Scarlet Dandelions

by Fynn Chen

  Miying was taken aback, not at the fact that Yanyan almost walloped her, but at the fact that she had gone stargazing. “You went out stargazing with Princess Yexuan?”

  Wanwan immediately felt uneasy. She had not intended for the conversation to go this way. “Well… yes…”

  Miying shared a sneaky look with Yanyan, and the two elder girls giggled.

  “What?!” Wanwan asked crossly.

  “Nothing, sister. Anyway, back to my earlier question, why have you come to visit?” Yanyan asked again.

  Wanwan made sure that the doors to the room was tightly shut, and that no one was near their vicinity before she spoke.

  “Sister, let me see your injury again.”

  Grumbling a little, Yanyan reopened her tunic to show Wanwan her bandaged abdomen. Wanwan nodded. It was low and near her sister’s womb, which was good. Just then, according to her timings, the tea-serving maid appeared with the hot tea and desserts that she had asked for earlier. Wanwan gave her a charming smile and discussed with her sister about something else instead. The palace maid’s eyes shifted only for a fraction of a second when Wanwan had revealed part of the contents of her father Khan’s letter, insignificant to be of political consequence but worthy enough to be reported to the Empress. Politely, the tea-serving maid asked if there were any other things which they required. To which, Wanwan replied a no, as with Yanyan and Miying, and detected the eagerness in the palace maid’s eyes to report to her master. Wanwan sighed, the previous palace maid the Empress had planted at Yanyan’s quarter was a much more skilled spy than this current one.

  “Why did you want to see my injury?” Yanyan asked later when the palace maid was gone from her room.

  Wanwan went over to her sister’s door, and pressed her ears against them. After confirming that there were no stray listeners, she returned to them and smiled again, this time round, there was slyness behind them.

  “Sister, is there a possibility that you could have injured your womb from this injury? And possibly… become infertile?” Wanwan asked pointedly.

  Yanyan’s mouth fell open in confusion and her brows furrowed. However, Miying seemed to have understood Wanwan’s plots immediately. Wanwan had read in one novel from Yexuan’s collection about a female protagonist being ousted from her in-law family after she was discovered to be infertile from an injury to her womb when the female protagonist had been younger. After cross examining medical journals, there were indeed medical records on such abdominal traumas, be it from a blunt or sharp weapon.

  “Princess Wanwan, you cannot be thinking of deceiving the royal family, can you?” Miying said cautiously.

  Trying her best to not marvel at Miying’s insights, Wanwan shrugged. “It is not deceiving if they believe in the possibility of that as well. Besides, even if my sister gets married to Prince Zhongxian but produce no heirs then the likelihood of them believing in this condition will increase significantly.”

  As if just realising what her younger sister and Miying had been discussing, Yanyan interjected, “I think that is actually a really good idea. When did my sister suddenly become so intelligent?”

  Miying, still worrying about the pair of royal sisters, voiced her concerns again, “Princess Yanyan and Princess Wanwan, please think through this very carefully. It would be a very dangerous undertaking with potentially disastrous political consequences.”

  Wanwan then gave a naughty grin to Miying, “thinking is your strength, Adviser Miying. You know how to formulate a plan, how to execute it, and how to calculate its consequences. Help us solidify this plan. Don’t you want my sister to return to Bo’er?”

  With an extremely perturbed look, Miying considered for a while before acquiescing to this plot. Midway through the discussion of their plans, Miying stood up to check and recheck movements in Yanyan’s quarters and courtyard out of her military habit. Fortunately, she found no such disturbances. Wanwan made a careless comment about the tea-serving girl’s eavesdropping tendencies and was met with a smile from Miying. It turned out that Miying had known who the spy in Yanyan’s quarters was on the day she arrived in this palace, shocking Yanyan, and shocking Wanwan even more.

  “You did not tell me even though you knew that Yuxiang is a spy for the Empress. She is so new and so meek, I could not have imagined,” Yanyan said with a look of betrayal on her face.

  Miying sighed as she gave her reasons, “that is because I was afraid you would be too obvious and would act unnaturally. But now that Wanwan has let the information slip out of her, I guess… we will have to hone your acting skills a little, Yanyan.”

  The look of betrayal on Yanyan’s face grew, and she turned to Wanwan later, “how did you find out?”

  “Careful observations,” Wanwan said proudly and was met with a disgusted expression from Yanyan.

  Miying reminded them to not steer away from the topic at hand and they continued to discuss in more detail about the plan. Which was why, Wanwan had stayed in her sister’s quarters for a longer time than expected. While she was on the way back to her own quarters, Wanwan found Yexuan to be waiting outside for her, pacing the perimeters of the water lily pond by their quarters.

  Wanwan furrowed her brows in an instant. Her voiced boomed, “it’s late, Princess Yexuan, you should not be out here and wondering about.”

  Taking slow, sure strides towards Wanwan, Yexuan smiled as if in taunt. Stopping just steps away from Wanwan, Yexuan crouched to dip her hands into the dark waters of the pond, stirring it and causing nearby lily pads to ripple. Normally, this would have been a sight to bring a smile onto Wanwan’s face. However, not this time. Wanwan felt her frustration simmering at Yexuan’s careless attitude towards lurking dangers.

  “Princess Yexuan…” Wanwan said exasperatedly as she crouched beside Yexuan and touched her cool wrist.

  “Worried about the assassination attempts? Don’t I have you by my side? Wanwan, you need to loosen up, aren’t you the carefree, wildling princess?” Yexuan said in a hushed yet playful tone as she flicked water onto Wanwan’s hand.

  Wanwan pressed her lips together. “Come into my room.”

  Yexuan chuckled but followed obediently. Once out of the maids and guards’ ear shots, Wanwan had lunged forward and grabbed both of Yexuan’s hands holding them above her head. Yexuan’s squeal of shock was muffled by Wanwan’s hand covering her mouth.

  “Look,” Wanwan started off irritably as she released the courtly princess, “if anyone chooses to slice open your throat, it would all be too easy. You are too defenceless and you were waiting outside with too little guards for your own protection.”

  “I merely wanted your company, you made it sound like I was seeking death,” Yexuan argued.

  “Then you could have sent a messenger for me,” Wanwan said.

  “I prefer to see you personally. Anyway, it would have been too troublesome, I want to stay in your room tonight.”

  “Why?” Wanwan asked then her eyes narrowed when she saw the sweet smile on Yexuan’s face. “For the luminous pearl,” Wanwan answered her own question.

  It was only in the morning that Yexuan had last seen the pearl and Wanwan could not believe that she was already yearning to see it again.

  The sweet smile on Yexuan’s face grew so wide to a point that it looked slightly venomous.

  “Go get the pearl, you know where I have hidden it,” Wanwan said as she collapsed her body onto the bed.

  Wanwan was utterly exhausted from her discussion with Miying and her elder sister. Yexuan joined her on the bed by her side soon after, setting the box in between them and clasping the small pearl reverently in her tiny hands. Wanwan smiled at the dazed expression on Yexuan’s face, the courtly princess had been utterly in love with that little pearl since two years ago and Wanwan found that really adorable.

  “Isn’t the Dragon throne adorned by a similar night luminous pearl? Don’t you get to see it during court sessions?”

  Yexuan nodded, “I don’t get to see it that
well because it is far away. And my father Emperor is on the throne during court sessions. As per customs, unless we are asked to speak, we are supposed to keep our heads down and not allowed to look directly at him.”

  Wanwan sighed at the long list of customs followed by the Pei. There was none of such back in Bo’er. Whoever had something valid to contribute, could just speak their mind during their official meetings.

  “The Emperor should reward you with a similar pearl after the success of your proposal,” Wanwan said casually.

  Yexuan shook her head and looked at Wanwan with her smiling eyes. “I don’t need one since you already have one that I can admire.”

  Wanwan chuckled. “Why trouble yourself by coming over.”

  “It’s not a big trouble anyway, our quarters are so near each other’s. Besides… I could spend the night discussing about other important things with you.”

  Yexuan’s tone had a serious tinge to it that piqued Wanwan’s interests.

  “Important things?”

  Replacing the pearl back into the wooden box carefully, Yexuan’s lips were pressed into a hard line as though she seemed to contemplate on how to put her thoughts to words. Wanwan sat herself up and placed her hand lightly on Yexuan’s thigh.

  “Yexuan, just speak your mind.”

  Biting her lower lip, Yexuan began.

  “Well… you know… the relief effort that I mentioned in the morning. Time is of essence and we need to dispatch our first wave of help to those who have been affected by the floods. I will be setting out with the first batch of troops the day after tomorrow. Do you want to… come with me?”

  “Is that even a question? Aren’t I supposed to go anywhere you go?” Wanwan asked in incredulousness.

  Yexuan gave a semi-roll of her eyes and put her hand on top of Wanwan’s. “Princess Wanwan, might I remind you that you might be a companion to me, but you are still an esteemed guest of the Pei court and a Bo’er princess with her rights to freedom. Besides… this trip is so impromptu, Princess Yanyan is still injured, and your royal brothers are here, I thought you might want to stay in the palace.”

  The usual lopsided smile found its way into Wanwan’s face. “Right… I forgot about all those.”

  Yexuan looked crestfallen for a moment but Wanwan wiped that look off the courtly princess’s face quickly. “Of course, I haven’t forgotten. I have already prepared for myself to depart with you any time when you came back from that court meeting and told me that your proposal has been approved of by the Emperor. Which was why… I decided to visit my sister today. About my royal brothers… I could meet them tomorrow before we set off the next day.”

  Yexuan looked touched and Wanwan thought she saw tears swirling in Yexuan’s orbs.

  Clearing her throat, Wanwan clarified, “it is because I want to look good as your companion. Besides, I don’t have any need to spend more time with my brothers. They do nothing but insult me all day anyway, better that I do not spend too much time with them. Don’t be too emotional, Princess Yexuan.”

  Yexuan had turned her head away before she replied, “of course, I know you are doing this so that you could be a good companion, and our countries will not go to war, Princess Wanwan.”

  Wanwan laughed as she took Yexuan’s tiny hand in her calloused one. “Right. So, I will be going wherever you go. For now, can we not go anywhere and just sleep, I am so tired. Miying and my elder sister had tortured me so greatly with all their incessant exhortations. My ears have become so sore.”

  Yexuan finally smiled and stroked Wanwan’s earlobes. “Thank you, Princess Wanwan. It must have been hard on you today. Yes, let us sleep early tonight.”

  Wanwan had fallen asleep the moment she closed her eyes. The wildling princess’s sleeping face was so at peace that it made Yexuan feel equally calm as well. Yexuan had never explicitly told Wanwan, but if not for the influence of her iron-like steadiness, Yexuan could never have mustered up the courage to behave the way she did during court sessions.

  Yexuan, continued to smile to herself and muttered, “you are so beautiful, Wanwan.”

  16 A Story Untold

  For two full days, Wanwan and Yexuan had busied themselves with the preparation for the relief effort. Admittedly, two days was not nearly enough as they pored through texts and calculated the numbers in their plans. With unparalleled attention to detail, Yexuan would scrutinise each and every figure and run through the solutions in her head. This side of Yexuan had captivated Wanwan beyond bounds and the wildling princess vowed to keep up with Yexuan’s well-honed mind. Much more work was required to be done along the way upon establishing their campsite at the disaster-stricken towns. Even as they raced against time, the princesses worked with such efficiency that awed the senior ministers.

  They had packed lightly, for this was no affair for leisure. They had made their promises to deliver results and deliver they would, for the betterment of the civilians, and for the glory of the crown.

  The people seeing them off included Wanwan’s royal brothers, Prince Zhenxun and Prince Zhenyin. They were now more than a head taller than Wanwan and boast of putting on significant bulk to their chest and limbs. It made Wanwan excited to think that two of her youngest brothers would soon be off to join her father Khan in his glorious warring campaign.

  Once again, her royal brothers had been quick to tease Wanwan before she set off. Like all other years, they had commented about how Wanwan had stopped growing taller and that infuriated the Bo’er princess enough to punch their muscled abdomen. Wanwan knew herself that she seemed to have reached terminal growth and was countless of times frustrated by that fact because she had once prided herself to be one of the tallest amongst the Bo’er children. Now, she was even shorter than Yexuan by half an inch.

  Nevertheless, Prince Zhenyin and Zhenxun still showered her with brotherly affection by accompanying her the entire time as they made their way across the massive stone bridge, leading towards the North Eastern gate. Prince Zhenyin had even helped his sister up Scarlet even though Wanwan was fully capable of mounting her steed by herself.

  “We will tell the Great Khan that his youngest and most precious child has been doing good deeds,” Prince Zhenxun teased as Wanwan rode off with scowl on her face.

  It took the relief troop nine days and a half to reach the affected area. Under Prince Zhongxian and Princess Yexuan’s joint commands, the troops had set up the tents swiftly. Wanwan had gotten off Scarlet and did the groundwork with their men. Time passed quickly and she enjoyed every single moment of it. She enjoyed it when a family came up to her and thanked her. She enjoyed it when she saw tears of joy when a young mother whose house was entirely made uninhabitable by the floods had climbed into the shelter with her children. She enjoyed it when Yexuan came over to her and wiped the sweat off her brows with a handkerchief. It was hard work, but they relished in it.

  Countless of times, when Yexuan had gotten herself too involved in manual labour and broken out in excessive sweat, Wanwan would reprimand her and make her take a rest. Even though Yexuan’s body condition had improved considerably over the past two years, Wanwan would not take the risk causing it to deteriorate.

  When night came, the troop began distributing food, which was just buns and sweet potatoes. The troop and the royalties ate the same thing as the civilians. Yexuan had almost wanted to skip hers and save it for the civilians but Wanwan had forced her to take her dinner.

  Both Wanwan and Yexuan were utterly spent from the day’s work. With her forehead pressed up against Wanwan’s shoulder, Yexuan had fallen soundly asleep, whilst Wanwan had her other arm crossed over her own body, gripping tightly onto Yexuan’s arm. The wildling princess made sure her body remained alert even as they slept in preparation of any attacks that might come for them in the night.

  The next day, their reinforcements had expanded as they were joined by the military men, Prince Zhongxiu and Prince Zhongtai. Things were slightly harder to organise initially as the manpower sw
elled so suddenly but once the four of them had learned the ropes of commanding the men, their work had progressed much more smoothly over the next few days. More tents were set up, and more and better food had arrived for the people. Before long, they had moved on to the next phase of the proposal which was to start rebuilding the damaged homes.

  While working on reconstructing the village chief’s hut, Wanwan had inadvertently struck up a conversation with her elder sister’s betrothed, Prince Zhongxian. Wanwan rarely had interactions with Prince Zhongxian, except when they had somehow crossed paths with each other at Yanyan’s quarters. The only other things that helped Wanwan’s construct the character profile of Prince Zhongxian were accounts told by Princess Yexuan and the two other princes. Regardless, Wanwan had a rather decent impression of Prince Zhongxian as a prince.

  “The weather seems to be in our favour since we have arrived. I am thankful. How are you doing these few days, Princess Zhenwan? And how is Yexuan doing?”

  “Yea, Princess Yexuan commented the same. She added, it is as if the heavens are urging us to hasten our work and return a normal life to these citizens. Princess Yexuan and I are doing great. Prince Zhongxian, how about you?”

  The prince had a good-natured smile on his face. “Not so great, I have been anticipating the arrival of the rebel forces, and I cannot forget the night your sister and I were attacked in the palace, resulting in Yanyan’s injury. But I will be well enough once your sister has recovered and when we are back in the palace. Thank you for asking me in return.”

  Wanwan nodded and tried for a smile to acknowledge the prince’s concerns for her sister. She had not doubted the prince’s sincere feelings for her sister but Wanwan already had her mind set on returning Yanyan to Bo’er. Any excess pity for this prince would only confuse her and not do any good to either her sister or the prince. Stowing away the feelings of pity for the prince, Wanwan asked instead.

  “Why are you always in support of Princess Yexuan’s proposals? Princess Yexuan told me a lot of times that you were always in favour of her opinions in court.”