run away
"spices?"
Liu Xu followed Xie Lingxi's gaze and saw the down-on-her-luck princess dressed in plain white coarse clothes, turning to the side to stir the water, half of her face carrying a sharp edge.
He couldn't help but frown slightly. "Is it safe?"
To engage in such activities under the guise of imperial authority is already a grave offense against the world; if it were to be exposed, the consequences would be the confiscation of one's property and the extermination of one's entire clan.
"From the moment the charred corpse was moved from the Cold Palace to its burial, it was all secretly orchestrated by that prince. If we are to be held accountable, we are at most accomplices."
Liu Xu: "How do you know she wasn't using someone else to do her dirty work?"
Xie Lingxi smiled and said, "Whether it is or not, we will know tomorrow."
This was a very risky move. When Xie Lingxi was led to Fanghua Palace to change clothes that day, she sensed something was amiss.
It wasn't until he "coincidentally" met Yan Yun that he understood what this usually arrogant princess truly meant.
It was merely a ploy to use her to stage a deceptive substitution.
He lured everyone to Fanghua Palace with a scandalous affair, ignoring the ladies' entanglements and Xie Lingxi's attempts to escape. He waited until dusk, when the flames would rage, to make the whole city aware of the matter and make it impossible to let it go so easily.
However, Yan Ying is really too bold. How can she be so sure that she will definitely go to the Cold Palace?
The agarwood burned out, revealing a handful of lotus incense ash at the base.
A caravan pulled over a dozen or so ornately carved and beaded carriages. The silver-white beaded curtains jingled, and the finest brocades and incense were wrapped in silk, resembling the colorful tails of fish from the South China Sea. Ahead, a tall horse with red mane wore a necklace around its neck, which shimmered with indigo blue stones in the sunlight.
The coachman covered the lower half of his face tightly with black satin, afraid that people would recognize him for throwing away rotten vegetable leaves.
Finally arriving at the gate of the Liu residence, Xie Lingxi appeared. She pulled off her mask as if bathed in spring rain, wiping away cold sweat. "My dear aunt, do you know how they looked at me all the way here?"
Before Xie Lingxi could speak, a woman stepped down from the carriage; she was none other than Pingting.
Yan Ying used the groom's small golden stool to slowly step down, and before she even touched the ground, she began to berate him: "Why are you such a coward, groom?"
"Head held high, chest out—don't you even know that?"
As he spoke, he struck the man's waist and legs hard with his folding fan.
Zhang Liaoran wore a mournful face, not because he was in much pain, but because he was afraid of the princess. "Your Highness, with such a grand procession of gold and pearls—who wouldn't be alarmed?"
He had been in the Xie family for so long, and he had never seen such arrogance before!
Yan Ying indeed looked at Xie Lingxi, her eyes conveying a clear message—she simply disliked Xie Lingxi for insisting on putting on such a plain appearance.
This prince was pampered and spoiled since childhood, and his favorite things were completely different from Xie Lingxi's. He loved sparkling jewels and brightly colored flowers.
Before long, a crowd had gathered. Xie Lingxi quickly pulled them inside. Seeing the princess, who was as graceful as a peony and had a crimson flower in her hair, she said helplessly, "Your Highness, please take a closer look at where we are. Do you really want to make this a spectacle again, selling this in a teahouse?"
Yan Ying ignored her and walked in with her head held high.
Zhang Liaoran followed behind, hunching his shoulders and glancing at Xie Lingxi. Sure enough, he saw that his wife looked helpless.
This unruly princess actually managed to subdue the usually treacherous Xie San Niang; it's truly a wonder of the world!
Xie Lingxi followed Yan Ying to the backyard and happened to see Yan Yun's door open a crack, from which a lifeless face peeked out. After making eye contact with them, the face quickly retreated.
The door slammed shut, startling the cicadas from the trees.
Xie Lingxi paused, lowering her voice: "Didn't we agree beforehand that you would pretend to be my family's spice merchant delivering goods?"
She pointed to the luxury cars and horses that had filled the yard, "What does this mean?"
Has this princess gone mad with greed and loss, coming to her house to act arrogantly so early in the morning?
Yan Ying glanced at the eaves, her gaze darkening slightly. She then lifted her eyelids and slowly scanned the servants who were busy unloading goods in the courtyard. She replied, seemingly unrelated to the question, "Is this all the people in your family? When will we be able to move here?"
Seeing that Xie Lingxi beside her had fallen silent and was only staring at her quietly, she reluctantly spoke up: "You probably don't know yet, but Father Emperor doesn't say anything on the surface, but Chang'an has been on high alert these past few days. Even my uncle, who made a mistake, has been reinstated and is checking entry and exit notices."
Xie Lingxi shook her head.
She was truly unaware that Liu Xu had been busy with the school's etiquette these past few days, and she rarely went out, so the increased number of Imperial Guards in secret was naturally difficult for her to detect.
Xie Lingxi remembered something and asked, "This caravan?"
Yan Ying smiled, "It is indeed your Xie family's caravan, but it can leave the city in my name."
"It's probably in the name of the Lu family."
Looking at the dazzling array of jewels in the courtyard, which seemed completely out of place with the Xie family's century-old tradition of simplicity, she couldn't help but cover her face. "We should leave as soon as possible. If we stay any longer, those people will start finding fault all over Chang'an after court."
Yan Ying rolled her eyes and sneered, "Easier said than done. You'd better get my third sister out first!"
...
Yan Yun has not eaten or drunk anything since arriving at the Liu residence, and this has been going on for three days.
At first, no one dared to persuade them. After waiting for a long time, they were relieved to see that the person had not starved to death. However, they often heard rats coming out of the kitchen in the middle of the night. Xie Lingxi was the one who kept an eye on things and diligently heated up the food on the stove every day.
"She doesn't want to talk to us."
Xie Lingxi recalled Consort Shu's voice and appearance that day, "Who would like to be with the executioner who killed their own mother?"
Tangtang's plan to set fire to the place had been premeditated for a long time, and it's likely that Yan Ying had already informed Consort Shu.
Yan Ying leaned against the jade table and sat down, fiddling with the pomegranate-red jade bracelet on her wrist, and said slowly and deliberately, "Human life is like this, what can be done?"
She glanced at Yan Yun's door, deliberately raising her voice to startle a few colorful carp, "My carriage will only stop at 9 AM. If she still refuses to come out by then, she might as well die with her mother!"
When she said "human life is like this," Xie Lingxi felt a tremor in her heart and involuntarily seemed to want to stand up, but she still managed to sit down, remaining unmoved.
He simply said coldly, "If I were the one listening, I would really slap you across the face."
Yan Ying clapped her hands and laughed as if she had heard something extraordinary: "That sounds impressive, but if we really fought, I might not necessarily lose."
Xie Lingxi smiled and remained silent.
The two were not familiar with each other to begin with, and since one of them had fallen silent, the other would not want to make a fool of itself. So they stood upright like two egrets on the water's edge, both eyeing the fresh grass on the riverbank.
After a long while, just as Xie Lingxi couldn't resist going inside to find some flower cakes to eat, Yan Yun came out carrying an iron box with a blank expression.
She stared at Xie Lingxi for a few moments, her watery eyes gleaming, then turned to Yan Ying and said, "Let's go."
I'm heading north of the mountains; I don't know when I'll return to Chang'an.
But perhaps for Yan Yun, the bustling prosperity of Chang'an was not as appealing as a bright moon shining in a cold palace amidst wild grass.
Yan Yun lightly stepped onto the carriage.
She kept the iron box left to her by Consort Shu close to her heart, and no one could see the treasure inside.
Before leaving, Yan Yun suddenly peeked out from behind the beaded curtain, uttered two words to Xie Lingxi out of thin air, and then quickly disappeared into the princess's hair ornaments.
The carriage, pulled swiftly by the red-haired horse, bumped right into Liu Xu, who was returning from the Ministry of Rites. Liu Xu looked up and saw Xie Lingxi standing in front of the door, and suddenly burst out laughing.
She said 'Goodbye' to me.
...
After seeing the princess off, Xie Lingxi glanced at the sun and exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you back so early today?"
Seeing that Liu Xu was covered in sweat, she took a handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped him with it. "Chengzhi, tell me the truth, you won't be dismissed from your post, will you?"
This conjecture was baseless. Liu Xu chuckled and said, "If he really resigns from his post, I'll have to move into my father-in-law's house and mooch meals from him."
"how?"
"Do you still remember those bandits from Jingzhou? My elder brother sent a letter saying that wherever they went on their trade, there were torrential rains that washed away the crops. The people had no food and could not receive relief grain, so some of them became bandits and mountain outlaws."
Xie Lingxi: "The news was blocked, and it never even reached Chang'an."
Liu Xu nodded and sneered, "The situation is getting worse, and we can't hide it anymore. His Majesty wants to send people to control the flood, and my teacher reported my name."
Xie Lingxi was taken aback, then agreed: "That's good, it's about getting you to do practical things."
The wind blew down a carpet of green leaves. Liu Xu noticed that the flower cakes and frozen fruits on the small table were almost gone. He gently put his arm around Xie Lingxi and sighed, "Lingxi, this is not a good job."
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