Chapter 7, Chapter 7: "It is my duty." (Part Two...)
Chapter Seven: A Letter
Su Wanyue frowned. She had already said what she needed to say that day. Why would her cousin give her a letter at this time? But soon, Su Wanyue guessed what the letter contained. Her nails, painted with henna, unconsciously dug into her palms, and her heart was beating very fast.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Su Wanyue accepted the letter with feigned calmness. Xiao Yu glanced at her and said casually, "You and your siblings have a very deep relationship."
Su Wanyue pondered the meaning behind his words. Unlike the Northern Li Emperor, who had many children, the Southern Qiong Emperor only had one concubine, the Southern Qiong Empress. Therefore, he had only two sons and one daughter: the Crown Prince, the Prince of Xiang, and Princess Weiyang. This was also why Princess Weiyang ran away from her arranged marriage, and why the Southern Qiong Emperor chose a woman from the imperial clan for a marriage alliance. Since the Southern Qiong Emperor only had one daughter, the other princesses were his sisters. As for the deep sibling affection, Princess Weiyang was the youngest daughter of the Southern Qiong Emperor and Empress, so she was definitely loved by her two older brothers.
However, the person in front of her was clearly implying something. Su Wanyue smiled and said, "I grew up with my two elder brothers, and they treated me very well in the past."
"I see." Xiao Yu withdrew his gaze and said in a low voice, "You did a good job yesterday."
"It is my duty to share Your Highness's burdens."
Xiao Yu twirled the jade thumb ring in his hand. Although he didn't have much affection for the woman in front of him, after spending a month together, he had developed a bit more pity for her.
Before long, the guards outside called out to the inside: "Your Highness, Grand Tutor Zhou requests an audience."
Xiao Yu smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes and stood up. As soon as he left, Su Wanyue's attention was entirely focused on the letter in her hand. Her fair palms were even sweaty. She took a deep breath and said, "You can all leave now. Qin'er, stay."
"Yes, this servant will take her leave now."
Su Wanyue opened the letter, only to find it completely blank. Qin'er was startled, "Huh, why is this paper completely blank?"
Before leaving, the prince asked His Highness to give this letter to the princess. Logically, there should have been something on the letter, but there was nothing on it. Surely the prince didn't mean for them to guess.
Su Wanyue knew what was going on; her master had taught her before. She leaned close and asked Qin'er to go to the small kitchen to get some vinegar.
Qin'er hurriedly went to the kitchen to fetch vinegar and asked Su Wanyue what to do next. Su Wanyue told her to splash the vinegar onto the white Xuan paper. Qin'er quickly did as she was told, and soon, ink marks appeared on the white Xuan paper. It was a poem about spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Qin'er stared for a long time but couldn't understand what the prince wanted to say. Just as she was about to ask the princess, she saw that the princess's expression was very strange, and even her palms were trembling. She was startled and was about to ask when Su Wanyue's lips moved and she said in a hoarse voice, "My cousin has been found."
Her thoughts suddenly drifted back to a month ago, when the news of the marriage alliance between Nanqiong and Beili reached Su Wanyue's ears with unexpected speed. At that time, Su Wanyue had just returned from a boat trip with Lu Qingchen. As soon as she entered the gate of the Nanwang Mansion, her maidservant hurriedly came up to her, "Princess, Princess Weiyang has arrived."
Su Wanyue and Princess Weiyang grew up together and were very close sisters. When she heard that Princess Weiyang had arrived, she didn't even care about Lu Qingchen who was following behind her. She grabbed the hem of her skirt and went to the pavilion to find Princess Weiyang. When she arrived at the pavilion, she saw Princess Weiyang with tears in her eyes, crying and unable to breathe. "Cousin, what's wrong with you?"
Princess Weiyang had no biological sisters and always regarded Su Wanyue as her own sister. As soon as she saw Su Wanyue, she rushed into her arms and cried very sadly, "Wanwan, Father and Mother want me to marry Prince Cheng of Beili. They have already announced the imperial decree at the morning court."
Su Wanyue was shocked, not understanding why the imperial edict had arrived so suddenly. Princess Weiyang was just as shocked as she was. She cried and muttered to herself, "I've inquired with people, and they say the situation in Beili is extremely complicated. The princes of the royal family are at odds over the position of crown prince and even the throne. I heard that the Crown Prince of Beili married the eldest daughter of the loyal and virtuous General Zhenguo's family to secure his position. Do you know who this eldest daughter of the General Zhenguo's family is? She is the fiancée of the eldest son of the Duke of Xie's family in Beili. Among the princes of Beili, the one most likely to compete with the Crown Prince is this Prince Cheng. Why do you think Prince Cheng married me? Isn't it to gain the support of Nanqiong?"
Su Wanyue understood why Princess Weiyang was so sad and what had happened. She was filled with mixed emotions but didn't know how to comfort Princess Weiyang, so she could only gently pat Princess Weiyang's back.
When it comes to matters of national importance, your willingness or unwillingness is irrelevant.
Princess Weiyang felt her life was bleak at the thought of leaving Nanqiong to marry Beili. She grabbed Su Wanyue's wrist and cried, tears streaming down her face. "Wanwan, why is my life so bitter? I just wanted to marry someone who loves me back, like in the storybooks. But now all of that is gone. If I had known this would happen, I would have preferred to die."
That afternoon, Princess Weiyang said a lot, and Su Wanyue listened quietly and comforted her. It was the first time Su Wanyue felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
Later, with the situation settled and Nanqiong's wedding procession about to arrive, Princess Weiyang suddenly stopped making a fuss. But who knew that on the morning before the wedding, Su Wanyue was awakened by Qin'er, who said that Aunt Cui, who was by the Empress's side, had arrived. Su Wanyue took Qin'er to the front yard, and Aunt Cui looked at her with pity. "Princess Zilu, Her Majesty the Empress has issued an edict requesting that you enter the palace immediately."
Su Wanyue had a bad feeling. The Empress's people came to invite Su Wanyue to the palace early in the morning. This alarmed Su Wanyue's father, Prince Nan, who asked what was going on.
The lady-in-waiting Cui spoke flawlessly, "Princess Weiyang is getting married tomorrow, and she hasn't been in a good mood. Her Majesty the Empress asked me to invite Princess Zilu to the palace. I think the princess's mood might improve with the princess's company."
Prince Nan was the younger brother of Emperor Nanqiong, so he naturally didn't doubt these words much. He simply asked Su Wanyue to enter the palace to keep Princess Weiyang company. Little did he know that the real Princess Weiyang had already run away from the marriage, but all the news had just been blocked by the royal family.
Qin'er finally understood the meaning of the poem; it all combined to form "Weiyang has returned." Qin'er looked at her princess with a complicated expression, "Your Highness..."
The princess has already married into the family, and even if Princess Weiyang has been found, it's too late to bring her back. Moreover, the prince's letter only said that Princess Weiyang had been found, without mentioning anything else. The princess can't possibly tell everyone now that she's an imposter and the real Princess Weiyang is still in Nanqiong; otherwise, everything she's done before would be in vain.
She had served the princess since childhood and understood the princess's feelings. The princess had married in place of Princess Weiyang a month ago, and she hadn't let go of the second young master. If it weren't for this accident, the princess would have gotten engaged to the second young master this month.
But in fact, His Highness Prince Cheng is also very outstanding.
Su Wanyue couldn't describe the feeling in her heart. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she suddenly felt a little tired. "You can go out first. I want to be alone for a while."
Qin'er noticed the weariness in her eyes and didn't want to interrupt. "Yes, Your Highness."
In the elaborately furnished study of Prince Cheng's mansion, adorned with famous paintings, Grand Tutor Zhou sat quietly. The study door creaked open, and His Highness, tall and imposing, entered. Grand Tutor Zhou quickly put down his teacup and began to bow, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Highness."
Xiao Yu's voice was deep and his attitude gentle. "Grand Tutor, please rise."
"I wonder why Your Highness summoned me at this time?"
Grand Tutor Zhou was actually a little puzzled as to why His Highness had summoned him at this time. In fact, Grand Tutor Zhou was a confidant of Prince Cheng and had always sided with Prince Cheng in court. Xiao Yu also trusted him very much.
"I have invited the Grand Tutor here because I have something to ask him."
This was the first time Grand Tutor Zhou had seen him so solemn. Fearing that he was about to say something of great importance, the Grand Tutor braced himself and said, "Your Highness, please speak."
Xiao Yu walked to the golden nanmu wood table and wrote a poem on the Xuan paper with a vermilion brush dipped in ink. His brushstrokes were vigorous and elegant. The Grand Tutor stroked his beard, his brows relaxed. The question Xiao Yu wanted to ask was this very poem.
"Grand Tutor, do you think this poem has any other meaning?"
It turned out that His Highness had summoned him today to discuss poetry. The Grand Tutor found it somewhat amusing, as this was unlike His Highness Prince Cheng's usual style. Despite his thoughts, Grand Tutor Zhou still pondered the meaning of the poem, which seemed quite ordinary at first glance.
"The spring scenery is not yet late, and the summer waters are rippling."
The osmanthus blossoms in autumn, and the Lantern Festival makes me linger, reluctant to return home.
"This poem seems to describe the scenery of the four seasons, but it actually tells the other person that they will meet during the Lantern Festival." Grand Tutor Zhou savored the poem three times. Aside from the last line mentioning their meeting on the Lantern Festival, it didn't seem to have any other meaning. Fearing he had misunderstood, Grand Tutor Zhou tentatively asked, "Your Highness, who wrote this poem?"
Xiao Yu frowned, seemingly deep in thought, and remained silent.
Seeing this, the Grand Tutor did not press the matter further. When His Highness had no other questions for him, he bowed and took his leave.
Qingyi didn't find anything particularly remarkable about the poem either, but since her master had been pondering it for over two hours, Qingyi tentatively asked, "Your Highness, what do you think of this poem?"
"This poem need not be known to anyone else."
Perhaps he was overthinking it; Xiao Yu stood with his hands behind his back.
The Prince Cheng's residence only had one mistress, the Princess Cheng. During the month since their marriage, apart from dealing with official documents at night and having business with the Dali Temple and the court, Xiao Yu would stay overnight in the main room every night.
The maid carrying the tray bumped into Xiao Yu and hurriedly bowed, "This servant greets Your Highness."
Xiao Yu glanced at the untouched food on the tray. "What's going on here?"
The maidservant answered cautiously, "The princess said she has no appetite tonight and asked us to take the food away."
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