He instinctively lowered his voice, slowly bent down, and while the rabbit was still unguarded, scooped it up with his right hand, habitually rubbing its cheek with his fingers.
People stood on either side of Wen Qingci.
He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, resignedly carried the rabbit out, step by step.
“Your Highness, here you go.”
Wen Qingci slowly squatted down, handing the rabbit to Xie Fuyin.
Unexpectedly, Xie Fuyin didn’t immediately take the rabbit into her arms, but wrinkled her nose and let out a puzzled “huh”.
…She thought the stranger’s scent was somehow familiar.
A bitter, fragrant smell, as if she’d encountered it somewhere before.
Seeing Xie Fuyin standing still, Mingliu behind her reminded, “Your Highness, quickly take the little rabbit back.”
Worried she’d disturb Xie Bufeng, Xie Fuyin hadn’t stayed inside long before Mingliu and the others brought her out.
The little girl had just been grumbling, but upon seeing the rabbit, she forgot everything else.
“Oh, okay!” Xie Fuyin snapped back to herself.
Wen Qingci gently handed the rabbit over.
His left hand still couldn’t move normally, so his actions were a bit stiff.
The rabbit was restless.
Just as Wen Qingci handed it over, it suddenly leapt, trying to escape from someone’s arms.
Wen Qingci instinctively raised his left hand to block it.
But the next second, his hand fell limply.
Wen Qingci’s heart tightened sharply.
He immediately stood up, intending to chase after the rabbit.
This time, Xie Fuyin finally looked up, her face full of suspicion as she stared at Wen Qingci.
She finally remembered-she’d smelled that bitter fragrance on Physician Wen before!
But… didn’t her mother say Physician Wen had already “passed away”?
“Wait!” Xie Fuyin called out, running over in small steps to stand in front of Wen Qingci.
Mingliu tried to stop her, but couldn’t.
And just then, a breeze blew from somewhere, gently lifting the veil on Wen Qingci’s hat, raising it in a small arc.
The soft veil brushed past Wen Qingci’s chin, but didn’t reveal his face.
Those around only glanced once before looking away.
But Xie Fuyin was different.
She stood there, staring at Wen Qingci, completely forgetting about catching the rabbit.
Unlike the adults, she was only as tall as Wen Qingci’s waist, and as the veil lifted, she saw a familiar outline from below.
Xie Fuyin’s eyes widened, and she called out softly, “…Physician Wen? Is that you?”
Her voice was very soft, but at that moment, the little courtyard was so quiet.
Aside from the faint conversation drifting from the side hall, the only sound in everyone’s ears was their own breathing.
Physician Wen?!
Could it be that Her Highness the Princess was talking about… Wen Qingci?
Wen Qingci had been coming and going freely in the front courtyard these past days.
The eunuchs, maids, and guards stationed here had all seen him.
Some of the older staff who had been at Taishu Palace before the upheaval had also noticed this wandering physician’s resemblance to Wen Qingci.
But… come to think of it, if he didn’t look like him, Xie Bufeng wouldn’t have chosen him as a stand-in.
So when Xie Fuyin said those words, everyone’s first reaction was-Her Highness must have mistaken him for someone else.
Wen Qingci froze for a moment, then instinctively shook his head slightly.
But Xie Fuyin, still a child, didn’t understand such things.
Remembering how he struggled to lift his left arm, she was almost certain that the person before her was Wen Qingci.
The little girl’s eyes instantly reddened, and she completely forgot about the rabbit.
She burst into tears, ran over, and hugged Wen Qingci tightly, refusing to let him go: “Physician Wen, wuwu… they all said you’d never come back. I-I missed you so much…”
This time, the little girl’s voice rang out clearly in everyone’s ears.
-including those in the side hall who had already visited Xie Bufeng and were preparing to leave.
Xie Guanzhi frowned and slowly turned to look outside.
…
Reason told Wen Qingci that he should push Xie Fuyin away and pretend not to know her.
But the hoarse sound of her crying and her unstoppable sobs made it impossible for Wen Qingci to harden his heart…
Especially when Xie Fuyin looked up at him through tears with those beautiful amber eyes.
“Wuwuwu… I missed you so much, Physician Wen. My brother and I-we both missed you so much…”
Xie Fuyin clung tightly to Wen Qingci’s waist, afraid he would leave again.
Tears, like strings of crystal beads, rolled down from the corners of her eyes, unstoppable.
Wen Qingci clenched his hand into a fist, then slowly relaxed it.
The young physician standing beside Wen Qingci gritted his teeth.
Like everyone else, he thought Xie Fuyin had mistaken him for someone else…
His colleague seemed to have real feelings for His Majesty.
Now, being reminded of the “stand-in” status-would he mind?
Thinking this, the physician felt a pang of sympathy.
But just as he was about to muster the courage to comfort Xie Fuyin and hand her to the nanny, Wen Qingci slowly raised his hand and gently patted the little princess’s head.
The physician beside him instantly held his breath.
Everyone was startled by Wen Qingci’s action.
Had this wandering physician been in Taishu Palace so long and still not figured out his own identity?!
Or did he, favored by His Majesty, really think he could speak with the princess?
“Oh dear!” The nanny in charge of Xie Fuyin grew anxious. “Your Highness, come back quickly. You-you’ve got the wrong person, do you understand?” Her voice grew softer, but in the quiet, it was still clearly heard by all.
Along with Xie Fuyin’s retort-the little girl stubbornly shook her head and said loudly, “No, I saw him, he-he is Physician Wen-”
And she cried even harder.
Before anyone could react, footsteps suddenly sounded in front of the side hall.
Xie Guanzhi and his group walked out from inside.
Dressed in a pale yellow brocade robe, his face was full of disdain.
From a distance, Xie Guanzhi glanced over, lowered his voice and said, “Princess, don’t joke. He… he’s already gone, didn’t you see him buried with your own eyes? Best not to say more, let him rest in peace.”
His voice was a bit nasal.
After speaking, he looked at Wen Qingci, making no effort to hide his contempt: “Some people don’t live as themselves, but pretend to be someone else. Wear a veil long enough, and don’t forget who you really are.”
Children’s understanding of life and death is always vague.
But Xie Fuyin understood the word “buried” and recalled the image of Wen Qingci nailed into a coffin.
She cried even harder.
She gripped Wen Qingci’s clothes, refusing to let him go, and sobbed, “Physician Wen, d-don’t go, okay? I missed you so much, my brother missed you too, we can’t even sleep at night… and, Mother and Brother Guanzhi, they miss you too!”
Xie Fuyin couldn’t say anything complicated.
She just rattled off a list of names in front of Wen Qingci.
…Only then did he realize that even Mingliu had quietly folded yellow paper for him during the Cold Clothes Festival, thinking of him.
Wen Qingci’s hand, resting on Xie Fuyin’s head, suddenly paused, then began to tremble.
At this moment, the Empress Dowager and Dowager Consort Hui also came out from the side hall.
Seeing Xie Guanzhi arguing with a little girl, Dowager Consort Hui frowned, wanting to call him away.
But when the Empress Dowager caught sight of that moon-white figure in the distance, her heart suddenly clenched.
Wen Qingci.
…It really was him.
“No need.” The Empress Dowager slowly raised her hand, stopping Dowager Consort Hui beside her.
“…No need?” Dowager Consort Hui was stunned. Seeing the Empress Dowager’s dazed expression, a terrible thought suddenly struck her, and her hands and feet went cold.
Could that wandering physician really be Wen Qingci?
But how could that be-wasn’t he already dead…
At some point, Xie Bufeng also walked out from the hall.
Everyone held their breath.
No one dared to look up, let alone speak.
Everyone was on edge, anxiously waiting to see how this scene would end.
At that moment, the setting sun sank behind the pavilions.
All the attendants knelt, none daring to leave to light the lamps.
Dusk had already fallen all around.
Tonight was the new moon, and the sky was empty and vast.
Only the ground glowed with a pale, moonlit hue, as if moonlight had fallen to earth.
Wen Qingci gently rubbed Xie Fuyin’s head and softly closed his eyes.
After a pause, he finally bent down and gathered the still quietly sobbing Xie Fuyin into his arms.
——————————
In that instant, every gaze fell on Wen Qingci.
No one noticed that, before the side hall, the young emperor in black also clenched his fists tightly.
The little princess slowly reached up and touched the veil on top of Wen Qingci’s head-
She did it only out of curiosity.
But Xie Bufeng was instantly so tense he could hardly breathe.
Both he and Wen Qingci knew what that veil represented.
-It stood for the identity of “Imperial Physician Wen,” for all the chains that came with that name, for the heavy past Wen Qingci carried.
No one could wear a veil for a lifetime, forever hiding their name.
Wearing it meant Wen Qingci would eventually leave Yongdu and return to the Valley of Divine Physicians.
Only by removing it could Wen Qingci possibly stay by his side.
Perhaps sensing her brother’s unease, Xie Fuyin lowered her hand and instead hugged Wen Qingci’s neck, crying softly.
But the man holding her stood there, unmoving, stiff as a statue.
In that moment, Wen Qingci’s mind raced with countless thoughts.
…He had always believed his “death” was so dramatic there was no turning back.
And for the past year, that had been true.
At least, until he met Xie Bufeng again in Lianhe, Wen Qingci had thought he would never return to Yongdu, never see old friends again.
After returning to the palace, he’d been torn, unable to find an answer.
But now… from the little girl’s eyes, Wen Qingci saw an unhidden sorrow.
Suddenly, he didn’t want anyone to be sad because of him anymore.
He realized clearly that not only that-he also wanted the book “Relieving Calamity in the Apricot Grove” and those ideas ahead of their time to spread from here.
So that there would never again be another Shanyu Ravine.
A wandering physician from Songxiu Manor could not accomplish this.
But Imperial Physician Wen Qingci could.
Wen Qingci’s heart pounded faster and faster, as if it would burst from his chest.
His blood, too, felt boiling hot.
He hugged Xie Fuyin tighter.
The light around them grew dimmer.
Xie Bufeng bit his lip hard, not knowing when he’d started.
Seeing Wen Qingci stand motionless for so long, the same Xie Bufeng who had just declared his feelings so calmly in the hall was suddenly nervous and afraid.
All the blood in his body seemed to freeze.
The courtyard was utterly silent.
Xie Bufeng took a deep breath, forced a self-mocking smile, and finally stepped forward.
Thinking he wouldn’t get an answer, he prepared to take his sister from Wen Qingci’s arms.
But just as his footsteps echoed in the courtyard-
Wen Qingci’s voice suddenly rang out.
He lowered his head and gave Xie Fuyin a gentle smile: “Your Highness, you’ve grown taller.”
In that instant, Xie Guanzhi’s eyes widened.
Only Xie Bufeng heard… Wen Qingci’s voice was trembling ever so slightly.
So he wasn’t as calm as he seemed…
A surge of immense joy wrapped around Xie Bufeng.
Wen Qingci’s left hand, hanging at his side, ached faintly in the night breeze.
But he stubbornly grit his teeth and, with great effort, raised his hand and placed his fingers on the brim of his hat.
The moon-white sleeve slipped down, revealing pale skin covered in fierce scars.
After a few seconds, Wen Qingci finally mustered his strength and took off the veil.
It slipped from his hand and fell softly to the ground.
But now, no one cared about the veil.
All eyes were fixed on Wen Qingci.
In an instant, his ponytailed black hair swayed gently behind him,
like a waterfall of ink pouring down.
-Jet-black eyes, a straight nose, lips tinged with vivid color, and the bright red cinnabar mark at his brow all appeared before the crowd.
There was still a faint smile at his lips.
His expression was calm and gentle, just as it had been in the past.
This-this was impossible.
Wen Qingci…
He really was Wen Qingci!
So the one who broke the siege of Lianhe was Wen Qingci.
No wonder, no wonder… only he could have done all this.
The young physician beside Wen Qingci swayed, nearly collapsing to the ground.
Under the cover of night, the courtyard was filled with the sound of people gasping in shock.
The first stars rose, the Milky Way hung overhead.
All of it was just a backdrop behind Wen Qingci.
Everyone’s ears buzzed.
Their minds stopped working.
For a long time, no one in the courtyard spoke.
In the end, it was still Wen Qingci who broke the silence.
Holding Xie Fuyin, he walked slowly toward the side hall.
Xie Bufeng suddenly felt at a loss.
He stared deeply at Wen Qingci, greedily tracing his face over and over in the starlight.
But before he reached the hall, Wen Qingci stopped.
He gently handed Xie Fuyin to the Empress Dowager.
“Fuyin, be good,” the Empress Dowager said softly as she took Xie Fuyin into her arms. “Remember? Physician Wen’s arm is injured-let Mother hold you instead, all right?”
After her crying subsided, Xie Fuyin finally remembered this. Sniffling, she nodded and obediently turned to hug her mother’s neck.
Just as Wen Qingci was about to leave, the Empress Dowager suddenly spoke: “Physician Wen, please wait a moment.”
Her palm was already slick with nervous sweat.
After twenty years navigating palace intrigue, it was rare for her to feel so tense: “I’ve long heard of Imperial Physician Wen’s good deeds in Lianhe. Now, the formulas and epidemic prevention methods from that time have already spread to every province… Although I’ve never studied medicine, I know that the greatest taboo for a physician is to follow the book blindly. So… would Physician Wen be willing to stay and teach these medical principles to the imperial physicians?”
Though the Empress Dowager hadn’t visited the Imperial Medical Bureau recently and didn’t know exactly what Xie Bufeng had done to Wen Qingci, nothing happening in the outside world escaped her notice.
-Xie Bufeng had spread Wen Qingci’s theories far and wide.
This was for the world, but also for himself.
He wanted Wen Qingci to know that, with the power of the emperor, he could fulfill his wish.
And he hoped, by doing so, to keep him here.
At this moment, the Empress Dowager finally laid everything bare.
After speaking, she let out a long breath and quietly looked at Wen Qingci.
Her words were not a command, but a subtle inquiry.
In this era, many “skills” were closely guarded secrets. Wen Qingci had already shown great generosity by not keeping his Lianhe formulas secret; it would be perfectly reasonable for him to refuse.
The Empress Dowager had deliberately asked in front of so many people.
If Wen Qingci did not wish to remain in Yongdu in the future, she would do everything in her power to help him regain his freedom.
Her neatly trimmed, cinnabar-stained nails had, at some point, dug deep into her palm.
Realizing what his mother intended, Xie Bufeng suddenly stepped forward and hugged Wen Qingci tightly from behind.
His action startled everyone.
The Empress Dowager was about to speak, but the next moment, she noticed a glimmer in Xie Bufeng’s eyes.
There were tears in them.
She paused, then immediately turned and commanded, “Withdraw-”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Within just a few minutes, several major events had taken place.
Still shaken, everyone quickly withdrew from the Imperial Medical Bureau.
The Empress Dowager also left the courtyard with Xie Fuyin in her arms.
In the blink of an eye, the courtyard was empty, leaving only Wen Qingci and Xie Bufeng.
“Your Majesty…”
“Wait.” Xie Bufeng gently pressed a kiss to Wen Qingci’s cheek.
The Empress Dowager’s tension had been palpable.
Though he couldn’t hear her thoughts, Xie Bufeng had already guessed most of them before she spoke.
He hadn’t stopped his mother.
After all this time together… what Xie Bufeng wanted was no longer just to keep Wen Qingci by his side and possess his body.
He wanted Wen Qingci to love him too.
He was always greedy.
And as someone who had fought for his kingdom on the battlefield, he disdained base methods of possession.
Xie Bufeng’s voice was hoarse and muffled: “I know you picked up the hand warmer I gave you… You picked it up from the torrential rains by the Yin River Grand Canal. Qingci, you knew how dangerous that water was.”
Wen Qingci’s heart trembled, and his left arm suddenly tingled.
He heard Xie Bufeng ask:
“So, do you really feel nothing for me?”
Xie Bufeng was guiding Wen Qingci to recall: “When I told you I’d fallen for a man, did you feel only disgust… or something else? Qingci, only you know the answer to that.”
Wen Qingci’s thoughts became clear.
Yes.
He knew exactly how dangerous the rain-swollen Yin River Grand Canal was.
But he still retrieved that hand warmer…
Even knowing that, when they met again, he and Xie Bufeng would be enemies, not friends.
The memories Wen Qingci had forced down resurfaced.
He remembered the moment Xie Bufeng told him he liked men.
The first thing that crossed his mind was-could it be possible that, unlike what was written in the original story, he wouldn’t have to personally send Xie Bufeng off to war?
Wen Qingci’s body began to tremble.
Back then, he didn’t want to disappoint Xie Bufeng, didn’t want to see him hurt.
Wen Qingci tried to turn and look at Xie Bufeng, but the man behind him held him tightly, unwilling for him to see his own vulnerability.
Xie Bufeng’s tone was no longer composed, but flustered and uncertain:
“I don’t know what to do, I just want to give you the very best I have.”
Recalling everyone’s evasive expressions when talking about the dragon barge and the empty coffin, Xie Bufeng even said cautiously, “If you don’t like what I’ve done, then I’ll make the world forget it, all right?”
“…Wen Qingci, save me one more time. Please?”
He possessed the wealth of the world and ruled the land, but at this moment, Xie Bufeng was like a mortal begging the gods for salvation.
Lights flickered outside the Imperial Medical Bureau.
By the time the lamplight reached this place, it was already faint and dim.
Their shadows stretched long and blurred.
Wen Qingci slowly raised his hand and placed it on Xie Bufeng’s arm.
He let his gaze fall on their shadows.
Xie Bufeng’s figure was much taller than his own.
His own shadow was completely enveloped by Xie Bufeng’s.
In the empty courtyard, only Xie Bufeng’s shadow swayed with the candlelight, appearing lonely and forlorn.
Wen Qingci’s thoughts grew chaotic because of this realization.
In that moment, he suddenly understood… he cared about Xie Bufeng.
It was perhaps not the concern of a doctor for his patient, nor of a subject for his emperor.
But the care of one ordinary person for another.
…He cared about his joys and sorrows, his moments of bustle and loneliness.
He even… didn’t mind Xie Bufeng’s touches and kisses, and allowed his wildness.
Sensing the trembling of the person in his arms, Xie Bufeng fell silent.
The night wind blew in, carrying a chill.
Xie Bufeng hugged the person in his arms even tighter.
At the moment when their breaths mingled again, Wen Qingci suddenly realized… this blurring of boundaries between them was called “liking.”
Wen Qingci’s breath caught in his throat.
His mind went completely blank.
All around was silence.
Only the sound of breathing, and the night wind rustling through the treetops.
Time seemed to stand still.
The next moment, the silence was broken.
A soft knocking sounded, especially sharp in the night.
The Empress Dowager’s voice drifted faintly from afar: “Imperial Physician Wen, have you made your decision?”
Worried that Xie Bufeng might do something excessive, she finally couldn’t help but call out from outside the courtyard.
The balance was broken at that instant.
“Your Majesty,” after a few seconds, Wen Qingci lowered his eyes and smiled, his clear voice coming from within Xie Bufeng’s embrace, “May I answer this question now?”
“…You may.” Xie Bufeng slowly closed his eyes.
As if awaiting a verdict from fate.
The arms that had wielded a heavy sword countless times now seemed to lose the strength to hold the person in his embrace.
Wen Qingci’s gaze remained on that long shadow.
…He did like Xie Bufeng.
But, new to love, he didn’t know how to measure it-how deep or shallow it was.
Having practiced medicine all his life, he perhaps understood the weight of responsibility and promises better than anyone.
So… Wen Qingci decided to give himself and Xie Bufeng a chance.
He slowly grasped the hand Xie Bufeng had placed on his shoulder.
The cold, delicate touch gently pulled Xie Bufeng, who was on the verge of falling into the abyss, back to reality.
Wen Qingci didn’t answer the question behind him, but instead raised his voice a little and said to those outside the Imperial Medical Bureau: “Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, this subject is willing… to teach my colleagues at the Imperial Medical Bureau.”
He was willing to try accepting Xie Bufeng’s affection.
And to try… loving him as one would a lover.
IM GONNA CRYYYYYFYDYDHDEEGYDESFEYSG 😭😭😭
FINALLY everyone now know he’s alive and not just a substitute 😂😂😂 and they’re officially TOGETHER ❤️