A Figure on Jade Steps in the Wind and Snow 89

Chapter 89: Tug of War

Shen Zhishu went to the State Preceptor’s Manor the next day as scheduled, and brought a cake of high-quality tea with her.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard a noise at the door, and then the doorman shouted, “Her Highness the Eldest Princess Huai’an has arrived!”

Shen Zhishu straightened her lapels and strode to the door in a few steps, meeting Jiang Yu’s eyes.

She opened her mouth and smiled, “I was just about to go and pick up Your Highness, but I didn’t expect Your Highness to have come on your own.”

But Jiang Yu asked, “What are you picking me up for?”

“To go to the State Preceptor’s Manor,” Shen Zhishu said in surprise. “Didn’t the State Preceptor send someone to tell Your Highness?”

Jiang Yu raised her head and thought for a moment, then turned to Lantiao, “Has the State Preceptor sent anyone?”

Lantiao shook her head in confusion, “I haven’t heard of it.”

Shen Zhishu thought to herself that the State Preceptor was probably up to some mischief, and she suddenly heard Jiang Yu ask, “The General has always disliked social interactions. When did you get in touch with the State Preceptor?”

Shen Zhishu rubbed her nose and said casually, “I went to the palace with my Mother Shen yesterday to see the Holy Majesty, and the State Preceptor was also in the hall. After we left the hall, she invited me for a chat. I was thinking that she probably knew a thing or two about the First Imperial Princess’s matter, so I accepted her invitation and said I would visit her this afternoon. She also said she wanted to invite you. I was thinking that she would probably send you a letter of introduction, so I didn’t tell you about this, but I didn’t expect that she didn’t invite you.”

Jiang Yu lowered her gaze, and the pupils hidden under her eyelashes seemed to flicker, but when Shen Zhishu looked carefully, her expression was as usual, and she couldn’t see anything unusual.

…She was probably a little surprised to suddenly hear that she had dealings with the State Preceptor, Shen Zhishu thought.

So she said, “Then is Your Highness going? If Your Highness is not willing to go, I will send someone to the State Preceptor’s Manor to say that I am not feeling well this morning and may not be able to see her.”

Jiang Yu gracefully turned around and said in a faint voice, “Let’s go. What’s the point of deceiving the old State Preceptor?”

Shen Zhishu, hearing the six words “the old State Preceptor,” couldn’t help but find it a little amusing. On second thought, the State Preceptor had lived for more than three hundred years in the eyes of the world, so wasn’t she an “old person”?

So she said, “Mm,” and heard Jiang Yu continue to ask, “Are you going to give her a gift?”

Shen Zhishu turned her head and ordered Hongli to take out the tea and show it to Jiang Yu, and at the same time, she said frankly, “I plan to give this tea cake. My mother gave it to me a while ago, and I haven’t had it.”

“Just tea?”

“This tea is also a famous tea, is there a problem?”

Jiang Yu gave her a deep look and said, “No problem.” Before Shen Zhishu could figure out what this look meant, Jiang Yu had already stepped over the threshold and said, “Let’s go, to the State Preceptor’s Manor.”

**

Shen Zhishu and Jiang Yu were in the same carriage, and Lantiao was sitting beside Jiang Yu.

Hongli was on horseback outside, chatting idly with the coachman.

The coachman was from the Eldest Princess’s Manor and was in charge of the Eldest Princess’s daily travel, so she was very clear about Jiang Yu’s whereabouts.

She also knew that her master and General Shen were on good terms, so she told Hongli everything she knew.

Hongli made small talk, “Does your master go out often on a normal day? Are you tired of driving the horse?”

“It’s alright, not much,” the coachman said frankly. “But it has become more frequent since General Shen returned to the capital, and she often comes to the General’s Manor. It’s not tiring to drive the horse either. There are four of us who drive the horse, and we take turns.”

Hongli said, “Oh,” and then asked, “Since the State Preceptor didn’t invite Her Highness, why did Her Highness go to the General’s Manor today?”

The coachman smiled, “I don’t know about that. But Her Highness often comes to the General’s Manor even when she has nothing to do, so there’s no need to say anything.”

Hongli nodded and said with emotion, “That’s right. The General and Her Highness’s relationship is really good. We often say that it’s not impossible for the General to become the Prince Consort soon.”

“Who can say for sure about the future?” The coachman, while diligently driving the horse, said in a low voice, “I’ll tell you something, but you must not spread it. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop that day, but I just happened to pass by Sister Lantiao’s room and heard Sister Lantiao say that Her Highness drew a portrait of the General yesterday and is hanging it in her inner room.”

Hongli almost screamed in surprise, hurriedly covered her mouth, digested it for a while, and smiled, “Then in my opinion, the matter of the General and Her Highness is a sure thing. We might see each other every day in the future.”

The coachman shook her head, “Forget it, forget it. It’s still up in the air now, you shouldn’t be too optimistic.”

Hongli was surprised, “What are you talking about? In my opinion, it’s clear that they have feelings for each other, and they’re just short of making it clear. How can it be up in the air?”

The coachman pulled on the reins to make the horse turn and then asked in a low voice, “Do you think Her Highness is smart?”

“Look at what you’re saying,” Hongli smiled. “Her Highness is naturally as smart as ice and snow.”

“That’s the problem,” the coachman said with a serious air. “My master is a person who has everything in her heart. There is no such thing as ‘the onlooker sees more of the game.’ And she has always been swift and decisive in her actions. If the two of them really have feelings for each other, and there are no obstacles between them, Her Highness would probably have gone to the palace long ago to have the Emperor bestow a marriage. How could she wait until now?”

Hongli thought for a while and frowned, “But they’ve only known each other for a month. Could it be that your master thinks it’s too hasty and wants to take it slowly?”

“That’s not impossible,” the coachman said. “Forget it, forget it. Let’s just wait and see. We servants can’t arrange our masters’ marriages.”

The two of them thought their voices were hidden, but they didn’t expect the carriage’s soundproofing to be not very good, so their conversation came into the carriage in a light and loud voice.

Shen Zhishu: …

Shen Zhishu listened to the whole conversation with a wooden face and was about to ask Jiang Yu why her coachman was spilling everything when she saw Jiang Yu preemptively say in a faint voice, “Why are the people raised in the General’s Manor so gossipy?”

Shen Zhishu was about to retort, “I see that Lantiao is no less,” but she stopped after a moment and in the end, she did not say it.

She then asked, “Is Your Highness not happy to hear these words?”

Jiang Yu’s gaze came over lightly, and her calm and emotionless eyes showed no emotion. She blinked and kicked the ball back:

“The General is asking this, are you happy to hear these words?”

…It’s not about being happy or not. Anyway, there’s no possibility for her and Jiang Yu.

Shen Zhishu’s hand, which was on her lap, gripped her trousers, and she asked as if nothing had happened, “I was the one who asked Your Highness first. Why is Your Highness asking me instead?”

Jiang Yu answered irrelevantly, “It was the General’s attendant who started it. Could it be… that the General instructed her to say this?”

Shen Zhishu lowered her arm and leaned back in her chair, “Why would Your Highness suddenly think of this? Could it be… that Your Highness hopes that I instructed her to say this?”

Jiang Yu was indifferent, “Why does the General ask this? Does the General hope that I hope that the General instructed her to say this?”

The carriage blocked half of the sound, and the creaking of the wheels on the dirt road slowly seeped in.

…They seemed to be in a tug-of-war, Shen Zhishu thought.

She sat up straight, her right hand idly rubbing her vest, and suddenly asked, “What if I say I hope so?”

A half-dark, half-faint shadow was cast under Jiang Yu’s eyelashes. She was quiet for a while and said, “Then I will also say I hope so.”

Shen Zhishu raised an eyebrow and asked, “Really?”

“Mm. So… was it really the General who instructed her to say this?”

Shen Zhishu shrugged and laughed, “I’ve disappointed Your Highness. It was just that girl Hongli who was being talkative and saying some nonsense. I’ll dock her monthly salary sooner or later.”

The curtains were drawn, and the light in the carriage was dim. Jiang Yu let out a very light “Ah,” and her gaze shifted to the soft cushion under Shen Zhishu.

She suddenly asked again, “Then why did the General ask if I hoped so?”

Shen Zhishu asked in return, “Then why did Your Highness ask if I hoped so?”

Jiang Yu pursed her lips and said, “I’ll return what the General just said to the General—it was the General who asked if I hoped so first. Why are you asking me instead now?”

“Then why did Your Highness ask if I hoped so?”

Shen Zhishu stuck to her previous question and did not let go, but Jiang Yu did not answer. At this moment, her eyes were lowered, and she was not looking at Shen Zhishu, but at the soft cushion under her.

Lantiao, with her eyes on her nose and her nose on her heart, handed over a small piece of plum blossom cake. Jiang Yu shook her head, and then suddenly raised her head and said, “I hope that the General instructed her to say this, because if that were the case, the General would probably have the intention of starting a family with me.”

Jiang Yu had always been direct in her speech, but this time, it seemed a little too direct, which made Shen Zhishu’s heart skip a beat.

She took a breath impassively and asked as if she were at ease, “Is that so?”

“Mm.”

“It’s a pity to have disappointed Your Highness,” Shen Zhishu shook her head. “I have no such intention.”

She paused, and the sentence “Then does Your Highness want to start a family with me” was already on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it back.

…This Eldest Princess’s thinking was always strange, Shen Zhishu thought.

She probably had other meanings, and if she asked rashly, it would be awkward for a long time.

Besides… what kind of answer did she want to hear?

If Jiang Yu said “yes,” she couldn’t respond; if Jiang Yu said “no,” she would probably be sad.

Shen Zhishu’s hand, which was on her knee, clenched into a fist. Perhaps to ease the awkwardness, she picked up the plum blossom cakes on the table.

She picked up a piece and was about to put it in her mouth when Jiang Yu’s indifferent and emotionless voice sounded from not far away:

“Why doesn’t the General continue to ask?”

Shen Zhishu paused for a few breaths, still put the pastry in her mouth, and as she chewed, she replied vaguely, “Hmm?”

“You didn’t continue to ask if I had any intention of starting a family with the General.”

Shen Zhishu choked.

After she had finally swallowed the pastry, she heard Hongli ask anxiously from outside, “What’s wrong, General? Have a drink of water? But the water gourd is on me.”

Shen Zhishu waved her hand, and then belatedly realized that Hongli couldn’t see. Just as she was about to say “It’s alright,” she heard Jiang Yu had already answered for her, “It’s fine, I have water here. Your master can just drink mine.”

Hongli was overjoyed, “Then this servant is at ease. Please take care of her, Your Highness!”

Shen Zhishu: …

Before Shen Zhishu could refuse, the next moment, Jiang Yu’s water gourd was already at her mouth.

She took a sip and saw Jiang Yu staring at her intently.

Shen Zhishu looked away and braced herself to ask, “Then is Your Highness willing to start a family with me?”

Jiang Yu immediately replied, “I would be delighted.”

“Why?”

“I wish to be with the General for a lifetime.”

“Is that all?”

“That’s all.”

Shen Zhishu narrowed her eyes, unable to describe the taste in her heart.

She should have expected it, she thought. Jiang Yu was not in love with her, but just hoped that she could accompany her for a long, long time.

She lowered her head, and after a moment, she said, “It’s not only by starting a family that you can be together for a lifetime. After all, even if you get married, you may get divorced due to trivial conflicts. It is close friends who can go further.”

“Is that so?” Jiang Yu asked in a faint voice, her emotions unclear.

“Yes,” Shen Zhishu said.

“But—” Jiang Yu changed the subject. “If I get married in the future and have fish and water with the General again, my wife will probably be unhappy.”

Shen Zhishu nodded, “Of course. But at that time, there will be others to serve Your Highness, and Your Highness may not even think of me.”

“That’s not good,” Jiang Yu said.

Shen Zhishu did not understand, “Hmm?”

“I only wish to be with the General, and I only wish for the General to touch me,” Jiang Yu suddenly leaned over and brought her face close to Shen Zhishu’s.

Shen Zhishu’s breathing suddenly stopped. She watched as that red lip opened and closed and said:

“General, I only wish to marry you.”