The more the Old Marquis listened, the darker his face became.
Sister Pei. A Sang. Rui Niang. Ninth Lady!
Good. Very good!
Shen Yuezhuang, you are really something. So many things that he couldn’t even begin to control!
Finally, Shen Yuezhuang noticed his unusual behavior. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
The Old Marquis let out a cold snort. “I’m thinking about how many more secrets my daughter has that I don’t know about.”
~~~
Shen Yuezhuang had no idea what her father was on about. But she knew she had managed to annoy the Princess.
A perfectly good friendship-building plan had turned into a nightmarish difficulty because of her own carelessness. Now she had to work hard to make amends. She even had to turn down multiple invitations from the Empress Dowager.
Fortunately, she eventually managed to soothe the Princess’s wounded, fragile heart. And her persistent efforts and expenditure finally gave the confused Old Marquis a target to blame!
The Princess! It had to be the Princess! The new love!
He could see it all too clearly!
So, on the day that the Empress summoned the Princess to the palace for a formal visit, and the Princess insisted Shen Yuezhuang accompany her, the Old Marquis, who was convinced he had the situation figured out, didn’t stop her.
A new love and an old flame. He could play them against each other!
Let them fight it out, and it would eliminate one of them. Using military tactics, the Old Marquis agreed to let Shen Yuezhuang enter the palace, confident that his strategy would work.
The Empress’s invitation was routine.
The conversation went around in circles. “Are you eating well?” “Are you sleeping well?” “Let us know if anything is wrong.”
After the Princess replied, the Empress told them to go pay their respects to the Empress Dowager.
Shen Yuezhuang, standing on the side, just smiled, nodded, and agreed with the occasional “yes.” The three of them performed a perfect display of polite formality.
But as they were leaving the main hall, Shen Yuezhuang’s gaze lingered on a side hall for a moment. The Princess immediately noticed.
She didn’t see anything unusual. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Shen Yuezhuang looked away and sighed. “I was just remembering some unpleasant memories.”
The Princess’s interest was piqued. “Care to elaborate?”
Shen Yuezhuang said, pained, “Let’s just say, some broken wine jars, inkstones, table legs, and my now-empty money pouch!”
The Princess chuckled. She was about to ask more when someone bumped into her shoulder.
The person who bumped her didn’t even pause. They swaggered right into the main hall of the Phoenix Splendor Palace.
Mu Huaqiong watched the woman’s back. The anger in her eyes faded. She even grabbed Shen Yuezhuang to stop her from saying anything, which was rare. Instead of getting angry, she just asked the palace attendant, “Is that the newly arrived Miss Yang?”
The attendant said yes. Mu Huaqiong just gave a cold laugh and walked away without another word.
They were followed by palace attendants the whole way. Shen Yuezhuang thought the Princess’s reaction was strange, but she didn’t ask any questions.
Under the scorching midday sun, they finally reached the Longevity Palace.
The palace maids led them to a side hall to wait. As soon as they entered, a refreshing coolness chased away the heat of the journey.
A large basin at the center of the hall held twice the amount of ice than was at the Empress’s palace. The moment they sat down, an iced treat was served.
Shen Yuezhuang frowned at the steamer giving off cold air. When the maid set down the bowl of ice cream, she said, “Take away the ice.”
The Princess had just taken a bite. The look of satisfaction on her face didn’t last a moment before she asked, “What? Worried about the cost, and it’s not even your money?”
Shen Yuezhuang made up a lie. “I had something cold last night. My stomach isn’t feeling well. I can’t stand the cold.”
Hearing this, the Princess relented. She not only had the ice taken away but also put down her own bowl of ice cream. “That’s true. The beginning of autumn is almost here. It might be hot during the day, but it gets chilly at night. You should be careful.”
The words “beginning of autumn” made Shen Yuezhuang’s heart skip a beat.
Right. Time was flying by. The beginning of autumn was almost here again.
Anxious, Shen Yuezhuang looked at the Princess, who was sitting in the place of honor. She couldn’t hold back and asked, “The autumn tiger is fierce this year, isn’t it? Your Nanchu has a lot of spices, right? Do you have any spices that can make you feel bone-deep cold?”
“Spices don’t have that kind of power!” the Princess answered casually. “But I’ve heard of some medicines that can do it.”
Shen Yuezhuang’s eyes lit up. “Medicine works too!”
The Princess looked amused. She turned to face Shen Yuezhuang. “Do you think that’s a good thing? That kind of thing is very bad for your health, especially for women!” Mu Huaqiong’s tone became serious. She propped herself up on her elbows and tapped Shen Yuezhuang’s forehead with her index finger, emphasizing each word. “If the cold qi enters your body, you might never be able to have children! Don’t risk your life just to cool down a little!”
“Then… is there an antidote?”
Shen Yuezhuang’s voice was urgent. She grabbed Mu Huaqiong’s hand and pressed it down.
When Liu Yun entered, that was the scene that greeted her: the two women almost touching heads, with Shen Yuezhuang tightly holding Mu Huaqiong’s hand on the small table between them.
The hands under her wide sleeves clenched into fists. She smiled, but her voice carried a cold edge. “Is the Princess finding her stay in Great Liang agreeable?”
Mu Huaqiong rose to greet the Empress Dowager. Shen Yuezhuang followed suit, but she was clearly distracted.
The rest of the visit followed the same pattern as the one with the Empress. The Empress Dowager asked questions. The Princess answered. Shen Yuezhuang was quiet, barely managing to nod in agreement.
Lost in thought, she unconsciously reached for her bowl of ice cream and took a bite. The cold jolted her back to reality.
She frowned at the icy bowl and irritably pushed it back.
Liu Yun noticed her expression immediately. “Lord Shen doesn’t like the ice cream?”
Shen Yuezhuang didn’t like it. The mention of the beginning of autumn made her dislike anything cold or icy.
She was about to answer, but the Princess turned and looked at her, then covered for her.
“She has an upset stomach from something she ate yesterday. Your Grace’s ice cream is excellent, rich and fragrant. It’s perfect for this hot weather!”
She reached for her own bowl, but Liu Yun leaned over, tilting her body to rest on the armrest.
Her smile deepened. She turned a ring on her finger absently.
“Is that so? Then it seems I was ill-prepared.”
Mu Huaqiong was obviously good at social niceties. She made pleasant small talk with Liu Yun for a while.
She wanted to sabotage the peace talks, but she knew she couldn’t afford to offend the Emperor, Empress, or the Empress Dowager, who was the Emperor’s foster mother. She only wanted to make her father in Chu suffer, not herself!
So, the Nanchu Princess and the Great Liang Empress Dowager had a ‘cordial conversation.’ When the time seemed right, the Princess was about to make her excuses and leave. But then a palace maid arrived, saying the Empress had something she had forgotten to give the Princess. She asked her to come get it before she left.
Mu Huaqiong sensed this was trouble. And with the Yang girl in the palace, she looked at the listless Shen Yuezhuang. She was about to tell her she could go back on her own when the Empress Dowager spoke. “Since Lord Shen is feeling unwell, why not stay here and rest for a bit? What does the Princess think?”
Mu Huaqiong naturally had no objection.
She hadn’t heard anything about the Empress Dowager and Shen Yuezhuang’s history. Since they were a monarch and her subject, it wasn’t a foreign Princess’s place to worry. So she followed the palace maid out.
Shen Yuezhuang slumped back into her chair like a deflated sack as soon as the Princess was gone. Liu Yun dismissed the maids and came to sit in the chair beside her.
“What’s wrong? Bad food?”
She reached out to touch Shen Yuezhuang’s stomach. Shen Yuezhuang didn’t dodge, but her brow furrowed even tighter.
“And you say I’m the one who worries! It’s the middle of the month, and you have a huge block of ice in the room.” Her gaze fell on the ice cream on the small table, and she became even more vexed. “And iced treats! You’re a grown woman. How can you be so much trouble?”
Hearing this, the gloom from the Princess’s protective attitude earlier lifted. Liu Yun’s voice softened, taking on a slightly pleading, affectionate tone. She lowered her head and looked up at Shen Yuezhuang. “It’s been so long since you came to the palace. I thought you’d be hot from the journey, so I had them prepare it for you.”
She picked up the spoon from the iced treat and stirred it slowly, watching Shen Yuezhuang’s reaction from the corner of her eye. “I didn’t think you’d dislike it.”
“No~” Shen Yuezhuang’s reply was a drawn-out whine. She wanted to explain but didn’t know where to start. She just rested her head on her hand, looking worried. “I’m just annoyed. Maybe it’s the heat. I have no appetite.”
Her gaze drifted down to Liu Yun’s stomach. It reminded her of the Princess’s words about not being able to conceive. A sharp pain seized her heart.
She didn’t want to have children herself, but that was a choice. It wasn’t that she couldn’t. But Liu Yun’s situation was…
Just as her heart ached for Liu Yun, a spoonful of cold ice cream was held to her lips.
She looked up. Liu Yun was holding the spoon, watching her with amusement, offering it to her. Not wanting to refuse the kindness, Shen Yuezhuang ate it bite by bite.
A genuine smile finally touched Liu Yun’s eyes. “Next month is the autumn hunt. I’ll ask His Majesty to let you come along. We’ll ride horses and hunt. Cheer up, alright?” She pinched Shen Yuezhuang’s cheek.
But she was surprised not to see any excitement on her face. Shen Yuezhuang just nodded and said, “The Princess also said she wants me to teach her how to ride at the hunting grounds.”
A flicker of a shadow passed over Liu Yun’s smile. She didn’t say anything. She just continued feeding Shen Yuezhuang the rest of the iced treat.
Liu Yun fed her with her right hand. The ring with the pink gem on her index finger caught Shen Yuezhuang’s attention.
“A pink gem?”
Liu Yun hummed in agreement. “Liu Lusheng got it from the Xiongnu territory. It’s a rare color. Very pretty. Do you like it?”
She was already taking it off as she spoke. The color was indeed too girlish for her status. She had worn it today specifically to give to Shen Yuezhuang. But she stopped halfway through removing it. “Don’t tell me I give it to you, and you immediately turn around and give it to the Princess?”
Shen Yuezhuang did like the ring. She immediately assured her, “How could I do that?! I would never give something you gave me to someone else!”
Liu Yun gave a soft snort, satisfied. She took Shen Yuezhuang’s left hand and tried to slide the ring onto her index finger. It was a little small. She slid it onto her middle finger instead.
It was a perfect fit!
Shen Yuezhuang raised her hand to admire it. She did seem a little more cheerful. Liu Yun felt a slight sense of relief. Seeing the ice cream still on her lips, she beckoned her closer.
Shen Yuezhuang leaned in. Liu Yun cradled her cheek and bent forward.
The tip of her tongue swept across Shen Yuezhuang’s lips. The rich, milky flavor filled her mouth. She tilted her head slightly and gently kissed Shen Yuezhuang’s cool lips.
After a long moment, Liu Yun finally pulled back. They were still close enough to feel each other’s breath. Shen Yuezhuang’s gaze fell on those moist lips. She tried to move closer, but Liu Yun held her in place.
She traced the lines of Shen Yuezhuang’s brows and eyes. Her gaze was deep, like a sunless well. “Do you want to kiss the Princess?”
“No!” Shen Yuezhuang’s answer was immediate. She tried to lean in again, but Liu Yun dodged her. However, they were closer now than before.
Shen Yuezhuang’s nose brushed against Liu Yun’s, like a kitten begging for affection. But Liu Yun was unmoved. “Then who do you want to kiss?”
“I… I only want to kiss you.”
Finally satisfied, Liu Yun allowed Shen Yuezhuang to draw closer.
Between the sounds of their kiss, Liu Yun murmured indistinctly, “Only me. Forever, only me. Understand?”
