Chapter 64: A New Leash

After that day, Shen Yuezhuang became busy again.

She was busy trying to see the Emperor. But perhaps because the hunting grounds were dangerous, the Emperor was never without company. He was always surrounded by a large group of ministers and eunuchs, spending most of his time in the main tent discussing official business.

Shen Yuezhuang couldn’t find a chance for a private meeting. Later, the Emperor learned of her repeated attempts to see him. Li Jianyun sent a eunuch to relay a message, telling her that whatever it was could wait until they returned to the capital.

There were still a few days until they returned to the capital. Shen Yuezhuang’s mission was stalled. As for the Princess’s side, things were going exceptionally smoothly!

Ever since the Princess had “fallen ill,” Liu Lusheng seemed to have had a sudden epiphany. The very next day, he was sending physicians and food. Shen Yuezhuang found herself without a role to play. She just watched the two of them become almost inseparable. Liu Lusheng even subtly hinted for her to leave several times.

Shen Yuezhuang, who was very happy to see this, wisely stopped intruding. She spent a rare few quiet days in her tent, reading storybooks.

Naturally, with everything progressing smoothly on her end, her mind was at ease, and she felt nothing but peace!

Liu Yun, however, was not so lucky. Thanks to Shen Yuezhuang’s brain, which seemed to have been cracked open by a walnut, Liu Yun’s attempt to get her to understand was proving to be incredibly difficult.

After a few days of bittersweet frustration, she received a letter from the capital a couple of days ago—the Old Marquis was looking for a husband for Shen Yuezhuang!

This news added an ultimate deadline to Liu Yun’s “last resort.”

But the deadline wasn’t the most pressing issue. The most pressing issue was the news brought by Liu Yun’s secret guards.

In short, the Old Marquis had met with his old subordinates who were serving as officials elsewhere. During a banquet, the conversation turned to the marriages of their children. He emphasized two points.

“It doesn’t matter if he has a younger brother; she doesn’t care about that anyway,” and “It’s better if she marries far away.”

The original statement about “never marrying someone with a younger brother” came from a young Shen Yuezhuang.

Back then, Shen Qingjue was at that annoying age, always clinging to her. Shen Yuezhuang might have been joking, but the Old Marquis had taken it to heart. More importantly, the Old Marquis doted on his daughter. He felt it was best if his future son-in-law was also coddled to the point of spoiling by his elders, like Jiang Huan. That way, the young couple wouldn’t have to bear the weight of their families, and they’d have someone to help them if they got into trouble.

“No younger brothers” had once been an ironclad rule for the Old Marquis when choosing a son-in-law. Another ironclad rule was that his daughter must never marry far away.

Liu Yun was probably feeling guilty and paranoid, but she keenly sensed something wrong with those words. Then, thinking about Shen Yuezhuang’s frequent difficulties in entering the palace over the past month… she finally realized what was happening. To confirm her suspicions, she directly ordered people to investigate the Old Marquis’s whereabouts over the past few months.

Calculating the time, the news would arrive at the earliest around noon today. Liu Yun kept glancing at the birds flying outside her tent, looking quite distracted.

“Your Grace?” Ruixue called again. Only then did Liu Yun lower her gaze to hide her earlier absentmindedness. She picked up the teacup beside her, but when she brought it to her lips, she realized it had gone cold without her noticing.

Liu Yun pursed her lips, then looked at Ruixue, feigning nonchalance. “What is it?”

Ruixue held a tray in her hands. On the tray were a small package and a letter. She presented the tray.

“Lady Pei sent someone with these. She said that Ninth Lady has been settled, and she is forwarding these gifts and letters to Miss Shen.”

The Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, and the Ministry of Rites was swamped with work. Pei Shangyu had been called back to the capital ahead of time.

Ninth Lady’s things had also been sent to Yongle Lane, where Pei Shangyu forwarded them.

But… Ruixue’s gaze turned serious. But sending them first to the Empress Dowager… she wondered what Pei Shangyu’s intentions were.

Could it be that this Ninth Lady was problematic, and Miss Shen shouldn’t see her?

But the Empress Dowager just looked at the things in her hands from a distance, not saying whether she would inspect them herself or order them forwarded.

“Your Grace…”

Ninth Lady’s background is unknown. It would be safer to inspect the items before giving them to Miss Shen!

The excellent head palace maid of the Longevity Palace was about to offer her mistress a graceful way out, when a lively sound of footsteps came from outside the tent. The tent flap was pushed aside, and the person swept in like a gust of wind.

After the incident last time, no one dared to stop Shen Yuezhuang when she came to the Empress Dowager’s tent now.

Ruixue instinctively wanted to hide the things in her hands. But Shen Yuezhuang didn’t seem to notice. She went straight up to the Empress Dowager and pulled a familiar-looking gold hairpin from her bosom.

“Here! I remembered this time at least!” Shen Yuezhuang lowered herself, sitting improperly on the armrest of the seat, which made Ruixue purse her lips.

“It’s for you!”

Shen Yuezhuang looked down at Liu Yun from a higher position as she examined the gold hairpin closely. Then Liu Yun looked up. “This is… the Princess’s?”

Liu Yun had recognized that it wasn’t a Great Liang craft, but Ruixue remembered clearly that it was an accessory the Princess had worn when she first entered the palace.

Ruixue had seen a bit of just how many ways Shen Yuezhuang had to get money. It was rare for her to give anything away. She looked at Shen Yuezhuang with some surprise, then saw her looking down only at the Empress Dowager’s expression. When Ruixue lowered her gaze again, her furrowed brow relaxed slightly. It seemed the frustration from the past month, where the Princess had constantly stolen Shen Yuezhuang away, had finally dissipated.

Inside the tent, the pink gemstone ring on Shen Yuezhuang’s middle finger was dazzling, impossible to ignore, just like Shen Yuezhuang herself.

Ruixue even felt a bit of smug satisfaction. Their mistress had given Shen Yuezhuang things, and Yuezhuang hadn’t given them away to someone else. But anything good she got from the Princess, she immediately passed on to their mistress!

Ruixue saw how much their mistress genuinely liked that hairpin, and the corners of her own mouth couldn’t help but lift. Even her view of Shen Yuezhuang improved, becoming a little more sincere.

The girl had a conscience after all!

Shen Yuezhuang, who had suddenly earned Ruixue’s favor, was blissfully unaware. Having finally delivered the hairpin, she breathed a sigh of relief, then showed a look of chagrin.

“I’ve been meaning to give it to you for ages. But I’ve been forgetting things lately, I don’t know what’s wrong with my head!”

Shen Yuezhuang looked up at Liu Yun with a worried expression. “I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been overthinking things recently, or if the feng shui of the Hengshan Hunting Grounds doesn’t agree with me. So I asked Chun Rui to find some Taoist priests and also bought half a sack of walnuts.”

“My idea was to have the Taoists perform a ritual over the walnuts, then I could eat them to nourish my brain. A double-pronged approach!” Shen Yuezhuang shook her head and sighed. “But the Taoists Chun Rui found couldn’t get into the hunting grounds. Yesterday afternoon, I ate walnuts the whole time…”

She grabbed Liu Yun’s hand and placed it on her own stomach. “This morning, I almost took up permanent residence on the chamber pot! Feel this. I think I’ve gotten thinner.”

The palm resting on her lower abdomen felt the flat, soft skin beneath. Even though Liu Yun’s heart was full of worries, the warmth seemed to dry the anxiety within her.

She didn’t even care that Ruixue was present. Her arm, resting on the armrest, naturally went around Shen Yuezhuang’s waist. The hand on her stomach didn’t pull away. Instead, after confirming that Yuezhuang had indeed lost weight, it slid unhurriedly down to her knee, resting there, holding the bone.

There was no doubt that this pose was one of dominance and possessiveness. Ruixue only glanced at it before bowing her head even lower.

There was a sense of awe, but no surprise or panic on Ruixue’s face. A formidable, strong-willed Empress Dowager was the mistress she had known for six years.

In Ruixue’s eyes, the Empress Dowager was like a bramble growing silently. She could endure and lie in wait, but only to lure her enemies into her trap.

And once her thorns were invincible, her thunderous methods truly began to show.

Not to be coveted. Not to be defied. Her word is law. Her methods are like thunder.

Old folks often said that when a person loses their leash, their true nature is revealed. Ruixue had always believed that was the Empress Dowager’s true nature. But it wasn’t until Shen Yuezhuang entered the palace that her familiar Empress Dowager became hesitant and yielding in front of her.

She had retracted her thorns, showing Shen Yuezhuang her most harmless and even vulnerable side. It was like a wounded beast showing its soft, vulnerable belly to a fragile human.

Ruixue understood then—Shen Yuezhuang was her mistress’s new leash!

In the past, leashes were meant to be broken! Ruixue had acted accordingly. But what surprised her was that her mistress… didn’t seem to want to break free from this leash called Shen Yuezhuang. She even seemed to find it sweet.

Ruixue had thought her mistress would hide her dominant side forever. But now… she was confused again.

Her mistress was holding Shen Yuezhuang’s knee, her other arm firmly around Yuezhuang’s waist. The pose clearly displayed her strength and possessiveness, like a dozing tiger stretching its limbs. No one could ignore that kind of threat.

Had her mistress broken free? But weren’t things going well between them? Wasn’t the Empress Dowager very happy with the hairpin Shen Yuezhuang had given her?

Ruixue’s bowed face was full of confusion. Then she heard the Empress Dowager’s voice, as gentle as spring rain. “You have lost weight.”

Liu Yun looked up at Shen Yuezhuang. Her eyes were as calm as a still lake, the turbulent undercurrents hidden completely. When Shen Yuezhuang looked back, she was still smiling.

“What a coincidence. Yesterday, Liu Lusheng hunted a wild boar. I’ll have them make it for you at noon today. It’ll be just the thing to help you recover!”

The words were neutral in tone, but Ruixue understood it was a signal for her to withdraw. She smoothly took the cue.

“I’ll go tell the small kitchen to prepare it!”

Liu Yun hummed in acknowledgment. When the others had left, she used her strength to pull Shen Yuezhuang onto her lap to sit.

She took the hairpin from her hand and pinned it in Shen Yuezhuang’s hair. Then she played with the butterfly wings, so thin they looked like cicada wings. Casually, she asked, “The craftsmanship on this hairpin is exquisite. It must have been made by the Nanchu palace artisans. For the Princess to part with something from home while she’s so far away… when did you two become so close?”

“This is what they call ‘time reveals the heart’!” Shen Yuezhuang found herself a comfortable spot to nestle. “Back then, just to meet her, I waited every day by the entrance of the post house. Later, we went to a wine house together to drink.”

Here, Shen Yuezhuang’s pace slowed, a note of uncertainty creeping into her tone. “I suppose it was a moment of drunken candor. Anyway, after that one drinking session, she started asking me to come out and play with her all the time.”

Liu Yun’s head was lowered. Sunlight streamed in from the window, a bright beam landing on her long eyelashes. They moved slightly, as if shaking off dust.

“You pour your heart out over a single drink?” Liu Yun gave a small laugh. “What did you talk about?”

“Didn’t really say anything, did we?” Shen Yuezhuang frowned, thinking for a moment. Finally, a little impatiently, she said, “You know I never remember a thing when I’m drunk, no matter what it is.”

Liu Yun’s smile grew fainter. “So drunk you couldn’t remember anything—how did you get home?”

“Can’t remember. Shen Qingjue said my father came to pick me up.”

The hand on Liu Yun’s knee slowly clenched. “Are you… sure? You couldn’t have gotten the date wrong?”

Shen Yuezhuang’s back was hurting from the armrest, so she sat up and leaned against Liu Yun’s shoulder. At the question, she gave a sly smile.

“Impossible to get it wrong! My father scolded Shen Qingjue for days over that incident. To get me to go and apologize to our father, Shen Qingjue even gave me two months’ allowance. But am I so easily bought? I…”

Shen Yuezhuang was chattering away, not noticing the sudden sharp intake of breath behind her. She went on, but was interrupted by Liu Yun.

Liu Yun bowed her head, cupped her chin, and turned her around to face her.

Perhaps the light outside was too bright, making it hard to keep her eyes open. Liu Yun leaned down, avoiding the beam of light, drawing closer until they were almost sharing the same breath.

Liu Yun’s eyes were like thick, dark ink, moving slowly and eerily with a light Shen Yuezhuang couldn’t quite understand. She rubbed her thumb over the corner of Yuezhuang’s mouth, then pressed her lips together in a smile.

Shen Yuezhuang’s heart skipped a violent beat.

Liu Yun was a cool, distant person. Her fake, polite smiles were like dead silk flowers. And her genuine smiles always seemed to be suppressed, the corners of her mouth held down, a constant hint of mockery in her eyes.

But this smile now held a hint of testing and shyness. It was like a half-opened bud, its stamen luring bees and butterflies, its pink petals blushing with coyness.

It was like the night-blooming cereus bathing in moonlight. A fleeting glimpse, but enough to steal one’s soul!

Shen Yuezhuang was staring, transfixed. Liu Yun frowned slightly. “It’s almost the fifteenth.”

This sentence instantly snapped Shen Yuezhuang back to reality. She licked her lips, about to say something, but Liu Yun’s fingertip gently landed on them. She asked softly, “There’s an imperial mountain estate not far from Hengshan. There’s a hot spring there. The Emperor’s idea is that when we return to the capital, I should take some people there directly.”

The side of her thumb gently stroked Shen Yuezhuang’s lip. “Do you… want to come along?”

“A hot spring?”

Shen Yuezhuang’s tone was full of surprise, her eyes shining like stars.

Almost at the same time, as the sound of a pigeon’s wings landing on the windowsill reached them, Shen Yuezhuang’s joyful voice rang out.

“Sure!”