Suddenly, the sound of a pipa rang out from the private room on the second floor. Jiang Yuyao took the opportunity to pull Jiang Yihuan away: "Third brother, listen quickly! This is the "Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Coat"!"
After they left the table, Jiang Qingzhi curled her lips and said, "Yuyao has become even more arrogant since she got married. Last month, I saw her making the maid kneel at the gate of the Fourth Prince's mansion."
"Be careful with your words." Jiang Qinghe stuffed a piece of cloud cake into her mouth. "I heard that the East Factory has been investigating folk stories recently."
At this moment, behind the beaded curtain on the second floor, Ji Cheng was stroking a newly surrendered manuscript. The gold thread on the cuffs of his Feiyu jacket gleamed coldly in the twilight. His fingertips traced the words "Women Entering the Court" and he suddenly said to the shadows, "Find out Mr. Zizhu's background."
When the secret guards took orders and disappeared, the storyteller was at the climax of his story. Bai Linxi swung a bench like a red tasseled spear and said, "This is how we deal with those scoundrels!"
Jiang Songyi smiled and pulled her to sit down, slipping a piece of gold-sprinkled paper from his sleeve. It was a note sent this morning from the Prince's Mansion, inviting her to enjoy a newly acquired storybook in three days. The scent of camphor on the paper matched the scent of ink on Mr. Zizhu's pages.
…
Bamboo curtains separated the elegant Youkang Residence into a world of dappled light and shadow. Xinyi Daoyi leaned on a rosewood couch with a carved dragon pattern. The hem of his moon-white brocade robe draped over the edge. The smoke from the lotus incense burner drifted across the mutton-fat jade clasp at his waist. From downstairs came the clear laughter of a young girl, mingled with the crisp clang of a storyteller's gavel.
"Your Highness, would you like more tea?" The secret guard held a Yue kiln celadon cup. The dark pattern on the cuffs was exactly the same as the osmanthus flower pattern on the Jiang family girl's lapel.
Xin Yidao tapped the mother-of-pearl-inlaid table with her fingers, her eyes falling through the gaps in the bamboo curtains on the crimson skirt. Jiang Songyi was lighting a glass lamp with a gilded hairpin, the warm yellow glow making the moon-shaped pendant on her ear shimmer.
"Sister Song Yi!"
The delicate cry startled the Ru kiln teacup with cracked ice on the tea table and trembled slightly. Jiang Yuyao, clutching Jiang Yihuan's cloud-patterned sleeve, stepped into the private room, her nails nearly scratching the gold thread. The intricate golden phoenix hairpin in her hair swung with her movements—a style bestowed upon concubines by the Eastern Palace.
Bai Linxi's fingers gripping the storybook suddenly tightened, rippling the gold-sprinkled pages. Jiang Qinghe calmly pushed the plum teacup toward Jiang Songyi, its silver needles sticking out like spears.
"Third brother, look, Sister Songyi's tea art has become even more refined." Jiang Yuyao's fingertips brushed across Jiang Yihuan's palm, leaving rouge marks on the cuffs of his dark suit. "Unlike me, who could never learn to separate tea..."
Jiang Yihuan suddenly pulled his arm back, and the silver lotus incense ball clanged against the sword at his waist. He looked at the plain silver hairpin in Jiang Songyi's hair—the one he had given her during the Lantern Festival the previous year, now polished to a shine.
"The Marquis' Mansion has no connection with the Hao family." Jiang Qingzhi dropped the copper scissors, the cold light of the blades grazing across Jiang Yuyao's beautiful face. "If word gets out that Concubine Hao is pulling a man outside her family like this, it will tarnish the reputation of the Eastern Palace."
Suddenly, the sound of a pipa's strings snapped came from behind the bamboo curtain. The storyteller was recounting the story of "Mrs. Zizhu's cleverness in solving a mystery." Jiang Qinghe twirled her Buddhist beads and said softly, "Cousin Yihuan, did you know that last month the Dali Temple discovered that the Hao family had occupied hundreds of acres of private land?" The sandalwood beads suddenly broke and rolled all over the floor with a crackling sound.
Jiang Yuyao's face paled, and she dug her jeweled armor into her palms. She remembered the day the Ministry of Justice officers burst into the Hao residence, and her mother had shoved the land deed into the bottom of her dowry box. Now, that redwood box was locked in a side hall of the Eastern Palace, its corners still stained with the cinnabar markings of the Censorate.
"What my cousins have taught me is true." Bai Linxi suddenly chuckled, and picked up a piece of lotus pastry with her slender fingers. "But Concubine Hao is now a concubine of the Eastern Palace, why is she still dressed as if she is not married yet?" The crumbs of pastry fell on Jiang Yuyao's pomegranate skirt, just like bloodstains.
Jiang Yihuan abruptly stood up, sweeping the peace knot on his sword tassel and flipping the teacup. The knot Jiang Songyi had woven last year, at her coming-of-age ceremony, was now frizzy from being rubbed. He looked at his sister, who had been reading with her head bowed, and suddenly caught sight of the dark pattern on her sleeve—the tortoiseshell pattern commonly used by the Fuyuan Army.
"That's enough!" The scabbard slammed into the Duobao Pavilion, shattering the jade Pixiu inside. As Jiang Yihuan walked away, he heard a faint sneer behind him.
Jiang Songyi finally raised her eyes, the glass lamp reflecting off them, making them flicker with light. On the desk, "The Legend of Purple Bamboo" was open to the chapter "Severing the Threads of Love with a Wisdom Sword." The still-dry ink of the annotations pierced through the paper: "If you hesitate when you should, you will suffer the consequences."
…
The carved wooden windows on the second floor were half-open, and the aroma of tea mixed with the hustle and bustle of the street poured in. Jiang Yihuan's veins popped out on the back of his hand as he gripped the hilt of his sword, and his voice was like ice: "Jiang Songyi, there's no need to vent your anger on Yuyao. From the beginning to the end, I was just her third brother. She didn't take anything from you. It was you—" The tassel on his sword trembled, "who caused her to be abandoned by everyone!"
Jiang Yuyao peeked out from behind his black cloak, her lips curled up like crescent moons. She wore newly-made pearl earrings that dazzled Jiang Songyi's eyes.
[What a joke! Do you think everyone cares about Jiang Yihuan like you do?]
Jiang Songyi spun the celadon teacup in a circle, and she suddenly noticed Jiang Yihuan's head swerve. Jiang Yuyao, who had just been a proud peacock, was caught off guard. A sneer still clung to her face, like a stage actress with a crooked face.
"Third brother." Jiang Yuyao hurriedly lowered her head, her knuckles turning white from twisting her handkerchief. "Yuyao is just happy." She raised her watery almond eyes, a strand of hair falling down at her temples just right. "I didn't expect Third Brother to love me so much."
Jiang Yihuan stared at the tears threatening to fall from her eyelashes, and suddenly remembered last year's hunting trip when he had witnessed Yuyao using the same look to coax the Fifth Prince into shooting a white fox for her. Back then, he had thought the little girl's coquettish behavior was adorable, but now it felt like he had swallowed a live fly.
"Yes, yes, you are a piece of shit." Jiang Songyi leaned lazily against the lotus-patterned table, her fingertips dipped in tea as she drew a tortoise on the table. She deliberately enunciated the word "yes," so much so that the tortoise's tail happened to flick across Jiang Yuyao's reflection.
A choking sound echoed from behind the private room's screen. Bai Linxi covered her mouth, tea dripping through her fingers onto her apricot-red skirt. Jiang Qinghe pinched her thighs, trying to suppress her laughter. Her sister, Jiang Qingzhi, was even more exaggerated, her hiccups sounding like drums.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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