Second Sister Su Fei brought me several newly collected travelogues and miscellanies to help pass the time.
"Don't always think about those unhappy things," she said softly as she sat by my bed. "The palace… is just like that. You coming back safe is better than anything."
Third Sister Su Xiao was the most indignant. When she heard what had happened (of course in a simplified version), her small face flushed red with anger.
"That Fourth Princess is too detestable! And those people who sided with her! Third Princess is far too pitiful…"
She was shot a stern look by Father and immediately shut up in embarrassment, then turned to tell me about a little horse she had newly broken in at the riding grounds, saying she would take me to see it once I recovered.
The days passed slowly amid decoctions and quiet recuperation.
About half a month after I fell ill, on an ordinary afternoon, I was leaning against the couch reading the travelogue Second Sister had brought me.
Father had gone to the kitchen to supervise the tonic being stewed for me, and my wet nurse was in the outer room doing needlework.
Suddenly, there came a very soft "tap, tap" from the window.
At first I thought it was just branches blown by the wind and paid no attention. But the sound came again twice more, very rhythmic.
Puzzled, I set the book down and slowly moved to the window. My bedroom was on the first floor, and outside was a small bamboo grove, very quiet.
I gently pushed the window open a crack. There was no one outside, only the rustling of bamboo leaves.
I was just about to close it when my gaze was caught by a small object on the windowsill.
It was a plain blue cotton pouch with no pattern at all, only the size of a baby's fist, tied with a thin string of the same color. After hesitating a moment, I reached out and took it inside.
The little pouch was very light, giving off a clear, faintly bitter herbal scent. I untied the string, and inside were several dried leaves of strange shape and a small piece of pale yellow, resin-like substance. The fragrance was coming from these.
There was no note, no marking of any kind.
But something stirred inexplicably in my heart. This scent… seemed to have a calming, soothing effect. As I breathed it in, the oppressive tightness that always lingered in my chest really did seem to ease a little.
Who had put it there?
A name rose in my mind.
I clenched the little cloth pouch, my heart beating a little faster. Was it her? Xiao Yuhuang? How had she gotten past the layers of guards of the Su residence to put something on my windowsill? And why would she do this?
Over the next few days, I paid close attention.
The medicine pouch did not appear again. But occasionally, in the dead of night, I seemed to hear extremely faint, almost imperceptible sounds in the bamboo grove outside the window, like clothes brushing against bamboo leaves, or perhaps just the wind.
I never mentioned that pouch to anyone, nor did I speak of the strange noises at night. Only every time I drank that bitter, nauseating decoction, I couldn't help but think of that clear, calming fragrance.
After some more time passed, I was able to get out of bed and walk slowly in the courtyard. Father and Grandmother were still tense, but I insisted that I needed to move my limbs. So they had the pebble path in the courtyard repaved, even filling in every tiny slope, for fear that I might trip.
That day the sunlight was excellent. I sat on a lounge chair under the corridor, covered with a blanket, watching a few late-blooming magnolias in the courtyard. My wet nurse stood guard not far away.
A small eunuch in palace attire, whom I did not recognize, was led in by the steward, head lowered, holding a brocade box in his hands.
"Greetings to Young Master Su," the little eunuch said in a shrill voice, bowing properly. "This servant has been sent by Third Princess to deliver a token of thanks, to express gratitude for Young Master's… assistance that day."
His voice was not loud, but the words "Third Princess" made the wet nurse beside me immediately prick up his ears, his gaze turning wary.
I straightened up. "Her Highness is too courteous. It was a trifling matter, not worth mentioning."
The little eunuch still kept his head lowered and raised the brocade box high above his head. "Her Highness said that this item may be beneficial to Young Master's health, and hopes Young Master will accept it."
The steward took the box and opened it to inspect it. Inside was a fine-quality ginseng root, along with several boxes of top-grade bird's nest and donkey-hide gelatin. They were indeed valuable tonics, in keeping with the standards of a princess's thanks, yet not overly conspicuous.
I nodded. "Many thanks for Her Highness's generous gift. Please convey my regards to Her Highness."
The little eunuch answered "Yes," but did not leave immediately. Instead, he quickly glanced up at me, then lowered his head again at once and added in an extremely low voice, speaking very fast, "Her Highness also said that if that calming sachet is used up, you may inform her again."
Having said that, he bowed and withdrew without waiting for any reaction from me, leaving in a hurry.
I stood there in a daze, my emotions surging.
So it really was her.
She had not only sent the formal token of thanks, but had also secretly sent that medicine pouch. And moreover… it seemed she had a way of knowing my needs, or perhaps she had been watching my condition all along?
The wet nurse came over, looking at the tonics in the brocade box with a frown. "Young Master, these…"
"Put them away," I cut him off calmly. "Since they are bestowed by Her Highness, just use them properly."
I had the ginseng carefully stored by the kitchen, to be used occasionally for soups. And that plain blue little medicine pouch I hid carefully beneath my pillow. When it was hard to sleep at night or when my coughing became severe, I would take it out and smell it; that faintly bitter fragrance seemed to bring a strange kind of peace.
My body was still weak, my coughing waxing and waning. The imperial physicians said that this fall into the water had injured me at the root, and that I would need to be carefully nurtured for years to come, no longer able to endure even the slightest chill.
The Su residence guarded me even more closely. It was as if I had been enclosed within an even more exquisite, more solid glass dome.
But I knew that the world outside that dome had quietly changed because of that leap.
Between me and that palace, and that Third Princess named Xiao Yuhuang, there was now an invisible thread.