Suddenly, there was a sound of porcelain breaking in the back room, followed by a maid's scream: "There's a snake!" The teacup in Madam Jiang's hand fell to the ground, splashing her skirt.
Jiang Shu took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands. The lotus flowers embroidered on the silk were stained with peach juice. "On the eighth day of last month, Hao Ren died suddenly in the imperial prison. The pestle that performed the autopsy on Madam Liu the day before yesterday was found hanged in the City God Temple this morning."
She threw the blood-stained handkerchief into the incense burner, and the flames shot up. "Guess who's next?"
The cicadas' roar resumed, piercing the eardrums. Old Madam Jiang watched her daughter's retreating figure, suddenly recalling that rainy night twenty-three years ago. As thunder cracked the night sky, she had personally stuffed the bloodstained swaddling clothes into the hands of the man in black.
"Clean it up." That's what she said back then.
Jiang Songyi's laughter echoed from the corridor, where the young girl was feeding her rabbits. Old Madam Jiang trembled as she reached for the shrine, only to find her hands filled with incense ash. From the cracks in the Guanyin statue, a dark red stream oozed, remarkably like the blood that had seeped from the swaddling clothes that night.
Sandalwood swirled in the gilded Boshan incense burner. Just as Old Madam Jiang was about to pick up her teacup, she heard the crisp sound of a jade bracelet shattering outside. When Nanny Xi came in through the curtains, a peony petal still clung to her hair—she must have been eavesdropping in the small garden while the Third Young Lady scolded the maid.
"Miss Yuyao said that Miss Qingmo stole her newly made filigree hairpin." Before the old nanny could finish her words, Jiang Qingmo rushed in with the beaded curtain rolled up, and the tassels of the butterfly hairpin on her temples were entangled in Jiang Songyi's coral earrings.
As soon as Madam Jiang opened her arms, her two granddaughters rushed into her arms. Jiang Qingmo's sleeves were stained with ink, clearly having just slipped out of the study; the dragon-carved jade pendant hanging from Jiang Songyi's waist was dazzling—it was clearly a piece from the Eastern Palace.
"Grandma!" Jiang Qingmo deliberately used the old name to act coquettishly, "Look, cousin Songyi has a stern face again."
Old Madam Jiang pinched her nose and said, "Call me grandma again, or your mother will punish you by making you copy the Rules for Women." The jade bracelet on her wrist knocked against Jiang Songyi's forehead, and the little girl took the opportunity to step back half a step, revealing half of a gold-plated visiting card in her sleeve.
Jiang Shu picked up the fallen candied fruit and suddenly noticed that the dragon claw on Jiang Songyi's jade pendant was missing a toe—a mark lost when the prince fell off his horse at the age of ten. Her fingertips trembled, and the candied fruit fell into the tea. "If you want to see the prince, just tell him directly. Why use the jade pendant as a pretext?"
"Aunt, you are wise." Jiang Songyi took off the jade pendant without changing her expression. "If this item passes through the hands of others, I am afraid that rumors of private transfer will spread." As she spoke, she stroked the crack on the jade pendant. It was caused by her accidentally dropping it when the prince was teaching her archery last month.
Jiang Qingmo suddenly leaned in close to the jade pendant and sniffed it: "Why does it smell like agarwood? Isn't this the prince's?" Before he could finish his words, Jiang Shu stuffed a piece of lotus cake into his mouth. A crow happened to fly past the carved window, its cry annoying everyone.
It was at this moment that Jiang Yuyao entered. The thread of her newly cut Yuehua skirt had been caught on the beaded curtain, leaving a subtle hole. Old Madam Jiang counted her Buddhist beads, waiting for her to pay her respects. She reached the eighteenth bead before hearing a mosquito-like hum, "Grandma."
"You want the kingfisher feather headdress in the warehouse?" Jiang Shu suddenly sneered, "Have you redeemed the filigree gold phoenix hairpin that I pawned last month?" She scratched the edge of the teacup with her nails, and the celadon made a harsh sound - that was the tribute from the Yue Kiln that the Peng family brought when they sent their betrothal gifts.
Jiang Yuyao twisted her handkerchief and took a half step back, her embroidered shoe stepping on Jiang Qingmo's discarded wolf-hair brush. Ink splattered on the winding branches on the hem of her skirt, making it look like a specially embroidered crabapple flower. "Girls always need some decent jewelry."
"Decent?" Jiang Shu grabbed the visiting card on the table, "The legitimate daughter of the Earl of Yongchang will be married on the sixth day, and the concubine's daughter of the Earl of Jingkang will be married on the eighth day - are you going to add to Yu Chuwei's dowry, or to send your future mistress off?" The gold powder on the visiting card fell on the toes of Jiang Yuyao's shoes, making her face pale.
Suddenly, there was a fluttering sound outside the window. Jiang Songyi lifted the curtain and looked in to see the prince's snow eagle pecking at the koi in the lotus pond. The visiting card accidentally slipped from her sleeve, and the gilded words "Princess's Mansion" were glaring in the setting sun.
"Three days from now, at noon, the eldest princess will hold a lotus viewing banquet in the other courtyard." Jiang Shu suddenly slammed the visiting card on the table, "Since Songyi wants to return the jade pendant, come with me." She deliberately emphasized the three words "return the jade pendant", startling the snow eagle by the pond and making it flap its wings and fly high, and the water droplets it brought up splashed on half of Jiang Yuyao's sleeve.
Jiang Qingmo suddenly pointed at Jiang Songyi's waist and exclaimed, "Why is there smoke coming out of your purse?" Everyone looked and saw wisps of green smoke coming out from the slits of the purse embroidered with bamboo patterns. Jiang Songyi hurriedly unsealed it and poured out a few pieces of burnt talisman paper - the "exorcism talisman" given to her by the prince yesterday.
"Nonsense!" Madam Jiang slammed her Buddhist beads on the table. "How can a woman in seclusion secretly keep a man outside her home?"
"Grandma, please calm down!" Jiang Songyi slumped to his knees, the jade pendant making a clear sound against the floor tiles. "I asked for this talisman at the Fahua Temple the other day, and I wanted to give it to you, Grandma."
Jiang Qingmo suddenly bent down to pick up the jade pendant. "Why is there a crack in the dragon's eye?" She traced the blemish with her fingertips. It was the spot where she had accidentally dropped the jade pendant on the day the prince came of age. The prince had smiled and said it was nothing, but then he turned around and gave the jade craftsman twenty lashes.
Jiang Shu suddenly stood up and pushed open the carved window. The evening breeze, carrying the fragrance of lotus, rushed in, scattering the sandalwood that filled the room. A reddish-brown horse was tied to a willow tree by the pond, its saddle inlaid with oriental pearls dazzling enough to blind one—it was a tribute from the Western Regions given to the Crown Prince when he came of age.
"Let's go." Old Madam Jiang rubbed her temples. "Yuyao needs to add some makeup. Go to the storehouse to pick out the pair of gold bracelets." She deliberately skipped the word "filigree" and watched the light in her illegitimate granddaughter's eyes dim. It looked very much like the look in her biological mother's eyes when she was dragged out of the Marquis' Mansion.
The chirping of cicadas made the glazed tiles rustle. Jiang Yuyao twisted her handkerchief and rubbed it against the old lady. "Grandma, Sister Yuyan is the legitimate daughter of the Peng family after all."
"A legitimate daughter can snatch someone's marriage?" Old Madam Jiang put down her teacup, and the bottom of the cup hit the rosewood table with a clang. She caught a glimpse of Jiang Songyi playing with a mutton-fat jade pendant, the jade ring on her knuckles gleaming with a cold light.
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