At this moment, the old butler hurried in, his gray beard trembling: "Miss, the Seventh Prince has arrived, bringing two baskets of snacks, saying he wants to entertain you!"
Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows: "Come to feed again? This prince is probably running a snack shop, right?"
Xiao Yu walked in, waving a broken jade fan. His moon-white robes were spotless. Behind him, a young eunuch carried two gilded food boxes. "I heard that Master Li went begging on the streets? I've specially prepared a 'last meal' for him to be executed, to add some material to Miss Shen's 'The Biography of the Broken Sleeve'." He opened the box, revealing delicate lotus cakes and peach blossom pastries, along with a note sprinkled with gold paper: "I heard that Master Li loves rotten vegetable leaves, so I've prepared a box of exquisite snacks. I hope his path to becoming a 'broken sleeve' goes smoothly."
"Puff—" Shen Weiwan almost spit out her tea with laughter, "Your Highness, are you just trying to create chaos in the world? If Li Xiu saw this note, he would probably die of anger on the spot."
"Life is short, enjoy it while you can." Xiao Yu sat down, looking at the cake crumbs at the corner of her mouth with a smile in his eyes. "But I'm more curious - is that tigress Liu ready for tomorrow's monthly drama?"
"Just waiting for His Highness's 'East Wind'." Shen Weiwan wiped her mouth and tapped the account book on the table with her fingertips. "Tomorrow, I will let her taste what it feels like to be ruined."
[The final sound of the ruined temple: belated regret]
The midnight gong rang, and the only sound in the dilapidated temple was Li Xiu's suppressed cough. He huddled in the cold corner of the altar, listening to the children's reworking of a nursery rhyme from outside: "Li Quezi, the man with the broken sleeves, slept with his lover in Qingbai Tower, tricked a girl into using him as a shield, and now begs for mercy but no one rewards him—"
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining his tattered shirt red. The jade pendant his mother had stuffed into his arms pricked his chest, aching. It was his only thought, yet even the pawnshop wouldn't accept it. He thought of Shen Ruoruo's gentle smile, of Liu's promise of wealth for the general's mansion, of Shen Weiwan's once clear, innocent eyes—if he hadn't listened to Liu's instigation, if he hadn't used Shen Weiwan as a stepping stone to the powerful, how could he be in this situation now?
"Ahem...Puff—" Another mouthful of bloody foam spurted out. Li Xiu struggled to crawl to the temple gate, gazing at the lights in the direction of the General's Mansion. He finally understood that Shen Weiwan hadn't become cleverer; she had returned with the blood debt of a past life. And he was merely the first pawn to be crushed on her chessboard of revenge.
The pawnshop clerk threw a stone through the crack of the door and said, "You gay! Get out of here! Don't pollute our territory!"
Li Xiu completely collapsed, slumped in the mud and wailed, his cries carried away by the night wind, unheard. The once dashing young master, Li, now couldn't even get a hot meal, becoming a perpetual laughingstock for the people of the capital.
[Prince's Night Talk: Watching Plays and Planning]
In the study of the Seventh Prince's Mansion, Xiao Yu listened to the guard's report, playing with a silver hairpin left by Shen Weiwan with his fingertips: "Li Xiu coughed up blood in the ruined temple?"
"Yes, Your Highness." The guard stifled a laugh. "He even cried and shouted about his regrets, saying he shouldn't have lied to Miss Shen..."
Xiao Yu chuckled softly and placed the silver hairpin beside the chessboard. "Regret? Why didn't you do it earlier?" He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the lights in the west wing of the General's Mansion. "Tell the secret guards to keep a close eye on Liu. Don't let her get desperate and hurt anyone tomorrow. Miss Shen's play cannot be disrupted by others."
"yes."
Xiao Yu picked up Shen Weiwan's rough draft of "The Biography of the Broken Sleeve," which lay on the table. The crooked handwriting on it chronicled Li Xiu's embarrassing moments, illustrated with a cartoon of a lame little man drawn by a mischievous child. He shook his head, a smile playing on his face. This Shen Weiwan always found the most ridiculous ways to crush her enemies. Tomorrow's monthly hearing would surely be even more exciting than Li Xiu's jokes.
[The protagonist closes the net: grains and cereals appear again]
Chen Weiwan looked at the account book that Chuntao had sorted out, her fingertips pausing on the record for "Red Gold Step-Shake," and recalled the "grains and cereals" she had presented when she first dealt with Liu. She walked to the mirror, changed into a moon-white plain dress, applied a light layer of powder on her face, and put on a perfectly worried expression.
"Chun Tao," she whispered, "Tomorrow, as per the monthly rule, restock the bowl of 'grains and cereals'. Remember to add more gravel."
"Ah?" Chun Tao was stunned. "Miss, wasn't that the same thing you used against Liu the first time?"
"Yes." Shen Weiwan sneered, a cold light flashing in her eyes, "Some people only remember to eat and not to be beaten. Let her taste the feeling of being hit by a stone again."
As the night deepened, the suppressed arguments of Liu's mother and daughter emanated from the west wing of the General's Mansion. Shen Weiwan extinguished the candle and lay in bed, listening to the cicadas chirping outside. Li Xiu's retribution was only the beginning. Tomorrow, as the monthly rule, she would personally expose Liu's embezzlement and expose this mother and daughter to the bitter taste of disgrace.
The next morning, when Shen Weiwan entered the main hall, Liu was seated at the head of the table, her face pale but forced to remain calm. When she saw the account books held by the old housekeeper behind her and the familiar bowl of "grains" held by Chuntao, her well-maintained hands trembled violently, spilling tea from the cup and soaking her clothes. Meanwhile, on Suzaku Street, Li Zhengzheng, lame and limping, continued his miserable day of begging amid the mockery of the common people, becoming a small yet deeply satisfying footnote in Shen Weiwan's otherwise refreshing life.
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