Chapter 76 Yang Guifei (VI) Taking Power
The morning mist was chilly, making the bamboo tips look brittle.
When Lin Jiaojiao opened the window, a drop of bamboo dew happened to fall on the back of her hand, making her shiver slightly due to the coldness.
Not far away, a middle-aged Taoist nun was pulling the Taoist nun in charge of the front yard towards the corner of the wall. Their heads were very close to each other, their lips were moving very quickly, and even the bamboo broom they were sweeping the floor was leaning against the wall. Dew on the bamboo branches dripped down the stems and accumulated into a small puddle on the bluestone slabs - they looked like they were afraid of being heard by the wind.
Lin Jiaojiao quietly withdrew her hand, making the gap in the window narrower.
The wind carried the whispers of the two people, and I could only vaguely catch fragments of words like "His Majesty has returned to Chang'an" and "There are carriages and horses in the East Palace at night". When I wanted to listen carefully, the nun in charge had already pushed the middle-aged nun away and said in a low voice, "Stop gossiping". The two people then dispersed, one picked up a broom and swept randomly, and the other walked towards the kitchen, their backs revealing an unnatural stiffness.
The luminous beads beside the pillow are not as bright as before, and the surface of the beads is covered with a thin layer of dust. They were sent by Ling last time through the secret compartment in the wall. Counting the days, it has been more than twenty days.
Since the piano music in the other courtyard last month, they have not been in contact through the consciousness link. Only occasionally when Cui'er delivers something, she will put a piece of hemp paper with the word "An" written on it.
Ling had left a message in the secret compartment: "Li Linfu has spies everywhere. Too much contact can easily lead to trouble. I will know what is going on inside." She understood this caution, but she couldn't help stroking her face at night, her fingertips rubbing against the thin layer of dust, as if touching his invisible busyness.
At breakfast, the little nun who served the food walked more lightly than usual, and the hem of her skirt made no sound as it swept across the threshold.
She put down the food box, her fingertips quickly touched Lin Jiaojiao's sleeve, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum, "Master, my mother came to deliver food yesterday and said... she said that when she got up last night, she saw the East Palace's carriage circling the back door of the Yulin Army camp twice. A little light leaked through the gap in the curtains, as if it was waiting for someone. The senior sister in the front yard grabbed me and told me not to say anything. You must not say it was me who said it."
Lin Jiaojiao paused holding the chopsticks, and continued to pick the vegetables in the porridge calmly.
She looked up at the little nun and saw that she was panicking and still clutching the string of the lunch box. She said softly, "I understand. I won't tell anyone. Don't mention it again, or the nun in charge will hear and punish you by making you copy scriptures."
The little nun nodded quickly, turned around and ran away like a frightened bird. The wind raised by the hem of her skirt turned a page of the scriptures on the table.
Lin Jiaojiao looked at the porridge in the lunch box and traced a circle around the edge of the bowl with her fingertips - Ling must be contacting the Yulin Army in secret. This kind of thing is not allowed to be seen in the open. Even the little nun's mother only dared to say "going around the back door", which shows how secretive it is.
She didn't touch the bowl of porridge, but picked up the vegetables on the plate and chewed them slowly, thinking in her heart: The back door of the Yulin Army camp is close to the wasteland west of Chang'an City. Few people pass by at night. It is really a good place to talk.
After dinner, Lin Jiaojiao moved a bamboo stool and sat in the corner of the yard to dry the scriptures.
Although the autumn sun was weak, it could dispel some of the dampness. She spread out the scriptures one by one, her fingertips brushing across the rough pages.
As expected, the middle-aged Taoist nun followed, holding a needle and thread basket in her hand, but she didn't thread a needle for a long time. The thread wrapped around her fingertips several times, but her eyes kept glancing towards Lin Jiaojiao.
Lin Jiaojiao deliberately flipped the scriptures loudly, but her peripheral vision was keeping an eye on the movements in the front yard. Not long after, she saw the nun in charge leading a woman in coarse cloth clothes into the temple gate. The woman was carrying an oilcloth bag. She was the one who delivered oil and salt to the temple. She was also the nun in charge's room's distant cousin. She only came once a month and stayed in the nun's room for half an hour each time.
After the woman left, the nun in charge came out to pour water. When she passed by Lin Jiaojiao, she paused.
She looked at the scriptures spread out on the bamboo stool, then looked at Lin Jiaojiao. After seeming to hesitate for a long time, she whispered, "Master Yang, the winds are strong at night these days. Lock the doors and windows. Don't pay attention to the noise outside the courtyard. If you hear any strange noises, just think of them as wind blowing through the bamboo shoots. Don't look outside."
After saying that, she left in a hurry without waiting for Lin Jiaojiao's response. The water that was spilled on the ground flowed through the cracks in the bluestone slabs and reached Lin Jiaojiao's feet, feeling cool.
Lin Jiaojiao's heart skipped a beat. "Commotion outside the courtyard," "strange noises," perhaps referring to a private meeting between the Eastern Palace and the Imperial Guards? The nun in charge must have heard something from her cousin, but she didn't dare to speak openly, so she could only use this method to remind her.
In the next few days, Lin Jiaojiao always went to the music library under the pretext of "chopping firewood". She soaked the mulberry bark she found in the water tank in the firewood room. Every day when the nuns were not paying attention, she would beat it a few times, trying to make the fibers finer.
The little nun would occasionally sneak over to help. The two of them would squat in the shadow of the woodshed, one pounding the bark while the other picked up the fibers, as if they were playing a secret game.
"Master, what are you doing this for?" the little nun asked curiously while picking up the fibers.
"Make some better paper so the ink won't bleed when you're copying scriptures." Lin Jiaojiao said with a smile, "When it's done, I'll make you some paper too so you can use it to draw small portraits."
The little nun's eyes lit up and she nodded quickly: "Okay, okay! I want to draw a little rabbit. I saw one in the city last time. It's so cute."
As the two were talking, they heard an argument coming from the front yard. It was a middle-aged Taoist nun and a farmer who was delivering vegetables.
Lin Jiaojiao asked the young nun to hide first, and she quietly walked to the door of the woodshed, and heard the middle-aged nun shouting: "What are you hiding around your waist? Untie it and let me see! Otherwise, don't even think about entering the temple!"
The farmer hesitated and refused to untie the cloth bag. Finally, the middle-aged Taoist nun forcibly opened the bag. A small cloth doll with a crooked rabbit embroidered on it fell out. The farmer blushed and said, "It's for my little girl. She said she missed me last time..."
The middle-aged Taoist nun's expression softened a little, but she still said, "Don't hide it next time. If the Taoist nun in charge sees it, she will think you are hiding something that you shouldn't hide." After that, she let the farmer into the temple.
Lin Jiaojiao returned to the woodshed and saw the little nun staring blankly at the mulberry bark in the water tank. She smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's just a farmer who took some things away. It's nothing serious."
The nun nodded, but stopped picking up the fibers. She whispered, "My cousin works for the Qianniu Guard. He secretly sent a bag of rice to my house yesterday and told me not to go to the teahouse west of Chang'an. There are always people there 'talking business' at night, and going there will only cause trouble. My mother said that the teahouse is next to the Crown Prince's villa, and no one has ever been there before."
The three words "talk about business" were like a stone thrown into Lin Jiaojiao's heart. The people from Qianniuwei specifically reminded her "don't go to the teahouse". It must be that Ling was secretly meeting with the people from Qianniuwei in that villa.
She fished out a piece of osmanthus cake hidden in her sleeve and handed it to the nun: "Thank you for telling me. Take this and hide it in your pocket. Don't let anyone see it."
The little nun took the cake, quickly stuffed it into her pocket, and ran out on tiptoe. She looked back as she ran out the door, as if to make sure no one saw her.
Lin Jiaojiao looked at the door of Leku, her fingertips lightly pressing on the wooden hammer used to beat the bark. Ling was weaving a web in the dark. The Yulin Army, the Qianniu Guards, and those court officials who did not want to be controlled by Li Linfu were all in a place he could not see, slowly approaching him.
All she could do was to stay inside the viewing wall, protect herself, and prepare this stack of rice paper, so that she could use it when he came to pick her up.
In the evening, Lin Jiaojiao was beating tree bark in the woodshed when she heard a soft knocking sound coming from outside the viewing wall. It was Cui'er's signal.
She hurried to the base of the viewing wall, found the third bluestone slab, pried open the secret compartment, and sure enough, there was a package inside. She took the package in and opened it. It was a thick cotton jacket and a very small piece of hemp paper folded up.
The hemp paper was written in Ling's handwriting, with only a few words: "The Imperial Guards and the Thousand Oxen Guards have agreed to provide covert assistance. Last week, we captured Li Linfu's trusted confidant, General Wang, and found some corrupt account books in his mansion. We are following the clues and will definitely take you out of the temple after the mourning period is over. Your Majesty, someone is temporarily taking over, so don't worry."
The words "someone is temporarily taking over" made Lin Jiaojiao feel relieved. Ling must have found a new person to take over and quietly placed him in a place where Emperor Xuanzong could see him. It would not be ostentatious and could temporarily divert his attention from her.
She burned the hemp paper into ashes and mixed it with the stove ash in the woodshed. She then folded the winter clothes and hid them in the closet. Her fingertips stroked the fine stitches on the clothes, as if she could feel Ling sewing under the lantern in the East Palace - he must have been afraid that she would be cold, so he personally selected the fabric and asked Cui'er to deliver it to her.
At night, Lin Jiaojiao sat by the window holding the luminous beads, listening to the occasional sound of horse hooves coming from outside the viewing wall. The sound was very light, as if the horse had deliberately slowed down. The horse hooves stepped on the bluestone slabs, making a "thump thump" sound and soon disappeared into the night.
The lights in the front yard were still on, and there were faint whispers coming from the room of the Taoist nun in charge. I guess she was communicating with my cousin again.
She closed her eyes and imagined the scene of Ling meeting the imperial guards general in the villa. He must be wearing casual clothes with a dark cloak on the outside. His voice was not loud, but every word was powerful, making those who were originally hesitant slowly put aside their concerns and choose to stand on his side.
There might be a cup of hot tea on the table, the steam from it blurring the sharpness in his eyes, leaving only a hint of calmness.
Ling, who was far away in the Eastern Palace, was looking at the secret report sent by Zhao Heng. There were only three symbols drawn on the paper: "Yu" for Yulin Army, "Qian" for Qianniu Guard, and a circled "Li" with a small "Account" next to it, which meant "Yulin and Qianniu Guard secretly helped, and the account book of Li Linfu's corruption has been obtained."
He brought the secret report close to the candle and lit it. The ashes fell on the table and were placed together with the "Weizhu Yin" score that Lin Jiaojiao had sent him earlier.
Outside the window, in the night, a carriage from the Eastern Palace quietly drove toward a teahouse west of Chang'an City. The curtains were drawn, and only the lantern in the driver's hand cast a faint, warm glow in the darkness. Unbeknownst to anyone, a game that would alter the political landscape was slowly closing in an unknown corner.
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