(4) A Bond Sealed in Preserved Fruit

Upon hearing that her youngest daughter had caused a disaster, and that Tian Xu—who had nearly recovered—had been injured because of her, the General's wife furiously ordered Guo Huilian to go kneel before the ancestral shrine and confess her wrongdoing. At the same time, she had servants take a door panel off its hinges to carry Tian Xu back to the western wing, apologizing to him repeatedly along the way, while urgently sending someone to fetch Physician Zhou.

The moment Physician Zhou heard what had happened to Tian Xu, alarm and confusion crossed his face. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed his medicine box and hurried straight to the western wing of the General's residence. After a perfunctory greeting to Lady Guo, he rushed to the bedside, took the pulse first—but found it steady and even. Privately, he grew uneasy: where were the signs of any real injury? He then leaned in to examine the wound on Tian Xu's body. Seizing the moment, Tian Xu grasped his hand and said weakly, "Thank you for your trouble, Physician Zhou"—while at the same time tracing the characters for "ten days" into the physician's palm with his finger. Physician Zhou paused for a moment, then understanding dawned on him. He turned at once to the table and swiftly wrote out a prescription, sending a young attendant off to fetch the herbs, before turning to Lady Guo and announcing, "Fortunately, no ribs are broken, but there is blood pooling around the chest and ribs. He will need about ten days of careful recuperation before he fully recovers."

Hearing this, Tian Xu nodded slightly, satisfied—though with Physician Zhou and Yueying blocking the view, none of the Guo family noticed. Tian Xu then, in that same weak and feeble voice, expressed his gratitude and apology to Lady Guo for the trouble he'd caused, and, playing the role of the injured party himself, pleaded on Guo Huilian's behalf for her mother's forgiveness. Since even the victim himself had chosen not to hold a grudge, Lady Guo could hardly refuse to spare his feelings, and so she let Guo Huilian off. Still, though the girl might escape the worst of it, some lesser punishment was unavoidable—so even as she waived the harsher penalty, Lady Guo ordered Guo Huilian to personally prepare the first dose of medicine for Tian Xu, and to accompany her mother in delivering the medicinal soup to him herself, as a gesture of apology.

Guo Huilian had never in her life brewed medicine before, but with her mother's orders impossible to defy, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and crouch by the stove, following Xiaocui's instructions on adding the herbs, pouring in water, and tending the fire. In a moment of carelessness, she reached out bare-handed to lift the lid off the medicine pot and burned her hand, muttering under her breath to Xiaocui, "I've read those old legendary tales before, where fortune-tellers always love to say someone's fate has turned unlucky and troubled—I suppose that's exactly what's happening to me now. There was no one else in that garden except the two of us—so why did Master Tian appear so strangely, so silently, right beneath that tree, exactly at that moment?" Guo Huilian couldn't stop turning the mystery over in her mind. And in truth, her instincts here were correct—this puzzle nagged at her constantly, though no one could give her the true answer. Tian Xu had indeed staged the whole thing, aided by his lightness skill in martial arts—how could poor Guo Huilian ever have guessed the truth? All she could do was gaze up at the sky in bewildered frustration, the mystery forever unsolved.

"Young miss, you've clearly been reading too many of those ghost story books—that's why you keep imagining things. You did injure someone, that much is fact. Be grateful the mistress didn't insist they marry you off to make amends—don't keep grumbling about it, or she might hear you and think you're resentful, and then you'll be sent to kneel before the ancestral shrine all over again."

Seeing that Guo Huilian had burned her hand, Xiaocui hurried to fetch burn ointment and clean cloth, applying the medicine and bandaging her hand while offering this gentle advice.

"It's just brewing medicine and delivering it—how hard can that be?" Guo Huilian pouted, still somewhat resentful, grumbling under her breath.

Once mistress and maid had finished preparing the medicine, Xiaocui went to fetch Lady Guo. On the tray, alongside the medicine, sat a small dish of preserved fruit—Guo Huilian's favorite treat, one she rarely allowed herself to indulge in, yet now she was willing to offer it to Tian Xu as a sweetener. Seeing this visible sign of remorse, Lady Guo nodded with satisfaction, then led Guo Huilian, Xiaocui, Acheng, and her own personal maid toward the western wing.

Tian Xu had already been informed of their approach and sat up in bed, fully dressed, leaning against the headboard. After all, when facing an unmarried young lady—even one only ten years old—it would hardly be proper for him to appear disheveled or improperly clothed. As Lady Guo led the group into the room, dressed in a purple silk skirt with a russet-red jacket that flattered her full figure and lent her an air of aristocratic grace, Guo Huilian walked beside her in a blue-green skirt paired with a goose-yellow half-sleeve top, her slender frame radiating youthful vitality—the two of them, in their vivid, colorful attire, stood in sharp contrast to Tian Xu, dressed entirely in plain white.

Guo Huilian carried the tray all the way to the bedside before finally handing it to Acheng, who passed it on to Yueying standing nearby. When Yueying and Tian Xu caught sight of that small dish of preserved fruit, they exchanged a knowing glance. Lady Guo, wearing an apologetic smile, explained, "My daughter is willful and careless, and accidentally injured you, young master. I'm deeply grateful that you've been so gracious as not to hold this against a mere child—please forgive her foolishness. She personally prepared this medicine for you, and has brought out her favorite preserved fruit from Zhenbao Tower as a small gesture of apology, hoping it might sweeten the taste of the medicine for you. Zhenbao Tower's preserved fruit is quite rare, you know—difficult to come by even with money to spare. Our fourth daughter adores this particular treat and rarely lets herself indulge in it, so for her to offer it up herself truly shows how sincere she is. I do hope you'll be gracious enough to accept it."

"I have already imposed on the General and yourself for many days now, and I hardly know how I could ever repay such kindness—how could I possibly hold anything against the young lady? She is simply lively and spirited by nature, and today's incident was nothing more than an accident. Please, my lady, do not let it weigh on your mind." Hearing Lady Guo's account, Tian Xu pressed a hand to his side, feigning weakness as he replied. To Yueying's eye, there was a flicker of guilt in Tian Xu's expression—he had, after all, dragged an innocent ten-year-old girl into his scheme purely to buy himself more time at the General's residence, and had even caused her to be punished and forced to apologize as a result, which clearly left him with a lingering sense of unease. But Tian Xu was never one to let his feelings show openly; had Yueying not spent ten years constantly at his side, he would never have been able to read such subtle shifts in his master's expression. It was no wonder, then, that none of the Guo family noticed anything amiss.

"How curious—the young lady's fondness for Zhenbao Tower's preserved fruit happens to match my own. As a child, I traveled west with the trading caravan, and the region we passed through produced all manner of preserved fruits. My mother noticed how much I loved them, and since the rest of the caravan found them delicious as well, she decided then and there to bring the recipe back to the Central Plains and sell it at Zhenbao Tower in Chang'an. It satisfied her son's cravings and turned a fine profit besides—truly killing two birds with one stone, as they say."

"Isn't Zhenbao Tower's proprietor named Shen?" Lady Guo asked, clearly taken aback by Tian Xu's account.

"Shen Wan is merely the nominal manager listed under that name—my mother was the true proprietor all along. Now that she is no longer with us, the true owner of Zhenbao Tower is myself." Tian Xu offered a faint, wistful smile, then added, "Since the young lady is so fond of preserved fruit, I shall be sure to have a portion sent to the General's residence first, every time new stock arrives at Zhenbao Tower."

"Really? That would be wonderful..." Guo Huilian, who only moments before had worn a sullen, resentful expression, broke into a radiant smile the instant she heard this, her almond-shaped eyes nearly crinkling shut with delight.

"Did seeing that preserved fruit suddenly bring your spirits back? Even your color's returning to your cheeks!"

"Fourth Daughter, mind your manners!"

Seeing that Guo Huilian had let her tongue run freely without any regard for propriety, Lady Guo quickly scolded her, paying no heed to formal etiquette in her urgency. But unlike her clever, sharp-witted daughter, Lady Guo failed to notice what Guo Huilian—had she only been a little older—would surely have caught at once: the telltale signs of Tian Xu's "feigned illness." At that moment, Guo Huilian merely felt that preserved fruit truly had the power to lift someone's spirits and even ease their aches and pains—but her offhand remark, made in a moment of Tian Xu's carelessness, had inadvertently revealed that his complexion, in fact, wasn't nearly as poor as it should have been. Startled, Tian Xu could only manage a slightly awkward smile of agreement.

Seeing his young master caught somewhat off guard, Yueying quickly stepped in with the bowl of medicine to rescue the situation.

"Young master, you should drink the medicine while it's still hot—don't let the young lady's kind gesture go to waste."

"Very well..." Tian Xu took the bowl from Yueying's hands, using the act of drinking to steady the situation that had nearly given him away, then popped a few pieces of preserved fruit into his mouth, allowing Guo Huilian's mistaken but fortunate assumption to seem all the more logical.

"Preserved fruit truly does have a remarkable power to ease pain and speed healing..." Tian Xu offered Guo Huilian an awkward smile in return, but in her eyes, it read as agreement with what she'd said, and she broke into another happy laugh.

"You'd better keep your word! From now on, I won't have to send Xiaocui to fight the crowds at Zhenbao Tower for preserved fruit anymore. The owner of Zhenbao Tower is someone truly remarkable, after all—there's no way he'd ever go back on his word!"

"It's a promise, then." Tian Xu nodded, and he too found himself smiling, genuinely happy. It was the first time he had smiled so openly since his mother's passing—perhaps it was Guo Huilian's innocent, sunny nature that had touched something in him, combined with his own lingering guilt toward her, that led him to make this promise so readily.

"Fourth Daughter Guo..." Seeing that Guo Huilian showed no sign whatsoever of restraining herself, and was even brazenly asking for things from someone else's household, Lady Guo scolded her with a hint of warning in her voice. "Where are your manners? Now go collect the medicine bowl and hurry back to your own room."

The moment Guo Huilian heard her mother address her formally as "Fourth Daughter Guo," she knew at once that things had grown serious. Ordinarily, her mother called her by her childhood nickname, "Yaya," at home, and "Fourth Daughter" in front of others—but if she was called "Fourth Daughter Guo" in full, that meant her mother was truly angry. Guo Huilian quickly gestured for Acheng to collect the medicine bowl, then tugged Xiaocui along, bowed hastily in farewell to Tian Xu, and slipped away without so much as a backward glance.