At three quarters past five in the morning, the clappers pierced the morning mist when a shrill scream erupted from the west wing of the General's Mansion. Liu, grasping the carved bedpost, abruptly sat up, her pearl headband slipping from her forehead and clattering against the mahogany floor. Severe abdominal pain washed over her like a wave, and she stumbled towards the clean bucket, her nails scratching five white marks on the bedpost, as if she were gouging the lotus pattern from it.
"Madam!" Lu'e entered, carrying a copper basin, and was met head-on by Liu's sallow face. Morning light filtered through the window lattice onto the hem of her skirt, a dark brown stain glaring against the plain white brocade. The basin clattered to the ground, spilling clear water onto the blue brick floor and revealing Liu's distorted features.
Liu covered her cramping abdomen and squeezed out broken words from between her teeth: "Quick... go call the doctor! And bring the plate of rose preserves from yesterday!" Her voice was tearful, but the ending tone suddenly rose, shaking the spider webs on the beams to dust.
Lu'e stared blankly at the empty corner of the dressing table. "Madam, didn't the eldest daughter take away the candied fruit? She said you weren't feeling well and couldn't eat anything sweet..."
"Chen Weiwan!" Liu's head shot up, the golden hairpin in her hair trembling violently, the ruby on the tip nearly falling out. The scene of yesterday afternoon flashed through her mind—Chen Weiwan smilingly took the gilded food box away, her fingertips tracing the tassels as she left, her eyes like the cunning of a cat playing with a mouse. "It must be her! She must have poisoned the preserves!"
Half an hour later, the old doctor, his white hair and beard twirling, paced by Liu's bedside. His fingertips rested on Liu's wrist pulse, his brow furrowed so tightly that it could snatch a fly. The pulse pad on the desk was damp with sweat. Liu struggled to open her eyes, only to see the doctor suddenly drop his hand and shake his head at the medicine box.
"Doctor, what happened to my wife?" Lu'e rubbed her hands anxiously.
The old doctor turned to Liu, rubbed his fingertips across her yellow tongue, and suddenly sighed: "Madam, your pulse is as slippery and rapid as pearls, and your tongue is as yellow and greasy as tar. This is clearly caused by an overdose of croton."
"Croton?" Liu screamed and tried to sit up, but was pulled back to the quilt by the abdominal pain. "Impossible! I have never taken that kind of laxative!" She suddenly grabbed the doctor's sleeve, and the golden armor pinched the other's flesh. "Someone must have framed her! It was that little bitch Shen Weiwan!"
The old doctor pulled his hand back in pain, looking at the silver needles in the medicine box and sighing, "Strange things happen so often these days. Some people actually eat croton seeds as ginseng." He spread out the rice paper and wrote a prescription, pausing his pen over the word "croton seeds" before adding the antidote: three grams of rhubarb and two grams of coptis chinensis. "Madam, don't worry. This prescription will clear the stomach stagnation and you'll be fine."
The servants crowded outside the window to eavesdrop, and when the doctor left with the medicine box, they immediately exploded:
"Did you hear that? Madam ate croton!"
"I was saying I saw her secretly hiding the candied fruit yesterday. She must have fallen into the trap set by the eldest lady!"
"Serves her right! It's her fault for always plotting against the young lady..."
Shen Weiwan sat before the mirror, listening to Chuntao's imitations. The mother-of-pearl comb in her hand fell to the dressing table with a clatter. She leaned over the edge of the table, her shoulders shaking with laughter. The red-gold hairpins at her temples swayed with her movements, and the phoenix's tail feathers brushed against the rouge box, startling a swirl of red.
"Miss, how do you know that Liu will definitely eat it secretly?" Chuntao came forward with the freshly dried osmanthus candied fruit. The candied fruit in the porcelain plate was covered with icing sugar and glowed amber in the sunlight.
Chen Weiwan picked up a piece and rolled her fingertips over the sticky sugar grains. "Have you forgotten the golden bird's nest she hid in the warehouse last month?" She raised her eyebrows and looked at Chuntao, a sly look in her eyes. "This old hag is as greedy as a wolf. The more I tell her not to eat it, the more she wants to taste it secretly. Yesterday, I deliberately changed the bag in the secret compartment of her dressing table where she usually keeps candied fruits--"
"Did you change the package of croton powder?" Chuntao's eyes were as bright as glass lamps.
"It's not croton powder," Chen Weiwan laughed even more happily, "it's finely ground croton powder mixed with rose petals. The color is exactly the same as the icing in her candied fruit." She shook the candied fruit on her fingertips, "What a pity that the dish of fine rose candied fruit was wasted, and the general's big yellow dog got a bargain."
As he spoke, the old butler entered, leaning on a jujube-wood cane, his goatee still matted with morning dew. "My lady, the maid from Liu's room came to borrow some ginseng. She said the mistress had diarrhea and couldn't get out of bed, and she looked like she was dying." He suppressed a laugh, his cane tapping a brisk rhythm on the blue bricks. "I told her there were only radishes left in the storeroom," he replied, and the maid's face turned green.
Shen Weiwan was laughing so hard that she fell backwards. Suddenly, she heard the sound of horse hooves outside the courtyard. Chuntao lifted the bamboo curtain of Xiang Fei and exclaimed in surprise, "Miss, the Seventh Prince is here!"
Shen Weiwan paused as she straightened her skirt, the figure in the mirror wavering. She stepped through the moonlit doorway in her embroidered shoes, only to see Xiao Yu leaning against a Taihu stone, his dark hem brushing the moss on the stone. The jade pendant he was playing with shone warmly in the sunlight.
"I heard someone used croton seeds as a tonic and performed a play by the clean bucket half the night?" Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and looked at her, a playful smile lingering in the corners of his eyes. He took a half step forward, his low voice mingling with the coolness of morning dew, "I think this play 'The Story of Croton Seeds' is better than the play at the Taifu Mansion."
As Shen Weiwan bowed, she caught a glimpse of the half-written secret report peeked out from his sleeve, and her heart moved slightly: "I'm sorry to have laughed at you, Your Highness, but it's just a small episode that has caused unrest in the family."
"A little anecdote?" Xiao Yu pressed the jade pendant into her palm, the jade material warm to the touch. "I heard that the accountant from the Second Prince's residence sent a letter to the General's residence yesterday." He turned and walked towards the hanging flower gate, the reins of his black horse forming a neat knot in his hands. "Tomorrow we will pray at the Royal Temple. I will wait for you in the Guanyin Temple."
Watching his back disappear through the moon-shaped gate, Shen Weiwan clenched the jade pendant in her hand. The word "Yu" was engraved on the back of the jade pendant, and there were slight scratches on the corners, which resembled the subtle smile on the corners of the Seventh Prince's mouth.
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