After the Peng and Mei families left, silence returned to the hall. Princess Linchuan dozed off against a carved rosewood chair when she was suddenly awakened by a muffled cough. She opened her eyes to see a young man in a snow-white brocade robe standing at the steps, his loose black hair cascading to his waist. The candlelight made his face appear even paler.
"Why does the prince walk without making any sound?" The eldest princess rubbed her chest and complained, the golden phoenix hairpin in her hair swaying slightly with her movements.
Xin Yidao gathered his white fox fur coat and said, "Aunt is overworked." There was still a breath in his throat when he spoke, like a kite whose string was about to break at any moment.
Princess Linchuan looked at his thin figure and suddenly smiled and said, "The peonies are in full bloom today. Have you met a girl you like?"
"Aunt's flower-viewing banquets are always elegant," the prince said, covering his lips and coughing softly, "unlike those vulgar banquets that are just an opportunity to see each other."
"I originally thought so," the princess said, fiddling with her jade bracelet, the sound of pearls colliding crisply. "But your father is worried about you staying at the Taibai Mountain Villa for a long time, and you've been staying indoors for a while since you returned." She paused, lowering her voice, "The day before yesterday, Yang Guifei sent a betrothal gift to the Yongding Marquis's residence."
The prince lowered his eyes and stared at the flickering candlelight on the blue bricks: "Fourth brother is going to take a concubine?"
"It's the second daughter of the Yongding Marquisate." Seeing his indifference, the princess pointed out: "Your second brother is far away in the frontier. A few years ago, he wrote to say that the princess is five months pregnant. Your fourth brother has not yet taken a concubine, and Concubine Yang is already looking for a wife."
"Congratulations, second and fourth brothers." The prince took out a white handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead. When his snow-white sleeves slipped down, the Buddhist beads on his wrist were revealed.
The princess stared at the ebony rosary and suddenly remembered the emperor's instructions the day before. She asked tentatively, "I heard that your father gave her a maid the other day."
"I'm leaving." The prince interrupted her, his fingertips unconsciously turning the Buddhist beads. "Although I am sick, I can still take care of myself."
The hall fell into an eerie silence, and two sparks of light burst from the gilded dragon candlestick. The eldest princess gazed at his thin profile, ultimately not mentioning the true purpose of those palace maids' training. She only sighed, "You've already come of age three years."
A violent cough suddenly erupted, and the prince bent over the table, his thin shoulders trembling violently, and his silk scarf instantly stained with scarlet. The imperial physician waiting outside the door rushed in, but was stopped by the prince.
"Thank you, Auntie. You've taken my time." He stood up, panting. His lips were even paler than the fox fur coat he was wearing. "Daoyi is in such poor condition. Why bother wasting the girl's time?"
Princess Linchuan looked at Crown Prince Xinyidao's pale face, cold sweat breaking out on her palms. The silver charcoal in the gilded heater burned brightly, but it couldn't warm the young man's cold wrist.
"How could your father have the heart to do that?" She handed the medicine bowl to the prince's lips, and caught a glimpse of the ambiguous red marks on his collar. "Those are the ones who seduced the palace maids."
Xinyi Daoyi coughed violently, staining her scarlet scarlet. Princess Linchuan hurriedly patted his back, her eyes welling with tears as she thought of her late sister-in-law. "Never mind, I'll go to the palace tomorrow."
"Aunt." The prince grasped her sleeve, his fingertips translucent white. "Father is worried that I won't live to see my wedding." He smiled bleakly. "The imperial physician said that my essence and blood are deficient and I need to balance my yin and yang."
The shadows of the bamboo outside the window flickered suddenly, and the leader of the secret guards, Xuan Qi, nearly fell from the roof beam. This master, who had broken an assassin's neck with his bare hands the day before, now acted like a consumptive.
Princess Linchuan wiped her tears and said, "The Yongding Marquis's Mansion wants to hold a coming-of-age ceremony for Princess Jiaqing. If you don't mind, it will be fine."
"I'll leave." Xinyi Daoyi started coughing again, shaking the celadon vase on the desk. "Just consider it... cough cough... for good luck."
As dusk fell over the eaves of the Yongding Marquis's residence, Jiang Shu's carriage rolled past the threshold of the Jingkang Marquis's residence. Madam Mei, shaking the broken engagement letter like a sieve, said, "Thirty percent of the betrothal gifts are ready."
"Fifty percent." Jiang Shu stroked the lotus pattern on the teacup. "Your son is having an affair with the daughter of the Peng family in the Princess's residence. Do you think our Jiang family is just a poor family in the city?"
When Mei Weixing rushed in, Jiang Shu was throwing Peng Yuyan's bellyband on the table. The scarlet silk made his eyes redden: "That night was clearly..."
"Is there medicine in the wine?" Jiang Shu sneered and interrupted, "Do you want me to ask the imperial physician to check Miss Peng's pulse?"
The room was filled with dead silence. By the time Jiang Qinghe's dowry was carried back to the Marquis's residence, the story of Prince Mei and Miss Peng's affair had spread throughout the West Street teahouses. The storyteller struck the wake-up stick: "I saw the mandarin duck bellyband hanging among the peony bushes, just like..."
"Mother." Jiang Songyi lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw two white lanterns in front of the Marquis's Mansion. "What is this?"
"To dispel the bad luck from your sister." Jiang Shu stuffed the Dongzhu that the Mei family had compensated her with into her arms. "Tomorrow is the coming-of-age ceremony, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be here."
The ancestral hall was cold and gloomy. Jiang Yuyao knelt on her mat and counted the hours. Two hours later, she suddenly leaned on Liao Xianxian's shoulder and said, "Hurry. Find my eldest brother."
Liao Xianxian rubbed her bruised knees and limped through the moonlit door. Warm light streamed through the study window. Jiang Jinzhao was copying the "Lanting Preface," but his brush kept gravitating towards the four characters "high mountains and steep ridges."
"Master!" Liao Xianxian rushed to the steps, "The second young lady fainted!"
Jiang Jinzhao, using a wolf-hair brush to write the word "Jun," gazed at the coarse ceramic inkstone on his desk. That day, when Jiang Songyi presented him with this ugly object, he had thrown it to the ground in front of the servants, "A daughter of a noble family is giving you such rubbish?"
At this moment, the ink in the inkstone swayed slightly, reflecting his distorted image. A commotion came from the direction of the ancestral hall, and he suddenly crumpled up the rice paper and threw it at the window frame: "Call the doctor!"
On the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, the gates of the Yongding Marquis's mansion were wide open. Xinyi Daoyi, holding Xuanqi's hand, stepped out of the carriage, his lips accentuated by his snow-white cloak. Princess Linchuan hurriedly thrust a heater into his arms, "If you can't hold on any longer, tell me."
"Don't worry, aunt." The prince's fingertips brushed the sachet at his waist, which contained the life-extending elixir. "I still want to see... ahem... the niece who can drive Minister Jiang crazy."
The main hall suddenly fell silent. Jiang Songyi, wearing a saffron-colored skirt, stepped through the threshold. The hairpin in her hair was shaped like a pair of silver scissors. Xinyi's pupils shrank suddenly—this was clearly the mark of a Northern Frontier spy.
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