(BaiLing's pov)
In a blink of an eye, half a week had flown by before I knew it. I had spent most of my time going back and forth between the barracks and the base. Now Friday had come, and I was getting ready for another day of work. Today, I was heading to the army base to prepare some stuff for the upcoming monthly evaluation. Once I arrived, I headed for my office and got straight to work. It was only around noon that Bai Yang had come running to my office to turn my somewhat peaceful day into a messy one.
Bai Yang: "General, I'm here to deliver a message from butler Su."
Me: "Come in."
When Bai Yang came in, he looked like he had sprinted here at top speed. Sweat drops were running down the side of his face, and his breathing was heavy.
Me: "What's wrong? Did something happen back at home?"
Trying to catch his breath Bai Yang responded.
"huh..huh..huh... The butler... he said that... someone from the Eternal Spring palace had come and said that the Royal Consort wishes to see you."
Me: "They asked me to come right now?"
Bai Yang nodded and said.
"The butler said that you had stepped out for a minute and that he would relay the news as soon as you came home."
I nodded my head and immediately called out for Zhi Xuan. Within a matter of minutes, he came running in.
Zhi Xuan: "You called general?"
Me: "I need to go into the palace for some business. Help me take care of things here. I should be back by Sunday if I don't return later."
He nodded his head and left. I looked back at Bai Yang and told him to return to work. I then grabbed all of my stuff and headed home. When I got home, uncle Su was pacing back and forth in the front yard. I called out to him, and when he turned around, he seemed relieved.
Uncle Su: "My lady, you're back."
Me: "Hmmm. Don't worry. I'll go change and head in. Please go prepare a carriage for me."
Uncle Su nodded his head and left. I then went back to my room to get changed. Since last time I wore a blue dress to go see her, this time I wore a light yellow dress with peach color mixed in. Once I was done, I headed to the carriage and made my way to the palace.
On my way there, I couldn't help but stop by the little stall where the old grandma sold her pastries. While I bought the pastries from her, I had the maid I had taken along go into the restaurant nearby and buy another box of pastries. Although my grandpa and the other physicians don't mind food bought from stalls on the streets, the royal family might.
(It is common for young ladies to go out with the maid(s). Although BaiLing doesn't have a personal maid, she still has to bring someone with her.)
Once everything was bought, I returned to the carriage and continued my journey.
(10 minutes later)
I finally arrived at the palace gates. Once I got off the carriage, I went to the Eternal Spring Palace. When I was almost halfway to the inner courts, I saw someone pacing back and forth as if they were waiting for someone. I took a closer look to see that it was a maid from the Royal Consort's palace. As I got closer, she looked up at me and seemed relieved.
(The palace is split up into the outer courts and the inner courts. The outer court is where the official's work offices are, and the inner court is where the royal family resides.)
The young maid came up and greeted me before saying.
"My lady, you're here."
Me: "Yes, please take me to see the Royal Consort."
The maid nodded her head and immediately led the way.
After another ten minutes of walking, we arrived at our destination. The young maid quickly went inside to the Royal Consort that I was there, and I slowly walked inside.
In the main hall, the Royal Consort sat there in a sapphire blue dress with silver embroideries creating different flowers and designs. Her hair was in a simple updo, and had different hairpins that showed off her rank and love from the emperor. One could look at her and see that her aura and demeanor were suitable for someone of her status.
Once I got to the center of the room, I stopped and greeted the Royal Consort.
"Greetings to Royal Consort Lin. I apologize for coming late. I hope you can forgive me."
The Royal Consort looked up at me and said.
"No worries, my dear. It was my fault for calling on you out of the blue. Now come and sit down. Also, please don't call me Royal Consort. It makes me feel old and distant from you."
I looked up at her, and she had a warm smile on her face. I smiled back and said.
"Thank you, mother."
I then went and took a seat. As I sat down, I noticed that the Royal Consort was looking at the boxes my maid was carrying. I turned to her and grabbed the one bought from the restaurant.
(Narrator's pov)
After BaiLing grabbed the box, she turned around, went up to the consort, and said.
"I'm not sure what type of pastries you like, so I got a little bit of each. I hope you will accept this."
Looking surprised, the consort reached out and took the box from her. Although she often receives gifts from others. It had been a while since she received something so simple, yet it made her very happy.
Royal Consort Lin: "Thank you, my dear. I'll definitely enjoy these."
Once the box was taken, BaiLing went back to her seat. As she sat down, the consort opened the box and tried out one of the pastries. Although BaiLing preferred the ones from the old grandma, the ones she bought for the consort were from a famous place in the capital city.
Royal Consort Lin: "Hmmm... indeed, these are very good."
BaiLing: "I'm glad that you like them."
The Royal Consort set down her pastry, looked at BaiLing, and asked.
"Will you be visiting your grandfather later?"
BaiLing: "Yes, I will."
Royal Consort Lin: "BaiLing, you are a very thoughtful child. I'm glad that Yeu Hwa has you by his side."
BaiLing only smiled back at the consort. Although she was by his side, she never thought of herself as his princess consort. To BaiLing, everything that she does is just her duty. Love has never crossed her mind.
Royal Consort Lin: "Ahh... by the way, you must be wondering why I called for you today."
BaiLing looked up, waiting to hear the reason from the consort.
Royal Consort Lin: "I called for you today because I wanted to tell you that you can always come to me if you need help. Although I can never replace your mother, I still want to be there if you ever need a helping hand. Also, I miss you, so I wanted to see you today."
A little taken back, BaiLing could only thank the consort. She could tell that the consort trying not to bring up bad memories for her, and she was thankful for that.
(20 minutes later)
After chatting with the Royal Consort for some time, she left. As she headed out, she sent her maid home first and went to see her grandfather.
Carrying the boxes and walking along the path did take more time than she wanted to, and if she could, she would have turned into a bird and flown there. However, she did things the hard way to seem like a proper young lady.
After walking for a while, the gate to the physician's quarters came into sight. As usual, she walked up to the door and knocked before coming in.
BaiLing: "Hello, everyone. I hope I'm not bothering you all."
Physician 1: "Hello there! Not at all. Come on in. Old Ling stepped out for a moment, but he'll be back soon."
BaiLing: "Thank you. I brought some snacks. Please enjoy them."
She placed the boxes down, and the physicians thanked her. She then went over to her grandpa's desk and pulled up a chair for herself. While waiting for him to return, she grabbed one of his many books and started reading them. Although BaiLing had read all of the books her grandpa owned, it was still good to re-read them every so often.
(BaiLing's pov)
After reading through a couple of pages, I could hear two pairs of footsteps coming close to the gate. One belonged to grandpa, and the other belonged to Qing Yuan. However, I still continued to read my book. There was no reason to show that I could hear them coming back when they were still over 50 feet away from the door.
Soon both came to the door, and I then went over to greet my grandpa. Although grandpa was a little bit surprised to see me, he was also happy at the same time.
It seems as though the two of them had gone out to check on some patients. I returned to the desk and grabbed a box of pastries for Qing Yuan before walking grandpa back to his desk and giving him his portion.
Grandpa: "Thank you, my dear."
Me: "Hmm, you're welcome, grandpa. By the way, I sent my carriage home already. Can I ride with you back later? You can stop by and have dinner with us as well."
Grandpa: "No need to ask me for a ride. I'll go with you later, and we can have dinner together."
I gave grandpa a big smile and continued to sit there and read my book.
A little while later, one of the physicians came over to talk to grandpa and saw me reading one of his books. I could tell he was having many thoughts running through his head.
Physician: "BaiLing, isn't that book a little hard for you to understand?"
(The physicians here don't mean any harm to BaiLing. Not many nobles know that she helps at her grandpa's medicine shop.)
I looked up at the physician and said.
"Ahh... grandpa has taught me some medical stuff before, so this isn't too hard to understand."
Physician: "I see. Indeed you are his granddaughter. A faster learner."
I could only thank him and smile. After his business was done with grandpa, he went back to his desk. I continued to do my reading in peace for a bit longer before grandpa called out to Qing Yuan to go and grab an herb for him from the shelves. He quickly got up and went to get the herb for grandpa and came over.
As he came up to grandpa, I caught a whiff of the smell. Unable to hold back, I looked up at him and asked.
"Isn't this sun blossom?"
This caused everyone to stop what they were doing and look over in our direction. My grandpa then looked up at the herb, smelled it, and said.
"This is sun blossom."
He then looked up at Qing Yuan and said.
"Qing Yuan, I said bring me moon blossom, not sun blossom."
Just as he said that, all of the other physicians burst out laughing. Confused, I wanted to ask what was happening, but my answer was already given to me before I could.
Physician 1: "Hahahaha... Qing Yuan, you still haven't figured out the difference between the two yet?"
Physician 2: "Haha, Qing Yuan, you're good at everything except this. I can't believe that you still have the two messed up."
Physician 3: "Come on, we all know this is his weakness. Good thing it wasn't on the test. Though Qing Yuan, you must figure out how to fix this issue. It's not just these two herbs that you have mixed up."
Seeing how they were talking, I ended up figuring out that although Qing Yuan was a genius, his one and only weakness was not being able to tell some plants apart from one another.
I looked back at him to see him standing there and sheepishly looking at my grandpa. I couldn't help but give out a small chuckle. Who would have thought that the young physician Qing had a minor issue with his herbs?
I then turned over to grandpa and said.
"I'll go get it for you, okay?"
He nodded his head, and I stood up, went to the selves behind him, and grabbed out the moon blossom. After I placed down the herbs, the other physicians said.
"Qing Yuan, maybe you should learn a few things from BaiLing."
The others started to laugh again, and I felt bad for him. However, soon grandpa shooed everyone back to work and told Qing Yuan to go outside and check on the dried herbs. As Qing Yuan nodded his head and got ready to go, grandpa then spoke up and said to me.
"BaiLing, you go with him."
Me: "I understand."
I set the book down and went outside with Qing Yuan.
(Narrator's pov)
Outside the office were rows and rows of tables, all full of herbs set out to be dried. Mixed in-between were shelves with baskets also containing drying herbs.
Together the two of them went around to check on the herbs, seeing which ones were dry and ready to be brought in and which needed to stay outside a bit longer. Although BaiLing wasn't uncomfortable being around Qing Yuan, she didn't like to talk, so she took one side of the yard, and he took the other.
Half an hour later, BaiLing was done going through her side. She had sorted out the ones to be brought in and flipped the ones that needed to be dried more. Once everything was set in place, she went to where Qing Yuan was to see how he was doing. When she went to where he was standing, what she saw shocked her. BaiLing quickly grabbed his arm to stop him from what he was doing. Looking up, he asked her.
"Is everything alright?"
BaiLing: "Physician Qing, you realize that you're mixing up the herbs again, right?"
He looked back to see what she was talking about but still didn't understand. Seeing this, BaiLing could only shake her head.
BaiLing: "You're mixing up pearl's rue and king's rue."
Although both plants looked the same, there was a slight difference in their scents. Pearl's rue had more of a salty ocean smell, while king's rue had more of a woody earth smell. The plants were often mixed up since more people paid attention to the look rather than the smell.
Qing Yuan quickly looked back and smelled the herbs. When BaiLing saw his eyes open wide, she knew he had realized his mistake. He looked back at her sheepishly and said.
"You're right. I did mix them up. Thank you."
BaiLing gave him a small smile and started to help him resort the herbs. The two worked together in silence. Although it was quiet, it wasn't awkward.
(BaiLing's pov)
Once we were almost done sorting through the herbs, I started to hear a flapping sound. Although it was far away, I could tell it was from a large bird. However, birds this big a size usually aren't near the palace. I looked up to see what was going on, and about 150 feet in the sky, I could see a ruby hawk circling around.
"What is a ruby hawk doing here?" I thought.
Ruby hawks were used in the military as messenger birds. However, they were commonly used in the desert kingdoms. So what was one doing here in the palace?
As I was lost in thought, the bird started to descend lower and lower. When I snapped back to reality, I saw it was diving right towards Qing Yuan. I quickly turned around and called out to him.
"Qing Yuan, quickly move out of the way."
He looked at me, confused and unsure of what I was talking about. I quickly ran to him and pulled him out of the way before dodging it myself. However, it seemed I had dragged him too hard and made him fall to a side. I wanted to go over and help him up, but before I could, the hawk had come back again, knocking over more shelves and tables in the process.
Although ruby hawks weren't commonly used here, I was able to work and train them before, so I was able to control them. I put my fingers up to my mouth and blew out a series of commands, and soon, the hawk landed on my arm. Just as the bird had stopped, the office door burst open, and out came all of the physicians, each looking more shocked than the other.
(Narrator's pov)
Looking back and forth, all the physicians could see were endless tables, shelves flipped over, and herbs all over the ground. Once they were able to absorb everything, a couple of them then went over to help Qing Yuan up. Although he wasn't injured in any way, the shock from the hawk and BaiLing's push was more than enough to make him paralyzed.
Physician 1: "Qing Yuan, are you alright? Nothing broken?"
Qing Yuan shook his head and said.
"No, I'm alright. Just a bit shocked."
Glad to see that he was alright, they started to look around again to see what was happening. As they walked around, BaiLing's grandfather approached her and asked.
"Are you alright?"
BaiLing: "I'm alright, grandpa. Though, I wonder where this ruby hawk came from. As far as I know, we don't have any in the palace."
Li Qiang: "I'm not sure. However..."
Before BaiLing's grandpa could finish his sentence, BaiLing noticed four sets of footsteps approaching them. She turned towards the gates to see who was coming. Among the four pairs of feet, one was strong yet light. It was also walking calmly.
Soon, three figures came into view. The four came into view after the first three had passed the gates. Out of the first three, one was a eunuch, one was a servant, and the third person, he was dressed in clothes that seemed to belong to the desert people. However, she couldn't pinpoint who he was exactly. As for the fourth person, he was the eighth prince.
(Ming Yichen is the eighth prince, and his mother is noble consort, Feng. A noble consort is ranked lower than a royal consort, which means the ninth prince's mother is ranked higher than the eighth prince's mother.)
Slowly the eighth prince approached where BaiLing was standing and told the man in the desert clothing to go and take the bird back. The man came up to BaiLing and blew a few commands, and the hawk flew back to him.
From the looks of things, BaiLing guessed that this man was a bird trainer from the desert kingdom, and she had no idea why he was here in the palace. As far as she knew, there were no envoys currently here.
Eighth prince: "My apologies. Is everyone alright?"
Li Qiang: "It is alright, your highness. Everyone is alright."
BaiLing could tell from the look on her grandpa's face and the others that the eighth prince was not very well-liked.
Eighth prince: "That's good to hear. I'll have some men send over some herbs to make up for this mess later."
Li Qiang: "Thank you, your highness."
The eighth prince nodded and then turned to BaiLing and said.
"I have never seen this young lady before. Are you new here?"
(BaiLing's pov)
I looked at the eighth prince and said.
"Greetings, your highness. I am Ming BaiLing. Physicians Ling's granddaughter."
Yichen: "Ahh... So, you are my ninth brother's fiance. I must say I'm surprised you know how to command these ruby hawks."
He looked at me with eyes of curiosity as well as suspicion. Typically anyone who tremble with that look, but I returned a dry smile to him and said.
"Not at all, your highness. I was just lucky that the hawk had landed after taking a couple of dives."
Yichen: "Is that so? I guess you must really be lucky. Have you never thought of learning how to control from your father or brother?"
Me: "No, your highness. I am only a weak girl. How can I learn such things that are meant for men."
I looked back at the eighth prince, and he seemed satisfied with his answer. His mother is lower ranked than the Royal Consort, so running into his brother's fiance may not make him feel all that great.
After a second of silence, the eighth prince spoke up and said.
"Alright then, it seems as though I have taken up too much of your time. I will be taking my leave now."
Everyone then bid the eighth prince farewell, and he was on his way.
Once he was out of sight, the physicians began to talk amongst themselves.
Physician 1: "I just can stand him. How can he come in here, cause a mess, and just apologize like it was nothing."
Physician 2: "I know, right? Uggg..."
All the physicians wanted to continue to talk, but grandpa intervened and said.
"Alright, stop talking. If you get caught, it will be off with your heads. Go and get the apprentices to clean this up."
The men nodded and went to get people to clean up the mess. Grandpa then looked at Qing Yuan and asked.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
Qing Yuan: "Yes, I'm sure."
Grandpa nodded and began to head back inside, and without looking back, he said.
"Ling'er, follow me."
I followed grandpa inside and back to his desk. When I got there, he told me to sit down and went to grab a couple things. He soon returned with all the things used to treat a wound. He then sat down, took my left arm, and pulled up my sleeves. There he saw four claw marks on my forearm. Although the hawk was resting on my arm, without any protection, the claws dug deep into my arm, and it seemed as though grandpa had noticed.
He slowly started to clean out my wound before putting on the medication. To finish off, he wrapped my arm up without saying a single word.
Me: "Grandpa? Are you okay?"
Grandpa set down his stuff and looked up at me.
Li Qiang: "Can you be a little more careful next time? It may just be a few claw marks, but it's still deep."
Although he made it seem like he was angry, I knew he was just worried deep down. I smiled and leaned over, and hugged his arm.
Me: "I got it. I'll be careful from now on."
He then patted my head and went to put the stuff away.
Once his work day was over, we headed out and went home.