The Buddhist hall was filled with smoke. Xin Yiyan knelt on the cushion with a dignified expression. "I have violated the precept of anger today, and I have come to apologize." She tilted her head and winked at Jiang Songyi. "Please count, my lady. I need to kowtow a full ninety-nine and eighty-one times."
Jiang Songyi leaned against the door frame and sneered, "Princess, why don't you just say what you want directly instead of being so pretentious?"
"The county lady is straightforward." Xin Yiyan patted her monk's robe and stood up. "I want you to help me escape the marriage."
It turned out that the Queen Mother wanted to marry her to the Prince of Zhenbei, a consumptive man. Xin Yiyan leaned in and whispered, "As long as you help me fake my death, you can set any conditions."
Jiang Songyi fiddled with the relic on the altar: "How did the princess know I had this ability?"
"Anyone who can undo the demon fetus must understand yin and yang." Xin Yiyan pressed the certificate of ordination into her palm. "Once you're done, you can command the three thousand warrior monks of Rong'en Temple."
Suddenly, Jiang Baichuan's howling was heard outside the window: "Xin Yiyan! Stay away from my sister!" followed by the sound of a heavy object falling into the water. It seemed that he fell into the lotus pond because he chased too fast.
Xin Yiyan chuckled: "Your second brother is even more interesting than the monkeys in Rong'en Temple."
Jiang Songyi looked at the figure struggling in the pool, and raised the corner of her lips slightly. "One more condition - on the day you break off the engagement, I want you to say in front of the whole capital, 'Jiang Baichuan is worse than a monkey.'"
"Deal!" Xin Yiyan clapped her hands in pledge. The Buddhist beads on her wrist snapped, sending round bodhi seeds tumbling to the ground. She raised her foot and crushed one. "Just like this, let him lose face."
In the courtyard, where bamboo shadows swayed, Jiang Baichuan's veins bulged as he gripped the broom. "Xin Yiyan! Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have grandma's support!"
The purple-clad girl tilted her head and leaned on Jiang Songyi's shoulder, her fingertips twirling her flowing black hair. "Your sister is much more likable than you." She suddenly leaned close to Jiang Songyi's ear and sniffed, "This jasmine ointment."
“Bang!”
Jiang Bochuan's broom smashed against the bluestone slabs, startling the white doves from under the eaves. The three Jiang Qingzhi sisters hurriedly dragged Jiang Songyi behind the porch pillars, their embroidered shoes crushing the cassia seeds on the ground.
"Cousin, calm down." Jiang Qinghui had barely finished her words when Xin Yiyan suddenly pecked Jiang Songyi on the cheek. The gold-threaded pearl earrings brushed against the girl's skin, leaving an ambiguous red mark.
Jiang Baichuan's roar startled the fish in the pond and made them scatter in panic: "Xin Yiyan! How dare you!"
"Oh my~" Princess Zi Yan spun around and hid behind the rockery, her pomegranate skirt sweeping off a few bamboo leaves. "Your sister said she wants to become sworn sisters with me." She deliberately stretched out the last word, "How about you call me sister too?"
Jiang Songyi quietly retreated to the moonlit gate, watching her brother, sword in hand, chase Xin Yiyan across the courtyard. The splashing pool water soaked her newly cut moonlit skirt, and the hem, embroidered with silver Epiphyllums, clung to her calves.
"Please wipe it quickly, my lady." Jiang Qingzhi handed over the handkerchief, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a crowd of people moving in the corridor. Jiang Yuyao, wearing a veil, hid behind the hanging flower door, her nails digging deep into the vermilion lacquer door frame.
"The Fourth Prince has arrived—"
The sound of ritual chanting pierced the clamor, and Xinyi Zigu approached, stepping on a field of golden osmanthus. His dark, gold-woven python robe swept past Jiang Yuyao, the wind lifting a corner of her veil, revealing whip marks that had yet to scab over.
"Your Highness," Jiang Yuyao was about to speak when she saw Xinyi Zigu walking straight towards Jiang Songyi. The mutton-fat jade pendant around his waist was the one that Yang Guifei had given Jiang Songyi as a coming-of-age gift last month.
Peng Yuyan tugged at her sleeve and said, "It must be the Imperial Concubine who asked him to give it as a gift."
"A hectare of South China Sea pearls! Two jade screens!" The eunuch's shrill voice stung Jiang Yuyao's eardrums. She watched as Xinyi Zigu personally handed the jewel-encrusted makeup box to Jiang Songyi, the gold-inlaid armor making a crisp sound as it knocked against the box.
Suddenly, there was the sound of something heavy falling into the water from behind the rockery. Xin Yiyan, dripping wet, clung to the poolside railing, her golden hairpin tangled with a few strands of waterweed. "Fourth brother, you've arrived just in time! Jiang Baichuan is trying to murder my future sister-in-law!"
Jiang Baichuan held up the dripping scabbard and roared, "Who wants to marry you, a crazy woman!"
The guests in the courtyard were so stifled they were shaking with laughter. Jiang Songyi watched the two people splashing in the pool when she suddenly caught sight of Xinyi Mingyao leaning against a sycamore tree. The Fifth Princess was fiddling with a blood-jade ring, the very one worn by a young man from a certain aristocratic family.
A wisp of green smoke emanated from the bronze sparrow-beaded incense burner. Peng Yuyan leaned forward, clutching a gilded round fan. "Speaking of which, who was the patron saint that the Marquisate invited for Princess Jiaqing? I remember that on your coming-of-age day, the old lady invited the perfect old lady from the Anguo Mansion to do your hairpin." She lowered her voice. "It's a pity that she passed away last month. Now there's no such blessed and perfect person in all of Kyoto."
Jiang Yuyao's fingertips traced the twin lotuses on the teacup, her gaze settling on the girl in the courtyard with her hair untied. Jiang Songyi was walking slowly towards them, holding a plain skirt, her dark hair cascading to her waist.
"Look!" The ladies at the banquet whispered to each other, "When Miss Jiang came of age, it was the old lady of Anguo who combed her hair herself. Now it's so grand." Before she finished speaking, the ceremonial officer sang loudly: "Begin the ceremony—"
A murmur of discussion suddenly broke out in the audience. One lady twirled her Buddhist beads and shook her head, "Talking about a completely blessed person, the only one left is the one from the Duke Dingguo's Mansion. But her third son just died in battle last year." Before she could finish her words, she heard the sound of something heavy falling outside.
Eight shirtless men filed in, carrying a red lacquered wooden box. When the box lid was opened, the golden light was so dazzling that it was blinding. The ceremonial officer's voice trembled: "An. The old lady of the Duke of Anguo's mansion gave a hundred taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver!"
"How vulgar!" The lady in the crimson skirt covered her face with her sleeves, "After all, she comes from a merchant family." The words suddenly stopped - Chen Ruyi stepped over the threshold with the help of a jade cane, her silver hair combed meticulously.
Jiang Songyi, who was kneeling in the courtyard, stiffened his back slightly. He caught a glimpse of the box full of gold and silver, and his eyes lit up.
[Gold! Solid gold ingots!] [Old Madam Chen truly is a kindred spirit! Much more than those gifts of calligraphy and paintings!] [Why isn't this courtesy over yet? My gold ingots are about to grow legs and run away!]
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