"Found it under the White Jade Bridge." The attendant's voice was low, but it startled the birds and crows in the garden. Jiang Qinghe suddenly lifted her skirt and ran away, not caring about the hairpins flying from her hair. Everyone saw the usually dignified eldest daughter of the Jiang family leaping over the rocks in the stream in her golden shoes.
Jiang Yuyao clenched the bamboo of her fan. She had clearly seen the man lead Jiang Songyi to the abandoned courtyard, so how could he have left any traces on the White Jade Bridge? From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Su Sheng quietly leaving the table, and a cold sweat immediately broke out on her palms. The Third Young Lady of the Yongchang Marquis's Mansion slammed her fan shut. "The other side of the White Jade Bridge is the Princess's inner courtyard. How could a proper lady..." She deliberately dragged out the last word, drawing chuckles from the surrounding ladies.
"She was raised in the countryside, after all." The concubine's daughter of the Minister of Works twirled her handkerchief. "I heard she was bargaining with a horse dealer on the street last month. How could she know anything about the etiquette of a boudoir?"
Before she could finish her words, Jiang Qingzhi's gilded armor had already slashed across Jiang Yuyao's cheek. The crisp sound of the slap startled the egrets from under the eaves, and the pearl hairpins on Jiang Yuyao's temples jingled and fell to the ground, rolling a long way across the bluestone bricks.
"Eldest sister!" Jiang Yuyao covered her face with her hands and was about to cry, "I was really just worried..."
"Worried?" Jiang Qinghe gently stroked the jade bracelet on her wrist. "If you're not sure, why mention it in public? Are you trying to spread rumors..." She raised her eyes and glanced at the people with different expressions. "You want to tarnish the reputation of my Jiang family?"
Jiang Qingmo even grabbed Jiang Yuyao's sleeve and said, "Do you really think we don't know what you and Young Marquis Su did? On the fifteenth of last month, you sent someone to the abandoned courtyard to deliver..."
"Enough!" Peng Yuyan suddenly intervened, her gilded steps clanging loudly. "You three, the stray dogs who were kicked out of your homes, are you qualified to teach the future prince's concubine a lesson?" She deliberately raised the gold paper in her hand and said, "Yesterday, the Fourth Prince praised Yuyao's "Ode to the Peony" as a model for boudoirs!"
Jiang Qingzhi chuckled at this. The "Ode to the Peony" was clearly written by Jiang Songyi when she came of age, and she had stumbled upon it, transcribing it onto Xue Tao's paper. Now, it had become Jiang Yuyao's bargaining chip to curry favor with the royal family.
"Miss Peng, be careful with your words." Jiang Qinghe stepped forward slowly, her moonlit skirt sweeping across the pearls on the ground. "Although my sister and I have left the Hao family, we are still descendants of loyal martyrs bestowed by the emperor. But you..." Her fingertips lightly tapped the Pisces pendant on Peng Yuyan's waist. "Your father was just reported to the Censorate last month for the grain tax case, right?"
Peng Yuyan's face flushed crimson. She hated it most when anyone mentioned her father's predicament at court. Now, old and new hatreds surged within her, and she raised her hand to strike. Jiang Qingmo's quick eyes and hands grabbed her wrist, the three-inch-long nail nearly slicing Jiang Qinghe's cheek.
"presumptuous!"
A sharp shout emanated from the moon-shaped gate. Jiang Shu, supporting the old nanny, hurried over, the pearls hanging from her crown swaying violently with each step. Her gaze swept through the crowd like a knife, finally landing on Jiang Yuyao: "I had no idea that the Jiang family's nanny was so negligent in her duties, allowing a concubine's daughter to stir up trouble outside."
"Mother..." Jiang Yuyao knelt down, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm just worried about Sister Songyi..."
"Worried?" Jiang Shu interrupted with a sneer, "Xiang Zhu came to report half an incense stick ago that Song Yi was temporarily staying in the east wing due to the heat. Since you saw it, why didn't you tell Qing Zhi and the others directly?"
The garden fell silent. The ladies, who had been chatting a moment ago, lowered their heads, fearing to meet Jiang Shu's sharp gaze. Yang Shuyin even quietly took a half step back, covering half her face with her round fan.
"Daughter, daughter..." Jiang Yuyao dug her fingertips into her palm, about to argue, when she saw Su Sheng running towards her from the direction of Baiyu Bridge, looking panicked. The hem of his moon-white brocade robe was stained with a suspicious rouge color, which was particularly glaring in the sunlight.
Jiang Qingmo suddenly exclaimed, "Young Marquis Su's clothes... look a lot like the ones I saw in the abandoned courtyard this morning."
As the fifth wisp of green smoke rose from the incense burner in the Peony Garden, Yang Shuyin's Xiang-colored skirt swept across the bluestone steps. Her fingertips brushed the untouched teacup on the Fourth Prince's desk, and as she turned, her gold-inlaid jade steps jingled. "Why don't you all come with me to find the Jiaqing County Lady? Who knows..." Her red-dyed nails lightly touched her red lips. "You might even see the beautiful sight of 'a beautiful face and peach blossoms complementing each other'."
The talented scholars by the stream exchanged knowing glances. The son of the Minister of Works' family unfurled his folding fan with a swish: "Miss Yang is so righteous, we should go with her."
Jiang Qingmo was so anxious that he tore off the tassels of his handkerchief. "They're going to burn Songyi!" Before he could finish his words, Jiang Qingzhi had already grasped her trembling hands. The rhino horn scented pieces they had sewn into Songyi's sachet three days ago were now wafting a faint, intermittent fragrance on the breeze—the person was in the east wing.
"Sister Yuyao, where was Songyi last seen?" Yang Shuyin deliberately asked loudly.
Jiang Yuyao covered half of her beautiful face with a round fan. "Maybe it's over the White Jade Bridge..." The glass beads on the fan were dazzling. "But Sister Songyi has always been polite and would never..."
"Observe etiquette?" Yang Shuyin sneered and interrupted the conversation, "Last autumn, she rode her horse and chased Prince Xi over three hills. Who in the capital didn't know about it?" After saying that, she led the huge crowd through the moon-shaped gate, scaring the koi in the pond to scatter.
…
In the east wing, Xiang Zhu stared at the fading sandalwood incense in the Boshan incense burner. As the last ash fell, a sudden commotion erupted outside the window. She hurried to the carved lattice window and saw Yang Shuyin's gilded hairpins shimmering in the sunlight, a shadow.
"The county lady has woken up!" Xiang Zhu deliberately raised his voice.
Beyond the screen, Jiang Jinzhao's fingertips landed a black jade chess piece on the Tianyuan position of the endgame. The exquisite chess game set up by the headmaster of Bailu Academy three days ago suddenly became clear the moment his sister woke up. He didn't bother to clear the chessboard, and the tea spilled from his wide sleeves left a dark stain on the blue bricks.
Jiang Songyi opened her eyes and saw her brother's furrowed brows. She sat up, propped up on the jade mat, the golden phoenix hairpin in her snake-like bun perfectly in place. "Why are you here, brother?"
"I should be asking you this." Jiang Jinzhao glanced at her intact forbidden steps. "The Princess's Mansion has more Ice Mirrors than the Marquis' Mansion. How could it be..."
"County Lady!" Xiang Zhu suddenly rushed to the bedside, "Miss Yang is coming here with a lot of people!"
Before she finished speaking, Yang Shuyin's voice, deliberately raised in pitch, could be heard from outside the lattice: "I heard that the county lady was changing clothes here, so we came here specially..." She deliberately pronounced the word "changing clothes" in a charming way, "to visit."
Jiang Songyi suddenly grasped his brother's arm. Jiang Jinzhao understood and, turning back, had already ripped down half the curtains in front of the bed. The silk gauze curtains, like smoke and mist, vaguely revealed a slender figure holding a comb.
"You all came at the right time." Jiang Songyi said lazily, "I just found something interesting among the peonies..." She pulled out a half-torn sleeve from under her pillow. The gold thread peony pattern was obviously the inner material that the Fourth Prince usually used.
Yang Shuyin's face suddenly changed. She had specially fumigated the material with the Fourth Prince's favorite camphor this morning and quietly slipped it into Jiang Yuyao's hand.
Jiang Songyi suddenly sat up from the bed, her fingers tightly grasping her drooping white sleeves. Her hair, soaked with sweat, plastered to her forehead, and her chest heaved violently.
Jiang Jinzhao froze in place. He had never seen his sister so out of control—she'd always been timid when trying to please him, and now, after their reunion, she was cold as ice. Her knuckles were white as she clutched her sleeve, like a drowning person grasping at driftwood.
“Why is it you?”
The moment she saw the face of the person in front of her clearly, the panic in Jiang Songyi's eyes receded like a tide, replaced by undisguised disgust. She shook off the sleeve too forcefully, and the jade bracelet on her wrist clattered against the edge of the sandalwood bed.
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