The only female heir apparent in the history of Great Qian, Feng Heyuan, finally returned to the palace after a year of traveling.
Though Feng Lezhen and Chen Jinan appeared calm, they had been up since before dawn. It wasn’t until noon that they finally welcomed their one and only daughter home.
“Mother Emperor! Father!” The thirteen-year-old little princess flew in like a butterfly, dashing toward her parents with a bright smile and throwing her arms around them.
Chen Jinan scolded gently, “You’re not a child anymore. Where are your manners?”
“She just got back—don’t be so strict,” Feng Lezhen said as she pulled her daughter closer and looked her over carefully. A smile touched her lips. “You’ve grown taller, and a bit rounder too. Looks like you’ve been taking good care of yourself.”
“She always knows how to take care of herself,” Chen Jinan said, smiling as well.
Feng Heyuan was overjoyed by their praise and immediately wanted to drag them along to tell all her stories. But just after the initial delight, Feng Lezhen wrinkled her nose and pushed her away. “Go bathe and change—your whole body’s covered in dust.”
“…I just didn’t want you and Father to wait too long, so I came straight here,” Feng Heyuan stuck out her tongue, feeling quite wronged that her good intentions had been rejected.
Chen Jinan spoke at the right moment: “Go freshen up. Your mother emperor had the imperial chef prepare your favorite dishes. Once you’re done, we’ll eat together.”
“Okay!” Feng Heyuan was coaxed back to happiness and cheerfully ran out.
Watching her lively and carefree figure, Chen Jinan couldn’t help but sigh. “You and I are hardly the impetuous type, so how did we raise such a bold daughter?”
“There’s nothing wrong with her being this way. I like it,” Feng Lezhen said with a smile. She herself had been like that as a child—if not for the events that had shaped her, perhaps she would’ve turned out just like Heyuan.
Thankfully, her daughter didn’t have to experience those blows and pains, nor would she ever have to wonder how much of her parents’ love was genuine.
Noticing her sudden silence, Chen Jinan knew she was recalling the past. He quietly held her hand in silent support.
Feng Lezhen noticed and let out a soft laugh. “Don’t worry. It’s all in the past.”
In raising Heyuan, she had also re-raised herself. Those past wounds had long lost their sting.
Chen Jinan smiled and changed the subject: “Let’s wait for her in the side hall. Now that she knows there’s good food, I doubt she’ll even finish washing before showing up again.”
Feng Lezhen couldn’t help but laugh.
And sure enough, Chen Jinan understood his daughter well. Barely half an hour had passed when she appeared in the side hall. The three of them sat down to a good meal together. After lunch, Chen Jinan went off to attend to his duties, while Feng Lezhen brought her daughter back to the sleeping quarters to chat.
“What’s Father doing?” Feng Heyuan still remembered to ask.
“In a few days it’s Qingming Festival. He’s busy preparing the ancestral rites,” Feng Lezhen explained, smiling as she looked at her daughter’s features, so much like her own. “Come, tell Mother Emperor all about your adventures this past year.”
Feng Heyuan immediately perked up and launched into her stories.
They were the usual tales—of a noble princess traveling in disguise, always bumping into people who didn’t recognize her and tried to cause trouble, only to be handled cleanly by her in the end. Feng Lezhen had lived through all of this herself at an even younger age, so as she listened to her daughter’s recounting, her eyes stayed soft with a smile.
“There were so many dangers along the way, but I didn’t tell you and Father because I didn’t want to worry you,” Feng Heyuan sat up straight, clearly waiting for praise.
Feng Lezhen just smiled. She didn’t mention that she’d sent nearly a hundred shadow guards to follow her, or that the Shen family’s trading network had eyes in every major city. There was never a chance of real danger. Instead, she simply praised her for handling herself so well.
Sure enough, the thirteen-year-old princess beamed with joy and snuggled close into her mother’s arms. “But there was an accident. When I passed through Wen County, I got lost in the mountains for two days and almost got eaten by a tiger!”
Feng Lezhen’s brow furrowed instantly, and she sat up straighter. “Didn’t you say you were only lost for two days and weren’t in any danger?”
“That was a lie,” the little princess said proudly. She continued, “But I was lucky. A hunter saved me. I freeloaded at his place for two days, and when the fog cleared, I went back.”
Feng Lezhen let out a breath of relief and was just about to ask more when she heard her daughter add, “Oh right, that hunter was really strange. When I went back and wanted to give him a reward, he refused no matter what—said he used to know my mother and that it was only right to save me.”
The little princess laughed. “But my mother is the Emperor of Great Qian! How could he possibly know her? Though I’ll admit, he was good-looking and skilled—not like your average commoner. But no matter how I checked, I could only find that his surname was Wen—nothing else.”
Feng Lezhen’s gaze shifted slightly, and she fell silent.
Feng Heyuan, ever clever, immediately widened her eyes. “Mother Emperor—you do know him!”
Feng Lezhen was quiet for a moment, then asked, “Besides saying he used to know me, did he say anything else?”
“Not really. Just that he kept staring at me. I even thought he was up to no good at first. But after staring for a while, he started criticizing my eyes—said they weren’t good-looking at all,” Heyuan huffed. “What’s wrong with my eyes? They look exactly like Father’s! And you always said they were pretty! If I didn’t owe him my life, and if I wasn’t hiding my identity, I’d have had him punished for disrespecting a princess!”
Feng Lezhen burst into laughter. After soothing her daughter for a bit, she asked, “I heard you also went to Yingguan?”
“Yes! I did,” Heyuan nodded excitedly. “Auntie Qi took me to the military camp. When she commanded the troops, they all responded instantly—it was so cool! Auntie Qi’s maternal family’s little sister is fun too—she’s three years younger than me, but she’s mastered all sorts of weapons. I’m so jealous… Oh, and I saw Uncle Shen in Yingguan too. It’s been over two years since I last saw him. He’s still the same—always bullying me!”
At the mention of Shen Suifeng, Feng Heyuan furrowed her brows in annoyance.
Feng Lezhen chuckled. “What did he do to tease you?”
After all, she was still a young girl—having finally found the chance to complain, she naturally wasn’t going to let it slip away easily. “He said my swordsmanship isn’t as good as Aunt Qi’s maternal family’s younger sister! What a joke. That younger girl’s been practicing martial arts since childhood, and I’m just doing flashy routines—it’s only natural that I can’t compare. But he said it several times, and in the end, I felt embarrassed, so I… so I had to say…”
“What did you say?” Feng Lezhen asked, amused.
Feng Heyuan looked a little sheepish. “I said that the daughter of a noble house shouldn’t linger near halls with overhanging eaves*—swords, spears, and sticks are dangerous things, and as a princess, I should avoid them whenever I can…”
*idiom meaning that noble children should avoid risky places.
It was such a childish excuse that she felt embarrassed even repeating it—but to her surprise, it actually worked. From that day on, Uncle Shen never teased her about it again.
“I also went to Yunming.” Feng Heyuan got up to grab a pastry, split it in two, and handed half to Feng Lezhen.
Feng Lezhen took a bite. “Did you see Uncle Qi?”
“I did! Mother Emperor always said he was handsome—I never believed it until now. But after seeing him this time, I’m completely convinced,” Feng Heyuan said earnestly. “He should be about the same age as you, right? Must be nearing forty, and he’s still that good-looking. I just don’t get how someone like that has never married.”
“How long did you stay there? Did he treat you well?” Feng Lezhen avoided answering her question.
Feng Heyuan nodded. “He spent several days showing me around. But his health isn’t great—he tends to cough whenever it gets cold. It kept raining in Yunming while I was there, so we didn’t go out much. We stayed inside playing chess and chatting. His chess skills are incredible—probably unmatched in all of Great Qian. I learned so much from him.”
“Jingqing’s chess is indeed excellent. Even I may not be a match for him,” Feng Lezhen said with a smile.
Feng Heyuan grinned. “I stayed there for almost half a month, then went to Guangfu to see Aunt Ye. Did you know she formed an all-female military unit? Aunt Ye and Aunt Qi truly are role models for women. Thanks to them, countless women now dare to join the military. Most soldiers are still men, but among commanders of a thousand or more, women actually outnumber men now. Even the Tayuan King said Great Qian has reached a point where anyone—man or woman—can be a soldier or general. We’ve surpassed other nations in strength.”
“The Tayuan King?” Feng Lezhen raised an eyebrow. “When did you go to Tayuan?”
Feng Heyuan gave a small cough and didn’t dare respond.
Feng Lezhen thought for a moment and quickly guessed, “When you went to Yingguan, you claimed to be sick from the climate and stayed indoors for half a month. That’s when you snuck off there, wasn’t it?”
“…I didn’t want to lie to you. It’s just that when I left the palace, I promised not to step beyond Great Qian’s borders. I didn’t want to break my word, so I took the next-best option,” Feng Heyuan said, sweet-talking as she clung to her mother’s arm.
Feng Lezhen was both angry and amused. “So you won’t break a promise, but you’ll lie instead? Do you know how worried your father was when he heard you were sick? He nearly traveled to Yingguan himself to see you!”
“I was wrong,” the little princess said, blinking her eyes pitifully.
“Stop acting cute,” Feng Lezhen said, expression blank.
The little princess pouted but kept looking at her with that same pitiful gaze.
Feng Lezhen couldn’t hold back in the end. She tapped her daughter’s forehead and said, “Just don’t let it happen again.”
“Okay!” The princess beamed instantly.
Watching her daughter’s ever-changing expressions, Feng Lezhen was helpless. “You’re really good at bending and adapting.”
“The Tayuan King said the same thing. He also said my temperament is exactly like Mother Emperor’s when he first met you,” the little princess said sweetly. “He even told me that you once went to Tayuan when you were young and took something of his. I didn’t believe him, but I promised to ask you if you still have it.”
“I do,” Feng Lezhen said, glancing at her. “Why? He wants it back?”
“So it does exist!” the little princess exclaimed. “He didn’t say he wanted it back—just told me to remind you to take good care of it. He said it’s the only one he has… What is it, anyway?”
“Why should I tell you?” Feng Lezhen countered.
The princess’s ey
es widened, just about to argue when Chen Jinan walked in smiling. “What are you two talking about?”
“We were just talking about my travels!” Feng Heyuan said, running to him. “Are you done with work?”
“All done. The weather’s beautiful outside. How about I take you two for a walk?” Though his words were aimed at his daughter, his gaze landed on Feng Lezhen.
Feng Lezhen smiled. “Sure. Let’s take a walk—the three of us.”
The little princess cheered, taking her mother in one hand and her father in the other, and happily trotted out the door.
It was spring, the sunlight just right, lighting up the past like dust in the breeze, sparkling in the gentle wind.
There was no better time than now.
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