Jiang Yuyao took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire: "Sister, this bracelet."
"Shut up!" Xinyi Mingyao suddenly stood up, knocking over the fruit plate with the gold bracelet wrapped around her arm. She remembered that the bracelet should be gathering dust in the national treasury, so why would it be on the wrist of a peasant girl?
The old lady's cloudy eyes suddenly cleared up: "The Fifth Princess is well." She trembled and tried to bow, but Jiang Songyi held her steady: "Grandmother, the princess is kind and compassionate to the elderly and the weak."
Xinyi Mingyao swallowed her anger. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, she stared at Jiang Songyi's hand as she supported someone—fingers as slender as scallions, nails a healthy pale pink. Unlike her, even years of nail polish couldn't hide the purple bruises on her nail beds.
"The county lady is very filial." Xinyi Mingyao said with a forced smile, "I would like to ask, what is the crime for the Yongding Marquis to take a half-month leave and delay military affairs at the border?"
The entire garden was silent. Jiang Songyi handed the old lady to the maid, her skirt cracking as she turned. "Princess, are you aware of the victory report from the northern border yesterday?" She pulled out a sealed letter from her sleeve. "My father led a light cavalry raid on the Turkic forage at night, burning three months' worth of their rations. This was delivered this morning, 800 miles away."
Xinyi Mingyao looked at the "great kindness" written in red by her father on the letter, and her armor almost pinched her palm. Jiang Yuyao suddenly rushed over: "Sister, how could you reveal military secrets!"
"It's okay." Jiang Songyi avoided her hand stained with grape juice, "The victory report has now spread to the six ministries. If Princess doesn't believe it, you can ask Miss Yang's father." Her eyes swept over Yang Shuyu's pale face - the daughter of the Minister of War, she knew the true and false military situation best.
Xinyi Mingyao suddenly laughed out loud. She reached out and touched Jiang Songyi's temples, then yanked off her silver butterfly hairpin before she could retreat. "I love hearing good news, so here's a reward for you." She threw the hairpin at Yang Shuyu, leaving a bloody mark on her forehead.
Jiang Yuyao was about to speak when she heard the ceremonial officer say, "The auspicious time has arrived—" She watched Jiang Songyi walk calmly towards the stage. The hem of her moon-white skirt swept across Xinyi Mingyao's deerskin boots, leaving a galaxy-like trail of light on the dark green brocade carpet.
In the shadow of the crabapple blossoms, Jiang Qingmo put down his teacup heavily: "Is it your turn to teach me a lesson?"
Jiang Yuyao huddled behind Xinyi Mingyao and said timidly, "The Fifth Princess is here."
"Why don't I remember this decree?" Xinyi Mingyao stepped forward, twirling her Buddhist beads. Her brocade robes shone coldly in the sunlight. "Are all the young ladies of the Yongding Marquis's Mansion so disrespectful?"
Jiang Songyi pushed through the crowd and approached, her crimson skirt sweeping across the fallen petals on the ground. "Who is this nun?" She tilted her head to examine Xinyi Mingyao's robes. "Are the masters from Rong'en Temple also here to watch the ceremony?"
Xinyi Mingyao's armor scraped across the tea table, making a harsh sound: "How dare you!"
"You are the one who is being presumptuous." Princess Zi Yan, Xin Yiyan, chuckled softly as she leaned against the moon-shaped door. "The Emperor's uncle's order is clearly written—" She flicked out a scroll of yellow silk from her fingertips. "During the period of training with your hair untied, you are not allowed to call yourself a princess."
Yang Shuyu hurriedly tried to pick up the imperial edict, but Jiang Baichuan stepped on it first. He grinned while holding the wine jug: "Oh, there's even a jade seal on it!"
Xinyi Mingyao stared at the red mark on Jiang Songyi's neck and suddenly reached out to tug at her collar. The silver scissors flashed coldly, severing half of her nail.
"Master, be careful." Jiang Songyi supported the staggering princess. "Buddhists are most afraid of anger."
Xin Yiyan approached, shaking her wine gourd. "I'm afraid Master Cikong's recitation of the Diamond Sutra was in vain." Her scent of wine mingled with sandalwood. "Do you want me to perform a prayer for your soul?"
"You!" Xinyi Mingyao flung his Buddhist beads at Xinyi Yan's face, but Jiang Jinzhao blocked them with a prayer scroll. The words "Fu Shou An Kang" (happiness, longevity, and health) were smeared across the cassock in wet ink, like a sinister spell.
A sudden cry of surprise came from the main hall. Mei Weixing had fallen into the wine jar, clutching the mandarin duck bellyband he'd worn during the Peony Banquet. Peng Yuyan screamed and tried to grab it, the golden hairpin in her bun ripping through Jiang Yuyao's sleeve.
"The show is about to begin." Xin Yiyan tossed the wine gourd to Jiang Songyi, "Try this, Bamboo Leaf Green from the hill behind Rong'en Temple."
Xinyi Mingyao stared at the chaotic crowd, her armor digging deep into her palms. The red mark on Jiang Songyi's neck overlapped with memories—a similar scar from when the masked girl had removed an arrow from her neck on a snowy night in the northern border three years ago.
Xuan Qi gripped the hilt of his sword on the beam. That night, he chased for ten miles, only to find half a bloodstained silver scissors. At this moment, the hairpin on Jiang Songyi's temples matched the pattern of the broken blade.
"Master." Jiang Songyi suddenly leaned close to Xinyi Mingyao's ear and said, "The White Snow Tower you planted was watered with human blood, right?"
Xinyi Mingyao's pupils suddenly constricted. Twelve young girls' bodies lay buried in the flower fields behind the mountain. This was a secret unknown even to Yang Shuyu.
"The rain during the Waking of Insects last year." Jiang Songyi's fingertips brushed against her trembling armor. "A girl came to me in a dream and said that peony roots were entangled in her hair."
"You're spreading rumors and misleading the people!" Xin Yimingyao raised her hand to strike, but her wrist was gripped by a clamp-like hand. Jiang Dinglian had appeared in the corridor at some point, his armor still stained with the dust from the training ground.
"Fifth Princess." Marquis Yongding released his hand and slammed his scabbard against the ground. "Yesterday I received a letter from the abbot of Rong'en Temple, saying that the peonies in the back mountain were blooming strangely—"
Xin Yiyan suddenly poured the wine onto the flowers. The crimson liquid seeped into the soil, emitting a strange blue-black color.
Xinyi Mingyao pinched the gilded armor into her palm, and her phoenix eyes were filled with poison: "Xinyi Yan, I will cut off your clever tongue sooner or later!"
"Amitabha." Xin Yiyan clasped her hands together, a golden bracelet peeking out from the sleeves of her monk's robe. "My Buddhist name is Miaozhen. Don't call me by the wrong name, benefactor." She turned to look at Yang Shuyu, the Buddhist beads clinking on her wrist. "This is Master Cikong. We are practicing according to imperial order. Calling you by your secular name would harm the fate of our nation."
Yang Shuyu stared at Xinyi Mingyao's ashen face, her tongue tied: "Master...Master...cousin!" The word "cousin" was thinner than a mosquito or fly.
Xinyi Mingyao was about to leave when she saw a gloating look in Jiang Yuyao's eyes. He slashed his gilded armor across her cheek, drawing blood. "How dare you, a lowly thing, watch me laugh at my joke?"
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