This thousand taels is a hot potato!
Chun Tao waited outside the door for a long time, but seeing that Jiang Wanzhi did not react, she turned around and saw Yan Cheng standing there solemnly and without moving, looking at her with a pair of questioning eyes. She had no choice but to step forward and repeat herself again.
“Miss… Yan Cheng, the guard from the Prince Heng’s residence, requests an audience.”
Chun Tao's voice instantly jolted Jiang Wanzhi back to reality from a wave of nostalgia!
"Ah?" Jiang Wanzhi gasped sharply, her movements so fast they created a gust of wind. Like a startled rabbit, she darted from the dressing table to the bed in the innermost room, the furthest from the door!
She just got ten taels of silver back from that guard last night and ran away, declaring they were even! And now, only a few hours later, the retaliation has already begun? Is she really that efficient?
Could it be that the cold-faced guard went back to complain?
"Chuntao! Qiuju!" Jiang Wanzhi's voice squeezed out from between her fingers, trembling with fear, "Hold on! You must hold on! Just say that I... I have caught a cold! I'm bedridden! I'm so sick that I only have one breath left! I can't be exposed to the wind! I can't see anyone! Especially not the people from the Hengwang Mansion!"
Outside the door, Chun Tao and Qiu Ju looked at Yan Cheng, the guard dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, with a royal token at his waist and a stern and cold expression, and felt their legs spinning.
Especially when they heard their young mistress's delirious ramblings drifting out from under the door, the two of them were so embarrassed that they wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
Chun Tao forced a smile that looked more like a grimace: "Guard Yan...Guard Yan, you heard it too, our young lady...she is indeed not feeling well. She caught a cold last night and is resting in bed. I'm afraid...I'm afraid it's inconvenient for her to receive guests." Her voice grew softer and softer, her confidence completely gone.
Yan Cheng's face remained expressionless, as if he hadn't heard the earth-shattering words spoken inside the room.
He calmly glanced at the two maids who were so nervous they were almost jumping around, and cupped his hands, saying, "I am here on the orders of His Highness Prince Heng to deliver something to Miss Jiang. I need to hand it to Miss Jiang personally. Once the item is delivered, I will leave immediately and will not disturb Miss's rest."
Sending something?
Chuntao and Qiuju exchanged a glance. His Highness Prince Heng sent someone to deliver something so early in the morning? What was it?
Both of them were feeling uneasy, but the other party had made it clear that they weren't there to disturb them, and didn't seem to have any intention of forcing their way in. Chun Tao hesitated for a moment, then stepped aside: "Then... Guard Yan, please come in?"
Yan Cheng nodded slightly and stepped into the house.
His gaze was sharp as a hawk's, instantly taking in the entire scene in the room. On the table lay a tattered map of the capital, drawn with strange circles and routes; on the dressing table was a charred charcoal pencil; and behind the layers of gauze curtains of the bed, there was a suspicious figure hiding under the covers, trying to curl up into a ball and blend into the bedpost.
Yan Cheng's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
Her words and actions are inverted, and her behavior is insane. Could it be that Miss Jiang is really as rumored, a madwoman?
He didn't look any further, but walked straight to the center of the room and took out a heavy, square sandalwood box from his pocket. The box was exquisitely crafted and inlaid with the emblem of the Prince Heng's Mansion.
Yan Cheng held the box with both hands, facing the direction of the bed, and spoke clearly, making sure the person inside, who was carrying the ostrich, could hear him.
“Miss Jiang, His Highness Prince Heng has ordered that this item be given to you.”
Behind the gauze curtain, Jiang Wanzhi's palms were sweaty with nervousness, and her heart was pounding. She stared intently at the box, as if it were a bomb about to explode.
Yan Cheng paused for a moment, then continued in his flat tone, "His Highness said that last night, a guard in the manor accidentally bumped into Miss and damaged a thousand taels of silver notes. He expressed his deepest apologies. This is compensation, please accept it, Miss."
What the heck?!
compensation? !
One thousand taels?!
Jiang Wanzhi wondered if the cold wind from last night had damaged her ears! She suddenly poked half her head out from behind the gauze curtain, her eyes wide like copper bells, staring intently at the sandalwood box in Yan Cheng's hand!
Zongzheng Hengyu…that living devil…sent someone to…deliver compensation to her?!
And you even expressed your deepest apologies?!
Did they pick up the wrong script?!
Would that future villain who will kill his emperor and father know how to write the word "apology"?
Yan Cheng took in her shock and suspicion without feeling anything, and even felt a little like sighing.
He stepped forward and placed the sandalwood box steadily on a round table closest to the bed.
"The items have been delivered, please check them, Miss. I'll take my leave now." Yan Cheng clasped his hands in a crisp and decisive bow, then turned and left without any hesitation.
Only after Yan Cheng's footsteps disappeared outside the door did Chun Tao and Qiu Ju breathe a long sigh of relief, as if waking from a dream, feeling a layer of cold sweat on their backs.
The two immediately rushed to the table, surrounding the sandalwood box that exuded an air of understated luxury, filled with both curiosity and fear.
"Miss...?" Qiuju called out cautiously, her voice trembling slightly. "This...this really came from His Highness Prince Heng? A thousand taels?"
The gauze curtain was suddenly ripped open!
Jiang Wanzhi jumped out of bed and, with trembling fingers, carefully opened the small brass clasp on the box as if defusing a bomb.
Inside, there was a thick stack of brand-new banknotes, still smelling of fresh ink!
Each one has a face value of one hundred taels!
Ten in total!
One thousand taels!
"Hiss!" Chun Tao and Qiu Ju gasped simultaneously, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets!
Jiang Wanzhi was also dumbfounded.
This is completely different from the ruthless, vindictive villainous boss she wrote in the script!
Was it because the imperial decree for the marriage had just been issued, and he needed to maintain appearances? Or did he have other motives?
Jiang Wanzhi held the light yet heavy silver note, her heart churning with emotions.
The recovery of a thousand taels of silver should have been an incredible surprise! It was a ticket to freedom!
But this money was sent by Zongzheng Hengyu.
It's too hot to handle!
It's extremely hot!
It was so hot that she felt like her very soul was sizzling!
"Miss...this money..." Chun Tao asked tentatively in a low voice, looking at her mistress's ever-changing expression.
Jiang Wanzhi slammed the sandalwood box shut, as if trying to shut out the alluring yet dangerous light.
After a long pause, she managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth.
"The plan... is temporarily shelved!"
Chuntao and Qiuju: "...???"
Miss, isn't your change of expression a bit too fast?
Jiang Wanzhi, clutching the heavy sandalwood box, slumped into a chair, her eyes glazed over, muttering to herself as she began a new round of frantic brainstorming.
"No, what exactly is the main villain trying to do? Show goodwill? Deceive? Play hard to get?
…………
Inside the study of Prince Heng's mansion, the charcoal fire burned brightly, dispelling the winter chill.
Zongzheng Hengyu sat upright behind a large rosewood desk, his slender fingers slowly caressing a warm inkstone, his gaze fixed on the open secret report, his expression focused and cold.
The only sounds in the study were the occasional crackling of the charcoal fire and the soft rustling of his fingertips rubbing the ink stick.
Two soft knocks on the door broke the silence.
"Come in." Zongzheng Hengyu didn't even raise his head, his voice flat and emotionless.
The door was pushed open, and Yan Cheng walked in with light steps. He stopped a few steps away from the desk, bowed, and clasped his hands in greeting: "Your Highness."
"Has the package been delivered?" Zongzheng Hengyu's gaze remained fixed on the secret report, as if it were just a casual question.
"Your Highness, it has been delivered." Yan Cheng's voice remained rigidly respectful, but thinking of the young lady from the Jiang family's residence's reaction, his lowered eyelids couldn't help but twitch slightly.
"Hmm." Zongzheng Hengyu responded, seemingly unsurprised and uninterested in asking for details. He picked up a purple-tipped brush, dipped it in the freshly ground ink, and prepared to make annotations.
Yan Cheng stood still, not immediately taking his leave.
"Is there anything else?" Zongzheng Hengyu finally raised his eyelids, his deep, cold eyes sweeping over him with a hint of scrutiny.
Yan Cheng's Adam's apple bobbed, and he forced himself to speak: "Your Highness, I... heard some... unusual words from Miss Jiang."
"Oh?" Zongzheng Hengyu put down his pen, leaned back slightly in his chair, crossed his hands in front of him, and adopted a languid posture that exuded a sense of control. "Tell me about it."
"After the subordinate knocked on the door, Miss Jiang, inside the room, ... loudly demanded, 'Who is it? Are you trying to kill me?!'"
Zongzheng Hengyu's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
Yan Cheng continued: "After I identified myself, Miss Jiang immediately claimed that she had caught a cold last night and was bedridden, so ill that she was barely clinging to life and could not be exposed to the wind or people, especially not the people from the Prince Heng's mansion."
He tried his best to imitate Jiang Wanzhi's exaggerated and slightly panicked tone at the time, and felt a little embarrassed after he finished speaking.
A brief silence fell over the study.
The crackling sound of the charcoal fire was exceptionally clear.
Zongzheng Hengyu remained silent for a moment, his tightly pursed thin lips curving upwards in an almost imperceptible arc.
The smile was too faint, too light, like a gentle breeze sweeping across a frozen lake, fleeting and so quick that Yan Cheng thought he was seeing things.
He even heard a very faint hum, as if it were coming from deep within his chest, carrying an indescribable interest.
"Oh."
Zongzheng Hengyu picked up his pen again, his gaze returning to the secret report, as if the brief interlude had never happened. His voice returned to its usual calm and even tone, devoid of any emotion.
"Okay, you can go now."
This Prime Minister Jiang's daughter is quite interesting. Rumor has it that she suddenly went insane, and her behavior has completely changed.
It seems the rumors were true. However, this makes her much more lively than those young ladies who would only tremble in his presence, meek and submissive, like puppets on strings.
Originally, this marriage was an important piece on his chessboard.
A chess piece only needs to be content with its lot and do its job.
But now it seems that this chess piece itself is somewhat unconventional.
Zongzheng Hengyu's eyes darkened, and beneath the deep, cold water, some imperceptible undercurrent seemed to begin to surge.
“Jiang Wanzhi…” He uttered the name silently, and the corners of his cold lips curved into a faint yet meaningful smile once again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
