Fever

A letter of repudiation? Jing Shao froze, then gave a cold laugh. "You're a man, so repudiating you wouldn't damage your reputation for chastity. But a repudiated husband is still barred from earning scholarly honors through the examinations. Even if I let you go, you could never sit for the metropolitan examination in this lifetime."

"Then what do you intend to do?" Mu Hanzhang sat up and regarded him coldly. If this man meant to keep him here to torment him, he would not simply stand there and take it.

"I can't inherit the throne, and you can't take the metropolitan examination. That makes us even," Jing Shao declared in his faintly resonant voice, utterly convinced of his own logic.

"...What?" Mu Hanzhang stared for a long moment. The icy composure on his handsome face cracked, leaving his mouth hanging half-open in a rather foolish way. He felt as though someone had seized him by the throat, hoisted him high into the air, then dropped him onto a soft cushion...

Jing Shao found his dazed expression amusing and was just reaching out to poke him when Mengxi's voice came from the outer room. "Prince, the Prince's Consort's medicine is ready."

Jing Shao frowned and told Mengxi to bring it in. Mu Hanzhang composed his expression and lowered his head without a word. Mengxi stole a glance at his face, then approached the bed with a smile.

"Prince, may this maid help the Prince's Consort take his medicine?" Holding the medicine, Mengxi looked helplessly at Jing Shao, who remained planted beside the bed.

Jing Shao took the bowl and waved Mengxi out, then turned to call outside. "Duofu!"

"Here." Duofu poked his smiling face through the gap in the door.

"Stand guard outside." Jing Shao could not help being amused by the sight. At his age, Duofu still behaved like a child.

"Yes." Naturally, Duofu understood his prince's meaning. He sent the maids off to their duties, stationed guards at the four corners of the building, and took up his own post outside the door. Only after making certain no one could overhear the people inside did he lean against a pillar and bask in the sunshine with a contented smile.

"You wouldn't let me finish." Jing Shao held the bowl and stirred the medicine with a spoon. "All that talk comes from other people. I know my own limits. Even if I married the Queen Mother of the West herself, I still couldn't sit on that throne."

"Why do you say that, Prince?" Mu Hanzhang pressed his lips together. Jing Shao sounded as though he meant to speak openly with him, and neither his manner nor his expression seemed feigned. Could he really have misunderstood?

Jing Shao placed the bowl in his hands. "I entered the army at fourteen. I've spent all these years fighting on battlefields. I know how to wage war, but I haven't the first idea how to govern a country. Look at me. Even winning over an imperial physician takes this much effort. How could I possibly contend for the throne?"

Mu Hanzhang took the bowl. So he had bribed the imperial physician right in front of him merely to "illustrate a point"?

"I understand that, but who would believe me if I said it? Take today, for instance. If I'd defended you in the palace, Father would only have thought I was a cunning schemer putting on a flawless show. Things would have become even harder for me." Jing Shao could not help sighing as he spoke. Yet if he kept acting so resentful, always fighting to come out on top, his father would still refuse to tolerate him in the end—Mu Hanzhang swallowed the inky medicine in one gulp, its bitterness seeming to reach from the root of his tongue all the way to his heart. So even princes and imperial descendants had such difficult lives. He had barely set down the bowl when a piece of candied fruit was slipped into his mouth. Looking up, he saw the other man smiling as he wiped the medicine from the corner of his mouth. Jing Shao was already extraordinarily handsome, and since he seldom smiled, he looked especially striking when he did.

Prince Cheng was said to be hot-tempered, easily angered, and sternly unsmiling. Yet since last night, this man had smiled at him many times. Mu Hanzhang sighed softly. Perhaps he ought to try trusting him. After all, there really was nothing left to gain from him.

"Prince, it isn't impossible for you to win over Imperial Physician Jiang," Mu Hanzhang said after eating the candied fruit.

"Oh?" Jing Shao looked at him with interest.

Weak and weary, Mu Hanzhang leaned back against the large bolster at the head of the bed. "You need only recruit his son into your service, lure him into making a mistake that could be treated as either serious or trivial, and wait for the old man to come begging."

"Junqing..." Jing Shao gazed at him in delighted surprise. He knew little about the connections within the Imperial Medical Bureau. He had sought out Jiang Huan because the man was famously impervious to bribery or persuasion and exceptionally tight-lipped. His only purpose in offering him benefits today had been to have him look after Junqing's health in the future. Actually winning over such a man would be a truly unexpected bonus.

He suddenly flung himself forward and sprawled across the other man's chest. "You really are a military strategist! Now I won't even have to spend money hiring advisers!" Mu Hanzhang was willing to reveal his scheming side to him. That meant he had accepted him!

"Cough, cough—Prince!" With that great lump of a man crashing down on him out of nowhere, Mu Hanzhang could barely breathe.

"Heh heh, don't sit up anymore. Lie back down. You need to sweat the fever out." At the sound of his voice, Jing Shao sprang up, bundled him under the quilt, and tucked it firmly around him. Then he lay down beside him and gathered him, quilt and all, into his arms.

Mu Hanzhang was left reeling by the flurry of activity. By the time he recovered his wits, he had been wrapped into a silkworm cocoon, with an octopus clamped around the outside to hold him in place. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. This fellow really was impatient.

With his face smothered against Jing Shao's chest, Mu Hanzhang shifted helplessly and put a little distance between them.

"Junqing, from now on I'll tell you whenever anything comes up. You have to tell me whatever's on your mind, too. That way we won't quarrel." Jing Shao reached up to untie the hair ribbon of the man in his arms and rubbed his chin against the top of his head.

"Mm," Mu Hanzhang murmured indistinctly. Bundled up so warmly, with his mind finally at ease, he was growing drowsy.

"Junqing, I really was upset on our wedding night, and I drank too much. I thought that since no one believed me, I might as well make everyone miserable." Jing Shao narrowed his eyes. That was indeed what he had thought after waking. Knowing what had happened over all those years, seizing the throne was not impossible. "But when I woke up and saw you, I changed my mind."

Mu Hanzhang said nothing, but pricked up his ears and listened closely.

With no response from the man in his arms, Jing Shao thought he had fallen asleep. He gently stroked his long hair. "I thought it would be nice to spend a lifetime with someone as wonderful as you. Whether other people believe me doesn't matter. From now on, I'll protect you properly. I won't let you suffer the slightest injustice..." He did not yet understand what he felt for the man in his arms, but he knew this was the only person willing to die with him. In this world he had been reborn into, he saw nothing but suspicion everywhere and deadly danger at every turn. This man alone was his salvation. He would hold him tight and never let go again.

His low voice was like a gentle whisper. Jing Shao was speaking to himself, unaware that the man held so tightly in his arms had quietly curved his lips into a smile.

By the time Mu Hanzhang had sweated out his fever, it was past noon. Jing Shao had already sent Duofu to the Second Prince's residence in person to give his brother an honest explanation and an apology, saying he might arrive a little late. Although the imperial family was large, its special status meant there were few people to pay respects to on the day after a wedding. In Jing Shao's case, since his relations with others had never been particularly good anyway, he had simply decided to visit his brother's household and leave it at that. Now that noon had passed, a visit was out of the question, so he changed into casual clothes and enjoyed a lovely lunch with his wife instead.

Who would have thought that, just after the dishes were cleared, Duofu would announce the arrival of the second prince and his consort? At the news, Jing Shao immediately set down his teacup and ran for the door.

"Prince!" Mu Hanzhang caught him and pulled him back. "Change your clothes before you go out."

"Oh!" Jing Shao slapped his forehead. He had forgotten his sister-in-law was here too. Greeting her dressed like this would be discourteous. He hurriedly changed. Since waking, he had not felt it so keenly while his brother remained out of sight. Now that he was about to see him so soon, he felt there was so much he wanted to say. This time, he must not go on being a fool.

"Prince, your subject will stay here." Mu Hanzhang withdrew his hand from Jing Shao's grasp.

"What's wrong?" Paying respects to his elder brother also meant bowing and serving tea, and there would even be a welcome gift. Jing Shao stopped and looked at him.

Mu Hanzhang pressed his lips together. "Prince, you did not visit the Second Prince's residence because your subject was ill. You may be brothers, but it would still be a shame to cause a misunderstanding over something so small."

"Hmm?" Utterly baffled, Jing Shao stared for a moment before understanding. Junqing feared that if his brother saw him looking well, he would think Jing Shao had deliberately stayed away from the Second Prince's residence, damaging the harmony between them. He gave a helpless smile and slipped an arm around Mu Hanzhang's waist. "Junqing, just say what you mean from now on. I'm not very quick on the uptake."

Mu Hanzhang glanced at him and said softly, "Your subject will remember. Go on, Prince." He knew Jing Shao was particularly close to this brother who shared his mother. Saying it outright might have seemed like an attempt to sow discord between them. As an outsider who had only just married into the family, he was better off watching his words.

"Will Junqing remember to speak plainly, or remember that I'm slow on the uptake?" His answer had come so quickly that Jing Shao could not resist teasing him.

"Both." Mu Hanzhang's expression remained perfectly calm.

For some inexplicable reason, Jing Shao found that unflappable look very attractive. Checking that no one nearby was watching, he stole a kiss on his cheek and darted out the door.

Watching Jing Shao's retreating figure, Mu Hanzhang slowly touched the cheek that had been kissed. The corners of his mouth could not help lifting a little.

Since the second prince had arrived unexpectedly, Jing Shao had not had time to greet him at the entrance. Duofu had therefore shown the guests straight to the tea room in the Listening-to-the-Wind Pavilion. The Listening-to-the-Wind Pavilion was where Jing Shao usually entertained guests, read, and enjoyed himself. It lay within the inner courtyard, where only close guests were ordinarily received. The front courtyards of the prince's residence formed the outer courtyard; beyond the garden stood the Listening-to-the-Wind Pavilion. Behind it, the grounds divided into the East Garden and the West Garden. Jing Shao lived in the East Garden, while the women of the household lived in the West Garden.

The tea room was furnished with considerable elegance. Its finely crafted tables, chairs, and plant stands were in the Jiangnan style. Apart from the pillars, all four sides consisted of carved wooden door panels. Enclosed in winter, it was small and cozy; with the panels removed in summer, it became a little pavilion open to breezes on every side. Seasonal flowers stood on the shelves, and slender vines wound around the beams and pillars. At this time of year, they had already begun to bud, their tender green tinged with pale yellow, brimming with life.

Seated in the place of honor in the tea room was a tall, slender man wearing the dark yellow informal robes of an imperial prince. Handsome and distinguished, he possessed a dignified authority even as he sat at ease, commanding respect without any show of anger. His features bore a strong resemblance to Jing Shao's, but with less of his deadly edge and more composure. This was Jing Shao's elder brother by the same mother, Jing Chen, the First Empress's eldest son.