The sparrow tongue outside the jade gourd-shaped window chuckled twice: "No..."
Qin Weixi went to the Zhao family to pick up Zhao Shuhan without lingering. He was quite surprised to hear that Li Chuirong had caused trouble in the market. After dinner, when it was time to return to the Zhao family, Luo Ling sent Luo Yuan to personally escort them. Zhao Shuhan smiled and declined, but Luo Ling insisted. Ping An, standing beside her, kept saying, "Brother, brother!"
After the onlookers had walked away, Qin Weixi smiled meaningfully. Before she could speak, Luo Ling reached out and flicked her nose with a finger: "What are you thinking about now?"
Qin Weixi said, "Brother, you've had too much to drink today. Go back and rest quickly. Would you like your little sister to make you a bowl of hangover soup?"
Upon hearing this, Luo Ling's gaze softened: "Is your brother really that bad at drinking?" He smiled helplessly, shook his head, and walked towards the gate of the mansion, saying, "What virtue or ability do I possess to have two such understanding sisters in this life!"
It was nearly dusk. Qin Weixi returned to Tingyu Pavilion, washed up, and went to bed. Zhoufeng, who had been playing somewhere all afternoon, had just returned. He was squatting on the ground, tilting his head and looking at her. He seemed to recognize her, yet also seemed not to. After a while, he got up and nuzzled his head against her chest. Qin Weixi found it amusing, and her heart melted. She often removed her makeup and stroked his fur, while Zhoufeng looked completely content.
Feng Hua, standing to the side, couldn't help but say, "Miss wasn't like this back then, no wonder Zhou Feng sometimes feels lost."
At this moment, in the vast and deep palace, inside Princess Zhenhui's bedroom, Zishu was overjoyed as she handed over the items that Meng Yu had brought back from outside the palace to Jiang Yuanfu.
Meng Yu was a palace guard whom Empress Tao had recently placed beside Zhen Hui after A Yi's death. Just as Empress Tao had said that day, she would definitely choose a few steady and capable men in the future, and Meng Yu was very clever.
Empress Tao was worried about another assassination attempt, so she selected three or four guards for her, but she kept only Meng Yu, who had lost a thumb on his right hand.
Zi Shu secretly peeked outside the hall before returning to the inner hall and carefully opening the bundle.
It's a square wooden box.
The box was coated with a somewhat eerie black lacquer, giving it a deathly appearance. If it weren't for its square shape, it would look a bit like... a coffin at first glance.
Zi Shu was startled and quickly took a step back. A few days ago, the princess had ordered him to fetch the newly appointed Meng Yu, and she had been keeping watch in the outer hall. Not long after, she saw Meng Yu emerge with a serious expression. She didn't particularly like him, but felt that as long as he could protect the princess, that was good enough. Besides, they both worked for the princess and would inevitably run into each other, so their usual interactions were merely polite greetings.
She assumed the princess was bored in the palace and wanted to find some food or novelties outside the palace with Meng Yu. However, she never expected it to be just an ordinary wooden box, and one with a rather eerie appearance.
She quickly composed herself and asked curiously, "Princess, what is this?"
Jiang Yuanfu smiled and said, "It's used to store treasures."
Soon she saw the princess take a large clay doll from the display shelf; it was shaped like a little birthday star, and looked very cute. Zi Shu remembered that the Luo family girl had also had one, which was a gift from the Qin family girl to the princess on her seventh birthday.
Alas! Beauty is often short-lived; she was born at the wrong time!
Zi Shu sighed inwardly, wondering what the princess intended to do with her.
Then, she saw the princess carefully place the clay doll into the dark wooden box, gently close it, and lock it with a small lock.
Zi Shu stared blankly, hesitant to speak, when she heard the princess murmur, "My mother has recently taken in a dog, and she adores it. I love it very much too. I'm worried every day that it might one day knock over the treasure that my seventh sister gave me."
"After all, this is the only thing my seventh sister left me. Back then, when my mother saw me so sad every day, she took all those toys with her."
Zi Shu saw the princess staring blankly at the wooden box, her thoughts seemingly wandering elsewhere.
Jiang Yuanfu suddenly looked up and saw Zi Shu staring at the wooden box in her hand. She smiled wryly and said, "This box is inconspicuous. Mother will definitely not notice it." She took one last look at the wooden box, her eyes full of affection: "Go and put it on the bottom shelf of the Treasure Pavilion. There, where there is no sun all day long, and without any light, Mother will naturally not find it."
Zi Shu's heart pounded wildly. When she looked up at the princess again, the princess was already leaning against the chaise longue with her eyes closed, one hand supporting her head. Before long, two lines of tears slowly streamed down her face.
She softly agreed, picked up the wooden box, gently placed it on the display shelf, and quietly left.
The next morning.
Inside Tingyu Pavilion, Feng Hua had just picked many flower branches and arranged them in a vase. Qin Weixi noticed that she seemed annoyed, and before she could ask, Pu Niang was already smiling and about to pull her out: "What are we going to do! You've been in a bad mood all morning and haven't even eaten breakfast. How can a person not eat!"
Feng Hua huffed and puffed, her face turning even redder. No matter how much Pu Niang tried to pull her away, she didn't budge. She looked at Qin Weixi and said, "Miss, I ran into Madam Qian from the Liang family this morning when I went out to buy pickles. Her eyes were practically popping out of my head. She kept pulling me and asking why you returned to the capital."
As for Madam Qian's seemingly casual remarks about her beloved son Liang Lang, asking if he had ever visited the Luo residence, and saying that her youngest son was destined to marry a princess, the implication was that the Liang family looked down on the Luo family. However, she didn't tell the young lady any of this nonsense.
Pu Niang laughed and scolded, pretending to cover her mouth: "I'm going to put egg white on your mouth! Miss has enough troubles every day, such as Madam Qian and Madam Li. You are not allowed to talk about these troubles anymore."
Feng Hua was amused by Pu Niang's actions: "Pu Niang, I just hate her. Back when Liang Lang was seriously ill, she went around badmouthing our Luo family behind our backs. She said his son was the precious little egg, while other people's daughters were just weeds." She spat three times, her face turning red with anger.
Qin Weixi, sitting on the rose chair beside her, was both amused and exasperated by her actions. She quickly comforted her, saying, "If you need to go out in the future, just find a well-built and burly servant from the manor to accompany you."
Feng Hua said resentfully, "Then I'll find the most capable fighter in the manor, the one with the fiercest face!"
Pu Niang laughed heartily upon hearing this. She looked at Feng Hua, and her eyes occasionally glanced at the name card placed on the coffee table. She said, "It's quite strange that the siblings of the Di family celebrate their birthdays on the same day."
Qin Weixi followed her gaze and looked at her. Chu Yening's words from yesterday, her rejection of the palace, still seemed to echo in her ears.
Even when he was young, Chu Yening always treated Xiaoxing, whom he didn't know much about and hadn't been out for a long time, with a smiling, older brother demeanor. He also treated Zhu Ruo with the same gentle attitude.
Just like her act of offering the painting, she never disliked someone without a reason. So why would Chu Yening say such a thing?
Late at night, Pu Niang came to ask her if she was going to the palace banquet the next day, whether she should wear something elegant or something more flamboyant, and what jewelry she should bring. Sparrow Tongue appeared out of nowhere, standing on the narrow terrace outside the second floor of Tingyu Pavilion, and was lovingly stroking her hemp whip from outside the lattice window.
Feng Hua was startled and was about to shout.
Sparrow Tongue smiled and said, "Little Fenghua, this is your Sparrow Tongue sister." Then she bowed to Qin Weixi, her gaze lingering on her face for a moment before she said, "Did I frighten you, young lady? The Marquis said that you are going to the palace tomorrow and that I will wait for you outside the palace gate."
Seeing that she looked travel-worn and carried an inappropriate chill, Qin Weixi asked, "Are you sleeping well at home? If you need anything, just let Pu Niang or Feng Hua know."
Sparrow Tongue waved his hand dismissively: "When you're out and about, traveling all over the country, I don't care about such things."
Qin Weixi looked at her with a smile, and soon saw her "conjure" a palm-sized beaded wooden box from somewhere: "Miss, the Marquis gave this to you, but he didn't say what it was for."
Qin Weixi raised an eyebrow slightly, took the wooden box with one hand, and opened it to reveal a pair of gourd-shaped earrings inlaid with red gold and jade.
For some reason, she suddenly remembered the pair of earrings that Liang Xi wore at Liang Lang's coming-of-age ceremony, that little incident that made everyone a little unhappy. Her eyes flashed.
Outside the lattice window, Sparrow Tongue chuckled twice: "However, the Marquis asked me to pass on a message to you, Miss. He said that the sky won't fall down, so you can go forward with peace of mind."
Qin Weixi suddenly looked up.
That was a phrase my father often said: "Even if the sky falls, I, as her father, will hold it up; if things get really bad, her brother will hold it up too."
Taking the opportunity, Sparrow Tongue added, "This earring would look best on you, Miss, to complement the pale yellow dress you wore at the Fragrant Robe Shop that day."
After completing her task, Que She bowed and quietly withdrew. Only Pu Niang watched her from the side, smiling affectionately: "Miss Que She has good taste; isn't that pale yellow the perfect match?" Pu Niang acted immediately, going to the wardrobe to find the pale yellow high-collar long gown, along with a matching white satin jacket with subtle patterns and a horse-face skirt with gold embroidery.
With a smile, Pu Niang told her to rest early and quietly withdrew.
She chuckled as she watched Pu Niang's retreating figure. She lit another oil lamp in the dim room and placed it on the table, then took out the red gold and jade earrings. The jade was crystal clear, and the gourd-shaped body was hollowed out. She looked at them in the light, and her heart skipped a beat.
Inside the hollowed-out gourd was a tiny, perfectly round gemstone, about the size of a grain of rice, that was shimmering with light.
Suddenly, as if her bones had been removed, she slumped softly onto the small stool in front of the bronze mirror.
Her sister-in-law Zhu Ruo's gentle words seemed to echo in her ears: "Ye Ning has protected you since you were little, and you two have been able to play together since you were a child."
She reached out and touched the pale yellow dress that lay before her dressing case, her fingertips gliding lightly over it.
As a child, Xiao Xing loved light blue silk skirts the most, so when she returned to her homeland ten years later, she wore a light blue brocade dress, as if Xiao Xing from the Luo family was accompanying her on her journey home. From then on, she also abandoned her favorite silks and satins, pearl hairpins and jade rings, and became one with snow and white silk, paying tribute to the souls of the Qin family every day, and rarely wore those beautiful clothes again.
But Pu Niang told her that this was precisely why she needed to be reborn. Others told her, just as her father had said, that the sky wouldn't fall and that she could go on without worry. Her childhood friends, whom she had known since she was little, had never abandoned her. They told her that only if she was well, would they truly be well.
So how could she not become the real Qin Jiaweixi again?
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