Chapter 9 Chapter 9 He felt that he had been clearly provoked. ...
The emperor acted swiftly, and the next morning, a eunuch delivered a purple Taoist robe to Changhaoyuan. The front of the robe was embroidered with auspicious cranes, and the cuffs were embellished with gold thread. It came with a matching pearl and jade belt and lotus crown. It even came with a fish talisman, a verification code for entry into the forbidden palace.
While other girls were racking their brains to think about how to show off in front of the emperor, how to gain fame through elegant conversation in front of great scholars, and how to display riding and archery skills in front of Generals Huan and Wang, Xie Tingyu had already been officially appointed as a small seventh-rank official to pray for blessings by virtue of her status as a disciple of Shangqing Temple.
Serving in this position means having neither real power nor generous salary.
However, because she had to pray for the souls of some abandoned palaces and perform a small ritual, she had to get up early and go to the palace for half a month, and she had to leave until the palace gates were locked at 0:00 p.m. The only advantage was that she did not have to pay great respects to officials of much higher rank than her.
Xie Tingyu could only regretfully postpone her plan to practice riding and archery at the martial arts training ground for half a month.
Palace servants were already waiting at the side door. When they saw Xie Tingyu getting off the carriage, they led them for a walk around the palace so that Xie Tingyu could get familiar with the way and not get lost.
The palace maid walked along with him, introducing the way along the way. The road was winding and the two of them turned several corridors. The palace maid was vaguely worried that Xie Tingyu could not keep up, but when she looked sideways, she found that this person was walking faster than her and looked very familiar.
She was secretly amazed. She grew up in the palace and had to walk this route dozens of times before she could remember it clearly. How come Madam Xie was so familiar with it after just one walk?
It's like... like I've been in the palace before.
Just as he was thinking, his foot, which had originally turned left, suddenly stepped to the right. Xie Tingyu grabbed the palace maid and pointed to the left, "You're going the wrong way."
The palace maid was ashamed and said, "Master, please forgive me."
The two of them came back to an old vermilion door with a plaque that read Chunhetang.
Several palace maids were already waiting there, holding mahogany brushes, cinnabar, inkstones, yellow paper, a few bundles of willow branches, and celadon bowls for collecting morning dew.
Xie Tingyu pushed the door open and stepped in. He felt something was wrong. Turning around, he saw that all the palace maids were waiting outside the door, their eyes avoiding him.
"Am I going in alone?"
The palace servant A who led the way smiled awkwardly and said, "Yes, you go in alone."
"This place is really..." Gong Renyi came over and whispered, "The death is too tragic."
Xie Tingyu said "Oh?" and put his foot back.
Thus, a situation was formed with Xie Tingyu as the center and several palace ladies forming a semicircle.
Palace Servant C: "Master, you may not know that this palace was once home to a beloved and favored man."
The beloved man she mentioned refers to the position in the harem.
"This beloved was originally a courtesan presented to the palace. She was beautiful, talented in dancing and singing, and at one point, she was the most favored of the harem, enjoying immense fame. However, somehow, she angered the late emperor, and he ordered her heart to be disemboweled alive. Her body was left hanging in the main hall for seven days before being buried."
"And he was wearing red on the day he died." The palace maid lowered her voice, almost whispering, "They say that when this beloved died, a dagger was thrust into his chest, his heart dug out, and he died with hatred. Who...who dares to enter?"
Palace attendant Ding added, "The blood was all over the floor. The palace servants who came to clean it were busy for four days, and there are still dark red marks in the seams."
Xie Tingyu patted his chest and said, "With a master like me here to take care of things, what are you afraid of? Come with me in."
The palace servants all shook their heads, their faces grimace. "Master Xie, you don't know, but in the past, Taoist priests who came to do this always came in groups of four or five, but now there's only you left. We were all summoned by the steward last night before bed. We're weak, so it's better for us to keep watch outside for you."
After hearing what these people said, Xie Tingyu no longer insisted.
She walked in and saw that the place was barren and overgrown with weeds, and dark green moss was growing in the cracks.
The hall was utterly dark. A large, dark brown stain etched itself on the center tile. Looking up, he saw a hemp rope hanging straight down directly above Xie Tingyu, swaying back and forth despite the wind. Layers of spider webs had formed in the corners of the beams and on the tilted, collapsed furniture.
Xie Tingyu picked up a mahogany brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and scribbled a few strokes on the yellow paper. This was something she had learned last night while cramming for an exam. She had been trying to figure out how to argue that her ghostly talismans were different from those of other Taoists this morning, but the fact that these palace servants weren't there made things easier for her.
Afterwards, she pasted the talismans on the temple doors and window frames, and then soaked willow branches in dew and sprinkled them on the blue bricks one by one.
Several palace servants quietly opened the door a crack, looked at Xie Tingyu's back as she took the willow branch, and whispered, "Master Xie has a really good temper. She didn't get angry even though we just talked like that."
"Xie Guijun and Taoist Master Xie are brother and sister. Xie Guijun is as gentle as jade and never treats his servants harshly. Taoist Master Xie is naturally kind and benevolent as well."
After Xie Tingyu came out of the palace, he went to the next palace with the palace servants. After a whole morning, they only passed through five palaces in total.
At noon, someone from Penglai Palace came to invite Xie Tingyu to the palace to have lunch with Xie Helan.
In the afternoon, Xie Tingyu went to Posa Pavilion to exorcise evil spirits as usual.
When Xie Tingyu stepped into the hall, the inner room was still heavily draped with curtains.
She did not say anything, but just pasted the talisman paper on the screen, incense burner and other furniture, and then used willow branches to sprinkle water in the four corners of the hall to purify the filth.
When Xie Tingyu was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of the backgammon board on the small table, and subconsciously sat down to entertain himself.
Layer upon layer of curtains were lifted, and Ji Lian walked out. Her long hair, like a waterfall, was tied up with a white jade tassel hairpin, and she was wearing a crescent-shaped wide-sleeved robe.
Seeing Xie Tingyu still there, Ji Lian opened her mouth to drive her away, but when she looked closely, she found that she was playing backgammon, and immediately swallowed the words she was about to say.
He had just taken out the chessboard last night to relieve his loneliness. Now that he was recuperating from illness, there was no better pastime to relieve his boredom than a game of chess.
Xie Tingyu looked up, two dice flipping back and forth between her fingertips. "Your Highness, how about a round?"
Ji Lian glanced at the movements of Xie Tingyu's fingers and said, "Your hands look quite useful."
Xie Tingyu nodded, "My hands are indeed very useful. Both my right and left hands are very useful."
Jiangzhu turned her head away and pretended not to hear anything.
Backgammon is a game that relies on luck and strategy, and is very popular among everyone from royal relatives and nobles to ordinary people.
Each player holds 15 chess pieces and rolls dice to determine the number of moves. The pieces must circumnavigate the board along a fixed route. The first player to remove all of their pieces from the board or immobilize their opponent's pieces wins. If a player's horse is attacked by their opponent, they must return to the starting point and start over.
Ji Lian had seen Xie Tingyu's lotus-heart-piercing-fish trick, and knew that if they were to compete in tossing pots at this moment, he would have little chance of winning. However, if it came to backgammon, he had received guidance from a famous player in his childhood.
In the first round, both players rolled the dice simultaneously. Ji Lian rolled a five, while Xie Tingyu rolled a three. Ji Lian, holding the white piece, made the first move.
With a natural advantage at the start, Ji Lian was unstoppable. He took advantage of the first move and quickly moved out all the white pieces, winning the first game.
Xie Tingyu smiled gently and said, "Your Highness seems to be quite proficient in double-sixes."
Ji Lian lowered his head to arrange the chessboard, a smile on his face, "I once asked Murong Xin for advice."
Xie Tingyu understood. No wonder when she played chess with Ji Lian, she always felt vaguely that this person's moves were somewhat like Murong Xin's in the past.
Murong Xin was a man of Xianbei origin. Abandoned by his family as a child, he was brought to Jiankang, the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, by a broker. He was later sold to a gambling den, where he was exposed to games of Chupu, backgammon, and Go from a young age. His exceptional backgammon skills earned him a tribute to the late emperor, who greatly favored him.
People at that time called him the "master of double-sixes". All the noble ladies and gentlemen in Jiankang were proud to play against him, but only a few could beat him.
Ji Lian won the first battle, and the depression caused by his illness was immediately relieved.
But soon, a burning anger surged into his heart.
In the second game, Xie Tingyu rolled a double five, knocking Ji Lian's lone piece out of the board and winning.
In the third game, Xie Tingyu calculated Ji Lian's moves accurately and rolled six-four. He moved two pieces to block the key road and won again with double six.
In the fourth game, Ji Lian accidentally revealed a flaw, and Xie Tingyu took advantage of the situation to drive him out of the chessboard and win again.
In the fifth game, Xie Tingyu still won.
Ji Lian lost four games in a row and was shocked and puzzled.
How is this possible? !
He was personally instructed by Murong Xin!
Ji Lian was a little annoyed. He took a deep breath and looked up, only to see his opponent smiling and staring at him intently.
He felt that he was being clearly provoked.
"Again?"
Ji Lian drank a cup of tea, his face as calm as water, his jaw tense, "More."
So, after each game, Xie Tingyu would say "Come again" to arouse Ji Lian's competitive spirit.
Ji Lian lost more and more as he fought, and the more he lost, the more he fought. He lost for the entire afternoon. The word "again" was like a magic spell that made him unable to stop.
Xie Tingyu, who was supposed to go to various palaces to exorcise evil spirits, spent the entire afternoon playing backgammon with others in the Posa Pavilion.
In the end, Ji Lian looked depressed and stared at the chessboard motionlessly, as if petrified.
He has lost ten games in a row.
Jiangzhu looked at Ji Lian's ears which were red due to frustration, and then looked at Xie Tingyu who was throwing dice with his head down, and wondered if Lord Xie was too absorbed in the game of chess and didn't notice the sullen look on His Highness's face?
...No.
Xie Tingyu not only knew it, but also did it on purpose.
Xie Tingyu's eyes moved from the chessboard in front of him, across his well-proportioned and slender fingers that were picking up a chess piece, to his slightly protruding Adam's apple, his soft and beautiful lips, and finally stopped at his eyes filled with anger.
In fact, Xie Tingyu didn’t understand why she thought it was fun to annoy Ji Lian?
Did she enjoy seeing the blush of anger on a beautiful woman's face? Or did she find the shimmering water in her eyes and the trembling of her eyelashes when she was angry very charming?
Xie Tingyu didn’t understand, but he liked it very much.
——Snap!
The chess piece in his hand fell from between his fingers onto the chessboard with a crisp sound.
Lost another game.
Ji Lian's Adam's apple rolled as he drank another cup of tea. His knuckles gripping the teacup gradually tightened, and his thin lips, glistening with the tea, curled downwards.
"Come again," he said.
————
A man emerged from the palace, turned into a dark alley, and emerged wearing a cloth robe of indigo blue and a wide-brimmed hat. He hurried westward. At the alley's entrance, beneath a locust tree, a black-covered carriage had been waiting for a long time. The man leaped onto the shaft, and the curtains dropped.
The carriage finally stopped outside the Pear Garden.
The man hurried up the spiral staircase, turned left without hesitation, and stopped in front of the wing room at the end of the second floor. He tapped the door with his fingers, three long and two short, and when he heard the word "enter" from inside, he pushed the door open and slipped in.
A young lady was leaning against a table with her eyes closed, her fingers tapping lightly on her knees to the tune of the pipa played by a female musician. Her hair was loose, with two strands of hair slipping out from her temples.
"My wife." The man came closer and whispered a few words in Yuan Wangshu's ear.
Yuan Wangshu opened his eyes and glanced sideways. "Huh? Dead? Xie Tingyu has taken his place?"
"Yes, I heard that Xie Tingyu was talking with Xie Guijun in Penglai Palace when His Majesty came in and happened to see someone delivering a memorial, so this matter just happened to fall on her head."
Yuan Wangshu casually held a piece of candied fruit. "Mother told me about this before she passed away. The position of Prayer Envoy, although of low rank, grants access to the Emperor and the authority to control the alchemy furnace. During the late Emperor's time, our Yuan family was in charge. In Japan, Aunt Yuan Tianyuan was in charge, but unfortunately, she disappeared after she made a divination for the late Emperor, and her whereabouts remain unknown to this day. It would be best if someone from our Yuan family were in charge of this position."
She glanced at the person and said, "Just find a way to scare her away."
"I am stupid, please explain clearly, madam."
"Isn't she responsible for praying for the palace? If the palaces she oversees are haunted repeatedly, and she's helpless to do anything about it, then such an incompetent person should naturally resign."
Let’s get back to this.
Xie Tingyu's duty was quite pleasant. In the morning, he would hang talismans in the palace to ward off evil spirits, and in the afternoon, he would play backgammon with Ji Lian.
But this leisure came to an abrupt end at midnight on the fifth day.
"Madam, wake up, someone is coming from the palace." Someone called softly through the gauze curtain.
A sleepy murmur came from inside the tent: "What's going on?"
"The official in charge is waiting outside the courtyard. He says the emperor is angry and something terrible has happened in the palace. The imperial carriage is already waiting at the door."
Xie Tingyu stood up from her bed, keeping everything simple. Served by servants, she wore a plain outer robe, her hair lightly tied up with a headband, and then stepped out.
The officer in charge saw Xie Tingyu approaching and saluted with his hands clasped, sweat already beading on his forehead. "I shouldn't have disturbed you so late at night, but strange things are happening so frequently in the palace. Please follow me into the palace as soon as possible."
Xie Tingyu stepped onto the carriage, but suddenly stopped when he heard this, his face full of doubts. "What happened?"
The official in charge looked around, leaned over and whispered to Xie Tingyu's ear, his voice trembling: "A fierce ghost has appeared in the palace...something has happened..."
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