Chapter 27 Now even the woman he loves most...
Inside the Ziyun Pavilion, Xiao Jue lowered his head and played with a jade-white peony in his hand. This was one of the famous varieties of peony. Its petals were layered, revealing yellow and white stamens. Its color was like jade, and its demeanor was elegant. It deserved the title of "national beauty and heavenly fragrance". It was also Yan Jiarou's favorite peony variety.
For this reason, he always specially chose white jade for the hairpins he used at the annual hairpin ceremony.
It was all just to make her smile.
She came all the way to Ziyun Pavilion, picked up the jade tablet he had thrown, and then nestled in his arms, saying with a sweet smile, "The peony you chose, Crown Prince, is the most beautiful."
But she didn't come to the flower-adorning ceremony this year.
Xiao Jue stroked the slender flower stem, his brow furrowing deeply.
Footsteps suddenly came from behind. The person walked up to Xiao Jue and stopped three feet away from him, bowing and saying, "Your Highness."
He was an eunuch in the Eastern Palace.
Xiao Jue turned his head slightly, glancing at the person who had just arrived. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he asked, "Where did she go?"
The eunuch raised his hand and secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
The "she" mentioned here naturally refers to Yan Jiarou.
Those on duty at the Eastern Palace all knew the extraordinary relationship between Princess Jiarou and His Highness the Crown Prince.
She merely held the title of princess, having been raised in the palace since childhood. She was neither registered in the imperial genealogy nor related to any of the princes by blood. Her relationship with the Crown Prince was always intimate, but since there was no sibling bond, it was naturally a romantic relationship between the male and female protagonists.
There was nothing wrong with that; the two were in love and it was a good match.
However, for some reason, Princess Jiarou did not come to Ziyun Pavilion to see His Highness the Crown Prince today.
You should know that she never missed a single flower-adorning ceremony in the past.
That was fine, but His Highness ordered him to investigate. He was always quick-witted and knew most of the eunuchs and maids in the palace, so he did manage to find out the information. However, he dared not report the results to His Highness.
It should be known that the Crown Prince is always gentle, polite, and humble in public, but only the old servants in the palace know what unknown side this seemingly mild-mannered prince possesses behind the scenes—
Generally speaking, people always have to maintain a gentle demeanor in front of others. If they suppress their feelings for too long, they gradually become distorted, and naturally they will find ways to vent their emotions in private.
And these eunuchs and palace maids naturally became the best targets for venting their frustrations.
But most of the time, he was a gentle and forgiving master.
He only changes his temperament when he is provoked, and takes his anger out on his servants.
However, it was not a beating or scolding.
The Eastern Palace had only one form of torture: needle torture. Bamboo sticks or fine needles were inserted into the fingernails of eunuchs and palace maids. This was both torturous enough to allow Xiao Jue to vent his displeasure and leave no trace, so as not to tarnish his reputation for gentleness and humility.
Logically speaking, as the crown prince, Xiao Jue should have few people who would dare to displease him, and indeed, only Emperor Yuan of Wei could reprimand him.
Although Emperor Wei Yuan reprimanded him for different reasons each time, he could always unravel the clues and ultimately attribute it to the Consort and her son.
It was because his father was biased and bewitched by the Lanling clan's magic that he only loved the Jiang family and wanted Xiao Che to become the crown prince. That's why he was so critical of him and found fault with him at every turn.
The reason for this is all Jiang Chenyu and Xiao Che's fault!
Therefore, the so-called stimulus that caused his personality to change drastically came from the Consort and her son rather than from Emperor Wei Yuan.
He harbored deep hatred for the Imperial Concubine and her son; this was common knowledge throughout the Eastern Palace.
If his feelings for the Imperial Concubine were purely resentful, then his feelings for Xiao Che were much more complex.
On the one hand, he looked down on Xiao Che at all. He had a natural sense of superiority over him because his bloodline was pure and noble, while Xiao Che had half of the lowly Lanling clan blood in his veins. To put it bluntly, he was just a little bastard!
He naturally looked down on him.
On the other hand, he was insanely jealous of him, because apart from bloodline, he had no advantage over him in any way.
In terms of both civil and military affairs, he was superior to him in every way. Even the way women looked at him was more shy and passionate than when they looked at him.
It goes without saying that the Emperor favored him, and even Cui Lingyi, the eldest daughter of the Cui family who was very likely to marry him and become the next Empress, seemed to prefer him.
Cui Lingyi appeared to be closer to him, but she looked down on Xiao Che. After all, she was a noblewoman from a top-tier family and naturally looked down on the lowly bloodline of the Lanling clan.
He originally thought that she treated Xiao Che the same way he did, until he discovered that whenever Xiao Che was around, her gaze would always secretly drift towards him.
It turns out that even high-born ladies who pride themselves on their status are so hypocritical.
He didn't like Cui Lingyi, but he still tasted the bitterness of jealousy.
Although she knew in her heart that for the sake of family honor, Cui Lingyi would never choose Xiao Che, choosing him would be tantamount to betraying the entire Cui family, and Xiao Che's bloodline destined him not to be the next successor, she, Cui Lingyi, had to become the empress.
But why should he make the choice that they had no other option but to make? Emperor Wei Yuan did it, and so did Cui Lingyi!
Even his mother favored his youngest son.
In this palace, only Yan Jiarou treated him with all her heart, and he was the only one in her eyes.
It's a pity that even this one and only genuine affection was obtained through ruthless deception.
It was Xiao Che who saved her life after nearly losing his own when he jumped into the water.
However, he happened to be passing by the pond at that time, and there was no one else around. Xiao Che forced himself to go and call the imperial physician for her, so that she could take care of Yan Jiarou who had fallen into the water.
So when Yan Jiarou groggily opened her eyes, the first person she saw by the pool was Xiao Jue, who looked worried.
Naturally, she came to regard him as the one who had risked his life for her underwater.
For reasons unknown, he did not deny it.
Many years later, perhaps even he himself did not expect that he could keep it from her for so long.
——
The cicadas chirped incessantly, the heat was unbearable, and it felt as if a giant, impenetrable net was hanging in the air, trapping the heat and causing people to sweat profusely.
Castrated men often have difficulty holding their urine, and to avoid being impolite in front of nobles, they have to wear diapers. In such hot weather, the diapers are already soaked with sweat.
Because he feared that the matter he was about to report might anger the Crown Prince, he shuddered and felt a warm flow running down his legs, the smell of urine mixed with the stench of sweat filling the air.
Now they are even more afraid of offending the Crown Prince.
Su Quan's legs were trembling, and he raised his hand with trembling hands to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
In this moment of anxiety and fear, he couldn't help but recall an old incident.
The Crown Prince once owned a Pekingese dog in his early years. It was adorable, very affectionate, and the Crown Prince doted on it.
Unfortunately, it was too affectionate and loved to follow anyone it saw, especially men. One day, the palace maid who was looking after it was momentarily negligent and let it slip out of the East Palace. And somehow, it bumped into the Third Prince.
It was so affectionate that it clung to the Third Prince and wouldn't leave, constantly burrowing into his arms, its tail wagging so hard it left a trail of afterimages.
This was the scene he witnessed when he accompanied the prince to search for the dog.
The Crown Prince's face immediately darkened, and he called the Pekingese dog's name, "Snowball." It responded, but still refused to come over, seemingly wanting to follow the Third Prince.
Only then did he suddenly remember that Snowball had also sneaked out once when he was a child, and he had chased after him but accidentally lost him.
When the snowball was found again, it was in the Third Prince's arms.
The little creature had its paws on the Third Prince's arm, its body still trembling, as if it had been frightened.
The Third Prince told him that Snowball had just encountered a snake and bitten it, but it was a non-venomous snake and nothing serious. He had already driven the snake away, and as for the little guy, he should take him back, bandage him up, apply medicine, and take good care of him.
He thanked him repeatedly and took the snowball from the Third Prince's hands, the snowball also seeming reluctant to part with it.
Perhaps in its mind, it believed that the Third Prince had driven away the snake and saved it.
Dogs have excellent memories; they can remember a person's scent once they've smelled it. So, it remembered the Third Prince and was naturally overjoyed when they met again.
The puppy didn't understand anything; it had just been a long time since it had seen its savior, and now that it had finally seen him again, it naturally wanted to stick to him tightly.
In the end, it was the Third Prince who carried Snowball and handed it to the Crown Prince. Snowball, however, kept barking as it watched the Third Prince's departing figure, struggling to break free from the Crown Prince's embrace and chase after him.
This action thoroughly enraged His Highness the Crown Prince.
He stood to the right rear of the prince, clearly seeing his taut jawline clenched in anger, and the fleeting glint of cold light in his eyes.
What happened next was both within his expectations and cruelly unexpected.
He knew that Snowball would not have a good time after returning, but he never expected that the Crown Prince, who used to dote on it, would deal with it in such a bloody and cruel way.
"Things that can't be tamed are useless to keep."
He casually uttered this sentence, then ordered his men to cut off Snowball's claws, but stopped feeding it, eventually letting its wounds become covered in excrement, where it was bitten to death by maggots.
This incident left him with a deep psychological scar, so much so that he had a deep-seated fear of Xiao Jue.
Ultimately, this matter is related to the Third Prince. The Consort and her son are likely a knot in the Crown Prince's heart that he will never be able to untie in his lifetime.
Now that the Imperial Concubine has passed away, the former Empress has been implicated and banished to the Cold Palace. It is likely that the Crown Prince's resentment towards the Third Prince will only increase from now on.
Yan Jiarou has always been the crown prince's darling, and he has long regarded her as his possession.
Unfortunately, the matter being reported now happens to be related to the two of them.
Given the Crown Prince's unknown methods and punishments, how could he not be terrified?
Since things had come to this point, there was no choice but to report: "Your Highness, the princess...she went to Taiye Pavilion..."
The summer heat was oppressive; even the wind felt hot.
The cicadas chirped incessantly in the distance, hidden among the dense foliage, making the pavilion seem even more tranquil.
Xiao Jue closed his eyes tightly, pressed down hard with his thumb, and snapped the stem of the peony in his hand.
When he opened his eyes again, his gaze was filled with malice.
Everyone in the palace knew that Xiao Che's hairpin would fall into Taiye Pavilion. To put it bluntly, when a woman picked up the hairpin, she was expressing her love for him.
At such a sensitive time as the hairpin ceremony, Yan Jiarou abandoned Ziyun Pavilion and went to Taiye Pavilion instead, and the answer seems self-evident.
Why, why does she have to be like other women... Why does she have to betray him?
She clearly said she only liked him and would only marry him, yet she abandoned him at the flower-adorning ceremony.
Could the Lanling clan truly be his nemesis?
His father was bewitched by a seductive concubine, who showered all his affection on Xiao Che and his mother. Because of his existence, she even took away what he thought should have belonged to Xiao Che, and he grew increasingly disgusted with him, refusing to give him even the slightest bit of love.
Now even the woman he loves most is going to be taken away by Xiao Che?
Xiao Jue's eyes twitched as he crushed the peony in his hand into pieces in his palm.
The once vibrant petals were now a mess of mud, the juice dripping from between the fingers and onto the ground.
Su Quan gritted his teeth, listening to the agonizing dripping sound, and suppressed the surging urge in his lower body, fearing that he would lose control of his bladder again. Cold sweat was already streaming down his forehead before he could wipe it away.
At this moment, Xiao Jue suddenly turned around, his eyes filled with malice, and suddenly snapped, "Get out! What are you still doing here! Do you want to see me make a fool of myself?! Get out, get out of here!"
Su Quan felt as if he had been granted a pardon, and hurriedly took his leave, almost running out of Ziyun Pavilion.
After he left, Xiao Jue, feeling utterly exhausted, leaned against the eaves pillar and slowly sat down on the railing.
Summer is a season of frequent thunderstorms; one moment the sky is clear and blue, and the next it starts to rain.
The rain washed away the summer heat, and the raindrops, carried by the wind, rushed towards his eyes. Xiao Jue felt a slight coolness on his face, and this sudden coolness finally brought him back to a state of clarity.
After calming down, he realized that Yan Jiarou wouldn't do that to him.
She was different from other women. He understood her. Given her personality, once she had decided that he was the one who saved her back then, she would never let him down for the sake of that life-saving grace.
She herself said that if he hadn't saved her life, she would no longer be in this world, so everything she had belonged to him.
—He even possessed her life, let alone her heart.
Based on this alone, there is absolutely no way she could fall for Xiao Che.
He was never worried that Yan Jiarou would one day find out the secret, because that day would never come.
Yan Jiarou didn't believe Xiao Che saved her back then, and she's even less likely to believe it now.
Xiao Che, being the kind of person he was, would never take advantage of someone's kindness. He would never bring it up again, even though he and Yan Jiarou were practically at odds. As long as he didn't bring up the past, Yan Jiarou would never know.
That being said, the two were mortal enemies who could not be tolerated, and he had personally witnessed how much Yan Jiarou hated him, so how could she easily transfer her affections?
Yes, there must be some misunderstanding.
He closed his eyes, leaned back, and let out a long sigh.
Hopefully, it's all just a misunderstanding.
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