Chapter 123 The King Comes to See Your Princess
Yuehua Courtyard.
The sun filters through the leaves of the sycamore tree, casting mottled shadows.
Ruan Yunsheng was leaning on the beauty couch under the window. Her lotus-colored soft silk skirt made her skin look as white as jade. Her slender fingers were holding a plain ball fan, and she was teasing the parrot on the shelf from time to time, but her eyes were a little vague.
Not long after, Zhishu's voice came from the courtyard gate, greeting him respectfully: "Greetings, Your Majesty."
Xie Yan's voice followed closely behind, low and gentle: "This prince is here to see your princess. Please go in and tell her."
Zhishu stole a glance at the tightly closed carved window lattice, his face showing embarrassment: "Your Highness, the princess just ordered that she wants to take a nap and no one is allowed to disturb her."
Xie Yan was silent for a moment, sighed softly, took out a jade token from his sleeve and handed it to her: "Well, you can give this to the princess."
Zhishu took the warm jade token with both hands, bowed quickly, turned around and walked lightly into the house, whispering, "Princess, the prince asked me to give this to you."
Ruan Yunsheng glanced at the jade token casually, and his eyes moved.
She had the shopkeeper return this jade pendant to "Chuwu" not long ago.
Xie Yan took it out at this moment simply to reveal his identity.
She twisted the round fan with her fingertips, and the tip of the fan gently tapped her palm. She snorted in her heart: Xie Yan, this bastard, has deceived her for so many years, and now he wants to talk it off lightly?
How could anything be so easy?
If she doesn't teach him a lesson and make him remember it, Xie Yan might dare to fool her again in the future!
Ruan Yunsheng said, "Take the things out and return them to him. Tell him that I'm asleep and ask him to deliver them next time."
Zhishu could only bow and take the jade token out.
Although he said he was taking a nap, Ruan Yunsheng was too lazy to even pretend to be calm.
She leaned against the soft couch by the window, fanning herself with a round fan, occasionally tickling the parrot on the shelf.
The silver bell-like laughter mixed with the noisy chirping of birds "Princess, Princess" came out from the window crack so openly, without caring at all whether people outside could hear it.
Xie Yan did not leave even after being turned away. He stood in the shadow of the opposite corridor, with his arms folded across his chest and his back lightly resting against the vermilion pillar.
His eyes were fixed on the carved window, as if he wanted to see the pretty figure inside through the gaps in the wooden lattice.
Amid the noisy chatter of parrots, her laughter was clear and lively.
Xie Yan looked at the blurry shadow of the fan on the window paper, his deep eyelashes drooped, and a soft warmth spread in his eyes.
He didn't throw the parrot out and was laughing so happily... maybe he wasn't really angry.
In the past five years, Shengsheng's laughter could only be heard in dreams.
But now, just across the corridor, her voice and breath are so real that they are within reach.
The wind blew through the newly sprouted willow branches under the corridor, bringing with it a few hints of chilly spring air.
Xie Yan just stood there quietly, listening to the movement from the window, the corners of his lips curled up almost imperceptibly.
After an unknown amount of time, Mo Ying hurried over and whispered, "Your Highness, the eldest young master is back."
Only then did Xie Yan reluctantly withdraw his gaze and leave Yuehua Courtyard.
When they arrived at Lantingxuan, Ruan Yunjian and Ruan Yunbo were both there.
Ruan Yunjian and Xie Yan hadn't seen each other for two or three years. Before they left Beijing last time, their relationship was incompatible. Unexpectedly, when they met again, the situation was very different.
Xie Yan took the initiative to call out "Big Brother".
Ruan Yunjian nodded and said, "Please sit down. You've been under house arrest recently. I wanted to find time to visit you at Prince Xuan's Mansion. I didn't expect you to come here first."
Xie Yan said, "Brother, you are looking for me because of the Yin State spy matter, right?"
Ruan Yunjian nodded. "General Sun is colluding with Yin State spies. This matter is of great importance and concerns Sheng Sheng's safety. Therefore, the sooner it is resolved, the better."
"Yesterday, Shengsheng and I studied those secret letters and poems, and roughly determined the time and place of the Yin State spies' meeting. Furthermore, my fifth brother has already captured a spy, and a 'big shot' will be arriving in Beijing in a few days. Therefore, we already have a lot of clues."
Ruan Yunbo said, "My cousin is at the inn right now. As long as that 'big shot' speaks to him, we'll catch her in no time! I just don't know the identity of this so-called 'big shot'."
Xie Yan lowered his eyes slightly. It was true that he had caught the Yin State spy, but he only knew that an important person would come to Shengjing in the near future.
As for the thing about liking handsome young men, he asked Mo Ying to make it up just to prevent Pei Jinghong from living in the Marquis' Mansion.
He coughed lightly and said, "The spy I caught was just a messenger. The information he had might not be accurate, so we can't put all our hopes on the inn."
Ruan Yunjian agreed, "I think so too. To convict General Sun, we must have sufficient solid evidence. Even if we catch a few ordinary spies, General Sun is so cunning that he won't leave any evidence behind. He will then have many excuses to justify his actions."
Ruan Yunbo nodded, "That's right. Liang Huaifeng used to work for General Sun, but he died in a fire a few days ago. And Su Muci, I wonder how much he was involved. I wonder if he knows anything."
Ruan Yunjian sighed, "I didn't expect that Su Muci would be involved in this."
He and Su Muci were classmates. He was the top student in high school and Su Muci was the second. Although their relationship was not close, they could be considered to have a mutual understanding.
I didn't expect Su Muci to join General Sun.
No, it should be said that Su Muci is on the side of Prince Duan.
In fact, this is understandable. Prince An is disabled and Xie Yan's mind is not on state affairs at all. He has been away from Shengjing for the past five years and no one knows where he has gone. He often disappears for one or two months.
The emperor expressed his dissatisfaction with Xie Yan many times, but Xie Yan continued to do as he pleased.
Prince Duan not only had the support of his biological mother, Concubine Hui, but also his father-in-law, Marshal Sun. Many court officials believed that Prince Duan had a great chance of becoming the crown prince.
But unexpectedly, Prince Duan had been involved in many scandals recently and was even confined to his home by the Emperor.
Ruan Yunjian glanced at Xie Yan. Although Xie Yan had lost his official position, the commander-in-chief of the palace, Shen Da, was his man, which meant that most of the imperial guards in Shengjing were under his control.
He might be able to compete for the position of crown prince.
It was getting late and it was almost time for dinner.
Butler Feng came over to ask when dinner would be served. Ruan Yunbo ordered the servants to invite his sister over and said with a smile, "It's rare that there are so many people here today. Let's eat and chat later."
Unexpectedly, not long after, Zhishu came over and said, "My Lords, my Lords, the princess ate too much snacks this afternoon and has no appetite for dinner, so she won't be coming to eat. I told you not to wait for her."
Ruan Yunbo quickly said, "Eat a little bit. How can you not eat?"
Ruan Yunjian followed up with concern, "But where do you feel uncomfortable? Do you want to ask a doctor to come over and take a look?"
Zhishu glanced at Xie Yan carefully and smiled respectfully: "Don't worry, my two lords. The princess is not feeling unwell, she just has no appetite."
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