"I'm nothing!" Jiang Yihuan blurted out, and the entire teahouse suddenly became so quiet that the crackling of the charcoal fire could be heard. He realized it belatedly, his ears red as blood dripped, and his sword clanged against the pillar.
Jiang Songyi slowly wiped her hands, "You said that yourself." The Pisces jade pendant on her waist suddenly shook violently, reflecting the spring light outside the window, making it particularly dazzling. "General Jiang, please call me Princess Jiaqing."
As Jiang Yihuan turned, the hem of his robe knocked over a stool. He wished he could jump from the second floor, but he insisted on moving outwards with the dignity of a general. Just as he crossed the threshold, his foot suddenly slipped—a banana peel thrown by someone stuck to the bottom of his deerskin boots.
"Bang!"
The dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground startled the sparrows beneath the eaves. Jiang Yihuan fell sprawled, and looking up, he saw the hem of a snow-white dress embroidered with silver bamboo patterns. Xin Yidao leaned forward to support him, the dragon-patterned jade pendant on her waist dangling, making him dizzy. "Young General Jiang, there's no need for such a grand ceremony."
The secret guard following behind desperately lowered his head, his shoulders shaking like a sieve. He had just witnessed the Crown Prince flicking the fruit peel with his hidden weapon, and now he had to pretend to pick it up, his abdominal muscles twitching from trying to hold back laughter.
"Your humble servant pays respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Jiang Yihuan knelt on one knee, his hair crown askew. He suddenly caught a whiff of the faint aroma of medicine, mixed with the faint scent of agarwood from the Crown Prince's sleeves. He inexplicably recalled the rumors in the capital—that this sickly Crown Prince might not survive this autumn.
Xin Yidaoyi had already passed him, heading for the private room. Jiang Songyi abruptly stood up, knocking over the plum vase on the table. Water droplets splashed onto her pomegranate-red horse-faced skirt, leaving a dark stain. She stared at the elegant, picturesque face, the word "Master" twisting in her throat three times before finally morphing into a polite greeting: "Your Highness the Crown Prince."
Bai Linxi stole a glance at the fabled crown prince. His complexion was indeed pale, but his eyes shone startlingly, like stars quenched by ice on a winter night. Jiang Qingzhi was being tugged by her sister's sleeve, and their knees were about to bend when the secret guard raised a hand to stop them. "No need to be so polite, everyone."
Jiang Yihuan suffered the most. He bowed for a long time, but no one called him up. He looked up and saw Jiang Yuyao trotting over, skirt lifted. Her hair was swaying in an annoying way. "Third brother, does it hurt?" she asked, pulling out an embroidered handkerchief with a lotus embroidered on the corner to wipe his face.
"No problem." Jiang Yihuan turned his head away, suddenly noticing that Jiang Yuyao's armor had scraped threads on his sleeves. The wristbands she had given him for his birthday last year were said to have taken three nights to embroider, but the stitching was clearly the work of Jinxiufang.
Suddenly, the tapping of teacups could be heard in the private room. Xinyi Daoyi's eyes flickered to the wooden hairpin in Jiang Songyi's hair—it was a wooden hairpin he had casually carved last year when she had said she wanted to use it for firewood.
"The county lady has been reading the Huainanzi lately?" he suddenly asked, his fingertips tapping the upside-down book on the desk. Tucked between the pages was a dried magnolia, the same one that grew outside his study window.
Jiang Songyi's heart pounded. In her previous life, when her master was teaching her the art of government and intrigue, he always used flower petals as bookmarks. She dug her nails into her palms to stifle a sob. "Just flipping through. Your Highness also enjoys reading miscellaneous books?"
Before she could finish her words, Jiang Yuyao's delicate voice interrupted her: "Your Highness, please forgive me, Third Brother..." She choked at the right moment, revealing the red marks on her neck - they were painted by herself with rouge this morning.
Xinyi Daoyi looked out the window. "Young General Jiang." He suddenly coughed, his pale fingertips pressing against his chest. "I just saw your jade pendant. Does it seem to have a crack?"
Jiang Yihuan instinctively reached for his waist. This was the birthday gift Jiang Yuyao had given him last year. Holding it up to the light, he saw a spider-like crack. He suddenly remembered Yuyao's words that day, "I went to Daxiangguo Temple specifically to get this consecrated jade pendant." But the jade was clearly inferior Hetian jade.
A few swallows chirped past the bamboo curtains. Xin Yidao twisted the rim of a celadon cup with her fingertips, revealing the Junshan silver needles dangling like swords. Jiang Yuyao's gold-embellished ruby hairpins trembled with laughter, startling the smoke rising from the gilded incense burner on the table and dispersing it.
"On Sister Songyi's coming-of-age ceremony, the jade hairpin His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wore in her hair was a treasure from the Eastern Palace's private treasury." Her fingertips traced the dragon-shaped pattern on the cuffs of Jiang Yihuan's dark formal attire. "Third brother, what do you think? If His Majesty knew how thoughtful His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was..."
"when!"
Jiang Qinghe suddenly dropped the tea spoon with lotus pattern, and the silver spoon made a crisp sound when it hit the ice-cracked cup: "Concubine Hao, please be careful with your words. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is kind and benevolent. Wearing a hairpin for Song Yi will save the reputation of the Marquis's Mansion." The Buddhist beads on her wrist brushed against the "Purple Bamboo Tales" on the table, and the four words "Extreme wisdom will lead to harm" were revealed between the pages.
Jiang Yihuan stared at the mutton-fat jade hairpin in Jiang Songyi's hair. He had someone fetch a whole piece of unpolished jade from the Western Regions for her coming-of-age ceremony last year, and now it gleamed brightly between the crown prince's fingers. A sudden, sweet, fishy taste rose in his throat, like the piercing pain he'd felt during the martial arts competition that day when the spear had pierced his lungs.
"Third brother, look!" Jiang Yuyao suddenly pointed out the window. Xinyi Daoyi was leaning against the vermilion railing, coughing. The moment she covered her lips with a moon-white brocade handkerchief, the golden-threaded dragon pattern on the corner of the handkerchief made Jiang Yihuan squint his eyes—that was a pattern only a prince could wear.
Jiang Songyi suddenly stood up, her pomegranate skirt sweeping across the floor. The moon-shaped pendant adorning her waist jingled, and when it collided with the Buddhist beads on the prince's wrist, it was remarkably like the shattering sound of the silk-wrapped jade bracelet she had won during a lantern riddle guessing session last year during the Lantern Festival.
"Your Highness, please use my teacup." She pushed the Yue Kiln secret-color porcelain cup toward her, its rouge-stained rim still carrying a warm fragrance. Xin Yidao ran her pale kilns over the glaze, suddenly remembering the night in the imperial prison when she had held the cup of tea and pleaded with the jailer for mercy.
The secret guard suddenly pulled out a cushion from his sleeve: "County Lady, please move. Our Highness can't stand the cold." Bai Linxi and his wheelchair were pushed to the corridor pillar. The wheelchair wheels rolled over the golden round fan left by Jiang Yuyao, and with a "crack" the fan ribs broke.
"Is this Mr. Zizhu's new work, 'Crane Crying in the Lonely City'?" Xin Yi said, her fingertips tracing the gilded cover. Suddenly, a few drops of scarlet blood fell on the word "lonely." When Jiang Songyi was assassinated during the autumn hunt last year, it was this storybook that held pressure on his chest wound.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
