Chapter 1101: Human Heart is Hard to Predict
If Huangfu Shang successfully ascends the throne, he will definitely settle the old grudges with Xiao Zhan, and the war between the two countries will then break out again.
Thinking of the war with Western Xia that had just ended on the border, she stroked her slightly bulging belly with her fingertips - the whole country needed to recover and could not afford a second catastrophe.
The shadows of the bamboo swept across the unsealed letter on the desk, and the ink that had not yet dried revealed a sense of anxiety.
In the end, she still picked up her pen to write a letter to her sister who was far away in a foreign country. She carefully skipped over the shocking changes in the court and only said that Yaoyao had recently learned to recite the Thousand Character Classic.
As the messenger rode his horse raising dust, she looked at the rolling clouds outside the palace wall and prayed silently that the secret guards he sent would be able to protect Jiayin and her son.
"The one sent by the Eastern Prime Minister's delegation is Princess Yunyun."
Fu Dong placed the iced sour plum soup on the green jade table, and the outside of the glass cup was covered with fine water droplets.
Jiang Xue's hand holding the spoon paused slightly.
Throughout the ages, most of the envoys sent to other countries were princes and important officials, unless...
Her eyes swept across the picture of hundreds of children and grandchildren embroidered on the screen, and she thought of Yun Zhen's eyes that were always frosty.
There must be some secret between the princess and the hostage that cannot be told to outsiders.
As dusk fell, Xiao Zhan rushed into the bedroom, feeling hot all over.
He held his wife's slightly cold wrist and half-embraced her in his arms: "The sun is at its hottest during the dog days of summer. Why did you choose to go out at this time?"
As he spoke, he wiped the sweat off her face with a silk handkerchief soaked in well water. Even the pearl hairpins adorning her hair jingled as he fiddled with them.
Jiang Xue smiled and dodged his fingers that were tangled in her hair: "The imperial physician said I should walk more."
Before he could finish his words, he was picked up by the waist. Xiao Zhan's scent of ambergris mixed with sweat lingered in his nose. "Tomorrow, I will ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to build a ten-meter-long bamboo curtain corridor in the Imperial Garden. You can stroll around as you like."
Outside the carved window, Yun Zhen was standing under the pomegranate tree listening to Fu Dong's message.
The scarlet petals fell on his black clothes, just like the blood that splashed on the white jade steps during the Dongxiang Palace coup that year.
The sunlight leaking through the shadows of the trees danced on the bluestone slabs. Xiao Zhan grabbed Jiang Xue's wrist and quickly hid under the shadows of the trees.
When the maid brought him a bamboo silk umbrella, he brushed his fingertips over the umbrella to make sure there were no water stains, and then he tilted half of the umbrella toward the person beside him.
The two of them walked through the rain curtain with their sleeves intertwined, and the soles of their gold-embroidered boots crushed the colored glaze on the ground.
The next day was a day off, and when Yun Zhen entered the princess's mansion, the morning mist had not yet dissipated.
Fu Dong, who was leading the way, was walking on the wet cobblestone path when he suddenly heard the sound of tearing silk coming from the depths of the lotus pond.
After passing the nine-turn corridor, I saw a man in black clothes playing the zither by the water. The seven strings in his hands rang like swords, startling several red carps.
Jiang Xue leaned against the piano table with one hand on her chin, with a flash of light in her eyes.
The eldest princess, who was usually decisive and ruthless, now had soft eyes, reflecting the thin outline of the man playing the piano.
This thought was like a needle piercing Yun Zhen's heart - it turned out that she could also gaze so intently, but the object was never him.
"Commander Fudong."
Yun Zhen stopped on the stone steps and said, "If I interrupt the piano music at this moment, it would seem that I am not tactful."
The captain of the guards glanced at him for a moment, then retreated to the door behind the hanging flowers with his sword in hand.
In the pavilion filled with the fragrance of lotus, Jiang Xue suddenly leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead. Xiao Zhan's slender fingers climbed up the hair behind her ears, and the silver ring and pearl earring collided with a clanging sound.
Yun Zhen lowered his eyes and stared at the ants struggling in the cracks of the blue bricks. He suddenly felt like a ferryman who had mistakenly entered a painted boat.
When Jiang Xue ran towards him with her skirt lifted up, he subconsciously took a half step back, but was pinned to the spot by her excited voice, "You're finally here."
"How dare I refuse a summons from His Highness?"
"Try the new tribute of Snow Peak Silver Needle this year."
She tapped the white porcelain cup with her fingertips: "If the water temperature drops another 3 points, it will lose its charm."
In the mist of tea smoke, Yun Zhen watched the floating silver needle slowly sink to the bottom, as if some thoughts had disappeared before he could express them.
As soon as Yun Zhen sat down, Xiao Zhan picked up the celadon pot and filled his teacup.
In the mist, he lowered his eyes to look at the silver needle tea leaves floating in the teacup, a faint smile passing across the corners of his mouth.
He knew very well that this young man, who always kept his eyes down, seemed submissive, but in fact he was harboring hostility - and it happened that this chess piece was placed by his own hands.
Jiang Xue did not pry into any secrets as expected, but instead talked enthusiastically about the fire-proof cloth brought by the Western Regions Hu merchants.
Xiao Zhan remained standing there the entire time, and whenever the tea in the agate cup was 30% gone, he would silently refill it with new tea.
When the chessboard was delivered, Yun Zhen noticed that the knuckles of his hands holding the pot were bluish-white.
Gradually, the black and white pieces were densely distributed on the elm wood chessboard. Jiang Xue, who played with black pieces, made gestures like picking flowers, and her moves were unstoppable.
Yun Zhen deliberately slowed down his attack until he leaned over and caught a glimpse of two pairs of hands interlocking their fingers under the sandalwood chessboard. He casually threw the white jade chess piece to the northwest corner: "Your Highness won this game."
"You know how to choose the right time to admit defeat."
The black jade chess piece at Jiang Xue's fingertips tapped on the table, and the crisp sound contained a hint of understanding.
When the wide sleeves of the cloud-like robe fell, the secret under the chessboard was once again covered up tightly.
The drizzle outside the corridor was getting heavier. Yun Zhen walked to the carved door and suddenly turned back.
He stared at the golden phoenix hairpin on Jiang Xue's temples: "Yun Yun will arrive in Beijing in three days. If she mentions the incident at the Ice Lake in the Northern Frontier..."
"It's just some old stuff."
Jiang Xue interrupted the conversation and stroked the gilded dragon pattern on the chess pot with her fingertips: "Since you said she was just talking nonsense, why should I take it seriously?"
The hand on the table had wrinkled Xiao Zhan's cuffs deeply.
When the copper bells on the eaves tinkled in the wind, Yun Zhen had already walked away on the scattered osmanthus flowers on the bluestone slabs.
Jiang Xue suddenly overturned the entire jar of black jade chess pieces and chuckled as she looked at the black dots rolling all over the floor: "Do you think he saw it just now?"
The air in the pavilion seemed to freeze for a long time. Xiao Zhan stroked the celadon teacup with his fingertips and finally spoke: "Prince Yun, you know the judgment of others better than the person involved?"
He had just deliberately remained silent, taking in every subtle expression of Yun Zhen's - the dark tide in that man's eyes when he looked at Xiaoxue made him feel cold all over.
Yun Zhen tapped the stone table with his fan, making a crisp sound: "Just to nip it in the bud. After all, human hearts are hard to predict."
After he finished speaking, he stood up and straightened his robe sleeves. The black hem of his robe paused for a moment as it passed over the stone steps, but he never looked back.
In the distance, among the falling petals of the weeping crabapple tree, he caught a glimpse of Jiang Xue's cuffs embroidered with silver-thread Epiphyllums brushing against Xiao Zhan's shoulders. That smile was like poisoned honey.
After the dark figure completely disappeared into the corridor, Xiao Zhan slowly turned the jade ring: "The promise of never doubting each other sounds more like the oath of love in the storybook."
Before he could finish his words, a figure with the fragrance of white plums bumped into his arms, and the tassels of the pearl hairpin in her hair brushed his chin.
"This sour taste is enough to make three jars of vinegar."
Jiang Xue poked his heart with her fingertips and chuckled, but suddenly her wrist was grabbed and pulled into a warm breath.
She could taste the scent of pine ink as their lips and teeth intertwined. He was not released until the corners of her eyes turned slightly red. She heard a muffled accusation in her ear: "The way he looks at you is exactly the same as Lan Feng's back then."
Jiang Xue played with the Pisces pendant on his waist and sighed helplessly: "If we hadn't made that promise back then, would we have been able to successfully obtain the military equipment map in the North?"
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