Jiang Yuyao twisted her handkerchief in anger, digging her nails into her palms. Why was Jiang Songyi protected by everyone even when she got into trouble? She suddenly said, "The Fourth Prince just said Second Sister."
"Shut up!" Xu shouted, "Yuyao, take the Fourth Prince to change his clothes."
Xinyi Zigu shook off the maid who came to support him and stared at Jiang Songyi. "This prince has remembered what happened today!" The duckweed on his dragon robe fell off. "Even if you kneel down and beg me, you will never be able to enter the prince's mansion!"
Jiang Songyi sighed softly, "Even if Your Highness promised me the position of Crown Princess, I wouldn't dare to distort the truth." Her fingertips brushed against the forbidden beads on her waist, and the glass beads clattered with a clear sound. "After all..." The girl suddenly tilted her head and smiled, "This subject is very timid."
Suppressed sneers echoed throughout the banquet, and several generals blushed crimson. Su Sheng toyed with his wine cup, his gaze growing more amused as he looked at Jiang Songyi—this girl's ability to lie openly was even better than her foxy father's.
As dusk deepened, the princess' carriage rolled away along the bluestone road. As Xinyi Dao was about to board the carriage, she suddenly glanced back at the girl in the pavilion. The evening breeze blew her moon-white shawl, reminiscent of the fleeting glimpse she had caught in the lotus pond that day.
"Take care, Master." Jiang Songyi bowed silently.
The prince's fingertips rubbed the pearl earrings tucked into his sleeves, his coughs drowned out by the rumbling of the wheels. Some secrets are like the mud at the bottom of a pond; when it's uncovered, it creates a raging wave.
The withered lotus leaves beside the pavilion trembled gently. Yu Chuwei's soaked veil clung to her skin, outlining her graceful curves. Jiang Songyi brushed off the water stains on her skirt and looked up at Xinyi Zigu, who was dripping wet. "It would be inappropriate if word got out that the Fourth Prince treated his savior so coldly."
"It's not your turn to teach me how to do things!" Xinyi Zigu wiped the water from his eyelashes, his dark python-patterned robe becoming even darker as it soaked through. Turning to the shivering Yu Chuwei, the coldness in his eyes melted a little: "The young lady of the Yongchang Marquis's Mansion? It reminds me of my youth."
Jiang Yuyao pinched off half a lotus leaf, her nails leaving a crescent mark on her palm. She hated it most when others mentioned her downtrodden days—when she had once offered Xinyi Zigu an embroidered handkerchief in such a pitiful manner to please him.
"Your Highness, please understand clearly," Yu Chuwei coughed lightly at the right time, her slender shoulders trembling slightly in the autumn breeze, "I am just doing my duty." When she lowered her head, the cinnabar mole on the back of her neck was exposed, just like the finishing touch of "The Goddess of Luo River" in Xinyi Zigu's study.
Xinyi Zigu reached out to support her, his calloused palm caressing the girl's delicate hand. "I will ask my father to grant us a marriage." He caught a glimpse of Jiang Songyi's indifferent face, and suddenly a nameless anger rose in his heart. "Miss Jiang, would you like a glass of wedding wine?"
"Then I wish Your Highness a son soon." Jiang Songyi knelt in greeting, the pearl hairpins in her hair untouched. As she turned, her crimson shawl brushed against the tips of Xinyi Zigu's boots, startling the koi in the pond and scattering them.
"Cousin!" Yang Shuyu rushed into the pavilion, her skirt lifted, her gold-embroidered shoes crushing the lotus leaves on the ground. She pointed at the wooden hairpin in Yu Chuwei's hair and sneered, "The Yongchang Earl's Mansion can't even afford a decent hairpin, so how can they be worthy of living in the Prince's Mansion?"
Yu Chuwei huddled in Xinyi Zigu's arms, her fingertips unsightly loosening her belt. The veil slipped halfway down her shoulders, revealing a pale pink birthmark on her collarbone—an exact replica of the pattern on the jade pendant Xinyi Zigu wore at her waist.
"How dare you!" Xinyi Zigu put his arm around Yu Chuwei's waist. "Have you learned all the Yang family's rules?"
Yang Shuyu staggered half a step, and her gilded armor dug deeply into the pavilion pillar: "My grandfather was the Grand Tutor for three dynasties! Who does she think she is!" The embroidered shoes inlaid with oriental pearls kicked over the green jade incense burner, and the ashes fell on Yu Chuwei's skirt, just like the paper money she sprinkled on her concubine's coffin that year.
Jiang Yuyao suddenly chuckled, "Sister Shuyu, why are you so anxious? The Fourth Prince is just taking a concubine." She picked up Yu Chuwei's wet hair from her temples, "Just like that skinny Yangzhou horse in your room, you're tired of playing with her."
“Bang!”
Yu Chuwei covered her face and fell into Xinyi Zigu's arms, tears hanging on her eyelashes, threatening to fall. Xinyi Zigu glared at Jiang Yuyao's raised hand, only to see that her fingertips were hooked around the jade ring he had given her last year.
"I didn't know Miss Jiang was so majestic." Xinyi Zigu grabbed Jiang Yuyao's wrist and said, "It seems that she has been brought up by the Shangshu Mansion."
"Your Highness, please be careful with your words!" Jiang Songyi suddenly interrupted. "My father presented His Majesty with a good plan for flood control yesterday." She helped Yang Shuyu, who was slumped on the ground, to her feet. "But the memorial from the Grand Tutor's Mansion regarding the seizure of civilian land last month should be in the Imperial Study right now."
Xinyi Zigu's pupils shrank slightly. He suddenly remembered the meaningful look his father had given him when he'd praised Minister Jiang as a "loyal minister" during the imperial recital that day. Yu Chuwei, still sobbing in his arms, felt like a hot potato.
"Cousin." Yang Shuyu grabbed the corner of his robe and said, "Auntie said she wants you to marry her."
"My affairs are not for others to decide!" Xinyi Zigu shook her hand off, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the faint birthmark on Yu Chuwei's collar. That night, while drunkenly copying the "Lotus Goddess," he had indeed pressed the jade pendant against the woman's collarbone.
Yu Chuwei suddenly called out, "Your Highness, be careful!" She flung herself toward the swaying lotus lanterns outside the railing, the silk sash at her waist catching the magnolia jade belt. As the two of them fell into the shallows, the sachet in her sleeve released a faint, alluring fragrance—the very same one Jiang Yuyao had loved using in the past.
"Call the imperial physician!" Jiang Songyi looked at the two people arguing coldly, turned around and put a shawl on Yang Shuyu's shoulders, "My cousin, be careful not to catch a cold."
As dusk stained the lake red, Xinyi Mingyao approached, carrying a palace lantern. She gazed at Yu Chuwei in her brother's arms and suddenly chuckled, "Fourth brother's heroic act of saving the beauty is even more impressive than any opera troupe." The gilded armor brushed the corners of Yu Chuwei's moist eyes. "It's just these eyes."
Yu Chuwei suddenly lowered her eyes, her thick lashes hiding the cold light in them. She remembered what the man in black had said that night in the backyard of the Yongchang Earl's mansion: "If you want to survive, follow the master's plan."
The sound of a night watchman echoed in the distance as Jiang Songyi left, stepping on the scattered lotus leaves. She didn't notice Yu Chuwei, under the pretense of adjusting her clothes, slipping Xinyi Zigu's jade pendant into her sleeve pocket. The wolf head totem engraved on the back of the jade pendant was identical to the silver medallion worn by the man in black that night.
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