Emperor Xuanwu hesitated.
By rights, since he already knew Yun Shu was preparing a surprise for him, he shouldn't press any further. But emperors, too, have their curiosities.
Had he not seen the state of Fengyang Palace with his own eyes, perhaps he could have restrained himself. But alas—he had come today. And once he saw it, he simply couldn't resist asking.
"What sort of surprise requires such an elaborate undertaking?"
"It's not even certain it'll work," Yun Shu replied, shaking her head and keeping her lips sealed."Ten days at most, and it'll be done. If it works, I'll have someone invite you to come see it for yourself. If it doesn't, better to spare you the disappointment."
Just ten days?
That was tolerable.
Emperor Xuanwu reluctantly persuaded himself, then turned his gaze back to the schematic he had glanced at earlier.
"You mentioned just now—this is some sort of mechanism?"
"It's something I'm designing for the courtyard behind the restaurant," Yun Shu explained. "I don't even know if it can be built yet."
She had no intention of revealing more about an unfinished design.
"You'll see it once the restaurant opens."
Emperor Xuanwu fell silent.
So be it.
All of it was a surprise, apparently.
He had come all this way, and learned nothing.
It wasn't until he stepped outside Fengyang Palace that he suddenly remembered—the real reason he'd come wasn't just to see what Yun Shu was tearing up. More importantly, he had hoped to quietly lure her over to the stables.
Surprises were all well and good, but nothing was more vital than getting those retired warhorses back onto the battlefield.
Unfortunately, he had already walked a good distance away. If he turned back now, it would seem too deliberate.
Thankfully, he still had his sixth child—the easily manipulated one.
Emperor Xuanwu barely had to lift a finger. With a few casually dropped hints through a servant, by that very afternoon, he heard the news he'd been waiting for:
Yun Chuhuan had charged into Fengyang Palace like a gust of wind.
"Fifth Sister! Fifth—what's going on here? Is Fengyang Palace being rebuilt?"
He'd nearly fallen into a pit the moment he entered. Looking utterly bewildered, Yun Chuhuan glanced toward Yun Shu, who was overseeing work not far off.
"Fifth Sister, what in the world are you doing?"
"Just adding a few practical features to the palace."
Even when Emperor Xuanwu had asked directly, Yun Shu hadn't revealed anything—she certainly wasn't going to tell Yun Chuhuan either.
She brushed him off with a vague answer, then turned the question back on him.
"What brings you here so suddenly?"
"Oh! I heard a few young lords from the capital are holding a polo match in the Southern Gardens tomorrow!"
The moment he began explaining why he'd come rushing over, Yun Chuhuan's attention immediately wandered.
"Fifth Sister, tomorrow is a rest day anyway. Why don't we go have some fun?"
"Not going."
After ten straight days in the study hall, Yun Shu had just one day off. All she wanted was to stay put and work.
"I don't have time."
"What do you mean you don't have time? Didn't you say you handed off the restaurant affairs to your cousin?"
Unwilling to give up, Yun Chuhuan tugged at her sleeve like a child refusing to let go.
"You've been saying you're busy every day. It's been forever since we played together!"
"It's only been ten days. How is that 'forever'?"
Uninterested in dealing with his persistence, Yun Shu brought out the Emperor as her shield.
"Before you showed up, Father Emperor was here. He already knows I'm preparing a surprise for him, and he told me to finish it as soon as possible. So I really don't have time."
"Surprise?!"
Yun Chuhuan, who'd been fixated on the polo match, froze and turned sharply serious.
"You're preparing for Wanshou Festival surprise for Father Emperor?!"
…
"The Wanshou Festival?
Ah, right! Father Emperor's birthday was exactly two weeks before New Year's Eve."
With how busy she'd been lately, Yun Shu had honestly almost forgotten.
Now that she thought about it, there were still more than two weeks left before the festival.And the thing she was building in the palace—while interesting—probably wasn't the most appropriate gift for such an occasion.
After a moment of consideration, Yun Shu patted Yun Chuhuan on the shoulder.
"You want to go out of the palace tomorrow?"
"…Yes."
Still caught between shock and disbelief over the fact that his Fifth Sister had not only remembered the Wanshou Festival but had already started preparing a surprise gift, Yun Chuhuan needed a moment to process the sudden change in topic.
It wasn't until several seconds passed that he finally gave a slow nod.
"Fifth Sister, did you change your mind?"
"I've decided to leave the palace, yes."
Yun Shu no longer bothered hiding her real intentions.
"So I can take you out tomorrow. But we'll need to make a slight detour first—you'll drop me off at the Ministry of Works."
"But we're riding horses to the polo match. Everyone else will be on horseback, so I have to ride too."
Yun Chuhuan scratched the back of his head.
"Should I lend you my carriage?"
"If you won't be using it, never mind."
Borrowing a fancy carriage just to ride along felt a bit excessive anyway.
Still, Yun Chuhuan's words reminded her—during the autumn hunt, she had ridden a short-legged pony, which Noble Consort Liu had since gifted to her.
She could ride it herself to the Ministry of Works!
Now, where exactly was the imperial stable again?
…
Because of her curiosity about the royal stables, the next morning, instead of waiting at the palace gate for their horses to be brought over, Yun Shu and Yun Chuhuan went straight to the stables themselves.
At this hour, the horses had just been fed.
The vast and stately royal stables were nearly empty, save for two young eunuchs sweeping the grounds.
As Yun Shu and Yun Chuhuan approached, they could hear the two chatting in low voices.
"I heard that this year Bei Xiang is sending ten thousand retired warhorses to us. Do you think we might get one or two?"
"Ten thousand?!"
The second eunuch gasped.
"Wasn't it always just a thousand each year, sent straight to the military? Why ten thousand now?"
"Apparently something happened in Bei Xiang," the first replied, full of gossip. "They couldn't produce enough active warhorses, so they tried to substitute with retired ones. Our Emperor agreed, but only if they multiplied the number by ten. So here we are."
He added wistfully, "I've always heard Bei Xiang horses are far superior to ours. If I could just lay eyes on one, that'd be enough for me."
"But wouldn't retired warhorses be pretty old already?" the second asked, skeptical.
"They might not be better than our regular ones."
"They're not that old," the first countered. "I heard most of them are just five or six years old!"
He shook his head.
"If that were us, we'd only be in our twenties—barely adults!"