“I consulted a doctor. The prince is almost recovered. From today, he will start practicing acupuncture on this wax figure until he can accurately perform the treatment. What do you think?” Wei Linxia asked. Once he was healed, she would take the wooden figure back for practice.
“You’ve already brought the item in front of me, so why ask for my opinion?” Xi Linxuan replied slowly, his voice even, yet warmth flowed through his heart.
So not everyone would deal with him just because he was a neglected prince.
“Does the prince mean to start today or another day?” Wei Linxia asked.
“You’ve already consulted the doctor, so what else is there to ask!” Xi Linxuan said.
Wei Linxia had grown accustomed to his tone and said, “So the prince agrees with the doctor’s view. Let’s start today. While the prince was ill, you memorized the prescription. Do you remember?”
“No,” Xi Linxuan denied.
“Since you remember the acupoint diagram, please follow the prescription for needling,” Wei Linxia instructed, and Xi Linxuan nodded.
Wei Linxia continued using silver needles. Xi Linxuan commented, “Shouldn’t we use jade needles today?”
“Not yet. Once you’re proficient, I’ll let you use them,” Wei Linxia replied. Silver needles were cheaper, while jade needles were made from meteorites and difficult to replace if damaged.
A frog jumped nearby, startling Wei Linxia and causing her to fall. After a moment, she exhaled, relieved, “Phew—it was just a frog.” She knelt again, carefully locating the hawthorn, and found it.
Happily picking it up and placing it in the basket, Wei Linxia’s hand accidentally touched another hand also holding hawthorn. She froze—such a large hand didn’t seem like a maidservant’s, and the sleeve was clearly a man’s garment. The ring on those fingers seemed to be…
Chapter 16
She looked up to see Xi Zhaoting bent over, facing her. At this moment, Wei Linxia was kneeling on the ground with dirt on her hands. After a brief moment of eye contact, she quickly stood up and saluted: “I didn’t know it was Your Highness. This servant has been very rude.”
“It’s nothing,” Xi Zhaoting said, bending down to pick up the small bamboo basket and handing it to her. “Take it.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” she replied, not daring to raise her head.
Xi Zhaoting walked past her, then turned back and took two hawthorns from the basket. “Give me two,” he said.
As they passed, he held the two hawthorns, twirling them like worry stones. At the mansion gate, he mounted his horse, holding the reins with one hand and rubbing the hawthorn on his robe before putting it in his mouth. After one bite, he felt his facial muscles twitch slightly.
“Ugh, how can it be so sour?” he exclaimed, throwing one away.
The eunuch following closely behind softly laughed and replied, “Your Highness, hawthorns are naturally sour.”
Xi Zhaoting held the sour hawthorn up to his eyes and remarked, “Though inedible, it’s not bad looking.” He recalled Wei Linxia’s fondness for it, despite it being just a sour hawthorn.
Wei Linxia persuaded Lady Wei and Master Wei to each eat one, keeping the rest for herself as a thoughtful gift she couldn’t waste. However, after eating three, she experienced heartburn and an uncomfortable night. She then had the idea to add sugar to make preserves and asked Yumo to prepare them. Once completed, they filled three large enamel bowls, which she chilled. The next day, they were sweet and sour. Wei Linxia shared them with her family and Yan Junzhu and even offered some to the maids for cooling off, keeping only one bowl aside for Xi Linxuan.
In the study that day, while others had cooling tea, Xi Linxuan’s desk featured hawthorns in a beautiful red porcelain lotus leaf bowl, soaked in sugar water and looking quite tempting. When Li Weiheng asked, Yan Junzhu informed him they were prepared by Miss Wei and were quite delicious.
It wasn’t anything special; it was just envy for something one didn’t have. If faced with it, they might not even eat it.
During a break, Xi Linxuan casually enjoyed some from a bowl of ice. Xi Zhaoting sat nearby, rolling his eyes at him. He thought it was ironic that Wei Linxia made preserves from something so sour but here was Xi Linxuan treating it like a delicacy. Li Weiheng observed, propping her chin, remarking, “It looks very delicious.”
“It’s just an ordinary thing; what’s so good about it?” Xi Zhaoting replied.
Today, with Master Wei summoned out of the city on business, they dismissed class early. Xi Zhaoting decided to explore freely through the streets without Wei Fengzhi, bringing only two attendants. After wandering all day, he inquired about hawthorns, and the attendant dismounted, eventually purchasing a large basket of them from a local market, delighting the fruit seller. Xi Zhaoting then instructed them to buy a basket of each fruit, which led to the need to rent a horse-drawn cart for transport.
While passing through a street, they unexpectedly encountered a midday funeral with white paper money flying everywhere. Frowning at the inauspicious scene, Xi Zhaoting dismounted to take shelter under an eaves.
Standing there, a strong medicinal soup smell wafted out. He turned his head and saw—a medical clinic. Turning back, then again, he noticed the person inserting needles into someone’s head looked remarkably like Wei Linxia. Xi Zhaoting stepped back, hidden by an opening window, carefully peering through the crack. Yes, that forced smile and stature—what Huo Kingdom man looked like this?
Lowering his voice, Xi Zhaoting called out “Wei Linxia.” Sure enough, the person inside looked up, laughing unnaturally before quickly composing herself.
Ah, Wei Linxia, you dare to show your face in public? Daring to be so intimate with a man? Hmph, that must have been from a man! I’ll tell your father to punish you by kneeling, and I’ll inform Grandmother Wang about your misdeeds.
Xi Zhaoting reconsidered—Master Wei’s family discipline is strict and involves multiple layers of restrictions. While this might be possible for a day or two, daily occurrences don’t make sense. He recalled hearing about her wooden puppet incident with that disabled prince. Could she be practicing on people here? An attendant called him, and Xi Zhaoting looked up—the funeral procession had passed, leaving scattered paper money. He mounted his horse, deciding to investigate again tomorrow.
On that side, Wei Linxia was preparing the needles, slightly nervous when someone called her name. She looked around, seeing only scattered paper money and the usual crowd, including a fruit vendor’s cart from the countryside. There were no suspicious people. Had she misheard? It was possible; many people shared the surname Wei, and Linxia was not an uncommon name.
The next day, Xi Zhaoting sent his trusted eunuch Deng Ping to investigate, ordering him to keep it quiet. When Deng Ping reported back in the evening, he noted that the acupuncturist at the clinic was a 22-year-old male from Yangliu Lane in the southern part of the city. This made Xi Zhaoting suspicious, but considering Wei Linxia’s careful nature, it made sense to him.
Later that evening, Xi Zhaoting visited his mother, finding Concubine Ren and Princess Yan there. The Queen mentioned that Lady Wei had been ill, suggesting that they have her stay in the palace to care for the princess properly. Xi Zhaoting realized he had not been mistaken; Wei Linxia had been home attending to Lady Wei’s medicine. However, Princess Yan replied, “No, the palace is too boring.”
Concubine Ren and the Queen exchanged glances before shifting their focus to Princess Yan.
Weilin Xia lightly coughed and said, “Does brother think Father can’t tell the difference between my writing and my brother’s? Hehe.” She had worked hard to imitate it, so how could Father see through her?
