Little Pink Starfish

The Birthday Gift That Broke His Majesty’s Heart

Yu Xiaoxiao asked Wang Mama, “Are there any rules about entering the Zhuque palace?”

Wang Mama glanced at her princess and replied, “Well, you certainly can’t bounce your way in.”

Yu Xiaoxiao: …

“It’s snowing!” the Fifth Prince, sitting on Gu Xinglang’s lap, pointed outside with his chubby little hand and shouted.

Everyone turned to look—indeed, snowflakes were once again dancing through the sky.

Yu Xiaoxiao thought about her upcoming trip through this icy wilderness and muttered, “Couldn’t Li Xiaoyuan pick a better day for his birthday? The roads will be awful in this weather.”

Wait—do birthdays even have a choice in timing?

Everyone looked at each other in silence.

The First Prince, also born in winter, stared at his sister. Did that mean she didn’t like his birthday either?

The snow showed no sign of stopping. That night, as Gu Xinglang cuddled with his wife under the blankets, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Xiaoxiao, did His Majesty say what kind of gift we should bring to Zhuque?”

Yu Xiaoxiao, though drowsy, knew enough about gift etiquette. She yawned and said, “Just give some money. My dad keeps crying about how broke he is—I bet he’ll give something like ten or twenty taels of silver.”

Ten or twenty taels? Gu Xinglang’s mouth twitched.

Yu Xiaoxiao continued, “You know how much rice that can buy? But there’s no helping it. That’s my aunt’s man we’re talking about. If my dad gives more, maybe Li Xiaoyuan will treat her better, right?”

Gu Xinglang gave a vague “mm,” already thinking he might need to talk to his sister-in-law. If they really showed up with just twenty taels of silver, Li Xiaoyuan might not only execute them on the spot—he might send an army to attack Fengtian out of spite.

“I’m asking my dad for travel expenses tomorrow,” Yu Xiaoxiao added. “I’m doing this job for him—no way I’m paying out of pocket.”

“We have money,” Gu Xinglang said, gently brushing her hair.

“That’s for buying rice!” Yu Xiaoxiao snuggled her head against his shoulder.

Gu Xinglang shook his head. Fine. As long as she wasn’t spending his money. “Sleep now,” he coaxed. “I’ll go into the palace with you tomorrow.”

“Mhm,” she murmured, and fell asleep holding him.

While Yu Xiaoxiao slept soundly, Xianzong was still awake and fretting in the imperial palace. Despite whining about being broke, he didn’t dare be careless with the gift for Li Xiaoyuan’s birthday. He had been rummaging through his private treasury for a while now and finally picked out some fine items. Among them, a carved red jade Zhu bird statue—sculpted from a single flawless piece of jade—was chosen as a key gift.

Gently stroking the jade bird, Xianzong sighed to Qinghai, “In Fengtian, we call this a Zhu bird. But in Zhuque, it’s their sacred guardian beast—the Vermilion Bird.”

Qinghai stared at the statue and said softly, “Your Majesty, to this servant, it looks more like a phoenix.”

Xianzong quickly replied, “Li Xiaoyuan’s turning fifty. You think I should give him a jade phoenix?”

Qinghai, feigning ignorance, asked, “Isn’t a phoenix good?”

His dumb act amused Xianzong, who chuckled. “If Li Xiaoyuan’s mother were still alive, sure, I could give a jade phoenix. But to give him one for his birthday? That’s calling him a woman. Even if my daughter’s a wild one, I’m not that suicidal.”

Qinghai made a show of sudden realization.

Xianzong pointed at the jade carving. “Zhu birds look like phoenixes, but the feather patterns are different.”

Qinghai didn’t care about the difference at all. He just stared at it seriously for a second, then said, “Your Majesty is wise!”

Xianzong reluctantly gave the order: “Pack it up.”

A group of officials from the Ministry of Rites answered in unison, “By your command!”

Xianzong quickly left. He couldn’t stand lingering in his treasury any longer—every second in there broke his heart.

By dawn, the carefully chosen treasures were packed into black lacquered boxes and stored in the inner court’s storeroom. Once the gift boxes from Prince Rui and Prince Yu arrived, the Ministry of Rites would catalogue everything.

The Minister of Rites, upon seeing over twenty neatly stacked black lacquered boxes, said, “Wu Zhen, you stay behind to guard these.”

Everyone turned to Wu Zhen, a deputy minister of Rites. This was a bit much—having a high-ranking official watch over gift boxes?

“Yes,” Wu Zhen answered calmly.

The minister glanced at him once before sweeping out in his robes.

The Chief Eunuch of the inner court stepped forward, bowed, and said, “Then we leave these to you, Lord Wu.”

Wu Zhen nodded silently.

The chief eunuch snorted through his nose and left with his men.

Wu Zhen looked around at the eunuchs left to guard the storeroom with him. His composed expression twisted a little. He had been the third-place scholar in the imperial exam two years ago, in his prime, from a noble family. He should’ve had a smooth path ahead—but the Wu family of Liuzhou was tied to Zhao Qiuming. And now that Zhao had fallen from grace, Wu Zhen’s career was going down with him.

Turning around to look at the bare storeroom—just boxes, not even a stool—Wu Zhen’s heart filled with turmoil. His position at the Ministry of Rites was already shaky. The new minister was closely aligned with the Gu family and seemed ready to seize any excuse to remove him. If Zhao Qiuming couldn’t return to power, Wu Zhen might soon be ousted from court entirely.

He stood there stiffly all night.

At dawn, the gift boxes from Prince Rui and Prince Yu’s estates arrived—also more than twenty high-quality boxes, but painted in a lighter shade to show deference to His Majesty’s own contribution.

Stiff and cold to the bone, Wu Zhen pulled himself together and began inspecting the gifts with a few minor clerks.

When the box containing the red jade Zhu bird was opened, gasps of admiration filled the room.

As Wu Zhen gazed at the statue, a wild thought crossed his mind—one so bold it could doom his entire Wu clan to execution: what if he took it?

Just then, the Minister of Rites entered with a retinue of officials. Seeing Wu Zhen already inspecting the gifts, his face darkened.

“Lord Wu,” he barked, “how dare you open the boxes before the rest of us arrived?”

This was how things were always done—no one had complained before. But with the sudden scolding, Wu Zhen lowered his head and accepted it. “This official overstepped.”