A Thousand Miles of Wind - Chapter 4

Whether it was a trick of the senses or not, after Gu Siyuan said she didn’t want to meet the man, she felt that Zhongli Ran’s little face wasn’t quite as tense as before. After this small interlude, the two fell silent again. The carriage wound along the mountain path, carrying them into Taiyi Temple.

The people of Chu favored shamanism and worshipped the Great Unity. They established the Taiyi Sect, which served the Great Unity as its primary deity, as the state religion. Taiyi Temple was a sacred site of the state religion. Its Abbot managed the secular and common affairs of the sect and rarely interfered in politics. Within the Imperial Court, there was a separate Office of Heavenly Surveillance, composed entirely of Taiyi Taoists, available for the Emperor’s dispatch.

The Office of Heavenly Surveillance was led by the Grand and Lesser Diviners. The Grand Diviner was the leader of the Office and the entire state religion. Whenever the nation faced great matters that could not be decided, the Grand Diviner would sacrifice to the Great Unity to seek divine will. The Lesser Diviners were mostly the head disciples of the Grand Diviners, often serving as candidates for the next Grand Diviner while assisting with secular duties.

From top to bottom, the Office followed a very strict system. The Grand Diviners, as leaders of the state religion, were all women from the Zhongli Imperial family who possessed shamanistic powers. Other positions—such as the secret guards “Fengbo” (Earl of Wind) and the “River Gods” who protected the Great Unity, the “Yushi” (Master of Rain) who served as overt guards, the “Yunzhong Jun” (Lord Within the Clouds) who managed intelligence, and the “Xiang Jun” and “Madame Xiang” who supervised officials—were mostly directly taught and passed down by the previous generation of messengers.

The Taoists who held titles in the Office were all proficient in the arts of the Five Elements, and thus followed the natural Way of Heaven. As long as the monarch committed no great errors, they would never act against the sovereign. Furthermore, because legend held that the Emperors of Chu were the incarnations of the Great Unity, the Grand Diviners and others privately referred to the Emperor as the “Dongjun” (Lord of the East).

Though Zhongli Ran was not the youngest Emperor to ascend the throne in Chu’s history, she was indeed quite young, so the Fengbo and Yushi who protected her were exceptionally attentive. Yet a mistake had occurred today; the three branches of guards surrounding Zhongli Ran all looked rather grim.

As soon as the carriage entered Taiyi Temple, it drove toward the Palace of Clouds in the rear courtyard. It was the Fengbo—who had arrived early to clear obstacles—who settled Zhongli Ran.

The Fengbo was a tall, burly man who rarely appeared in public, yet he was now waiting at the palace gates to personally welcome Zhongli Ran from the carriage. Upon seeing the purple bruise on her forehead, he immediately bowed. “It is my incompetence that allowed the Dongjun to be startled.”

Zhongli Ran gave him a very magnanimous look and said, “It is no matter. First, let Us tend to these injuries.”

“Understood.” Following her word, the Fengbo assisted her out of the carriage. “The physicians of Taiyi Temple are already waiting in the palace. The Dongjun need not worry.”

As he spoke, Gu Siyuan, who was following Zhongli Ran, also stepped down. As if he had known Gu Siyuan for a long time, the Fengbo said respectfully, “Teacher Gu, please accompany Us and enter the palace with Her Majesty.”

Hearing this, Gu Siyuan glanced at the man standing respectfully like a great mountain beside Zhongli Ran, nodded, and followed her lead.

The Fengbo led the two of them into a side hall of the Palace of Clouds. A Taiyi physician dressed in green Taoist robes, carrying a medicine chest, hurriedly performed a salute. Once Zhongli Ran was settled on the small daybed, the physician stepped forward to take her pulse.

Gu Siyuan stood by Zhongli Ran’s side, watching the physician ask questions, her eyes filled with worry.

When a carriage overturns, the greatest fear is a cranial injury. After the physician asked if Zhongli Ran had a headache and checked her thoroughly, he had her remove her shoes and lift her pant legs to examine her knees.

The snowy-white fabric was pulled up, revealing Zhongli Ran’s fair and slender calves. Soon, Gu Siyuan saw the large patch of purple bruising on her white left knee, and she felt a wave of heartache.

The physician reached out and pressed lightly around the bruise with his index finger. Zhongli Ran’s delicate eyebrows twitched, and a pained expression flashed across her face. Seeing this, Gu Siyuan couldn’t help but reach out to steady her thin, frail shoulders.

The pressure from her hand allowed Zhongli Ran to distract herself from some of the pain. She looked at her injured leg and asked, “How is it? Is it serious?”

The physician stood to reply, “With the protection of the Great Unity, Your Majesty is not in any grave danger; these are merely superficial injuries. The canine teeth in the mouth were already loose, but the gums were punctured, so medicine must be applied. The forehead and left knee are severely swollen due to the impact; we must use cold compresses to reduce the swelling before applying topical medicine.”

Hearing this, Gu Siyuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked quickly, “Does Taiyi Temple have ice?”

The physician replied, “We do. There are several ice cellars in the temple that store enough ice for the summer heat. This humble one will send someone to fetch it immediately. Now, allow me to treat the wounds in Your Majesty’s mouth first. It would be bad if they became inflamed.”

Zhongli Ran nodded and opened her mouth at the physician’s signal. The physician used alcohol to disinfect the tools and used cotton to remove the clotted blood from her mouth. It seemed to be very painful, as Zhongli Ran knit her brows.

Seeing this, Gu Siyuan took Zhongli Ran’s hand, giving her pain a place to lean on. Zhongli Ran gripped her hand but did not use much force. By the time the physician had applied the medicine, a thin layer of sweat had broken out on Zhongli Ran’s forehead.

Just then, the Taoists fetching the ice entered the hall. The physician suggested that Zhongli Ran lie back on the daybed and rest for a while. Zhongli Ran complied, removed her outer robe, and lay back on the bed. The physician took the ice, wrapped it in thick cotton cloth into two bundles, and handed them to the attendants waiting by the bed, instructing them to help her compress the areas for half an hour.

Shortly after, the physician left with his medicine chest and young apprentice. The Fengbo also led the secret guards to stand watch around the side hall. In the vast, empty hall, only Gu Siyuan and a maid remained by Zhongli Ran’s side.

After the ordeal today and the application of medicine, Zhongli Ran felt as if the bones had been pulled out of her body—lethargic and out of sorts. She was tired, so she dismissed the attendants as well, leaving only Gu Siyuan to accompany her.

Once the attendants were gone, Zhongli Ran looked up at Gu Siyuan and patted the edge of the daybed. She didn’t speak, but Gu Siyuan followed her unspoken wish and sat down by the bed.

Gu Siyuan reached out and placed her hand over the ice covering Zhongli Ran’s knee. Through the thick cotton cloth, she could still feel the chill in this bright spring day. So she asked, “Are you cold?”

The attendants, fearing she might be cold, had brought a quilt to cover her. At the moment, her injured leg was exposed, so it was indeed a bit chilly. She nodded, and Gu Siyuan tucked the quilt tighter around her. This was something she had been used to doing long ago, so it didn’t feel at all awkward now.

Zhongli Ran shifted her position, thought for a moment, and said to her, “Come up.”

Gu Siyuan was slightly surprised and looked at her, saying quickly, “Your Majesty, this is not in accordance with etiquette.” Zhongli Ran ignored her and repeated, “Come up.”

Her attitude was very firm. Seeing that Gu Siyuan was still being reserved, she finally said, “When you were young, did you not also share a bed with Us?”

She remembered. She had always remembered these minute details.

Gu Siyuan broke into a helpless smile, leaning over to look at her and saying softly, “It is different now.” Her eyes were very clear. Zhongli Ran glanced at them, then immediately looked away and said coolly, “So that is the reason?”

Gu Siyuan was puzzled. “What?”

Seeing her like this, Zhongli Ran kindly reminded her, “When we met on the veranda that day, you didn’t pay any attention to Us.”

Gu Siyuan felt a bit helpless and said, “I…” She had clearly bowed, how could that be “not paying attention”? Zhongli Ran looked at her, her little face set and her expression serious. “Now you refer to yourself as ‘I’ before Us? Where was this energy earlier?”

Zhongli Ran didn’t like to speak, but she had been sharp-tongued since she was small. Once she did speak, the overly easygoing Gu Siyuan was simply no match for her.

Gu Siyuan felt helpless. Thinking of the teeth that had just been medicated, she asked, “Does Your Majesty’s tooth not hurt?”

Zhongli Ran certainly felt pain, it hurt even more when she spoke. But now, facing Gu Siyuan, all those desires to speak that had been extinguished for so long came bubbling up. She nodded, temporarily letting this woman—who was trying to change the subject—off the hook. She skipped over many topics and suddenly asked, “Have We not grown much taller?”

When staying with Zhongli Ran, one had to adapt to her sudden topic changes. Clearly, after five years together in their youth, Gu Siyuan was used to it. She nodded and reached out to stroke the top of Zhongli Ran’s head, saying softly, “You’ve grown taller. Your Majesty has grown up, though you are a bit thin and frail.”

As a child, Zhongli Ran was like a white, soft dumpling with a bit of baby fat. On the day she left Zhongzhou, she only reached Gu Siyuan’s chest; now she reached her chin. In a few more years, Zhongli Ran would be just as tall as her, perhaps even taller.

Zhongli Ran was still growing robustly, yet in these four years, Gu Siyuan seemed to have not changed at all.

Zhongli Ran’s eyes were still cold, yet they lacked a bit of that awkwardness. She looked up at Gu Siyuan and said, “We thought that when We saw you again, We would surely be taller than you.”

Her voice still carried a hint of childishness, making even her self-deprecation sound incomplete. Gu Siyuan was moved, unsure of how to respond for a moment. Zhongli Ran watched her, the stubbornness in her eyes overlaid with a soft light as she asked stiffly, “Did you not want to enter the court as an official? Why did you go to the Hongwen Library?”

Gu Siyuan answered honestly, “Grandmother suggested it.”

Zhongli Ran thought for a moment. This was indeed a decision her teacher would make, and one that Gu Siyuan would accept. She then thought of the Ministry of Rites official Gu Siyuan was to meet today and asked, “Was seeing Feng Ping something your family made you do?”

Gu Siyuan answered every question, nodding her head.

Zhongli Ran glanced at her, her mind unknown, and only after a while did she say, “Are you going to get married? Feng Ping… is not very good-looking.”

Strictly speaking, he wasn’t an exceptionally beautiful man. His looks were not outstanding in the Chu court, which was filled with beauties. Gu Siyuan was startled, not having expected her to think so far ahead, and laughed softly. “I hadn’t planned on getting married. It’s just that my mother has been pressing me hard, so I came out to meet him today.”

“Oh, a blind date?” After saying those words, Zhongli Ran added coldly, “We forgot. You didn’t see him, so it didn’t count as a match.”

She was quite right, so Gu Siyuan could only nod and give an “Mm.” Zhongli Ran then asked her again, “Is your family in a hurry to have you marry?”

“My mother seems quite hurried.” Gu Siyuan answered her. They had been like this since childhood; because they were often together and Zhongli Ran was more precocious than other children, Gu Siyuan often didn’t treat her as just a child. Most of the time, Zhongli Ran was her closest companion.

Zhongli Ran paused for a second, then suddenly said, “There are many people in a hurry on Our end as well. We are to have a Grand Wedding.”

Gu Siyuan didn’t understand at first. By the time she realized what was said, she had already uttered a surprised “Eh?” in astonishment.