Chapter 9.1

It was past the hour of Chen when the husband and wife boarded the carriage back to the Su family estate.

(TL: 7:00–9:00 AM)

At the mere thought of seeing her brother and mother again, Su Jiao’s heart swelled with joy, and the moment they passed through the palace gates, she leaned out to look at the world outside.

The carriage was making its way through the bustling market district. The moment she lifted the curtain, a torrent of noise and clamor flooded in. Xie Yan, who had been resting with his eyes closed, was jolted awake by the sudden din and opened his eyes with a look of displeasure.

“Close it.”

Su Jiao was startled by the abrupt voice. She glanced back at his bleary eyes and felt somewhat at a loss.

The previous evening, when she had returned to the front hall, she had caught sight of Xie Yan limping out with a quilt bundled in his arms.

“What are you doing?”

Xie Yan did not slow his steps, and when he spoke, his voice was a little hoarse.

“I’m going to sleep in the rear hall.”

The bed in the rear hall was covered in dust and hadn’t been tidied in the slightest — and he intended to sleep there with his injured leg?

“Why would you go sleep in the rear hall for no reason? The wound on your leg hasn’t even…”

Su Jiao hadn’t finished speaking when Xie Yan walked out of the front hall without so much as looking back.

Su Jiao was left puzzled.

Could it be that he was afraid she’d roll off the bed and crush him to death again?

She had slept quite soundly alone on the bed in the front hall. Only she couldn’t understand why, today, this man looked as though he hadn’t slept a wink all night — radiating a “keep your distance” air from every pore, with the dark circles beneath his eyes looking especially heavy…

“You…”

“We’re here — the Su estate.”

Chang Lin’s voice cut off Su Jiao’s words. Her gaze snapped away from Xie Yan in an instant, and she stepped down from the carriage in high spirits.

“Mother!”

The Su family had received word ahead of time, and Father Su had the entire household standing at the gate to welcome them. The moment he heard his daughter’s voice, Mother Su hadn’t even stepped forward to greet her before a flash of blue leaped down from the carriage and, in the blink of an eye, burrowed into her arms.

“Jiao Jiao.”

The impact of Su Jiao’s rush knocked Mother Su back a step, yet she was quick enough to steady her daughter and keep her from tumbling.

“Jiao Jiao, what sort of behavior is this? Come out of your mother’s arms at once.”

Father Su had been standing by with a jovial smile, but the moment he saw her conduct, his face fell — he found it embarrassing.

Su Jiao paid her father no mind whatsoever. She pulled back from her mother’s embrace and raised her head — her eyes had already turned slightly red.

The gentle woman cupping her face was exactly as she remembered — not the one lying beneath a cold headstone in that later year, the one who would never answer no matter how hoarse Su Jiao had screamed herself calling out for her mother.

Su Jiao gripped her mother’s hand tightly, and for a moment her throat was so knotted she could not speak.

“Mother…”

“This subject greets His Highness the Third Prince.”

Xie Yan was helped down from the carriage by Chang Lin. He cast a brief sidelong glance at Su Jiao’s reddened eyes, then paid the effusively welcoming Father Su no attention whatsoever and turned to walk into the courtyard.

Father Su’s face darkened at being so publicly slighted, yet he had no choice but to follow with a smile.

“Has tea been prepared yet?”

“The Third Prince has had a long journey — I do hope my humble daughter has not caused you any trouble during her days at the palace.”

Father Su hovered at Xie Yan’s side with fawning pleasantries, but Xie Yan remained steadfastly unresponsive. Su Jiao’s attention was entirely fixed on her mother, and watching her father prattle on endlessly, she turned and whispered in her mother’s ear.

“Mother, let’s go to the back courtyard.”

Meanwhile, Father Su had talked himself dry without a single response from Xie Yan. His face flushed red as he lifted his teacup, hiding his awkwardness behind a sip of tea — and then he looked up to see the mother and daughter making for the exit.

“Jiao Jiao, where do you think you’re going?”

Father Su’s tone was distinctly unhappy.

She could see perfectly well that he was being humiliated and couldn’t even be bothered to say a word to smooth things over.

“This daughter wishes to take a stroll with Mother. It has been some days since I was last home — I’ve been terribly homesick.”

Even as she said the words, Su Jiao’s feet didn’t pause for a moment. She had not an ounce of goodwill toward this father of hers — a man who had always been fond of selling his daughter for advancement, and who in her past life had abandoned her and defected to the enemy.

“Come back here — the Third Prince is still seated! Where are your manners!”

The moment her father’s words fell, Xie Yan also looked up.

“Go ahead.”

Father Su sputtered. Su Jiao promptly pulled her mother out of the room.

The moment they stepped into the back courtyard, before her mother could even say a word, Su Jiao turned and flung herself into her arms.

“Mother, I’ve missed you so much.”

Her mother, caught completely off guard yet again, was tackled into an embrace. She stroked Su Jiao’s hair with tender affection.

“Only three or five days away and you miss your mother this much — you’ve truly grown up.”

Su Jiao held onto her without a word.

For her mother, it had indeed been only three or five days. But she herself had gone three or five years without being held like this.

“How have these days in the palace been? I can feel even holding you that you’ve grown thinner.”

Her mother looked at her hollow cheeks with aching concern. She had never approved of her daughter marrying into that place, but the imperial decree had come with such sudden force, and Father Su had refused to speak a word of objection.

She had watched helplessly as her daughter was married into the deep palace, and her heart had been cut with grief for days on end. She had been startled awake from nightmares in the dead of night.

She feared Su Jiao was being ill-treated. She feared her daughter wasn’t eating enough and wasn’t faring well.

“I heard that Yongning Hall is a bleak and miserable place, and you’ve always been such a finicky eater — have you been able to manage there?

“Spring is still cold. I don’t know if the clothes I packed for you are enough. And even though you know medicine, please don’t let yourself catch a chill.

“Do you still have money? I wasn’t sure whether you’d be able to use it in the palace, but let me send more with you this time — getting out of the palace is no easy thing.

“Jiao Jiao… Mother is sorry.”

Her mother rambled on and on, her loving gaze never leaving Su Jiao the entire time — and before she could even finish, tears streamed down her face.

Su Jiao answered each thing one by one, and when she heard that last line, her own eyes suddenly went red as well.

She knew her mother had always harbored guilt over being unable to stop the marriage. In her past life, her mother had never been in good health to begin with, and from the day Su Jiao was wed, the sorrow and anxiety had only worsened — her health had deteriorated steadily, and she had later developed angina, passing away on a stretch of gray, rain-soaked days.

“I’m fine. Life in the palace isn’t so terrible… His Highness has also been very kind to me.”

Her mother’s guilt stemmed from nothing more than fear that she was suffering — Su Jiao didn’t want her to worry any further, so she picked out only the things that were bearable to hear and shared those instead.

“Mother doesn’t need to worry about me all the time. It’s you, rather, who ought to take good care of yourself.”

Su Jiao paused, then reached out and gently took her mother’s wrist.

“Let me take Mother’s pulse.”

Her mother had died far too early in her past life. From the time her brother had written to her about the angina to the moment of her passing, barely two months had elapsed — by her reckoning, it was only about half a year from now.

Having made it out of the palace on this rare occasion, Su Jiao was determined to leave nothing to chance. She wanted to look after her mother properly.

After pressing her fingers quietly to her mother’s wrist for a long moment, the furrow in Su Jiao’s brow gradually eased.

By her past life, her medical skill after five years had become quite advanced. Right now, her mother’s pulse was steady and calm, with no symptoms of angina whatsoever.

The tightly-wound string in her heart finally loosened. Su Jiao smiled and wiped her mother’s tears.

“This daughter’s life is not so hard now. The Emperor showed leniency once, and then a second and third time — and later I’ll be able to come home and see you often.

“Please don’t cry, Mother. One glance tells me this ailment of yours comes from weeping — if you cry any more I’ll be the one hurting.”

Her mother laughed through her tears.

“You take one look and you know my illness comes from crying?”

A gleam of smugness flickered across Su Jiao’s eyes.

“But of course — this daughter’s medical skills are excellent. If Mother ever tires of living at the Su estate, I’ll take you away and we’ll set up our own household. We could even open a medicine shop to support ourselves.”

“What nonsense you talk.”

Her mother tapped her lightly on the forehead in gentle reproach.

“You are a prince’s consort — what a notion, supporting yourself.”

Su Jiao smiled and didn’t argue the point. She followed up by asking whether there was anywhere her mother had been feeling unwell of late, then casually steered the conversation toward lighter topics.

The two of them talked for quite some time, until midday drew near and a servant appeared from outside.

“The Master calls the Madam and the Prince’s Consort to the front hall for the midday meal.”

The food at Yongning Hall was dreadful — every day either thin gruel and watery dishes or yesterday’s leftovers. Having grown accustomed to a comfortable life in her past existence, she had suffered no small amount over the meals these past few days.

Now that she was finally home, Su Jiao pulled her mother along toward the hall.

“Mother, I want crystal shrimp dumplings, steamed sweet cream cakes, and spicy crab soup!”

“Very well — Mother will have them prepared.”

The family sat down together and ate their midday meal in a manner that appeared, on the surface at least, perfectly harmonious.

Su Jiao, long deprived of proper food, ate with unbridled enthusiasm, staying close to her mother throughout and having dish after dish placed on her plate.

Even Xie Yan, unusually, ate a little more than his habit.