Qingwu
"Your Highness, please forgive me!" She quickly put down the inkstone. "This servant..."
Xiao Chengyan's gaze shifted from the official document to the ink stain on his cuff.
He didn't get angry immediately. Instead, he looked up at her and said, "It's alright, it's just a piece of clothing. Just wipe it off."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jinghong pulled a clean, plain handkerchief from her sleeve and carefully cupped his wrist to wipe it. Her movements were gentle and focused; through the handkerchief and fabric, her fingertips could feel the knuckles of his wrist and the steady pulse of his heart.
Xiao Chengyan looked down at her.
The top of her head was right in front of him, revealing her smooth forehead and slightly trembling eyelashes. The cool, herbal scent mingled with her own faint fragrance, becoming more pronounced with her movements. She held his wrist very gently, with a delicate, precious care.
This focused, somewhat clumsy service was strangely...not annoying.
A small, damp patch of ink had spread across the cuff of her sleeve; the color had faded somewhat, but it couldn't be completely removed. Gu Jinghong whispered, "Your Highness, the ink has seeped in. I'll use soap later..."
Before she finished speaking, her gaze inadvertently swept to his side—as Xiao Chengyan slightly turned and lowered his arm, the candlelight clearly illuminated the seam between the collar of his robe and his everyday clothes at the back of his neck. A very thin, light blue silk thread, about half an inch long, was clearly visible peeking out from the tightly woven fabric.
It was during the day, when Xiao Chengyan was asleep and no one was around, that she secretly sewed the medicine pouch inside the back of his neck, the thread of which she hadn't been able to completely hide due to her clumsy technique.
At this moment, this loose thread was exposed!
My mind went blank; my body acted before I could think.
Almost instinctively, she reached out and precisely twisted the end of the thread, trying to break it off or stuff it back in, to erase this mark that shouldn't exist.
However, just as her fingertips were about to touch the end of the thread—
A warm and strong hand suddenly gripped her outstretched wrist.
Gu Jinghong froze, the scorching heat from her wrist and the masculine scent sent a chill down her spine.
She looked up in surprise, only to meet Xiao Chengyan's face, which had suddenly turned around.
His deep, sharp eyes were now filled with a cold, probing gaze. His eyes were fixed on her hand, which was reaching towards the back of his neck, and his voice was low and carried an invisible pressure as he asked, word by word:
"Gu Jinghong, you've repeatedly... what exactly do you intend to do to my clothes?"
Gu Jinghong closed her eyes—this is the third time! This is the third time he has doubted her for remaining still or for having good intentions!
On what grounds?!
What right did he have to so brazenly intrude into her personal space? What right did he have to look at her with such strange eyes?! A surge of anger, fueled by repeated breaches of her principles, instantly extinguished all pretense of docility. Like a cat cornered and its fur standing on end, a cold, sharp glint ignited in her eyes.
"Let go!" She flung her hand away with such force that she broke free from his grip, the lingering burning sensation on her wrist like a brand.
She stared directly at him, her voice suddenly turning cold: "Your Highness, my fingers are still an inch away from your collar, yet you react as if I were a formidable enemy? In your eyes, is every move I, Gu Jinghong, make inherently suspicious?"
She pointed to the ink stain on his cuff, then suddenly pointed to the damned loose thread behind him, speaking quickly and clearly.
"The ink stain just now was my carelessness. Reaching out now was just my instinctive reaction, wanting only to smooth out an unsightly flaw—just as I wipe your cuffs! As your maid, I am observant and meticulous in my actions, what is there to doubt?"
"But what about you, Your Highness? In these past few days, have you not stopped testing me in every single way?"
"You listened with your eyes closed to the pipa music played by Miss Yunni, and you silently presented Miss Su's magnolia hairpin... How come when it comes to me, even touching your clothes becomes a heinous crime worthy of your utmost suspicion? In your eyes, am I, Gu Jinghong, only fit to endure your endless scrutiny?!" After saying this, Gu Jinghong seemed to feel a strange sense of relief in his chest, but it wasn't over yet...
Her chest rose and fell slightly, but her eyes grew even calmer and sharper. "Indeed, I am your maid. My stay at Chen'an Residence is by the Empress Dowager's decree, and also by your 'favor' that day. My grinding of ink and serving of tea, and my attention to your daily life, are merely fulfilling my obligations, my...duty! I, Gu Jinghong, act according to my own rules. Having received this 'favor,' I will do my best to help you recover as soon as possible. You can rest assured!"
“But my duty does not include being a pawn to be manipulated at will! Nor does it include exposing every inch of my space and every move I make to your scrutinizing gaze! Your Highness, it is your business if you want to control the overall situation. Whether you care about 'A-Ning', admire Yun Ni, or even if there are several people in the manor who have long admired you, it has nothing to do with me, so please do not make me a target.”
"...Shouldn't we keep our boundaries clearer? You are a high and mighty prince, and I am a dutiful maid, that's all. Why must you...crush even this tiny bit of breathing space?!"
The air seemed to freeze instantly.
Xiao Chengyan maintained the outstretched hand posture, his palm empty.
Looking at the woman with sharp, piercing eyes, he saw Gu Jinghong's true nature so clearly for the first time. He seemed to capture her complex emotions, which were not just anger, but also a mixture of strong grievances and injustice.
She mentioned Yun Ni, Su Yingxue... and a jade hairpin. What jade hairpin? A question crossed his mind, but the bigger shock came from the accusation implied in her complaint that she had treated him "differentially."
He questioned her because her gesture of going behind him and trying to touch her collar was indeed abrupt and suspicious, especially after the ink stain. The action itself carried a sense of intrusion.
But he overlooked the fact that, in her eyes, his persistent probing had already placed her in a position of constant judgment. She was right; she wasn't the one who drugged her. Her "obedience" was merely based on a…cold, transactional logic?
Haha, "clear distinction", "transaction"...
a long time.
Xiao Chengyan slowly withdrew his hand and put down his pen.
He simply said in his usual deep voice, devoid of much emotion, somewhat stiffly, "...It's late. You don't need to serve me here anymore. Go and rest."
Gu Jinghong's chest still heaved, and the cold flames of anger still burned in his eyes, but upon hearing his calm yet clearly yielding words, "Go and rest," his sharp edges seemed to instantly lose their footing. An indescribable weariness and emptiness swept over him.
She didn't look at him again, nor did she bow. She simply turned around quickly, as if escaping a suffocating cage, and strode out of the study. The heavy wooden door closed behind her with a dull thud, completely isolating her from the outside world.
The study fell silent once again.
Xiao Chengyan remained seated, his gaze first falling on the ink stain that had smudged on his sleeve, as if he could still feel the cool touch of her fingertips through the handkerchief as she wiped it. After a moment, his gaze slowly shifted to the back of his neck—the spot she had tried to touch.
He subconsciously reached out, his slender fingers precisely tracing the seam inside his robe. The texture he felt was indeed… slightly thicker, far from the usual layers of clothing. A very faint, bitter, and unique herbal scent, mixed with the aroma of pine soot ink, emanated from that spot, silent yet exceptionally clear, lingering around his nose.
His brows furrowed deeply, and the complex emotions surging in his eyes were almost overflowing.
...
Since that unpleasant night in the study, the phrase "clearly distinct" has stood like an invisible ice wall between Gu Jinghong and Xiao Chengyan.
In the following days, a deliberate sense of alienation permeated Chen'an Residence.
Gu Jinghong continued to perform her duties as a maid, preparing medicine, serving tea, and tidying the study, but her movements became increasingly disciplined and rigid, and her eyes were always lowered, never lingering on Xiao Chengyan for even a moment longer.
She suppressed all her emotions, as if she were merely a dutiful but inconspicuous shadow. She was waiting, waiting for Xiao Chengyan to recover better, waiting for her own mind to find some peace.
Xiao Chengyan was the same. Just a few days ago, he thought that Gu Jinghong was quite interesting, but that day he also witnessed her sharpness, which made the famously shrewd Prince Jin, Xiao Chengyan, doubt his own methods for the first time.
He seemed to have truly accepted the clear-cut boundaries, continuing to sleep and recover during the day, and burying himself in the suddenly increased urgent military affairs at night.
There seemed to be some unrest in the southwest; urgent documents from the Ministry of War were pouring in, occupying all his conscious time. He no longer needed Gu Jinghong to serve him with writing and ink; even when she brought him medicine or tea, he would only give a faint reply, his gaze rarely leaving the documents on his desk.
His aura was colder and heavier than ever before, like an unmelting block of ice, shutting out any warmth that tried to get close.
The two were in the same room, yet it felt as if they were separated by a thousand miles. Occasionally, their eyes would accidentally meet, and Gu Jinghong would immediately lower her eyelashes, while Xiao Chengyan would expressionlessly look away. Only silence remained in the air, along with the crackling of the burning charcoal.
The oppressive silence was broken a few days later on a rainy night.
The rain was quite heavy that night, pattering against the windowpanes.
Gu Jinghong had just helped Xiao Chengyan to bed and returned to her small but temporarily safe side room. Just as she was about to review the recent events at Zhuangmu Pavilion, she heard three long and two short, extremely faint knocks coming from the window lattice.
Gu Jinghong's eyes sharpened, and she instantly became alert.
She moved silently to the window and gently pushed it open a crack.
The cold rain, mixed with the damp scent of the bluestone slabs, rushed in.
In the dim light, a small, thin figure dressed in the lowest-ranking gray cloth clothes of a servant in the Prince's mansion stood outside the window. The brim of his hat was pulled low, and raindrops dripped from the edge of his oil-paper umbrella. The man raised his head, revealing an ordinary yet sharp face, his eyes shining in the darkness—it was Qingwu, Gu Jinghong's confidant.
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