Chapter 7. The skin was peeled clean and placed on the couch.

Lin Yuan was taken aback.

She almost knocked over the medicine that Lin Yu was feeding her.

She realized for the first time that Lin Yu and Xiao Xun looked somewhat alike, especially in their eyebrows and eyes.

She shook her head; it felt heavy, as if the snow from the past few days had melted into water and was filling it.

She got up and took the medicine. Peeking over the edge of the medicine bowl, Lin Yuan tried her best to think, "Well, the so-called resemblance is probably just that good-looking people will have some similarities."

Actually, upon closer inspection, they don't look quite alike.

Lin Yu's eyes always held a smile, like mountain spring water in spring.

Even when Xiao Xun smiled, he was like snow on a mountain.

The second time she saw Xiao Xun, she was kneeling in the snow and ice outside the Jiaofang Palace.

Everyone in the Jiaofang Palace was in a bad mood, especially the palace servants who served tea.

She had just been reprimanded by the Emperor and had ten shi of her monthly allowance deducted, simply because the tea she brewed was two parts weak.

Yes, otherwise, it was clearly a day that fell on the fifth day of the month. The tea had just been served, and His Majesty had taken a sip. How could he then claim that he was feeling unwell and could only sit in the Jiaofang Palace for a short while instead of staying overnight?

With over a hundred bright red handprints on her cheeks, the palace maid serving the tea calmed down and pondered carefully why the tea had become weak.

The tea leaves from Jiaofang Palace were tributes from Yizhou Prefecture, and they were all buds, of excellent quality, so there must be no problem.

My tea-brewing skills have remained consistent for ten years, so I'm sure I won't make any mistakes.

That must be because of the water.

From the emperor to the empress, to the chief concubine, to the palace maids serving tea, the hierarchy was intricate yet meticulously managed, ultimately leading to the blame being placed on the water used to brew the tea.

Oh no, it's Lin Yuan.

She was speechless with emotion. As the lowest-ranking palace maid, she could only blame the plum blossoms in Jianzhang Palace. Why hadn't they bloomed profusely, robbing the snow above of its fragrance?

She knelt outside the palace, licking the snowflakes that had fallen on her lips. They were tasteless and cool, and a question arose in her heart.

What kind of discerning lips, tongue, and nose can detect the scent of snow and even discern the subtle differences?

The man emerged surrounded by a crowd.

When Lin Yuan saw a large crowd overflowing from the palace gate, she quickly knelt a little further away. Otherwise, she feared that if the emperor had stumbled, it would have been because the palace servants' breathing had tripped him and blocked his way.

The soft sound of footsteps on snow could be heard as the sound drew closer.

Closer. They were right in front of her. Lin Yuan held her breath, her heart pounding.

That's over.

Oh no, it stopped.

She vomited halfway through her breath, then shuddered in horror. What she saw was a pair of black shoes with dragon patterns, and a dark robe with one end fluttering in the wind, the folds shimmering with gold-painted patterns.

Lin Yuan couldn't find a crack in the ground to hide in, nor any leaves to cover her eyes, so she could only hold her breath and bury her head even lower.

Why is this palace servant kneeling here?

She felt the voice sounded familiar for no apparent reason.

However, before she could think further, a more familiar voice appeared: "Your Majesty, a palace maid made a mistake. The Empress has been lenient, but she knows she was wrong and has requested to come here to be punished. She has offended Your Majesty." It was the Imperial Attendant. "Hurry up and kneel further away, you're soiling the Imperial Way!"

Chang Yu's words landed on Lin Yuan's ears and cheeks.

Lin Yuan tilted her head and quickly moved backward, her heels already touching the palace wall beside the passageway. She looked dejected, wondering where else she could kneel.

The moment she raised her eyes slightly, she couldn't help but notice that another pair of eyes were also staring intently at her.

The gaze fell upon her, as if all the snowflakes were trying to get into Lin Yuan's neck.

"You are—" She raised her head, opened her mouth, and silently uttered two words.

That day, he said in the plum grove, "You will know."

Now she knows.

I felt even colder all over.

Even the blood froze.

"Willing to be punished? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were going to block the road and file a complaint with the emperor." Xiao Xun's voice was indifferent. His gaze lingered for only a moment before he moved away with his steps, leaving behind the words, "The snow is too heavy. Don't make anyone kneel outside." Lin Yuan lifted her skirt and, under the emperor's gloomy gaze, knelt down in the corridor.

The woman in the gorgeous robes behind the emperor, with her gentle appearance and soft expression, looked at her thoughtfully for a long time before gently telling her not to kneel.

That was also the first time Lin Yuan met Empress Qu.

Thinking of this, she hissed and took a deep breath.

"Is it hot?" Lin Yu reached out and touched the bottom of the cup to check the temperature.

Lin Yuan buried her face in the ear cup and shook her head.

"Then drink it quickly, sweetie." Lin Yu patted her head.

Lin Yuan blushed and was about to say, "Stop treating me like a child," when she saw Lin Yu turn around and face a jade screen, saying, "Fourth brother, you still have a fever. When will it go down? It's been a whole night."

It's been a whole night?

Lin Yuan was taken aback and looked outside. Through the window screen, she saw that the sky was overcast and she couldn't tell whether it was midday or late afternoon. Beside the bed was a copper basin with white, unmelted snow floating on the water. Two wrung-out square towels were draped over the basin, and she realized that her forehead was a little wet.

He Ji's voice came from outside the screen: "Brother Lin, don't you trust my medical skills? It's just a minor cold. Don't worry, don't worry."

Lin Yuan suddenly realized that Ji was the fourth son, so He Ji was also called He Lao Si (Fourth Brother He).

What a mischievous person. She couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing her smile, Lin Yu felt relieved, popped a candied plum into her mouth, and asked with a smile, "You said you traveled a hundred miles to get here, even if you collapsed, you would collapse here, did you know there is a miracle doctor in this academy?"

Lin Yuan pursed her lips, the candied fruit bursting with sweetness in her mouth: "I also know that the candied fruit from Huaiyang is better than that from Chang'an."

Lin Yu also laughed loudly.

"Ah, but the sesame cakes are definitely not as good as those in Chang'an." Lin Yuan suddenly remembered and pointed to her bundle, which had become increasingly flat along the way. "There are sesame cakes made by my mother in there. I brought them all the way here."

The words "sesame cake" delighted Lin Yu.

Seeing him beaming with excitement, Lin Yuan picked up the bundle while telling He Lao Si about her mother's amazing cooking skills, which captivated He Ji so much that before he could even ask, "Then why are you two so thin?" he was already rubbing his hands together and eagerly rummaging through the bundle.

Lin Yuan could only secretly resent, "Why is he happier than if he saw me?"

She leaned back on the pillow and sighed again.

Her brother, from his appearance to his personality to his temperament, was nothing like her father, who was a blacksmith, and her mother, who was a cook. Apart from being tall and slender, Lin Yu was also skilled in riding horses and drawing bows, and knew the six arts of poetry and literature. It was as if he was born with these skills, or at least he had known them since Lin Yuan met him.

But isn't the cheerful boy in front of me just like his father?

Looking at them from this angle, Lin Yu and Xiao Xun look even less alike, especially their eyebrows and eyes.

Two frozen sesame cakes were pulled out of the bundle.

A "thump" was heard.

Ouch!

Old He jumped up, grabbed his right foot, and hopped back three feet. He took a breath and said:

"Wow, how come there's... a kitchen knife?"

*

The black iron sword with a jade handle is about three inches long.

It fell onto the floor tiles of the Zichen Pavilion, a side hall of the Jiaofang Palace.

Xiao Xun looked coldly at the woman in front of him.

Her long hair cascaded down her chest like a waterfall, interspersed with white jade-like colors.

Downwards, a snow-white arm, half of it submerged in the pale blue outer robe worn by the palace maid, the half not covered by the robe trembling incessantly in the barely perceptible breeze, the other white arm was tightly held in Xiao Xun's hand, the wrist already turned blue, and the knife fell from that hand.

The second year of Jinghe.

Half an hour ago, Xiao Xun entered the side hall and saw that the silk curtains stretched to the ground, the lamps were not lit, and the twilight had dyed the plain curtains with the color of sunset, making it seem as if a figure could be seen on the bed.

The incense from the Boshan incense burner made Xiao Xun feel a little dizzy. He didn't call out to anyone, but walked closer step by step.

They went to the other end of the bed.

There was a long sword there that he was used to using during his morning exercises.

The sword was drawn silently.

The sword's light pierced the silk curtains, drawing in the glow of the setting sun. The blade gleamed in the secluded room, reflecting the phoenix embroidery on the curtains, the cloud and dragon patterns on the brocade quilt, and a pair of closed, slightly upturned phoenix eyes.

"Sister."

The sword in his hand jerked violently and fell to the ground with a "whoosh".

The woman on the bed was not disturbed by the sound. She was sleeping soundly, her black hair loosely scattered on the pillow, her cheeks flushed. But after a while, she seemed to fall into a nightmare again. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she murmured softly. With this sound, she moved, and the silk quilt wrinkled and slipped down an inch.

Xiao Xun then shifted his gaze downwards and saw half of her snow-white shoulder, realizing that she was probably completely naked under the brocade quilt.

The sunlight gradually dimmed.

The fragrance from the Boshan incense burner grew stronger, swirling around his nostrils. His head was throbbing, but it wasn't just his head that was throbbing.

It felt as if many parts of his body were swelling up. This dizziness and swelling also seemed to carry a subtle, profound, and indescribable sense of self-sufficiency, making him feel light and ethereal, unaware of his surroundings, as if he had entered a dream.

"Sister," he called softly again.

His older sister didn't move, seemingly waiting for him on the bed as she had many years ago, wanting to stay with him, waiting for him to climb into bed together, to slip from the freezing cold outside into the warm, cozy blankets. Only, she had grown up, become a real woman. He had grown up too.

He bent down, reached out, and gently stroked her jade-like cheek, then slowly stroked her slender neck.

The air around my neck was cool, thin, and like the scent of ice and snow; if you sniffed it carefully, it seemed to carry a faint fragrance of plum blossoms.

He greedily inhaled the scent. Was it his elder sister's scent?

When he was young and ignorant, he didn't pay attention. But when he became a little more sensible, he vaguely felt that his elder sister's aura should be like the white peony blooming in Jianzhang Palace.

He and she, amidst the white snow, recited a poem: "A day without seeing you, I am driven mad with longing. The phoenix soars high, seeking its mate across the four seas."

As he watched her embroidered mouth utter these lines of poetry, the corners of his lips gradually turned up, and the white snow on the ground transformed into white peonies, blooming one by one.

Her fingers brushed across her slender neck, which was bare, white as snow, and bright as the moon.

The icy, snow-like aura lingered, but he wasn't satisfied. He moved closer, his fingertips probing downwards along the winding path.

A faint, delicate fragrance gently tickled the tip of my nose, even making the aroma of the Boshan incense burner seem less intense.

A series of cool sensations seeped into his lungs, and gradually, the dizziness in his head seemed to subside, as if he were being caressed by a wind carrying ice and snow.

It woke me up.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

That's not my older sister.

It's her.

He met a palace servant by chance at Jianzhang Palace.

The palace maid who looked somewhat like her elder sister.

When she smiled at him under the plum grove that day, he truly felt as if he had seen his elder sister.

Xiao Xun felt a pang of unease, and hatred welled up within him.

He grabbed the sword at his feet, and when the long sword once again illuminated the woman's face, making her face in the shadows appear snow-white, even her lips were snow-white, he saw tears welling up in the corners of her phoenix eyes. She seemed to be struggling to wake up from her dream, and she was moaning something softly in her throat.

Xiao Xun heard it; it was "Father, Mother" over and over again.

He grabbed the clothes hanging on the wooden frame and threw them onto the couch.

Then, with a flourish of his sword, the blade flashed and spun, slashing directly at the Boshan furnace beside him, which was emitting wisps of smoke.

Sparks flew.

The bamboo-shaped incense burner, with its head broken off, rolled clattering to the ground.

The intoxicating fragrance was spilled all over the floor, only to be quickly extinguished by a cup of tea, emitting a long, mournful "hiss".

The anger did not cool down in the slightest; it still burned fiercely in his heart, scorching him.

The sword flew out again, landing firmly on the lattice of the straight-lattice window, creating an opening. A gust of north wind, carrying snowflakes, rushed in through the opening.

His mind cleared up.

He consistently refused to favor the Empress. Qu Qingru repeatedly set aside her pride and self-respect to beg for his mercy, but was always met with indifference.

She knew the reason, but she still had to fulfill her duty as a virtuous empress, or listen to the words of Qu Yang and his wife Qu Yan—the emperor and empress were on good terms, but after drinking so many medicines, there was still no movement in her stomach for three or four years, so there must be some reason.

So she generously sent one woman after another to Xiao Xun's bed, without jealousy or resentment.

Then, those women were to give birth to a child of royal blood and register it under the name of the Empress.

Qu Qingru had sent her a maidservant before; she was a close attendant she had brought from the Qu family.

The palace maid was dressed to the nines, with willow-leaf eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes, a true beauty. She knelt on the ground shyly, wanting to help Xiao Xun change his clothes. Before her hands could even touch the jade belt at her waist, she was driven away by him.

This time, they actually stripped the person naked, put them on the bed, and lit aphrodisiac incense.

Qu Yang, Qu Yan.

Xiao Xun clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the table.

The woman on the bed must have been drugged and lost consciousness; it's unknown when she will wake up.

What's her name? Lin... Lin what?

Xiao Xun turned around and looked at the bed again, only to see a flash of silver light behind the silk curtains, revealing a section of black iron knife.

"Don't come any closer," a trembling voice said from behind.

A note from the author:

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