A Figure on Jade Steps in the Wind and Snow 76

Chapter 76: Night Exploration

Jiang Yu comforted Sister Fang in a few sentences and arranged for her trusted subordinate to investigate in the direction of the First Imperial Princess.

By the time everything was settled, the sun was already setting in the west, and Shen Zhishu escorted Jiang Yu back to her manor.

“Where are you sleeping tonight?” After returning from the weaving bureau, Shen Zhishu asked casually.

Jiang Yu glanced at her, “Where does the General want to sleep?”

“I haven’t been home for a long time, I miss my big bed.”

“Isn’t the bed at the Eldest Princess’s Manor big?” Jiang Yu asked.

“It is big,” Shen Zhishu said with a serious air. “But when you sleep alone, you can toss and turn. If two people squeeze into one bed, you will be constrained and afraid of crushing the other person, so it seems a little smaller.”

Jiang Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly, “So… the General is not sleeping with me tonight?”

Shen Zhishu was just about to say, “Distance creates beauty,” when the next moment, Jiang Yu spoke on her own, “It’s alright, I have something to do tonight anyway, so I probably won’t be able to sleep.”

Shen Zhishu: ???

Shen Zhishu said in astonishment, “What is it that requires you to stay up all night?”

“Is the General not curious about the First Imperial Princess’s movements?” Jiang Yu paused and said in a faint voice. “I plan to go to her manor tonight to take a look.”

Shen Zhishu’s heart immediately rose with a bad premonition, and she hurriedly asked, “How are you going?”

“If I were to visit in the usual way, I would naturally not find any clues,” Jiang Yu said. “So I won’t go through the main entrance, but will quietly climb into their manor to take a look.”

Shen Zhishu smiled, “Your Highness is joking. The Prince of Chen’s Manor is heavily guarded. Is it so easy to sneak in? Besides, it’s fine to send a trusted subordinate to investigate. Why do you have to go in person?”

“I already know the time and route of the guards’ patrols, so it’s not difficult to sneak in,” Jiang Yu said. “In addition, if we are discovered, it will be fine if I go in person. The Eldest Sister will not make things difficult for you and me.”

Shen Zhishu’s eyebrows rose, “Since we can sneak into the Prince of Chen’s Manor so easily, it’s not impossible that the Prince of Chen’s people have already quietly ambushed our manors.”

“Of course there are,” Jiang Yu’s voice was faint. “Otherwise, where did the rumors about us come from? But the spies should not be able to get close and do not know our specific whereabouts, otherwise, the rumor would not be ‘General Shen and Her Highness Huai’an are close,’ but ‘General Shen and Her Highness Huai’an have already had an affair’.”

Shen Zhishu nodded, “So, Your Highness should have already made a decision?”

“I probably know who the spies are, but I haven’t dealt with them, for fear of alerting the enemy. Anyway, they can’t serve me personally, and the information they get is not important, so it’s harmless. Let them be,” Jiang Yu changed the subject. “So will the General go with me tonight? If not, I will ask someone else to accompany me.”

Shen Zhishu crossed her arms and idly rubbed her leather great cloak, “Oh? Who will accompany Your Highness?”

“I also have a few trusted subordinates who know martial arts. I’ll just pick one of them.”

“Forget it, I’ll go with Your Highness,” Shen Zhishu laughed. “They are not as useful as me.”

“Then the General won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

“It’s alright, it’s just a matter of staying up all night,” Shen Zhishu said casually. “It will be New Year’s Eve in a few days, so I’ll just treat it as adapting to the New Year’s Eve vigil in advance.”

At this moment, the sun was about to set, and the clouds were distant, a winding patch, showing a few traces of childish red.

Jiang Yu said, “Mm,” and as if unintentionally, she continued, “This is the first time in eight years that I’ve spent the New Year in the capital… how does the General plan to spend New Year’s Eve?”

“I’ll probably go back to the Shen Residence. I’ll just do whatever my mothers do,” Shen Zhishu thought seriously for a moment, released her arms, and smiled. “I’ve been reading letters from home in the military camp every New Year’s Eve. I’m finally able to reunite with my family today.”

Jiang Yu said, “Oh,” without a ripple.

Shen Zhishu asked in return, “What about Your Highness? How does Your Highness spend New Year’s Eve?”

“With Lantiao and the others.”

Shen Zhishu imagined the scene at that time, tilted her head, and asked, “Do you sit around the brazier, and then Lantiao and the others tell stories to Your Highness?”

“Almost,” Jiang Yu said. “They always have a lot to talk about, chattering away, and they can go on all night without stopping.”

Shen Zhishu nodded, did not continue, said goodbye to Jiang Yu, and went back to her manor to rest.

She had an appointment with Jiang Yu at the Hour of the Rat (11 PM – 1 AM). At that time, it was snowing again outside the eaves. The wind chime not far away was ringing gently, and the flickering lanterns under the corridor were swaying slightly, the sounds and colors in harmony.

But by the time Shen Zhishu had dealt with Mother He, who had suddenly come to visit, and rushed to the gate of the prince’s manor, it was already a quarter past the Hour of the Rat.

Shen Zhishu got off her horse and cupped her hands to apologize. Jiang Yu shook her head and said in a faint voice, “It’s alright. She usually goes to bed at the second quarter of the Hour of the Pig, so I suppose she is already sound asleep at this time.”

Shen Zhishu was a little surprised, “How does Your Highness know the First Highness’s schedule so well?”

“Is it only she who is allowed to plant spies in my manor, and I am not allowed to plant people by her side?”

Shen Zhishu suddenly realized and said with a smile, “You’re clearly a family, but you’re like a flock of crows, you guard against me and I guard against you.”

So she suddenly thought that the act she had put on with Xie Jin in front of Jiang Yu before was really a little clumsy—with Jiang Yu’s status, if she wanted to investigate, she naturally couldn’t hide anything.

But she didn’t know if there were any of Jiang Yu’s spies in her own manor.

But it didn’t matter if there were. She had no secrets, and she was completely open with Jiang Yu.

But… whether she had planted spies or not was one thing, and whether Jiang Yu was willing to tell the truth was another.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhishu put a hand on Jiang Yu’s shoulder and, without rushing to take her in, she lowered her head and asked with a low laugh, “Then has Your Highness treated me like that?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you planted anyone by my side?”

Jiang Yu shook her head without hesitation, “No.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely true. The people around you were all selected by the Department of Household Affairs, and I did not do anything. Not long after that, I became familiar with the General. If there is anything important, I believe the General will tell me in person, so there is no need to plant people by the General’s side.”

Shen Zhishu nodded and smiled, “I believe whatever Your Highness says.”

“Is that so?” Jiang Yu glanced at her, pulled her cloak tighter unhurriedly, and said softly, “Then the General had better be vigilant, so as not to be cheated out of all your money by me.”

“If I really have no money, I will go to Your Highness’s manor and stay there,” Shen Zhishu said. “I don’t think Your Highness is so heartless as to cheat me out of all my things and not give me a place to live, and is determined to see me a corpse in the wilderness.”

Jiang Yu pursed her lips, as if she were about to say something, but in the end, she did not open her mouth.

So the air suddenly fell silent, and the north wind, mixed with snowflakes, surged over, and the scent of cedar was elusive.

A few breaths later, Jiang Yu took a small step forward, stood close to the wall, and listened intently to the movements inside the wall.

Shen Zhishu did the same.

“There’s no one inside at this moment,” Shen Zhishu smacked her lips for a long time and came to a conclusion.

“Then please help me, General. I don’t know lightness skill.”

This scene was familiar.

Shen Zhishu, while saying “Alright,” slowly flipped through a fragmented memory from a dream—

The friend from the Rebirth Sect had also said “I don’t know lightness skill” and then asked her to take her flying over the eaves.

Then, she had carried her horizontally, and she had wrapped her arms around her neck, her head buried in her chest.

The clear and limpid scent of that friend lingered faintly in her breath.

She couldn’t remember any more of the scene at this moment.

Shen Zhishu narrowed her eyes in the wind and snow, suddenly wrapped her arms around Jiang Yu’s waist, and with a burst of qi, she jumped into the manor. But when she landed, she landed on a slightly loose green brick.

The sound of the stones hitting each other was light and loose, but in the silent prince’s manor, it was a little obvious.

So much so that Shen Zhishu and Jiang Yu both froze at the same time.

Fortunately, this was a side courtyard of the prince’s manor, and there were no guards on duty, and the guards had not patrolled here.

But Shen Zhishu’s heart was still beating very fast.

It was probably too exciting just now, she thought.

And it was not until she had calmed her breathing that she suddenly realized something—

When she was holding Jiang Yu in the air just now, she didn’t seem to feel any resistance. Jiang Yu was as light as a piece of paper in her arms, as if she had also used qi and lightness skill.

However, the next moment, Shen Zhishu denied this idea, thinking to herself that it was impossible.

Perhaps it was because she was a little nervous, and she had felt wrong.

After a moment, Jiang Yu’s familiar and indifferent voice sounded by her side, “I have a map of the prince’s manor here. Does the General want to take a look first, or just follow me?”

“I’ll just follow Your Highness,” Shen Zhishu suddenly came back to her senses, kicked a stone on the ground, and muttered in a whisper, “Such a big prince’s manor, and they can’t even fix the floor tiles.”

Jiang Yu did not answer, flicked her sleeve, and walked straight into the courtyard.

Shen Zhishu followed closely behind.

**

The wind and snow did not stop, and the moon was covered by dark clouds. All the lights in the manor were out, and it was so dark that you could barely see your hand in front of you.

Shen Zhishu stumbled forward, but Jiang Yu walked very steadily.

When she stepped into a dirt pit for the tenth time, Shen Zhishu was a little impatient and asked in a low voice, “Can Your Highness see the road?”

Jiang Yu asked in return, “Can’t the General see?”

“Perhaps Your Highness has a strange constitution and excellent eyesight,” Shen Zhishu said. “I can’t see a thing, it’s pitch black.”

“Then…” Jiang Yu thought for a while and came up with a solution, “The General can just hold on to me, and I will be the General’s eyes.”

As she spoke, she stretched out her arm horizontally in front of Shen Zhishu.

Shen Zhishu blinked and whispered, “Your Highness’s frame is too thin. I’m afraid that if I lose my balance, I will pull Your Highness down with me.”

“It’s alright,” Jiang Yu said. “I’m not that light.”

Shen Zhishu subconsciously wanted to refute, “When I was holding you just now, it was like holding a paper doll,” but after a few breaths, she inexplicably swallowed her words back.

She stared at the outline of Jiang Yu’s arm, and after a moment, she said in a low voice, “Excuse me.”

As her voice fell, she grabbed Jiang Yu’s arm through her cloak.

So thin, she thought.

Jiang Yu doesn’t eat little on a normal day, why doesn’t she gain any weight?

As her thoughts wandered, she took a small step forward with the help of her strength, but unexpectedly, something happened!

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from afar, and the messy and disordered sounds and the scattered lights came from afar and got closer.

“Search! You search these few blocks, and you search over there!” someone shouted, it should be the foreman.

Shen Zhishu’s gaze sharpened, “Have they discovered us?”

“Probably not,” Jiang Yu said quickly. “Perhaps they lost something or for some other reason. In any case, the top priority is to disappear from their sight.”

Shen Zhishu wrapped her arms around Jiang Yu’s waist and was about to use her qi to jump over the wall and out of the courtyard, but it was already too late—

The sound of footsteps and the rustling of clothes were very close. If she were to jump out of the wall, the commotion would be too big, and she would definitely be discovered.

Shen Zhishu thought to herself that this was not good. The next moment, her wrist was suddenly grabbed by someone and pulled to the side—

Jiang Yu pulled her and hid in a long-abandoned woodshed.