It was probably from coughing that Li Wuyu had become even weaker. At just fifteen years old, she looked extremely pitiable, but she still managed a smile, "I’ve been examined and taken two doses of medicine. My room even smells of it—didn’t my master notice?"
"What did the doctor say about when you’ll recover?" An Jing asked again.
"The doctor said I should be well after taking the medicine for two or three days," Li Wuyu answered truthfully.
An Jing said, "Then in a couple of days, your master and I will come to see you again."
Li Wuyu, touched, said, "I appreciate my master and master’s concern." After a pause, she added, "Master, once I’m well, I must start my journey home. My father sent a letter recently, and if I don’t return soon, he is going to send someone to forcefully take me back."
"Your father has only you as a daughter, and you’ve been away for months; can you blame him for worrying? Naturally, he hopes for your early return."
"But if I go back, then me and my baby..." Li Wuyu was downcast.
"Fate brings people together over thousands of miles, and yet it can also keep them apart when they’re face-to-face," An Jing could only offer such consolation.
"Fate brings people together over thousands of miles, and yet it can also keep them apart when they’re face-to-face..." Li Wuyu murmured the phrase three times before she said to An Jing, "What master said is true."
Without much conversation, as Li Wuyu needed to rest, An Jing and Xiao Changyi left Li Wuyu’s house and rode back home.
Not long after they returned home, Meng Zhuqing arrived.
After paying her respects to Xiao Changyi and An Jing, Meng Zhuqing said, "The Emperor has a message for you, my lord."
An Jing, surprised, said, "No letter?" Usually messages from the Emperor and the Crown Prince would be written in letters for them to read.
Meng Zhuqing said, "None." She paused, "The Emperor said he is very angry and does not wish to write letters to my lord anymore. He wrote so many letters, and yet my lord still does not take him seriously, daring to have the government granary opened—presumably outrageous."
An Jing: "..." These childish words, are they really from the current Emperor? Isn’t the current Emperor over fifty years of age?
Xiao Changyi’s expression did not change. He picked up his tea, took his time drinking a sip, then slowly said, "Tell him, for his birthday, we will be going to the capital to see him."
Meng Zhuqing immediately said, "The Emperor wishes for the same. The Emperor said if my lord and lady could visit him in the capital once, he would not be angry anymore."
After Meng Zhuqing left, An Jing asked Xiao Changyi, "Could it be that you’ve met an impostor rather than the real Emperor?" No Emperor could be this childish. All those letters they had received before never gave the impression of such childlike behavior from the Emperor.
Xiao Changyi disdainfully said, "He is just a big kid."
An Jing: ...Wouldn’t others be beheaded for saying such a thing?
"Are you really sure you know the true Emperor of Xiyun Kingdom?" An Jing, still incredulous, asked again.
Xiao Changyi pulled her to sit on his lap, nudged her gently with his forehead for a while, and then said, "Absolutely certain."
An Jing hugged his neck, her eyes smiling, "As long as it’s true, it’s fine. Otherwise, I’d really be worried not enough heads would roll about."
Xiao Changyi’s cool lips curved slightly, he affectionately rubbed his forehead against hers before kissing her lips, and then, with a solemn expression, he said, "He is an enlightened monarch."
An Jing said, "I can see that. Letting you get away with so much without ever punishing you—I’ve noticed."
Of course, her husband was only unruly, but he never did anything truly bad.
After thinking for a moment, An Jing added, "His birthday is in September. Let’s set off for the capital in August so we can enjoy the journey there." It would be like a vacation.
"Hmm," Xiao Changyi had no objections.