The Crown Prince, whose legs could now move, remained as reserved as ever.
Whether he could make a full recovery was still unknown, but his legs had indeed improved, so Zhao Sui chose to tell the Crown Princess, wanting to share the joy with her.
However, at most, Zhao Sui would simply slide his legs together or bend his knees in front of the Crown Princess to prove he could truly move. He refused to let her see him practice walking.
Having sat in a wheelchair for three years, despite daily massages, the muscles and sinews in Zhao Sui's legs were far inferior to those of an ordinary person. Currently, he didn't even have the strength to stand on his own. When practicing walking in the front courtyard, Zhao Sui mainly relied on the strength of his arms supporting himself on the handrails. He was only practicing the motion of moving his legs forward. It was both sour and numb; after just one short lap around the inner room's handrails, he would be sweating like rain.
Aside from Imperial Physician Liao, who was indispensable for treating his legs, Zhao Sui didn't want anyone to see him like that, especially the Crown Princess.
And when the Crown Prince merely mentioned he would practice walking in the front courtyard, Yao Huang understood his meaning.
She didn't need to see it. Just hearing the Crown Prince talk about the extent of his recovery and knowing he had hope was enough to make Yao Huang feel overjoyed and content.
Chatting about when he first discovered his legs could move, Zhao Sui stroked the Crown Princess's long hair in his arms. After a moment of silence, he said, "When I dismounted at the hunting ground."
Wanting to catch the Crown Princess, from the moment he dismounted until he touched the ground, Zhao Sui only thought of this one thing. It wasn't until his legs gave out and he knelt on the ground that Zhao Sui suddenly realized he had actually completed the continuous sequence of lifting his leg over the horse's back and jumping down.
Hearing this, Yao Huang sat up excitedly. "I knew Your Highness's dismounting posture was especially sharp and handsome. So you could move even then!"
Zhao Sui looked at the Crown Princess's round eyes, which seemed to be filled with stars, and asked, "Didn't you miss it?"
Yao Huang: "...I just saw Your Highness's heroic posture when dismounting, and right after that my waist hurt and I fell back down, so I didn't see how Your Highness fell."
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes.
Yao Huang could tell the Crown Prince was still in a very good mood. Naturally, anyone would be thrilled if a small fall could fix legs that had been crippled for three years.
"Speaking of which, we have to credit that wild boar with a great merit. If it hadn't run out, I wouldn't have been in danger, and without me in danger, Your Highness wouldn't have been so anxious."
Zhao Sui smiled slightly; that was indeed the truth.
Yao Huang patted the Crown Prince's arm, telling him to lie down properly, and then called out for Aji.
Aji walked in with his head bowed.
Yao Huang ordered, "Send someone to tell my brother to wash the two tusks of that female boar clean and bring them to me."
Female wild boars also had tusks, they were just very short.
Aji, not quite understanding, went outside to arrange for a servant to run the errand.
Zhao Sui: "What do you want the tusks for?"
Yao Huang smiled at him. "To keep as a souvenir. I think this wild boar was actually a lucky pig, which means its tusks are lucky tusks. We'll keep them as the grand treasure of our Eastern Palace."
Zhao Sui: "..."
On their last full day at the temporary palace, Yao Huang left her brother, sister-in-law, the princesses, and the prince consorts behind, pushing the Crown Prince out alone to enjoy the scenery. They strolled until noon, returning to the palace for a meal. While she took a nap, the Crown Prince practiced walking and received massages in the front courtyard. When Yao Huang woke up, she pushed His Highness out again. After dinner, it was once more time for the Crown Prince's walking practice and massage.
Yao Huang waited patiently in the backyard. It was nearly the first watch of the night before the Crown Prince arrived. Having exerted himself and just bathed, the handsome face of the Crown Prince was slightly flushed, making the Crown Princess, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, stare blankly at him.
Zhao Sui took one look, then lowered his eyelashes. He wheeled his chair into the canopy bed and, just like before, supported himself to shift onto the bed.
The husband and wife lay facing each other. Yao Huang gently squeezed the Crown Prince's thigh and asked softly, "How is today compared to yesterday?"
Zhao Sui held that hand and said, "If yesterday was ten parts numb, today is only nine parts."
During the day, while sitting in his wheelchair, although he didn't practice walking, he would occasionally make small movements with his legs, such as shifting his feet left or right on the footrest, or raising and lowering his knees when the Crown Princess was looking elsewhere.
Such exercises were just like his childhood studies and martial arts training—practice makes perfect. And Zhao Sui had plenty of patience and perseverance.
Yao Huang said in pleasant surprise, "Such great progress in just one day..."
Zhao Sui: "Don't celebrate too early. Imperial Physician Liao said that even if I can fully recover, it will probably take half a year or even longer before I can move freely."
Yao Huang snuggled into his embrace. "I'm just happy, I'm not rushing."
Holding the Crown Princess's soft body, Zhao Sui thought of the posture he had fallen into at the hunting ground yesterday, which the Crown Princess had seen.
Although he still couldn't stand up, if he used both his hands and feet, he could kneel and support himself steadily, no longer needing to press his weight onto the Crown Princess's back.
Imperial Physician Liao had also reminded him to practice various postures that required the use of his legs.
Therefore, the Crown Prince slowly turned the Crown Princess over.
The Crown Princess had been bullied many times by the Crown Prince in his incarnation as a bamboo demon. Every time, besides being bullied by the bamboo demon, she had to exert a lot of effort to bear the bamboo demon's weight. Now that the bamboo demon could support himself steadily, the Crown Princess, finally able to cry wholeheartedly, wept intermittently for a long, long time...
On the afternoon of August 30th, after another two and a half days of exhausting travel, the Crown Prince and his entourage successfully returned to the capital.
The Crown Prince needed to report to Emperor Yongchang regarding the heavy gunpowder test results. Although Yao Huang missed Yun'er dearly, she still had to pay her respects to Empress Zhou first. Unexpectedly, the couple found both places empty. Emperor Yongchang, who happened to be on a rest day, had actually called Empress Zhou to go to the Imperial Garden with him to look after their grandson. And this imperial grandson was naturally Yun'er, the little grandson of the Eastern Palace who had been abandoned by both his father and mother.
The Crown Prince and his wife thus reunited on the way to the Imperial Garden. Yao Huang took the wheelchair and pushed the Crown Prince into the garden.
The scent of osmanthus drifted through the Imperial Garden. Along both sides of the paths, two rows of famous chrysanthemums were displayed, either already in full bloom or just budding. In this cooling season, there were actually a few butterflies fluttering up and down among the chrysanthemum bushes.
As they walked, the couple spotted Empress Zhou sipping tea in a pavilion, and they also saw Emperor Yongchang holding Yun'er outside the pavilion, chasing butterflies.
The sound of rolling wheels caught Yun'er's attention. The little one turned his head from his imperial grandfather's embrace, recognized the parents he hadn't seen for over ten days, and happily arched his body toward them.
Emperor Yongchang laughed and gave his grandson a pat on the bottom. "It's a shame I kept you company for over ten days, yet as soon as you see your father and mother, you don't want your imperial grandfather anymore."
Yao Huang parked the Crown Prince beside Emperor Yongchang. As she took Yun'er, she smiled and said, "We've troubled Imperial Father and Imperial Mother these past days. Today your daughter-in-law has returned; I'll take back the little one and give Imperial Father the big one in return, how about that?"
Zhao Sui: "..."
Emperor Yongchang glanced at his son in the wheelchair, who didn't even know how to smile, and harrumphed, "The big one isn't as good at endearing himself to people as the little one."
Yao Huang: "But the big one has already learned a lot of skills from Imperial Father and can help share Imperial Father's burdens."
Emperor Yongchang indeed placed great importance on the power of the heavy gunpowder. Telling his daughter-in-law to carry Yun'er into the pavilion to pay respects to Empress Zhou, Emperor Yongchang pushed his son to a long bench ahead. He positioned his son's wheelchair to face the bench, then sat down on it himself. Before asking any questions, he first looked his son up and down; after all, they hadn't seen each other for over ten days, and as an imperial father, he missed his son too.
Zhao Sui respectfully lowered his eyes.
Emperor Yongchang: ...
This son was quite capable when it came to sharing his burdens, but in the matter of coaxing him and making him happy, he was not even a match for the eldest. It was a good thing he had married an eloquent daughter-in-law to make up for it.
Speak.
When the topic turned to official duties, the Crown Prince finally had more to say. He explained the details of each test clearly, without a single superfluous word.
Emperor Yongchang nodded repeatedly. Leaning back against his chair and gazing up at the sky, he said, For mining and clearing mountains, the current heavy gunpowder is sufficient. We only need to improve upon how it is stored and safely transported. However, figuring out how to turn this heavy gunpowder into a divine weapon for the battlefield will require much more thought. This is a highly profitable endeavor that directly concerns the future destiny of Great Qi. You should continue to oversee it; I would not feel at ease handing it over to anyone else.
His second son had been on the battlefield and knew exactly what kind of weapons were needed there. He was also meticulous enough to ensure that the imperial court's methods for crafting new weapons would not be leaked.
Zhao Sui agreed.
With the official business concluded, Emperor Yongchang began to inquire about how his son, daughter-in-law, daughters, and sons-in-law were enjoying their time at the temporary palace.
Zhao Sui talked about the rabbit the First Princess had shot herself, the roe deer the Second Princess had killed after Fan Ruochuan had first wounded its thigh, and the hunting competition between the married couple, Yao Lin and Li Fuwei. Some of these stories the Crown Princess had told him, while others Zhao Sui had participated in himself.
The Crown Prince recounted these events rather dryly, but Emperor Yongchang managed to pick up on one key detail: the Crown Princess had truly put her heart into teaching the two princesses how to shoot arrows, and she had taught them well enough that they could actually hit their prey.
Emperor Yongchang: You only talk about others. Did you and your wife not shoot anything?
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes and replied, The Crown Princess hunted a roe deer, and I hunted a wild boar.
Emperor Yongchang: ...When I held the hunting competition, you did not even enter the mountain, preferring to wait outside for the prey to come to you. Yet to play with your wife, you actually dared to risk riding and shooting.
Zhao Sui: When I entered the mountain, I only planned to ride horses with the Crown Princess. I never intended to make a move. Later...
Hearing that his daughter-in-law was nearly injured by a wild boar, Emperor Yongchang frowned. He looked toward the pavilion and said, When wild boars get fierce, they are harder to deal with than wolves. Even though it was only a half-grown sow, your wife was still too bold. She encountered this wild boar while she was with you, but what if the four sisters-in-law encountered such danger while hunting...
Thinking of his two delicate princesses, Emperor Yongchang felt more and more that his second daughter-in-law should rein in her playfulness.
Zhao Sui did not explain that the Crown Princess and the others were followed by guards when they hunted. He only continued to talk about how his leg had suddenly been able to move because he was so anxious to help the Crown Princess up.
Back when Emperor Yongchang first received the battle report stating that his second son had fallen off a cliff and his fate was unknown, he had merely lowered his eyes and sat alone for a long time. Now, suddenly learning that his son's leg could move, Emperor Yongchang actually stood up in excitement. Lowering his head, his gaze darted back and forth between his son and his son's leg, and he even stuttered, It can r-really move?
Zhao Sui placed his hands on the armrests, then slowly lifted his right foot off the footrest.
Seeing it with his own eyes, Emperor Yongchang abruptly turned around. Before he could even raise his hand, two lines of old tears had already rolled down his face.
Zhao Sui looked at the jade belt around his imperial father's waist and said in a low voice, It can only move. Whether it can fully recover requires further observation. Imperial Father, please do not set your expectations too high.
Emperor Yongchang wiped his tears with a handkerchief in one hand and waved his other hand behind him. I do not expect anything. No matter how much it recovers, I am happy.
Zhao Sui: Before there is a definite result, I would like to keep it a secret for now, lest it cause unnecessary discussion inside and outside the court.
Emperor Yongchang, with his back to his son, nodded. That is how it should be. If you need anything, just tell me, and I will arrange it for you.
Zhao Sui: Imperial Physician Liao will continue to assist me in treating my leg. As for external matters, I would like to add a circle of hardwood handrails in the Deer Park of the Eastern Palace, so it will be convenient for me to support myself while practicing walking.
The inner chambers were too small, and starting construction in the Deer Park required asking for his imperial father's permission.
Emperor Yongchang calmed down a bit, put away his handkerchief, and turned around. With eyes full of gratification, he said, That is a small matter. You can arrange it yourself.
The last thing Zhao Sui requested was that his imperial father would not hold the Crown Princess accountable for the minor oversight of encountering a wild boar in the hunting grounds.
Emperor Yongchang was so amused by his son's protectiveness over his wife that he burst into loud laughter.
Hold her accountable?
His second daughter-in-law was simply his second son's lucky star, and the royal family's lucky star as well. He was only worrying about how to properly reward this daughter-in-law!
