Did Chapter 36 foresee this?
After finishing my conversation with Vice Minister Wang, the sun was already setting.
Yue Yining and Fu Yao left the Prince's Mansion through the North Gate. A maid opened the door for them, and as soon as Yue Yining stepped out of the threshold, she saw Ye Miheng, dressed in a royal blue brocade robe, leaning against the doorpost.
Yue Yining slowed her pace.
Fu Yao also saw the person and was a little surprised: "Didn't this guy leave a long time ago?"
Ye Miheng crossed his arms, looking like he had been waiting for a long time, his brows furrowed with impatience. But as soon as Yue Yining came out, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed.
He stepped forward and called out, "You've finally come out. I have something to say—"
Ye Miheng's vision blurred as Yue Yining rushed towards him, almost appearing in front of him in a flash. She then gave him a kind smile: "Lord Ye, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Why didn't you wait in my carriage? It was just a matter of calling the coachman, but you've been left out in the wind and cold. I feel really bad about it."
Ye Miheng was baffled: "I'll do it in your car—"
Yue Yining interrupted him with an even faster pace: "I've been discussing things with Lord Wang for too long, and I've completely forgotten that Lord Ye is coming to the Princess's residence tonight. I should have taken my leave earlier."
While the two were chatting, the maid who opened the door did not leave. Guards stood guard at both the front and back of the door, keeping silent and looking away, their presence barely noticeable.
"..." Under Yue Yining's suggestive gaze, Ye Miheng finally realized what was going on.
He pursed his lips, the doubt in his eyes dissipating, revealing a nonchalant expression. He went along with her words, "...It's just a trivial matter, no need to worry about it."
Yue Yining smiled and said, "Please follow me to the carriage, Lord Ye. I will offer you a pot of fine tea as an apology."
Once inside the princess's carriage, Ye Miheng hadn't even settled into his seat when he impatiently asked, "Can we talk now?"
Fu Yao tied the bamboo curtain into a ruyi knot. The sound of the coachman whipping the horse and the drumbeats at Xihua Gate blended together, making it difficult to hear clearly. Yue Yining leaned back on the soft cushions, reverting to her usual lazy demeanor: "You can speak now."
"You were much more clever this time, I commend you."
Ye Miheng wanted to jump up and down at her tone, but he held back: "Did your talk with him not go well? Why are you so wary? Maybe they'll just let it go. Wang Zhichang doesn't have the time to ask them, does he?"
Yue Yining shook her head: "After you left, I did a divination while waiting. Later, I was called over, and during our conversation, he suddenly mentioned that I had done a divination in the hall."
"I heard from my servant that Lord Yue just had his fortune told in the waiting room?" As Vice Minister Wang spoke, a glint of light flashed in his eyes, and a kind smile graced his face. "I've also been studying divination on my own recently. Would I be so kind as to ask Lord Yue for some pointers?"
Yue Yining: "We can't be sure whether he arranged for someone to monitor us or if the servants reported it on their own initiative. But at least it shows that he knew exactly what we talked about and what we did. Whether he arranged for surveillance or the servants were used to reporting details, it shows that he is a person with a strong desire for control."
After entering the Wang family mansion, Yue Yining had been observing it closely. Many things struck her as odd, such as the overly regular and symmetrical layout, the inconsistent sizes of the inner and outer gates, and the wooden platforms and connecting corridors extending outwards from the halls. Having some knowledge of feng shui, she was able to keenly perceive that the layout of the Wang mansion differed from that of ordinary wealthy families, and that there were strange elements hidden in the architectural direction.
Ye Miheng looked at her in utter shock: "You even did a fortune telling in that mansion? On that table covered in the sunflower seed shells I'd left over?!"
Looking at his expression, Yue Yining realized that she had been away from her sect for a long time and had almost forgotten that Ye Miheng was a Celestial Master who followed the old school's principles. He would always be calm and composed, burn incense and bathe before starting a ritual, and make a grand display. In fact, most orthodox Celestial Masters were like him. A Celestial Master like her, who calculated things arbitrarily, was easily mistaken for a charlatan.
"A conman." Yue Yining chuckled at this thought, then replied with a smile, "I suddenly had something I wanted to know, so I'll leave it at that. Besides, the necessary conditions for the spell I need are all met."
Ye Miheng was at a loss for words: "You...did you lose all manners and etiquette after you came down from the mountain?"
Yue Yining shrugged: "You'll understand when you're short of money and have to set up a fortune-telling stall on the street. Sometimes you can't care about all those fancy rules."
Ye Miheng suddenly fell silent, and after a long while, hesitantly asked, "Have you been short of money these past five years?"
Yue Yining: "Of course! Just the cost of maintaining the fortune-telling tools and the consumables for the instruments alone is quite high, right? And I'm not just looking after myself; Fu Yao is with me too. Eleven or twelve-year-olds are growing up, so I can't neglect her. Otherwise, if she grows up short and weak, it'll be my fault for not raising her properly."
Fu Yao, who had been silent until now, spoke up indignantly: "No way! Even if I'm short, I won't blame it on Miss!"
Yue Yining said with a grin, "I know, I know, my Yao Yao is the most generous."
"You know my body; I can't do any heavy work, so I can only make money by setting up a fortune-telling stall. I don't dare to tell too many fortunes each time, because accumulating too much karma can easily lead to trouble. We are two weak women who don't know martial arts, so it would be terrible if we couldn't travel. Therefore, we save up some travel money and use it sparingly. It's dangerous to travel with too much money in our pockets."
Ye Miheng stared wide-eyed, getting a little anxious: "Then you don't need to set up a street stall every time! If you mention your master's name, many wealthy families would come to you asking for your fortune telling, right?"
Yue Yining: "You know perfectly well that when I came down the mountain, my master almost severed ties with me. She clearly told me that once I left this mountain, I should never say that I was her disciple."
Despite Qiu Wuzhu's harsh and resolute words, Yue Yining still descended the mountain.
There was nothing she could do; as her master had said, this was her fate.
However, Yue Yining really did adhere to this rule. Sometimes she was incredibly spineless, and other times she was the most unyielding person in the world, a unique person who could be both flexible and resolute.
She kept her word; in the past five years, she never proactively told anyone that she was Qiu Wuzhu's disciple. She didn't even mention which temple she came from—the Zijin Temple was a prestigious name, but she never brought it up. In her youth, she would have attacked people for calling her a charlatan, but now she cheerfully accepted it. Yes, she was a charlatan, but what could you do about it?
If you were to ask her what the greatest gain from her five years of traveling the world was, Yue Yining would definitely reply: a face as thick as a city wall and impervious to swords and spears.
Yue Yining portrayed herself as pitiful, pathetic, and heartbreaking, but Fu Yao, who knew the truth, could only roll her eyes.
Her young lady is putting on an act again, look at her lying through her teeth! Fu Yao sneered inwardly. If her young lady had accepted even a small official or landlord's divination along the way, the money she collected would have been enough for them to buy a luxury carriage and hire a bodyguard! It's obvious that she herself is difficult to deal with, wants freedom, wants to be down-to-earth, wants to roam the world, and now she's turned into a little cabbage in the field?
Fu Yao was internally complaining when she suddenly heard Ye Miheng's voice: "If you ever need money in the future, just come to me, and I'll give you my money to spend."
Fu Yao stood there, stunned. She looked at Ye Miheng, whose earlobes were slightly red and who was speaking shyly. She couldn't believe it, so she stared wide-eyed.
Ye Miheng stammered, "Now that you're working as a staff member in the Princess's residence, is the monthly salary the Princess gives you enough to live on? Where does she let you live? Besides Fu Yao, is there anyone to take care of your daily life?"
"...Never mind, you don't need to say anything. I've noticed that you've been wearing the same few outfits since we met, so I can guess what's going on." Ye Miheng looked annoyed, as if he was angry that the princess hadn't treated him well, but also as if he was angry that she hadn't taken good care of herself, and angry that he only found out now. "I'll give you a stack of silver notes in a few days. You can use them for now, and buy whatever you need."
Fu Yao was petrified. She didn't know whether to dissuade him or expose him, whether to play dumb or be shocked. Yue Yining, on the other hand, had clearly cultivated shamelessness and heartlessness to a level far superior to Fu Yao's. She happily grasped Ye Miheng's hand: "Good, good, good! Senior Brother Ye is such a kind person! I'll go back and wait for you then!"
Fu Yao: ...Is that right?
"Those etiquette rules and such, you can just drop them, pretend I didn't say anything." Ye Miheng felt his face burning, and he muttered, "Anyway, you're still as accurate as before, so that's fine."
Yue Yining: "Aren't you curious about what I calculated in that Prince's mansion?"
"I don't even know what you're calculating." Ye Miheng curled his lip and looked at her. "Tell me, and about what you talked about with him regarding the Third Prince, did he say anything special?"
"Nothing special. He had no intention of taking sides at all. He didn't want to choose either the Third Prince or the Fourth Prince."
Ye Miheng was puzzled: "Then why did he accept our invitation and spend half a day talking to the two of us? What was he after?"
"I thought the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince's men would fight over this," Yue Yining said lazily. "I just didn't expect that they would only send the two of us, and that we seemed to know each other quite well. This is not what he wanted."
From the moment Yue Yining arrived at the Prince's residence and discovered that she and Ye Miheng had been scheduled to pay their respects on the same day, she had been speculating about Wang Zhichang's intentions. Initially, she thought it was a disguised test and comparison, but after her conversation with Wang Zhichang, she no longer felt that way. Add to that the divination she had performed and the strange feng shui of the residence—
"Now that you think about it, don't you find all the doors and halls along our way from entering the mansion to the reception room rather strange?"
"The ceremonial gate, as the opening through which the 'qi' (vital energy) flows in the mansion, should be orderly and harmonious, yet the front gate is small and the back gate is large. If the Wang family simply prefers irregular layouts, then why are all the buildings in the mansion symmetrical? To pass through the council hall, one must walk through the mansion's garden. If that garden could be folded like a piece of paper, you would find that every tree and every flower could overlap. This actually goes against the usual aesthetic sense."
“Whether it’s the reception hall or the council hall in the mansion, there are protruding wooden platforms and surrounding corridors, which together form an inverted mountain shape,” Yue Yining said. “An inverted mountain shape, what comes to mind?”
Ye Miheng pondered: "An inverted mountain shape... plus the hall behind it..."
Seeing that he was racking his brains without success, Yue Yining revealed the answer: "It's the character '土' (earth)."
“Whether it’s the ceremonial gate, which is smaller in the front and larger in the back, or the hall with the inverted mountain-shaped wooden platform, from an aerial view, they all resemble the Chinese character ‘土’ (earth). Earth is located in the center of the Five Elements and symbolizes gathering in feng shui. One earth element represents wealth, two earth elements represent strength, and more than three earth elements represent power. If it is further complemented by a symmetrical layout along the central axis, it can form the auspicious combination of Heaven and Earth, and the harmony of the sun and moon,” Yue Yining said. “It is a very classic feng shui arrangement.”
Ye Miheng's expression changed drastically: "Isn't this... the layout of the imperial palaces throughout history?!"
Yue Yining nodded slightly and smiled, "That's right. So after I figured it out, I immediately cast a divination." It was because she really wanted to know why Wang Shi did this.
Ye Miheng found it absurd: "But...aren't the Wang family members afraid of death? If this is discovered, it would be a crime of usurpation!"
"Or... are they plotting a rebellion...?!"
Yue Yining: "This was my initial guess."
Even a fool could guess that a powerful family that had dominated the court for so many years couldn't have been completely wiped out. Just look at the extravagance in the Prince's mansion; one can get a glimpse of how much the Wang family had amassed by abusing their official positions.
Sometimes, even ferocious beasts aren't born that way. They simply grow larger and larger over time, fed on meat and fertile land, until they try to devour even their feeder. Their enlarged stomachs cannot shrink back down; they can only continue to devour, just like desire itself—endless.
“However, the divination indicates that this feng shui arrangement was not Wang Zhichang’s doing, but seems to have been left by the Wang family’s ancestors. In other words, at least Wang Zhichang himself did not have any ill intentions,” Yue Yining said. “However, he is unaware that this fact will soon be used against the Wang family.”
Ye Miheng was shocked: "You mean, it's not that they're planning a rebellion, but that someone is trying to falsely accuse them of treason?"
Yue Yining nodded. "The Wang family is in big trouble."
"After interpreting the divination, I actually felt there was no need to stay there. But I couldn't just leave like that either. If I inexplicably ended this meeting, it would create karma with the Wang family and ultimately bring trouble upon myself." So even though she knew this conversation was destined to be fruitless, Yue Yining still sat opposite Wang Zhichang.
Ye Miheng had slowly recovered from his shock. Now, staring at Yue Yining, he said with some annoyance, "Why didn't I calculate that...?"
"Because you're such an old-fashioned person," Yue Yining said with a smile.
"But now it seems that not reaching an agreement is a great thing, isn't it?" Yue Yining said. "We don't need to get involved anymore; we can just wait and see."
The carriage rolled over the last rays of the setting sun, gradually fading into the distance from the bustling prosperity of the mansions.
......
The sky was ablaze with sunset colors. Two guards stood at the entrance of the Frost-Spraying Courtyard, yawning, when they suddenly saw a figure in black robes approaching gracefully from the distance, and they immediately stood up straight.
"May the eldest son be blessed." The two said in unison as Xie Qingyu passed by them.
Strangely, the eldest son, who usually paused briefly to smile and nod at them, left directly today.
The two guards exchanged glances, both noticing Xie Qingyu's expression, which could be described as frosty.
The silver-clad guard who followed closely behind moved silently, almost without making a sound, his expression calm. It was Yin Yi. He held a strangely shaped piece of scrap metal in his hand, which was not clear from a distance, but as soon as Yin Yi got closer, the two recognized the intricate and familiar carvings on it.
Guard A gasped: "...Yin Yi, is that the hand warmer from the eldest young master's room?!"
Yin Yi glanced down and said, "Yes."
"This is unusable, where are you planning to send it?"
Yin Yi: "The eldest young master told me to take it with me and throw it away when I leave the manor."
Guard B stared wide-eyed: "Good heavens, how did it get so badly damaged?" The brazier was made of copper, gold, and refined iron, and was quite sturdy, yet it was deformed, showing how badly it had been treated.
Yin Yi still had a blank expression: "I was thrown to the ground by the young master, and that's how it is."
Seeing Yin Yi's expressionless face, the guards were all a little curious: "What's wrong with the young master? Why did he lose his temper like that?"
Yin Yi didn't really understand either; he was just reporting the movements of the Yue people he was following that day, as usual.
Could it be that Xie Qingyu is in a bad mood today? But he seemed quite normal when he first heard Xie Qingyu's report—to be precise, Xie Qingyu's expression seemed to turn sour when he said, "Lord Yue and Lord Ye rode in the same carriage back to the mansion."
Yin Yi thought, forget it. Compared to figuring out the emperor's intentions, his more pressing task now was to find a way to infiltrate the Fourth Prince's residence within two days.
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