Early spring in the second month, grass grows and orioles fly.
It was said that the newly appointed top scholar, Shu the Third Young Master, on the day he rode through the streets on horseback, was knocked off his horse by a peach thrown by a young woman. Within one or two days, this matter spread wildly throughout the capital, known to women and children alike.
“Shu the Third Young Master comes from a military family, yet he was publicly knocked off his horse by a girl. He must have been too ashamed to leave his house for days!” a passing peddler resting at a teahouse laughed loudly as he spoke.
“I heard he really did not come out for several days!”
This drew another round of laughter.
At this time, in the Shu residence, Shu Changyu sat upright by the window, staring blankly outside.
At the moment, his right leg ached in waves, but it was not the bone-piercing pain from his broken leg in prison in his previous life. It was only a minor injury from falling off the horse while dodging the peach that day.
These days, the spring weather was bright and clear, the sky deep blue. A gentle breeze flowed through the window. Outside, the peach trees he had planted were blooming noisily; when the wind blew, petals scattered like rain, carrying a faint sense of a peach-blossom utopia.
He had actually been reborn at the moment of death… opening his eyes and returning fifteen years earlier.
Only now was he gradually coming back to himself. Everything from his past life was vivid, yet also seemed far away, like a dream in confusion.
He knew he had committed unforgivable sins. If Heaven truly had eyes, why did it not send him straight to hell to be tormented? Why instead let him, a vile man, come back to live through it all again?
Just as he was lost in thought, a young attendant lifted the curtain and entered. The boy wore a neat short outfit, holding a tea tray, stepping briskly over the threshold.
He did not even glance at Shu Changyu and walked straight toward the inner room. Passing the beaded curtain, he saw the bed empty, and the medicine that should have been taken was already cold on the table.
“Young master!” he hurried out from behind the curtain, searching, still unable to stop his steps, only to find the young master sitting at the other side of the room by the window, smiling at him.
Outside the window was blue sky reflecting peach blossoms; spring breeze filled the air, passing through the lattice and brushing the hair at his temples.
“Why are you shouting so loudly? I heard you,” he smiled.
This young attendant was his personal servant Qing of his previous life, Kongqing. At that time, after his father and eldest sister died in battle, his second brother was deceived into returning to the capital to support the throne and was executed as a rebel; his mother and sister-in-law also passed away afterward. He was imprisoned alone, tortured until his leg was broken, and it was Kongqing who risked his life to bring him medicine—only to be beaten to death in front of him by prison guards.
Shu Changyu watched as Kongqing ran up in a few quick steps, placing the tea tray on the table beside him, frowning in complaint: “Young master’s leg is not yet healed, yet you are already walking around on your own, and you do not even drink your medicine…”
His lively expression was like a stream returning to spring in a deep valley, instantly washing away the image in his memory of a blood-covered face crying out “young master.”
Thus Shu Changyu’s expression became even more gentle and warm as he said softly: “I’ve been lying down for two days, my bones are stiff. Seeing the peach blossoms bloom so well, I came here to sit for a while. It is nothing serious.”
Although Kongqing was careless, he still noticed that ever since the young master fell from the horse two days ago, he had been dazed and lacking spirit. Now that he finally seemed to recover a little, he felt happy and smiled unconsciously: “The peach blossoms are indeed good, but they bloom every year. Nothing is more important than your health, young master.”
Then he noticed that the young master was only wearing a thin stone-blue robe, sitting so openly by the window in the early spring chill.
He frowned again and began to lecture: “If you want to see the peach blossoms, you should wear more! You have had a cold illness since childhood and cannot bear cold wind. If you catch a chill, what then…”
As he spoke, he went inside to fetch a cloak and draped it over him.
Shu Changyu accepted it gladly and smiled: “These peach blossoms are not something you can see every year—naturally, one sees them one year less each year.”
“Huh?” Kongqing looked up in confusion.
But Shu Changyu only smiled without answering. He picked up the tea and drank it slowly, then looked back toward the peach blossoms.
In his previous life, this truly was the last year he saw those blossoms. By the time the peach trees bloomed again the next year, he was already in prison, dragging a broken leg in a place without sunlight. That year, the Shu residence had been granted by the emperor to a newly transferred second-rank official. When he later became a powerful minister and reclaimed the residence, these peach trees—planted by his father and elder brother—had already been cut down.
Although he later beheaded that official as compensation for those trees, it still could not bring them back. Only a few stumps remained, never blooming again.
Shu Changyu lowered his eyes without expression, blowing away a tea leaf floating on the surface.
At that moment, he heard greetings from the courtyard outside. Looking over, he saw his sister-in-law Gu Lanrong supporting his mother Lady Li as they entered with several maids.
When Lady Li entered, she saw Shu Changyu rising from the couch with Kongqing’s help. She walked forward smiling: “My son, do not move. Your leg is still injured; be careful not to leave any lingering illness.”
“It is nothing, it has already mostly healed. Mother worries too much,” Shu Changyu replied with a smile, sitting back down and instructing Kongqing: “Go bring tea.”
Kongqing quickly obeyed and withdrew.
“Jingchen seems much more energetic today,” Gu Lanrong said with a smile while helping Lady Li sit. “Mother has been unable to sleep these past two days worrying, but now she can finally be at ease.”
“It was never a serious injury. Mother worried excessively,” Shu Changyu said with a smile.
Jingchen was Shu Changyu’s courtesy name, and Gu Lanrong was the wife of his eldest brother Shu Changkai. After only a few years of marriage, his brother died in battle while she was pregnant. Lady Li originally said she need not waste her youth and could return to her family after giving birth to remarry, but she refused and remained in the Shu residence, raising the child and staying with Lady Li until the events of his previous life.
Since the age of eight, Shu Changyu had grown up under these two women. His father, brothers, and elder sister were all stationed at the border for long periods; he could not withstand the cold winds there, so he grew up in the capital under their care.
Because of this, in his previous life at this time, Shu Changyu had little of the aura of a military family heir, instead resembling a young noble raised in luxury. With his elegant appearance, he naturally carried a gentle and refined air.
But now, Shu Changyu had weathered countless storms and was no longer the same youth.
Hearing this, Lady Li laughed heartily and reached over to flick his forehead: “Still saying I worry too much? You little brat, you should have seen how miserable you looked two days ago!” Gu Lanrong also covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed.
If it were the Shu Changyu of the past, he would have easily responded with jokes. But after more than a decade as a smiling, scheming minister, he had long forgotten the ease of peaceful days. So now he could not quite respond, only smiling quietly at them.
In his heart, he thought in an unfitting manner that such peaceful and harmonious scenes were truly reassuring.
After all, in his previous life, he had been thrown into prison without warning and never even saw his mother and sister-in-law again before they were separated by death.
After a while, seeing him not respond, Lady Li stopped and teased with Gu Lanrong: “Look at him now, he already has the airs of a top scholar.”
“Now that Jingchen has achieved success, he should be more proper,” Gu Lanrong said gently with a smile. “In this manner, at the Qionglin Banquet, he will gain the emperor’s favor.”
At the mention of the Qionglin Banquet, Shu Changyu’s expression changed slightly.
In his previous life, it was at the Qionglin Banquet that the emperor half-jokingly said a few words, and he voluntarily requested to become tutor to the newly returned second prince, who had been lost in the common world for fifteen years. At that time, his heart was calm; he only felt pity for the young prince’s hardships and awkward position upon returning to the palace, and wanted to help.
But how could the people of the imperial household be pitied by him?
The Shu family already held great military power, and he had just become top scholar—glory upon glory. When he took the initiative to approach the second prince, the weak and suspicious emperor grew wary, suspecting the Shu family intended to cultivate an unsupported prince to elevate him as a puppet ruler.
That seed of suspicion was planted then, and later fanned by others, eventually leading to the destruction of his entire family.
Unknowingly, Shu Changyu tightened his grip on his teacup.
This life, he would not repeat the same mistake and destroy his entire family for an unrelated person. As for Jing Mu… in his previous life he had betrayed all of his trust. In this life, it should not begin again.
He lowered his eyes and drank tea, forcibly suppressing the inexplicable bitterness rising within him.
When he looked up again, he heard Lady Li gossiping with Gu Lanrong.
“…They say the second prince’s mother was the former Consort Yun, who once enjoyed the emperor’s favor! But she was killed by the Empress, desperately sending the child away. Now that he has been brought back by Noble Consort Hui, it is truly a blow against the Empress!”
Gu Lanrong sighed: “It is only pitiful for that prince. I heard he suffered greatly in the common world, even joined the army at eleven to survive. These past two years he finally earned a military rank as an officer, yet now he is brought back to the palace—unwanted everywhere, truly caught between both sides…”
Shu Changyu did not continue listening, turning his gaze to the spring scenery outside the window.
At this moment, the palace was also filled with bright spring light.
The Emperor of Qianning had been frail since childhood, and in recent years had become increasingly emaciated. Now wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, he looked as if hanging on a skeleton frame.
He had just come from court, where the ministers argued until his head ached. Being overly meticulous by nature, he dissected every sentence into multiple meanings, and after an hour he was exhausted and dizzy. After dismissing court, he sent away most attendants and wandered alone.
He was listening to a eunuch recount the amusing tale of “the top scholar struck down by a peach and knocked off his horse,” laughing loudly, when he unknowingly reached the Prince’s Residence.
This was a palace area reserved for princes to study. From afar, one could hear reading voices.
He suddenly looked up and saw a figure standing by a window, mostly hidden by trees and flowers, peeking into the room.
He stopped, frowned, raised a hand to interrupt the eunuch’s chatter, and pointed toward that direction: “Go see who it is.”
At that moment, the figure turned around and looked toward the emperor.
The youth wore worn, faded clothing, standing upright among the flowers. Unlike the elegant sons of the capital, his features were sharp and striking like a blade of light.
His expression was calm, but his eyes were bottomless.