After the palace banquet was the family banquet.
Jiang Yuqing ate a lot at the palace banquet, so when she returned home, she ate a little less. After the meal, everyone gathered in the main hall to stay up late for the new year.
Doctor Qiu asked her what plans she had after the new year. Jiang Yuqing said she would most likely go to work at Andi Hospital again! After all, this was still her old profession.
On New Year's Day, the ministers and imperial concubines went to the palace to pay their respects.
Li Deshun secretly came to see her and said, "Thanks to you reporting the news on the evening of the 30th, we caught three remnants of the former dynasty who were trying to sneak into the palace to assassinate people. Otherwise, a big mess would have broken out.
These three people had hidden poison in their mouths. Two of them swallowed the poison and died immediately after being caught. Only one was a step slower. Our people dislocated his jaw and interrogated him overnight.
In the years leading up to the large-scale invasion of our northwestern border by the Tartars, they had bribed Hong, the imperial censor at the time, to impeach your father for corruption. They wanted to bring down Lord Guo.
His Majesty saw through their scheme to sow discord and sent Hong the imperial censor back at that time to reflect on his actions behind closed doors. Later it was discovered that he was colluding with the remnants of the former dynasty, so he was beheaded directly.
His Majesty suspected that the sudden invasion of the Tartars back then also had something to do with the remnants of the former dynasty, but no evidence had been found yet!
With the death of these three people this time, I'm afraid they will be so desperate they will not only target the imperial clan, but also the senior officials. Please ask Lord Guo to be more vigilant!"
Jiang Yuqing nodded to indicate she understood and gratefully said, "Master Li, you are too kind!" Smelling the familiar medicinal ointment scent emanating from him, Jiang Yuqing knew his knee disease had relapsed. So she imperceptibly sent over a Return to Spring healing technique.
On the way back to the Diligent Government Hall, Li Deshun walked more and more smoothly, and felt extremely comfortable in his knees without any pain at all. He thought to himself that the young miss’ medical skills were getting better and better, and the ointment she makes works better and better...
On the eighth day of the first month, the government offices opened for business. Jiang Wenyuan went to the Ministry of Revenue to start work, and Jiang Yuqing also followed Doctor Qiu back to Andi Clinic in the capital.
Returning here after so many years still had many familiar faces. They were both surprised and delighted to see her back, and ran up one by one to greet her. Jiang Yuqing also responded warmly to everyone.
Andi Hospital was already busy to begin with, and became even busier with the return of the master and disciple. It seemed Jiang Yuqing had returned to the days before she left for Sucheng, busy yet peaceful.
It was only when she woke up in the middle of the night that she realized the blood and fire from the past had not gone far away, but had turned into an eternally vivid and unforgettable nightmare.
As February began, the atmosphere in the mansion grew more nervous with each passing day, because Jiang Yuqing’s two elder brothers were taking this year’s imperial examination in March.
Whenever they were home, everyone would tread lightly for fear of disturbing their studies. Lu was even more attentive, cooking delicious food for them every day using different methods.
Even when Jiang Wenyuan returned from court every day, he would also hide away in the study, instructing his son and nephew in their learning. He would even come up with essay topics based on current events for the two children to write policy proposals on, and then point out the pros and cons based on what they wrote.
The day before entering the examination compound, Jiang Yuqing took the opportunity while taking their pulse to comb through their bodies with spiritual power and input a strand of vitality into each of them, to prevent any accidents from happening to them during the exam.
On the twelfth day of the third month, accompanied by the earnest anticipation of the whole family, Jiang Yujiang and Jiang Yuchuan entered the examination compound. Here, they would take three rounds of exams, with each round lasting three days.
On the twentieth day of the third month, the two brothers walked out of the exam compound. Although their clothes looked shriveled like salted vegetables, their spirits were still good.
The first thing after returning home was to take a bath. After bathing and eating something, they fell straight into bed and slept for two days straight, showing just how exhausted the examination compound had left them. After waking up from the long sleep, they silently recalled their exam papers and handed them to Jiang Wenyuan to review.
After carefully studying them, Jiang Wenyuan had a rough sense of the results in his mind. He smiled at the two brothers and told them not to fret so much, to relax and meet up with their old classmates and go out for a walk.
It was the 24th of March, the day of the Clear and Bright Festival (Qingming Festival).
She had planted a patch of white lilies in the garden a month ago, stimulating their growth a little every day. Today, they had all fully blossomed.
She snipped the white lilies and inserted them into a pair of specially made large flower vases, to be carried to the memorial later by servants.
The Jiang family wore plain colored clothes today, paying respects first at the ancestral hall before heading to the Great Xia Heroes Memorial carrying the flower vases.
There was a saying that graves should be swept clean before and after the Clear and Bright Festival, so these days there was an endless stream of commoners coming to pay respects at the memorial. With it being the actual Clear and Bright today, even more people came.
Seeing the Jiang family, everyone automatically gave way.
The Jiang family members thanked them one by one in passing, then presented the flowers, respectfully kowtowed, and lit incense.
A noble lady who had also come to pay respects asked her, “My lady, is there any special meaning to the white lilies?”
Jiang Yuqing looked at the holy flower vases and smiled, “There is. White lilies represent memorial and respect, symbolizing beauty and remembrance.”
The noblewoman looked thoughtful.
The day after the Clear and Bright Festival, Jing Yan invited Jiang Yuqing to go horse riding and take a spring outing at the imperial hunting ground outside the city on the 26th. Since she had nothing to do, Jiang Yuqing agreed.
Jing Yan came in casual clothing to pick her up, riding a very beautiful Fergana horse. Jiang Yuqing still rode Little White Ten. Little White Nine also wanted to come along, but Jiang Yuqing pressed him back down.
The common people of the capital all knew she kept a white tiger, so they weren’t afraid.
But animals were terrified. The bloodline suppression of the king of beasts was no joke! If Little White Nine went to the ranch and did nothing, he would still frighten the horses into running around wildly. It could easily escalate into an uncontrollable mess.
By the time they arrived, there were already quite a few noble sons and daughters galloping around the field, along with many brightly and beautifully dressed young ladies. They came up one by one to greet them upon seeing the pair arrive.
Jing Yan had some very beautiful horses brought over for her to choose from first. The horses were extremely fond of the aura of the Wood Spirit on her body. They jostled with each other eagerly to appeal to her first.
In the end, Jiang Yuqing chose a chestnut mare. Seeing this, the other horses were somewhat disappointed and lowered their heads dejectedly.
Jiang Yuqing could only comfort and give each a strand of vitality before they finally cheered up again.
Jing Yan smiled and said, “It looks like they all like Qingqing very much. Shall we bring them back to the city later?”
Jiang Yuqing shook her head and said, "No need, I’m just an occasional rider. Bringing them back would be going overboard."
Jing Yan said, "Has Qingqing forgotten that many years ago after you cured the brain disease of the Xiongnu prince, he sent a batch of warhorses as payment. Father had people select some of the best ones for you, but unfortunately you had already gone to Sucheng at that time, so those horses have been kept here ever since.”
“Ah...I vaguely recall something like that happening. It was so long ago that I almost forgot if you hadn't brought it up.”
Jiang Yuqing knew how to ride, but her equestrian skills were nothing remarkable. Most of the time, she and Little White Ten were the perfect match.
Therefore, when everyone proposed having a race, Jiang Yuqing readily admitted her shortcomings and said she wouldn’t participate, offering instead to cheer them on from the sidelines.
Everyone lined up their horses at the starting line, waiting for the signal flags and whistles. At the drop of the flags and blast of the whistles, more than ten horses shot forth like arrows leaving bowstrings, scrambling to overtake each other in hot pursuit.
It was truly a sight of “dashing youths on fierce horses in their prime”, brimming with high spirits as they raced with delight.
Among them, Jing Yan had the best riding skills, steadily leading the pack. After finishing a lap, seeing Jiang Yuqing cheering them on at the side of the track, he suddenly crouched forward, hooked his legs, swept out an arm, and pulled Jiang Yuqing onto his horse, holding her in front of his chest. It was a clean and slick maneuver, looking incredibly cool.
Jiang Yuqing was startled at first upon being suddenly whisked up, but soon grew excited as well, slapping the horse and shouting, “Go!”
Feeling the extremely comfortable aura emanating from the person on its back, it was as if the horse had been injected with chicken blood, running even faster and leaving the group of youths far behind.
Jiang Yuqing’s thrilled and joyful laughter echoed throughout the riding ground. Although the noble ladies chasing them from behind were green with envy, there was little they could do. They could only pray for His Highness the Crown Prince to hurry up and toss aside that annoying creature already.
After everyone had been running for a while, about half a shichen (2 hour period), they finally stopped, drenched in sweat. Servants brought over water and food as everyone sat together, eating and resting while chatting.
At that moment, Jiang Yuqing vaguely heard the sound of breaking air coming. She subconsciously pushed Jing Yan to the ground.
With a "swish", an arrow grazed past Jiang Yuqing's ear, shooting a young boy sitting opposite them straight through. The boy let out a miserable cry and fell over dead.
More arrows flew towards them. The formerly complacent noble youths were now panic-stricken, shouting “Assassins! Catch the assassins! Protect the Crown Prince!” while looking everywhere for places to take cover. The young ladies were even more frightened, hugging their heads while running around screaming and crying loudly.
The scene descended into total chaos as large numbers of imperial guards rushed over from all directions to protect their master.
Jiang Yuqing released her spiritual awareness, covering the entire racetrack within her sight in an instant, like radar. She then leapt onto the deer and shot towards the southwest forest like an arrow, disappearing from sight within a few breaths.
When she reappeared, she was riding the deer while dragging a string of assassins bundled up tightly in vines. All of their jaws had been dislocated, staring blankly ahead.
Seeing this, the imperial guards swarmed forward to grab those assassins and tie them up securely. Only then did Jiang Yuqing retract her little bramble whip. Everyone now saw that those vines were actually a long, bizarrely shaped green “whip”.
Jing Yan hurriedly pulled her back and said anxiously, “Are you alright? You were too reckless just now. With so many assassins, such a little thing like you, what if you’d gotten hurt?”
Jiang Yuqing shook her head. “I’m fine! Don’t you know my skills? If even you don’t know, who would?”
“I’m also fine. If not for you earlier, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have come out of this alive. Thank you, Yuqing. You’ve saved my life again.”
Jiang Yuqing shook her head. “There’s no need to stand on ceremony between us. Go on, you’re busy. I’ll go take a look at the wounded.”
“Alright!” Now was indeed not the time for conversation. The wounded needed treatment, the racetrack needed investigation, and the frightened youths and young ladies needed reassuring - there were many chores to handle.
