Chapter 340: Night Talk at Huaiyin Courtyard
The night in Prince Rong's mansion always carried an indescribable melancholy. The flickering candlelight in the east courtyard, reflecting two figures cuddling on the window paper, seemed even warmer than the deliberately bright lights in the west courtyard.
Xiaoyanzi dropped the half-embroidered tiger-head shoes into the bamboo basket. Her fingertips, still stained with gold thread, left a small mark on the back of Yongqi's hand. "Do you think Zhihua will ask the kitchen to stew that damn bird's nest again tonight? Last time, Mianrui got some on it and cried all night."
Yongqi was peeling lychees, tribute fruit from southern Xinjiang, when he paused. The crisp crack of the peel cracking was especially clear in the quiet night. He held the glistening flesh to her lips and said in a lower voice, "I asked Madam Zhou to check this afternoon. A new cook has recently arrived in the small kitchen in the west courtyard. She's said to be an expert at making nourishing soups."
"Nourish? I think 'nourishing poison' is more like it." Xiaoyanzi mumbled, biting a lychee. Her tongue brushed against his fingertips, causing a slight tingling sensation. She suddenly leaned in closer, the candlelight flickering fiercely under her eyes. "Yongqi, do you still remember the old locust tree in Huaiyin Courtyard?"
Yongqi's brow furrowed. He hadn't set foot in that remote courtyard since they moved in. He only occasionally heard the servants say that the moonlight in Huaiyin Courtyard always had a bluish-gray tint, and even the wind was colder than elsewhere. He held her slightly cold hand and said, "Why bring up that place?"
"I asked Xiao Dengzi to take a look this afternoon." Xiaoyanzi suddenly lowered her voice and glanced out the door. "He said that there were some half-burned medicine residues piled on the well platform in the yard. They looked like..." She paused, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the handkerchief. "It looked like the prescription for the abortion-preserving medicine that the imperial physician prescribed when I lost the baby two years ago."
Yongqi's face instantly darkened. The copper-based cloisonné candlestick on the rosewood table jiggled with a ding, and wax dripped down, forming a small amber puddle at the base. He stood up, creating a gust of wind, and the jade pendant at his waist hit the corner of the table with a dull thud. "I'll go ask her!"
"Come back!" Xiaoyanzi tugged at his sleeve, the silver bracelet on her wrist jingling. Her nails dug into his brocade sleeve, leaving a few faint crescent-shaped marks. "If you ask her now, she'll just cry and say she doesn't know, and that'll only make us look aggressive."
As they were talking, Xiao Zhuozi's deliberately light footsteps could be heard from outside the courtyard, accompanied by a flustered tone: "Your Highness, Princess, Nanny Li from the West Courtyard is here. She said that Concubine Furen had a severe cough last night. Please come over and take a look."
Xiaoyanzi glanced out the window. Moonlight shone obliquely on the eaves of the west courtyard, casting a cold gleam on the glazed tiles. Suddenly, she smiled, reached out and pushed Yongqi back into his chair. She straightened her moon-white gauze cape, the pearl tassels at her temples swaying gently with her movements. "Since Sister Zhihua isn't feeling well, as her elder sister, I should go and see her."
Yongqi clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white: "I'll go with you."
"No need." Xiaoyanzi patted the back of his hand, her fingertips gently stroking the base of his palm. That was their private code, meaning "don't worry." As she turned around, she picked up the bamboo basket. The tiger-head shoes inside rubbed against her palm, giving her a sense of security. "Wait here, I'll be back soon."
The lights in the west courtyard were indeed blindingly bright. Zhihua leaned against a soft couch covered in white fox fur, her hair disheveled and her face as pale as rice paper. Seeing Xiaoyanzi enter, she struggled to get up, but was held down by Nanny Li. Her shoulders trembled from coughing, and a handkerchief pressed to her mouth, a faint red tinge visible. "Sister... why did you bother coming here in person?"
Xiaoyanzi placed the bamboo basket on the table, and the bottom of the basket collided with the surface with a dull thud. She glanced at the bowl of bird's nest still steaming on the table. The rim of the celadon bowl was stained with dark brown residue, which looked like the debris of some medicinal herb.
"My sister's cough looks like a cold in her lungs." Xiaoyanzi walked to the side of the couch and reached out to touch her forehead with pretended concern. Just as her fingertips were about to touch Zhihua's temples, she suddenly turned her head away, and the pearl on her earring hit the jade hairpin, making a tinkling sound.
Zhihua's eyes flashed with panic, which was then covered up by a cough: "Maybe... I caught a cold during the night wind."
"Oh?" Xiaoyanzi drawled slowly, her gaze fixed on her hands, tightly gripping the quilt. Her hands were immaculately maintained, their nails stained with Impatiens juice, now white from the strain. Between her fingers, there were still bits of gold leaf, tangled and unwiped.
She suddenly laughed out loud, turned around, and took out the pair of tiger-head shoes from the bamboo basket. The tiger eyes embroidered with gold thread gleamed in the light. "What a coincidence! When I was embroidering these shoes this afternoon, I smelled a strange smell coming from the backyard, like some medicinal herbs being burned. Little Mosquito said that they were burning old account books at Huaiyin Courtyard. Have you heard about it, sister?"
Zhihua's face drained of all color, and even her coughing stopped. She stared at the tiger-head shoes in Xiaoyanzi's hands, her pupils suddenly constricting, as if she'd been stung by something.
Just at this moment, the sound of insects buzzing outside the courtyard was heard, accompanied by the voice of Xiaozhang trying to stop the quarrel: "Run slower, don't scare the concubine!"
The door was pushed open with a creaky sound, and Little Bug rushed in holding an oil-paper bag, with some black ash on the tip of his nose: "Princess! I just came from Huaiyin Courtyard and saw a wild cat stealing things, and there was this on its claws!" He poured the paper bag on the table, and a few burnt pills rolled out, with a small piece of gold foil wrapped around it that had not been burned through.
Zhihua suddenly sat up straight from the couch, and the handkerchief fell to the ground, revealing a deep crescent mark on her palm.
Xiaoyanzi bent down and picked up the handkerchief embroidered with orchids. She twisted the corner of the handkerchief with her fingertips and shook it gently. A few tiny black medicine residues fell out from the gaps in the handkerchief and landed on the smooth blue brick floor, becoming particularly conspicuous.
"My sister said it was a cold," Xiaoyanzi's voice was as light as the night wind, but it was piercingly cold. "Is it really a cold, or... is it just a guilty conscience?"
The candlelight crackled and cast the shadows of the three people on the wall, flickering, like a silent fight.
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