The night was as black as ink.
Inside the study of the Sixth Prince's estate, the candlelight blazed brightly.
Li Chengyu stood by the window with his hands clasped behind his back. His silhouette, stretched by the candlelight, was cast upon the blue brick floor. He stood as silently as a cold stone statue. Outside the window, the clear, cold moonlight spilled through the lattice, intertwining with the oppressive aura radiating from him.
Footsteps approached from afar.
"Your Highness, Imperial Physician Hua has arrived," a personal guard's voice sounded from outside the door, kept very low.
"Let him in." Li Chengyu did not turn around.
The door was pushed open.
An elderly man with a white beard and hair bowed as he entered. Wearing the official robes of an imperial physician and with a slightly hunched back, it was none other than Hua Yuan, the Head of the Imperial Hospital. He raised his eyes and cast a fleeting glance at the figure standing by the window. His heart inexplicably tightened, and he quickly lowered his head. "This old minister, Hua Yuan, greets the Sixth Prince."
"Dispense with the formalities." Li Chengyu's flat voice wafted over; he still did not turn around. "You have worked hard coming here so late at night, Imperial Physician Hua."
"I would not dare," Hua Yuan bowed even lower. "To be able to serve Your Highness is this old minister's honor."
The room fell silent for a moment.
A candle wick popped with a sharp crack.
Li Chengyu spoke slowly, his voice exceptionally clear in the quiet night. "I invited you here today to ask about... my Ninth Brother's hidden ailment of monthly abdominal pain."
Here it comes.
Hua Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but he dared not show the slightest hint of it on his face. He merely recited the explanation he had long memorized by heart: "To reply to Your Highness, the Ninth Prince's condition is truly due to a congenital deficiency of kidney qi and stagnation of the liver wood, coupled with cold coagulation and blood stasis. Whenever..."
"Imperial Physician Hua."
Li Chengyu suddenly interrupted him.
His voice was not loud, but it was like a blade of ice, abruptly slicing through those well-practiced platitudes.
Hua Yuan choked on his words.
Li Chengyu slowly turned around.
The candlelight danced across his face, casting shifting shadows over his handsome features.
He approached step by step, his gait steady, yet exuding an invisible pressure in the silence. Every step felt as if it were trampling right on the tip of Hua Yuan's heart.
He stopped three paces away from Hua Yuan. His gaze landed on the old man's face with tangible weight. His tone was slow, enunciating every word, yet carrying a crushing pressure: "Are you certain you have nothing else you wish to say?"
Hua Yuan felt a sudden chill shoot up his spine.
It rushed straight to the crown of his head.
His lips moved, but his throat felt blocked by something. After a long while, he forced himself to kneel down tremblingly, "This old minister... this old minister is incompetent! To this day, I have failed to cure the Ninth Prince's illness, failing the Emperor's grace. I beg Your Highness... to punish me!"
This routine again.
A trace of impatience flashed through Li Chengyu's eyes, but it quickly settled, transforming into a deeper coldness. He looked down at the old man prostrate on the floor, watching his white hair tremble slightly in the candlelight, his back tense beneath his official robes, and his withered hands desperately clawing at the ground.
A long time passed.
Li Chengyu slowly let out a breath. His voice remained steady, yet it sounded as if it had been quenched in ice: "Is my Ninth Brother's monthly abdominal pain caused by menstruation?"
Boom!
It was as if something exploded in Hua Yuan's mind.
His entire body shuddered violently, as if all his strength had been drained away. He collapsed onto the floor, his face instantly turning as pale as paper, even his lips quivering.
It's over.
Only these two words remained in his mind.
Today...
I'm afraid my life will truly end here today!
He looked into Li Chengyu's bottomless eyes, finding no anger, no shock, only a calm certainty that had already seen through everything.
He knew.
He knew everything!
Hua Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his throat only let out gasping sounds, like a fish out of water.
Watching his reaction, the stone in Li Chengyu's heart finally fell to the ground.
Just as I thought.
It was exactly as Second Master Pei had hinted.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his gaze was clear: "So, Chenglu... is indeed a woman?"
Hua Yuan's body trembled once more.
He lay prostrate on the floor, not daring to lift his head, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Your, Your Highness... the Ninth Prince's pulse... is in-indeed no different from a woman's. The symptoms... match the records in my ancestors' medical texts regarding... those born with external male and internal female traits..."
"There are records in medical texts?" Li Chengyu's eyes suddenly lit up. "Then is there a way to treat it? Can my Ninth Brother... become a real man?"
A real man?
Hua Yuan smiled bitterly in his heart.
He wiped the cold sweat that had instantly beaded on his forehead. His voice still trembled, but he finally managed to string his words together: "To reply to Your Highness... this old minister... cannot do it."
He paused and continued with difficulty, "My ancestor once... once dissected the remains of a patient with this condition. The internal organs... were no different from a woman's. That appendage resembling a male root... is actually the source of the affliction. It serves no practical use, and... if there are complications..."
He gritted his teeth, his voice so low it was almost inaudible: "Therefore, it is best... to restore the original source."
Restore the original source.
Li Chengyu understood.
It meant making Chenglu... a girl again.
He fell silent for a moment before asking, "How does one restore the original source?"
Hua Yuan lay on the ground, cold sweat having already soaked through his inner garments. "My ancestor... had a theory. One only needs to remove the afflicted part. After it heals, supplemented with medicinal concoctions to harmonize yin and yang, the person can be restored to their true nature. In the future... marrying and having children will not be a problem."
A theory?
Li Chengyu furrowed his brows fiercely.
So after all this talking, it was only a theory?
He stared at the top of Hua Yuan's graying head, momentarily speechless. His headache grew worse, feeling as if a hammer were repeatedly striking his temples.
This matter...
Was difficult to handle.
Dragging it out indefinitely was certainly not an option.
According to Imperial Physician Hua, if there were complications, it could be life-threatening. Although the other party did not say it explicitly, one could figure out with a single strand of hair where his ancestor had gotten the remains they examined.
Most likely, the person with the same condition as Chenglu had died!
But restoring the original source...
Was damn well just a theory from his ancestor.
It sounded unreliable in every possible way!
Li Chengyu highly doubted whether Chenglu would survive the treatment process.
Furthermore, even if his Ninth Brother could truly turn back into a girl, what about the subsequent arrangements? She could no longer be a prince. She would need a new identity, a way out, and someone to protect her...
Most importantly—
What would Chenglu herself think?
Could she accept suddenly becoming a princess after being a prince for sixteen years? Oh, she probably shouldn't even dream of being a princess before he himself sat on that throne.
Right now, Imperial Father would not tolerate her.
If any of his other brothers took the throne, they would be even less likely to tolerate her. Therefore, before he succeeded, Chenglu could not be a princess either; she could only change from Li Chenglu to Li Chenglu (with the feminine Lu).
Hence, this matter had to be arranged flawlessly.
One wrong step.
And the entire game would be lost.
Not only would he fail to save Chenglu's life, but he would also drag himself down with her. His eldest brother, who had been the Crown Prince for thirty-six years and was forty-nine this year, had viewed him as an eyesore for a long time!
The slightest mistake.
Would inevitably become an excuse for his attacks.
"Imperial Physician Hua," Li Chengyu slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. His voice returned to a calm state, even taking on a trace of gentleness. "Thank you for the trouble of making this trip today."
Hua Yuan froze.
Looking up in bewilderment.
Li Chengyu said lightly, "I felt slightly unwell today, so I troubled Court Physician Hua to make a late-night visit. As for this matter..."
He paused, his gaze bottomless. "Only you and I know."
Hua Yuan understood instantly.
He practically scrambled to kneel back down, touching his forehead to the ground. His voice trembled with the relief of surviving a disaster: "It is this old minister's honor to serve Your Highness! I... I merely took Your Highness's pulse today. Your Highness caught a slight chill, but it is nothing serious!"
"Very good." Li Chengyu waved his hand. "You may go."
"This old minister... takes his leave!" Hua Yuan retreated, practically crawling on his hands and knees. The door was gently pulled shut.
The study returned to silence.
Li Chengyu stood rooted to the spot, unmoving for a long time. The candlelight stretched and shrank his shadow, flickering unsteadily against the wall much like his currently chaotic state of mind.
Outside the window, the moonlight gradually sank.
A hint of pale white faintly broke through the eastern sky. A new day was about to begin.
...
The next day, at the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
Morning light filtered through the carved window lattices, scattering fragmented patches of light across the smooth, golden-brick floor. A faint lily incense burned within the hall; its wispy trails mingled with the scent of morning dew, refreshing the heart and mind.
The Empress sat upright upon her phoenix throne. Dressed in a bright yellow everyday robe embroidered with peonies and phoenixes, and wearing a pure gold phoenix coronet adorned with kingfisher feathers, she looked poised and magnificent. Though over forty, she was well-maintained. Between her brows, one could still faintly see the peerless beauty of her youth, only now it was tempered with the steady majesty befitting the mother of the empire.
Li Chengyu stood in the center of the hall.
He had just paid his respects.
"Yu'er is here early today." The Empress looked at him with a smile, her voice gentle. "Have you had your breakfast yet?"
"To answer Imperial Mother, I have," Li Chengyu replied respectfully. He raised his eyes to look at his mother, a hint of hesitation in his gaze. The scheme he was plotting would require her cooperation.
The Empress astutely noticed this. Just as she was about to ask, a flurry of brisk footsteps echoed from outside the hall, accompanied by a young girl's crisp laughter:
"Imperial Mother! Imperial Mother, look, we found so many more—"
Before her words could fall.
The hall doors were pushed open.
Li Chenglu and Li Chanying walked in, one after the other.
Li Chenglu was dressed in a crimson brocade robe today, maintaining his usual dazzlingly luxurious style. However, the large bundle of portraits he carried in his arms made him look somewhat clumsy. Behind him followed Li Chanying in a pale yellow palace dress, smiling brightly and also holding several scrolls in her hands.
As soon as the two entered, they spotted Li Chengyu in the hall.
"Sixth Brother!" Li Chenglu's eyes lit up. He tried to run over with the portraits but tripped over the items in his arms, nearly falling.
Li Chanying burst into a giggle and reached out to steady him. "Brother, slow down!"
Watching this scene, a certain string in Li Chengyu's heart was silently plucked once more.
He looked at Li Chenglu.
That face, which was virtually identical to Li Chanying's, looked radiant and lively in the morning light. His eyes were clear, holding that untainted innocence unique to a youth who had yet to experience the harshness of the world.
If he were dressed as a woman...
What would he look like?
"Sixth Brother, why are you here?" Li Chenglu had already regained his balance. Clutching the portraits, he leaned in close to Li Chengyu and unrolled a corner as if presenting a treasure. "Look, these are the portraits of the noble young masters I thought were pretty good at yesterday's flower-viewing banquet! Since you were there too, you have to help me evaluate them!"
