Chapter 173 Spring Almond

Chapter 173 Spring Almond

After hearing Wu Shen's words, Jia Hongyuan's eyes flickered slightly.

He looked down and chuckled softly, "Alright, next year during the Spring Festival, let's reunite with our uncle and aunt in the capital."

Wu Shen exhaled deeply. He was a formidable general on the battlefield, and once he decided, he didn't look back.

"What do you need me to do, Your Highness?"

"First, send a secret letter to keep the Wu family army at the border in check, and then 'stay' in the capital, slipping away when necessary."

Wu Shen frowned, "They're planning a mutiny and will surely watch me closely. Slipping away won't be easy."

Jia Hongyuan covered his mouth and coughed a few times, "Cousin, are you thinking of getting married?"

"What?"

"Though it's tough to fool them, it's not impossible. Just make sure they believe you're definitely in the capital," Jia Hongyuan said casually. "I heard that on Lantern Festival night, you took the Min family's young master up the West Gate wall of Chang'an."

"..."

Jia Hongyuan chuckled, "With my uncle and aunt away, I can act as your elder and propose on your behalf."

"..." Wu Shen opened his mouth but said nothing.

Jia Hongyuan spoke to him like an elder brother, leaving no room for other emotions, so he pushed that subtle feeling aside.

"Was I wrong? Cousin, it's the first time you've been so attentive to someone. I thought you had plans."

Wu Shen pursed his lips, choosing his words carefully, "...I do intend to propose to the Min family's young master."

"But I don't want to drag him into this, nor do I want the proposal to be for ulterior motives."

A flicker of surprise crossed Jia Hongyuan's eyes; he hadn't expected Wu Shen to say that.

"If you want to marry him, and you end up married, isn't that enough?"

Wu Shen shook his head, "Your Highness, it's different."

Seeing his resolve, Jia Hongyuan didn't press further. He had other ways to cover Wu Shen's departure from the capital. Bringing up the proposal was just a thought based on the intel he'd received a few days ago, thinking it could kill two birds with one stone.

Different... Jia Hongyuan thought this phrase in his heart but didn't dwell on it and quickly dismissed it.

After finishing the wine and snacks, Wu Shen rose to leave. Before leaving, he couldn't help but ask.

"Your Highness, do you really have the true antidote?"

Jia Hongyuan shook his head, "If I really had it, I would have known who poisoned me long ago. It's just a lie."

"Then..."

Jia Hongyuan didn't hide anything from Wu Shen and explained from the beginning.

"This poison is a secret palace drug from the previous dynasty. The poisoner tested it on palace maids and concubines, and the effects and dosage were derived from that."

Jia Hongyuan laughed a few times, "You should know that the same medicine, with the same dosage, has different effects on people with different physical conditions."

Wu Shen thought of something, his breath tightening. Jia Hongyuan kept laughing, but his eyes were filled with sorrow and ruthlessness.

I was able to be born without complications and survive, albeit sickly, not because of an antidote or luck, but because my mother was strong enough. Her body, much stronger than those of ordinary palace maids and concubines, absorbed most of the poison, with only a small portion affecting me. To outsiders, it appeared that my mother's health had declined from years of accompanying my father in battle, and I was born weak and sickly.

The poisoner waited for years, anticipating the deaths of my mother and me. When that didn’t happen, they struck again during my father’s military campaign. That time, my mother lost her life, and the poison in me was exposed to everyone.

Jia Hongyuan spread his pale palm, gazing at the lines on it.

Old Physician Gu identified the poison at that time, and my father understood the truth. At that time, the enemy was in the shadows while we were in the open. To avoid tipping them off, my father wanted to eliminate Old Physician Gu. I secretly enlisted Mr. Wen to intercede on his behalf and save his life.

Later, Old Physician Gu resigned and returned to his hometown, fading from public view. In reality, he has been covertly researching an antidote for this poison on my behalf.

Jia Hongyuan retrieved a bottle of pills from a small compartment near his desk, swallowed a few, and sixteen silently offered him a cup of water to wash them down.

Old Physician Gu is exceptionally skilled in medicine, and with my full backing, he has developed a counterfeit antidote over the past twenty years. The one I gave to Prince Jin’s eldest son is this very one. Though its effectiveness still falls short of the real antidote, it suffices to deceive others for a time.

So, how is Your Highness’s health currently?

The past damage cannot be entirely undone, but the poison has largely been neutralized. My current frail appearance is partly genuine and partly a pretense.

By feigning continued severe poisoning, he could lull the mastermind into complacency and observe them exposing their flaws.

This was a secret known to only a handful of people worldwide, not even the Yuanhua Emperor was aware of the true state of the Crown Prince’s health.

Wu Shen understood that by revealing this to him, the Crown Prince truly trusted him. At the same time, he was now fully on the Crown Prince's ship, a crucial part of his plan, unable to escape even in death.

Jia Hongyuan burned with the black flame of vengeance, a fire that had been quietly burning for over a decade, consuming everything in its path, unquenchable and unstoppable.

Jia Hongyuan personally escorted Wu Shen out and said to him, "Since you are unwilling to propose marriage for yourself, I will assign you a task with a similar effect."

"What is it?"

"I am about to select a consort and marry. You will openly investigate the families of the candidates for me."

"Your Highness, what are you planning?"

"To make them think I am still trapped in the crisis of having no heir, still playing their game, completely unaware of their plans behind the scenes."

Jia Hongyuan glanced at sixteen, "Sixteen has already secretly investigated the candidates. You can ask him for the details."

...

After Gu Gu and Yang Yang reached their first month, the nursery Qiu Huanian had prepared earlier finally came into use.

The nursery was set up in the east wing, with the entire room being a warm chamber, equipped with a heated kang and soft couches for the wet nurses and uncles to rest.

The covered corridor between the east wing and the main house had been modified, tightly covered with wooden boards and thick padding to keep it warm and windproof. Moving between the two rooms no longer risked catching a cold.

Qiu Huanian and Du Yunse moved back to the main house. They could visit the nursery by passing through the covered corridor, and on good weather days, they would have the wet nurses bring the children over.

One day, Qiu Huanian woke up from his sleep to find Du Yunse had already left for the Hanlin Academy. He lazily rolled around in the soft bed, faintly hearing the sound of children laughing and playing outside.

Qiu Huanian raised his voice slightly and called for Xing Mi to come in.

"Xing Mi, send someone to see what the children are playing."

Xing Mi had Hong Fei from the courtyard go and check. By the time Qiu Huanian finished washing up, Hong Fei returned, holding a branch of apricot blossoms, half in bud and half in full bloom.

"This morning, several young masters and misses passed by the Cun Jin Courtyard and noticed the apricot blossoms had bloomed. They decided to have breakfast there and enjoy the flowers. When I went to ask, they told me to bring a branch back for the County Lord."

Qiu Huanian looked at the branch of pink and white apricot blossoms, still glistening with dew, as if he could smell the scent of spring.

After braving a long, harsh winter of biting cold and snow, the vibrant breath of spring is finally on the horizon.

Qiu Huanian instructed Hong Fei to place the apricot blossoms in a slender, sweet white porcelain vase, positioning it by the window of the cozy, sunlit chamber. The morning light filtered softly through the rice-paper window, touching the petals and branches, while a faint fragrance floated in the air.

Qiu Huanian’s spirits lifted, and he said, "When delivering lunch to Yun Se and Mr. Wen later, remember to bring them two apricot branches. We’ll gather for lunch on the second floor of the Cun Jin Courtyard, inviting everyone in the household to join us."

After Qiu Huanian gave the order, the entire household buzzed with activity.

Some went to clean the courtyard and the second floor of the library, others opened the storeroom to retrieve the finely crafted tables and chairs reserved for special occasions, the kitchen staff discussed what dishes to prepare for lunch, and servants from various courtyards laid out elegant attire for the young lords and ladies to wear for the midday gathering.

The county lord seldom showed such enthusiasm, and no one wanted to spoil the mood.

By noon, after feeding Gu Gu and Yang Yang, Qiu Huanian changed clothes and headed to the Cun Jin Courtyard. With Xing Mi at his side, when he arrived at the second floor, everyone else was already there.

"Looks like I’m the last one here," Qiu Huanian remarked.

"Not at all, we just got here ahead of you," Ye Taohong laughed.

The kitchen had already prepared the dishes, keeping them warm in the small kitchen house nestled in the courtyard. Once Qiu Huanian arrived, the dishes were swiftly laid out.

Since the gathering was celebrating the apricot blossoms in full bloom, the table featured green apricot preserves and apricot cakes, and the tea was delicately flavored with honey-steeped apricot blossoms, making it sweet and delightful. Qiu Huanian unintentionally gulped down half a cup.

The sun was shining brightly, and the midday temperature had already risen to over ten degrees Celsius. The large windows on the second floor of the library were wide open, and branches of apricot blossoms with buds eagerly stretched inside, resembling fluffy clouds and streaks of sunset.

With many people, the dishes vanished in no time, and soon everyone was nearly full. The servants cleared the dishes and laid out an array of sweet and savory snacks.

The children’s attention had already shifted away from eating. Jiu Jiu took the lead, filling a small, ornate eight-treasure food box with a bit of every snack and treat, leading the group to the courtyard to recite poems and dive into games.

Among all the children, Yuan Ruo’s poems stood out as the finest, already considered quite good. Jiu Jiu’s were decent, Cun Lan carefully crafted her rhymes, while Chun Sheng and Yun Ying grew impatient, tossing together a few lines on the fly before eagerly demanding to play a round of finger-guessing.

Qiu Huanian gazed at the children’s antics with a warm smile.

Yuan Jia approached and said, "County Lord, I’ve completed the geometry section of 'Elementary Mathematics.'"

"So quickly?"

"After our last conversation, all the confusion melted away. I couldn’t resist and worked day and night to revise it."

Yuan Jia asked, "Should these manuscripts be presented to the Emperor or handed over to Qimin Bookstore?"

Qiu Huanian thought for a moment and replied, "Let Qimin Bookstore publish it first, so that interested readers can access it as soon as possible. Then I’ll present the completed book to the Emperor."

If the manuscripts were directly presented, the Imperial Archives would likely handle the publication. However, the person in charge of mathematics at the Imperial Archives was the Second Prince, who was currently leading troops abroad. Although his position hadn’t been revoked, Qiu Huanian worried that he might deliberately delay the publication. It was better to let Qimin Bookstore handle the release first.

"I’ll carefully review the manuscripts in the next couple of days. If there are no issues, I’ll have someone deliver them to Xin Bai in Xiangping Prefecture. The manuscripts are invaluable, so we must entrust them to someone reliable."

Bao Yi and Ye Taohong overheard their conversation about delivering something to Xiangping Prefecture and volunteered, "In that case, Brother Hua, why not entrust it to us?"

"Are you returning to Xiangping Prefecture?"

Ye Taohong nodded, "That’s the plan. Wu Shen can’t leave the capital for now, and we can’t return to the border either. We received word that my father-in-law is unwell, and Bao Yi is worried and wants to go back to see him."

"...The clan leader was quite spirited just two years ago," Qiu Huanian sighed with emotion.

Many elderly people live on sheer willpower. When the third son refused to correct his mistakes, the second son drifted away, and the eldest grandson spent years studying abroad, the clan leader’s once-united family crumbled, and his will to live faded, leaving him suddenly aged and frail.

Qiu Huanian thought of the old man, who, despite his flaws, had helped his family in many ways, and shook his head.

"Alright, stay a couple more days so I can prepare. Bring some tonics and medicinal herbs for the clan leader, and take some gifts for the others as well."