Chapter 12
The string of "reason" in Cui Yunshu's mind snapped the moment she heard that her sister had gone to the Dali Temple to appeal for justice.
Ignoring her mother Song's exclamation, her father Cui Wen's angry rebuke, and the panicked attempts of the steward and servants behind her, she rushed out of the main hall like a trapped beast driven to the brink of despair.
She's going to the Dali Temple! She's going to bring her sister back!
She was going to expose that hypocrite's true colors! To tell everyone that her sister was innocent and had been coerced!
A surge of resentment and terror welled up within her like magma, searing her very insides. She ran so fast that even the night wind that entered her throat tasted of blood and rust. However, before she could even break through the gates of the Cui residence, she was informed that Cui Yunxi's carriage had returned.
My sister... is back?
Cui Yunshu abruptly stopped, her fury instantly replaced by immense confusion. Instead of returning to her own courtyard or even going to the main hall, she turned around and rushed straight to the Mizhu Courtyard where Cui Yunxi resided.
The gates of Mizhu Courtyard were tightly shut, and Azhu, the elder sister's trusted maid, was guarding the entrance. When she saw Cui Yunshu rushing over aggressively, Azhu quickly stepped forward to stop her, her face full of difficulty: "Fourth Miss, you...you can't go in. Eldest Miss...she said she wants to be alone for a while."
"Get out of the way!" Cui Yunshu's eyes were bloodshot, and she wouldn't listen to a word of advice. She shoved Azhu aside and, with all her might, smashed open the tightly closed courtyard gate.
"Bang--"
The heavy door slammed against the wall with a loud bang, startling the bamboo leaves in the courtyard into falling in a flurry.
Cui Yunshu lifted her skirt and staggered into the courtyard, her eyes scanning the surroundings like sharp swords, searching for the figure that she longed for.
"Sister! Cui Yunxi!" she cried out her sister's name in a shrill voice, her voice filled with barely suppressed anger and heartache.
She imagined countless scenarios of her sister's return. Perhaps she would hide in her room, weeping uncontrollably; perhaps she would sit listlessly, heartbroken; or perhaps… she would take her own life because she couldn't bear the humiliation. Each scenario made her heart ache terribly.
However, when she rushed into the main house, the scene before her eyes shattered all her preconceived notions.
The room was dimly lit, and Cui Yunxi hadn't lit many candles. She had changed out of her plain clothes and was only wearing a moon-white nightgown. Her long hair was loosely tied up, unwashed. She didn't cry or make a fuss; she simply sat quietly on the soft couch by the window, holding a book in her hands, her expression calm... as if she had just returned from an ordinary afternoon tea party.
That extraordinary composure and tranquility formed the sharpest and most absurd contrast with Cui Yunshu's current rage.
Cui Yunshu rushed to her, looking at her calm face, the thousand words that had been building up in her chest finally turned into a heart-wrenching question:
"Why?!"
She stared intently at Cui Yunxi, her eyes bloodshot, her voice trembling violently with emotion, "Why are you humiliating yourself like this?! Did he force you?! Did that bastard Crown Prince Tang Jingcheng use our Cui family and my brother's future to coerce you?!"
In her view, this was the only reasonable explanation. It must have been that despicable hypocrite who, in order to clear his own name, sacrificed his sister's reputation and forced her to tell that colossal lie at the Dali Temple!
Cui Yunxi slowly put down the book in her hand, raised her head, and looked quietly at her furious younger sister with her clear, ancient well-like eyes. Her expression was so calm, so calm that it was almost indifferent.
"Fourth sister," she said, her voice as gentle as ever, yet with an undeniable penetrating force, "Sit down. You frightened me."
Cui Yunshu was stunned, as if she had punched cotton, all her strength finding no outlet. Looking into her sister's calm eyes, for some reason, the raging fire in her heart was somewhat extinguished. She breathed heavily and sat down on the embroidered stool opposite her as instructed, but her body remained tense, like a fully drawn bow.
"Sister, tell me what happened! Don't be afraid, tell me what's wronged you! I... I'll risk my life to make sure he gets away with this!"
“Shu’er,” Cui Yunxi sighed softly. For the first time, she did not call her “Fourth Sister” but used the more affectionate “Shu’er”. “I have not been wronged, nor has anyone coerced me.”
Looking into Cui Yunshu's eyes, which were filled with disbelief and anger, she said, word by word, "Every word I said in the Dali Temple courtroom was true."
Is every word true?
Cui Yunshu seemed to have heard something unbelievable. She suddenly stood up, wanting to lash out again, but Cui Yunxi's next words pinned her to the spot.
"Haven't you always wanted to know what exactly happened that night?" Cui Yunxi's gaze drifted to the window, the cool moonlight reflecting on her face, enveloping her in a hazy glow. "Alright, today, I'll tell you."
She slowly revealed the whole story of the secret that belonged to her and the Crown Prince.
"His Highness the Crown Prince... left the capital in early March to inspect the river works in Jiangnan. He was gone for more than a month. He didn't return to the capital until two days before the Spring Banquet."
"After returning to the capital, he was overwhelmed with the backlog of government affairs, and he had to review memorials in the Eastern Palace until late at night every day, leaving him no time to spare. We...we haven't seen each other for almost two months."
When Cui Yunxi spoke of these things, her voice was very soft and gentle. For the first time, a ripple of shyness and sweetness, belonging to a young girl, appeared in her usually calm eyes.
“On the night of the incident, it was past midnight and I had already turned off the lights and gone to bed. But suddenly I heard a strange noise outside the window. At first I thought it was a thief who had broken into the house. Just as I was wondering what was going on, I heard his voice... He called my name softly through the window.”
“I was surprised and delighted, and also a little… a little angry. I scolded him for his foolishness, breaking into a minister’s residence in the middle of the night. What kind of decorum would it be if he were discovered? But he whispered outside the window that he really… missed me so much. He said that after finishing his official duties, he wanted to go back to his palace to rest, but as soon as he closed his eyes, all he could see was my image. He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, and then, as if possessed, he… came here.”
"I...I finally softened and opened the window for him."
“We weren’t inside the house, but sitting on the stone benches under the bamboo grove in the courtyard. It was a cool night, and he was worried I would catch a cold, so he took off his outer robe and draped it over me. It… still carried the faint scent of boat wood that he had brought back from Jiangnan.”
Cui Yunshu listened blankly, the image involuntarily appearing in her mind: moonlight like water, swaying bamboo shadows, a perfect couple sitting close together, whispering softly. How poetic and picturesque, how tender and affectionate it must have been.
Is this... is this really the cold-blooded, ambitious crown prince she knew?
“He talked to me a lot,” Cui Yunxi’s lips unconsciously curved upwards, his eyes filled with tenderness. “He told me about the scenery of Jiangnan, the hardships of river construction, how he punished several corrupt officials and promoted several capable ones. He also said that on his trip, he found a master ink maker and specially obtained a ‘Nine Sons Ink’ for me, so that after our marriage, I could watch him use that ink to draw his eyebrows and paint his portrait every day…”
He talked a lot until past midnight, when the watchman's gong sounded, and he realized it was late. He left reluctantly.
Listening to her sister's narration, Cui Yunshu felt like an intruder, peeking into a world that didn't belong to her at all—a world full of sweetness and warmth. This world was completely different from the world in the "book," a world filled with conspiracy, betrayal, and bloodshed.
She opened her mouth, and asked hoarsely, "That's...that's all?"
"Yes, that's all." Cui Yunchi nodded, and then a deeper blush of pride appeared on her face. Looking at her shocked sister, she finally revealed the most bombshell secret, one that would overturn all of Cui Yunshu's understanding.
"Shu'er, do you know that my marriage to His Highness is not, as the outside world claims, merely a cold political arrangement?"
"Five years ago, at the Lantern Festival banquet, the Emperor, along with his princes and princesses, celebrated with his officials. I was only twelve years old then, and I saw him from afar with my father. I thought it was just an ordinary palace banquet and had long forgotten about it. It wasn't until later that I learned that he had seen me that day as well."
"Yes...it was he who personally went to the sage to ask for this marriage."
"He told me that he spotted me at a glance among the thousands of lights that day. He said he had never seen a woman who could so perfectly blend the cool moonlight and the warm lamplight. From then on, he... could not forget me."
“My father initially disagreed, and the clan also had many concerns. It was His Highness who insisted repeatedly, even at the cost of arguing with the Emperor, that finally obtained this imperial decree to grant the marriage.”
Cui Yunshu was completely stunned.
She stood frozen in place like a petrified statue, her mind blank, her heart seemingly stopped beating.
So that's how it is...
It turns out that behind the "political marriage" mentioned only briefly in the book lies a deep and unspoken love between two people.
What she perceived as shackles was, in her sister's eyes, a hard-won treasure.
"Then...then why did he..." Cui Yunshu's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible, "After the incident, why didn't he tell the truth himself? Why did he let those rumors fester and let himself be condemned by the whole world?"
“Because he wants to protect me, silly sister.” Tears welled up in Cui Yunxi’s eyes, tears filled with heartache, emotion, and unwavering love. “Meeting with his fiancée in secret is against propriety. He would rather ruin his own reputation than let my innocent name be tainted in the slightest. He was afraid I would suffer criticism because of this, afraid the world would call me a shameless slut who engages in illicit relations.”
“It was me…it was me who couldn’t bear to see him alone, bearing that unjust accusation. It was me who couldn’t bear to see him crushed by those fabricated charges because of me. That’s why I decided to stand up. He can give up his reputation for me, so I…can do the same for him.”
Cui Yunshu could no longer stand. She staggered backward and fell heavily onto the cold ground. The huge impact left her weak all over and unable to muster any strength.
That's wrong.
Everything was wrong.
Everything she meticulously planned, the scheme she was so proud of, and her so-called "salvation" was, from beginning to end, an absurd farce built on a flawed foundation!
She thought she was a savior, but little did she know that she was the one who had driven her sister to the brink of despair, forcing her to sacrifice her reputation to save her love... the culprit!
An overwhelming sense of absurdity and boundless guilt gripped her throat like an invisible hand, making it impossible for her to breathe.
Looking at her sister, who was willing to disregard everything and throw herself into love, she realized for the first time how shallow, ignorant, and ridiculous her understanding of the world was.
In her mind, the cold lines of text in the book clashed and tore at the gentle yet firm light in her sister's eyes, almost ripping her mind apart completely.
She wanted to say something, to apologize, to explain that she didn't mean it, but her throat felt like it was filled with scalding hot coals, and she couldn't utter a single word.
In the end, she struggled to get up from the ground, without looking at her sister again. Like a defeated deserter, she staggered and fled the room, out of the world she thought she understood but never truly comprehended.
The night wind howled, rustling the bamboo grove in the courtyard, as if mocking her foolishness and ignorance.
She walked barefoot on the cold stone pavement, letting the biting chill spread from her feet to her heart.
A terrifying thought, one she dared not contemplate, began to grow wildly in her mind.
If... if what my sister said is true...
Then, what does everything in the "book" even mean?
If the Crown Prince and his sister were so deeply in love, why did he rebel three years later? If he cherished his sister so much, why did she suffer a tragic death on the city wall and the entire Cui family be executed?
For the first time, the story took a turn completely out of her control.
And she, this self-righteous "prophet," finally became, at this moment, a completely bewildered and helpless outsider, fooled by fate.
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