As the Emperor, Jiang Wu had no shortage of beautiful companions. Yin Wuzhi had heard of palace maids sneaking into bed, but this was the first time he had witnessed it himself.
And the one sneaking in was none other than King Xiang, who had just been beaten a few days ago.
The cold wind howled as the two figures stepped out from Jiang Wu’s favorite corridor.
King Xiang’s face was dark as he walked, until he heard, “To the front hall.”
Being caught sneaking into bed was already embarrassing enough. King Xiang didn’t want to humiliate himself further, frustration boiling inside him. “Right here.”
As he was about to step forward again, Yin Wuzhi grabbed him: “His Majesty has ordered not to disturb the snow in the rear courtyard. Let’s not upset him by ruining it.”
The snow here was indeed thicker than elsewhere, and much more natural, as if no one had ever set foot on it. King Xiang raised his eyebrows and said, “You think His Majesty is nurturing the snow.”
It sounded rather absurd, but Yin Wuzhi replied, “Exactly.”
“So what.” King Xiang brushed off his hand and stepped right into the snow. “Not only would my elder brother never be as childish and ridiculous as you say, but even if he had such an idea, he would never stop me from touching it.”
Yin Wuzhi looked at his foot, and a barely perceptible twitch appeared between his eyebrows.
Jiang Rui stared at him and said, “You have no idea how close I am with my elder brother, nor do you know how much he dotes on me. When I lived and ate with my brother, you were still playing with mud in Nanjiang.”
Yin Wuzhi replied coldly, “Get out. Go to the front hall.”
“Is it His Majesty nurturing the snow, or are you the one doing it?” King Xiang lifted his foot, scattering the snow in all directions. Noticing Yin Wuzhi’s increasingly unpleasant expression, he kicked even harder, full of provocation. “Heartbroken, are you? What, have you read too many storybooks and now want to raise a snow child? Hmm? Hmm? Nurturing snow, how laughable. How old are you, still nurturing snow? If there’s something wrong with your head, you’d better see a doctor…”
A sudden punch hit him square in the face.
The courtyard was left in disarray, snow scattered everywhere.
Jiang Wu laid in a recliner, listening to Qi Hanmiao’s helpless voice, “Last night, for some reason, the shizi and King Xiang had a fight here, making a mess of everything. They’re both grown men, but they still act like children, even getting the matter reported to Empress Dowager Wen… I remember His Majesty ordered that no one should touch the snow in this courtyard, so it’s been left undisturbed. But now, should we have someone come clean it up?”
Jiang Wu quietly listened, his expression calm as if he hadn’t taken any of it to heart.
From the first snowfall, no one had swept the snow in the courtyard, so it had accumulated in a thicker layer than elsewhere.
Jiang Wu particularly liked the edge of the snow beneath the corridor, watching it melt under the sun during the day, only to be covered with a fresh layer by night, becoming smooth and lovely again by morning.
Jiang Wu was indeed nurturing the snow.
He appreciated the unrefined, natural beauty of snow as it fell. But there were too many people in the palace, and it wasn’t possible for everyone to avoid walking on it, so the snow had to be swept to the sides.
He didn’t like the path created by sweeping. The brooms stained with mud would leave streaks on the piled snow at the sides, making it look dirty.
But people needed that cleared path.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…” Qi Hanmiao said, “Shall I find someone to clean it up?”
“Mm.” At this point, the snow had to be cleared. His little courtyard now looked like two dogs had been fighting in it, with footprints and snow rolled everywhere, all in a chaotic mess.
But aside from him, a wandering soul, no one cared about such things.
Soon, people from Taiji Hall arrived. Eunuchs and palace maids with brooms and buckets started shoveling snow in the courtyard.
The sound of the shovel scraping against the stone was harsh, some dirt was also scooped up and dumped into the buckets, turning the pristine white snow ugly.
“Wait!” A breathless voice called out, but Jiang Wu remained still, maintaining his previous posture, ignoring it.
“You, go bring the snow from outside in. Just the snow.”
Jiang Wu lazily closed his eyes, gradually feeling a bit muddled.
He didn’t understand why he had been dragged into being human. There was nothing worth being happy about, and nothing worth holding onto.
“Be gentle, we need loose snow. Scatter it from within,” Yin Wuzhi said. “How can you be this clumsy? Let me do it myself.”
Qi Hanmiao called Jiang Wu several times. Seeing that he didn’t move, as if lost in thought again, he had no choice but to go persuade Yin Wuzhi, “Your Highness, what’s the point of all this? It will snow again.”
Yin Wuzhi glanced back at Jiang Wu and said, “He’s not happy.”
Qi Hanmiao also looked at the emperor and laughed, “Your Highness is overthinking. His Majesty is always like this.”
“No, he’s not,” Yin Wuzhi said. “Before, he was just indifferent. Now, he’s unhappy.”
… What’s the difference?
Qi Hanmiao didn’t understand, but following the shizi was always the safe choice. After all, if something went wrong, he wouldn’t be the one punished.
The young man’s fingers were white, his knuckles slender like bamboo. As they curled and stretched, loose snowflakes fell between them, evenly scattering across the ground layer by layer.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, wake up.” Jiang Wu lazily returned to awareness as Qi Hanmiao called him, just in time to witness the scene.
It was already dusk. Yin Wuzhi, with a group of palace maids, had spent half the day manually scattering snow, finally restoring some semblance of natural beauty to the courtyard.
But since the shoveled snow wasn’t as fine as that of nature, there were still many uneven patches visible at a glance.
Yin Wuzhi was trying to repair the edge beneath the eaves.
But the eaves blocked the snow from falling straight down, making it difficult to fix.
“Yin Wuzhi.”
“Wait a moment.”
“Come here.”
“Wait.”
“Come here.”
Yin Wuzhi had no choice but to throw down the small silver bucket of snow in his hands and walk over to him.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Jiang Wu looked at him.
In the cold weather, he was sweating profusely, his hands were red from the cold, and there were still traces of the fight on his face.
Qi Hanmiao sighed inwardly, realizing it was a thankless effort. His Majesty had seen it all—what would he care about a little snow? The shizi, being young, still had far too naive ideas.
“Go fetch the medicine.”
“Yes,” Qi Hanmiao replied, bringing the medicine as instructed. After fetching it, he asked, “Your Majesty, this medicine is for…”
Before he could finish, he realized and opened the lid, placing it beside Jiang Wu.
Jiang Wu continued to look at Yin Wuzhi and said, “Take my hand and apply the medicine.”
Yin Wuzhi: “?”
Qi Hanmiao immediately said, “Shizi, why are you still standing there? Quickly thank His Majesty.”
“Oh, thank you, Your Majesty,” Yin Wuzhi finally reacted, instinctively picking up his hand.
After handling snow for so long, his hand was ice-cold. As soon as Jiang Wu’s hand was lifted, he said, “Hand warmer.”
The eunuch quickly handed it over, and Jiang Wu said to Yin Wuzhi, “Take it.”
Yin Wuzhi’s mouth twitched, then pressed into a reserved line. He took the hand warmer and heard Jiang Wu say, “Give it to me.”
“…,” ultimately, it was a misunderstanding again. Yin Wuzhi handed the warm hand furnace to him.
Jiang Wu quietly held it, and then said, “It’s for you.”
Qi Hanmiao understood, “Your Highness, quickly thank him. His Majesty wants to personally give you the hand warmer.”
Yin Wuzhi: “…”
Helplessly, he took the hand warmer back from Jiang Wu, holding it in his hands, then couldn’t help but laugh, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your gracious favor.”
Jiang Wu’s gaze never left his face.
In a previous life, Yin Wuzhi must have been a ghost; otherwise, how would he understand what a ghost thinks?
… I really want to kill him.
If Yin Wuzhi were also a wandering soul, they would… no, Yin Wuzhi was different. He would probably go on to his next life.
Jiang Wu slowly pondered, thinking sluggishly. He liked being a ghost, but Yin Wuzhi might not. There weren’t many in this world like him.
It would be better to let him live well; history needed him.
Yin Wuzhi lightly coughed, his dark lashes fluttering. “Your Majesty, why have you been looking at me?”
“Want to.”
“…Thank you, Your Majesty.” He felt that if he didn’t say something, Qi Hanmiao would soon start urging, ‘Quickly thank His Majesty, he’s thinking about you.’
He squatted beside Jiang Wu, silently holding the hand warmer, looking for something to talk about. “Although the courtyard doesn’t look good now, after another snowfall, it will be as if nothing ever happened.”
“Mmm.” Jiang Wu asked, “Are your hands warm yet?”
Yin Wuzhi used his inner strength to quickly warm his hands. “Your Majesty, would you like to try?”
“Mmm.”
Yin Wuzhi raised his hand and gently placed it on the back of Jiang Wu’s hand.
Behind the screen, Chen Ziyan silently watched this scene and, after a long while, quietly left.
Yin Wuzhi’s hands were finally warm. Jiang Wu once again had him pick up his own hand.
“Like this,” Yin Wuzhi reminded, “I’m going to apply the medicine to Your Majesty’s hand now.”
“Okay.” Anyway, Yin Wuzhi would wash it off later.
“To be honest, it’s a bit hard for me to see clearly.” Yin Wuzhi lifted Jiang Wu’s hand, covered in ointment, to his face and said, “Could Your Majesty help me check?”
Qi Hanmiao turned around, took two steps forward, and offered, “Your Highness, look in the mirror.”
You’re so smart. Yin Wuzhi, holding Jiang Wu’s hand, grumbled inwardly as he applied the medicine. Then Jiang Wu asked, “Why did you fight with King Xiang?”
“It wasn’t a fight, just a sparring match.”
“Which one of you is more injured?”
“About the same.” Actually, they didn’t have to get hurt, but he had acted too impulsively yesterday, catching King Xiang off guard. If he didn’t get hurt at all, it would have been hard to explain to the Empress Dowager. After explaining, he couldn’t help but emphasize, “He couldn’t beat me.”
Jiang Wu said, “You’re impressive.”
Yin Wuzhi took it as a compliment. After he applied the medicine, he cleaned Jiang Wu’s fingertips and asked, “Your Majesty, are you hungry?”
Jiang Wu wasn’t particularly interested in food and usually avoided it when possible. “I’m not hungry.”
After a brief silence, Yin Wuzhi muttered softly, “I’m a little hungry.”
Fortunately, Qi Hanmiao wasn’t only clever when it wasn’t needed. He could also be sharp when required. “I’ll go have the meal prepared immediately.”
When the meal was served, Yin Wuzhi sat beside Jiang Wu, glancing at the egg custard in front of him.
Jiang Wu was quite attached to egg custard; it was still his favorite after all this time.
“Your Majesty,” Yin Wuzhi thought of something and cautiously asked, “May I make a request?”
“Okay.”
Yin Wuzhi picked up a slice of meat with his chopsticks and placed it on a plate. “Please eat this.”
Jiang Wu: “No.”
“Just try it. I want to feed Your Majesty.” Yin Wuzhi leaned in closer, “Just one bite, okay?”
Jiang Wu’s face was expressionless.
Qi Hanmiao held his breath, waiting.
“Just one bite… I promise. Let me feed Your Majesty one bite, hmm?”
Now he was even pleading.
Jiang Wu glanced at the artificial snow outside, then at the ‘mountain of food’ in front of him, slowly furrowing his brows as if preparing himself mentally.
Yin Wuzhi brought the food closer to his mouth, “It’s not hard at all, just open your mouth, ah…”
Jiang Wu closed his eyes and mechanically opened his mouth.
And then…
“Don’t swallow.” Yin Wuzhi said, realizing his tone was too stern, so he softened it, “I mean, please chew it before swallowing.”
“… Just chew it.” It had taken so much effort to get him to take the bite. If it got stuck in his throat, the whole day’s efforts would be wasted.
Yin Wuzhi pushed back his chair and knelt. “Your Majesty, please chew it properly, alright?”
Qi Hanmiao, seeing this, knelt down as well, looking pleadingly. Following their lead, the nearby servants all knelt too.
Jiang Wu held the piece of meat in his mouth, silent for a long time.
Then, in an act of great mercy, he began to chew.
They watched their emperor with reverence. Though he chewed slowly, he did so earnestly, and for that, he deserved praise.
Wait… why had he stopped?
Everyone held their breath, noticing his drooping lashes, but then he resumed chewing.
… Phew, it turned out he was just tired. Everyone sighed in relief.
Qi Hanmiao was moved to tears, choking back sobs as he said, “Shizi, I must ask, where is your ancestral tomb located?”
Yin Wuzhi: “In Yinguo Township, on Sansheng Mountain.”
“If I get the chance, I must pay my respects.”
“…” Something about this didn’t seem quite right, but maybe it was a form of bringing honor to the family.
