Chapter 21: Fox Spirit

Every time the Ice Poison flared up, Liu Yun would be wracked with bone-deep cold, and she would always have nightmares.

The nightmares were always about the Liu family’s downfall—the brutal house arrest. In the dream, a vast swath of red bloomed, enveloping everything in gloom.

But perhaps this time, because she had a living, breathing presence beside her, the fixed scene of bloodshed in her dream was pierced by daylight. The blood color was replaced by dampness. Liu Yun dreamed of what came after the blood.

In a cramped, damp environment, over a dozen girls around the same age, dirty and huddled together. A little girl sat on a pile of moldy hay, her dark, dark eyes fixed on the cold moonlight above.

It was Liu Yun, at seven years old.

During those two years traveling from Jinzhou to the Capital, the oppression, mockery, and humiliation from everyone hadn’t worn down her edges. Instead, in the midst of the foul mud, they had sharpened her into something twisted and jagged.

She decided she would become a bone-piercing blade, a gut-wrenching poison, a vengeful ghost!

Everyone she met was just a cloud to float on higher, a stone to ascend to heaven, a ladder to scale the skies!

She wanted revenge. She wanted to kill her enemies with her own hands!

She knew her father had once been a brother-in-arms with Shen Yi, who was then the young marquis. So she used every means to get him to buy her and bring her into his household.

The noble houses of the imperial court, the Emperor’s trusted officials, old bonds of friendship.

The mansion was a constant stream of high-ranking officials, the courtyard always busy.

There was no better stepping stone than the Shen family!

On her first day in the household, she was taken to see the Old Marquis. That’s when she saw her. Soft and sticky, curled up on the Old Marquis’s knee like a glutinous rice dumpling. Shen Yuezhuang.

How perfectly she was made. Beautiful and lovely. Carefree and pure. All soft pink.

Shen Yi was telling the Old Marquis about her background. Shen Yuezhuang was looking up, her head tilted, half-understanding as she listened to her father.

Liu Yun could already listen to people recount her family’s ruin without a flicker of emotion. She just watched Shen Yuezhuang, a cool assessment in her mind. She wondered how much this little thing could help her get.

Shen Qingjue wasn’t born yet. Shen Yi hadn’t remarried. Shen Yuezhuang was unquestionably the greatest treasure in the household. So, before Liu Yun even entered the mansion, her sights were already set on Shen Yuezhuang.

She stared unblinkingly at Shen Yuezhuang. Noticing her gaze, Shen Yuezhuang stared back, a bit confused. Those large, almond-shaped eyes revealed everything their owner was thinking. In a place where the adults couldn’t see, Liu Yun’s dark, dark eyes curved slightly.

She thought to herself, This Miss Shen looks very easy to control.

Then came the Old Marquis’s voice—a little fuzzy in her memory now, but very commanding.

“Since you’re the daughter of an old comrade, we’ll set up another courtyard for you. You two are about the same age. Don’t talk about serving and such. She can be a playmate!”

Liu Yun kowtowed in thanks, her heart unmoved.

Those words were just polite formalities. If she took them seriously, she would be a fool!

But she never expected… she truly was just a playmate.

At first, Liu Yun was anxious for a long time. She tried to prove her usefulness and necessity, but she couldn’t find any purchase in Shen Yuezhuang’s daily life—her meals, her clothes, her routine.

All the tasks—putting her to bed, washing her face, dressing her—were handled by the servants Shen Yuezhuang already had.

Whenever Liu Yun tried to do anything, the old nurses would be flattered and take the task from her hands, nervously saying that the Marquis had ordered that no one in the household was to treat her as a servant.

Feeling insecure, Liu Yun had to work even harder to increase her importance in Shen Yuezhuang’s eyes.

She played with her. She took her on secret trips outside the mansion. She taught her to climb walls and trees. She sneaked her alcohol. She led her into doing all the mischievous things that bad influences would encourage.

Those things might have been good or bad, but without a doubt, they caused the feelings between the two to heat up rapidly.

The crime of corrupting the young Miss Shen could have had her thrown out of the house at any moment. But the risk was high, and so was the reward. Shen Yuezhuang began to cling to her.

It was a clear profit, but windfall profits are temporary. Liu Yun needed to turn this into stable, long-term benefits. To do that, she needed the approval of the Old Marquis and the Young Marquis!

For example, proving she could control Shen Yuezhuang.

In less than two years, Liu Yun had completed her plan. She had become irreplaceable in the Yongding Marquis Manor. Her function was to act as a deterrent for Shen Yuezhuang, to be the check on this precious daughter whom the entire household—the Yongding Marquis Manor and the Huo family alike—held in the palms of their hands.

Time in the dream flew by in a blur. In a blink, it was the time Shen Yuezhuang became a study companion.

Shen Yuezhuang, as usual, refused to get out of bed, hugging her quilt and whining.

In the monastic cell of Precious Flower Temple, Shen Yuezhuang was woken by Ruixue’s voice. Face full of displeasure, she pushed her head into the hollow of Liu Yun’s shoulder, grumbling and lying on top of her.

This was Shen Yuezhuang’s standard stalling tactic. Half of Liu Yun’s consciousness was still in the dream: remembering how she used to coldly haul the person out of bed and dump her in front of the dressing mirror. The other half was already awake, pressing her lips together to suppress the smile tugging at their corners.

The soothing pats, which had felt so awkward last night, now seemed practiced a thousand times. One hand wrapped around Shen Yuezhuang’s waist and back, the other patted her back with easy familiarity. Her brows were relaxed, full of indulgence and secret joy.

Outside the door, hearing no response, Ruixue called out again.

“Your Grace, it’s a letter from the North.”

Only then did Liu Yun fully awaken.

“Come in!”

The sound, so close, made Shen Yuezhuang frown in annoyance once more.

The creak of the wooden door and Shen Yuezhuang’s clearly displeased groan sounded simultaneously. Ruixue, standing at the doorway, paused mid-step at the noise.

The whimpering sound was sticky as honey. Whether it was sweet was debatable, but it was certainly clingy!

Ruixue’s toes curled. Her mouth and brow tightened simultaneously. She clenched her hands, restraining herself. Her eyes landed on the phoenix robe directly across from the door—the one Shen Yuezhuang had shucked off last night and hadn’t bothered to put away.

She took a deep breath, stepped into the room, and closed the door behind her. She turned, and her gaze was instantly drawn to the corner of a goose-yellow spring gown peeking out from behind a screen.

Ruixue felt like a loyal minister discovering the Emperor bewitched by a demoness. A look of pained mortification flashed in her eyes. Almost instantly, two words sprang into her mind: Fox Spirit!

Ruixue had been worried earlier. The sun was high, and their Empress Dowager hadn’t called for washing up yet. This was a first in years!

Had the Ice Poison gotten worse?

Had she not slept well? Was she ill this morning?

She should have known. The way Miss Shen acted, how could she be someone who knew how to take care of another person?

Ruixue let out a deep, steadying breath. She stepped forward, passed the screen, and trying her best to ignore the spring gowns scattered on the floor, she passed the letter through the bed curtain.

Her eyes could be disciplined to look away, but her ears could not. The steady pat, pat on a back was perfectly clear in her ears.

Then came the rustle of clothes. Vaguely, through the curtain, it seemed Her Grace was trying to sit up. But Shen Yuezhuang refused to get up herself, and wouldn’t let their Empress Dowager get up either!

Ruixue heard the patting on the back become more urgent. No need to guess, that must be Her Grace soothing the other!

Ruixue’s downturned face was livid.

What kind of sane person lives with a sick person and then makes the sick person soothe them to sleep?!