It was late March, and the wind in the capital still carried a lingering chill, but willow catkins were already drifting across the sky like crushed snow. The grape trellis in the prime minister's back garden had sprouted new buds, its tender green tendrils swaying gently in the warm breeze. Beneath the trellis, a celadon fruit plate sat on the bluestone table. Sliced honeydew melon chunks were immersed in cool well water, the emerald green rind against the snow-white flesh. A few glistening beads of water rolled down the ridges, landing on the mossy edge of the table, leaving a small wet mark.
Su Jinli reclined on a cushioned rattan couch, clutching a thread-bound storybook. The edges of the pages were frayed, evidently well-read. Her fingertips traced the delicate handwriting on the page, and she suddenly chuckled, revealing her white teeth and a faint dimple at the corner of her lip. On a nearby stone bench, Jiang Yan was bent over his desk, reviewing memorials. The sleeves of his dark, silver-trimmed uniform were rolled up, revealing his well-defined wrists. His red brush traced fluent comments on the bright yellow memorial. The scent of ink and the sweet aroma of honeydew melon blended together, slowly fermenting in the quiet afternoon air.
"Master Jiang," Su Jinli bit off a piece of honeydew melon, the sweet juice dripping down the corner of her mouth. She raised her hand and wiped it casually with a handkerchief, "You've been sitting idle in the Retirement Court for three years, and you're still reading these useless memorials for the new emperor? Aren't you afraid that those sour scholars in the Hanlin Academy will laugh at you for clinging to power?"
Jiang Yan put down his brush and looked up at her. Time had carved a few fine lines around his eyes, but it only made his dark eyes appear deeper and more gentle. He stood up and walked over to the rattan couch, flicking the storybook in her hand. "The Story of the Heroine Fan Lihua? Madam, are you still reading these stories of fighting and killing?"
"What's the matter?" Su Jinli raised an eyebrow and hid the storybook close to her chest, as if protecting something precious. "If I hadn't argued with the old scholars in the bookshop that 'women can also be generals', how could there be the current trend of women's studies in the capital? Besides," she swung her feet, the toes of her soft satin shoes embroidered with lotus flowers lightly tapping the ground, "I'm free anyway, and it's better than hearing that the daughter-in-law of the Liu family next door has given birth to another fat boy."
Jiang Yan laughed and reached out to tuck her fallen hair behind her ear. His fingertips brushed the faint teardrop mole at the corner of her eye. "Your Majesty has just ascended the throne, and your foundation is not yet stable. The several memorials submitted regarding the grain transport are indeed inappropriate. I simply made a few comments and asked the eunuch to forward them." He paused, his eyes falling on the title page of the storybook in her hand. There was a line of faded small words there, which read "Jinli's Personal Letter" in his handwriting many years ago. "And you, you said yesterday that you would teach Xiaoyue how to draw flowers, why are you hiding here and taking a break again?"
"Don't mention your precious granddaughter!" Su Jinli threw the storybook aside and sat up straight. "This morning, she insisted on pestering Nianli to go to West Street to buy sugar paintings, saying that Old Man Zhang had created a new pattern of 'Dragon Soaring in the Clouds', and that it was a hundred times more beautiful than the 'Earthworm Dragon' I drew back then!" She became more and more angry as she reached out to twist Jiang Yan's arm. "It's all your fault! Back then, you insisted on saying that the dragon I drew was 'unique in style', and now Xiaoyue has learned to make fun of Grandma with this!"
Jiang Yan let her twist her hand, only smiling as he held her hand. The calluses on his palm rubbed against the back of her hand. "In my eyes, the dragons you painted back then, Madam, were the most majestic in the entire capital." He spoke seriously, but a cunning glint shone in his eyes. "At least a hundred times better than the pair of jade qilins that Prince Wang gave you—Oh, by the way, did you later pawn those qilins to buy copper molds for the movable type in your bookshop?"
Su Jinli burst out laughing and slapped his hand away: "Stop exposing my past!"
As they were talking and laughing, the clear shouting of children suddenly came from the front yard, accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, which sounded like a string of small firecrackers exploding at the end of the corridor.
"Grandma! Grandma—"
Before he finished speaking, a little girl with twin buns stumbled into the garden like a fluttering pink butterfly. Her lilac-colored jacket was half askew, and her skirt was stained with a few specks of mud, obviously having fallen in her haste. Nian Li, following closely behind, came chasing after her, her skirt in hand, her hair slightly disheveled, her face a mixture of anger and amusement: "My little ancestor! Slow down! Watch out for the stones under your feet—"
Su Jinli quickly sat up straight and reached out to hug the little girl who had thrown herself into her arms. This was her eldest granddaughter, Su Yue, who had just turned six. She was a delicate girl with a pair of big eyes that looked very much like Nian Li's in her youth, but now they were wide open, and her small chest heaved with breathing.
"Yue'er, breathe slower," Su Jinli smoothed her back. "Why are you in such a hurry? Did you buy the sugar painting?"
Su Yue tilted her rosy little face upwards, beads of sweat still oozing from the tip of her nose, her little mouth opening and closing: "I bought it! But grandma, I just saw an old man begging at the corner of West Street!" She spoke very quickly, like pouring beans, "He was dressed in rags, his hair was whiter than grandpa's, his face was full of wrinkles, and he even talked to me!"
Nian Li stepped forward, straightened her daughter's crooked collar, and wiped the dust off her face with a handkerchief before explaining to Su Jinli, "He was an old beggar, over seventy years old, slumped against the wall. When Yue'er passed by, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the corner of her clothes, startling us." She paused, a complicated look in her eyes. "I wanted to take Yue'er away, but the old man said...he wanted to ask you if you remembered the Wang family."
"Wang family?"
Su Yue, in Su Jinli's arms, was reaching for the honeydew melon on the table when her soft whisper stopped the girl's movements. Su Jinli felt a chill at her fingertips, and the sweet taste of the honeydew melon instantly faded from her tongue, like a piece of unmelted rock candy in her mouth, a chill that seeped into her heart.
Jiang Yan had been bending down to pick up the scroll Su Jinli had dropped on the ground, but his movements paused imperceptibly. He straightened up, his gaze settling on Su Jinli's face. Her brows knitted slightly, and a faint ripple crossed her eyes, like a deep pool into which a stone had been dropped, before returning to calm in a moment.
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