Spring Among Pear Blossoms - Chapter 1

Music and dancing filled the main hall at a banquet in Prince Zhennan’s residence.

My elder sister, Jiang Danyue, quietly drew me out beneath the covered walkway. She was the daughter of our father’s principal wife; I was the daughter of his concubine.

She bent down and gently draped a brightly colored cloak over my shoulders.

“Be good, Yuanyuan. Let’s play a game. Take this plate of pastries to the second room in the west courtyard over there.”

Her maid pointed the way and pushed a plate of peach-blossom pastries into my hands.

I stared at the delicate, flower-shaped pastries and swallowed.

Jiang Danyue studied me for a while before smiling.

“The young man there is very pitiful. He’s fainted from hunger. Feed him the pastries, and he’ll wake up and play with you.”

I gave her a silly grin. “All right.”

The next moment, comments flashed before my eyes.

[Now that’s a clever heroine. Poison her fiancé, then pin it on her sister.]

[A strong female lead makes her own destiny. Who wants to marry a sickly man who’s going to die soon?]

[Little sister’s still playing dumb. She has no idea she’s already been framed for murder.]

The pastries trembled in my hands.

[Throwing them away won’t help. He’s already been poisoned, and the witnesses are in place.]

[Such a shame. If she knew the antidote was buried under the second scholar tree beside the pond, she might still make it…]

To be honest, I was skeptical.

Who poisoned someone and supplied an antidote, too?

My sister lived up to the comments’ praise of her intelligence. Her brows drew together, as though she had noticed my hesitation.

My eyes suddenly lit up. I counted the pastries, ticking them off on my fingers.

“One, two, three, four, five…”

I counted twice, then gave her a sweet smile.

“Can I have three and give him two?”

Jiang Danyue immediately relaxed.

“You may eat only after he’s finished,” she said coldly.

After I turned away, she silently mouthed, “Idiot.”

The Princess Consort of Zhennan had invited a great many guests to today’s banquet.

My father was the Minister of Rites. My sister was also betrothed to Xie Ling, Prince Zhennan’s heir, so our family was among those invited.

Ordinarily, my sister would have been delighted. She would have prepared poems in advance, ready to dazzle everyone at the feast.

Unfortunately, Prince Zhennan had fallen in battle a month earlier.

His heir, Xie Ling, who had gone to war with him, had been struck by an arrow fired from ambush.

The arrow carried a deadly poison. Xie Ling had been brought back to the capital, but even the imperial physicians could do nothing for him.

I heard that he was now bedridden, kept alive by daily doses of medicine.

He was little different from a man who could do nothing for himself.

I did, in fact, dig up a little white porcelain bottle beneath the scholar tree beside the pond.

By the time I raced to the west courtyard, two servants were standing with their backs to the moon gate, gambling with dice.

“His Majesty still hasn’t issued the decree allowing him to inherit. Sooner or later, the title will go to the second young master.”

“That invalid inside can’t uphold the Zhennan household. If you ask me, we’d better start making other arrangements.”

I slipped past them and crept inside.

Autumn leaves drifted from the branches in the spacious courtyard.

There wasn’t a single servant in sight.

I pushed open the door to the second room.

A pale, thin young man was indeed lying on the bed.

When I came closer, I saw that the front of his robe was stained with blood.

I quickly took out the porcelain bottle, picked out two pills, pried his mouth open, and put them inside.

I waited.

Nothing happened.

I poked his cheek. Still warm.

The man’s eyelashes were long, casting a small patch of shadow beneath them.

I stared at his face. Not even a lash stirred.

Was he already dead?

My finger shook as I held it beneath his nose.

He wasn’t breathing.

I pressed a hand to my forehead and gave a bitter little smile.

Yes, I had crossed into another world—but I’d arrived as a baby.

After all these years, most of what I’d known had been pushed out of my head.

“The Heimlich maneuver… How did that mnemonic go?” I muttered.

Comments appeared again. Someone was laughing.

[The freaking Heimlich? Mouth-to-mouth, little sister!]

[Medical student here. First tilt his head back and lift his chin… Then pinch his nose… Take a normal breath and blow into his mouth.]

Saving a life was worth more than building a seven-story pagoda.

Fine. He might be beyond saving, but I had to try.

I climbed onto the bed and straddled him.

His outer robe was in the way, so I pulled it off.

I pressed down on his chest.

Following the comments’ instructions, I gave him thirty compressions, with two rescue breaths in between.