Xiao Yu walked to Shen Weiwan's side, lowered his voice and laughed, "Miss Shen's trick of 'poisonous snake in the pocket' is three times more clever than the 'washing hands with five grains' that she used to punish Aunt last time."
Shen Weiwan tilted her head to look at him, her eyes curved into crescents: "Your Highness, I am too kind. I just...slipped."
The palace banquet ended in discontent. Shen Weiwan boarded the carriage back home. As soon as she lifted a corner of the curtain, she saw Xiao Yu waiting on a white horse by the willow tree under the palace wall, holding a string of bright red candied haws in his hand, the sugar coating gleaming in the sunset.
"Your Highness is here to act as a 'flower protector' again?" Shen Weiwan poked her head out, deliberately putting on a stern face, "Aren't you afraid that the Imperial Censor will report you, saying that you secretly met with the daughter of an external minister?"
Xiao Yu dismounted, walked to the carriage, and handed the candied haws into the carriage. "I heard that someone caused a big commotion in the palace and turned Miss An's skirt into a snake nest. I bought some sweets to calm you down—to prevent you from having nightmares tonight and dreaming of a bed full of coral snakes."
Shen Weiwan took the candied haws and took a bite. The sweet and sour juice exploded on the tip of her tongue: “Your Highness is well-informed, faster than the urgent military report of 800 miles.”
"Of course." Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and suddenly pulled out a palm-sized brocade bag from his sleeve. On it was a small snake-repelling talisman embroidered with gold thread. "This is for you."
Shen Weiwan opened it and saw that it was dried realgar powder, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance. "It's for snake repellent," Xiao Yu said concisely, rubbing his fingertips against hers. "The Duke of Anguo's Mansion recently received a batch of venomous snakes from the south. They said they want to keep them in the garden to repel insects. You should keep them for self-defense."
The setting sun stretched their shadows long, entwining them on the bluestone road. Shen Weiwan pinched the warm brocade bag, and suddenly remembered the coldness of the snow in her previous life. Her nose felt a little sour: "Thank you, Your Highness... You always bother with me."
"Why are you being so polite to me?" Xiao Yu reached out and brushed away the windblown hair from her temples. His movements were so natural, as if they had been rehearsed a thousand times. "Tomorrow, accompany me to the West Market. I heard there's a new preserve shop that's opened. Their hawthorns are especially sour—perfect for your talk that can make even a venomous snake faint."
"Your Highness, are you praising me or insulting me?" Shen Weiwan smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, "But hawthorn tastes good only when it's sour and sweet, just like..." She paused and didn't continue.
"Like what?" Xiao Yu asked, his eyes burning.
"It's like the candied haws in your Highness's hand." Shen Weiwan lowered her head and bit the hawthorn to hide her hot cheeks.
Three days later, the joke about An Ruyue's "snake hidden in her skirt pocket" spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital. Storytellers even made up a joke about a "poisonous snake hidden under a noble lady's skirt," telling it vividly in teahouses. However, the Anguo Mansion spread rumors that Shen Weiwan, jealous of An Ruyue's favor, deliberately stuffed the venomous snake into her skirt pocket, and that her heart was as vicious as a snake and scorpion.
Chun Tao was so angry that she was circling around the room. "Miss! An Ruyue is so shameless! Now the rumor is that you are the 'evil-hearted daughter'. Even Madam Wang next door won't let her daughter play with you!"
Shen Weiwan was watering the snakeberries next to the rockery. Upon hearing this, she sneered and pinched a bright red fruit with her fingertips: "She wants to play a public opinion war? That's good, it saves me the trouble of finding an excuse to deal with her."
At three o'clock that night, a half-worn bamboo basket "accidentally" fell from the back door of the general's mansion. A night watchman picked it up and found a model of a coral snake stained red with chicken blood. Its scales, made of polished shells, shimmered coldly in the moonlight. Most remarkable of all, the snake held a slip of paper in its mouth, with four characters written in cinnabar: "Returning a snake for a snake is only natural—a gift to Miss An as a souvenir."
The servants of the An Mansion immediately started clamoring with drums and gongs. An Ruyue rushed out in her cloak and saw the bloody snake model in the bamboo basket. She screamed on the spot: "Chen Weiwan! You are so cruel! How dare you kill my 'Silver Ring Spirit'!"
At that moment, Shen Weiwan and Chuntao "happened" to pass by the back door of the An Mansion, carrying an oil-paper bag of medicine for the old nanny. Seeing this, she took a half step back in "horror," her voice trembling, "Why do you say that, Sister An? I saw this snake when I was passing by... It was pitiful, and I thought it had the An Mansion's mark on it, so I wanted to return it, but I didn't know it..." She pointed at the "bloodstains" on the snake and pretended to be puzzled, "Could it be that a stray dog took it away and it got into contact with chicken blood?"
The onlookers were immediately in an uproar, surrounding the scene in three layers:
"Hey, isn't this the snake that made Miss An look bad in the palace last time? How did it die?"
"The note says 'repay a snake with a snake'. Could it be that someone is seeking revenge for Miss Shen?"
"That's what I told you. Miss An first used a poisonous snake to harm someone, and now the snake is 'dead'. This is called karma!"
"Look at Miss An, her face has turned green!"
An Ruyue was drowned in spit, her whole body convulsing with anger. The snake model was incredibly lifelike, even its tongue carved from red coral, looking as if it would spit out its tongue in the lantern light. The more she looked, the more terrified she became. She recalled the sensation of the snake wriggling beneath her skirt at the palace banquet, and she cried out, "Wow!" She fainted at her own doorstep, her head banging on the bluestone slab, leaving a walnut-sized bump.
Seeing this, Chen Weiwan bowed to the onlookers and said in a "sad" tone: "Thank you all for your concern, Sister An may be missing the snake very much, so... everyone please disperse and don't disturb the patient." After that, she left leisurely with Chuntao, leaving the servants of the An Mansion busy carrying people, with laughter coming one after another behind them.
On the way back home, Chun Tao couldn't help but clap her hands in admiration, "Young lady, this trick of 'resurrecting the dead' is amazing! An Ruyue will have nightmares about snakes for half a month when she goes back!"
Shen Weiwan didn't say anything, but when she passed by the West Market, she asked the driver to stop the car. She personally went to buy the largest string of candied haws, which were thickly coated with sugar and as crystal clear as red agate.
That night, the soft moonlight bathed the gardens of the General's Mansion. Shen Weiwan was strolling with a lantern. Just as she reached the Nine-Curve Bridge, she saw a dark figure climb over the wall and land on the rockery. It was Xiao Yu. He was holding a food box, which he waved at her. "I'm here to inspect the results—I heard Miss An fainted after being frightened by a fake snake model?"
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