Chahar was excited when he learned of Baozhu's death.
He stood up, paced a few steps, and said smugly to his confidant, "Aye is indeed a sharp and reliable weapon. If you hadn't suggested that I keep him and recruit him, we wouldn't have been able to eliminate our opponents so quickly."
Unexpectedly, the confidant frowned upon hearing this and said, "According to the latest news, Baozhu was bitten to death by the white lion of the acrobatic troupe, not by my men."
Chahar's smile faltered, and he said in a grim tone, "Did A not even have time to make a move before someone else beat him to it, or has he already begun to suspect that I am no longer obeying orders?"
After discovering that Shen Mingjiang had appeared at the royal court, he was no longer entirely at ease with A, always worried that Shen might remember something.
The confidant shook his head, unsure either: "Why don't you summon the person back, Your Highness? You'll know the answer soon enough."
Chahar stood with his hands behind his back, pondered for a moment, and said, "We've eliminated most of the people who needed to be eliminated, and his usefulness is almost over. If this knife wants to turn against its master, then we can no longer keep him alive."
His confidant understood his unspoken meaning and agreed, saying, "Your Highness is wise."
...
Aya saw the myna bird again.
This simple-minded myna bird annoyed him for the first time. He stopped feeding it, removed the bamboo tube from its leg, and released it into the air. He stared at the contents of the note and fell silent.
No sooner had Baozhu died than the Third Prince summoned him to the palace…
He untied the sachet from his waist, intending to throw it away, but then, for some reason, he tied it back on. He glanced in the direction of the inn, then turned and slowly headed towards the palace.
*
When Shen Youying woke up from her nap, the panic she had felt during the turmoil had completely subsided.
Xue Shen was out on business and not at the inn. He had his guards leave her a message saying he would be back before dinner.
When Shen was bored and quiet, he would involuntarily recall the surging and dangerous crowds, and the shrill screams seemed to be ringing in his ears.
And that figure that looks just like the eldest brother...
With her mind in turmoil, Shen Youying got up and decided to go for a walk outside.
Doing something else to distract yourself is better than staying indoors overthinking and feeling restless.
After leaving the courtyard through the hanging flower gate, Shen Youying walked aimlessly forward, with Liuyun and Fucui following on either side of her.
Liu Yun, being more lively, noticed that she was in low spirits. Just then, she noticed that someone had hung several grasshoppers and butterflies made of straw on a tree branch not far ahead. She deliberately exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, who is so clever as to hang grasshoppers and butterflies made of straw on the tree branch?"
Shen Youying looked in the direction she was pointing and sure enough, she saw the grasshopper that Liuyun had mentioned among the branches in front of her.
She walked to the tree branch, looked up at the grasshoppers hanging on the treetops and swaying slightly, and a nostalgic look appeared on her face: "My older brother was very skillful. He was the best at weaving these little things. When I was a child, he wove many for me, grasshoppers, butterflies, crickets, all hanging in rows on the treetops, so lifelike."
As she reminisced, she reached out to touch the grasshoppers woven from straw among the treetops.
Just as Liu Yun had said, the grasshoppers woven from straw were incredibly exquisite. Although they were made from readily available grass stems, they were lifelike and even more delicate than those sold on the street.
Shen Youying placed the grasshopper in her palm and fiddled with it a couple of times. The grasshopper lost its balance and flipped over belly up, revealing a cross knot on its abdomen.
Shen Youying stared at the cross knot on the abdomen of the grasshopper, her expression froze, and she revealed an expression of disbelief.
She murmured to herself, "This is a habit only my brother has."
There are many ways to weave these straw trinkets. Shen Youying once compared the grasshoppers woven by street vendors with the grasshoppers woven by her brother to show off her brother's skills, and determined that the grasshoppers woven by her brother were more exquisite and cute.
Moreover, he always tied a cross knot on his abdomen when he knitted, so that Shen Youying could recognize at a glance which ones were made by her brother.
But now, Shen Youying found the grasshoppers her brother had woven on the treetops outside the inn's courtyard.
Shen Youying remembered the figure she had seen in the crowd. She looked around blankly and shouted, "Brother, is that you coming back?"
Liu Yun and Fu Cui were startled by her actions and quickly surrounded her, asking, "Madam, what's wrong?"
Shen Youyin tightly clutched the grasshopper woven from straw in her palm, and said with a sob in her voice, "This was woven by my brother. My brother came here."
But she couldn't understand why her brother, who had clearly come, refused to show himself to her.
Holding back her tears, Shen Youying looked around and called out persistently, "Brother, if you're here, come out and see me."
However, no matter how she called out, no one answered.
In the end, Liuyun and Fucui were worried that if she kept calling out like that, she would be too upset and it would affect her pregnancy, so they persuaded her to go back.
When Xue Shen returned, he saw Shen Youying sitting by the window, with three small straw trinkets in her palm, staring blankly outside in a daze.
When Xue Shen returned, he had already heard Fu Cui recount what had happened that afternoon. He tiptoed over and squatted down beside Shen Youying to examine the three little trinkets in her palm. As if afraid of disturbing her, he asked softly, "Zhao Zhao, are you sure this was made by your older brother?"
This time, Shen Youying nodded with great certainty: "It's definitely my eldest brother, there's no mistake in what he made up."
She gently bit her lip and showed Xue Shen the cross knot on the grasshopper's abdomen: "Only grasshoppers woven by my brother's own hands have this cross knot on their abdomen."
She then turned the straw-woven butterflies and straw-woven crickets over one by one for Xue Shen to see, and sure enough, each one had a cross knot on its abdomen.
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