly over his brows and eyes, casting both light and shadows.
“Drink the medicine after a cup of tea.”
Shen heaved a long sigh, leaving those parting words as his grey-green official robes disappeared from the doorway.
The room’s occupant smiled silently to himself, sitting quietly in the rosy light for a while. After a cup of tea’s worth of time had passed, he got up, drank down the medicine in one go, tidied himself up simply, put on an overcoat, and walked into the backyard.
Jiang Kui had discussed the initial rescue plan with Yuan and the others, and was currently in the backyard watching Little Chen practice swords.
This young boy was born with a frail body, relying daily on the ginseng and cordyceps bought with Ah Rong’s earnings to take care of himself. His usual hobby was making medicine with Imperial Physician Shen, and only practiced swords as a way of strengthening his body.
Ah Rong was cooking in the back kitchen, Elder Yuan handling Beggar Sect affairs, while young Miss Leng had nothing to do and brought over a wooden sword to accompany Little Chen in practicing. The two children were exchanging moves blow for blow under the white plum tree in the yard, making ding ding dang dang sounds.
Little Chen lost his grip when thrusting his sword out, and Miss Leng knocked the wooden sword flying away with her sword.
He hurried to pick up the sword, only to see a slender hand wrapped in undyed cloth gently catch it. Long, graceful fingers clasped the handle and casually twirled a sword flower.
“Young Master Zhu,” the young boy asked, “you finished your business and came back?”
“Mm,” Zhu Zi’an smiled, “Little Chen, let me teach you how to properly hold a sword so you won’t lose your grip again.”
Jiang Kui glanced sideways at Zhu Zi’an. She had never seen his swordsmanship before, but since he carried a sword he must consider himself something of a swordsman. She was quite curious what sword style he used.
He took the boy’s hand, placing it lightly on the sword hilt, and hand over hand taught him. His bearing was earnest and serious as he lectured with lowered head, his lowered lashes long and dark. That slender figure under the white plum tree was like snow-covered pine.
Zhu Zi’an did not reveal the sword style he knew, only teaching Little Chen the fundamentals of gripping the sword. The way he taught the boy to hold the sword seemed a bit special, as if different than commonly seen stances for drawing a sword. Jiang Kui thought it very unfamiliar, yet also faintly recognizable.
“Alright, keep practicing,” Zhu Zi’an said with a smile after he finished teaching.
He lightly sheathed the wooden sword, turning the hilt in his fingers and flipping the sword sharply inwards. He handed the sword back to the boy, patted his shoulder, then walked over to Jiang Kui leaning against the tree to talk.
“How goes the planning for the prison breakout?” he asked.
“We have an initial plan outlined,” Jiang Kui said, then frowned slightly, “I was thinking earlier, this edict coming down so suddenly, timed right before the winter solstice…seems whoever is behind this is quite anxious, determined to crush the General’s Estate.”
The winter solstice was the Great Amnesty Day. After the solstice as the yang energy rose and yin energy fell, the great punishments could no longer be carried out. Therefore, if the execution was not completed before the solstice, it would be postponed until the next spring.
Zhu Zi’an mused: “That instead shows that as long as we can break them out, there will be room to mitigate things afterwards.”
The two discussed the matter further. As it grew darker, Zhu Zi’an suddenly said: “Jiang Xiaoman, let me take you to pick a room.”
“Pick a room for what?”
“We won’t return to the bookstore, and will stay here for a few days instead,” Zhu Zi’an smiled, “I really shouldn’t keep troubling Teacher Qinghe, he must be quite disturbed.”
He led Jiang Kui to the front yard, going from room to room looking. This square courtyard was decently sized, only housing Ah Rong’s family and Imperial Physician Shen’s, so there were still a few empty rooms. These rooms were all clean and tidy despite being unoccupied for years, just with a thin layer of dust.
Jiang Kui gradually noticed Zhu Zi’an’s excessive familiarity with the courtyard.
“I lived here before,” Zhu Zi’an said without prompting, frankly explaining, “you must have heard the Changhe Lane rumors about Imperial Physician Shen? About how he spent vast sums to buy this estate, so much that he set up an herbal stand in the lane for three days to earn money back?”
Jiang Kui nodded. He laughed: “Those rumors were all fake. Around ten years ago, I was this estate’s original owner.”
“…So Ah Rong’s family were your former tenants?” Jiang Kui was quite surprised, but also felt it made sense, “No wonder Little Chen is so polite to you while Ah Rong calls you ‘Young Master Zhu’ so familiarly.”
“The white plum tree in the backyard was planted by me,” Zhu Zi’an said with lowered eyes smiling faintly, “ten years have gone by and the tree has grown faster than this person.”
He led Jiang Kui into a back room, lightly knocking on the small black lacquered door and said while turning around: “Come see? I used to live here before.”
The room was neat and tidy, furnished only with a writing desk, a wooden bed, an empty antique shelf, everything arranged quite similar to his little upstairs room in the East Street alley. The room had few items since it had been empty for years and was only cleaned up today.
“The window by the bed faces west. At dusk you can see the rosy sunset glow,” Zhu Zi’an gestured at the half-open casement window. “Sitting on that bed you can watch the shifting clouds, see the sun rise and the sun set. Once that glow starts spilling in through the window cracks, that means the day has ended.”
He closed his eyes with a distant look. “I used to sit there, waiting for sunset, waiting for a long, long time.”
“Why were you waiting for the sunset?”
“Whenever I felt unhappy, I would wait for the sunset,” he said softly. “The glow is so beautiful, yet far too short.”
Hearing the emotion in his words, Jiang Kui looked up towards his face. In that wavering candlelight his features were tranquil to the point of desolation, a rare lack of smiles lending him a sense of stillness, like compacted snow or jade.
She thought for a moment, then tiptoed, reaching to pat his head, “Zhu Zi’an, tomorrow I’ll wait with you for the sunset, alright?”
“What?” He didn’t react for a second.
“I’ll accompany you,” she lifted her face to smile at him. “That way you won’t feel unhappy anymore.”
He seemed stunned for a while. Crimson candle flames flowed over her face, lighting up her smiling eyes and prettily raised brow tips, the brightness in her pupils glittering like blossoming fireworks, kindling his eyes.
“Alright,” he also smiled.
“Then I’ll take the room across from you,” she pointed at the opposite room, “closer to you, more convenient if anything comes up that we need to discuss.”
Just then Little Chen called from outside: “Young Master Zhu, Young Hero Jiang, dinner is ready!”
Dinner was made by Ah Rong with Little Chen’s help. He first called for Jiang Kui and Zhu Zi’an, then called for Imperial Physician Shen and Lu Eleven before finally shouting for Miss Leng and Elder Yuan to come eat.
Without palace etiquette, people in the common streets ate dinner by squeezing together around one wooden table, each with their own set of chopsticks and white porcelain bowl, seated across from steaming fish soup and a few small dishes.
Jiang Kui sat very close to Zhu Zi’an, close enough to smell his clear and cool scent. He lifted food carefully with his chopsticks, trying not to bump into her, yet their hands still accidentally brushed now and then, making her heart skip a beat.
With so many people today the dinner was quite lively. Little Chen took out a jug of hidden liquor that Miss Leng immediately asked for a huge bowl full of.
Jiang Kui also drank some liquor. When she turned to look at Zhu Zi’an beside her, she noticed Imperial Physician Shen’s icy gaze falling on him, even making him lower his head and withdraw his hand.
“What did you do to anger him?” Jiang Kui whispered to him, “From the first day I met him I keenly felt this person hard to get along with.”
“I deeply share that sentiment,” Zhu Zi’an whispered back, lowering his head to drink soup.
After eating their fill and some casual chat, the topic circled back to tomorrow’s prison breakout plan.
After some discussion the group decided they needed to send someone to the High Court dungeons ahead of time to notify the General Estate’s imprisoned members, so when the execution day arrived their actions wouldn’t catch them unprepared and cost them the plan.
The best person to accomplish this was naturally Jiang Kui.
“The High Court dungeons are currently guarded by the Divine Tiger Guard,” Jiang Kui pondered, “even with my martial arts I can’t just come and go freely.”
“Looks like…” Zhu Zi’an said leaning on his chin, “you’ll have to go find Xie Kang.”
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