A Figure on Jade Steps in the Wind and Snow 4

Chapter 4: The Eldest Princess

It was no wonder Shen Zhishu hadn’t recognized the young woman’s identity.

Although her attire was of high quality, it wasn’t particularly ostentatious. She wore only a single white jade hairpin in her hair, with no other adornments.

Furthermore, the Eldest Princess should have been attended by a crowd of servants on her daily outings. It was highly unlikely for her to be found alone and in such a sorry state.

The “Alright” that was on the tip of Shen Zhishu’s tongue changed to, “Perhaps another day. I have matters at home today and must return quickly.”

As she spoke, she cupped her hands in a salute from horseback and added, “This subordinate was unaware of Your Highness’s identity as the Eldest Princess. I have offended you in our previous encounter and hope Your Highness will be magnanimous.”

The Eldest Princess had already dismounted and was walking up the steps. Hearing Shen Zhishu’s words, she paused and turned back.

She walked slowly to the horse’s side and shook her head. Her expression under the silver moonlight was faint, her emotions barely perceptible. “General, there is truly no need for such ceremony. In fact, I must thank you for today’s events. I only hope the General will keep this matter a secret.”

… Keep it a secret?

Shen Zhishu narrowed her eyes slightly, meeting the cool gaze of the person below.

Keeping it a secret… suits me just fine, she thought.

She glanced at the mole at the corner of the woman’s eye and smiled. “Please rest assured, Your Highness. What happened today is known only to you and me, and no third person shall know. If Your Highness should encounter any trouble that is inconvenient for you to handle personally, you may also send someone to inform me. The night is late, and the dew is heavy with frost. Your Highness should go back inside quickly. If you were to fall ill from the cold, it would be this subordinate’s fault.”

The Eldest Princess nodded slightly and turned to leave.

Shen Zhishu watched her gracefully ascend the steps and knock on the main gate.

There was a commotion at the entrance. Being far away, Shen Zhishu couldn’t hear clearly. A maidservant ran out in a hurry, anxiously ushering the Eldest Princess inside.

Then the great doors closed, and she could see no more.

Shen Zhishu’s eyes deepened in the night.

Speaking of which, the matter of the Eldest Princess being drugged was absurd—who in the Kingdom of Nan’an, second only to one and above ten thousand, would have the gall to set such a trap?

If someone wanted to harm her, an assassination attempt would suffice. Why go through the trouble of drugging her, a laborious and thankless task that might not even be effective?

Recalling what the Eldest Princess had said earlier—”I cannot say too much right now, only that someone means to harm me”…

Shen Zhishu shook her head, planning to ask Shen Hantan about it when she got back.

**

By the time she returned to the General’s Manor, the night was completely dark.

Slightly weary, Shen Zhishu knocked on the door. Amidst the chorus of “The General is back” from the serving girls, she responded casually and called for one of them to follow her.

The serving girl blushed and said, “The Mistress was worried sick.”

“It is my fault.” Shen Zhishu took off her great cloak and handed it aside lightly. “I truly should not have returned so late and caused Mother He to worry for nothing.”

The serving girl lowered her head and stammered, “Not just the Mistress, we were all very worried too.”

Shen Zhishu raised an eyebrow and replied casually, “Then how about you come out with me next time?”

The serving girl’s face turned beet red.

Shen Zhishu chatted with the girl for a while. Catching sight of Mistress He gracefully emerging from the hall, she quickly strode forward to support her, smiling as she said, “The dew is thick and the frost is heavy, Mother. You shouldn’t come out, be careful of catching a cold.”

Mistress He asked, “Why were you gone for so long? Were you held up at the Shen Residence?”

“No, I didn’t even enter the Shen Residence. I just wandered around the entrance and then headed back. I just ran into… an old friend on the way, which delayed me for some time.”

As the words “old friend” left her lips, the faint mole under the moonlight and lamplight, and those unapproachable eyes, inexplicably flashed before Shen Zhishu’s eyes.

It made her dazed for a moment.

Mistress He, however, was not convinced. She clicked her tongue. “You haven’t been back to the capital in eight years, and you were only fourteen when you left. Tell me, what old friend could you possibly run into?”

“Exactly,” Shen Hantan, who had sauntered out from the hall, put an arm around Mistress He’s shoulder, leisurely fanning the flames. “I’m afraid she has something she’s not telling us. The child is all grown up, has her own ideas now. If she can treat us mothers like this now, who knows what she’ll be like after she gets married.”

Shen Zhishu: …

Shen Zhishu feared nothing in heaven or on earth, except for Shen Hantan’s teasing.

Her temples throbbed, and she had the urge to rush over and cover her Mother Shen’s mouth.

A serving girl, bowing and holding her breath, led the way with a glass hydrangea lantern.

The three of them, Shen Zhishu and her mothers, walked side by side into the brightly lit flower hall.

Her trusted subordinate had entered the hall at some point and was standing by the table with his arms crossed, eavesdropping. He grinned from ear to ear as he listened, his amused gaze following Shen Zhishu as she approached.

Shen Zhishu unfastened the sword at her waist and tossed it in the subordinate’s direction. “Stop grinning like a fool. What business brings you to the hall? Did the interrogation of that assassin from today yield anything?”

“Indeed.” The subordinate stretched out a long arm and caught the sword with a smack. He then cupped his fists and reported, “The waist token she carried does indeed belong to the Xie Residence. I have secured it and am just waiting to go to the Xie Residence tomorrow to verify its authenticity. She refused to confess anything, insisting that it was General Xie Jin who sent her, saying that General Xie was jealous of you surpassing her at such a young age.”

“That reason is a bit too absurd,” Shen Zhishu laughed. “Regardless of whether General Xie and I have always been on good terms, even if we weren’t, and she truly wanted to get rid of me, she wouldn’t send someone with such mediocre skills who keeps repeating ‘Xie Jin.’ Where is she now? I’ll interrogate her myself.”

The subordinate shook his head, somewhat ashamed. “She’s dead.”

“Hmm?”

“It seems she had already taken poison beforehand, which took effect slowly over time. We had only been interrogating her for a short while before she started foaming at the mouth.”

“So… she came on this mission with the determination to die?”

“Yes.”

… Survival is a human instinct. Unless one is at their wit’s end, who would risk their life to do someone’s bidding?

Thinking this, Shen Zhishu turned to look at Shen Hantan. “What does Minister Shen think?”

Minister Shen caught the ball her daughter had kicked to her and gestured with her head toward the subordinate. “Tomorrow, you first go to the Xie Residence to verify the authenticity of this waist token, then follow the trail from there. The first priority is to find out that person’s identity; don’t get hung up on how the token ended up in her hands. I will assign two more people to assist you. As for how to investigate, I shouldn’t need to teach you, right?”

The subordinate cupped his fists at Shen Hantan. “This subordinate understands. Thank you, Minister.”

The subordinate took his leave. As he reached the doorway, he playfully poked at a sparrow sleeping on a branch.

In the sudden chirping of the bird in the dead of night, Shen Zhishu tilted her head and sank lazily into a chair on the side of the main hall.

“You have no sense of decorum,” Shen Hantan glanced at her and gently set down her teacup. “You must be more restrained before the Emperor tomorrow. You can’t sit with such poor posture.”

Shen Zhishu closed her eyes, kicked out her legs, and wailed, “Mother, you don’t know how hard life has been wandering outside.”

“You have indeed gotten thinner,” Mistress He nodded, her voice full of heartache.

“It’s good that she’s thinner,” Shen Hantan interjected. “At fourteen, her face was so chubby, it must have had three catties of meat on it. If she still looked like that now, wouldn’t she be a laughingstock?”

Mistress He: …

Mistress He glared at her, her brows furrowed as she asked, “Is Shu’er your biological child or not? How can you not feel a shred of pity?”

Shen Hantan laughed again. “Listen to you, Mistress. Didn’t I just help her get out of a troublesome matter today?”

“What troublesome matter?” Shen Zhishu was a little curious.

“The State Preceptor sent a message to the General’s Manor two hours ago, saying she wants to see you tomorrow afternoon. I said it’s a Shen family rule that you must rush to sweep the graves after the banquet tomorrow, so you might not be able to see her.”

“Why did you say I couldn’t see her?”

“You’ve just returned to the capital and are unaware of many things, and it’s not easy to tell you in our letters.” Shen Hantan suddenly lowered her voice. “This State Preceptor is a very mysterious person. Those who get close to her never end well. You should have heard some rumors when you were young, that the State Preceptor has lived for over three hundred years, is cursed, and is a solitary star of misfortune. It’s better to stay far away.”

Shen Zhishu said, “Oh.”

She shifted her gaze from Shen Hantan’s face, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looking obedient and receptive. But the next second, when she opened her mouth, her tone changed completely:

“No, I insist on meeting her.”

Shen Hantan: …

Shen Hantan tugged at Mistress He, complaining, “Mistress, look at this. As the saying goes, a grown daughter is beyond her mother’s control. Is it that nothing we say matters now?”

“You speak for yourself, don’t drag Mother He into this,” Shen Zhishu said. “Mother He is different from you; she cares for me. I will naturally listen to what she says, but I can only listen to half of what you say.”

Shen Hantan glanced at her. “…You really have a personality.”

“Likewise.”

“Why don’t you be my mother?”

Shen Zhishu’s interest was piqued, and she said eagerly, “That’s not impossible.”

Shen Hantan: …

Mistress He pulled her sash back from Shen Hantan’s hand and stood there smiling for about half an incense stick’s time. Finally feeling it was a bit unkind to just watch the show, she asked, “Shu’er, why must you see the State Preceptor? I also think it’s better not to. The rumors may not be true, but it is a fact that those who get involved with the State Preceptor all meet a bad end.”

“I know my limits, I naturally won’t get close to her,” Shen Zhishu said. “It’s just that so many things have happened since I returned to the capital, I don’t mind adding a few more to muddy the waters. Mother, you see, on the first day back, an assassin appeared among the serving girls bestowed by the Emperor, plus the Eldest Princess…”

Shen Zhishu suddenly paused.

“What about the Eldest Princess?” Shen Hantan asked.

“Nothing,” Shen Zhishu smiled. “I saw someone on the street from afar today who looked like the Eldest Princess Huai’an.”

“You know her?”

Shen Zhishu said, “I’ve seen her portrait before.”

… Seen her portrait, my foot.

Shen Zhishu said it calmly, but as she spoke, she refuted it in her heart.

Where would there be a portrait of the Eldest Princess in a military camp? If she had really seen a portrait and recognized her, she would have thought more carefully before helping the young woman who blocked her path, and wouldn’t have agreed so hastily.

Shen Hantan said, “That’s good. It’s best not to get involved with the Eldest Princess Huai’an either.”

Shen Zhishu’s brow twitched slightly. “What do you mean by that? Is she also a mysterious person?”

“That’s not it,” Shen Hantan said. “The situation in the court is turbulent, and it’s difficult to explain the complex relationships to you all at once. I’ll give you a simple summary now, just listen briefly. The imperial princesses in the court are currently divided into three major factions. The First Imperial Princess is one faction, the Second Imperial Princess is another, the Third and Fourth Imperial Princesses did not survive to adulthood, and the Fifth Imperial Princess is another faction. The remaining princesses are still too young to form a power base.”

“The Second Imperial Princess and the Eldest Princess are extremely close, so many people consider the Eldest Princess to be part of the Second Imperial Princess’s faction. It is said that the Emperor is not the biological child of the late Empress Dowager, but was adopted from the imperial clan. Therefore, although the Emperor is close to the Eldest Princess, they are not blood-related siblings. Our Shen family is loyal to the Emperor, so it’s best not to get involved with Her Highness Huai’an, to avoid arousing the Emperor’s suspicion.”

Shen Zhishu: …

Mother, you’re too late.

We’ve already been to bed.

Fortunately, tonight’s events were all conducted in secret, unseen by anyone, and the Eldest Princess also wished for it to remain unknown, preferably to pretend it never happened.

From now on, when they encountered the Eldest Princess Huai’an, it would likely be a case of going their separate ways.

Beyond that… there would be no further interaction.