Chapter 101: The Lone Lamp

Early in the morning, after finishing his exercises, Zuo Zhishu requested leave from the commander. Having been educated, writing a leave slip was easy for him, unlike some others who had to beg for his help just to write one. Once the commander-in-chief approved, he went to the brewery to find a fellow survivor from their days of hardship, a portly man who was a skilled brewer and now held a favored position at the Princess’s estate brewery.

Besides the chicken leg he had saved from the morning, which he kept carefully wrapped in cloth, he also needed to prepare a jar of clear wine. He headed to the brewery; he was leaving the city today to pay his respects to a stranger he had only known for three days, whose remains lay in the wild forest.

Returning from the back hills, a weary Wu Yueling poured herself a cup of strong liquor. She drank it down, then sat quietly in her chair, gazing at the scroll hanging on the wall, a faint sense of longing in her heart.

She closed her eyes to nap through the tipsiness. When she awoke, it was already dusk. She led Xiaochun, who had been keeping watch in her room, to the back training grounds to cut some bamboo.

"Princess, why do we need so much bamboo?" Xiaochun asked, leading the horse behind her.

"Straight on the outside and hollow within—that is the bamboo. How about we drink a bowl of bamboo sap distilled tonight?" she replied, walking ahead along the pebble-paved path, meeting the dim light before nightfall.

Xiaochun pursed her round face in thought. "Does the Princess enjoy drinking bamboo sap?"

Looking back at the girl, she couldn't help but chuckle; she was truly caring. "What do you like, Xiaochun?"

"Me?" They exchanged glances. The distinction between mistress and servant felt increasingly blurred. Even though she was older than the Princess, she often felt as if the Princess were the elder sister, not at all like a fifteen-year-old girl. "I am now Liu Shi’s foster mother. Aside from raising him, my greatest wish is to serve the Princess until I am old! That is the duty of a servant."

She paused for a moment before continuing forward. "You always tell me to find a husband. Have you ever thought about getting married yourself?"

Xiaochun’s chubby face flushed red. She had never considered it. Being a maid at the Princess’s estate was already a stroke of great luck; for maids in other wealthy households, aside from their status as servants, they were often treated as playthings for the young masters—gifted away when they grew bored, or exchanged between friends like mere property.

Hearing the Princess ask this, Xiaochun finally decided, "Whatever the Princess decides, I shall follow! I have no regrets!"

"You make it sound like a tragic parting. You will certainly be married off, but you won't be leaving the Princess’s estate! Unlike me—the thought of using this body to marry someone makes my teeth ache. No, even if I must find a consort, I will be the one marrying him into my house!"

Hearing her mistress’s helpless, sleeve-waving tone, Xiaochun giggled. A girlish impulse took hold, and she replied expectantly, "Princess, the husband we marry into the family will be a resident son-in-law!"

"If we marry in this 'resident son-in-law,' who will be in charge of the Princess’s estate?" Wu Yueling asked nonchalantly. She had no intention of marrying at the moment; even the foster father’s imperial decree would have to be pushed back.

"The Princess, of course! You are of noble blood, a member of the royal family. It would be a blessing cultivated over hundreds of lifetimes for someone to marry into your estate! Especially as a resident son-in-law!" Xiaochun led the horse to the backyard of Tianci Pavilion and set down the pile of bamboo.

"That’s enough for now. Xiaochun, go prepare the meal; we’re having stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat tonight!"

Xiaochun responded and headed to the kitchen with the spring bamboo shoots she had unearthed. Wu Yueling went to her room to fetch two pieces of flint and then went to the kitchen. She watched Xiaochun and Wan’er working together. They were two very different women; in terms of beauty, Wan’er had the edge, but she felt that Xiaochun had a truly kind heart.

She took some dry firewood and bowls. Perhaps out of habit, they didn't stop her. In the past, whenever she entered the kitchen, they would always insist, "Princess, let me do this; Princess, let me do that," refusing to let her lift a finger. Perhaps they knew they couldn't sway her, so they just continued their work while keeping a watchful eye, ready to jump in the moment she needed help.

She built a fire in the courtyard and set the wet bamboo over it, waiting for the sap to drip into a bowl. At the same time, she split some bamboo to cook bamboo-tube rice with water, cured meat, and white rice. She prepared another tube with more water and less rice for a different purpose.

Once finished, she split the bamboo with a knife, shaved it into thin strips, and wove them into a cage-like structure. When the rice in the tube with more water turned into a thick paste, she pasted sheets of white rice paper over the frame, creating a white lantern. Placing a candle inside, the Kongming lantern was complete.

Before long, the sky turned dark. Dinner was served. Wu Yueling used tongs to lift the bamboo tubes and chopsticks to scrape the rice into a large basin. The mistress and her servants ate their dinner peacefully. After everyone had finished, Xiaochun scraped the leftovers into her bowl, eating everything clean, wasting nothing.

Wu Yueling watched, a trace of approval in her eyes. Perhaps she, too, should eat all the leftovers in the future.

After drinking the bamboo sap, she handed the bowl to Xiaochun, who was clearing the table. She walked to the extinguished fire, leaning against the faint light cast by the lanterns hanging under the pavilion eaves. She bit her finger and wrote the word "Rest" in blood on the paper. She lit the wick inside, lifted the Kongming lantern, and let it slowly ascend into the sky. Her finger stopped bleeding after a single drop fell.

The flickering lights in the pitch-black night sky were not stars, but lonely lanterns drifting with the wind, carrying her longing and remembrance to the other shore.

"Mistress, why did you release the lantern?"

Wan’er walked over, linking her arm with the Princess’s and leaning against her not-so-broad shoulder. She could feel that the Princess was sorrowful. Together, they gazed at the night sky filled with the distant lights of the lanterns, and her own mood sank along with the Princess’s.

After a long while, the Princess finally replied to Wan’er.

"Because today is Qingming! The direction the lanterns are flying is Jingnan!"

"Qingming... it is a pity that I don't have many memories of my own family. I don't know if they are doing well, nor do I know where my ancestral graves are. Mistress, do you have relatives in Jingzhou?"

Hearing Wan’er’s question, she realized she had never told her about those things. Besides, those in Jingzhou couldn't really be called family. Sensing that Wan’er had always been alone, she hugged her soft shoulder, feeling a bit embarrassed. "We are family now. Everyone in the Princess’s estate is my kin."

In the end, the first people and events she encountered when she arrived here were in Shili Village, and her longing existed in fragments. But from now on, she would likely never return to Jingzhou.

Not long after, Chu’er returned.

"How is Zuo Zhishu doing?"

Chu’er picked up a pastry to satisfy her hunger and said with her mouth full, "He really went to the forest, weeping before an anonymous mound of earth, pouring wine as an offering! Ugh!"

"That is good. After all, he knows too much. If he truly were a spy, I would not have the heart to take his life..."

In the sky, the Kongming lantern ignited in a beautiful, fleeting spark before turning to ash and scattering into the night.