Chapter 84 Considering the future, there is no way to predict what will happen.
The charcoal fire crackled as they brewed tea around the stove. Shen Yujiao absentmindedly stirred the peanuts on the wire mesh, her gaze fixed on Chu Rou's hands as she peeled an orange.
Chu Rou's hands were slender and fair. Unlike her delicate hands, Chu Rou had some thin calluses on her knuckles. They weren't very noticeable on ordinary days, but they were quite distinct now. It was probably from practicing calligraphy and doing small woodworking.
Roasted oranges don't have as much juice, but Chu Rou peels them segment by segment, her crystal-clear nails still stained with a little yellow. She removes the white pith from the peeled orange segments and then places them on a small plate in front of Shen Yujiao.
"Your Highness, please try it."
Shen Yujiao looked at the sentence pushed in front of her, her eyes flickered slightly, and she nodded. The oranges were very sweet, but she hesitated for a long time, unsure of how to begin.
"Just now, Your Highness and I went to see the snow scene. Although it wasn't as magnificent as the one we saw in the North, it was still very beautiful. Don't you want to go and see it?"
"You'll see it on your way home after we finish staying up all night."
“I see…” Shen Yujiao offered another segment of orange to her mouth. “His Highness… just mentioned you to me, saying that he felt a little guilty about having you stay alone in Jingtan Pavilion all day.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Rou smiled faintly: "Your Highness is probably joking with me, isn't he? I told Your Highness before that I truly have no feelings for you."
“Not for that,” Shen Yujiao grabbed her hand as she was about to peel an orange, “Chu Rou, when you were in your room before, did you have someone you liked?”
"Your Highness..." Chu Rou's smile froze, then she lowered her eyes and said indifferently, "This concubine has no one in her heart."
Seeing that same expression again, Shen Yujiao loosened her grip on Chu Rou's hand. She had seen this look on Chu Rou's face before, but at that time she thought it was Chu Rou's helplessness about marrying into the Eastern Palace. But now it seemed that it was not like that at all.
"Tonight, the Crown Prince and his elder brother were drinking in the front yard. The elder brother drank a bit too much and inadvertently uttered a few words in his sleep, which the Crown Prince remembered."
With a "crack," the peanut in Chu Rou's hand split open instantly. Her eyelashes trembled, her lips were tightly pressed together, and she waited silently for the Crown Princess to continue.
“My brother casually mentioned his sweetheart, and said that he would never want to get married again for the rest of his life… A-Rou, as you know, I have never been able to see my brother since he left home to join the army. I want to ask you, do you know if my brother had any contact with any women in the capital or elsewhere during those years?”
"No...no, General He is a man of integrity and has never heard any such rumors."
Shen Yujiao looked at Chu Rou with a cautious tone: "But... we can't ask my brother to remain unmarried for the rest of his life because of that woman. If you know who she is, I can go and talk to her. As long as she is also interested in my brother, I can arrange for our parents to propose marriage on her behalf."
"Your Highness," Chu Rou's hands trembled slightly as she rose and curtsied, "the two children have been playing outside for too long, I'd like to go check on them, it's getting late..."
"A-Rou!" Shen Yujiao stood up and called out to Chu Rou, who was walking out: "I have already instructed Mu Jin and Shi Yang about the child, and A-Jun is also guarding outside. Now, it's just the two of us here."
She stepped forward, grabbed Chu Rou and led her into the inner room, away from the windows and doors. After lowering the heavy curtains and making sure no one was near, Shen Yujiao solemnly said, "I know that you did not marry into the Eastern Palace of your own volition, and that the world is too harsh on women. But neither His Highness nor I are people who value etiquette above all else. Today, I will only ask you this once."
Seeing Chu Rou's trembling fingers, she continued, "I won't lie to you. You know what the situation is like in the capital now, and what the court will be like next year. Nobody knows. I don't even dare to speculate whether the palace is safe right now. Even if you think it through in the future, I'm afraid you'll never have the chance again."
"Ah-Rou, are you and your brother mutually in love?"
If not, I will surely tell my brother to give up his thoughts, and you can live as you please in the Eastern Palace; if that is the case, the path is made by walking, and the method is also found by thinking, I am willing to help you, so that you can each find your place and have no regrets for the rest of your lives.
Under Shen Yujiao's gaze, Chu Rou slowly curtsied until she knelt on both knees. She wasn't doing a proper bow, but rather she was feeling somewhat exhausted. She had thought about how this issue would one day come to light, and she had considered countless reasons to exonerate He Zhiju. However, she never expected that the Crown Princess would be so willing to grant her wish.
She was always a clear-headed and methodical person, but at this moment her mind was a mess. If the Crown Princess had asked her this question half a year ago, she might have decisively denied it. She did not only represent herself; behind her were the Chu family, her grandfather, and the reputation of the Eastern Palace. She would never make any mistakes.
But... she had spent so much time with the Crown Princess, and the Crown Princess's passionate, bright, and vibrant energy had been influencing her constantly. She felt a surge of emotion within her, and the deepest desires she had buried in her heart were now clamoring for something more.
She should have said that she had nothing to do with He Zhiju, that the two had never had any feelings for each other, that there was no mutual affection between them, and that it was all a misunderstanding. She should have even said that His Highness the Crown Prince had misheard, that the sweetheart General He was referring to was not her, and that they had never met.
But sometimes, one cannot control one's impulses—"General He and I have known each other since we were young, and our families were once engaged."
Once she calmed down, the words she spoke were irreversible.
Chu Rou closed her eyes resignedly and recounted her past with He Zhiju to Shen Yujiao. The story between the two of them began with their grandfathers.
"One year, my grandfather was on official business in Jiangnan Prefecture when he encountered bandits. It just so happened that General He was passing by on his patrol and rescued my grandfather. My grandfather already had great respect for the He family, a family with a hundred-year history of loyalty. After learning about General He's identity, he admired him even more. The two quickly became close friends."
“When I first entered the He family mansion, I was not yet two years old. I don’t actually have any memory of what happened then, but I heard that it was during that visit that the elders of the two families arranged a marriage between us. So later, whenever my grandfather or father went south, I would follow them to pay my respects to Madam He whenever we passed through Jiangnan Prefecture.”
"But fate had other plans. Later, the He family had an accident, and soon after, my father also passed away. Both families suffered heavy losses in succession, and the marriage was put on hold. That year, at my grandfather's birthday banquet, General He followed General Qi to offer his congratulations. After the banquet ended that day, they did not leave the capital immediately."
"The day after my grandfather's birthday banquet, General He came to the door with the marriage certificate from back then to break off the engagement. My grandfather initially disagreed, but later General He said that he would be heading north from the next day until he reached the border to guard the pass. If nothing unexpected happened, he would stay in the northern border for the rest of his life. My grandfather loved me and was reluctant to let me marry into the northern border, so he agreed to break off the engagement."
“Your Highness,” Chu Rou’s lips curled into a bitter smile, “this matter is long gone from my memory, and I imagine it is the same for General He.”
"I am willing to be honest with Your Highness today because Your Highness's sincerity towards me is genuine. I do not wish to deceive you on this matter, but... General He is a young man with lofty ambitions, and I must also live up to the expectations of the entire Chu family. The engagement was broken off back then, and in the future, I will have no further connection with General He."
“Chu Rou,” Shen Yujiao squatted down to meet her gaze and asked, word by word, “I only ask you today, do you also have feelings for my brother?”
"You don't need to consider the He family, the Chu family, or the Crown Prince. I only want to ask you this one thing today."
"I—" Chu Rou opened her mouth, but facing Shen Yujiao's sincere gaze, she still did not want to deceive the person in front of her in the slightest. "Your Highness, it is late at night, and midnight is approaching. You have to go to the palace early tomorrow morning, so you should go to sleep now."
Having said that, she no longer waited for Shen Yujiao to continue. She propped up her legs, which had gone numb from kneeling, and limped out of the main hall. Shen Yujiao watched her departing figure, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
Why are you sitting on the ground?
When Jiang Chen returned from He Zhiju's place, he saw Shen Yujiao sitting on the ground in a daze as soon as he entered the inner room. He quickly picked her up, patted off the non-existent dust on her body, and then asked Mu Jin to bring Shen Yujiao some thick clothes.
“It’s alright,” Shen Yujiao shook her head at Jiang Chen, “I didn’t sit for long before my legs went numb from squatting. I knew you were coming back, so I was waiting for you.”
"Are you stupid?" Jiang Chen frowned and sighed. He turned around and saw Mu Jin coming in, so he called her over: "Help your Crown Princess change her clothes."
Seeing that the Crown Princess's knees were trembling, Mu Jin thought she had fallen and was very nervous while changing her clothes. She was relieved when she saw that the Crown Princess was alright.
That evening, Shen Yu nestled in Jiang Chen's arms and whispered the story that Chu Rou had told her that night. Her tone was slightly regretful: "Chu Rou probably didn't want to drag down General He, nor did she want to drag down the Chu family and the Eastern Palace. After all, in this era, it was almost absurd for her, as the Crown Prince's concubine and future imperial consort, to want to be with someone of General He's status."
“I expected her to say that,” Jiang Chen said, smoothing her disheveled hair. “Today’s events were just a coincidence, but her words confirm that the two are in love. I’ll find a suitable opportunity to ask He Zhiju about it in the future. After all, the He family’s grudge is there. He was willing to break off the engagement back then, so he probably doesn’t want to affect Consort Chu today.”
Neither of them wanted to be a burden to the other, so separating became their best outcome.
But when this matter was mentioned, Shen Yujiao thought of something else: "The He family's affairs are very special. Jiang Chen, promise me that if you are not absolutely certain about this matter, you will not put yourself in danger."
In the darkness, Jiang Chen's eyes flickered: "Okay, I promise you."
Shen Yujiao sensed the evasiveness in his words and wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing. Jiang Chen was loyal and righteous, and if given the opportunity, he would certainly not care about his own safety. She could hardly imagine that day coming.
As the crown prince whom the emperor had painstakingly groomed, he was now trying to overturn the case of the He family, whose entire household had been ordered to be confiscated by imperial decree years ago. The He family's case had already caused a stir within the military group once before; if it happened again...
"Okay, stop thinking about those things and go to sleep."
Jiang Chen interrupted Shen Yujiao's thoughts. He gently kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Jiaojiao, Happy New Year."
"Yes, Happy New Year, Jiang Xiaochen."
They spent another year together.
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