Chapter 9: Speaking Plainly
At dusk, a red glow gradually appeared on the horizon. Cooking smoke rose leisurely from the alleyways, and a white cat nestled at the base of a wall stretched lazily and darted away from the south of the street.
Eldest Princess’s Manor.
An attendant carefully tugged on the sleeve of the attendant beside her and asked in a low voice, “Sister Qingzhou, what time is dinner served tonight?”
Qingzhou was also unsure.
Qingzhou was originally the Emperor’s personal attendant and was bestowed upon the Eldest Princess Huai’an five years ago.
Nominally a gift, it was actually more of a surveillance measure.
—Every week, she had to enter the palace to report to the Emperor on the situation in the Eldest Princess’s Manor, no matter how big or small the matter, in full and accurate detail.
The Eldest Princess Huai’an was also aware of this, but she held no grudge against her. She treated her the same as her other trusted attendants, allowing her to serve her personally, and there was no difference in the rewards she received.
This made her can’t help but marvel at the deep sisterly affection between the Emperor and the Eldest Princess.
However, the Eldest Princess had always been inscrutable, her face always faint, and she rarely spoke her mind. Although she had served her personally for five years, she never knew what the Eldest Princess was thinking.
For example, at this moment, she was unsure: the Emperor had been occupying the study all along, was the Eldest Princess displeased by this?
If she was displeased, and she called for “dinner” at this moment, wouldn’t the delicate balance maintained between the Emperor and the Eldest Princess be broken?
She also thought that the Eldest Princess had always been close to the Emperor, so she probably wouldn’t mind about the ownership of the study. But to say that there was no emotional fluctuation… that didn’t seem to be the case either.
—The Eldest Princess had been shut in her inner room for two hours.
It wasn’t her turn to be on duty today, so she couldn’t serve the Eldest Princess personally and didn’t know what the Eldest Princess had said or done. This made Qingzhou even more confused.
She seized the opportunity and grabbed another attendant who came out of the inner room to change shifts, asking, “Did Her Highness say anything?”
That attendant glanced at her. “Her Highness said a lot, what do you want to hear?”
“I don’t mean anything else, I’m just not sure whether to serve dinner as usual,” Qingzhou smiled. “I don’t know what Her Highness’s intentions are.”
That attendant said nothing else, only, “As usual.”
“Then will the Emperor be dining here?” Qingzhou asked.
That attendant raised an eyebrow. “That’s strange. I only serve Her Highness, yet you’re asking me about His Majesty’s intentions. How would I know something that even you don’t know?”
The tone of these words was not very good, and it seemed to directly point out that Qingzhou was the Emperor’s spy.
Qingzhou coughed unnaturally and muttered, “If you don’t know, then you don’t know. Can’t you speak nicely?”
“I think I have been speaking nicely to you. It’s you who are too sensitive,” that attendant shook her head and turned to a young attendant waiting by the side. “Go and order the small kitchen to serve dinner. The Emperor has not left yet. Regardless of whether the Emperor eats or not, serve her portion first.”
The young attendant by the side took the order and left.
It was at this moment that Jiang Yu came out.
An attendant lifted the soft curtain, and she came out gracefully, supporting herself on the door frame. She stood under the eaves and pulled her cloak tighter, then said to the attendant who was bickering with Qingzhou, “Lantiao, don’t be rude.”
Lantiao pouted, somewhat indignant. She glared at Qingzhou, bowed to the Eldest Princess, and retreated.
Jiang Yu always liked to wear white. Only the collar of her cloak was finely embroidered with a circle of peacock feather thread wrapped in gold thread.
Supported by another attendant’s hand, she slowly stepped onto the veranda and gestured with her chin towards Qingzhou. “Go and invite the Emperor to dine.”
**
Eldest Princess’s Manor, inner room.
The meal lasted for a full hour, and the Emperor finally returned to the palace in a carriage.
On the east side of the inner room was a marble shelf with several white jade vases on it. Jiang Yu stood and looked at them for a long time, then suddenly reached out, grabbed one, and tossed it lightly onto the floor.
The thing was of good quality and didn’t break. It rolled around with a clatter, on the verge of cracking but not yet cracked.
Just like her relationship with Jiang Chu, the words had already been spoken heavily, yet it was not yet broken.
The meal was tasteless.
Lantiao hesitated by the side, not knowing whether she should pick it up. After a moment, she said in a low voice, “It was a gift from the Emperor. If Your Highness doesn’t like it, it’s fine to smash it.”
“It’s a pity to smash it.” Jiang Yu flicked her sleeve and sat down gracefully on a chair. “I just don’t want to see it anymore. Have someone take it to the storeroom.”
Lantiao replied, “Yes,” and removed her hairpins and jewelry. She then held a lake-green agate pendant by Jiang Yu’s ear and said softly, “Tomorrow is the birthday banquet of the Princess of Su. Your Highness will surely go. Will you wear this?”
Jiang Yu nodded and said casually, “You can decide on these things, you don’t need to ask me.”
Once the conversation started, the following words were much easier to say. Lantiao sighed softly and smiled, “This servant doesn’t know what to say. I don’t know whether to congratulate Your Highness on speaking your mind and escaping from the sea of suffering, or to advise Your Highness not to be too reckless in your speech. Just now in the hall, when I heard Your Highness say ‘If you insist on this, we will never see each other again in life or death,’ this servant really broke out in a cold sweat.”
Jiang Yu said nothing. After a moment, she turned around, took Lantiao’s hand, and patted it gently.
She said, “You should wish me escape from the sea of suffering.”
Lantiao’s eyes turned red. “We have all seen how Your Highness has lived these past few years. Although the Emperor has treated Your Highness extremely well in terms of food and clothing, she has monitored Your Highness everywhere and has even been offensive and excessive in her words and actions, which is more unbearable than not having enough to eat or wear. And that despicable Qingzhou, who betrays her master, reports Your Highness’s movements to the Emperor everywhere. Now that things are out in the open, will you still keep Qingzhou?”
Jiang Yu turned to look at her, and after a moment, her indifferent and flat tone softened a little.
“Alright, I’m not crying, what are you crying for?” She touched Lantiao’s forehead and said softly, “Qingzhou is also acting on orders, you can’t blame her. Tell her to return to the palace today.”
…
Along with Qingzhou, another person entered the palace.
The night was silent, and the State Preceptor walked quietly on the palace path.
The Imperial Study was scented with rue and brightly lit. The Emperor worked tirelessly and diligently on state affairs. The Department of Household Affairs had already presented the green-headed plaques half an hour ago, but the Emperor didn’t even glance at them and had them taken away.
The State Preceptor had a head of white hair, which was particularly striking in the night. So the court eunuch guarding outside saw her at a glance and reported softly, “The State Preceptor has arrived.”
As he spoke, the State Preceptor had already stepped into the hall.
Her steps were clearly light and slow, yet she seemed to walk very fast.
A court eunuch was grinding ink by the side, his head bowed, oblivious to the outside world. Seeing the State Preceptor enter, he lowered his head even further.
Jiang Chu had just closed a memorial and was rubbing her temples. When she looked up, her face was full of fatigue. She ordered another candle to be lit, then leaned back in her chair, the vermilion brush twirling back and forth between her slender white fingers.
She let out a long sigh and looked at the person in front of her, who walked into the Hall of Diligent Governance as if it were her own back garden, and asked, “A’Li, it’s the second watch. Why have you come in such a hurry?”
The State Preceptor didn’t answer. She looked around the room and found a chair to sit down on.
Jiang Chu rested for a while, then sat up straight, opened another memorial, and sighed, “Don’t be silent. I’m very tired today, I don’t want to guess.”
The flickering candlelight outlined the State Preceptor’s distinct features. Her eyes were extremely long, but her eyebrows were so faint they were almost invisible.
A court eunuch served tea in a timely manner. The State Preceptor took a sip, and her voice held a smile, “Junshan Silver Needle? This time it tastes a little bitter.”
Jiang Chu suddenly looked up and stared at her with a half-smile. The State Preceptor also raised an eyebrow and looked back.
Their eyes met, and the sound of the vermilion brush writing and the court eunuch grinding ink both stopped. For a moment, you could hear a pin drop in the hall.
The court eunuch bowed and quietly retreated with great discretion.
Only then did the State Preceptor answer the Emperor’s question of “what for”:
“This minister knows that Your Majesty is suffering, so I came to see you.”
Jiang Chu raised an eyebrow and asked, “How did you know?”
The State Preceptor took another sip of tea before saying slowly, “This minister just knows. This minister saw that a white plum tree in the courtyard had withered.”
Jiang Chu suddenly couldn’t hold on anymore.
She put down the vermilion brush, propped her head on her hand, and said in a low voice, “You know I’m sad even when you’re not here, how could she not know?”
After a pause, she added, “She knows, so she deliberately said those things to hurt me.”
The State Preceptor’s distinct half-face was hidden in the shadows where the candlelight could not reach.
She watched quietly, silent for a long time, then asked:
“What did the Eldest Princess say?”
Jiang Chu closed her eyes. “There’s no possibility for us.”
The State Preceptor’s heart skipped a beat.
She almost thought that the Emperor had already discovered something, but after a moment, she realized that the Emperor was repeating what the Eldest Princess had said.
She frowned slightly and watched as Jiang Chu continued to talk to herself:
“But I have treated her so well. I don’t ask for her heart to be entirely mine, I only ask for her to look back at me once, and I would be content. What does she mean by saying those words today?”
“She brought up the matter of me drugging her yesterday… I saw that she has been unhappy recently. That medicine is for promoting blood circulation, and the dosage is not heavy. It is not harmful to the human body, the aphrodisiac effect is just a side effect. Otherwise, how could it be so easily resolved by General Shen? I am not so despicable yet.”
“In the end, she said that her feelings for General Shen are genuine, and asked me not to trouble General Shen. But General Shen has made great contributions to the country, I will definitely not hold a grudge against her for this matter. In A’Yu’s heart, am I such an unreasonable person?”
The State Preceptor suddenly stood up, walked to Jiang Chu’s side, and after a moment, raised her hand to tuck a stray strand of hair from the side of her face behind her ear.
Jiang Chu didn’t move, just slowly closed her eyes. She and the Eldest Princess looked very similar, only one had sharp features, like an unsheathed sword; the other was more delicate and handsome, like the snow on a jade terrace.
The State Preceptor lowered her arm and said, “Your Majesty is the most brilliant person this minister has ever seen in my life.”
Jiang Chu closed her eyes, and the flickering flame cast a warm yellow light on the side of her face. She took a deep breath and continued:
“Our mother and mother consort both passed away early. A’Yu was only two years old then. It was I who was afraid that the people in the Imperial Princess’s residence would neglect her, so I raised her by my side, not daring to blink for more than ten years.”
“Even if I have despicable and improper thoughts, it is not something I can control.”
“Would I harm her? We are connected by flesh and blood, our bones are connected by tendons.”
“I have endured for more than ten years. How many decades does a person have in their life? I thought I had hidden that despicable desire in my heart well enough, but I didn’t expect her to know all along.”
Jiang Chu opened her eyes and suddenly grabbed the State Preceptor’s sleeve.
Two lines of clear tears welled up in her red-rimmed eyes and flowed silently down her cheeks.
She trembled along with the candlelight, and in the cold wind that seeped in through the window, she said in a low voice:
“A’Li, she knew all along.”
yeah, cause u a creep