Ye and De Ming Yu’s expressions fluctuated heavily as they read. When Ye got to the part about his “birth” his eyes became watery again and he started sniffling. De Ming Yu simply shook his head slightly as he watched his father slowly fall into mad jealousy. When they got to the Empress being kicked out Ye’s face was black, as if reliving the moment, while De Ming Yu could only “tsk” continuously.

There was quite a bit dedicated to Fu Jing and after reaching the point where he was crowned Emperor, De Ming Yu looked up at him in astonishment. “Tian’s Emperor?”

“En, retired.”

De Ming Yu would have said more but his fairy uncle wasn’t going to wait for him, so continued reading. They read on in silence until they came to a particular part which made De Ming Yu’s face blush slightly and Ye laugh. Fu Jing knew exactly the part they were reading but kept his face blank. Even if it was really shameless, if his wife wrote it, he’d never admit to it as such.

“All that peeping finally paid off.” Ye commented, his chuckle half-hearted and pained.

It was obvious when they came to the part of Lan Jing’s birth. De Ming Yu’s expression became grave as he finally understood Fu Jing’s question early about death and childbirth, while Ye’s face cramped, tears pouring down his face. Strangely when they got to her “death” Ye stopped crying altogether, his face stiffening into a look of grief and anger instead.

Finally they were finished. Ye carefully closed the book and put it on the table. For a long time he said nothing.

De Ming Yu was glancing at his fairy uncle cautiously before he ventured to speak, “She seemed to live a fulfilling life…”

“With her obsession over humans, then having the chance to be one, how could she not be fulfilled?” Ye laughed bitterly. Her greatest yearning was fulfilled, but the cost was too high...

“It’s not a total loss, she forgave the Old Man…”

“How is that not a loss?!” Ye almost shouted, his heart unreconciled and grieving. “The consequences of his tantrums are just the same whether she forgave him or not. I’d rather he wallow in guilt--”

“Uncle, for Mother’s sake at least--”

“Don’t bring her into this!” Ye slammed a fist on the table, breathing heavily and feeling like a rock was lodged in his throat. “Before there was some hope, and so I was lenient. But now? What hope do I have now? She’s dead--”

“Not dead.” Fu Jing cut in, eyes sharp. “Definitely not dead.”

Ye narrowed his eyes, smiling cynically. “Oh yes, Nephew mentioned…. But I’ve read for myself. How can she come back from that?”

Fu Jing raised his chin, his eyes clear and unwavering.

“Do you know, after she became human, she could never get lost?”

“So?”

“She couldn’t get lost because she always knew which direction was east.”

“Hah, of course she did, stupid. The sun--”

Fu Jing raised his hand to stop him.

“No, the mountains.” He waved his hand to indicating the surrounding area. “She could always, vaguely, sense where the mountains were located. After becoming human, facing that direction turned instinctual. When we first got married I’d often wake up with her foot in my face,” He smiled slightly at the memory, “because her body would naturally point towards the east. It wasn’t until I moved the bed that it stopped. She tended to stand or sit facing east too. I think half the time she didn’t notice what she was doing, but of course I noticed because I watched her all the time. And then when she became ill…” His voice roughened. “...her desire to face east strengthened. Even when… when… the body… stopped… nrg… still facing east.”

He couldn’t quite get out the last part without a slight break down. Neither Ye nor De Ming Yu had the heart to say anything. It took several deep breaths before Fu Jing could speak again.

After recovering, he looked pointedly at Ye. “Tell me, if she was really cut off, would that have happened?”

Ye’s body froze at his question, eyes widening.

De Ming Yu thoughtfully added, “Uncle Ye, I think his theory is sound. We princes leave a piece of ourselves when we visit the eastern territories. Through that connection we can always sense the mountains and draw power from them. Obviously we know where they’re located, even if we can’t see them. Of course there will be differences, as we are half human, but…”

“...but if the connection was there, even in the slightest,” Ye finished for him, his whole body straightening with joy, the rock unlodging from his soul, “it should be enough to keep her alive!”

Fu Jing nodded. “Exactly. The mountains are her lifeblood, as long as there’s even the smallest connection, it should be enough. So I believe she is alive, but her spirit took a big blow and is very weak. I can’t find her. I thought perhaps her brother could help with that...”

De Ming Yu looked hesitant while Ye straightforwardly shook his head, “As far as any of us know, he can’t sense her at all. That’s part of the problem, it’s part of why my nephew here called me in.”

Fu Jing shoulders slumped at this news, but he didn’t allow himself to be discouraged. All this time, he’d not turned up anything. Even if this, too, was another dead end it wasn’t going to stop him. He believed from the beginning he’d only fail if he gave up.

“It’s a problem for me that he can’t, but why is it a problem for you?”

Ye rubbed his face in frustration. “That guy has always had a huge sister complex. He’s better now because MeiMei takes a lot of his attention, but the underlying trait is still there. You bring a lot of good news, but that last bit… ah… even if we try to warn him in advance…”

De Ming Yu nodded, concerned. “The Old Man will lose control of himself from the guilt and grief. It’s happened before, but there was only forest and Mother on the mountain. No one got hurt and nothing was destroyed. Now there are towns and cities… if he loses control… the consequences…” He shook his head and the bird sitting there chirped, as if in agreement.

“It will be that bad?” Fu Jing asked in alarm.

Ye and De Ming Yu both nodded as one.

Fu Jing hadn’t intended on destroying a whole nation with his news and so immediately suggested, “Then… perhaps… we just shouldn’t tell him…?”

“That wouldn’t be right to the Old Man.” De Ming Yu frowned.

“Hah, not only that, didn’t you tell Dingbat 6 and 7 the news already?”

“Dingbat--?”

“He means De Taihua and De Weishan.”

“Ah…”

“There’s no way they’ll be able to keep it to themselves. News that big is just going to slip out of their mouths. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it’s definitely going to happen. And with their personalities, it’ll be the worst possible place and time.”

De Ming Yu cleared his throat. “That’s also a valid point.”

Fu Jing’s brows furrowed. “In that case, what can be done?”

“Damage control.”

“Mother would be the best one.”

“Poor MeiMei, suffering so much because her worthless husband has a sister complex.”

“...Uncle, didn’t you matchmake those two?”

“Brat, bringing up the past now of all times...”

Mei Hua was sitting among aristocratic ladies and feeling stressed. She had plenty of experience with merchant’s wives and some experience with ladies from the east, but the western women’s attitudes were something else. It was only thanks to her daughter-in-law, Jia Ying, that some semblance of civility was being maintained.

First, they acted scared of her, and Mei Hua had no idea why. She could only think it was the height difference. Mei Hua towered over them like a giant. Perhaps these ladies weren’t used to women of Mei Hua’s stature? Seeing them huddled together and terrified, Mei Hua had been particularly gentle. She even got out out her pipa lute and played her most comforting songs to try and loosen them up.

That seemed to help quite a bit, but a second problem arose. They were, indeed, women of fine breeding. While their words were very polite, they were filled with barbs. Even though none of the nations these women represented were actively at war with each other, there was definitely some underlying antagonism. They all seemed to suffer from an unearned sense of superiority over each other and where battling out their positions with a smile on their faces.

Luckily this attitude was never directed at Mei Hua, probably because their original fear of her was still there, but that only helped a little bit. With Jia Ying’s help, she was spending the entire time playing peacekeeper and trying to keep a fight from breaking out. There was only one lady in the group who didn’t behave that way, but she was timid and tried to blend into the background as much as possible.

Mei Hua couldn’t blame her. If she had a choice, there were times she’d like to blend into the background too.

She decided not to invite these women back, except maybe the timid one, again. Being a Queen was already stressful enough without having to deal with women’s political intrigue.

When a white fox, in the appearance of a human, made her way hastily over and whispered to Mei Hua that Ye had an urgent matter to talk to her about that must be done in private, she was relieved. She pat Jia Ying on the arm sympathetically before happily abandoning her to the crows-- er, ladies.

The fox guided Mei Hua to a quiet area of the palace gardens. Ye was sitting in one of the many pavilions that could be found in the gardens. With him was De Ming Yu and her third son, Shi Ji. Seeing Shi Ji out of his “cave”, she was already a little curious.

When Ye turned to greet her, her curiosity turned to alarm. His eyes were red rimmed and puffy.

She hastened her pace and took him by the shoulders in concern, asking, “Ye, what happened?”

“I look that bad, huh?” He removed her hands from his shoulders, his smile a little complicated.

Mei Hua hesitated, “You look like you… cried.”

“I don’t look like it, I did.”

She could only be shocked. He wasn’t the sort to cry, much less admit to it.

“MeiMei, sit down.” Ye waved to the empty chair, himself going to sit down.

Mei Hua sat down, glancing at Ye and her sons, perplexed.

Ye took out a piece of folded paper and held it up. “MeiMei, what I need to tell you, I can’t say out loud. That husband of yours always keeps half an eye on you, and will definitely hear. I’ve written it down instead. No matter what you read, don’t repeat it aloud, understand?”

She nodded, and only then did he hand the paper over.

It read:

We have found Xuiying.

“Ah!” She stood up and then, seeing Ye shake his head, sat back down.

She took over a human body, got married, and had a son. Her husband is here and he brought a journal with him describing her life after leaving. Xuiying is not with him. There was a complication and she died.

Mei Hua’s hand shook slightly at this news.

We believe it was only her body that died. Her spirit remains, but in a weakened state. It has not been found and thus can’t be brought back home.

De Taihua and De Weishan were told.

Jin will react poorly to this news.

Mei Hua put the paper down and groaned heavily. With her sixth and seventh sons having heard this information, putting off telling Jin wasn’t an option. While they were troublemakers to the extreme, once caught, they didn’t bother to lie. In this family, lying was pointless anyway. They would say everything on their stinky little hearts, without shame or guilt. The moment Jin saw them, he’d know they were hiding something and ask what they were up to and then they’d definitely tell him.

Even if she sent them away, they were young and, having been raised in a family where dishonesty was a useless, they had no filter at all. Such big news would be hovering on the top of their minds all the time. Even if they didn’t mean to, they’d definitely blurt out the information in a place they shouldn’t. And then the rumor resulting from it would be all out of proportion… this had already happened multiple times in the past…

Thinking about it gave her a headache.

De Ming Yu reached out and took his Mother’s hand. “It is not all bad news. The journal says she forgave him.”

“That… that is… good, at least.” Mei Hua was breathing heavily, trying to control her emotions. If Jin saw her really upset, he’d drop whatever he was doing and run over to see what was wrong.

She looked at De Ming Yu. “I take it you’ve read the journal?”

“Hn.”

She looked at Shi Ji.

“I haven’t.” Shi Ji shook his head. “Though I was given the jist of things. I’m here to help with the aftermath.”

Her shoulders slumped and then asked quietly, “Was she… happy, at least?”

Ye gave a small smile, “How could she not be? After all those years of watching humans, she finally got to be one.”

Hearing this, Mei Hua exhaled and straightened her spin. Her mind raced through all the possibilities and precautions.

Finally she opened her mouth, expression calm, and spoke, “Shuya, come to me.”